INSIDE GRENADA FEBRUARY 05, 2008 by Lester Smith The road for CONCACAF teams to the FIFA World Cup ™ South Africa 2010 began on Sunday as Bermuda were held to a 1:1 tie against visiting Cayman Islands in the first-leg encounter in Stage 1 of the home-and-away elimination series at Hamilton’s National Sports Centre. Bermuda took the lead with a goal by Tyrell Burgess in the 18th minute, but Allean Grant scored the equalizer for the Cayman Islands with three minutes remaining. The second-leg will take place at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in Grand Cayman on 30 March. The first-leg encounters of the 2010 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification continue on Wednesday (6 February) with six more match-ups starting with Dominica taking on Barbados at the Windsor Park Stadium in Roseau, while Aruba face Antigua & Barbuda at the Centro Deportivo Guillermo Trinidad in Oranjestad. Elsewhere, Turks & Caicos Islands will be hosting their first ever CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying game at the Providenciales’ National Stadium when they meet St. Lucia, while Belize will be the home team when they play against St. Kitts & Nevis at the Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City. Also on Wednesday, El Salvador and Nicaragua will be hosting Anguilla and Netherlands Antilles at San Salvador’s Estadio Cuscatlan and Estadio Cacique Diriangen in Diriamba, respectively. Rounding out the first-leg encounters will be the British Virgin Islands who visits the Bahamas at the BFA National Centre in Nassau on 26 March. The single elimination match-ups between Puerto Rico – Dominican Republic, Grenada – US Virgin Islands, and Montserrat – Surinam will take place during the second-leg encounters for Stage 1 on 26 March. The remaining second-leg encounters for Stage 1 of CONCACAF World Cup Qualification are scheduled for 26-30 March. The Stage 1 winners will join the remaining 13 seeded countries (Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, USA) in Stage 2 of CONCACAF Qualification set for June. The top three teams from the CONCACAF Final Round in 2009 will automatically qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. CONCACAF’s fourth place finisher will play off with CONMEBOL’s fifth-place team in a home-and-away series for one of the last berths to the FIFA event. 2010 CONCACAF WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION STAGE 1 Series 1 06.02.2008: Roseau, DOMINICA; Windsor Park Stadium (19:00) DOMINICA – BARBADOS 26.03.2008: Bridgetown, BARBADOS; Kensington Oval (16:00) BARBADOS – DOMINICA Series 2 06.02.2008: Providenciales, TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS; National Stadium (19:45) TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS – ST. LUCIA 26.03.2008: Vieux Fort, ST. LUCIA; George Odlum National Stadium (15:00) ST. LUCIA – TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS Series 3 03.02.2008: Hamilton, BERMUDA; National Sports Centre (20:00) BERMUDA – CAYMAN ISLANDS 1:1 (1:0) Tyrell BURGESS 18’ – Allean GRANT 87’ 30.03.2008: Grand Cayman, CAYMAN ISLANDS; Truman Bodden Sports Complex (19:00) CAYMAN ISLANDS – BERMUDA Series 4 06.02.2008: Oranjestad, ARUBA; Centro Deportivo Guillermo Trinidad (20:00) ARUBA – ANTIGUA & BARBUDA 26.03.2008: St. John’s, ANTIGUA & BARBUDA; Antigua Recreation Ground (16:15) ANTIGUA & BARBUDA – ARUBA Series 5 06.02.2008: Ciudad de Guatemala, GUATEMALA; Estadio Mateo Flores (15:00) BELIZE – ST. KITTS & NEVIS 26.03.2008: Basseterre, ST. KITTS & NEVIS; Warner Park Stadium (19:00) ST. KITTS & NEVIS – BELIZE Series 6 26.03.2008: Nassau, BAHAMAS; BFA National Centre (19:00) BAHAMAS – BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS 30.03.2008: Nassau, BAHAMAS; BFA National Centre (15:00) BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS – BAHAMAS Series 7 26.03.2008: Bayamón, PUERTO RICO; Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel (20:00) PUERTO RICO – DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Series 8 26.03.2008: St. George’s, GRENADA; National Stadium (15:00) GRENADA – US VIRGIN ISLANDS Series 9 26.03.2008: Macoya, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO; Marvin Lee Stadium (18:00) MONTSERRAT – SURINAM Series 10 06.02.2008: San Salvador, EL SALVADOR; Estadio Cuscatlan (19:30) EL SALVADOR – ANGUILLA 26.03.2008: Washington, D.C. USA; RFK Stadium (20:00) ANGUILLA – EL SALVADOR Series 11 06.02.2008: Diriamba, NICARAGUA; Estadio Cacique Diriangen (15:00) NICARAGUA – NETHERLANDS ANTILLES 26.03.2008: Willemstad, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES; Ergillo Hato Stadium (20:00) NETHERLANDS ANTILLES – NICARAGUA