Mexico City, Mexico.
Mexico and the United States are the biggest contenders to win a ticket among the three live shows that will be in play in the extensive octagon CONCACAF classifiers at the 2022 World Cup which starts this Thursday and ends on March 30.
In addition to the three direct tickets, the selected quarter of the octagonal can aspire to a pass in an intercontinental repechaje.
Originally, this World Cup qualifier would have been played as a hexagonal, system established prior to the France-1998 World Cup, but due to the alteration of dates due to the covid-19 pandemic, CONCACAF adopted a octagonal.
In this way, the decisive stage of the World Cup qualifier will increase from 30 matches to 54 that will be played in 14 days.
The first will take place on September 2 with the following pairings: Canada-Honduras, Panama-Costa Rica, Mexico-Jamaica and El Salvador-United States.
Then the triple FIFA Date will be completed with two more days, Sunday 5 and Wednesday 8.
– Canada-Honduras –
The first game of the octagon will be played at the BMO Field in Toronto, between the Canadian team, which has not qualified for a World Cup since Mexico-1986, and Honduras, which hopes to return after being absent. if Russia-2018.
In the last Gold Cup, Honduras stayed in the quarterfinals while Canada reached the semifinals and made a quality leap in their game under the command of Englishman John Herdman who took over in 2018 .
– Panama-Costa Rica –
Later in Panama City, the Rommel Fernández Stadium will be the scene of a duel between Central American teams, that of Panama, which will seek to return to the World Cup to improve the role it played in its debut in Russia-2018, and the of Costa Rica, which goes for its third consecutive ranking and sixth in its history.
The Panamanian ‘Red Tide’ is led by Spanish-Danish coach Thomas Christiansen, who recently completed his first year at the helm of the Canalero team, while the ‘Sele’ began a new process in June. of 2021 with the Colombian strategist Luis Fernando Suárez, who has the experience of having classified to two selections in World Cups: Ecuador in Germany-2006 and Honduras in Brazil-2014.
– Mexico-Jamaica –
The teams from Mexico and Jamaica will face Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. This match will be played behind closed doors as a FIFA sanction to the homophobic cries of the Mexican team to rival goalkeepers.
Since serving a FIFA penalty that prevented him from going to Italy-1990, Mexico has attended all the World Cups in the United States-1994 and now under the command of technical director Gerardo Martino will seek compensation after losing the finals of the League of Nations and the Gold Cup.
Jamaica, led by Theodore Whitmore, has only attended the 1998 World Cup in France and the road to Qatar-2022 will begin with numerous and sensitive absences due to the Premier League’s restriction on ceding players as a precautionary measure to covid contagions. 19.
– El Salvador-United States –
The first day of the octagon will be completed at the Cuscatlán Stadium in San Salvador with the meeting between El Salvador, which has not qualified since Spain-1982, and the United States, which was absent in Russia-2018 after seven consecutive world appearances.
The American team, led by Gregg Berhalter, will present itself as a team to win after winning the League of Nations and Gold Cup titles. The Salvadoran representative will try to reaffirm the good game he showed last July when he reached the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup.
Matches and schedules (TVC broadcasts)
Canada – Honduras (06:05 pm)
Panama – Costa Rica: (07:05 pm)
Mexico – Jamaica (8:00 pm)
El Salvador – United States (08:05 pm)