2017 Confederations Cup - Qualifiers, News and Updates [R]

And Argentina has finished second in 2 qualifying tournaments, the WC and Copa America. That would be better than whomever finishes second to Germany, should they win the Euro.

 

Yeah, but no need to speculate further. The chances of a Germany - Russia final are close to nil. So we can essentially assume that Argentina won't be there. I doubt any South American team would want to go anyway. Chile is going to be involved in a summer tournament 5 summers in-a-row. That's a bit much.

 

True, but I was also implying that Arg would deserve the birth more than any possible runner up to a German victory in the next Euro.

 

Any CONCACAF country that qualified for World Cup 2014 (USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras), plays in Copa America 2016 if it happens, and qualifies for World Cup 2018 will have tournaments for 7 consecutive summers from 2013 to 2019.

 

Yeah, that's a bit nuts. It might not be quite the same thing though for players on those teams. I'm not sure about the Costa Rican and Honduran league calendars, but for MLS players summer tournaments don't really add to their fixture list. Those int'l matches replace club games that they would have had to play, whereas most Argentine NT players are at clubs in Europe where summer tournaments are tacked-on at the end of their long club season.

 

You're right that the Gold Cup is during the MLS season, but in Gold Cup 2015 the USA played 6 games in 19 days which is more often than clubs usually play in MLS.

The 2015-2016 Costa Rican Invierno started August 1 and the regular season ends November 25. The 2014-2015 Costa Rican Verano was from January 18 to May 6 with playoffs from May 9 to May 23. Therefore any tournament in June or July is during their offseason.

 

Yeah, still works out to just 1 or 2 extra games.

 

still not close to the # of games players on Champions League teams play right?

 

The CONCACAF Champions League doesn't require as many games as the UEFA Champions League. I'm not going to do it, but it could be interesting to compare the amount of games in four years for club and country for a European playing in Europe like Cristiano Ronaldo, an American playing in Europe like Tim Howard, and an American playing in MLS like Matt Besler.

 

Mexico has quite a few of their players starting on CL Clubs , unlike the United Stats , Costa Rica & Honduras who have no more than 1 and might not even have them going forward because of drama .

That said Mexico's players are not on the Real Madrid's , Barcelona's of the past but teams that can get out of the group & with some good play into the round of 8 & beyond .

 

This , this is a big , big advantage over players who play in Europe .
Fresh mid season bodies up against players who have gone through an entire season of football .

In saying that , Argentina type talent should supersede this dis advantage easily as Mexico's talent does .

 

Actually, it would be for 6 years in a row :

1. 2014 WC (Brazil)
2. 2015 Copa America (Chile)
3. 2016 Copa Centenario (USA)
4. 2017 Confed Cup (Russia)
5. 2018 WC (Russia) (if we get the tickets there)
6. 2019 Copa America (Brazil)

 

and Mexico has it really brutal:

1. 2013 - Gold Cup + Confed Cup + extended WC qualifying campain in New Zealand (thanks Zusi!)
2. 2014 - World Cup
3. 2015 - Gold Cup + Copa America
4. 2016 - Copa Centenario
5. 2017 - Gold Cup + Confed Cup
6. 2018 - World Cup (if they make it ;-))
7. 2019 - Gold Cup

Throw in the Olympics which takes up 3 senior + u-23 players and you could practically go on forever.... add the fact that Mexico continuously compete in the U-20s and U-17s World Cups and I think we can proclaim Mexico as they busiest national team in the world....

Ps - also throw in all the Champions League games the players play in.... talking about the Concacaf Champions League lol - maybe there's a hidden conspiracy there as to why American teams fare so poorly... they're just trying to get a rest

 

Add in that most of Mexico's best players play in EUROPE & it's worse .

+1 for trying but Mexico has , Chicharito , Layun , Jimenez , Moreno & Guardado starting in the UEFA CL .
As well as Corona & Herrera coming off the bench .

Yup nothing beats losing & not representing your Confederation .

 

oh come on - I'm obviously being sarcastic there. My point is that the Mexican NT plays a lot of football. Take into account the qualification campaigns that both North and South American teams have for world cup qualifying + travel time, and it adds to the intensity....

 

lol - I forgot about that one. Mexico play in so many tournies I can't keep up anymore...

 

And mexican teams always play the World Cup of Clubs!

 

Not for long though , as unfortunate as that is for our clubs most of our National team's "stars" all play in Europe .

 

The ferrari is going to dominate SCCL for years to come!!

 

+ Copa Libertadores

 

So Papua New Guinea and New Zealand won their semifinal matches in the OFC nations cup. They'll meet this weekend to determine the OFC representative at the 2017 Confederations' Cup.

It would obviously be PNG's first appearance if they can beat NZ and it would be NZ's 4th, I believe.

 

New Zealand beats Papua New Guinea (0-0 a.e.t. ; 4-2 on pens) in the 2016 OFC Nations Cup final and clinch a spot to the 2017 Confed Cup.

Only UEFA & CAF are yet to be determined.