A look ahead at the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers March 2009

The coming week of CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa will start to shake out the pretenders and believers in the six team group.  Each team will play 2 matches over the week one at home and one on the road.

The Americans are sitting good after their opening 2-0 win over rivals Mexico, but they face a tricky trip to El Salvador.  Throw in a suspension for goalkeeper Tim Howard and the US men must be forcused to get the result they need.  They'll return home for a midweek matchup with Trinidad.  Get out of both with wins and the US is well on their way to South Africa 2010.

Mexico is in an entirely different position.  After dropping their opener and with a poor run of form going back months, the pressure is squarely on.  They host a very tough Costa Rica squad at Azteca on Saturday.  They then turn around and travel to Honduras which is never an easy place play as Mexico found out in the last round losing 1-0 there.  A Mexico loss in either of the two matches and there can be serious questions start to be asked about their run for World Cup 2010.

Costa Rica is clearly one of the CONCACAF favorites and are looking to build upon their solid 2-0 win over Honduras in round 1.  A result in Mexico would boster their confidence and with a return game Wednesday at home with El Salvador they could be well on their way.

Trinidad faces a must win home match with Honduras on Saturday.  They will be massive underdogs in the US on Wednesday so a poor result at home to Honduras could leave them bottom table quite quickly.