Hex Files: T&T-USA finale will be played in Couva

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Sep 16, 2017

Like in 1989, the USA's chances of going to the 2018 World Cup will go down to the final game at Trinidad & Tobago. Only this time, the game on Oct. 10 will be played at Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, 45 minutes south of Port of Spain, not Hasely Crawford Stadium, where the USA famously beat T&T, 1-0, to end a 40-year qualifying drought.



All three Hexagonal matches will be played 8 p.m. ET. The other two games involve the teams the USA is competing with for third and fourth place and they will both be at home: Panama vs. Costa Rica and Honduras vs. Mexico.

Ato Boldon Stadium, built for the 2001 U-17 World Cup, is named after the Trinidadian world champion sprinter and has a capacity of 10,000. It has hosted T&T's four Hexagonal matches. The Soca Warriors beat Panama but lost to Costa Rica, Mexico and Honduras.

Trinidad & Tobago is not eliminated from the World Cup qualifying but would need an almost impossible set of results to just finish fourth and advance to the playoff against the Australia-Syria winner in November.

The USA beat T&T, 2-1, in 2005 in their only meeting other than at Hasely Crawford Stadium in the Hexagonal. Eddie Johnson and Eddie Lewis scored for the USA in the Hex opener at the Queens's Park Oval.

Hexagonal Results:
MATCHDAY 9
October 6
USA vs. Panama
Costa Rica vs. Honduras
Mexico vs. Trinidad & Tobago

MATCHDAY 10
*October 10
Trinidad & Tobago vs. USA
Panama vs. Costa Rica
Honduras vs. Mexico
*Simultaneous kickoff.

Hexagonal Standings:
PTS TEAM W-T-L +/-
18 *Mexico 5-3-0 11/3
15 Costa Rica 4-3-1 12/5
10 Panama 2-4-2 7/5
----------------------------
9 USA 2-3-3 12/11
----------------------------
9 Honduras 2-3-3 9/16
3 Trin. & Tobago 1-0-7 4/15
*Qualifies for World Cup 2018.