Canada's Quest for 2014 WC

Are there open international dates between now and September to have friendlies?

Oh dear, Canada doesn't have an August friendly scheduled yet? Here we don't go again.

Looking at the list of already-scheduled August friendlies, decent CONCACAF teams that still seem to be available (and not in Group C) include Jamaica, Guatemala, and El Salvador. In other confederations, stronger teams still available appear to include England, Portugal, Italy, South Korea, Colombia, Ecuador, Ireland, Serbia, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Zambia.

Does South Korea have enough European based players to have a friendly in Europe, though? Because they definitely wouldn't cross the Pacific to play us, and there's no way anyone outside CONCACAF/COMNEBOL would come to Canada.

El Salvador or Jamaica would be excellent for a regional game, though quite frankly, we can't field a competitive team with a largely MLS based squad. Ireland or an African team with our European based squad seems ideal.

BTW, what on earth did Cuba do pre-qualifying to reach FIFA top 80 and get the buy into the current round?

As you perhaps know, Cuba getting drawn into Canada's semifinal group was probably Canada's best piece of luck since advancing to the quarterfinal of the 2000 Gold Cup by winning a coin flip. But why was Cuba a possible Pot 2 draw in the first place?

The 9 March 2011 rankings were used for CONCACAF's WCQ seeding. Cuba earned 503 points in those rankings, good enough for sixth place in CONCACAF; how?

For those rankings, the 100% period was the previous 12 months: 9 March 2010 through 8 March 2011. The 50% period was the 12 months before that: 9 March 2009 through 8 March 2010. The 30% period was the 12 months before that: 9 March 2008 through 8 March 2009. The 20% period was the 12 months before that: 9 March 2007 through 8 March 2008.

Cuba's score for the 100% period was an average over all of Cuba's results in the 100% period, assuming that there were at least five such results (and there were). Results are scored as 100, times result points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss), times match status (1.0 for a friendly, 2.5 for a continental cup qualifier), times opposition strength (1.99 for highest ranked team in the world, 1.98 for second highest, down to 0.50 for 150th or lower ranked team), times regional strength (0.88 since the 2010 World Cup for CONCACAF versus CONCACAF). Note that both Caribbean Cup qualifiers and Caribbean Cup matches count as continental cup qualifiers, as they ultimately qualify teams for the Gold Cup. Watch as Cuba racks up ranking points from that juicy 2.5 match status multiplier.

October 26, 2010 Friendly win over Panama
100 * 3 * 1.0 * 1.41 * 0.88 = 372

November 10, 2010 Caribbean Cup qualifier win over Dominica
100 * 3 * 2.5 * 0.68 * 0.88 = 449

November 12, 2010 Caribbean Cup qualifier draw with Suriname
100 * 1 * 2.5 * 0.87 * 0.88 = 191

November 14, 2010 Caribbean Cup qualifier draw with Antigua and Barbuda
100 * 1 * 2.5 * 0.69 * 0.88 = 152

November 26, 2010 Caribbean Cup win over Trinidad and Tobago
100 * 3 * 2.5 * 1.22 * 0.88 = 805

November 28, 2010 Caribbean Cup win over Martinique
Doesn't count because Martinique is not a member of FIFA

November 30, 2010 Caribbean Cup draw with Grenada
100 * 1 * 2.5 * 0.75 * 0.88 = 165

December 03, 2010 Caribbean Cup loss to Guadeloupe
Doesn't count because Guadeloupe is not a member of FIFA

December 05, 2010 Caribbean Cup win over Grenada
100 * 3 * 2.5 * 0.75 * 0.88 = 495

Average (372 + 449 + 191 + 152 + 805+ 165 + 495)/7 = 2629 / 7 = 376.

So Cuba had a massive (by CONCACAF standards) 376 points from just its 100% period. Even though it had 0 points from its 50% period (no matches!), it needed only 127 points from its 30% period and its 20% period to get to 503. (Let's just trust that Cuba scrounged up 127 points from those periods, unless someone else wants to do the calculations.) And 503 was good enough for sixth place in CONCACAF.

Why was 503 good enough for sixth place in CONCACAF? The top two places went to the USA and Mexico, who had tons of points from WCQ matches in the previous cycle, as well as from the World Cup itself. Third was Honduras, with lots of Copa Centroamericana points (2.5 match status) plus lots of WCQ points, despite no points from the World Cup itself (three losses). Fourth was Jamaica, with lots of Caribbean Cup points (three wins in its three matches against FIFA opponents), plus some Gold Cup and WCQ points. Fifth was Costa Rica, with lots of Copa Centroamericana points, plus lots of WCQ points.

Seventh was Panama, who earned points from the Copa Centroamericana and the Gold Cup, just not enough to catch Cuba. Eighth was Canada, who earned points from the Gold Cup, but not many from WCQ, and none from Gold Cup qualifying because Canada qualifies automatically for the Gold Cup; it also didn't help that Canada's record in its six friendlies in the 100% period was 1W-2D-3L.

Maybe Canada should try to get invited to the Copa Centroamericana. It's an awkward tournament structure anyway with seven teams competing for five Gold Cup spots; why not eight teams competing for six Gold Cup spots instead? And think of all the juicy Gold Cup qualifying ranking points.

According to his brother....that was a "bluff"....really?

http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2012/06/14/julian-de-guzman-june-14-2012

Why do we have to assume that we only use European based players when we have friendlies in Europe and MLS based players when we have them over here?

Frankly, the reason we need more friendlies is to get our team a bit more cohesive....and if we are only going to use part of our team depending on where the match is played.....what's the point?

If there was a friendly, it would most likely be in Europe because that's where most of our team is and most of those guys might decline if they have to fly over here for a friendly and then fly back. It's only a 48 hour window so the best way to get as much work in is to play in Europe and use as many Europe based guys as possible.

I just want more friendlies come on Canada get some games set up for the team

Yes....but take the North American first team guys over too.

FYP

Are there any rumors or news about friendlies for Canada...

@KurtLarSUN I think it will happen. Maybe a domestic based team though.

— Gerry Dobson (@SNGerryDobson) June 21, 2012

Rumours, speculation...same thing.

Ridiculous. They'd do a game in Vancouver with the proper incentive.

just about any team will play anywhere with the proper incentive, and South Korea would need a lot of that to fly their players 12 hours for a match (on turf) which won't really benefit their team anyway. i wouldn't hold my breath.

I think canada set up a friendly with T&T this august

It will be on August 15.

Pedro Pacheco looked impressive in the first game of the season this year his passing last week for Santa Clara was sublime , his fitness looked good and he defended well he really is fitting into that bov to box role he reminds me of Katsouranis of greece.

How has he been for canada

good to know. Pacheco hasn't seen much time with the national team, the most i've ever seen him play for Canada was 15 minutes. he got about 10 minutes from the previous 3-game international window.

i would like to see more of him, you can tell he has some intelligence with the ball and tries to do the right thing. in my estimation, there is a sitting midfield position up for grabs. and i'm not sure if he can play wing, but our recent wing play has been even less convincing.

our squad for the Aug. 15 friendly is VERY thin, so if he isn't given a look it would be disappointing.

Canada's friendly scheduled VS Soca Warriors (T&T)

rosters, etc. here

http://goo.gl/7HJJh

Well he became the team captain at Santa Clara even though they are a 2nd division outfit they are always favourites for the promtion and they are a pretty big team and they always do good in the Taca de Portugal (Portugal Cup) games against SL Benfica last year Santa Clara lost 2-0 only reason Benfica lost was because Axel Witsel was on fire, but he was impressive and his passing is nice for Santa Clara he can play anywhere in the Middle of the park winger CAM and even a CDM

http://cdsantaclara.pt/pt/formacao/seniores/ultimas
thats te official website

Pedro Pacheco putting in a good shift against Benfica

Ricketts may be coming into his own. by all accounts, Pacheco was instrumental in the 2nd half push - hopefully he's teamed up with Hutchinson vs. Panama..they'd give a lot more offense and control without giving much up defensively.

Canada won 2:0.