U.S. does just enough to beat Trinidad and Tobago

Ricardo Clark, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Rudi Corrales.

Those were the names that echoed around North and Central America and the Caribbean on Wednesday night.

Those were the players who scored the goals that gave the U.S., Mexico and El Salvador 1-0 victories in crucial qualifying games for soccer's 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

So while England, Spain and Paraguay celebrated reaching next year's quadrennial world championship, and while Argentina bemoaned yet another loss that could spell the end for Coach Diego Maradona, it was Clark, Blanco and Corrales who walked tallest in this part of the soccer world.

Clark, the Houston Dynamo midfielder, fired in a fierce shot from 25 yards or more in the 62nd minute as the U.S. overcame Trinidad and Tobago at Hasley Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

The win sent the Americans to the top of the six-nation regional qualifying group with 16 points. It also eliminated the Soca Warriors, who made it to Germany 2006 but fell far short this time.

Blanco, the Chicago Fire playmaker, banged in a 75th-minute penalty kick for Mexico at rain-soaked Azteca Stadium to send the Mexico City crowd into raptures and earn El Tri the three points against a game but outclassed Honduras.

The win sent the Mexicans to second place in the group with 15 points. Honduras, in first place when Wednesday dawned, dropped to third with 13 points.

Corrales, the CD Aguila striker, achieved the most improbable of the day's results. His last-minute injury-time goal at Cuscatlan Stadium in San Salvador not only kept El Salvador mathematically alive, albeit barely, but also consigned plummeting Costa Rica to its third consecutive shutout loss.

The Ticos, once in first place, are now fourth with 12 points and facing the very real possibility of being forced into a playoff against the fifth-place South American finisher.

That team could be two-time world champion Argentina, which was beaten, 1-0, by Paraguay in Asuncion on Wednesday and whose hold on that position is a precarious one. Maradona's team is only one point ahead of Uruguay and Venezuela and only two points ahead of Colombia.

El Salvador, incidentally, has eight points. It can achieve a maximum of only 14 and plays away to Mexico next. Say goodnight, Rudi.

There were 35 qualifying games played on Wednesday and the 32-team World Cup field is now one-third filled, with host South Africa and 10 others having booked their spots in the June 11-July 11 tournament.