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Digicel Caribbean Cup Group I fixtures announced

10-24-2006

FORT DE FRANCE, Martinique: The fixtures for Group I, the opening section of the second round of the 2006/7 Digicel Caribbean Cup were announced on Monday.

Fort de France?s Stade de Dillon will play host to the Group which, containing Haiti, Cuba, Martinique and Suriname, looks like the toughest of the second qualifying round groups.

Barbados will host Group G containing Bermuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines and the Bahamas alongside the hosts while Group H sees Antigua & Barbuda, Guadeloupe and Dominican Republic playing in Guyana.

The matches in Martinique will see three double-header fixtures, kicking-off on Wednesday November 8 with a clash between two of the region?s top ranked teams, with Cuba (ranked 68th in the world and 2nd in the CFU) facing Haiti who recently moved up 35 places in the FIFA rankings to 83rd in the world and 4th in the Caribbean.

The second match of the night will feature hosts Martinique facing Suriname. Matches on Friday 10th November will open with Cuba against Suriname followed by Martinique facing Haiti. The Group will conclude on Sunday 12th November with Suriname playing Haiti and Martinique taking on Cuba.

With the top two teams in the Group guaranteed to progress to the finals tournament in Trinidad in January 2007, Cuba and Haiti look like the favourites to progress from the section. The two teams will be no strangers to each other have recently met in a pair of Digicel International Friendlies, the first match in Port Au Prince on October 17 followed by a rematch in Cap Haitian on October 19.

The matches may have been short of goals, a scoreless draw in the capital and a 1-0 win for the visitors in Cap Haitian, but they were not short of drama with Haiti missing a penalty in the closing minutes of the final game. The Cuban side posed with the Digicel Caribbean Cup trophy after the match and will be hoping a repeat victory over Haiti in the Group?s opening game will see them on the road to the finals in Trinidad and a chance to win the title for the first time.

Hosts Martinique and Suriname may find themselves fighting over 3rd place and a last opportunity to qualify for the finals via the triangular Group J in December where the three third places teams from the second round groups will play-off for the final slot at Trinidad?s eight team finals tournament. Suriname came back from a heavy defeat in their opening game with Guyana in Group B to qualify for the second phase but may find Martinique, with a vocal home crowd behind them, too strong and will be the outsiders in the Group.

November 8 - Cuba vs Haiti

November 8 - Martinique vs Suriname

November 10 - Cuba vs Suriname

November 10 - Haiti vs Martinique

November 12 - Suriname vs Haiti

November 12 - Cuba vs Maritnique