Trinidad & Tobago must beat Mexico at home tomorrow to earn the right to play off over two legs against Uzbekistan or Bahrain for a place at next year's World Cup.
If they fail to win, the path to Germany 2006 could be opened for Guatemala who host Costa Rica at the same time.Mexico, the United States and Costa Rica are assured of the CONCACAF region's three direct qualifying places, leaving Trinidad and Guatemala, neither of whom have qualified for the finals before, to scrap for the playoff spot.
Trinidad, the Soca Warriors, made a poor start to the final stage of the CONCACAF qualifiers but have won three of their last six games since veteran Dutchman Leo Beenhakker replaced Bertille St Clair as coach.
Former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke and 37-year-old former captain Russell Latapy have been persuaded to come out of international retirement to boost Trinidad's campaign.
They stayed in the hunt with a 1-0 win at Panama on Saturday thanks to Stern John's eighth goal of the qualifying campaign.
''It means now that we have it all to play for and a win will seal it for us,'' Yorke said.
''It's an amazing feeling for the guys to keep this momentum going ... and now it's just up to us to seal it tomorrow against the Mexicans.'' It is still a tall order, however, against a Mexican side who thrashed Guatemala 5-2 last Saturday and have won 15 out of 17 qualifiers including all three previous meetings with Trinidad in the competition.
Mexico won 2-0 in Monterrey in the final stage and both games in the semi-final group phase.
Although Mexico have rested a few regular players, the replacements, such as Argentine-born Guillermo Franco, will be fighting hard to convince coach Ricardo La Volpe that they deserve to make the trip to Germany.
Trinidad have 10 points from nine games, two more than Guatemala who have the better head-to-head record.
In contrast to Trinidad, Guatemala started qualifying brightly last year and have found the going increasingly tough.
Saturday's thrashing in San Luis Potosi, when Guatemala took a second-minute lead only to concede four goals in half an hour after the interval, brought fierce criticism from the media.
Honduran coach Ramon ''The Primitive'' Maradiaga has refused demands to make changes.
''Here, there is respect for the players and my job is to support them,'' he told Prensa Libre.
The United States meet Panama in a repeat of this year's CONCACAF Gold Cup final which the U.S. won on penalties in a game that is effectively a friendly.
It should mark the second international farewell for Panama's Julio and Jorge Dely Valdes, the 38-year-old twins who bowed out last year but were persuaded to return for the Gold Cup.
