The teams from the North, Central America and the Caribbean zone have already competed two rounds of qualifiers when the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Preliminary Draw took place last Saturday.

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In round 1, the 14 lowest ranked teams played each other in home and away games. The 7 winners advanced into round 2. These games took place in March 2015.

Round 2 was played in June 2015 with the 7 round 1 winners going up against 13 teams that were ahead of them in the FIFA rankings. The 20 teams competed in another set of home and away games. The ten round two winners were:

1.     Canada
2.     El Salvador
3.     Guatemala
4.     St. Vincent and the Grenadines
5.     Grenada
6.     Antigua and Barbuda

7.     Belize
8.     Aruba

9.     Nicaragua
10.  Curacao

Round 3:

The ten teams form round 2 will join Jamaica and Haiti in Round Three. These 12 teams took part in the preliminary draw ceremony last Saturday. The draw assistants who were present during the ceremony were Italian World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro and beach soccer icon Madjer.

The teams were drawn into pairs that will contest another series of home and away games between August and September this year. Here are the round 3 pairings:

1.      Curaçao vs. El Salvador
2.      Canada vs. Belize
3.      Grenada vs. Haiti
4.      Jamaica vs. Nicaragua
5.      St. Vincent and the Grenadines vs. Aruba
6.      Antigua and Barbuda vs. Guatemala

Round 4:

The six winners from round 3 will join the following countries in round 4: Costa Rica, Mexico, USA, Honduras, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. These six teams were already drawn into three groups during the ceremony held last Saturday.  

Between November 2015 and September 2016, the groups will be playing in a round robin format. The winners and runners-up from the three groups will make it into round 4. Here is the group stage draw:

Group A:

1.    Mexico
2.    Honduras
3.    Winner match 1
4.    Winner match 2

Group B:

1.    Costa Rica
2.    Panama
3.    Winner match 3
4.    Winner match 4

Group C:

1.    USA
2.    Trinidad and Tobago
3.    Winner match 5
4.    Winner match 6

Round 5:

The group winners and runners-up from round four will advance into the final qualifying round. The six teams will play in one round robin group which will play a home and away series. The top three teams will play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.

*The fourth-placed team will be playing against an Asian team for the Intercontinental play-offs. 

Full results of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia preliminary draw may be viewed at the FIFA website. 

TagsFootball, Russia, North America, Central America, Carribean, Preliminary Draw, Results, 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA