CONCACAF - Caribbean - Recent posts
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The long, long, long dispute between a group of players from Trinidad & Tobago's 2006 World Cup
squad and their national football federation reached a new but not yet final phase today when many
of the physical assets of the federation were seized by order of the Trinidadian High Court. (The
original article is located here.
The news from a few days ago that FIFA have torn up the World Cup TV contract with the Caribbean
Football Union is the clearest indication that former CONCACAF president Jack Warner has run out of
friends at the world governing body. FIFA's explanation for the decision was that they were made
aware that the rights deal was sublicensed by one of Warner's companies, JD International, and
therefore posed a conflict of interest.
Shocking news coming out of the Caribbean this afternoon. News outlets in Panama are saying that
the Bahamas FA have announced that they have withdrawn from the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying
tournament. The announcement came in the form of a memorandum sent by FIFA's head of Qualifying
Competitions to the Panamanian FA.
FIFA announced that Belize have been cleared to participate in the next round of the World Cup
qualifiers that start next month after the Belizean government reached an agreement with the
Football Federation of Belize (FFB) to hold new elections at the end of the year. Last month, the
government refused to recognize the FFB as the governing body for football in the country and
refused to provide security at the national team's home qualifier against Montserrat.
The first legs of the preliminary round ties of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying are now complete, and
we now have a much clearer idea of the relative strengths of the bottom ten CONCACAF national
teams. These matches have gone quite some way in demonstrating just how stratified the level of
quality of the national teams is in this region; even among the bottom ten teams there have been
some lopsided results.
FIFA's Emergency Committee has temporarily lifted the suspension of Belize's football federation
until 15 August, which will allow the second leg of their preliminary round match against
Montserrat to go forward. FIFA suspended the FFB from international competition after the Belizean
government ruled that the FFB was no longer authorized to represent the country in international
competitions and then refused to offer security arrangements for the second leg match in Belize.
Time to get back into blogging after some time off to make my relocation... This weekend the World
Cup qualifiers restart in the CONCACAF region with two derbies in different parts of the Caribbean.
Two more series will start and finish within a three-day period next week. It remains to be seen
whether the second leg of the Montserrat-Belize series will be played, but if it's not by 10 July
then Montserrat will achieve an unlikely classification to the group stages by default.
I have seen reports on various forums that the St. Lucia - Aruba World Cup qualifier, originally
scheduled for yesterday, has in fact been moved to a future date. If you look at the CONCACAF World
Cup qualification page on Wikipedia, you will see that the dates of the tie have been moved to
July, but the official page of the Aruban federation still lists June dates for the two matches.
The Trinidad Guardian is reporting that suspended CONCACAF president Jack Warner will release email
correspondence involving recently reelected FIFA president Sepp Blatter that he claims will
exonerate him and "send shockwaves through the football world." The presentation will be part of a
rally that he will be conducting at his parliamentary office in Trinidad & Tobago this afternoon
and broadcast all over the country.
On Sunday, St Lucia and Aruba will start the World Cup qualifying cycle which begins with matches
between Caribbean micro-states and concludes with inter-confederation playoffs in late 2013.
Whereas in previous cycles the first-round winners of the CONCACAF qualifiers would face another
two-leg series followed by certain elimination, the winners of this round will be rewarded with
more competitive matches and more home matches, and challenged with increased travel all over the
region.
Alpha United became the first Guyanese club to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League after
defeating Trinidad's Defence Force in the third place game of the CFU Club Championship. The match
finished 1-1 after 120 minutes, and Alpha United won on penalties. More information to follow
later. Tempête and Puerto Rico are playing the final of the CFU Club Championship, but I have not
seen a final score yet.
Last night Tempête FC became the first Haitian side to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League
after defeating Trinidad's Defence Force on penalties in a CFU Club Championship semifinal. The
match ended goalless but Tempête won the penalty shootout 4-2. This is very positive news for
Haitian football a year and a half after the catastrophic Haitian earthquake, and if the Haitian
federation can find a stadium in the country that meets CONCACAF standards, they will play either
Isidro Metapán or Morelia in the preliminary round.
Representatives of Spanish Liga side Valencia CF are in Jamaica for a week-long camp for local
youngsters, and yesterday the club's director of sport operations said that the club is very
interested in forming a permanent academy in the country. Valencia already have academies in Egypt
and Japan and plan to open a third in Bermuda later this year.
The National Premier League in Jamaica has split into two divisions for the remainder of the
season. After the 12 teams in the league have played each other three times, the top six teams
(championship group) are separated from the bottom six (relegation group), and the teams in each
group play each once.
Last week the High Court in Trinidad & Tobago ruled in favor of the group of 13 World Cup players
who sued the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation for back payment of over $1 million in bonuses
from the 2006 finals. (The digital library of the T&T court system is here, but the High Court
judgment has not yet been uploaded.
This year's Caribbean Club Championship kicked off tonight. It wouldn't be the Caribbean
Championship without withdrawals from some of the domestic league winners, and this year's edition
would continue that sorry record. Centre Bath Estate of Dominica and Bassa FC of Antigua and
Barbuda withdrew from the tournament before it even started, allowing Haiti's Tempête and Guyana's
Newtown to advance without kicking a ball.
I had known about the pay dispute between members of Trinidad & Tobago's 2006 World Cup squad and
the T&T Football Association, but I was unaware of the ongoing disputes between the FA and national
team players and staff. And when there's a dispute with the T&T FA, it's really a dispute with one
man, who happens to wear many hats in his country and beyond.
The draw for the 2011 CFU Club Champions' Cup was announced today. Fifteen teams from 11 countries
will contest the competition, with two-legged ties in the first two rounds, and single-match
knockouts in the semifinals and final. The top three teams will appear in the preliminary round of
the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.
The 2010-11 Pro League in Trinidad & Tobago concluded this weekend, and the new champions have
broken the San Juan Jabloteh-Joe Public monopoly of the previous four seasons. Defence Force won
the championship with 41 points from 19 matches (Tobago United withdrew from the competition
halfway through), their 21st league title but the first in over ten seasons.
A recent story in the Jamaica Observer illustrates the challenges that the national football
federation faces in scheduling matches for the senior national team. The National Stadium is closed
for repairs to the athletics track in preparation for some big international meets during the year.
But even if the Stadium were available, a home match is a money-losing proposition for the
federation.
Today marks one year since the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti -- one of the biggest natural
disasters to ever hit the Caribbean region. It will take many years for Haiti to rebuild its
country and its football infrastructure, but over the past 12 months Haitian football has shown
itself to be resilient through such vast destruction.
