Almost is nothing in sport. Costa Rica played much better over 90 minutes in Montevideo than they
ever did in San José, and they had Uruguay reeling toward the end, suffering as they always do,
but at the final whistle it was the South Americans progressing on to South Africa and the Central
Americans returning home without an official match for another 16 months.
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On 19 November 1989 -- twenty years ago today -- Trinidad & Tobago and the USA met each other in
Port-of-Spain for their final World Cup qualifier match for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. The
circumstances and consequences of that match have made it the most important match in US soccer
history, and marked the start of the modern era in American soccer.
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World Cup qualifiers for South Africa 2010 started on 25 August 2007. Now, 847 days later, we're at
the final day. By kickoff time in Montevideo, 31 national teams would have secured their places in
the finals next summer. There is still room for one more, and it will be decided between Costa Rica
and Uruguay.
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The announcement of the draw for the FIFA Club World Cup was actually last week, but got buried in
my run-up to the first leg of the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL playoff. Atlante, the 2008-09 CONCACAF
Champions League winners, received a beneficial draw when they were paired with the winners of the
Al Ahli (UAE) - Auckland City (New Zealand) match.
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Last night I linked to preliminary autopsy reports out of Greece that said that Mexican striker
Antonio de Nigris died as the result of a congenital heart ailment. Today, de Nigris' personal
doctor, who is also a cardiologist, denied the claims. Dr. Mario Benavides said that de Nigris was
completely healthy and had not registered any heart condition or related health problems.
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I have not been able to cover the Champions League as much as I did last year because of other
demands on my time, and my own desires to have a life. But fortunately CONCACAF has been able to
fill the gap with a very good Champions League website. Today was the draw for the knockout stage
(the Championship Round, as CONCACAF calls it) of the Champions League.
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With less than 20 hours before kickoff in Montevideo, Costa Rica and Uruguay are just about out of
time to make modifications ahead of the decisive second leg. René Simões will be back on the
touchline after his suspension in the first leg on Saturday and is looking for "fresh legs" for
tomorrow's match.
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According to Spanish daily MARCA, the bowls for the World Cup final draw have already been
arranged. Now, the arrangements are pending approval by the FIFA Executive Committee, and MARCA
tends to be wrong quite a bit, so take this with some grains of salt. Given all that, the
composition of the bowls is the following: Seeds (Bowl 1): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Italy,
Germany, Argentina, England, France (if they beat Ireland) Bowl 2: the remaining UEFA teams Bowl 3:
the CAF/CONMEBOL teams Bowl 4: the AFC/CONCACAF teams (Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Australia,
New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras) The.
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Uruguay have a foot and four toes into South Africa; Costa Rica are hanging by merely a thread. So
go the verdicts from the press in both countries. Uruguay asserted themselves on a substandard
pitch, used their physicality and their defensive discipline to pin the Costa Ricans in their own
area and disconnect the Tico midfield from their strikers, and were opportunistic at the right
time.
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I just saw a news report on Goal.com saying that Mexican striker Antonio DeNigris has died on a
heart attack yesterday. He was 31. He had played in Turkey and Greece in recent years (his last
club was Larissa). Sixteen caps for the Mexican national team. More later. Wow. RIP.
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The moment is here, and we're under five minutes from kickoff. So let's go: Costa Rica 0-0 Uruguay
KO Commentary after the jump. 1901: Just about to kickoff. Let me give you the starting lineups for
both teams: Costa Rica: Keylor Navas -- Luis Marín, Gilberto Martínez, Roy Miller -- Cristian
Bolaños, Esteban Sirias -- Randall Azofeifa, Walter Centeno, Celso Borges -- Álvaro Saborío,
Bryan Ruíz.
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This really isn't a CONCACAF-specific post, but congratulations to New Zealand on qualifying for
the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa this morning. And an even bigger congratulations to
fellow Stanford alumni Ryan Nelsen and Simon Elliott who were key players of the All Whites'
qualifying campaign.
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Uruguay's national team is now in Costa Rica, and they've had their one (and only) training session
on the artificial surface at Saprissa. (I had thought that FIFA regulations required at least two
training sessions on artificial turf, but I could be wrong.) Óscar Washington Tabárez, Uruguay's
coach, almost certainly has his starting XI ready, with the only doubt being Walter Gargano.
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[I'm going to make this the featured post for the next five days, except for Saturday and next
Wednesday when the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL playoff is being played.] Next Thursday is the 20th
anniversary of that historic World Cup qualifier between Trinidad & Tobago and USA. In my opinion,
and I doubt I'm the only person who feels this way, it was the most important match in the history
of US men's soccer because of where they were at that time and where they went from that point.
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