Guatemala vs Dominican Republic

Qualification games for the FIFA World Cup CONCACAF will continue this week and on Friday, Guatemala will be playing the Dominican Republic at Estadio Cementos Progreso.

Hosts are clearly in front of Group E with two wins in their two matches, while with a win and a loss, visitors have the third position in the group.

Now that 48 teams will be part of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers and Canada, Mexico and the United States have automatic spots, Central American teams have a great chance to participate.

Among these teams is Guatemala, trying to qualify for the World Cup for the first time and the other countries in sight of this goal are Guyana, Puerto Rico, Grenada and the Dominican Republic.

The team will come into the match with high spirits, as they won their first two games against Dominica and the British Virgin Islands last year.

During those games, Luis Fernando Tena’s team scored nine times without letting in any goals and come back from a 3-2 loss against Guyana to clinch the Gold Cup by winning the second match 4-3.

They played twice in the CONCACAF Nations League in June of 2022, ending 1-1 in Santo Domingo and 2-0 in favor of Guatemala at home.

People are calling this collection of Dominican Republic players the best ever, so the team’s preparation for the World Cup qualifier has been on fire.

Guatemala will be hoping to see a number of their stars return for this game, including the seasoned Marvin Avila, after having to leave out players who played in the Liga Nacional de Guatemala semifinals and final for their friendlies last month.

Antonio Lopez, Kevin Moscoso, Jorge Aparicio, and Dewinder Bradley—who scored the game-winning goal for Antigua GFC in the Liga Nacional final on May 18—are among the other local players who might play for the hosts this week.

Pablo Rosario, a midfielder for OGC Nice, and Junior Firpo, a defender for Leeds United, are both likely to start for the Domincan Republic in this important match.