Guatemala

Guatemala 2019-20 Home
Guatemala 2019-20 Away

A light blue sash on a white Guatemala shirt, is there any better combination? Umbro managed to liven up the standard sash with an interesting geometric pattern through it. Light and dark blue livens up the bottom of the shirt and the collar with the sleeves staying light blue, even on the cuffs. The away has nicer cuffs, with the Umbro logo standing out and a staggered chevron pattern almost imitating a sash. The sleeves are a strange dark blue, oddly like denim coloured.  Similar enough to be clearly home and away but two unique and interesting takes on their traditional pattern. Two great shirts!

Coming fresh off a suspension, Guatemala were automatically qualified for League C of CONCACAF’s Nations League. These shirts saw their use as they were thrown into a group with Anguilla and Puerto Rico, where there was really only one outcome. Three 5-0 wins and a 10-0 capped a flawless promotion for the Guatemalans. This also means they will face Guyana and (if they win) the winners of Guadeloupe and the Bahamas for a 2021 Gold Cup spot.

Such success isn’t really consistent for Guatemala. They’ve regularly been one of the better Central American sides but have never quite managed that crucial step to reach a World Cup. They’ve missed out on the final Hexagonal stage of World Cup qualifying on the finest of margins multiple times and once missed on a World Cup play-off spot by 2 points. 1958-1974 was when World Cup qualifying was a bit barren for them, with far fewer positive results and yet it has to be remembered as what might have been? FIFA suspended them from 1966 qualifying, with them winning the 1967 CONCACAF Championship sandwiched by 2^nd places in 1965 and 1969. With three 4^th places, they last reached the semi-finals in 1996 but have been regular qualificants to the Championship/Gold Cup, struggling more in recent times. Other successes include 3 Olympic qualifications, 2 Central American Games titles, a Pan American Games bronze and 5 consecutive Copa Centroamericana finals (with 1 title). Active and successful in Central America, they just need to make that step to the wider stage.

Their women’s side is again, strong in Central America but less so elsewhere. They’ve been to 4 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cups, coming 4^th in 1998 but not winning a game since, and missed out in 2002 on head-to-head, despite the better goal difference. Three bronze medals from three tournaments shows their Central American credentials further from the Central American Games and the Central American & Caribbean Games. With the Northern American nations proving far too string for everyone else, it is hard for them to progress further. The men’s youth teams have proven fairly successful with two 4^th places in Olympic qualifying, 19 qualifications to the U20 championship (joint 2^nd highest in UNCAF, Central America) and 11 qualifications to the U17 Championship. While they’ve never won a youth championship, the U20s had multiple top 4 finishes in the early years and a 3^rd place in 2011 to reach the U20 World Cup. They were knocked out in the Round of 16. The U17s came 4^th in 2003 and 3^rd in 2009 but have not been to a World Cup and the U15s came 2^nd in 2013. Some definite strength there. The women’s youth teams emulate the seniors with 4 U20 Championship qualifications and 3 at an U17 level but only 4 game wins and no knockout stage appearances, even in expanded tournaments. No U15 side has competed to date.

In their 4 Beach Soccer Championships, they’ve been consistently in the top half, with two 6^th place finishes, a 5^th place finish and a quarter-finals appearance, but have always fallen short of the World Cup qualification spots with only 2 available. In contrast, futsal has been an enormous success, with Guatemala taking each of the top 4 positions in 4 appearances to date. 4 World Cup appearances have brought all group stage exists, though they finished 3^rd in their group all but once. They’ve provided competition in several minor futsal competitions and have performed reasonably at the Futsal Grand Prix, though have tended to finish closer to the bottom than the top. Powerful in CONCACAF, they tend to be outmatches by the global powers.

Drawn as 2^nd seeds in their qualifying group for the 2022 World Cup, Guatemala will have to compete with 2019 Gold Cup participants Curaçao and Cuba as well as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the British Virgin Islands for the play-off spot to get into the final stage of 8 teams. It will be a hard fight, but certainly doable for them. Then having to compete against the best of CONCACAF has been where they’ve always previously fallen apart though. Can things change for 2022?