The 2026 FIFA World Cup CONCACAF qualifiers are set to resume this week, and on Friday, we will see Guatemala take on the Dominican Republic at Estadio Cementos Progreso.

The hosts currently lead the Group E standings with a perfect record of two wins from their two games, while the visitors are third after splitting their games, one win and one loss.

Match preview

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The expansion of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers to 48 teams, along with the automatic berths granted to Canada, Mexico and the United States, creates a golden opportunity for several Central American teams to capitalise on.

This includes Guatemala, one of several nations currently pursuing their maiden World Cup appearance in this competition, alongside the likes of Guyana, Puerto Rico, Grenada and the Dominican Republic.

Los Chapines will enter this match with bags of confidence, having made a very good start to their campaign, notching up back-to-back wins over Dominica and the British Virgin Islands in their first two games last year.

Luis Fernando Tena's side scored a total of nine goals in those games without conceding, and pulled off an excellent comeback against Guyana to qualify for the Gold Cup, overturning a 3-2 first-leg defeat to win 4-3 on aggregate after the second leg.

These two sides met home and away in the CONCACAF Nations League group stage in June 2022, and played to a 1-1 draw in Santo Domingo before Guatemala secured a 2-0 victory on home soil three days later.

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Meanwhile, many consider the current crop of Dominican Republic players their golden generation, and the team has been in great shape leading up to this crucial World Cup qualifier.

Los Quisqueyanos had an excellent CONCACAF Nations League campaign, finishing top of their group with a perfect record of six wins from six, which earned them promotion to League A and entry to the Gold Cup.

Marcelo Neveleff's side are now unbeaten in their last nine matches across all competitions, eight of which ended in victory, while his team also maintained clean sheets in five games during that period.

The last time the visitors lost a match was their first round fixture in this competition against Jamaica last June, and their record since then has seen them move up two places to 139th in the FIFA world rankings.

Team News

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After having to leave out players involved in the Liga Nacional de Guatemala semis and final for their friendlies last month, Guatemala will be looking forward to the return of several of their stars for this match such as the experienced Marvin Avila.

Other locally based players who could feature for the hosts this week are Antonio Lopez, Kevin Moscoso and Jorge Aparicio, as well as Dewinder Bradley, who scored what turned out to be the winner for Antigua GFC in the Liga Nacional final on May 18.

The Domincan Republic are expected to be at full strength for this crucial fixture, with Leeds United defender Junior Firpo and OGC Nice midfielder Pablo Rosario both set to feature in the starting lineup.

Jean Carlos Lopez and Jimmy Kaparos are likely to join Rosario in the visitors' engine room, while FC Cartegena's Rafael Nunez and Dorny Romero of Club Bolivar should form the attacking duo.

Guatemala possible starting lineup:
Hagen; Morales, Pinto, Samayoa, Ardon; Castellanos, Franco; Santis, Galindo, Mendez-Laing; Rubin

Dominican Republic possible starting lineup:
Valdez; Urbaez, Pujol, Firpo; Lopez, Kaparos, Rosario, Azcona, Diaz; Nunez, Romero

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We say: Guatemala 1-2 Dominican Republic

Guatemala made an excellent start to their WC qualifying campaign by securing back-to-back wins over Dominica and the British Virgin Islands last year, but they now face a much tougher opponent in the Dominican Repulic.

Los Quisqueyanos come into this match following a stunning Nations League campaign which they ended with a perfect record, and the team has not lost a match in exactly a year. We feel the visitors will take the points in this one.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Devesh Jaganath

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