🏆 Canada's team effort, Contreras exemplifies Costa Rica's success & more from Sunday's WCQs

After all this time, clarity has arrived

So, it’s settled.

Well, almost.

We know that Canada is going to the World Cup, and the United States, Mexico and Costa Rica all will have an opportunity to be in Qatar as well. The most likely scenario will see Costa Rica in the playoff, while the North American squads seal one of two remaining automatic qualification spots.

Jon Arnold @ArnoldcommaJon

Here’s where things stand heading into the final matchday:

It’s been clear for some time that the three North American countries were the favorites to make Qatar without going through the playoff, but there definitely were some twists and turns along the way. That’s even more true for Costa Rica, which jumped into the fourth-place spot Thursday and now knows it can finish now lower than fourth.

Let’s look at four takeaways from the penultimate day of World Cup qualification in the Concacaf region, including notes on Canada, Costa Rica, the U.S., Mexico and Panama: