United States avoid El Salvador banana skin - Earthtimes

[Anguillan newsboy]

Durban, South Africa - The United States and Mexico avoided El Salvador in the preliminary draw for the 2010 World Cup held in Durban Sunday. South African football legend Kaizer Motaung and former US goalkeeper Kasey Keller carried out the draw for the CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) zone, which involves 35 teams and has four stages of qualifying. The first two stages are played on a knockout basis and the 12 remaining sides will then be divided into three groups with the top two in each advancing to a final group of six. The Americans were drawn in Group 1 and will face the winner of Dominica and Barbados, avoiding El Salvador which is probably the strongest team they could have faced. Trinidad and Tobago are in the same group but will first have to overcome the winner of Bermuda versus the Cayman Islands. Mexico were drawn in Group 2 and will first play St Kitts and Nevis or Belize. Alongside them are Jamaica, who will play the Bahamas or British Virgin Islands first. Costa Rica are in Group 3 where they face the winner of US Virgin Islands versus Grenada. Panama appear to have drawn the short straw after being pitted against either El Salvador or Anguilla. The two top teams from each group advance into another group stage from which the first three teams qualify for the World Cup. The fourth-placed team goes into a playoff against the fifth-placed South American side.