CONCACAF Futsal final dates

NEW YORK:  CONCACAF has unveiled the complete schedule of dates for the final round of CONCACAF qualification for the FIFA Futsal World Championship. The final round competition will be contested July 23 to July 31 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Heredia, Costa Rica. The third edition of the CONCACAF Futsal Championship will once again qualify two nations to the FIFA Futsal World Championship. The 2004 competition will be held in Chinese Taipei from November 21 to December 5. The eight-team 2004 CONCACAF Futsal Championship will feature two groups of four with the host and defending champions Costa Rica in Group A. Cuba, the only nation to qualify to the last two FIFA Futsal World Championships, has been placed in Group B. Prior to the event the six remaining qualifying teams will be drawn into either Group A or B.

Three of these six places are to be filled by Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and Guyana, all of whom qualified as the top three finishers from the first Caribbean Football Union Futsal competition held last month. The final three berths will be determined this week as the CONCACAF Futsal Preliminaries continue with Panama hosting Canada at the Gimnasio Roberto Duran in Ciudad de Panama today and Saturday, El Salvador against Mexico at the Gimnasio Carlos Martinez Balmori in Pachuca, Hidalgo on yesterday and Saturday, and the United States greeting Honduras at the US Cellular Arena in Milwaukee on Tuesday and Thursday. (CMC)