CONCACAF Signals – January 24, 2012

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Semifinals set in Vancouver

On Friday, the United States will play Costa Rica and host Canada will face Mexico in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament to determine both of the confederation’s representatives at the Olympics next summer.

The U.S. defeated Mexico 4-0 on Tuesday to top Group B with a 3-0-0 record. The Americans outscored their opponents by a combined score of 31-0.

Mexico had opened with a 5-0 victory over Guatemala before beating the Dominicans 7-0. Guatemala grabbed its first ever victory in the finals on Tuesday, defeating the Dominican Republic by a score of 6-0.

Canada went perfect in all three first round games, outscoring its opponents 13-1 to capture first place in Group A. The Canadians closed out the Group Stage with a 5-1 victory over Costa Rica on Monday after beating Haiti 6-0 and Cuba 2-0.

The Costa Ricans finished on six points, beating Cuba and Haiti by the same 2-0 scorelines.

The Haitians achieved their first Women’s Olympic Qualifying final round win, beating Cuba 3-0, also on Monday.

Beckham returns; big ticket sales in Toronto

After rumors of his departure, the Galaxy announced on Thursday that David Beckham will remain with the club for the next two seasons. The midfielder is expected to be with the squad when it participates in the 2012 FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup, a four-team preseason tournament from February 22-March 3 featuring the Galaxy, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake.

Toronto FC, which opened its pre-season camp yesterday, announced that 35,000 tickets have been sold for the home leg (March 7) of its Champions League quarterfinal series against the LA Galaxy. The game will be played indoors at the Rogers Centre rather than BMO Field. The Seattle Sounders announced on Wednesday that it had signed Trinidadian Cordell Cato. The winger played for his country at the 2011 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship.

In Mexico, Morelia opened the weekend on Friday by beating San Luis 2-0. Goals by Jaime Lozano and Joao Rojas gave the Monarcas their first win of the Clausura season.

On Saturday, Monterrey tied visiting Pumas 1-1 at the Estadio Tecnologico. Juan Carlos Cacho opened the scoring for Pumas before Othoniel Arce equalized in the second half.

Also in Mexico, Santos defeated Jaguares 1-0 on a late goal from Aaron Galindo.

Lastly, in El Salvador Isidro Metapan defeated Universidad de El Salvador 1-0 on a Leonardo Da Silva goal.

U.S. closes out Costa Rican trip with win

The U.S. Under-23 ended a two-game Costa Rican trip with a 1-0 victory over the reserve team from Alajuelense. Tony Taylor scored the lone goal for the Americans.

The United States U-23 team tied the Saprissa reserves 0-0 on Saturday in a match in Costa Rica.

Cancun Cup beach event set for February

CONCACAF champion Mexico will face regional foes the United States and El Salvador, plus five-time Euro league champion Spain, at the Cancun Cup beach soccer tournament February 10-12.

The four-team, round-robin event, conducted by Beach Soccer Worldwide, will be staged at the Sunset Royal resort on the Caribbean Sea, with a 3,000-seat stadium being erected for the competition.

On the first day of play (February 10), Spain will play the United States, while Mexico will meet El Salvador in a rematch of the 2011 CONCACAF Beach Championship final.

Mexico will take-on the Americans in a clash of two-time CONCACAF champions to finish the event on February 12, which will also feature a celebrity match.

For a complete schedule please click here.

Guatemala falls twice to Brazil in futsal

Defending CONCACAF futsal champion Guatemala was beaten twice in a pair of friendlies by visiting Brazil at Guatemala City’s Domo Polideportivo over the weekend.

Both matches (played Friday and Sunday) ended with the same 3-1 scoreline. Walter Alejandro Enriquez and an own-goal by Brazil accounted for the Chapines’ goals.

Guatemala is preparing for the 2012 CONCACAF Futsal Championship, which it will host in July. Four teams will qualify for the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Thailand later this year.

The back-to-back results for Brazil against Guatemala marked the first time in nearly 20 years that a CONCACAF team held the four-time world champions to three or less goals in consecutive matches. The USA did it by defeating the Brazilians 5-3 at the 1989 FIFA Five-a-Side World Championship and then tying them 2-2 at the 1992 FIFA Futsal World Cup.