VS.

The drama of World Cup qualifying reaches its apex in the next 7 days as the final spots for South Africa 2010 will be set. Nations will be paralyzed as their teams fight for footballing glory. The CONCACAF vs. CONMEBOL playoff features Los Ticos of Costa Rica vs. Charrúas of Uruguay.

Its the first time that the 4th place CONCACAF team faces the 5th place CONMEBOL team. The 1st leg will take place on Saturday, November 14th in San Jose in Costa Rica's Saprissa Stadium, the 2nd leg takes place on Wednesday, November 18th in Montevideo at the Estadio Centenario.

HOME FIELDS
The artificial turf of Saprissa Stadium has been a massive advantage for Costa Rica in qualifying. In 9 home matches, Costa Rica has 8 wins & 1 loss. They've allowed only 4 goals in those matches. Saprissa has become the best home field advantage in CONCACAF. However, Uruguay will not be intimidated by Saprissa considering that they played 9 road games in the toughest WC qualifying region. The Estadio Centenario in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo hasn't been the fortress for Las Charrúas. In qualifying, their opposition were able to take points in 5 of the 9 matches. A fact that Costa Rica can use if they need a road goal.

MATCHUPS
The Uruguayan central defensive tandem of Diego Lugano & Diego Godin will have to stop Costa Rica's attacking duo of Bryan Ruiz and Álvaro Saborío. The Ruiz-Saborio combo each have 6 goals in qualifying and will be energized at home but the fulcrum of the Costa Rican attack is Celso Borges. The 21-year old midfielder who plays pro ball in Norway for Fredrikstad FK is the man that must breakdown the Uruguayan defense and open up opportunities for Ruiz and Saborio.

Costa Rica's defense will have two world class goal scorers to worry about. Atlético Madrid's Diego Forlán is the reigning Pichichi in La Liga and Uruguay's leading scorer in World Cup qualifying. Ajax's captain, Luis Suárez has been an absolute nightmare for defenses in the Dutch Eredivisie. Suárez is the hottest striker coming into these WC playoff matches. Suárez has 16 goals in 13 Eredivisie matches at 22-years old, he is the present and future of Uruguay's attack. The anchor of the Costa Rican defense is Júnior Díaz, the Wisla Kraków defender will have to play well and help organize the Ticos' defense in order to keep Suárez and Forlán off the score sheet.

PREDICTION
Uruguay's attack will be too strong for an average at best Costa Rican defense. Saprissa's artificial turf and raucous atmosphere will not intimidate the South Americans. The explosive attack of Las Charrúas especially at Estadio Centenario will get CONMEBOL a 5th entrant into The Great Tournament.
Uruguay defeats Costa Rica, 3-1 aggregate.

Costa Rica vs. Uruguay - WCQ Playoff Preview

The US claimed that they had dominance in their rivalry against Mexico. El Tri had another opinion as they proved to the northern borders why they never had won at the Coloso de Santa Ursula.

Mexico Dominate US On Their Turf

OK.... maybe not THAT clueless, but between uhs and ahs I had a point I had to make and I did. Listen to me on MajorLeagueSoccerTalk.com with Kartik Krishnaiyer. There we talked about everything CONCACAF Gold Cup, World Cup Qualifiers and Miami FC.

Juan On MLS Talk

Ths US was brought back to reality after suffering yet another loss to Costa Rica at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San José.

Hey I first have to give a shoutout to Beau Dure from the USA Today for setting up the chat during the match. And yes, Davies should have gotten sent off for that. LOL

The US made a case as to why the sport has finally made it here. The US media has gone from touting their national team as the fifth-best team in the world to trying to convince everyone that they sucked in a span of ten minutes in the 2006 World Cup. The same story is repeating itself once again. Prior to the match against Costa Rica, The US were looked at as the cream of the crop of CONCACAF. After their 3-1 loss at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San José, there is talk about the national team starting to go down a slippery slope.

Relax. Chill. Drink a beer.

Yes, the US played bad against Costa Rica, there was no doubt. You also have to give credit to Costa Rica who remained compact and continued to be organized throughout the match. You knew that the US was rattled for the first time in the Bradley regime when you started to see Pablo Mastroeni shooting from 40 yards out and when you saw him and Donovan jawing at each other. When Donovan moved to the left, Andy Herron did a very good job of limiting his touches.

Costa Rica found a way to "neutralize" Landon Donovan- by isolating him from the rest of his team. There was no way you could blame Donovan for that as he was the only player on the US that was proactive on the attack.

They lost. They deserved to lose regardless if they played on turf, grass, concrete, dirt, or in a pigsty. Costa Rica's offensive temerity went hand in hand with the US' precaution. The North American side played like they were on ice, while Costa Rica glided past them and that was to be expected. What no one recalls is that half of Rodrigo Kenton's callup was based from the Costa Rican giants. They live and play on that pitch constantly. I am not making excuses, I am just letting you know what the US was up against.

Still that was not an excuse to play the way they did. Fernando Clavijo said best on the Galavisión telecast when he said that "this was not a match where you go to improvise." I know that there was a need to, but there were pieces in the puzzle that would have fit better. Why DaMarcus Beasley as a left back? Why wasn't Jay DeMerit or Ricardo Clark even used to start with? There was no way for Beasley to defend three attackers on the back post

Onyewu and Bocanegra were eaten up and spit out by the Costa Rican attack. Álvaro Saborío and Bryan Ruiz split them on various occasions, one of which was the very first attack of the match for Los Ticos The US backline. The had no answers for any of the changes of front that they made.

Costa Rica- US Thoughts

Swine flu has rocked Mexico and soccer has been affected importantly all throughout CONCACAF. The U-17 regional tournament being held in Tijuana was canceled amid the fears of the promulgation of the pathology as the country finds the eyes of the world placed squarely on them.

The amount of deaths in Mexico caused by swine flu is nearing 200 deaths. So when the Mexican government announced it was closing schools nationwide, CONCACAF said Monday it would abandon the tournament "to safeguard the health of players, officials and fans."

Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and the United States had clinched spots in the semifinals of the tournament.

The semifinals of the U-17 tournament were scheduled for Wednesday in Tijuana, with the championship and third-place matches on Saturday. All four teams will advance to the U-17 World Cup, scheduled from Oct. 24-Nov. 15 in Nigeria.



CONCACAF also postponed the return leg of the Champions League finals until May 12. Cruz Azul and Atlante FC, both Mexican teams, were to play Wednesday in Cancún for the title of CONCACAF's best club team. Currently Atlante are ahead in the aggregate score 2-0 after winning in Mexico City last week.



CONCACAF will decide Tuesday whether to proceed with its beach championship, scheduled for Wednesday through Sunday in Puerto Vallarta.

Mexico City will continue with its restrictions to help avoid the spread of the swine flu epidemic. Three matches were played behind closed doors last weekend, and all signs point towards there being a repeat of the same. Cruz Azul stated it would do the same for this coming Saturday's match against Indios Juarez.

The Mexican national team has also closed its training sessions inside of its compex in the southern part of Mexico City. El Tri are scheduled to host Trinidad and Tobago in a World Cup qualifying match June 10 at the Estadio Azteca and there it is still too soon to see if that match will be rescheduled.

Swine Flu Causes Problems In CONCACAF

With World Cup Qualifiers coming up in the next couple of weeks, its time for another Top 5 here on Mad About Fútbol. These are the Top 5 things to watch for as teams compete to solidify their place for The Great Tournament in 2010 on The Motherland:

MAF Top 5: #5 - Mar. 28-Apr. 1 FIFA Date