We have to start our Draft World Cup 2018 adventure somewhere, and we are going to begin with the first round of qualifying in North America. There are 24 sides, predominantly from the Caribbean, who go into 6 groups of 4, the winners of each go on to join 12 seeds in the next round. This is how the draw went:
In this episode we’re going to see the outcomes of Groups A, B and C. So let’s get on with it!
Group A (St. Kitts & Nevis, Grenada, Cayman Islands, Bonaire)
St. Kitts & Nevis start this group as favourites, but started with a 3-1 defeat away to Grenada. I have to admit that Bonaire is the only nation in the Draft World Cup I haven’t heard of before, so it’s fair to say they are a fairly obscure team. They start with a 2-1 defeat against Cayman Islands, the winning coming from a good long strike by Theron Wood.
Group A (St. Kitts & Nevis, Grenada, Cayman Islands, Bonaire)
St. Kitts & Nevis start this group as favourites, but started with a 3-1 defeat away to Grenada. I have to admit that Bonaire is the only nation in the Draft World Cup I haven’t heard of before, so it’s fair to say they are a fairly obscure team. They start with a 2-1 defeat against Cayman Islands, the winning coming from a good long strike by Theron Wood.
St. Kitts go on to record a comfortable 3-0 win over Bonaire, whilst Grenada have to work harder to beat 10-man Cayman Islands, the only goal coming via the spot. Cayman Islands find themselves down to 10 men again against St. Kitts, but are able to claim a 1-1 draw. An even bigger shock comes as Bonaire claim a fine 4-1 win away to Grenada.
Spurred on by this, Bonaire put away Cayman Islands 3-0. Grenada looked to be in trouble again as they went 2-0 down to St. Kitts, but a good recovery saw the match finish 2-2, which they followed up with a 4-2 win over Cayman Islands, which included a bizarre own goal when Cayman Island’s Cupid passed the ball back to his goalkeeper, who allowed it to roll into the net. This gave Cayman Islands the dubious honour of being the first side eliminated in this year’s Draft World Cup qualifying! It also meant that the loser between St. Kitts and Bonaire would join Cayman Islands in being eliminated, and it was Bonaire who bowed out as they lost 2-1, missing a penalty that would have kept their hopes alive.
Spurred on by this, Bonaire put away Cayman Islands 3-0. Grenada looked to be in trouble again as they went 2-0 down to St. Kitts, but a good recovery saw the match finish 2-2, which they followed up with a 4-2 win over Cayman Islands, which included a bizarre own goal when Cayman Island’s Cupid passed the ball back to his goalkeeper, who allowed it to roll into the net. This gave Cayman Islands the dubious honour of being the first side eliminated in this year’s Draft World Cup qualifying! It also meant that the loser between St. Kitts and Bonaire would join Cayman Islands in being eliminated, and it was Bonaire who bowed out as they lost 2-1, missing a penalty that would have kept their hopes alive.
Going into the final game, Grenada lead St. Kitts by 2 points, with Bonaire left to play. Despite Grenada’s dominance, they couldn’t find a way through and had to settle for a 0-0 draw. This meant any St. Kitts win over Cayman Islands would see them through on goal difference, and Hanley got them off to a perfect start with a goal after 15 seconds. But there was a twist to the tale, and two goals from Mark Ebanks saw Cayman Islands win 2-1, putting Grenada through to the next round!
Final standings
Final standings
Top scorer: Clive Murray (GRN) 5 goals
Highest average rating: Clive Murray (GRN) 7.50
Group B (Haiti, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, French Guiana)
Unsurprisingly, this level of qualification doesn’t feature many notable names, but there is one in this group, as Dexter Blackstock leads the line for Antigua & Barbuda. Whilst he doesn’t play club football there, he is out of contract and an Antigua international, which is enough for FM18 to have him listed as being based there. He is on the scoresheet as Antigua open with a 3-1 win away to French Guiana, whilst their most likely rivals Haiti start with a 2-1 win over Aruba.
Highest average rating: Clive Murray (GRN) 7.50
Group B (Haiti, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, French Guiana)
Unsurprisingly, this level of qualification doesn’t feature many notable names, but there is one in this group, as Dexter Blackstock leads the line for Antigua & Barbuda. Whilst he doesn’t play club football there, he is out of contract and an Antigua international, which is enough for FM18 to have him listed as being based there. He is on the scoresheet as Antigua open with a 3-1 win away to French Guiana, whilst their most likely rivals Haiti start with a 2-1 win over Aruba.
Haiti followed this up with a 4-2 win over French Guiana, whilst there was some real drama in Antigua, as Aruba looked to be on course for a win after scoring the opening goal in the 78th minute. But one minute before the end Blackstock headed in an equaliser, and in added time Antigua were awarded a penalty. Marquez kept his cool to put Antigua ahead, and they got another immediately after. Amazingly, there was time for Aruba to score, but Antigua held out for a 3-2 win. Aruba’s bad luck continued with a 1-0 defeat to French Guiana courtesy of a 85th-minute winner after an even contest. The two sides with 100% records met, Haiti hoping to keep Blackstock off the scoresheet. They succeeded, but failed to prevent his teammates scoring in a 6-2 drubbing, four goals for Stefan Smith.
Antigua’s form continued as they smashed French Guiana 5-1, Blackstock netting four for himself this time, and Haiti fell further behind as they could only draw a see-saw contest with Aruba 3-3. Agustin Campomar had scored all three goals against Aruba, and he also got the only goal against French Guiana as Haiti got back to winning ways. However, it was all in vain as Antigua’s fifth consecutive win sealed top spot as two Marquez penalties saw them cruise to a 4-1 win over Aruba.
This meant there was little but pride on show in the final round of games. Aruba avoided the wooden spoon with an exciting 3-2 win over French Guiana, Giovanni Thode’s winner coming in the 95th minute. Meanwhile Antigua and Blackstock ensured they finished the campaign fittingly, the latter scoring a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Haiti.
Antigua’s form continued as they smashed French Guiana 5-1, Blackstock netting four for himself this time, and Haiti fell further behind as they could only draw a see-saw contest with Aruba 3-3. Agustin Campomar had scored all three goals against Aruba, and he also got the only goal against French Guiana as Haiti got back to winning ways. However, it was all in vain as Antigua’s fifth consecutive win sealed top spot as two Marquez penalties saw them cruise to a 4-1 win over Aruba.
This meant there was little but pride on show in the final round of games. Aruba avoided the wooden spoon with an exciting 3-2 win over French Guiana, Giovanni Thode’s winner coming in the 95th minute. Meanwhile Antigua and Blackstock ensured they finished the campaign fittingly, the latter scoring a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Haiti.
Final standings
Top scorer: Dexter Blackstock (ATG) 10 goals
Highest average rating: Dexter Blackstock (ATG) 8.45
Group C (Curacao, St. Lucia, British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe)
Curacao may be the top seeds here, but the players in the FM database based there are not designed to create a well-balanced squad, and so they are fielding a 3-4-3 with only four players totally suited to their role. However, they shrugged off an early red card to narrowly triumph 3-2 over British Virgin Islands thanks to a belted free kick by Benjamin Martha. Elsewhere, Guadeloupe put down an early marker with a 5-0 trouncing of St. Lucia.
Highest average rating: Dexter Blackstock (ATG) 8.45
Group C (Curacao, St. Lucia, British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe)
Curacao may be the top seeds here, but the players in the FM database based there are not designed to create a well-balanced squad, and so they are fielding a 3-4-3 with only four players totally suited to their role. However, they shrugged off an early red card to narrowly triumph 3-2 over British Virgin Islands thanks to a belted free kick by Benjamin Martha. Elsewhere, Guadeloupe put down an early marker with a 5-0 trouncing of St. Lucia.
One can only imagine how Alan Hansen would have reacted to the next pair of games, which saw a total of 17 goals. In Guadeloupe the hosts cruised to a 4-1 win over BVI. This was nothing compared to the fireworks as Curacao race to a 6-0 lead over St. Lucia, who fought back to only lose 8-4. Four goals for Martha marked him as an early player to watch. The highlight of this game has to be St. Lucia’s Gilbert racing to get the ball out of the goal when he made it 6-1, as if there was a comeback on.
St. Lucia’s defence was far less tested by BVI’s 5-4-1 formation, and they recorded a 3-0 win. But the main focus of the round was on the clash between Curacao and Guadeloupe, given both teams’ starts. The sides traded early blows, but Curacao had been having the better of the game, and two second-half goals gave them a crucial 3-1 win. Their lead at the top of the table was immediately cut to 1 point as they drew 1-1 against BVI as Guadeloupe racked up another big win, 3-0 against St. Lucia.
Guadeloupe carried on their form with a 4-0 win over the poor BVI, including a nice long strike from Gilles Dan. This raised the pressure on Curacao as they faced St. Lucia, and the two sides fought out a classic. Curacao took the lead, but soon found themselves 3-1 down. They got themselves back level at 3-3, but a defensive lapse allowed 19 year old Antonio Joseph in to score the winning goal.
St. Lucia’s defence was far less tested by BVI’s 5-4-1 formation, and they recorded a 3-0 win. But the main focus of the round was on the clash between Curacao and Guadeloupe, given both teams’ starts. The sides traded early blows, but Curacao had been having the better of the game, and two second-half goals gave them a crucial 3-1 win. Their lead at the top of the table was immediately cut to 1 point as they drew 1-1 against BVI as Guadeloupe racked up another big win, 3-0 against St. Lucia.
Guadeloupe carried on their form with a 4-0 win over the poor BVI, including a nice long strike from Gilles Dan. This raised the pressure on Curacao as they faced St. Lucia, and the two sides fought out a classic. Curacao took the lead, but soon found themselves 3-1 down. They got themselves back level at 3-3, but a defensive lapse allowed 19 year old Antonio Joseph in to score the winning goal.
This meant Guadeloupe leapfrogged Curacao with one game to go, but with the final match being a home clash with Curacao. Everything was all set up for a grandstand finish, a classic tense affair. Instead, Curacao utterly collapsed, and got thumped 7-0, four for Lois Loval-Landre. What a weird sport football is. Elsewhere, St. Lucia won their dead rubber against BVI 3-0.
Final standings
Final standings
Top scorer: Loic Loval-Landre (GPE) 8 goals
Highest average rating: Loic Loval-Landre (GPE) 8.60
Next time
So that’s our first slice of Draft World Cup 2018 qualifying action. We’ve had our first teams eliminated, and we’ve seen an utter barrel-load of goals. Next time we’re going to switch our attention to Africa, and see how the first round of qualifying games there go.
Highest average rating: Loic Loval-Landre (GPE) 8.60
Next time
So that’s our first slice of Draft World Cup 2018 qualifying action. We’ve had our first teams eliminated, and we’ve seen an utter barrel-load of goals. Next time we’re going to switch our attention to Africa, and see how the first round of qualifying games there go.