FEBRUARY 2003

VOLUME 13 / NUMBER 1

CONFEDERATION OF NORTH, CENTRAL AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL NEWSLETTER

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
6 February 2003
CONCACAF Referees Committee Meeting
New York, NY USA
7 February 2003
CONCACAF Executive Committee Meeting
New York, NY USA
9-23 February 2003
FC Gold Cup
Central Zone Qualifying
Rep. Panam
5-9 March 2003
FC U-17 Junior Tournament
Final (Group A)
Guatemala
President Warner presides over the draw for the FIFA World Youth Championship, January 29

CONCACAF PRESIDENT JACK A. WARNERS MESSAGE

We begin 2003 with a string of away wins to look back on and now a great deal to be
done to improve our form at home.
That, in the simplest football terms, is how I see CONCACAF at this turn of the year
success on the field and in the conference rooms abroad but now the need to win a big one
at home.the matter of advance planning for all our competitions.
It is now imperative that we look further ahead and further afield in deciding the dates,
the venues and the formats of all our competitions.
We need to do so to enable all our nations, and clubs, to prepare many months, even
years, ahead so as to be in the best position to emerge from our competitions and give the
best possible account of themselves at the world level.
There, as we and the world know, we have done extremely well in the past year.
We could not have asked more of our three World Cup teams and their performances
on the field in Korea and Japan helped us win the next victory in the conference room
when we persuaded the FIFA Executive Committee to give us another half a place in the
World Cup of 2006. Our fourth place team will play Asias fifth placed team for that spot
in Germany. It was not easy to achieve, as everyone else fought to retain their places or
increase their places. It will not be easy for our fourth placed team leading up to 2006 but,
as I said at the time, we can beat Asia and I believe we will.
At that same FIFA Executive Committee we won two victories for referees everywhere.
We had made two points in advance of those meetings that the strict age limit for FIFA
referees of 45 made no senseand the insistence of referees for FIFA events coming as a
trio from one country made even less. None, in fact.
How many countries can produce three world level officials at the same time? Very, very
few. Such a rule would have meant the death of our referee development program. But we
achieved a change in that the trio of officials can now come from one Confederation, not
country, so all our game officials have reason to work, to advance and to succeed.
But success in the greater world will not continue for us unless we now improve everything we do at home.
I have referred to this beforeto the need for better coaching, better development, better teaching, better administration..and, through our own efforts as well as great help
from the English FA at our Centre of Excellence, we have begun to make inroads into those
vital, indeed Herculean, tasks.
We must now pay even greater attention to our competitions; the very events which show
the competitive face of CONCACAF to the fans, to the media, to the world. No matter what we
have done away, in the end we will be judged, and will rise or fall, on what we do at home.

12-22 March 2003

England F.A. Coaching Licence Course
Havelange Centre of Excellence
Tunapuna, Trinidad
25 March 16 April 2003
FIFA World Youth Championship
United Arab Emirates
26-30 March 2003
FC U-17 Junior Tournament
Final (Group B)
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
26-30 March 2003
FC Gold Cup
Caribbean Zone Qualifying
Group A - Jamaica
Group B - Trinidad & Tobago
18-29 June 2003
FIFA Confederations Cup
France
12-27 July 2003
FC Gold Cup
USA
13-30 August 2003
FIFA U-17 World Championship
Finland

PAGE 2

FIFA WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP

UAE 2003 DRAW HELD IN ABU DHABI

Canada and the USA found themselves

drawn into tough groups when the draw for
FIFA World Youth Championship UAE 2003
was held on 29 January in Abu Dhabi, as
CONCACAF's four representatives all received
their assignments for the under-20 event.
Canada was drawn into Group C, along with Brazil, Czech Republic
and Australia, while the USA was drawn into Group F, with Paraguay,
Germany and Korea Republic. Playing in their first FIFA world championship, Panama was placed in Group A, joining Slovakia, Burkina Faso
and the host country, while Mexico found themselves in Group E, with
Saudi Arabia, Republic of Ireland and Cote d'Ivoire.
CONCACAF President Jack A. Warner, FIFA Vice
FIFA WORLD
YOUTH
President and Chairman of the Organising
CHAMPIONSHIP
Committee for the FIFA World Youth
GROUPINGS
Championship, conducted the lavish ceremony,
GROUP A
which was attended by many prestigious names
United Arab Emirates
from the football world, including Liberian striker
Slovakia
George Weah and English coach Roy Hodgson. His
Panama
Burkina Faso
Highness Sheikh Saeed Bin Zayed Al Nahayan was
also in attendance.
GROUP B
Argentina
In all, 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four
Spain
teams
for the tournament set for 25 March - 16 April.
Uzbekistan
The top two teams in each group, plus the four best
Mali
third-place teams, advance to the knockout stage.
GROUP C
Canada finds itself in one of the toughest groups
Brazil
in the competition, to be played at Rashid Stadium,
Canada
Czech Republic
Dubai, with three teams that advanced to the second
Australia
stage in Argentina 2001, including Brazil, which finGROUP D
ished fifth. Canada is competing in the WYC for the
Colombia
sixth time, but failed to win a match or score a goal
Egypt
in Argentina.
Japan
England
The USA finds themselves at Al Nahayan Stadium,
Abu Dhabi with two countries that also advanced to
GROUP E
the knockout stage in 2001 in Paraguay, third-place
Saudi Arabia
Rep. Ireland
finisher in the CONMEBOL championship, and
Mexico
Germany, runners-up in the UEFA championship.
Cote DIvoire
Mexico, which also did not qualify for Argentina 2001,
GROUP F
will
play at Khalifa Stadium, Al Ain in a group where
Paraguay
no countries competed in the finals two years ago.
USA
Korea Republic
Saudi Arabia finished third in Asian qualifying, Cote
Germany
d'Ivoire second in the Confederation Africaine de
Football, and Ireland fourth in the European competition.
Panama also finds themselves surrounded by countries with similar pedigrees in the group set for Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu
Dhabi. Burkina Faso and Slovakia have never before reached the
World Youth Championship while the host United Arab Emirates
have appeared just once previously in the WYC (1997).

Two of the Confederations qualifiers, Mexico and Panama, found

themselves drawn against tournament newcomers for the WYC

CONFEDERATION NEWS - FEBRUARY 2003

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

The Executive Committee of the
Confederation of North, Central
American and Caribbean Association
Football will gather for the first time in
2003 when they meet on Friday 7
February at the offices of the General
Secretariat in New York City.
Having last met on 18 April 2002, the
day before the XXIII Ordinary Congress
in Miami Beach, Florida, the Executive
faces a busy and lengthy agenda requiring its attention. The meeting had been scheduled for 27 January
2003, but was postponed when CONCACAF President Jack A.
Warner was pulled away on urgent FIFA business.
Items dealing with future competitions dominate the committees agenda. The most important piece of business will be decision
on CONCACAFs qualifying format for FIFA World Cup Germany
2006, which must then be ratified by the games governing body. A
number of various proposals have been put before the members of
the Executive, with the final decision expected.
As well, decisions will be taken regarding the Confederations
qualification process for the 2004 Olympic Games, set for Athens,
Greece. The format for both the mens and womens competitions
will be decided; 25 national associations have indicated they wish
to participate in the mens competition, while 17 have enrolled for
the womens competition.
In addition, decisions will be taken regarding the format and
composition of the football competitions (both mens and
womens) for the 2003 Pan American Games, to be held in Santo
Domingo, Republica Dominicana; the site of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship;
and the structure of the Confederation club competitions.
As usual, the Executive will hear reports on all past and current
competitions, as well as reports from the regional bodies of the
Caribbean Football Union and the Union Centroamericana de
Ftbol, and departmental reports.
Further, the Executive will hear a detailed report from the
CONCACAF Referees Committee, which is scheduled to meet on
the day before the Executive Committee meeting (6 February), also
in New York City.
Finally, the timing of the meeting will also allow the Executive
to celebrate the birthday of President Warner, who turned 59 years
of age on 26 January.

U-17 FINALS SET

The final tournaments in the

CONCACAF Under-17 Junior
Tournament are now set after the
completion of the second group
in the Central Zone in January.
Costa Rica advanced on goal
difference ahead of Panam, to
qualify for the Group B final
tournament, set for 26-30 March
in Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada. Mexico, Cuba and the
host nation round out the field.
The Group A final will be
played at Estadio Mateo Flores in
Guatemala City from 5-9 March,
and features the USA, Jamaica,
El Salvador and the hosts.
The winners of each roundrobin affair will advance to FIFA
World Under-17 Championship

Finland 2003, while the secondplaced teams in each group will

playoff for the Confederations
third spot available. The USA and
Costa Rica qualified for the 2001
championship, joining the host
country in the event played in
Trinidad & Tobago.
CONCACAF UNDER-17 JUNIOR TOURNAMENT
CENTRAL ZONE QUALIFYING -GROUP B
Coln, Panam; Estadio Armando Dely Valds
15.01.2003: COSTA RICA BELIZE 8:0 (5:0)
R: Donald CAMPOS (NCA)
17.01.2003: PANAMA - BELIZE 4:0 (2:0)
R: Evaristo SORIANO (HON)
19.01.2003: PANAMA COSTA RICA 2:2 (1:1)
R: Dnald CAMPOS (NCA)
FINAL TOURNAMENT
GROUP A: Guatemala, 5-9 March 2003:
Guatemala, USA, Jamaica, El Salvador
GROUP B: Canada, 26-30 March 2003:
Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica

CONFEDERATION NEWS - FEBRUARY 2003

FIELD NEARLY COMPLETE

FOR 2003 FC GOLD CUP

The field for the seventh edition of the

Confederations championship for national teams,
FC Gold Cup 2003, will
come into sharp focus over
the next two months as zonal qualification
tournaments are played in Central America
and the Caribbean.
The Union Centroamericana de Ftbol
will crown a champion for the seventh time
when the Central American Zone Gold Cup
qualifier, the UNCAF Copa de Naciones, is
played from 9-23 February in Panam.
The following month the long road of
qualification in the Caribbean Zone comes to
a conclusion with the final two group tournaments, one in Trinidad & Tobago and one
in Jamaica, set to be played 26-30 March.
The qualifiers from each region will join
Canada, Mexico and the USA in this summers Gold Cup finals who gain automatic
places as previous champions. The field will
be rounded out by guest teams from the
Confederacin Sudamericana de Ftbol, to
be announced shortly.
Heres a preview of the upcoming zonal
championships:

ers plying their trade overseas, the catrachos

just missed out on a trip to Korea/Japan, losing away to Mexico in the final World Cup
qualifying match. They too have a new coach
in Chelato Ucls, who took over replacing
Ramon Enrique Maradiaga last year.
Guatemala has been quiet since their
stunning elimination at the first hurdle in
the Gold Cup finals a year ago. But Julio
Csar Cortes remained in charge of the
national team, and has been counting on a
veteran and familiar team in pre-qualifying
friendlies against Jamaica and El Salvador
(all three draws).
El Salvador technical director Juan
Ramn Paredes, on the other hand, has
spent the last few months completely renovating the national selection with younger
blood but with good reason: El Salvador
captured the gold medal in the Central
American and Caribbean Games, defeating
Mexico in the final. That competition was an
Olympic-age competition (actually played
with players under 22), and the majority of
that squad has been called into the senior
team since.
Nicaragua has failed to reach the final
round in any of the three UNCAF Copa de
Naciones, they participated in since 1997.

PAGE 3
eventual runner-up Costa Rica on a golden
goal in the quarterfinals. Argentinian Jorge
Castelli, who guided that effort, was dismissed last fall, but Brazilian Caetano
Rodriguez safely saw Haiti through with a
pair of victories in their preliminary round.
Saint Lucia reached the final group stage
this year in a very tight group that saw it,
Trinidad & Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis
all level on points, only for goal difference to
rule out St. Kitts.
Trinidad & Tobago will hope to put that
behind them in a bid to reach the Gold Cup
finals for the sixth time in seven tries, the
best performance among Caribbean countries. Their main threat will come from Cuba,
which surprised Panama in a playoff to reach
last years Gold Cup finals and has seen both
their U-17 and U-20 teams reach the
Confederations final tournaments this year.
Guadeloupe is aiming to mirror the performance of fellow French overseas department (and CONCACAF associate member)
Martinique by reaching their first-ever Gold
Cup finals. They surprised Barbados in the

El Salvador hopes to build on their Gold Cup

performance and CAC Games triumph

Martinique surprised with their performance

reaching the quarters in the 2002 Gold Cup
Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago are out to
defend their regional championships

CENTRAL AMERICA: Five teams will

be chasing defending champion Guatemala
who won their first major honor in capturing the 2001 UNCAF Copa de Naciones on
home soil. Three-time champion Costa Rica,
twice winner Honduras, El Salvador,
Nicaragua and the host country will round
out the field for the round-robin event,
mainly to be played at Estadio Rommel
Fernandez in the capital city yet with one
matchday also set for Estadio Armando Dely
Valdes in Coln.
Costa Rica should enter the competition
as favorite, after narrowly failing to advance
in last summers FIFA World Cup finals,
drawn into the true Group of Death alongside eventual champion Brazil and eventual
third-place finisher Turkey. But since, Steve
Sampson has taken over for Alexandre
Guimaraes, the Copa de Naciones his first
senior management experience after leaving
the U.S. national team following France 98.
Honduras is not far behind in favorite
status. A team full of experienced campaign-

CARIBBEAN: The two host countries

of the final groups, the two Caribbean countries to reach the final round of CONCACAF
qualifying for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, are
expected to reach the Gold Cup finals. But
both face groups filled with potential pitfalls.
In Group A in Jamaica, the hosts will
face Haiti, Martinique and Saint Lucia, while
in Group B, T&T has drawn Cuba,
Guadeloupe and Antigua & Barbuda.
Jamaica saw their qualification bid for
FC Gold Cup 2002 derailed by Martinique
and Trinidad & Tobago in the 2001 Copa
Caribe, and are intent on making sure it
doesnt happen again, expecting to call a
large number of players who are scattered
throughout the leagues in England from
the Premiership down.
Martinique was the surprise of the last
Gold Cup, reaching the quarterfinals before
unluckily going out on penalty kicks to
Canada. Martinique showed their mettle earlier in the year with a third-place finish in
the Copa Caribe.
Haiti, too, surprised in the last Gold Cup
in a grab at past glory, getting past Trinidad
& Tobago in the first round before falling to

preliminary round with a 1:0 victory on the

final day to advance ahead of the World Cup
qualifying Cinderella.
Antigua & Barbuda showed they are
ready to move into the next level in the
Caribbean by reaching the finals; they
advanced farther than ever before in 2002
World Cup qualifying before going out to
Guatemala at the Interzone Round.
FC GOLD CUP 2003
CARIBBEAN ZONE QUALIFYING SEMIFINAL ROUND
GROUP A (Jamaica)
26.03.2003: Haiti Martinique; Jamaica Saint Lucia
28.03.2003: Saint Lucia Haiti, Martinique Jamaica
30.03.2003: Saint Lucia Martinique; Jamaica Haiti
GROUP B (Trinidad & Tobago)
26.03.2003: Guadeloupe Cuba, Trin & Tobago Antigua & Barbuda
28.03.2003: Cuba Antigua & Barbuda; Guadeloupe Trin & Tobago
30.03.2003: Antigua & Barbuda Guadeloupe; Trin & Tobago Cuba
CENTRAL ZONE QUALIFYING
(all matches in Panama unless noted otherwise)
09.02.2003: Panama El Salvador (17:00)
11.02.2003: Nicaragua Honduras (19:00),
El Salvador Costa Rica (21:00)
13.02.2003: El Salvador Nicaragua (19:00),
Costa Rica Guatemala (21:00)
15.02.2003 (Coln): Costa Rica Nicaragua (15:00),
Honduras El Salvador (17:00)
16.02.2003: Guatemala Panama (17:00)
18.02.2003: Guatemala Nicaragua (19:00),
Panama Honduras (21:00)
20.02.2003: El Salvador Guatemala (19:00);
Costa Rica Honduras (21:00)
21.02.2003: Panama Nicaragua (21:00)
23.03.2003: Guatemala Honduras (15:00),
Panama Costa Rica (17:00)

PAGE 4

CONFEDERATION NEWS - FEBRUARY 2003

AROUND THE CONFEDERATION

725 FIFTH AVENUE, 17th FLOOR, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10022

U-20 OFFICIALS: A pair of three-man teams of

match officials from CONCACAF have been included
in the appointment for the FIFA World Youth
Championship United Arab Emirates 2003, to be
played from 25 March - 16 April.
For the first time, the officials have been selected in
teams of three to represent their respective confederations
with one referee and two assistants comprising each of the teams. The
three-man teams will work together in each of the matches they are
selected to officiate during the course of the championship.
One team from the region has Kevin Stott of the USA running
the center, assisted by Chris Strickland of the USA and Simon Fearn
of Canada. The other CONCACAF group has Armando Archundia of
Mexico handling the refereeing duties, with assistants Vladimir
Bertiaga of Panama and Carlos Pastrana of Honduras.
GOAL PROJECT: A dream comes true! Thats the way Sixto
Walle, President of the Nederlands Antilliaanse Voetbal Unie,
described the inauguration of the Mordy Maduro Centre in
Willemstad, Curaao, to the large gathering of football, government
and sporting officials on 24 January.
The Centre, financed by FIFAs GOAL Programme and built in
eight months, includes offices for the NAVU and the Federashon di
Futbol di Korsou (Curacao Football Federation), its island affiliate,
as well as a dormitory and a large conference room that will also be
used by the NAVU for its education programme.
U.S. WOMEN WIN: A 1:0 victory for the USA against
Germany, combined with a 1:1 tie between China and Norway on the
final day, was enough to give the U.S. women the championship of
the prestigious Four Nations Tournament in China in what could be
a preview of this falls FIFA Womens World Cup.

CARIBBEAN AID: CONCACAF President Jack A. Warner said

that he will ask FIFA to stop and review the US$250,000 given
annually to each national association in the Caribbean to ensure the
funds are being used properly.
Speaking on the subject of the socio-economic impact of sport on
the region to a group of Caribbean businessmen in Barbados,
President Warner said that over the last four years, nearly all of the
national associations in the Caribbean Football Union had nothing
to show, except for overseas tours, for the quadrennial US$1 million
outlay announced by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter in 1998.
I will ask FIFA to hold back the funding and we will have to teach
the Caribbean associations how to invest and use the money wisely,
Warner said. The regional associations spend little on development
which is the cornerstone of football success. The time has come for
us in FIFA to provide rigid guidelines for the disbursement of the
FIFA grant.
RUIZ HONORED: Los Angeles Galaxy and Guatemala striker
Carlos Ruiz was named Person of the Year in his homeland. Named
Most Valuable Player in both the regular season and championship
game in the USAs Major League Soccer, combined with his humanitarian work with Ayudame a Vivir (Help Me Live), a foundation
that helps children with cancer, made him the logical choice for the
award, presented by the newspaper Prensa Libre.
CARDOZO EL REY: With 36 goals scored in the 20022003 Torneo Apertura, Jos Saturnino Cardozo alone outdistanced
the production of 13 Mexican clubs. The output led the Diablos
Rojos to the Apertura title they captured in December, and his goalscoring capacity did not go unnoticed by sporting journalists in the
Americas, who named him - through the newspaper El Pas of
Uruguay Rey de Amrica, the footballer of the year for the region
in 2002.