CUBA are out, Jamaica are in, and the fate of the third Caribbean representatives, Trinidad and Tobago, at the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup rests in their own hands.
The 'Warriors' play their single most important match at the current competition when taking on South American entrants Colombia from 5 p.m. today at the Orange Bowl in a match which they must salvage at least a draw to move through to the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup.
Either way, whether their destination is a quarter-final spot in Boston or Houston, or elimination at the group stage and a trip back to Port of Spain, the Warriors leave Miami on Thursday.
The Colombians are in an even more precarious position and must win, after losing their opening two matches to Panama (1-0) and Honduras (2-1).
The difficulty of the final match was not lost on Trinidad and Tobago head coach Leo Beenhakker, who spoke following Sunday night's 2-2 draw with Panama when an excellent header from late substitute Cornell Glen gave his team a valuable point.
Commenting after the stalemate, Beenhakker said the teams were more-or-less evenly balanced and that Trinidad and Tobago might have been a bit unlucky not to win the match, when a header from big stopper Marvin Andrews smacked a Panama upright and deflected along the goalline before being cleared by a Panama defender.
Instead, Beenhakker said, Panama almost punished the Warriors for the miss when Man-of-the-Match Luis Tejada got his second goal of the game in the 90th minute.
It was then left for Glen to come up with his match-saving header from a good cross from another sub, Angus Eve.
Still, Beenhakker counted his blessings when summing up his team's position going into today's final round of Group A matches.
"We were lucky that we had the draw, of course," he said. "The only thing that you can say now is that our situation in the group is not very easy, but we are still in the race. And, at least, we have our fate still in our own hands, and that is important."
On Sunday, Trinidad and Tobago provided an improved showing, especially in the first half, from their opening match with Honduras.
But while the defence looked far more sturdy, Beenhakker got little out of wide midfielder Collin Samuel and Densill Theobald, while up front Stern John and Jason Scotland once again struggled to make an impression.
However, Silvio Spann had a good return to the team at the centre of midfield, where he worked well with Chris Birchall, who was very quiet throughout the game.
The Warriors would have had the the perfect start after just five minutes had captain Stern John swept the ball into the Panama net from close up, after Theobald re-directed Samuel's cross into his path.
But, not as sharp as he once was, John succeeded only in finding the arms of Panama's outstanding keeper, Jaime Penedo.
At that point, the Trinis among the 17,292-strong crowd were singing Calypso Rose's "Fire, fire in yuh wire, wire". They soon had more to sing about when T&T's two central defenders combined for the opening 17th minute goal, with lanky Dennis Lawrence chesting down Spann's free-kick to Andrews, who powered the ball into the net from close up.
But, just seven minutes later, a defensive error brought Panama level at 1-1.
T&T's Cyd Gray made an unwise decision to clear a verylow cross with his head and succeeded only in getting the ball close to Panama midfielder Julio Medina, whose pass gave Tejada an easy tap past T&T goalkeeper Kelvin Jack.
John forced Penedo to turn a stinging shot around the post early in the second half and Panama also had a few attempts at T&T keeper Jack but, for the most part, both teams probed without success for much of the second half.
That was until the 90th minute when Tejada out-muscled Andrews on the left and slid the ball inside Jack's far post.
Glen, an 83rd minute substitute, was given just a little time to make an impression, but when all seemed lost, he planted a curling cross from another late sub, Eve, inside the Panama far post for the Trinidad and Tobago equaliser in time-added-on.
After the game, Panama coach Jose Hernandez said he always knew Trinidad and Tobago would be tough opponents and that qualifying for the second round showed the growth in Panama's football.
The Colombian added: "It is important for Panamanian soccer to keep advancing and we have kind of met that objective already. It is good to see the players at the international level performing well, and it also needs to keep getting better."