CONCACAF First Round games

Bit of a summer break- i've been off on holiday. Kos, Greece. It's lovely. Don't rent the quad bikes. Stiches out soon. And there were plenty of great holiday destinations playing in the first round of the North American qualifiers.

Montserrat 3-8 Belize

Ah, our brave underdogs, Montserrat. Started the whole process off, with a 5-2 defeat in Trinidad, Montserrat's home game. It turned out quite fair actually, because Belize aparantly also can't host a game, this one being held in Honduras. Belize managed to sort out their politics, and gain a fairly comfortable progression with a 3-1 "home" victory. Hat trick hero of the first game McCauley scored again for Belize, as did Jaylee Hodgson for Montserrat, who got all three of their goals over the two legs. English born Jaylee plays for Loughborough Dynamo, and now has a better international scoring record than Pele. Probably gives an impression of the standard that he usually plies his trade in the Northern Premier League Division One South. Though they also have a bit of a superstar- Anthony Griffith of Port Vale. Still, he couldn't rally them to victory, and we must say a sad goodbye.

Anguilla 0-6 Dominican Republic

The Domincans won two nil away and four nil at home for a comfortable progression, although both games they were actually at home, aparantly Anguilla also lack a decent football pitch. As the Dominicans do have a population of 10 million to Anguilla's 13,000, the score is a little less impressive. Although aparantly they prefer baseball. Bizarre. Anguilla bought international appearances for the Gumbs cousins of Slough Town. They didn't make an impact, but probably enjoyed a few days in the sunny Carribean, and away from their charming new town.

US Virgin Islands 4-1 British Virgin Islands

Ouch. As if the world cup draw wasn't enough, now the Yanks' Virgin Islands are bashing ours up. 2-0 at their place and 2-1 at ours. As the US Virgin Islands had previously scored one goal in their five game world cup qualifying history, this was not our finest hour. Lets move on, my patriotic side is getting all upset.

Aruba 6-6 (4-5 on penalties) Saint Lucia

Ah, the only real close game in this set, and it was a bit of a thriller. Aruba won 4-2 in the first leg and looked in good shape. But Jamal Joseph played hero in Saint Lucia, matching the score of 4-2, giving a 6-6 extra time score, and some penalty shoot out drama. Nine players scored, Jelano Cruden of Aruba missed, and Saint Lucia were through.

Turks and Caicos Islands 0-10 Bahamas

The Turks and Caicos have only been playing FIFA football since 2006, and it seems they have a lot of improving to do before they are a match for a footballing powerhouse like the Bahamas. 0-4 away and 6-0 at home, with the slightly effemitely named Lesly St Fleur getting an impressive five goals in the later game.

And there goes the first round of games for the CONCACAF region. A few eliminations, but they'd probably rather be playing cricket anyway.