The five survivors from the first round of qualifying join nineteen other CONCACAF members in the first of three group stages in CONCACAF qualifying. These twenty-four teams were drawn into six groups of four teams. Each team will play the other three teams in their group home and away for a total of six matches. Only the winners of each group advance to the third round, where they will join the top six seeds.The top seed in each group is listed first, followed by the second seed, the third seed, and the fourth seed.
Group A
El Salvador
Suriname
Cayman Islands
Dominican Republic
Group B
Trinidad and Tobago
Guyana
Guyana
Barbados
Bermuda
Group C
Panama
Dominica
Nicaragua
Bahamas
Group D
Canada
St. Kitts and Nevis
Puerto Rico
St. Lucia
St. Lucia
Group E
Grenada
Guatemala
St. Vincent and Grenadines
Belize
Group F
Haiti
Antigua and Barbuda
Curacao
U.S. Virgin Islands
First, my thoughts on the draw. CONCACAF avoided disaster despite their horrible seeding procedure. Cuba should not have been exempted from this round in favor of Panama, but luckily Panama was drawn into a group where they will not be threatened. Grenada, a team that has no business being ranked ahead of Guatemala, was drawn against Guatemala and will now have to prove they were worthy of being the top seed.
El Salvador (Group A), Panama (Group C), Canada (Group D), and Haiti (Group F) are overwhelming favorites in their groups and will advance. Haiti, although not one of the power teams in CONCACAF, drew an incredibly favorable group to earn the mantle of overwhelming favorite. The true intrigue lies with Group B and E.
Group B pits top-seeded Trinidad and Tobago, a team that has been on a downslide since qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals. Trinidad and Tobago almost got booted by Bermuda in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the two are matched up again here. Trinidad and Tobago has failed to qualify for the last two CONCACAF Gold Cups. However, this group is just simple enough for the Soca Warriors to advance as winners.
Group E pits Grenada against Guatemala. Guatemala delivered a 4-0 beating to Grenada in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage. Guatemala are infuriated by their poor FIFA ranking and will be looking to put on a show. Belize are an interesting team featuring strong athletes, and could finish in second place here, if not challenge Guatemala for supremacy.
Links
Here is an analysis of the entire CONCACAF Second Round (though the analysis of the makeup of Suriname's team is incorrect. Suriname consists predominantly of home-based players):
Group A breakdown:
Group B breakdown (mistakes Bahamas for Bermuda):
Group C breakdown:
Group D breakdown:
Group E breakdown:
Group F breakdown:
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