half goal lifted the United States to a lackluster 1-0 victory over Barbados in Bridgetown Sunday as the USA booked a berth in the third round of regional qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. After an 8-0 rout of Barbados in the first leg of the second-phase tie last week in Los Angeles, the United States took a vastly different team to Barbados. Lewis, wearing the captain's armband, provided the game's only goal in the 21st minute, firing home a ball put through by Freddy Adu - who made his first start in a World Cup qualifier. After its 9-0 aggregate victory, the United States - seeking its sixth straight World Cup berth - advanced to the semifinals for the North and Central America and Caribbean region starting in August. In that round, the dozen teams remaining after Sunday's matches will play in three round-robin groups of four teams each. In other matches Sunday, El Salvador turned the tables in the wake of a 1-0 first-leg loss to Panama with a 3-1 home win for a 3-2 aggregate victory. In Georgetown, visiting Suriname completed a surprise victory over favored Guyana. After pulling off a 1-0 victory in the first leg last week in Paramaribo, Suriname managed a 2-1 triumph to knock out the Guyanese. Trinidad and Tobago ended Bermuda's dreams with a 2-0 victory on the road. Bermuda had shocked Trinidad 2-1 in the first leg at Macoya, but goals from Darryl Roberts and Stern John were enough to give Trinidad a slim 3-2 victory on aggregate. Guatemala advanced on 9-1 aggregate score over St. Lucia. Cuba got the job done in Havana, beating Antigua and Barbuda 4-0 on the night after their tricky first leg ended 4-3 on the road mid-week. Roberto Linares was the hero with a hat trick. Jeniel Marquez added a fourth in the second half to help the Cubans march into the group stage with an 8-3 aggregate victory. The Netherlands Antilles suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Haiti. After earning a goalless draw in Port au Prince last week, the Dutch islanders lost out through Eugene Martha's own goal. On Saturday, Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala all advanced to the group stage. Perennial regional power Mexico finished off Belize with a 7-0 victory in Monterrey for a 9-0 aggregate. Costa Rica beat Grenada and Guatemala defeated St. Lucia. On Friday, Canada beat St. Vincent and the Grenadines 4-1 in Montreal to amass a 7-1 aggregate. In ties completed earlier, Jamaica beat the Bahamas 13-0 on aggregate, and Honduras beat Puerto Rico 6-2 to advance. In the next round, group one will include the United States, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba. Group two will be made up of Mexico, Jamaica, Honduras and Canada, and group three will comprise Costa Rica, Suriname, El Salvador and Haiti. The top two teams in each of those groups will advance to the final phase of qualifying, from which three teams will advance to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. The fourth-place team will play off for a berth against a team from South America.
