I set the poll to close the day before the Semifinals start. This is separate from my prediction contest. Please sticky this topic. Edit: It's okay with me if this becomes a general Group A topic.
USA & Jamaica. Based on this year's results and performances and the recent history against these teams I just don't see Guatemala having what it takes to make the Hex.
This will be a battle for the 2nd spot with two of the tougher places outside Mexico and Costa Rica to play. US should win easily. Guatemala should sneak by Jamaica. Antigua should be happy with a point or 3 - not sure where they could get either.
hard to tell between Guatemala and Jamaica, but I gave it to Guatemala.. Jamaica seem like they don't know what to do or what they want.
Again, like in most of the groups, you have a clear favorite (USA), two teams battling for the 2nd spot (Jamaica and Guatemala) and a minnow (Antigua and Barbuda). Like in C, I'd expect Guatemala and Jamaica to lose to the USA twice, beat Antigua and Barbuda twice, and then decide it between each other. For some reason, I think Jamaica sneaks in.
4 years ago Jamaica was top 4 in Concacaf. They were better than Costa Rica and El Salvador. They didn´t make it to the hex because of the semifinal group they were in. US and Jamaica
We knew what we wanted when we beat both Honduras and Guatemala in the gold cup. We're gonna beat Guatemala and get to the hex. Worry about Honduras and their group ,Canada and panama are coming for blood. Mark my words.
Honduras is fine.. our Federation is stable and we know what we wanted when we beat Jamaika in La Ceiba. enjoy watching us from your TV again bruv
If you guys call up your epl players then yeah. hopefully Canada makes it too, i've been waiting for a concacaf Commonwealth bout.
How many World Cups has Guatemala played in? How many Gold Cups has Guatemala won? How many Olympic gold medals has Guatemala won? Canada has one of each.
The schedule makers messed up in my opinion. For the integrity of the competition, Jamaica and Guatemala should face each other on the final match day considering 2nd place is more than likely going to come down to those two.
Do you know of any soccer competition with a group stage that intentionally uses the expected strength of the teams as a factor in making the schedule (order in which the teams play each other)?
The second round of CONCACAF qualifying seemed to try doing that in a pretty obvious way. For whatever reason whoever scheduled this round seems to want it over by the second to last game.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VIgMaR1PVs&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL756D60D221ADB6B1"]Guatemala vrs Canada - YouTube[/ame]
My Hex : Mexico El Salvador USA Jamaica Honduras Panama I would love to see Canada knock off either Panama or Honduras, but those two just have more finesse in their styles.
Like slaminsams said, they just did it for the last round and it worked the way it was supposed to. First place was decided between the top two teams and nobody had to rely on the honesty of other unmotivated teams with nothing to play for. Look at it this way. Guatemala has a bit of an edge over Jamaica in terms of the scheduling because their away game against the USA is on matchday 6. By then the USA will probably be through and likely to field a 2nd string side. Jamaica won't get get that luxury. Is that fair? Probably not.
I will never like what CONCACAF just did where the last two group games had the same matchups because the standings after the fourth of six matchdays are unbalanced and may not reflect the strength of the teams despite it being late enough that everybody could have played everybody else by then. Arranging only the last matchday based on the expected strength of the teams is better than that, but I still have no problem with a random order of matches. In Manchester United's UEFA Champions League group after four matchdays, Machester United, Benfica, and Basel are competing for two spots and Otelul Galati has lost their first four games. If UEFA did what you wanted, Benfica (the 2 seed in the group) and Basel (the 3 seed) would play on the last matchday, but Benfica will play Otelul Galati that matchday. In USA's Semifinal qualifying groups for World Cups 2006 and 2010, the expected middle two teams did not play on the last matchday. Unlike those groups, next year Matchdays 5 and 6 will be together so unless a team wins their first four games they will have their best players with them whereas if Matchday 6 was by itself some teams would be more likely to have clinched a spot in the Hexagonal and not even bring their best players from UEFA clubs there.
Even if it's a double date it doesn't mean the yanks won't release players back to their clubs after the first game. That's exactly what they did in 2010 qualifying when matches 4 and 5 were a double date. They clinched on matchday 4. Even though matchday 5 was four days later they released most of the starting 11 back to their clubs and sent a B team to Trinidad. Trinidad won 2-1 which clinched a Hex berth.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1552325/index.html is titled "Americans expectant, Wadadli Boyz dream."
Well, just to post the results from round 1. USA 3 - 1 Antigua & Barbuda. USA dominated early, but A&B pretty well organized and got a goal for 2-1, but USA scores later to restore 2 goal lead. Jamaica 2 - 1 Guatemala. Jamaica gets two, and hits the bar numerous times, but Guatemala does get a goal late. Still, important home 3 points for the Reggae Boyz over their rivals for 2nd. Next up: Guatemala v. USA Antigua & Barbuda v. Jamaica
