The team includes some French Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and Championnat National (basically Ligue 3) players. That fact, coupled with the recent Gold Cup successes suggests that if this team was allowed to enter World Cup qualification in the CONCACAF region, they’d have at least something like a decent shot at making it.

But that’s not going to happen any time soon, because Guadeloupe is not a member of FIFA and so not allowed to attempt World Cup qualification. Which leads to the question: Why not?

As with most things, it’s all about politics. Guadeloupe is not an independent nation, it’s an overseas department (basically: a part of) France. Similarly, the Ligue Guadeloupéenne de Football organization that runs the team is really just a branch of the French Football Federation.

So maybe “Why isn’t Guadeloupe in FIFA?” is the wrong question. Maybe the real question should be “Why is Guadeloupe in CONCACAF?” Or at least “Why is it in one but not the other?” According to Wikipedia the answer is that…

“…Guadeloupe is a member of CONCACAF and CFU [Caribbean Football Union], and thus eligible for all competitions organized by both. Indeed, according to the status of the FFF [French Football Federation] (article 34, paragraph 6): “[...]Under the control of related continental confederations, and with the agreement of the FFF, those leagues can organize international sport events at a regional level or set up teams in order to partipate [sic] to them.”

There was an interesting discussion about the Guadeloupe national football team on the BBC World Football Phone-In this past weekend (click here to listen, right at the start) where Sean Wheelock suggested that Guadeloupe could become a FIFA member if France allowed it to do so.

I’m not 100% sure that that’s true, at least not without Guadeloupe devolving it’s relationship with France so that it was no longer an overseas department. And that’s a whole other issue, separate from football.

It’s also true that the Guadeloupe team benefits from not being a full FIFA member, because that frees it from certain restrictions. For example, the 2007 Gold Cup squad included Jocelyn Angloma, who played 37 times for France. And the current squad includes players who can represent Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup without ruining their future eligibility for the French national team. This may be a little unfair on other Gold Cup teams, but the current rule is that you can’t play for Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup if you’ve represented the French national team within the past five years.

This is one of those messy situations where a team falls somewhere between existing and not. But it’s hard to blame FIFA or CONCACAF for the complexities of colonial or post-colonial politics. Instead, I think it’s worth putting this in context:

Guadeloupe is in the same situation as fellow French “overseas departments” Martinique and French Guiana. No one’s asking why Martinique or French Guiana aren’t FIFA members, because Martinique and French Guiana aren’t tearing it up at the 2009 Gold Cup right now. So maybe the thing to do is to not worry about the politics of France, FIFA or anyone else, and just enjoy Guadeloupe’s performances.

It was but a mere friendly against a walkover opponent, but in terms of symbolism it was on par with a World Cup final. More than six years after its last international game in Baghdad - and with an Asian trophy in its cabinet since then - Iraq returned to Al-Shaab Stadium and thumped fellow recent home-returnees Palestine 4-0. The game of football itself was largely irrelevant, though Iraq could certainly use the lift after a disappointing Confederations Cup trip, but what happened in the stands certainly wasn’t. Obviously there were massive security concerns, but that didn’t deter fans from packing the stadium to capacity and celebrating every goal as though they just won the World Cup. And, to a degree, they did. It may not have been the World Cup, but it was their World Cup. The type of story which makes this the beautiful game it is.

Yes, Aguirre did get a three-match suspension, the first match served today in Mexico’s 2-0 win over Guadeloupe. The Mexican football federation was also fined $25,000. The suspension means that if Mexico were to advance as far as the final, Aguirre would be back on the sidelines for that game but not before. Otherwise the suspension will be served in World Cup qualifying.

What do you think about the three game ban? Too harsh, just right, or not enough?

Group stages ended Sunday, and we now know which teams have made the quarterfinals. The Gold Cup is one of those rare tournaments where it’s twice as hard to not go through to the knockouts as it is to advance. Twelve teams played, and eight are moving on: the top two teams in each of the three groups, plus the two top third-place teams, as determined by the tie-breaks Daryl told us about in his preview post.

Interestingly, the top teams in all three groups received seven points, and no team went through with less than four. This could be a fluke, or it could mean that the later stages of the knockout rounds are going to be remarkably even. Stay tuned.

GROUP A

Top of the group: Canada, with wins over El Salvador and Jamaica, and a 2-2 draw with Costa Rica
Also going through: Costa Rica, with a win over Jamaica, that draw with Canada, and the somewhat fluky loss to El Salvador.
Better luck next time: Jamaica is the lone third-place team to not go through. El Salvador is also going home.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Canada	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
Costa Rica	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Jamaica	3	1	0	2	1	2	−1	3
El Salvador	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	3

GROUP B

Top of the Group: USA. USA won easily (4-0) over Grenada, less easily (2-0) over Honduras. Haiti gave the guys a scare on Saturday, but in the end Stuart Holden came through with a 92nd minute laser strike for the draw. (If you missed the video of the goal, it’s here, and it’s a beauty.)
Also Going Through: Honduras (2nd place), with wins over Grenada (4-0) and Haiti (1-0), and that loss to the US. Haiti also advances after beating Grenada and drawing with the US.
Going Home: Grenada were the smallest team ever to qualify for the Gold Cup. They did well to get here, so with luck they won’t go home too disappointed despite the lack of points and no goals scored (vs. 10 against.)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7
Honduras	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
Haiti	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
Grenada	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

Group C

Top of the Group: Mexico, with wins over Nicaragua and Guadeloupe, and a draw with Panama. (Guadeloupe must have had flashbacks Sunday in their 2-0 defeat; Mexico was also the team that knocked them out if the semifinals of 2007.)
Also Going Through: Guadeloupe, with wins over Panama and Nicaragua. Panama, with a draw against Mexico and a 4-0 thrashing of a 10-man Nicaragua.
Going Home: Nicaragua, who finished with 0 points and a -8 goal differential and would probably like to forget this tournament ever happened.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7
Guadeloupe	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
Panama	3	1	1	1	6	3	+3	4
Nicaragua	3	0	0	3	0	8	−8	0

Quarterfinal matchups:

July 18 in Philadelphia:

Canada vs. Honduras
USA vs. Panama

July 19 in Arlington

Guadeloupe vs. Costa Rica
Mexico vs. Haiti

Who says the Gold Cup isn’t exciting? Last night’s 1-1 draw between Mexico and Panama in Houston had all kinds of drama, including the above moment where Mexico manager Javier Aguirre decided to get more involved in the game and tackle Panama’s Ricardo Phillips mid-dribble.

Phillips was surprised/angry enough to give Aguirre a shove, and then smart enough to very quickly back off when just about the entire Mexican bench jumped up to protect their head coach.

All very exciting, but then it got a bit weird. Referee Joel Aguilar sent both men off, but Phillips refused to go quietly. Or quickly.

It took ten minutes and plenty of persuasion from Panamanian officials, CONCACAF officials and stadium security before Phillips finally departed, and when he did so he was showered with trash from the crowd.

And it didn’t stop there. Apparently the crowd got even more rowdy and referee Aguilar toyed with the idea of abandoning the game only to be overruled by CONCACAF officials.

The good folks at Unprofessional Foul have diligently compiled all the highlights, so pay their post a visit to see what went down.

I actually believe it’s 13%, but that’s neither here nor there. The big problem is that, as threatened, South African construction workers have gone on strike, putting the World Cup in very real danger unless some sort of accord can be reached shortly.

Plan B anyone? England, perhaps?

Group A

El Salvador 2-1 Costa Rica

Shock loss for the Ticos, who came into the Cup as one of the favorites after thrashing the US in a World Cup qualifier and taking the lead in CONCACAF qualifying. But that counts for precisely squat-all in Gold Cup. William Romero was the hero for El Salvador, scoring both goals — one in the 20th and the other in the 86th. Warren Granados was able to equalize the first time for Costa Rica, but the second goal put it beyond reach. Costa Rica is now facing a tougher battle than expected to escape from the group stages.

Canada 1-0 Jamaica

LA Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts had a solid game, but he couldn’t stop the one opportunistic volley by Canada’s Ali Gerba. And the Reggae Boyz now face Costa Rica in a game where both will be out for blood.

Group B

Honduras 1-0 Haiti

First off, I had no idea Seattle had such a large Honduran population, but they were at the stadium en masse to cheer their team. (And the beer vendors are grateful.) Not much happened in this game until Carlos Costly headed home a free kick in th 75th. And then not much happened afterwards. But this was enough to create and continue the party for all of the wonderful Honduran folks sitting around us in the stadium. Next up? USA.

USA 4-0 Grenada

Grenada is the smallest nation ever to make it to the Gold Cup. So well done, them. Unfortunately a nation of 110,000 (according to Wikipedia) is generally not going to have the futbol firepower to overcome a country the size of the US, even when the US is playing their B team. This proved to be the case in spades here. US Goalkeeper Troy Perkins had to make only one save, and the US defense spent most of the game twiddling their thumbs.

The Columbus Crew’s Robbie Rogers was definitely man of the match, notching two assists before picking up a lovely solo goal of his own. Other goalscorers were Freddy Adu, Stuart Holden and Charlie Davies.

Group C

Mexico 2-0 Nicaragua

Good start and good news for Mexico in the early era of new (or new again) coach Javier Aguirre. And since Mexico has been hard-pressed to find either lately, I’m pretty sure they’ll take it. A penalty in the 45th minute by Luis Noriega started the fun, and an 85th minute goal by Pablo Barrera (which I could not find video for) sealed the deal.

(By the way, I believe the ball-under-the-shirt after the penalty is known as the “pregnancy goal celebration.” Because…yea. Why not?)

Guadeloupe 2-1 Panama

And in the surprise of the group, my favorite minnow team, Guadeloupe, shocked Central American champions Panama with a 2-1 game. FIFA doesn’t even consider Guadeloupe a country; for most international football purposes, they’re considered part of France. Yet here they are again, just like in 2007 (where they advanced to the Gold Cup semis), taking out larger and more powerful teams.

Guadeloupe’s Loic Laval seized on a bad clearance (possibly an attempt to chest it back to the goalkeeper?) and chipped the ball over said goalkeeper for the first goal. Then David Fleurival put in a rocket strike for Guadaloupe from about 40 yards out for the second. Panama’s Nelson Barahona pulled one back in the 68th, but that was all they could muster. And tiny Guadeloupe has a chance of going through to the knockout stages yet again.

The action continues today tomorrow (July 7) with Group A games: Jamaica vs. Costa Rica and El Salvador vs. Canada. Full schedule available here.

For the uninitiated, this is the regional tournament (think Euros, Copa America, Africa Cup of Nations etc) for CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football). The USA is hosting, as usual (since the CONCACAF Championship became the Gold Cup in 1991, the USA has either hosted or co-hosted every edition).

The 2009 Gold Cup teams, schedule and TV listings are after the jump…

It’s twelve teams split into three groups of four:

Group A:
Canada
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Jamaica

Group B:
Grenada
Haiti
Honduras
United States

Group C:
Guadeloupe
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama

After that it’s quarter-finals, leading to the obvious question: How do you get eight quarterfinalists from three groups?

Here’s how:

The top two teams from each of the three groups and two wildcards, the
two third-place teams with the most points, shall qualify for the
Quarterfinals.

At the end of group play, if two or more teams are equal on points
(including ties among third place teams), the manner in which teams will
advance to the next round will be resolved as follows and in the order
indicated:
a. Greater number of points in matches between the tied teams.
b. Greater Goal Difference in matches between the tied teams (if
more than two teams finish equal on points).
c. Greater number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams
(if more than two teams finish equal on points).
d. Greater Goal Difference in all group matches.
e. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches.
f. Drawing of lots.

Source: CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 regulations pdf

The USA games are all on Fox Soccer Channel in the United States, with other games on Spanish language channels Univision, Galavision or Telefutura. Here’s the schedule and TV listings taken from USSoccer.com:

If you’re in Canada, then Rogers Sportsnet will be broadcasting all of Canada’s games.

So, who’s looking good? Well, the US initially named a weakened 23 man roster that looked a lot like Freddy Adu’s last chance to do something at international level this year. But due to their Confederations Cup involvement they’ve been allowed to add seven Confed Cup players (including Jozy Altidore) to make a 30-man megaroster. USA WCB has the final USA 2009 Gold Cup roster.

Mexico have named a semi-strong roster (Mexico WCB has it here) featuring Carlos Vela and Gio dos Santos. Javier Aguirre will be keen to restore some Mexican pride after all that Sven business, and I think it’s fair toc all US and Mexico joint favourites here.

Costa Rica have to be third favourites given their recent form, and that impressive win vs the USA at home in World Cup qualifying. Honduras should be capable of making challenge too, and you can see their roster on Honduras WCB.

Canada (the only nation outside of US and Mexico to have won this thing since 1991) have gone with some fresh faces, so Mike at Canada WCB is providing squad bios for their complete roster.

Complete 2009 Gold Cup squads/rosters can be found on Wikipedia. Team profiles on the official Gold Cup website.

Or maybe FIFA’s rankings are just rubbish.

[Link]

There was a familiar site on display after Sunday’s Confederation Cup Final (above). Not just Brazil lifting another trophy, but Kaka’s famous “I Belong to Jesus” t-shirt, which he apparently got back from the dry cleaners just in time to wear for the final. Several of Kaka’s teammates also wore Jesus themed t-shirts, and the team got down on its knees to celebrate together in prayer, which you can see at the end of the video above.

No harm in that, right? Well, depends who you ask…

I’m sure most people, like me, thought nothing of it. If Brazilian players want to wear t-shirts about Jesus and all kneel down together, then it’s none of my business.

But Denmark Football Federation Secretary-General Jim Stjerne Hansen has pointed out that religious displays contravene one of FIFA’s laws.

Here’s FIFA Law 4, Decision 1:

Players must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising. The
basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal
statements.
A player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal slogans or advertising will be
sanctioned by the competition organiser. The team of a player whose basic
compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements
will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by FIFA.

[from page 20 of the 2009/10 FIFA Laws of the Game (released today!)]

And here’s what Jim Stjerne Hansen had to say yesterday:

“Personally I do not think that sport and religion should be mixed to such a degree that we more or less see a manifestation of a religious stance,” says Hansen.

“Just as we reject political manifestations, we should also say no to religious ones. There are too many risks involved in clubs, for example, with people of different religious faiths,” he says.

Obviously FIFA hasn’t cracked down on the Brazil team, because that definitely would have made the newspapers. In some ways this is tricky stuff, and so FIFA appears to be tuning a blind eye.

But mostly it’s just common sense. If a team wins a trophy, and wants to celebrate by holding hands and kneeling in a circle, then that’s up to them. They’re not mocking any other religion or pushing their beliefs on anyone else. And if Brazilian players want to wear t-shirts saying “I Belong to Jesus” and “I Love Jesus” then that’s up to them too. It’s a personal message. If the message was “You Belong to Jesus” or “You Should Belong to Jesus”, then we’d have a problem. But it’s not, so we don’t.

But it’s going downhill quickly and it might take World Cup 2010 with it.

South Africa’s biggest union said on Tuesday 50,000 construction workers would launch a strike over pay from next Wednesday, halting work across the economy including on stadiums for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

“A strike action is set to begin on July 8,” Lesiba Seshoka, the NUM’s spokesman said.

“Its not just the World Cup stadia that will be affected, we are talking about power stations, hospitals, roads and the like. It will last until they (the employers) come to their senses and offer a 13 percent wage increase for one year.”

Obviously World Cup 2010 is the least of their worries in these cases, but given the expected boost to South Africa’s economy as well as the country not just representing itself, but also the continent of Africa, this could be a major loss.

As it stands, 5 stadiums have yet to be completed and, presumably, countless other details - both big and small - must be taken care of before the World Cup. It’s not as though they were going to finish these things in September and twiddle their thumbs while they await the cavalries next summer. Much like any decent host, they’ll need every moment possible to perfect, assess, perfect, reassess and perfect again.

This couldn’t possibly be worse timing after all the good done over the last few weeks, and it certainly seems South Africa 2010 is going to prove just as difficult as expected.