YORKE

NEW YORK (CMC):

TRINIDAD AND Tobago are the lone side from the Caribbean to progress to the final round of CONCACAF qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The 'Soca Warriors' trampled fellow Caribbean Football Union (CFU) side Cuba 3-0 in the final leg of matches in the semi-final round on Wednesday night in Port-of-Spain to confirm their spot in CONCACAF's final hexagonal.

But Jamaica, the only other CFU side with a realistic chance of progressing, narrowly failed to clinch a place.

The 'Reggae Boyz' ran over Canada 3-0 in Kingston, but their best efforts were ruined, when Honduras edged Mexico 1-0 in San Pedro Sula to clinch the spot ahead of them out of Group 2.

The other two CFU sides in the semi-final round - Suriname and Haiti - faced each other in Paramaribo and played to a 1-1 draw.

Unbeaten side

In other results, the United States shut out Guatemala 2-0 in Commerce City and Costa Rica finished as the only unbeaten side throughout the round when they stopped El Salvador 3-1 in San Salvador.

The six sides that will advance to the final round of CONCACAF qualification are Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States.

The draw to determine the placement of teams in the CONCACAF final round hexagonal will take place tomorrow in the South African city of Johannesburg.

Teams will learn their opponents as well as home-and-away dates for all 10 final round qualifiers which will kick off on February 11, and will determine the three automatic berths for CONCACAF in 2010 in South Africa.

The teams in the final round will also have games on March 28, April 1, June 3, June 6, August 19, September 5, September 9, October 10, and October 14 next year.

At Hasely Crawford Stadium, T&T needed only a draw to join the US as qualifiers from Group One, but Kenwyne Jones and Dwight Yorke scored in a two-minute span of the second half and Keon Daniel's late strike helped to send the fans home happy.

Low right-footed shot

On a heavy field soaked by two days of torrential rain, Yorke put Jones through one-on-one with Cuba goalkeeper Dany Quintero in the 67th and he slotted the ball beneath the netminder.

Two minutes later, Jones returned the favour, when he fed Yorke inside the penalty area, and the T&T captain made no mistake, drifting past a defender before driving a low right-footed shot beyond Quintero.

With a minute to go, Carlos Edwards - up to recently a clubmate of Yorke and Jones at English Premiership club Sunderland - charged down the right flank before cutting the ball back to the top of the box from where Daniel calmly side-footed a shot into the roof of the net.

At Estadio Olimpico: When the final whistle sounded, there was a double celebration. Both Honduras and Mexico could breathe a sigh of relief, after safe passage into the final six of qualification ahead of the Reggae Boyz.

Mexico, under the guidance of former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, needed to avoid defeat and hope that Jamaica did not win by too wide a margin.