CONCACAF Women’s World Cup qualifying is set to begin on Thursday. Eight countries from Central and North America will vie for a berth in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The top two finishers (i.e. the champion and the runners-up) will book a ticket to Germany while the third place winner will face either Italy or Switzerland (we’ll know tomorrow) in a two-legged play-off. And even if a national team doesn’t qualify, at least they had the excuse to hang out in Cancun for a few days.

The tournament has had about as many names as it has had formats. This is the tournament’s third moniker, but who’s counting. The CONCACAF Women’s Championships were held in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1998. The middle two tournaments were less of tournaments and more of a glorified group stage. The team that had accrued the most points in the round-robin type competition was declared champions.

The United States won the first three editions with little hesitation. Canada tipped Mexico in the 1998 edition because the U.S. did not have to participate given that they would be hosting the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. 1998 marks the first and last time a team not named the United States has won the tournament.

In 2000, 2002 and 2006 CONCACAF dubbed the competition the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup. The format was reverted back to the traditional group stage/straight knock-out tournament and the United States won each edition, albeit less convincingly. Much like 1993, 2000 was a weird one because it did not fall in a Women’s World Cup cycle. Because women don’t have their own FIFA Confederations Cup the tournament was seemingly only played for laughs. Old foes China and Brazil were invited into that year and Brazil served the USWNT with a 0-0 draw. It was the only time the USWNT has ever earned a draw in the tournament and it was also the final time any non-CONCACAF teams were invited (New Zealand appeared in the 1993 CONCACAF Women’s Championship).

CONCACAF are no longer throwing any punches and are now calling the competition exactly what it is: CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying. It is the first time Mexico has ever hosted the event (Haiti hosted the first edition in 1991, Canada has staged it twice, the U.S. has had the honor three times while both Canada and the U.S. hosted it simultaneously in 2002).

This time around there will be a new face (Guyana), some CONCACAF staples (Trinidad & Tobago, Costa Rica), a few unknown quantities (Haiti, Guatemala) and the proverbial #1, #2 and #3′s (the U.S., Canada and Mexico respectively).

Here is a preview of Group A. The Group B preview will appear here tomorrow and a somewhat cranky USWNT preview will be up on Thursday. And here is the Group A fixture list. All times are Eastern.

October 29 Trinidad and Tobago 6:00 PM Canada

Mexico 8:30 PM Guyana

October 31 Canada 7:00 PM Guyana

Mexico 9:30 PM Trinidad and Tobago

November 2 Guyana 7:00 PM Trinidad and Tobago

Mexico 9:30 PM Canada

There’s a Group A meet and greet after the jump.

Canada

FIFA Ranking: 13

Biggest Victory: August 28, 1998 Canada 21, Puerto Rico 0 (1998 Gold Cup Group Stage)

Worst Loss: August 21, 1994 United States 6, Canada 0 (1994 Gold Cup Final)

Best Finish: 1998 Champions

Route of Qualification: Direct Entry

I’ll yield to Lissa’s more comprehensive Canadian preview later this week but know this about (the?) Big Red: in the previous seven editions of this tournament, Canada has never finished out of the top four but have only managed to win the tournament once. That was back in 1998 while the prospective WWC hosts United States was away – and yes, Mexico and Canada did play. The team have been runners-up four times and have come up short against the United States in each of those instances. In fairness, Canada came very, very close in the previous two incarnations of the Gold Cup.

In the 2002 Final, Tiffeny Milbrett took the USWNT forth in the 27′. Kristine Lilly earned the assist. Then in the 46′ Charmaine Hooper (who was always prolific in these tournaments) equalized. After four minutes of extra time, an American player named Mia Hamm netted the game winner.

It was a similar scenario in the 2006 Final. Leslie Osborne struck first after six minutes before Randee Hermuss equalized at the stroke of half time. The match seemed destined to be decided in penalties and in a way it was. Kristine Lilly converted the crucial penalty in the 120′ to give the USWNT its seventh Gold Cup title.

This year, Canada will meet old pal Even Pellerud and his Trinidad & Tobago side in the opening match. Qualifying for Canada’s fourth consecutive Women’s World Cup will probably be Carolina Morace’s priority but getting one up on their Southern neighbors probably won’t be too far down the list.

Guyana

FIFA ranking: 85

Route of Qualification: Carribean Play-off

Chris Brown is the assistant coach of the University of South Florida’s women’s soccer team. He has also guided the tiny island nation that boasts a population smaller than that of Delaware’s to a possible berth in the 2011 Women’s World Cup. This is the first time Guyana will feature in the Gold Cup and the team has certainly earned its keeps.

The team advanced from the initial stage of Carribbean qualifying with a 100% record and finished second in Group A behind Trinidad & Tobago in the second phase. Guyana were set to face Cuba in a play-off for the final berth. The team lost the first match away 1-0 and needed to score at least two goals in the return match to secure a spot in the final. After going down a goal, Guyana scored two and added an additional goal for extra measure, lifting the aggregate to 3-2.

The upstarts will need to generate the same kind of tenacity if they hope to stay afloat in a particularly difficult group. At least they get the chance to hang out in Cancun for a few days.

Mexico

FIFA Ranking: 22

Biggest Victory: May 10, 2006 Mexico 9, Nicaragua (Qualifying for 2006 Gold Cup)

Worst Loss: April 18, 1991 United States 12, Mexico 0 (Group Stage of 1991 Gold Cup)

Best Finish: 1998 Runners-Up

Route of Qualification: Direct Entry

Mexico has appeared in every CONCACAF Gold Cup save for one (1993) and has finished third three times, including the previous two tournaments. Mexico’s senior side has won one game this year, having lost the pair of U.S. friendlies earlier this March, two friendlies against Japan in May and the opening match of the Peace Queen Cup to Australia. Their lone win (and first goal of the year) came against Chinese Taipei in the Peace Queen Cup.

Mexico had a fine run to the Quarterfinals in the 2010 U-20 Women’s World Cup this past summer. Head coach Leonardo Cuellar will be taking Stanford Cardinal Alina Garciamendez and Natalie Garcia who mopped up in central defense in Germany. 18 year-old Charlyn Carrol was one of the players of the tournament but school commitments have put her call-up in doubt.

Maribel Dominguez is inarguably the best female player Mexico has ever produced. Like her Canadian counterpart Charmaine Hooper, Dominguez has scored in nearly every Gold Cup match she’s appeared in. This might be her last chance at a Women’s World Cup. And if that’s not a big enough of a motivating factor, the fact that she’ll be performing in front of a home crowd certainly will be.

Trinidad & Tobago

FIFA Ranking: 46

Biggest Victory: July 5, 2002 Trinidad & Tobago 13, Dominica 0 (Caribbean qualifying for 2000 Women’s Gold Cup)

Worst Loss: June 23, 2000 United States 11, Trinidad & Tobago and June 25, 2000 Brazil 11, Trinidad & Tobago (Group stage of 2000 Gold Cup. Interestingly, both the U.S. and Brazil were topped Group A tied on points, goals allowed and goals conceded. Even more peculiar, both the U.S. and Brazil beat Trinidad & Tobago and Costa Rica with the exact same score lines; 11-0 and 8-0 respectively. The two teams met in the final match and played to a scoreless draw. Naturally.)

Best Finish: 3rd place in 1991 Women’s Gold Cup

Route of Qualification: Won Group F in Caribbean qualifying

The Soca Princesses have been a constant presence in the tournament since 1991. They have always been the Caribbean representative and have never failed to qualify for a single Gold Cup. They have not advanced from the Group Stage since 1994, however.

The team sailed through competition with 14 goals scored and just one conceded. 21 year-old striker Kenaya Cordner scored the second-most goals in qualifying with five.

Norweigan coach Even Pellerud took over the reins of the Trinidad & Tobago women’s senior side as well as both the U-20 and U-17 teams in 2008. Pellerud led Norway from 1989 to 1996 and guided Norway to a World Cup title in 1995 before coaching Canada from 1999 to 2008.

We’ll see the product of Pellerud’s handiwork in due course.

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