CONCACAF 2014 World Cup Qualification - Play Resumes June 4

[RichmondRedskin88]

THAT ALWAYS HAPPENS. And not just to the US. Portugal needed a late goal to tie Northern Ireland the other day.

Scotland blows, and we beat them 5-1. Should that have been more?

Im talking about friendlies AND competetive games.

I was at the Tampa game. It was pouring down rain. We should have easily had 6 goals. Weather and the other side playing 10 behind the ball affects that. We possessed the ball for 80 percent of that game. And they got a fluke goal on a defensive lapse.

And again, take a look at the rosters for the games you think we played poorly in. That makes a difference.

Wins matter unless you are Brazil. They're the only side who gets to ***** about how good they look in wins.

Outside of Mexico, NONE of the other teams in the Hex are playing better than us right now. Panama just tied Cuba for chrissakes. Honduras had only scored 4 goals until their final game against Canada. Costa Rica? Wouldnt have made it past the semi's in any other group.

In the 2010 Hex, we were behind in matches against El Salvador TWICE (including 2-0 in the 77th minute in El Salvador), against Honduras TWICE, and lost on the road to Mexico and Costa Rica.

Qulifying in Concacaf is hard. It's always hard. This years Hex will be no harder than any other. In fact, I think it will be easier because Mexico is going to destroy every other team home and away. So that's less points for other sides.

No harder than any other? This has to be one of the toughest Hex fields we've had in awhile. Mexico may beat us both times honestly. Hate to say but it's very possible. Panama will be tough. I definitely think we beat them here at home but I'm not so sure about away. I think we can beat Honduras here(I also think we could draw) but in Honduras I'm worried as heck. We should beat Costa Rica here but we have a habit of drawing against them even at home. Given we won't have to play in Sparissa but playing in Costa Rica will be tough. Jamaica we can beat here but we also loss there last time. Keep in mind we'll also have players who have not been in really hostile environments. Sure we went to Jamaica and Guatemala but places like Honduras, Mexico, and Costa Rica are a different level. And we're not exactly a strong road team. Dempsey even admitted it.

[Kilmer17]

No harder than any other? This has to be one of the toughest Hex fields we've had in awhile. Mexico may beat us both times honestly. Hate to say but it's very possible. Panama will be tough. I definitely think we beat them here at home but I'm not so sure about away. I think we can beat Honduras here(I also think we could draw) but in Honduras I'm worried as heck. We should beat Costa Rica here but we have a habit of drawing against them even at home. Given we won't have to play in Sparissa but playing in Costa Rica will be tough. Jamaica we can beat here but we also loss there last time. Keep in mind we'll also have players who have not been in really hostile environments. Sure we went to Jamaica and Guatemala but places like Honduras, Mexico, and Costa Rica are a different level. And we're not exactly a strong road team. Dempsey even admitted it.

Based on what? Your own eyeball test?

Which of our projected starters havent been in a hostile environment? Zusi? Sure. But who else?

We have lost ONCE on the road in the last 12 months. ONCE. How does that make us "not strong"?

It seems like you guys want the US to LOOK better. And again, that's something Brazillians can complain about. I just want wins.

The Hex this time will be easier BECAUSE Mexico is better. Noone is beating them. If we draw them at home, it will be the only points they give up. That helps us. We dont need to "win" the group. There is no such thing. 3rd place is the goal. Anything more than that is meaningless.

[Kilmer17]

Schedule has been announced for the HEX.

The draw was last week. The complete schedule is here- http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/prelimi...379/index.html

For the US, it looks like this-

Feb 6- @ Honduras
Mar 22- Costa Rica
Mar 26- @ Mexico
Jun 7- @ Jamaica
Jun 11- Panama
Jun 18- Honduras
Sep 6- @ Costa Rica
Sep 10- Mexico
Oct 11- Jamaica
Oct 15- @ Panama

A few things of note. Jamaica will play Mexico on June 4 to allow Mexico to play Confed Cup. This helps us because it will mean a full side Mexico using Jamaica as a warm up and probably beating them senseless. We'd get Jamaica 3 days after that.

3 of our first 4 on the road. If we can manage to have 5 points after those matches, we will be in the drivers seat. If we have more than that, we'll cruise.

It pains me to say this, but US fans need to root for Mexico in every other match. If they dont drop any points, the "typical magic number" moves from 16 down to 13 for 3rd place.

So root for Mexico to win every game except ours, and root for ties ties and more ties everywhere else.

[jly0784]

No chance I root for those dirty bastards, ever... Usa needs to take care of it's own business and not leave anything to chance, but its USA, they will squeak by against inferior opponents, as always, and play the whole "no respect" thing again...

[RichmondRedskin88]

I hate starting the Hex with 3 road games including one against Mexico. It's just asking to put us behind. Couldn't they atleast let us finish at home since we had to start on the road?

[Kilmer17]

I like getting Mexico when we get them away. It's a no lose situation for us. If we earn a draw, it's a great result. If they beat us, meh, they're going to beat everybody. By playing them at home later in the cycle, they will probably already have qualified.

If we can beat Costa Rica at home, and earn two draws out of the 3 away matches, we're in a great position. If we can earn a win at either Honduras or Jamaica, we'll be golden.

I dont look at rooting for Mexico as a bad thing. It will keep other teams from earning points if Mexico wins. Remember, we arent trying to be first, just the first team to lock up at least 3rd.

[skinsngibbs4life]

Also, US announced their roster for the Russia game on Wednesday. A couple things to note:

- Jozy got the call back up, after being snubbed the last two matches. He has been in great form in club play, and had a VERY nice goal on Saturday.

-Timmy Chandler will also make his return to the national team, after a year absence. Should be interesting if Juri will give him the nod to start. To me, its a no brainer to have him and Fabian Johnson start as the two wing backs.

- a lot of youngsters got the call up. Should be interesting to see how many of them acutally get playing time on Wednesday.

[Kilmer17]

Rumors flying that Chandler has agreed to play for the US and give up on waiting for Germany to call him up.

Im from Missouri though, so.........

[RichmondRedskin88]

Rumors flying that Chandler has agreed to play for the US and give up on waiting for Germany to call him up.

Im from Missouri though, so.........

I'm still skeptical. He turned us down all qualifying when we could have cap tied him. Now he wants to play in friendly, which is what he does everytime. When he comes in for qualifer in the Hex and becomes officially tied to us I'll believe he's commited to us. Right now he can say he's committed all he wants but he needs to show it.

[Kilmer17]

I'm still skeptical. He turned us down all qualifying when we could have cap tied him. Now he wants to play in friendly, which is what he does everytime. When he comes in for qualifer in the Hex and becomes officially tied to us I'll believe he's commited to us. Right now he can say he's committed all he wants but he needs to show it.

I dont see why Klinsmann would call him in if they hadnt at least talked about being capped officially. At some point Chandler will realize he isnt getting called up by Germany.

[renaissance]

OP updated.

US game will be on beINSport at 4pm next Wednesday.

Honduras is coming off of a loss to Costa Rica in the finals of the Copa Centroamericana.

And as if ESPN couldn't get any more annoying, they will now be televising all of Mexico's games on their "road to Brazil".

[Elessar78]

Based on what I've seen since JK came aboard, I'm going to be the stick in the mud
And say that this campaign maybe over before it starts. We have better quality players now it seems but we also look more vulnerable to CONCACAF opponents.

[jobaga]

And as if ESPN couldn't get any more annoying, they will now be televising all of Mexico's games on their "road to Brazil".

this is so annoying to me. How are we supposed to grow the fanbase of US soccer in America, when we host 'home' games for Mexico and give their team better converage than our own national team? It especially irks me when our home hames against Mexico are played in venues where the Mexican population can overrun the American fans, making it at least a 'neutral site' game, if not a Mexican home game in the US...

[Kilmer17]

this is so annoying to me. How are we supposed to grow the fanbase of US soccer in America, when we host 'home' games for Mexico and give their team better converage than our own national team? It especially irks me when our home hames against Mexico are played in venues where the Mexican population can overrun the American fans, making it at least a 'neutral site' game, if not a Mexican home game in the US...

We've been playing Mexico in Columbus for World Cup Qualifying for 4 cycles now. That's the only time the USSF gets to decide the venue. Other times we've played them in the Gold Cup, those venues are decided by CONCACAF, so it's not our choice. And friendlies dont matter, so USSF uses them to make money.

We need a point next Wed. If we somehow win and get 3, we'll be cruising.

---------- Post added January-30th-2013 at 11:11 AM ----------

Rumors flying that Chandler has agreed to play for the US and give up on waiting for Germany to call him up.

Im from Missouri though, so.........

Ahem----

Brian Sciaretta‏@BrianSciaretta

Sources have told me that Nurnberg RB Timothy Chandler has accepted a call up for the #USMNT World Cup qualifier on February 6 vs Honduras

AWESOME NEWS!!!!!

A few things about last night- Aweful.


Actually, I guess just one thing.

[RichmondRedskin88]

- US will finish top 3. Only Mexico is clearly better than us. If we get 4 points in the first 3 games we're in good shape. Anymore than that we're gold. @Honduras,Costa Rica, @ Mexico.
- Gold Cup is all CONCACAF which is why we get screwed. Our qualifiers are our decision. Of course some countries require approval for certain stadiums like Costa Rica requesting the US game at Saprissa just to **** with us. They have a national stadium that was suppose to handle qualifiers.
-Chandler needs to get on the field to become cap tied and thus end the freaking back and forth drama
- This Hex is real good but if you go down the list each team has had WTF moments.
-Costa Rica got the benefit of Mexico destroying everyone thus all they had to do was pick up a few draws against El Salvador and beat up a sad Guyana team.
- Honduras had a the beat down of Canada but when you look at the larger body of work they went down to the Panama and got some wins over a less than impressive Cuba team.
-Panama draws to Cuba and losing to Canada. Not exactly convincing. (Keep in mind we didn't play with our real team last night in the friendly against Canada. Only like a few players form that team will be in qualifiers)
-Jamaica beat us because of horrible free kick mistakes after we got a lead. Jamaica needed our beat down of Guatemala to make it on goal differential. Jamaica has been looking like crap since qualifying for the Hex. I think we win the rematch in Kingston honestly.
- Mexico destroyed everyone. Not a shocker. They could beat us in the US but until they score at Columbus I won't believe it.

As mentioned in the soccer thread I will be doing previews and reviews of the US soccer games. My blog is still under construction but I have a US-Canada review as well as a new poll up.

http://starsandstripessoccerblog.blogspot.com/