Canada beats Mexico and leads the classification to Qatar-2022; The United States follows closely

After the eighth day of the octagonal of the Concacaf playoffs for the Qatar World Cup 2022 there were notable changes at the top of the rankings. On Tuesday Canada took the lead it was ambitious and Mexico dropped to third place, where he already feels the pressure of the surprising and vigorous Panama.

The eighth day of the octagonal began at the National Stadium in Kingston where the United States could not establish itself as a leader by drawing 1-1 with Jamaica.

The American squad seemed to be heading for victory in the 11th minute with a goal from Timothy Weah, but the ‘Reggae Boyz’ soon found it 1-1 through Michail Antonio, at 22.

With this tie, the United States reached 15 points and fell to second place, while Jamaica reached seven points.

“I think we are on the right track,” United States coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We have had very good performances at home and we have achieved five visitor points.”

At the Rommel Fernández stadium in Panama City, the local team took a big step forward with their 2-1 triumph coming from behind against El Salvador.

‘La Selecta’ took the lead at minute 1 with a goal from Jairo Henríquez, but ‘La Marea’ Roja turned the score around in a blink in the second half with scores from Cecilio Waterman, at 50, and Freddy Góndola, at 52.

The Salvadorans fell behind with six points and the Panamanians reached 14 points to catch up with the Mexicans, but they remain fourth and in the playoff zone on goal difference.

“I liked seeing the courage and reaction of my footballers,” said Danish Thomas Christiansen, Panama’s technical director. “We go with everything, in the following dates of the tie we will be just as ambitious to win.”

At the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Canada scored the second win on this double qualifying date and already leads the octagonal unbeaten with 16 points thanks to the 2-1 victory over Mexico, which lost one place again and dropped to third to stay with 14 points. .

Cyle Larin was the Canadian figure by scoring both goals at minutes 45 + 2 and 52. The ‘Tricolor’ got the discount at 90 thanks to Héctor Herrera and resigned himself to his second defeat in less than a week.

“Inside the team is intact and I am convinced that we are all going in the same direction,” boasted Gerardo Martino, Mexico coach.

Costa Rica gave an apparent warning of resurgence with its 2-1 victory ‘in extremis’ over Honduras at the National Stadium in San Jose.

‘La Sele’ scored 1-0 at minute 20 through Óscar Duarte and H equaled 1-1 at 35 thanks to Romell Quioto,

When it seemed that the tie was sentenced, Gerson Torres appeared to give the Ticos 2-1 at 90 + 4.

Thus, Costa Rica took fifth place with nine points and Honduras was already almost evicted with three units.

“We played with willingness and courage and gave our best until the end, but we know we have to improve a lot,” concluded the Colombian Luis Fernando Suárez, technical director of Costa Rica.

The ninth round of the octagonal will be played on Thursday, January 27 with the following matches:

Honduras-Canada

United States-El Salvador

Costa Rica-Panama

Jamaica-Mexico

(D)