By David Gold
November 29 – Trinidad and Tobago crushed Surinam 9-1 to progress from the second round of the CONCACAF London 2012 Olympic Games qualifiers with Cuba, knocking out the hosts St. Kitts and Nevis.
On Monday Cuba drew 1-1 with the hosts, who must have thought they had done enough to qualify from the four team group stage, which has taken place over the last week on the Caribbean island.
Trinidad’s victory means that they qualify on goal difference ahead of St Kitts, despite losing 5-2 when the two teams met on Saturday.
Surinam never capitalised onto a good start at the tournament, where they had beaten St Kitts 1-0, losing their final two games.
Cuba claimed a 1-1 draw with Trinidad & Tobago on the opening day of the qualifiers, before beating Surinam 4-2, a result which ultimately secured their progress.
Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago now join Canada, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and the United States for a final qualifying tournament being held in California, Kansas and Tennessee next March.
The two finalists of that tournament will progress directly to next summer’s Olympic Games.
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