2010 World Cup Qualifying: CONCACAF

World Cup 2010 Qualifying - CONCACAF Region
World Cup Bids: 3.5
Teams Entered: 35

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Tournament Format Explained
Thirty five teams are entered in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament. In the first two stages, those thirty five teams are whittled down to 12. The first round features double-legged matches between the 22 lowest ranked CONCACAF teams, with the eleven losers being eliminated. The eleven teams that advanced, along with the 13 nations that received byes through the first round, pair off in 12 double-legged matches, with the 12 winners advancing into the first group stage.
The first group stage consists of the 12 remaining teams split into 3 groups of 4 teams each. The initial draw for the tournament determined what group each team would be in if they won their second round match. In this round, teams play a double round-robin tournament within their group (6 matches, home and away against each team). The top two teams in each group will advance to the second group stage.
The second group stage consists of the 6 remaining teams. These teams will square off in a double round-robin tournament (10 matches for each team), with the top 3 nations in the final standings advancing directly to World Cup 2010 in South Africa. The fourth place team in the group will square off with with the fifth place team from CONMEBOL (South America) for a place in the World Cup.

Tournament Draw
The tournament draw, conducted in November of 2007 in South Africa. Teams were drawn into brackets for the first and second rounds, and also into which of the three groups second round winners would be placed into.

Teams were split into 6 pots. The result of the draw is in parenthesis after each nation.

Pot A: Top seeds, receiving a bye through the first round. These teams cannot be placed in the same group.

• United States (Group A)
  
• Mexico (Group B)
  
• Costa Rica (Group C)
  

Pot B: Seeds 4-6, also receiving first round bye, these teams also cannot be put into the same group.

• Honduras (Group B)
  
• Panama (Group C)
  
• Trinidad and Tobago (Group A)
  

Pot C: Seeds 7-12, also receiving first round bye. These teams are the theoretical 3 and 4 seeds in the first group stage.

• Jamaica (Group B)
  
• Cuba (Group A)
  
• Haiti (Group C)
  
• Canada (Group B)
  
• Guyana (Group C
  
• Guatemala (Group A)
  

Pot D: 13th ranked team. Because there are an odd number of remaining teams, this team receives a de facto bye to the second round.

• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Group B, paired with Canada)
  

Pot E: Teams Ranked 14-24. Top seeds for first round matches

• Barbados (vs. Dominca, paired with United States in Group A)
  
• Suriname (vs. Montserrat, paired with Guyana in Group C)
  
• Bermuda (vs. Cayman Islands, paired with Trinidad and Tobago in Group A)
  
• Antigua and Barbuda (vs. Aruba, paired with Cuba in Group A)
  
• Saint Kitts and Nevis (vs. Belize, paired with Mexico in Group B)
  
• Dominican Republic (vs. Puerto Rico, paired with Honduras in Group B)
  
• El Salvador (vs. Anguilla, paired with Panama in Group C)
  
• Bahamas (vs. British Virgin Islands, paired with Jamaica in Group B)
  
• Nicaragua (vs. Netherlands Antilles, paired with Haiti in Group C)
  
• Grenada (vs. US Virgin Islands, paired with Costa Rica in Group C)
  
• Saint Lucia (vs. Turks and Caicos Islands, paired with Guatemala in Group A)
  

Pot F: Teams ranked 25-35. these are the bottom seeded teams for the first round.

• Turks and Caicos Islands (vs. Saint Lucia, paired with Guatemala in Group A)
  
• Netherlands Antilles (vs. Nicaragua, paried with Haiti in Group C)
  
• British Virgin Islands (vs. Bahamas, paired with Jamaica in Group B)
• Dominica (vs. Barbados, paired with United States in Group A)
  
• Cayman Islands (vs. Bermuda, paired with Trinidad and Tobago in Group A)
  
• Puerto Rico (vs. Dominican Republic, paired with Honduras in Group B)
  
• Anguilla (vs. El Salvador, paired with Panama in Group C)
  
• Belize (vs. Saint Kitts and Nevis, paired with Mexico in Group B)
  
• U.S. Virgin Islands
• Montserrat (vs. Suriname, paired with Guyana in Group C)
  
• Aruba (vs. Antigua and Barbuda, paired with Cuba in Group A)
  

Which produced the following bracket:
(teams are arranged in bracket order, with the heading denoting the appropriate group they will be participating in. FIFA World Rankings are provided to the left of each nation)