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Signals from the Confederation

SIGNALS/SENALES/SIGNALS FROM THE CONFEDERATION SENALES/SIGNALS/SENALES DE LA CONFEDERACION News and events from around the Confederation of North, Central American, Caribbean Association Football. January 18, 2000. GOLD CUP 2000: MORE TEAMS. MORE GAMES. MORE EXCITING AND COMPETITIVE FOOTBALL. Gold Cup 2000 teams are now preparing for the start of the biggest and best of all Gold Cups; with the first teams arriving in three weeks’ time. The first edition of the new millenium promises to deliver more. More quality teams, more regional and world star players, more fans, more media attention, and chief among all: more exciting and competitive football of the highest caliber to date. To begin, the number of teams has been increased from ten to twelve as not one, but three teams from outside the region have been invited to compete in the region’s premier tournament for national teams. They are: Colombia, Peru and South Korea. There will be more matches, a total of 19, up three from the 16 games played in 1998. Most of these matches will be played in Miami, a venue filled with avid football fans from many nationalities. It is there, at the Orange Bowl, that the United States and Haiti will open Gold Cup 2000 on February 12. Then the games move on to San Diego, where group play, quarterfinals and one semifinal will be played. Los Angeles will have its share of matches, including the final at the Los Angeles Coliseum, where the first champion of the new millennium will be awarded the Gold Cup on February 27. The 2000 edition also features several firsts: – The first time Haiti, Colombia, Peru, South Korea compete in the tournament. – The first time all matches will be broadcast by an English language network (Fox Sports World). – First time audio broadcast of the matches will be available via the Internet in the English language (internetsoccer.com in partnership with Broadcast.com). – First time a national radio network broadcasts all matches live in Spanish in the United States (Radio Unica). “The 1998 Gold Cup was a landmark edition firmly establishing the tournament as one of the major competitions in the world,” said Confederation President Jack Warner. “With the ever increasing level of play achieved by our national teams, the 2000 edition is destined to become the most thrilling edition yet.” Mexico, as Gold Cup champions, and the USA, as the venue nation, qualified automatically. All other Confederation teams went through challenging qualifying stages. The UNCAF Cup, Central America’s principal competition, provided three teams, regional champion Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras. From the Caribbean, the Copa Caribe winners of 1998, Jamaica and 1999, Trinidad & Tobago, earned qualification. The final two places went to Canada and Haiti, the top teams emerging from the four-team playoffs in October at the Los Angeles Coliseum, which also included, El Salvador and Cuba. In 1991, the United States won the inaugural competition, defeating Honduras before 40,000 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. Mexico went on to win the 1993 and 1996 Gold Cup titles. In the latest edition, February 1998 in Los Angeles, Oakland and Miami, Mexico won its third Gold Cup title, defeating the Unites States, 1-0, in front of a crowd of 91,000 at the LA Coliseum. This edition saw record-breaking media coverage and attendance. (800 media outlets covered the event. Total attendance exceeded 360,000). ROAD TO GOLD CUP 2000 GUATEMALA tied with the Mexican U-23 national team, 1-1, in Los Angeles in front of 40,000 spectators on January 12. Guatemala’s Juan Carlos Plata opened the scoring in the 15th minute. Mexico’s goal was scored by Daniel Osorno in the 51st minute. CANADA beat Bermuda, 2-0, January 12 in Hamilton, Bermuda. A few days earlier, Canada earned a scoreless draw with Trinidad & Tobago. Both goals came in the first half, courtesy of Martin Nash. The UNITED STATES played to to a 1-1 draw against Iran, January 16 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The tough match, played before a lively pro-Iranian Rose Bowl crowd of 50,181, opened the USA’s 2000 campaign with a strong come-from-behind effort to tie Iran in the first meeting between the two teams on American soil. Chris Armas (Chicago Fire, MLS) scored his first goal in international play in the second half to earn the draw. Iran opened the scoring nine minutes into the end-to-end on a goal by Mehdi Mahdavikia. In the second match of the doubleheader, the USA U-23 national team defeated the full Armenica national team, 3-1. RAYOS DE NECAXA DEFEAT INTERCONTINENTAL CUP CHAMPIONS REAL MADRID TO TAKE THIRD PLACE IN THE FIFA CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Crushing all pre-tournament predictions, Confederation champions Rayos de Necaxa of Mexico, defeated Intercontinental Cup holders Real Madrid and earned third place in the FIFA Club World Championship, January 14 at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The hard fought match was decided by penalty kicks, 4-3, following a 1-1 draw after regulation. Raul gave the lead to the Spaniards in the 15th minute. Agustin Delgado scored the equalizer at the 58th minute. The remarkable achievement by the Mexican team shows just how much the level of football played in the Confederation’s region has improved as Necaxa finished ahead of heavy favorites Manchester United and Real Madrid. The victory guarantees Necaxa $4 million in prize money. “The results are a fair reflection of today’s reality,” said Real Madrid head coach Vicente del Bosque. His team, in addition to being held by Necaxa, nearly lost to Morocco’s Raja Casablanca in the first round before scraping a 3-2 win. Critics had predicted that teams such as Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia and South Melbourne would be hammered by Real and United, but this did not happen. No team managed to win a game by more than two goals. “People said the smaller teams would be eaten, that games would end with 10, 11 or even 12 goals,” FIFA President Sepp Blatter said. “But I repeat. There are no longer any weak teams.” Most observers agreed the tournament was more successful than expected, producing several top class games and revealing talented players such as Necaxa captain Alex Aguinaga. Aguinaga has been playing consistently well for years, but because he has spent most of his career in Mexico and comes from Ecuador, who have never qualified for a World Cup, this has been his first chance to perform on a world stage. Necaxa’s participation in the tournament permitted Mexican football to show that “it is of a high level and is getting better,” Aguinaga said. Necaxa’s run continues the streak of success by Confederation teams in international competition, highlighted by Mexico’s triumph in the FIFA Confederations’ Cup and and the USA win in the FIFA Women’s World Cup last year. FIFA Club World Championship CANADA TAKES FIRST STEP TOWARDS HOSTING FIFA U-20 WORLD CUP The Canadian Soccer Association made the preliminary motions to obtain the guidelines needed, as required by FIFA, to host the 2003 edition of the youth U-20 World Cup. The goal being to host the event in North America for the first time. The Canadian Association requested information from FIFA needed to determine the requirements of the tournament. “Should the requirements be in line with our ability to host this prestigious event , we will pursue this further and hope to host one of the premier events on the world football stage”, said CFA President, Jim Fleming. The very next edition of the tournament scheduled for 2001 will take place in Argentina. The last time that it was held in our Confederation was in Mexico ’83. Canada hosted the 1987 FIFA U-17 World Cup. US WOMEN WIN THE AUSTRALIA CUP The Unites States Women’s National Team won the Australia Cup with a 3-1 win against defending champion Australia in the city of Adelaide, January 12. The youthful U.S. team remained undefeated in three games, earlier routing the Czechs 8-1 and playing to a 0-0 tie with Sweden. In the match against the Matildas, the Americans held a 2-0 lead at halftime as Sherrill Kester scored in the 13th minute, and they got an own goal in the 34th. Australia reduced the margin to 2-1 when Australian captain Alison Forman scored in the 74th minute, but Aly Wagner scored the clincher with 10 minutes left. The young players gained valuable international experience as this was an important buildup for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, according to co-coach Lauren Gregg. `The sophistication with which they played was impressive to see and it bodes very well for the future of American women’s soccer,” Lauren said. GOLD CUP 2000 TO BE BROADCAST VIA INTERNET RADIO internetsoccer.com has secured the exclusive Internet audio/radio rights (English language) to the 2000 Gold Cup tournament. The internetsoccer.com broadcasts of the February 12-27 event will be the only free English-language coverage of this celebrated tournament. They will be provided exclusively by internetsoccer.com in partnership with Broadcast.com and Interforever Sports, Inc. FIRST MEDIA GOLD CUP 2000 NOTE: Media outltets wishing to secure dedicated phone lines in the press box of any of the venues are instructed to contact Patricia Otero of IFS, Inc., in Miami, at the following telephone number: (305) 377-2700, fax: 305 377-0802. SECOND MEDIA NOTE: This is a list of recommended media hotels in the San Diego area: Ramada Plaza Hotel 2151 Hotel Circle South San Diego, CA 92018 Phone: 619-291-6500 Fax: 619-294-7531 Average rate: $79 Hanalei Hotel 2270 Hotel Circle North San Diego, CA 92108 Phone: (800)-700-3328 Fax: 619-297-0555 Average rate: $95 Marriott Hotel 8757 Rio San Diego Drive San Diego, CA 92108 Phone: 619-692-3800 Fax: 619-297-3960 Average rate: $ 99 These hotels are located in Mission Valley, which is extremely close to Qualcomm Stadium. Rates are subject to change. CFU UNDER-15 COMPETITION UPDATE With the latest results, Trinidad & Tobago I moves forward while Trinidad & Tobago II goes out after being eliminated by Haiti. The Haitians defeated the West Indians 2-1 in their second match. Haiti now faces Aruba with the winner punching the first ticket to the competition finals in July of this year. Barbados awaits the winner of Antigua/Barbuda vs. St Kitts/Nevis for the second ticket. Trinidad & Tobago I awaits the winner of Martinique vs. St. Lucia for the third ticket. Bermuda vs. Cayman Islands winner awaits the winner of U.S.V.I. and Bahamas for the fourth ticket to the final. Results to date: 06.11.99 Aruba vs. NAVU, 3:0 (first leg) 07.11.99 U.S.V.I. vs. Anguilla, 1:1 (first leg) 07.11.99 B.V.I. vs. Antigua, 0:27 (first leg) 07.11.99 Dominica vs. Martinique, 1:0 (first leg) 07.11.99 Cayman Islands vs. Dominican Republic, 3:2 (first leg) 14.11.99 Dominican Republic vs. Cayman Islands, 2:3 (second leg – Cayman Islands advances) 20.11.99 NAVU vs. Aruba, 4:1 (second leg – NAVU advances) 05.12.99 Barbados vs. Guyana, 1:1 (first leg) 05.12.99 Trinidad & Tobago I vs. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 4:0 (first leg) 05.12.99 Trinidad & Tobago II vs. Haiti, 1:2 (first leg) 12.12.99 St. Vincent and The Grenadines vs. Trinidad & Tobago I, 0:2 (second leg) – T&T advances 12.12.99 Haiti vs. Trinidad & Tobago II, 2:1 (second leg – Haiti advances) 19.12.99 Guyana vs. Barbados, 1-2 (second leg – Barbados advances) 16.01.00 Anguilla vs. U.S.V.I., 0:1 (second leg – U.S.V.I. advances) 16.01.00 Cayman Islands vs. Bermuda, 2:2 (first leg match) 16.01.99 Antigua/Barbuda vs. B.V.I., (second leg match B.V.I. withdrew, Antigua/Barbuda advances) 16.01.00 Matrinique vs. Dominica, 3:1 (second leg – Martinique advances) Pending matches: 16.01.00 Haiti vs. Aruba (first leg) 05.02.00 Aruba vs. Haiti (second leg) – winner qualifies for final competition in July, 2000 06.02.00 U.S.V.I. vs. Bahamas (first leg) 06.02.00 Antigua/Barbuda vs. St. Kitts/Nevis (first leg) 06.02.00 Bermuda vs. Cayman Islands (second leg) – winner plays U.S.V.I. vs. Bahamas winner 06.02.00 Martinique vs. St. Lucia (first leg) 20.02.00 Bahamas vs. U.S.V.I. (second leg) – winner plays Bermuda vs. Cayman Isl. winner 27.02.00 St. Kitts/Nevis vs. Antigua/Barbuda (second leg) 27.02.00 St. Lucia vs. Martinique (second leg – winner plays Trinidad & Tobago I) 02.04.00 (Winner Bermuda vs. Cayman Isl) vs. (Winner U.S.V.I. vs. Bahamas) (first leg) 02.04.00 Barbados vs. (Winner Antigua/Barbuda vs. St. Kitts/Nevis) (first leg) 02.04.00 (Winner Martinique vs. St. Lucia) vs. Trinidad & Tobago I (first leg) 16.04.00 (Winner Antigua/Barbuda vs. St. Kitts/Nevis) vs. Barbados (second leg – winner qualifies for final competition in July, 2000) 16.04.00 Trinidad & Tobago I vs. (Winner Martinique vs. St. Lucia) (second leg – winner advances to final competition in July, 2000) 20.04.00 (Winner U.S.V.I. vs. Bahamas) vs. (Winner Bermuda vs. Cayman Isl) (second leg – winner qualifies for final competition in July, 2000) The Confederation of North, Central American, Caribbean Association Football, is one of six FIFA world Confederations serving as the governing body of soccer in North, Central America and the Caribbean. It is composed of 38 members, spanning from Canada in the north to Surinam in the south. For the latest information about the Confederation please visit our official web site: www.FootballConfederation.com. Also visit the Confederations news section in FIFA On-Line, the official FIFA web site: www.FIFA.com.