Assuming The US doesn't choke away it's 8 goal lead on Guadeloupe in the last 20 minutes, Panama will be our opponent in the do or die quarterfinal. Panama drew both Costa Rica and Curacao in the group stage (2-2 and 3-3 respectively). Their lone win of the opening round was a 3-1 win over Suriname (their insurance goal didn't come til extra time). In The Round of 16 they beat Guatemala 2-0
Man seems like we can't escape a Concacaf tournament without facing Panama at least once. And Lord knows we've had our struggles with them, plus the fact that they qualified for WC18 ahead of us--which I am still deeply bitter about and will never get over--means that I get a whole heaping helping of schadenfreude whenever we beat their asses.
I only watched the highlights, but PAN-GUA was scoreless until the 72nd minute. They scored their 2nd shortly thereafter on a shot straight through the Guat GK. I see the US winning 4 or 5 nil, but awfully stressful with this format.
I’m hoping Fuentes starts over Busio. I thought Busio was fine as the 10 vs Guadeloupe, but I doubt he will he fully fit and I like the idea of Fuentes taking some risks and trying to make that key pass to set up a goal. I’m not the biggest Fuentes fan because I think he’s pretty loose in possession and makes some really bad passes when he shouldn’t, but he really opens up this team and actually is a threat through the middle (opposer to every attack coming from one of the wings).
The first real challenge in this tournament will be for all the marbles. The US is the favorite but Panama will be playing to their traditional strength, the counterstrike. The question is if what we saw with Canada was a hiccup or a symptom.
Las Scally-Gray-Alejandre Cuevas-Leyva-Saldana-KHF Busio Reyna-AOC If Busio is injured after the last game, move Reyna back to CAM and insert Pepi into the lineup. I think this is going to be a close game. If we win it, the coach can then implement some needed changes because this current team isn't very good, and I think they'd be headed for a 3 and out at the U-17 WC.
I don't think they are going to play a brand new formation in their only game that really matters. By the way do you think this team is good or not. You've been very reluctant to provide an opinion.
I disagree, team just hasnt played together in this system. Talent on the team is outstanding, and they just need to figure it out. We scored goals at will last game and will do so against Panama, itll be over at half.
I've yet to see outstanding talent having watched this team going back to the U-15 age group, but I hope you're right.
You have quite a few professional 16 year olds on a team. If you wanna tell me what age group EVER had this many 16-17 year olds getting paid professionally to play soccer id like to see it. Might be one i just don’t remember
Yeah, no way they are gonna change the formation after practicing it in four straight games. And they just moved Reyna out to the wing, which resulted in their best game(albeit against cupcake competition). I definitely think this past game was close to if not the "starting 11" and it's their jobs to lose going forward.
You have to have talent to play soccer professionally, you have to be REALLY good to start professionally over grown men. Improvements in the system created more talent. You getting spoiled lol, this team has some big time talent
CONCACAF's own website, concacaf.com, also says 2:00 PM Eastern Time. Costa Rica v Canada @ 10:00 USA v Panama @ 2:00 Haiti v Honduras @ 4:00 Mexico v El Salvador @ 5:00 Based on Concacaf's ALL CAPS treatment, it should be a prize-fight atmosphere: "IT'S A MATCH WHERE THERE IS NO TOMORROW FOR THE UNITED STATES AND PANAMA IN THE QUARTERFINALS OF THE CONCACAF UNDER 17 CHAMPIONSHIP ON SUNDAY AT IMG ACADEMY IN BRADENTON, FLORIDA. THE LOSER WILL GO BACK HOME AND THE WINNER WILL STAMP THEIR TICKET TO THE FIFA WORLD CUP IN BRAZIL ..."
I apologize for the incorrect time. Wikipedia lists the game at 3 PM ET. @bundgari can you change the title to 2 PM ET
Glad to see this upset, although they gave us a hard time in the group stage. It’s good to see Canada advance period, idk what it is about wanting to see Canada do well when they’re not facing the US.
Probably: Reyna-----OcompoChavez----------Yow -------------------Busio----------------------- ----------Leyva-----------Saldana--------- Armour--HernandezFoster-Gray-Scally -------------------LAs------------------------- I guess surprise would be Alejandre getting benched. Other than that what I would have expected.