Bermuda, Curaçao, Jamaica and Trinidad drawn into CONCACAF all-island World Cup qualifying group
Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) — Bermuda, Curaçao, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago were drawn into an all-island Group B on Thursday night for the third round of World Cup qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama and Suriname were put in Group A, and Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua in Group C.
A double round-robin will take place in September, October and November, and the three groups winners will qualify for the expanded 48-nation field next year. The region has a minimum six berths, with Canada, Mexico and the United States qualifying automatically as co-hosts.
The top two second-place teams advance to six-team playoffs next March that include the No. 7 team from South America, No. 9 team from Asia, the No. 10 team from Africa and New Caledonia, which is the No. 2 team from Oceania. There will be semifinal single legs involving the four lowest-ranked playoff nations, with the winners advancing to single leg finals that will produce two qualifiers.
Europe has 16 direct qualifying berths, Africa nine, Asia eight, South America six and Oceania one.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
recommended
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox Sports
13-06-2025
- Fox Sports
Bermuda, Curaçao, Jamaica and Trinidad drawn into CONCACAF all-island World Cup qualifying group
Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Bermuda, Curaçao, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago were drawn into an all-island Group B on Thursday night for the third round of World Cup qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean. El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama and Suriname were put in Group A, and Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua in Group C. A double round-robin will take place in September, October and November, and the three groups winners will qualify for the expanded 48-nation field next year. The region has a minimum six berths, with Canada, Mexico and the United States qualifying automatically as co-hosts. The top two second-place teams advance to six-team playoffs next March that include the No. 7 team from South America, No. 9 team from Asia, the No. 10 team from Africa and New Caledonia, which is the No. 2 team from Oceania. There will be semifinal single legs involving the four lowest-ranked playoff nations, with the winners advancing to single leg finals that will produce two qualifiers. Europe has 16 direct qualifying berths, Africa nine, Asia eight, South America six and Oceania one. ___ AP soccer: recommended
Hamilton Spectator
12-06-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
US Open players get that sinking feeling, straight down into the rough at brutal Oakmont
OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, waved the rules official over. Certainly, a ball buried that deep in the rough had to have embedded into the soft turf below when his off-line drive on the 12th hole landed with a thunk. No such luck, the official told him. The rough at Oakmont is just deep — and thick and hard to escape. Instead of taking a free drop for an embedded ball, Woodland had to replace it where he found it, get out his wedge, take a hack and pray. That resulted in Woodland's first blemish in a back nine of 6-over 41 at the U.S. Open on Thursday. It turned a promising round that began with three birdies into a 3-over 73 slog. Woodland's was one of dozens of tales from the rough — gnarly, thick and sometimes downright impossible — that make an Open at Oakmont as tough as they come. 'Even for a guy like me, I can't get out of it some of the times, depending on the lie,' said defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, who makes a living on overpowering golf courses and gouging out of the thick stuff. 'It was tough. It was a brutal test of golf.' DeChambeau was at even par when he nuked his second shot over the green and into the rough in back of the 12th green. The grass opened up his club face on the third and rifled the ball into more rough. He needed two more shots to advance the ball from there to the fringe. He shot 73. 'If you miss the green, you miss it by too much, you then try to play an 8-yard pitch over the rough onto a green that's brick hard running away from you,' Scotland's Robert MacIntyre said after his round of even-par 70. 'It just feels like every shot is on a knife edge.' Punishing the best in the world is exactly how the superintendents at what might be America's toughest golf course planned it. For the record, they do mow this rough. If they didn't, there's a chance some of the grass would lay over itself, allowing the ball to perch up instead of sink down. The mowers here have blades that use suction to pull the grass upward as they cut, helping the grass stand up straight and creating the physics that allow the ball to sink to the bottom. Which is exactly where Rory McIlroy found his second shot, then his third, after failing to gouge his drive out of the lush green fescue located right of all that 'regular' rough on the par-4 fourth. He made 6 there on his way to 74. On No. 3, top-ranked No. 1 Scottie Scheffler hit his tee shot into the famous church pew bunker, then cooked his second shot up the hill and over the green. The rough opened up his clubface on the chip, sending the ball into the second cut of fringe. He got down in two to save bogey there. Patrick Reed hit the shot of the day . It was a 286-yarder from the fairway that hit the green and dropped in for only the fourth albatross — a 2 on a par 5 — in recorded U.S. Open history. If only he could have stopped there. His ensuing drive was so far left, it landed in the rough near the eighth tee box. He hacked across the fairway into more rough and scrambled to save bogey. Later, Reed short-sided his approach on No. 9, moved the next shot from the rough about 5 feet and needed to get up and down for bogey. Maybe J.J. Spaun figured it out the best. With the dew still slickening the grass for his early tee time, Spaun chipped in from a gnarly lie on his first hole to open the Open with a birdie. He only hit eight of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens, but that was good enough for a 4-under 66, which sent him home with the lead and a chance to watch the afternoon players suffer. 'I like feeling uncomfortable,' Spaun said. He came to the right place this week. ___ AP golf:
Times
29-04-2025
- Times
Mark Bullingham: Bill Sweeney-style bonus nets FA chief £1.32m salary
The FA chief executive Mark Bullingham has become the highest-paid leader of a sports governing body after a £450,000 bonus took his income for last year to £1.32million. Bullingham's earnings for the year ending July 2024 included a salary of £869,000 as well as the long-term incentive plan (LTIP) bonus. The total eclipses that of the RFU's chief executive, Bill Sweeney, whose earnings of £1.1million — made up of a £358,000 LTIP bonus on top of an increased salary of £742,000 — provoked a storm in rugby union. The FA said last year's bonus reflected the organisation exceeding 'ambitious' performance targets over two years. That included financial targets as well as those on the pitch, with the England men's and women's teams reaching the finals of Euro 2024 and the 2023 World Cup respectively. Bullingham's pay the previous year was £850,000. The FA's highest-paid employee is the England head coach, Thomas Tuchel, who receives about £5million a year. The Premier League chief executive, Richard Masters, earned £1.98million in its most recent financial year, but Bullingham, 50, is the highest-paid executive at an English national sports governing body. The annual accounts, published on Companies House, state the FA 's remuneration committee 'considered financial achievements that saw the organisation exceed its [financial] target over the period and secure longer-term financial stability through England and FA Cup broadcast rights deals. 'Other achievements include senior men and women's tournament performance, the growth of the women's and girls' game and improvements to grassroots facilities were also recognised.' Another £550,000 in LTIPs was paid to two other unnamed members of the FA's senior management team, the accounts reveal. The FA's turnover rose to £551million from £482million, with £164million invested into the game. There is a new three-year LTIP plan in operation for August 2024 to July 2027 which has the potential to deliver similar or even greater bonuses. An FA spokeswoman said Bullingham's remuneration was 'benchmarked extensively and independently by PriceWaterhouse Coopers'. She added: 'It is performance-based — Mark has led the business to meet and exceed robust and ambitious performance targets on and off the pitch and deliver our 2020-2024 strategic objectives. 'The FA has a turnover of over £500million — equivalent to a FTSE 250 company — and is responsible for governing the national sport. To attract and retain high-calibre executives, the total remuneration package on offer needs to be competitive in the context of a leadership role in our market. 'In order to be competitive, the opportunity to earn a bonus and a long-term incentive plan are important — but payments are only made if performance targets are delivered or exceeded.' Bullingham joined the FA in 2016 from Fuse Sports and Entertainment, having previously been director of marketing for sailing's America's Cup. He took over as chief executive in 2019. Kieran Maguire, the football finance author and academic at the University of Liverpool, said: 'Mark Bullingham's bonus is presumably related to the FA's increased profitability and ability to run without third party debt. The success of the Lionesses and the men's team reaching the Euro 2024 final also appears to be a contributing factor.'
