PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Caribbean qualifying for the London 2012 Olympics will get under way next month with Cuba hosting a three-team group in Havana.
The hosts, ranked number two in the Caribbean Football Union, will clash with Aruba and Guyana in Group C from June 23 to 27. Group B will then kick off July 20-24 with hosts Dominica doing battle with the Netherlands Antilles and Grenada and number two-ranked Trinidad and Tobago meeting in Roseau.
St Kitts and Nevis will host Group D July 21-15 in what is expected to be a keenly contested affair as Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti and St Lucia go head to head.
The region’s number one side Jamaica will then close out the qualifiers in August when they head to Suriname to face the hosts, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Cayman Islands.
Group winners will progress to the second phase of qualifying from which two teams will advance to the eight-team CONCACAF finals in the United States next year.
Women’s qualifying, meanwhile, will also start next month and will be held in two groups.
Group A will be staged in Aruba from June 29 to July 3 and will comprise the hosts, Cuba, Haiti and Suriname.
The Dominican Republic will host Group B from July 5 to 9 and will clash with Bermuda, Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago.