Panama became the first CONCACAF team to progress to the third phase of World Cup qualifying after a 5-1 win over Nicaragua Tuesday. Blas Perez scored a hat trick for Panama while Luis Tejada was on target twice to eliminate Nicaragua from the regional qualifying in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Canada is close to joining Panama despite being held to a goal-less draw at home to Puerto Rico Tuesday. “We couldn't find the answer tonight,” said Canada coach Stephen Hart. “Puerto Rico parked the bus, allowed us to have the ball and waited for us to attack. “We played too slow and when we did get our opportunities, we just failed to take them. It's a real disappointment.” The Canadians are still comfortably in charge of Group D and just need a point from their last two matches to advance to the third phase. They hold a four-point lead over second-placed St. Kitts and Nevis, who drew 1-1 with St. Lucia. Trinidad and Tobago's campaign was on the rocks after Friday's defeat in Bermuda but back on home turf in Port of Spain they were too much for Barbados with Lester Peltier grabbing a hat trick in a 4-0 victory. Tamarley Thomas and Peter Byers both grabbed hat tricks as Antigua and Barbuda crushed the US Virgin Islands 10-0 to go top of Group F. The US Virgin Islands have now conceded 31 goals in four games and scored once while Byers is top scorer in the regional qualifiers with eight goals so far. The win sends Antigua and Barbuda above Haiti which surprisingly had to come back from two goals down to get a draw at home to Curacao. El Salvador had a comfortable 4-0 win over the Cayman Islands — three of their goals coming before the break and Herbert Sosa wrapping things up with an 88th minute penalty. The final round of games is scheduled for Nov. 11 and 15 and the six group winners in the current round go through to face the top six-ranked teams in the region in the third phase. The top three teams at the end of the fourth and final phase of qualifying, involving six teams, will then qualify for the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil with the fourth placed team heading into a playoff with the top team from Oceania.
