After Dwayne DeRosario gave the maple leafs a 1:0 lead in the first half, the ticos scored three second half goals, from Carlos Hernandez, William Sunsing and Paulo Wanchope, for the victory. The result eliminates Canada from a possible CONCACAF Final Round berth.

Mexico advances to Final Six; St. Vincent/Grenadines eliminates St. Kitts/Nevis in Group C

Mexico advanced to the Six-Team CONCACAF Final Round of World Cup Qualification after defeating visiting Trinidad & Tobago 3:0 in a Group C Semifinal match at the Estadio Cuauhtemoc in Puebla on Wednesday evening.

Jaime Lozano scored twice, while Antonio Naelson added another for the tricolor, who remaining perfect with a 4-0 record and 12 Points in Group C Qualifying Standings, while the soca warriors remain in second place with nine points and a 3-2 ledger.

In the other Group C Qualifying match on Wednesday, two goals by Kendall Velox and one from Shandel Samuel led St. Vincent & The Grenadines (2-3-0, 6 Points) to a 3:0 win and eliminated the host St. Kitts & Nevis (0-4-0, 0 Points) at the Warner Park Stadium in Basseterre.

USA reaches CONCACAF Final Round; El Salvador ties Jamaica in Group A

The USA became the first team to reach the CONCACAF Final Round of World Cup Qualification after posting a 6:0 victory over visiting Panama in the Group A Semifinal encounter at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Ed Johnson scored three times and Landon Donovan added two goals for the USA (3-0-2, 11 Points) in the win over Panama (1-2-2, 5 Points).

The USA extended its overall unbeaten streak to 12 matches and they have not lost to a CONCACAF opponent in their last 28 games.

In the other Group A match, El Salvador (1-3-1, 4 Points) held the host Jamaica (1-1-3, 6 Points) to a scoreless draw at the National Stadium in Kingston.

Three teams (El Salvador, Jamaica & Panama) will battle for the second (and last) Group A berth into next year?s CONCACAF Final Round Qualification as the Semifinal Round concludes next month (17 November 2004) with Jamaica visiting the USA at Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, while Panama greets El Salvador at the Estadio Rommel Fern?ndez in Ciudad de Panam?.

After the conclusion of the Semifinal Round Qualification the two nations topping each of the three groups will advance to a Final Round group that runs from 9 February ? 12 October 2005. The top three finishers in this final group will advance directly to the 2006 FIFA World Cup? in Germany.

The CONCACAF fourth-place finisher will compete in a home-and-away playoff against fifth-place finisher of the Asian Football Confederation, for one of the last berths into the FIFA event. These games will take place in November 2005.