The first round of qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in the CONCACAF section featured the 22 teams ranked 14 to 35 on the FIFA ranking for CONCACAF as of May 2007. The teams ranked 14th to 24th were randomly drawn against the teams ranked 25th to 35th. The draw took place on 25 November 2007 in Durban, South Africa. The top 13 CONCACAF teams received a bye and advanced directly to the second round.
Contents
Format
In this round, there were 12 sub-groups played as 11 ties of two teams, plus a bye for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The winners and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines advanced to the second round to meet the highest ranked teams in their sub-groups, as determined by the preliminary draw. Further organisation was involved in the draw, with the 12 sub-groups drawn into three groups of four – each feeding into a separate third round group. All ties were played in home and away format, except for three: Puerto Rico–Dominican Republic, Grenada–U.S. Virgin Islands and Montserrat–Suriname were played over one leg in late March due to several Member Associations failing to meet the new FIFA Stadium standards and being unable to secure a home venue.
Teams
† Placed in a first round sub-group, but received a bye to the second round.
Group 1
Group 1A
Barbados won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to play United States in the second round.
Group 1B
Saint Lucia won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to play Guatemala in the second round.
Group 1C
Bermuda won 4–2 on aggregate and advanced to play Trinidad and Tobago in the second round.
Group 1D
Antigua and Barbuda won 4–0 on aggregate and advanced to play Cuba in the second round.
Group 2
Group 2A
Belize won 4–2 on aggregate and advanced to play Mexico in the second round.
Group 2B
3–3 on aggregate. Bahamas advanced on the away goals rule to play Jamaica in the second round.
Group 2C
Puerto Rico advanced to play Honduras in the second round. This tie was played as a one leg tie in Puerto Rico, as the Dominican Republic failed to meet FIFA's new stadium standards and was unable to secure a home venue.
Group 2D
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines received a bye and were drawn to play Canada in the second round.
Group 3
Group 3A
Grenada advanced to play Costa Rica in the second round. This tie was played as a one leg tie in Grenada, as the U.S. Virgin Islands failed to meet FIFA's new stadium standards and was unable to secure a home venue.
Group 3B
Suriname advanced to play Guyana in the second round. This tie was played as a one leg tie in Trinidad and Tobago, because neither side were able to provide a suitable venue according to FIFA's guidelines.
Group 3C
El Salvador won 16–0 on aggregate and advanced to play Panama in the second round.
Group 3D
Netherlands Antilles won 3–0 on aggregate and advanced to play Haiti in the second round.
Goalscorers
There were 68 goals scored in 19 matches, for an average of 3.58 goals per match.
6 goals
4 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal