TT’s Ted Gordon referee for Canada/Belize clash tonight

KINGSTON: Trinidad and Tobago’s Ted Gordon is the assigned referee for the CONCACAF World Cup football qualifier between Canada and Belize today. The Canadians, former World Cup qualifiers, are well placed to finish off Belize when the two teams meet in the second leg of their second round CONCACAF qualifying tie for the 2006 finals in Germany.

Canada won the first leg 4-0 on Sunday at Canada’s Richardson Stadium, where the teams are returning for the deciding match tonight.  Goals by Jim Brennan, Kevin McKenna, Paul Peschisolido and Tomasz Radzinski led Canada to the handsome win that sets the platform for the Central American team’s elimination. Canada, who qualified for the 1986 World Cup Finals in Mexico, are the tenth-ranked team in CONCACAF, behind Mexico, United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, Guatemala, and Haiti.

Ten other second-leg matches are scheduled for this weekend — United States taking a 3-0 lead to Grenada; El Salvador 2-1 up on Bermuda; Nicaragua 2-2 with St Vincent and the Grenadines; Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 ahead of the Dominican Republic; Panama 4-0 ahead of St Lucia; St  Kitts and Nevis 2-0 in front of Barbados; Cuba 2-2 with Costa Rica; Jamaica and Haiti 1-1; Suriname and Guatemala also 1-1; and Honduras 2-1 ahead of the Netherlands Antilles.

Mexico and Dominica will start their series in Texas on Saturday, with the return match in Mexico on June 27. The winners of these two-way ties will advance to the three-group semi-final stage of the CONCACAF qualifiers, set to start in mid-August. The top two teams from the three semi-final groups would then advance to the CONCACAF Finals (six teams) scheduled for next year from February to October, from which the best three teams will qualify directly to Germany 2006. CONCACAF’s fourth-place finisher will compete in a two-way play-off with the fifth-place finisher from the Asian Football Confederation for one of the last spots in Germany.