none of this B squad sh1t.. We win with the best possible team we can field. and we lose with the same team.. If the US wins the gold cup this year, they beat a senior Mexican side. i'll be pissed
Still want to see the official 23 man rosters before i make a prediction on the winner. Although I will say I believe Mexico will not have it as easy as many think they will. Canada can close down shop, bunker and make things interesting. Panama can do the same. They each have a cohesive core nucleus of teamates that have played together in many Senior tournaments. Mexico is going to have to feel themselves out and learn how to play together as a team as the tournament goes along.
well, the rosters are out and one of the teams to take a completely strong squad will be ES. while mexico has alot of talent with that young squad, and honduras also has a massive amount of talent with that young squad, USA and ES have a more complete and experienced squad which will be very useful in this tournament
and..... These guys are not noobs, they Liga MX professionals some of the best at their positions in the league. I wouldn't say they are inexperienced. Liga MX players don't get exported because they are not good it's because they are payed so well in Mexico. I wouldn't dismiss the Gold cup team so easily. I am looking forward to seeing them play. Just because they are domestic does not mean they are not good. Liga MX is not MLS. MLS highest worth team: 12 M pounds, Liga MX lowest worth team: 17 M lbs. Mexico should win it (I am not saying they will breeze through, but they should win it).
I never said they were. But, if we talk about experience at international level, both the US and ES brought players that have been playing international for some time now, so that helps them more. And while liga MX is a good league, a lot of US and ES are playing abroad, which again, will help them. Never did I say they should win.
This squad is the same basically the same squad thats been playing together since January. Of course there are changes, but mostly the same so they have experience playing with each other and playing against other opponents
Maybe we define international experience differently to me an experienced international player in Concacaf has started a few gold cup games and WCQ's for a couple of years not months That isn't the case with this ES squad. Having played a few friendlies and UNCAF games doesn't make them exprienced in my book.
Group A: Mexico, Panama, Canada, Martinique. Group B: Honduras, T&T, El Salvador, Haiti Group C: USA, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba Winner: Mexico.
Don't mean to sound like an SS but that matchup is not very hard to predict since this has been the final in the past 3 editions...It would be nice if we could get something else once in a while...just saying...
I wouldn't argue with that, I'd love Mexico to lose earlier, but I'm a US fan so I'm going to root for the US even that means setting up the same Final
I think Mexico is capable of pulling the upset, we have alot of players that have played together on the national side
We are still missing a ton of first choice players: Howard, Guzan, Cherundolo, Bradley, Altidore, Dempsey, Jones, Cameron, etc. In reality, both teams have less than desirable rosters. Still, I like our roster for the most part. Interestingly there are quite a few dual nationals on both sides of the Mexico/US aisle (Brizuela, Ponce, Saucedo for Mexico and Castillo, Corona, Gomez, Orozco-Fiscal, Gringo Torres for the U.S.). Should be a good tournament. Not very daring to predict a U.S.-Mexico final but from there either team could take it. Would like to see a team like Canada get a shot at the final, but I don't think its gonna happen. I'll go with a 2-1 win for the U.S. in extra time of the final, since I'm a homer
Edit: Apparently, though his mother is American, Cirilo isn't technically a citizen because he didn't apply for citizenship before he was 18 and thus it would take 5 years to become one since he was born in Mexico. This is from both Cirilo and his contact with the USSF last year.
Costa Rica has a good chance. We've got the same central defender pairing that has got 4 clean sheets in the last 4 Hex matches, experienced players capable to lead in midfield and the front (Barrantes, Borges and Saborío), and other players that have been starters in the Hex (Ariel Rodríguez, Jairo Arrieta, Yeltsin Tejeda, Kenny Cunningham, Junior Díaz, Cristopher Meneses). Rodney Wallace, Yendrick Ruiz (Bryan's younger brother), Carlos Johnson, Mauricio Castillo and Kendall Waston have little experience on the NT level, but have been on a great run of form for their respective clubs. I believe we have more than enough to challenge for the title. I expect a starting 11 looking something like this: -----------------------------------------Pemberton (Alajuelense)----------------------------------------- Johnson (Cartagines)---González (Valerenga, NOR)---Umaña (Saprissa)------Díaz (Mainz, GER) ------------------------Rodríguez (Alajuelense)--------Barrantes (Aalesunds, NOR)------------------- --------------------------------------------Borges (AIK, SWE)-------------------------------------------- Cunningham (Strongest, BOL)--------------------------------------------Wallace (PL Timbers, USA) --------------------------------------------Saborío (RSL, USA)------------------------------------------- Tejeda (Saprissa, CDM), Miller (NY Red Bulls, USA, CD), Madrigal (Saprissa, RB), Meneses (Norrkoping, SWE, LB) and Granados (Herediano, CDM) have a chance to make the starting 11 as well.
An alternative to that, posibly against a strong team like the US, is playing something similar to this: -----------------------------------------Pemberton (Alajuelense)--------------------------------------- ----------González (Valerenga, NOR)---Umaña (Saprissa)----Miller (NY Red Bulls, USA)---------- Johnson (Cartagines)----------------------------------------------------------------Díaz (Mainz, GER) ------------------------Rodríguez (Alajuelense)---------Barrantes (Aalesunds, NOR)------------------ --------------------------------------------Borges (AIK, SWE)-------------------------------------------- --------------------Arrieta (Columbus Crew, USA)------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------Saborío (RSL, USA)-----------------------------