Bulls Abroad: Ouimette & Lawrence Advance in World Cup Qualifying

Canada 1-1 Belize (agg. 4-1):

The Canada men's national team drew Belize 1-1 in the away leg on Tuesday night, but their 3-0 home win proved enough to advance to the fourth round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.  Their lone goal was scored by Will Johnson just before the end of the first half.  New York Red Bulls defenseman Karl Ouimette substituted for Marcel de Jong in the 74th minute.  Ouimette and the defense locked it down and didn't allow Belize to score again.

Canada will be placed in Group A with Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador for the Fourth Round.  Their first game of the group will be at home versus Honduras on November 13th.  According to Canada's team website, they currently do not have any games scheduled for the October FIFA window.

Jamaica 2-0 Nicaragua (agg. 4-3):

Almost Nicaragua.  Almost.

83rd minute substitute Simon Dawkins scored six minutes later to put the Reggae Boyz up 2-0 and 4-3 on the aggregate.  The goal at the death helped Jamaica advance to the fourth round of CONCACAF qualifying.  Kemar Lawrence started and played all 90 minutes of the game.  He and the defense did exactly what they had to do in order to advance, earning a clean sheet.  Nicaragua looked poised to advance after beating Jamaica 3-2 on their home turf.  Too bad they couldn't hold onto their 3-0 lead...

Jamaica's Group B will be round four's toughest.  They'll be paired up with Panama, Costa Rica and Haiti.  All played very well during this summer's Gold Cup.  It's a shame only two will be able to make the Hex.  Jamaica will start with Panama on November 9th.  Their next match slated for October 13th will be at South Korea.

This means that the Red Bulls will be down two defensemen if they were to make a deep playoff run.  We'll have to see how that plays out.