CONCACAF qualifying continues
Nicaragua won its first World Cup qualifying match in 14 tries, Belize upset Grenada, and Haiti, Guatemala and Canada all posted comfortable victories in the opening match of the first group stage of World Cup qualifying on Friday.
Nicaragua won at Dominica 2-0, and Canada opened at home with a 4-1 win over St. Lucia thanks to two goals from Josh Simpson.
Belize won 3-0 over two-time Gold Cup qualifier Grenada in St. George in the biggest upset of the day, while Trinidad & and Tobago managed only a 1-0 victory at home over Bermuda.
In other matches, it was Haiti 6, U.S. Virgin Islands 0; Suriname 1, Cayman Islands 0; Antigua & Barbuda 5, Curacao 2; Guyana 2, Barbados 0; St. Kitts & Nevis 0, Puerto Rico 0; El Salvador 3, Dominican Republic 2; and Guatemala 4, St. Vincent & the Grenadines 0.
Ten more games are set for Tuesday, including Panama's first qualifying match against Nicaragua in Managua, Belize looking for its second win in a row hosting neighbor Guatemala and Barbados hosts Trinidad & Tobago.
To see a complete schedule, please click here.
Group Stage to resume next Tuesday
The third round of the Champions League Group Stage begins September 13, when Santos will return with a new coach. Eduardo Rergis has been installed as an interim replacement after Diego Cocca was fired Saturday, a day after Santos' suffered a third consecutive loss and had dropped to 14th in the Mexican Apertura. Santos is third in Group B with three points, behind the Colorado Rapids and Metapan.
Rergis will debut against the Rapids in Commerce City, Colorado, the same day Morelia will host the Group A leading LA Galaxy in the first road game for the MLS side. That same night in San Pedro Sula, Real Espana will host Metapan.
A day later, Group C leader FC Dallas will host Tauro, while Pumas will look for its first victory of the tournament against Toronto FC. That same night Herediano will be home against Seattle, while Mexico's Monterrey will travel to Guatemala to face Comunicaciones.
To finish the round, Motagua will look for its first win when it faces Alajuelense in Tegucigalpa.
Mexico, El Salvador reach quarterfinals at Beach World Cup
El Salvador overcame a lopsided loss in its opener to reach the quarterfinals of the Beach Soccer World Cup, and advanced to the final eight along with CONCACAF champion Mexico. Agustin Ruiz scored for a third straight game and El Salvador beat Argentina 4-3 on Monday to secure its place in the knockout round.
El Salvador, which was winless in six matches in its two previous appearances at the Beach World Cup before arriving in Italy, finished second in Group B with six points, three behind Portugal, and will face the host country in the knockout round on Thursday.
Mexico defeated Ukraine 1-0 in a penalty kick tiebreaker after a 1-1 draw on Tuesday to finish runner-up in Group D behind Brazil. El Salvador next will play host Italy, while Mexico will play Russia on Thursday.
CONCACAF teams take advantage of FIFA date
Mexico managed a win and a draw in three days on a two-game European tour, tying Poland in Warsaw 1-1 on Friday and beating Chile 1-0 in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday as CONCACAF sides not involved in World Cup qualifying utilized the international fixture dates.
Other Friday games had Panama losing to Paraguay 2- 0 in Panama City; Costa Rica beating the United States 1-0 in Los Angeles, and Jamaica falling to Ecuador 5-2 in Quito. On Saturday, Colombia defeated Honduras 2-0 at Red Bull Arena in suburban New York.
The friendlies continue Tuesday with the United States travelling to Brussels to face Belgium, Costa Rica in Quito to play Ecuador and Jamaica facing Colombia in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pinto named Costa Rica coach
Jorge Luis Pinto was named manager of the Costa Rican national team almost a month after Ricardo Lavolpe resigned from the post.
Pinto previously coached Costa Rica in 2004-2005 and, also managed his native Colombia from 2007-2008 He most recently coached Colombian club Junior de Barranquilla. Canada installs Herdman as women's coach
Former New Zealand women's national team coach John Herdman was announced as Canada's manager on Thursday, replacing Carolina Morace who resigned following the CONCACAF champion's first-round exit from the World Cup.
The England-born Herdman arrives in Canada after nearly five years as coach of the New Zealand women's team, where he won two Oceania confederation titles, guided the side to two appearances in the Women's World Cup (2007 and 2011), the 2008 Olympics and also its under-20 women's side to the 2006 and 2008 World Cups.
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