MI­A­MI, Flori­da – The 2024/25 Con­ca­caf Na­tions League (CNL) is heat­ing up with League A teams push­ing to se­cure quar­ter­fi­nal berths. Group B ac­tion takes cen­tre stage on Thurs­day with a high­ly an­tic­i­pat­ed clash be­tween top sides Nicaragua and Ja­maica.

Mean­while, Cos­ta Ri­ca and Guatemala will bat­tle to main­tain their po­si­tions in the fierce­ly com­pet­i­tive Group A in Fri­day’s fix­tures.

The top billing will be the first-ever Na­tions League clash be­tween host Nicaragua and Ja­maica at the Es­ta­dio Na­cional in Man­agua. Both teams are un­de­feat­ed, but Ja­maica cur­rent­ly leads Group B on goal dif­fer­ence with four points af­ter a road vic­to­ry against Hon­duras.

Nicaragua, un­beat­en in their last 14 CNL games, has the chance to leapfrog Ja­maica and take con­trol of the group.

Mean­while, Suri­name will wel­come Cos­ta Ri­ca to the Dr Ir. Franklin Essed Sta­di­um in Para­mari­bo. It’s the first CNL meet­ing be­tween the sides, but Cos­ta Ri­ca has a per­fect record with a 5-0 record against Suri­name in pre­vi­ous en­coun­ters.

Suri­name is cur­rent­ly third in Group A and hop­ing to grab an­oth­er win against a Cos­ta Ri­ca side that sits atop the group with four points.

Guyana will square off with Guatemala at the Na­tion­al Track & Field Cen­tre in Leono­ra in their first-ever CNL matchup. Debu­tants Guyana will be look­ing for its first win af­ter se­cur­ing a point in their pre­vi­ous game, thanks to a brace from Isa­iah Jones.

Guatemala are un­beat­en with four points, and they will be seek­ing to leapfrog Cos­ta Ri­ca in­to the top spot of Group A.

In oth­er games, Cu­ba will take on Trinidad and To­ba­go at Es­ta­dio An­to­nio Maceo in San­ti­a­go de Cu­ba. This is the first time the two sides will meet in Na­tions League ac­tion, though Trinidad and To­ba­go have his­tor­i­cal­ly dom­i­nat­ed the matchup, with 13 wins com­pared to Cu­ba’s six.

Cu­ba re­mains un­beat­en in this cam­paign with two con­sec­u­tive draws while Trinidad and To­ba­go will be look­ing for their first vic­to­ry of the tour­na­ment.

French Guiana will host Hon­duras at the Stade Mu­nic­i­pal Dr Ed­mard Lama in Cayenne, while Guade­loupe and Mar­tinique will face off at Stade Roger Ze­mi in Le Gosier.

CMC