The night kicked off with Guatemala taking on Grenada and this match raised the interesting question of which team is worse, Grenada or Cuba? They were the first two teams sent packing from the tournament and lets be honest they never even came close to taking a point in this thing. In this one Grenada looked completely outclassed and their defence seemed incapable of slowing down the attack. As a result Guatemala got goals in the 15th and 21st minutes and despite leading 2-0 at the break they really should have been up by a few more goals. The good news for Guatemala was that with a 2-0 lead their goal difference was up to 0 and that had them even with El Salvador and they would have known that one more in the second half would almost certainly see them advance. They got that goal in the 53rd minute from Carlos Ruiz, who finally got on the score sheet, and then for good measure they ensured their progress with a fourth goal this time from Carlos Gallardo.
With a 4-0 win in the bag Guatemala had ensured that they would be in the next phase of the competition. They have 4 points but their +2 goal difference is better then El Salvador's goal difference of 0 and that means that regardless of the results in the last 3 games the worst they could end up is as the 8th team to get through. For Grenada the loss just further illustrated that the team that they brought here was just not up to par. Like Cuba they struggled to score goals and were conceding them at an alarming rate. I guess Grenada can be proud that they did not finish last overall since they conceded one less goal then Cuba did and had one less player defect. On a completely unrelated note I would like to urge Grenada to start paying their coach enough that he can afford to get a suit and tie. He looked terrible in that track jacket, cheap ball cap, and purple piny. At least if you are going to get destroyed in three straight games you can try and look like you are somewhat professional.
The second game of the night was a real letdown to me. I was expecting to see Jamaica and Honduras battling it out with top spot on the line but instead with both teams having already sealed their progress they seemed to already be thinking about the quarterfinals and not to interested in trying all that hard in this game. Jamaica did have a fair bit more life to them then Honduras to be fair and they were the better team in the first half creating a couple of chances and forcing a couple of good saves out of Valladares. Jamaica would get the only breakthrough of the match in the 35th minute when Ryan Johnson fired a shot in from 20 some yards out that smashed off the crossbar but he got a bit of luck as the ball rebounded off of Valladares' back and into the net. Johnson's strike was worthy of a goal but the Honduran keeper was a bit unfortunate to be charged with the own goal on that one. Honduras got a bit more into the game in the second half but the only major moment was a decision to hand Jamaica a penalty. The call was the correct one but the excitement came from the fact that Valladares got a bit of revenge on Ryan Johnson by doing really well to get down and turn his spot kick away.
In the end the game wound up 1-0 and though it was lacking some of the spark and the goals that I was expecting from these two teams it was probably a fair result. The result means that Jamaica goes through Group B in first place having collected 9 points. Honduras will go through in second having collected the same 4 points as Guatemala but their goal difference of +5 is enough.
I will be back later on with another blog setting out the task that faces Canada as they look to advance from group C and also what they are going to need to happen if they are going to be able to avoid a quarterfinal date with highflying Mexico.
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