World Cup Draw Released

Ottawa, Ontario – The draw for the semifinal round of qualifying in the Football Confederation for the 2002 Korea/Japan FIFA World Cup was held Friday, April 28 at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, determining the three groups of four teams which will begin play in July.

The 12 teams will be known after the completion of the Interzone Round in mid-June, when the runners-up of the three Caribbean Zone groups will play the runners-up of the two Central American Zone groups, along with Canada. The winners of the Caribbean Zone and Central American Zone groups will be determined when play is completed after the third weekend of May.

Canada needs to defeat the runner-up of the home and away series between Barbados and Cuba (May 7 and 21) to advance to the semi-final round. Those games will take place on June 4 (in Cuba or Barbados) and June 11 or 18 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Should Canada advance it would play in Group C, along with Mexico, the winner of a home and away series between Honduras and Panama) and the winner of home and away series between Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti.

“We knew we would have to face strong opponents no matter what group we ended up in,” said Men’s World Cup Team head coach Holger Osieck. “We now have an idea of what to expect, but we can’t look past our games against Cuba or Barbados in June.”

The three groups of four teams will each play in a round-robin on a home and away basis from July 12-16, 2000 to November 14-15, 2000. The top two teams of each group go through to the Final Round, where three finalists will advance
to the 2002 World Cup Finals.

The three FC finalists from FIFA World Cup France 1998 were seeded into the final round – Jamaica, Mexico and the USA. Costa Rica was also seeded into the final round, the four countries in all reflecting the Confederation’s participants in the last three World Cup Finals.

DRAW FOR FOOTBALL CONFEDERATION SEMI-FINAL ROUND 2002 FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

GROUP C
C1: Winner Central American Zone B (Honduras or Panama)
C2: Mexico
C3: Winner Interzone Round 1 (Canada v Runner-up Caribbean Zone 1)
C4: Winner Caribbean Zone 3 (Trinidad & Tobago v Haiti)

GROUP D
D1: Winner Central American Zone A (El Salvador, Guatemala or Belize)
D2: Winner Interzone Round 3 (Runner-up Caribbean Zone 3 v Runner-up Central
American Zone B)
D3: Winner Caribbean Zone 2 (St. Vincent/Grenadines v Antigua/Barbuda)
D4: Jamaica

GROUP E
E1: Winner Interzone Round 2 (Runner-up Caribbean Zone 2 v Runner-up Central
American Zone A)
E2: USA
E3: Winner Caribbean Zone 1 (Barbados v Cuba)
E4: Costa Rica

FOOTBALL CONFEDERATION – 2002 FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING SEMIFINAL ROUND – DRAW SCHEDULE

DATE PERIOD 1: Wednesday, July 12 – Sunday, July 16
C1 v C2 and C3 v C4
DATE PERIOD 2: Saturday, July 22 – Wednesday, July 26
C1 v C3 and C4 v C2
DATE PERIOD 3: Tuesday, August 15 – Wednesday, August 16
C2 v C3 and C4 v C1
DATE PERIOD 4: Saturday, September 2 – Sunday, September 3
C2 v C1 and C4 v C3
DATE PERIOD 5: Saturday, October 7 – Wednesday, October 11
C3 v C1 and C2 v C4
DATE PERIOD 6: Tuesday, November 14 – Wednesday, November 15
C1 v C4 and C3 v C2

NOTE: The home team is the first team listed.

For more information please contact:
Morgan Quarry (613) 237-7678 ext.: 230 or media@soccercan.ca
Visit our web site at https://canadasoccer.com

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