Draw determines order of games in World Cup qualifying semi-final stage

With the first round of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 2006 ™ now well under way, a draw was held in London by FIFA on Sunday February 29 to determine the schedule and order of matches during the semi-final stage of CONCACAF qualifying. These games are due to take place from August – November 2004.



The original World Cup™ draw held by FIFA in Frankfurt in December already determined how the three CONCACAF qualifying semi-final groups would be configured and the schedule of games had been previously approved by FIFA.

With the first round of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 2006 ™ now well under way, a draw was held in London by FIFA on Sunday February 29 to determine the schedule and order of matches during the semi-final stage of CONCACAF qualifying. These games are due to take place from August – November 2004.



The original World Cup™ draw held by FIFA in Frankfurt in December already determined how the three CONCACAF qualifying semi-final groups would be configured and the schedule of games had been previously approved by FIFA.



Today’s draw has now determined which team fills each of the four slots in each of the semi-final groups.



The teams finishing first and second in these groups will progress to CONCACAF’s final qualifying round of six teams. The top three teams from the final round will travel to Germany for World Cup 2006™ and the fourth-placed team will play-off against Asia’s fifth-placed team for one of the final World Cup 2006™ spots.



Semi Final Group A

Team 1 Winner (Grenada or Guyana) vs. USA

Team 2 Winner (Bermuda or Montserrat) vs. El Salvador

Team 3 Winner Haiti vs. Jamaica

Team 4 Winner (BVI or St. Lucia) vs. Panama



Semi Final Group B

Team 1 Winner (Aruba or Surinam) vs. Guatemala

Team 2 Winner (Cayman Islands or Cuba) vs. Costa Rica

Team 3 Winner Canada vs. Belize

Team 4 Winner (Antigua & Barbuda or Netherlands Antilles) vs. Honduras



Semi Final Group C

Team 1 Winner (Dominica or Bahamas) vs. Mexico

Team 2 Winner Nicaragua vs. St. Vincent & the Grenadines

Team 3 Winner (USVI or St. Kitts & Nevis) vs. Barbados

Team 4 Winner (Dominican Republic or Anguilla) vs. Trinidad & Tobago



The schedule of games that applies to each of these semi-final groups is as follows (Home Team listed first in each pairing):



August 18: Team 3 vs. Team 1; Team 2 vs. Team 4



September 4/5: Team 1 vs. Team 2; Team 3 vs. Team 4



September 8: Team 4 vs. Team 1; Team 2 vs. Team 3



October 9/10: Team 2 vs. Team 1; Team 4 vs. Team 3



October 13: Team 1 vs. Team 4; Team 3 vs. Team 2



November 17: Team 1 vs. Team 3; Team 4 vs. Team 2