United States and Mexico reach finals

Mexico cruised into the World Cup finals and the United States battled their way to a spot in South Africa in CONCACAF qualifying last weekend, leaving Costa Rica and Honduras to scrap it out for the third automatic place.

Mexico, inspired by 36-year-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco, crushed El Salvador 4-1 in front of over 100,000 fans at the Azteca stadium.

The United States, who trailed 1-0 in Honduras, had an unlikely match-winner in forward Conor Casey, who struck twice as Bob Bradley's team came from behind to win 3-2 at Honduras.

Honduras striker Carlos Pavon had a night to forget as he blasted an 87th minute penalty over the bar and then minutes later headed wide from a great position.

Honduras face the possibility of finishing fourth and having to play off against the fifth-placed team in South America after Costa Rica moved into the third automatic spot with a 4-0 rout of eliminated Trinidad and Tobago.

With one round of games to go, the United States lead on 19 points, with Mexico on 18, Costa Rica on 15 and Honduras on 13.

In Wednesday's final matches, Costa Rica face the United States in Washington DC while Honduras must travel to El Salvador in a fixture that will evoke memories of their 1969 qualifier.

That game, and the political issues surrounding the two countries at the time, led to an armed conflict between them known as "The Football War".

Honduras, who have a better goal difference than Costa Rica, must win in San Salvador and hope that Costa Rica fail to pick up three points in the United States.

Mexico have no need for calculators after completing their turnaround after three defeats from their opening four qualifiers.

The decision to replace Sven Goran Eriksson after three qualifiers with Javier Aguirre has been justified with a tremendous run-in of five wins in a row.

The latest came after an own goal from El Salvador defender Marvin Gonzalez gave the Mexicans a one-goal lead at the break before Blanco, a pre-match injury doubt, turned on the style.

The forward made it 2-0 by finishing off a beautiful flowing move and then substitute Francisco Palencia made it 3-0 with a fierce strike in the 84th minute.

A rocket free-kick from Julio Martinez pulled one back for El Salvador but Mexico restored their three-goal advantage a minute from the end through Carlos Vela.