Well, Tahiti already qualified for the U-20 World Cup in 2009. They finished dead last in their group with 0 goals scored and 21 goals conceded. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_FIFA_U-20_World_Cup#Group_B That doesn't mean their senior team will do equally bad, but it is a hint at their true quality.
IMHO Tahiti is like a German, Italian, English fifth-division side. Weak to play international football but not ridiculous.
I cant wrate to see how bad they are if they have to play Brazil or the winer of the Euros omg get redy to see a goals i will say they let in 28 goals in 3 games.
I think u'd be surprised. Didn't we all say the same about NZ i the world cup, and Tahiti have just won the same comp NZ failed in.
Hey people.. I have a question that is unrelated to the 2013 comp but related to the Confed cup in general... It was this same day 9 yrs ago that Cameroon great-Marc Vivien Foe tragically passed away on the pitch at this competition (2003 edition) While reading on some events of that tragic day, it suddenly occurred to me: is the confederations cup still held every 2 years or is it now every 4 years like the world cup?
It should be pointed out that the OFC Cup took place in extremely testing conditions, the likes of which can't really be understood until personally experienced (35-40ºC, extreme humidity, 4kg weight loss per match, one day between matches). Results like 2-1 v Papua New Guinea aren't a reflection of NZs current quality, but rather the fact that no human can give 100% for 90 minutes in those conditions, particularly without proper acclimatisation.. not even playing on the counter. Their plan for the tournament was to score early and hold on for 3 points which they did in their first two matches. By the time the semi final against New Caledonia came around the NZ players were finished. They'll be extremely disappointed not to have made the Confed Cup as it provides a great test for them against the big guns in a tournament but it isn't the start of a sudden decline. I can't see them having any problems with direct qualification for Brazil.
New Zealand doesn't have direct qualification to Brazil they will have to play CONCACAF's 4th seed and having seen how poor they looked in recent friendlies against CONCACAF teams that were fielding experimental players their path to Brazil won't be an easy one.
Spain defeat Portugal in the semifinals via penalty kicks. This confirms that the winner of Germany v Italy will be the UEFA representative in the Confederations Cup.
This tournament has the potential of being the best ever. So many competitive sides and good players with technical skill. If Ivory coast or Ghana qualify I dare say it will be the best field of teams ever assembled for the CONFEDERATIONS CUP.
Too early to say. You never know with Italy. Which team will show up - Euro 2012 team or Confed Cup 2009/WC 2010 team? And Spain look weaker compared to 2009. Add in Tahiti and I don't see how this is a stronger field than 2005 but a lot depends on the CAF qualifier.
I do hope the first round tie breaker is not goal differential in THIS particular tournament. Do we really want to give teams a competitive reason to run up the score on Tahiti?
I said it has the potential. You can also apply the opposite of what you are saying right now. Spain could be much stronger with players who are healthy / maturing from their youth squads. Italy can be much stronger too. A player like Ballotelli could be on the cusp of more greatness. A team like Mexico could be better next year than this year with kids they have from the Olympic squad wo have not been given a chance, etc.
True. The format of it always gives it high potential. I just think Germany's loss yesterday decreases the potential a bit. Germany would've been a better bet to put in a strong showing than Italy IMO. Similarly for New Zealand. They weren't going to win this tournament, but can at least keep the scores respectable. With Tahiti it looks like at least a couple of 6-nil scorelines or worse.
You never know who comes from Africa. Cote d'Ivoire would make the list pretty killer, but what if a team like Gabon or Tunisia win?
ROTFL! Egypt, the team who won 3 consecutive African Cups of Nations, will definitely not be at the Confed Cup! They just lost to Central African Republic and will miss out on the 2013 edition (they already missed out on the 2012 one).
There will sure be a group of death doesn't matter which as long as Tahiti is in it it will be a group of death for them...lol
I am almost 100% certain Group A will have Brazil and Italy. Group B Will have Spain and Uruguay. I also think everything else falls into my earlier group predictions made in this thread but you never know. I am not as certain.
Ahem . . . NZ drew 1-1 and won 0-1 with an underaged captain, missing senior footballers, experimental youngsters which all havn't played 6-7 weeks of football, some are amateurs or are semi-professionals and only brought together a day before the first match on foreign soil.
Playing in a prolonged series of matches in the Pacific Islands is hard and believe it or not, it was played in the cooler season too. I recoken that many international teams outside of the top 30-40 would struggle playing a series of matches over there. Even Australia when they were in OFC, had the odd hard match. Like they go and smash a small island with over 15+ goals in one match and then the next match they struggle with a sole goal win.
NZ actually drew 2-2 not 1-1. New Zealand looked awful those scores are very flattering against teams that are much weaker then what the eventual 4th place CONCACAF team will be. New Zealand had virtually no attack in either game and very little possession against opponents that aren't exactly the masters of possession. The game they won they sat back after scoring an early goal despite the game being a friendly and essentially showed nothing for the whole game. Even without the missing senior footballers you can get a sense of NZ's style of play there are times Canada plays that way and when they do they struggle against teams that are well below CONCACAF's 4th team. If you think those results were good for NZ then it pretty much shows why NZ will struggle when the real things is on the line.