By Robert H. Kelly
HOUSTON, TX (June 18, 2007) Guadeloupe has had a remarkable run in the CONCACAF Gold Cup of 2007.
The “team without a county” has made it to the semifinals to be played in Chicago on June 21.
Guadeloupe beat Canada 2-1, tied Haiti 1-1, and lost to Costa Rica 1-0 to finish in third place in Group A. Then they beat Honduras 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
According to the current FIFA world rankings, Honduras is ranked 55th in the world, followed by Canada in 56th and Haiti in 95th.
When they face Mexico in the semifinals, they will be taking to the field with the 26th ranked team in the world. Should they beat Mexico, they would face either Canada again or the United States, which it ranked number 16.
The interesting thing is that if they indeed win the Gold Cup, they will probably not be allowed to play in the Confederations Cup.
Why, you ask? The reason is FIFA doesn’t recognize Guadeloupe as a country.
The winner of the Gold Cup receives an automatic berth in the Confederations Cup.
If Guadeloupe wins the Gold Cup, they should be allowed to play in the Confederations Cup.
They should be allowed to play just like any other “country.”
3 comments:
Rob,
I did some research on our questions about the Guadeloupe team not being ranked by FIFA. It's because they're not an independent nation.
As you already knew, they are a colony of France. They cannot be an official member of FIFA because they aren't an independent country. So the more interesting question is why/how are they a member of CONCACAF? How are they able to participate in the Gold Cup?
Also interesting..Thierry Henry frequently visits the island as his father was originally from Guadeloupe.
Anyways, good seeing you yesterday, and COME TO A DYNAMO GAME!
-michael
Michael, thanks for the information and for stopping by and posting a comment. I also wondered that fact also about the Gold Cup.
I have some contacts in Europe that are very "soccer knowledgeable" and they are looking into it for me.
I am also looking into the possibility if they could play for France in the World Cup and/or the Olympics. It might make an interesting future story
I will let you know what I find out.
And in response to your last comment: YES, I will try to make it to a Dynamo game.
I as gald to see others have the same questions I do about Guadeloupe.
Anyway, I agree with your statement that they should be allowed to play in the Confererations Cup if they win the Gold Cup.
Fair is fair! If they win, they should be allowed to play!
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