Latest Standings for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Draw

Well first off congrats to Canada for getting a point off Ukraine! That result kept us in the top six, but we are by no means safe with Panama & Jamaica on our heals. Also Dominica needs a mention as they have jumped up into 11th in the table after their strong performances in Gold Cup Qualifying. This should also see Dominica achieve an all time high when the latest FIFA rankings come out in a few days. Without any further delay here are the latest standings:

May 2011 Rank	Country	Points
1	USA	992
2	Mexico	848
3	Honduras	521
4	Costa Rica	470
5	Canada	401
6	Jamaica	398
7	Panama	392
8	Guyana	320
9	El Salvador	273
10	T & T	247
11	Dominica	233
12	Suriname	199
13	Puerto Rico	198
14	Barbados	160
15	Grenada	149
16	Guatemala	142
17	St. Vincent	132
18	St. Kitts	124
19	Haiti	123
20	Antigua	121
21	Bermuda	94
22	Cayman Islands	90
23	Cuba	82
24	Dominican R.	70
25	N. Antilles	57
26	Nicaragua	53
27	Belize	44
28	St. Lucia	31
29	Turks & Caicos	13
30	British VI	12
31	Bahamas	9
32	Aruba	7
33	USVI	3
34	Anguilla	0
34	Montserrat	0

Latest Standings as of 6AM Eastern (8pm Down Under)

May 2011 Rank	Country	Points
1	USA	963
2	Mexico	835
3	Honduras	512
4	Costa Rica	440
5	Canada	401
6	Panama	359
7	Jamaica	344
8	El Salvador	273
9	T & T	254
10	Puerto Rico	198
11	Barbados	160
12	Grenada	149
13	Guatemala	142
14	St. Vincent	132
15	St. Kitts	124
16	Haiti	123
17	Antigua	121
18	Guyana	105
19	Dominica	101
20	Bermuda	94
21	Cayman Islands	90
22	Cuba	82
23	Suriname	67
24	N. Antilles	57
25	Nicaragua	53
26	Belize	44
27	Turks & Caicos	13
27	St. Lucia	13
29	British VI	12
30	Bahamas	9
31	Aruba	7
32	Dominican R.	4
33	USVI	3
34	Anguilla	0
34	Montserrat	0

The Latest on the Road to Brasil 2014

Greetings football fans,

Pompey Canuck here again with an update on the Road to Brasil 2014. After the grand spectacle of the World Cup (which required many late nights & early mornings to follow from Australia), I spent two travelling around the Outback, making it difficult to keep up with the all of the football news...but I have found out some crucial info affecting Canada's journey to Brasil.

First off, after the strong performances of our CONCACAF brethren Mexico & the States at the World Cup in South Africa, CONCACAF has seen our Global co-efficient rise from the minimum .85 to .88! That is great news! It means that Canada will now get more ranking points for beating CONCACAF opponents, which should see all CONCACAF teams move up the overall FIFA rankings. It also means that CONCACAF is the third strongest football federation in the World after Europe and South America (which both have the maximum co-efficient of 1). I should also point out that the strong performance of Ghana boosted the CAF to .86 leaving only Asia & Oceania on the minimum.

Second, I have the current standings for the May 2011 FIFA rankings, which as far as I am aware is still when the draw for World Cup Qualifying is likely to take place. The top six are seeded in the draw and should progress to the final stage. So without further ado here are the standings which include Puerto Rico's win over Anguilla on October 2.

May 2011 Rank	Country	Points
1	USA	963
2	Mexico	835
3	Honduras	499
4	Costa Rica	440
5	Canada	366
6	Panama	346
7	Jamaica	344
8	El Salvador	273
9	T & T	254
10	Grenada	149
11	Guatemala	142
12	Haiti	123
13	Antigua	121
14	Puerto Rico	117
15	Guyana	105
16	Dominica	101
17	Bermuda	94
18	Cuba	82
19	Barbados	72
20	St. Kitts	68
21	Suriname	67
22	St. Vincent	58
23	N. Antilles	57
24	Nicaragua	53
25	Belize	44
26	Cayman Islands	24
27	Turks & Caicos	13
27	St. Lucia	13
29	British VI	12
30	Bahamas	9
31	Aruba	7
32	Dominican R.	4
33	USVI	3
34	Anguilla	0
34	Montserrat	0

There you have it: Canada is sitting in 5th place. However we are by no means comfortably in 5th place - Panama and Jamaica are right on our heels. Now with May 2011 just around the corner, the matches we play count for a lot more towards the standings, so it is not out of the question for Canada to catch Costa Rica or even Honduras. To give you an idea of the amount of movement possible, Dominica picked up two wins over Barbados, grabbing nearly 100 points and moving from 26th to 16th. With that in mind, here are the matches coming up for the top eleven teams in October:

USA - Home to Poland & Colombia
Mexico - Home to Venezuela
Honduras - Away to New Zealand, Home to Guatemala
Costa Rica - Away to Peru, Home to El Salvador
Canada - Away to Ukraine
Panama - Home to El Salvador & Peru
Jamaica - Home to Trinidad & Tobago
El Salvador - Away to Panama & Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago - Away to Jamaica
Grenada - No matches scheduled
Guatemala - Home to Belize, Away to Honduras

If Canada manages a victory over Ukraine it will take our points total to 471. That would put us ahead of Costa Rica if they drop both of their matches and just behind Honduras if they lose theirs. It is going to be a close fight to make the top six no matter what happens. That said, because Canada have been playing matches we are going to be a lot better off than we were four years ago, when we were only the 11th ranked side in the region.

I am going to put out the next update at the start of November. Look for a lot of movement from some of the smaller nations as the qualifiers for the 2011 Gold Cup get underway.