‘We Could Hit The Crossbar Five Times’

No one dares to underestimate an opponent any more in international soccer, not even when that team is Barbados and you get to play them over two games. As U.S. captain Landon Donovan warned ahead of the first leg of this weekend’s World Cup Qualifying Round game against the Caribbean nation in LA: “We could hit the crossbar five times and they could have the game of their lives.”
 
Still, the chances of that happening over two games must be negligible. But in the interests of keeping its smaller members encouraged, the official FIFA website’s preview of the CONCACAF qualifying round states: “Although the odds-makers will think they have the results of these first leg contests all sorted, massive improvement by some of the region’s so-called minnows will raise hopes of an upset or two.”
 
For example? Barbados “can confirm the presence of Wigan Athletic’s Emerson Boyce in the camp.” Mexico face Belize, who “have pumped a lot of effort into the current campaign and are coming off a 4-1 aggregate win over St. Kitts and Nevis with hopes high.” Costa Rica “have a potential banana skin in front of them in the form of Grenada, who have in the side Blackburn Rovers striker Jason Roberts and MLS standout Shalrie Joseph.” While Guatemala boss Ramon Maradiaga warns that opponents St. Lucia “have a lot of physical strength. It will be no easy fixture for us.”