CONCACAF Nations League Opponents Watch [All Rs]

This is such a joke.

 

@alslammerz

You are a one-man wrecking crew! Keep up the good work.

 

I don't see St. Kitts staying in the top six.

 

If they lose to Canada, they will probably need to win at Suriname to finish in the Top 6.

 

Montserrat has about 5000 people. It is the least populated FIFA Country, and it has about a third of the population of the next smallest FIFA member (Anguilla).

They beat Aruba yesterday, one month after upsetting Belize. If they beat The Cayman Islands in March, they are likely headed to The Gold Cup (though they still might need a few tiebreakers to go their way)

 

More Caribbean minnows for the USA and Mexico to steamroll...

 

Best story of the whole bloody thing. Along with this goal:

http://www.espn.com/soccer/club/montserrat/2655/video/3669554

Those decrying the lopsided scorelines miss the point entirely. These teams need more games. And a competition to provide them with consistent schedule.

Further, each successive matchday will get more competitive.

MD 1: Pot A v Pot D; Pot B v Pot C.
MD 2: Pot A v Pot C; Pot B v Pot D.
MD 3: Pot A v Pot B; Pot C v Pot D
MD 4: Pot A v Pot A; B v B; C v C; D v D.

With one game each time with cross pots due to uneven # in each pot.

For CONCACAF, I like this. It will be a chance to grow the sport in our region. Give the minnows games. Give the mid-level teams a chance to compete and improve. Plus there are some nations with decent footy history that I would like to see revived (Haiti, Cuba, Suriname).

We need to raise the bar for a 16 team Gold Cup to work. Now at least everyone has to earn it.

 

Why should the USA give a damn about improving Concacaf? If the USA wants to win a World Cup, it needs to play against serious competition, which 95 - 99% of Concacaf is not (Mexico, CR, and the other Hex nations excluded, of course).

Beating up on irrelevant islands like Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis, or Sint Maarten doesn't do anything for the US.

 

There's not much difference between the Gold Cup having 12 teams and 16 teams. USA will play one team per Gold Cup that wouldn't have qualified if there were 12 teams. There will be more Group Stage games with one more group, but it will take the same amount of games to reach each round. All other things equal, it's better if third place teams don't advance. In terms of Montserrat's low population, Antigua and Barbuda ranks 27th out of 35 in Concacaf in population only including teams that can play WCQs, and they did okay against us in World Cup 2014 qualifying with a 3-1 loss in USA and Eddie Johnson scoring a 90th minute winner at Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbuda had a better aggregate goal differential (-3) in those two games against USA than Panama (-4) and Honduras (-6) had in the Hexagonal for 2018, albeit with Panama and Honduras getting draws hosting USA.

 

You can lead a horse to water....I guess I will spell it out.

Short version: You better start caring, because we may not have anyone else left to schedule against soon.

Long version goes like this:

A) USA win the WC? Hahaha. You cannot win a World Cup without QUALIFYING FOR ONE FIRST. The idea that anyone could even type that is just mind-bogglingly silly. We just finished behind Panama & Honduras by losing to T&T's C team.

B) We should schedule accordingly. Do not mind big time opponents, but we should schedule more in our own weight class. You do not learn a ton by getting your butt kicked all the time.

C) MLS is improving the upper middle class of CONCACAF. Costa Rica has benefitted. Panama. The likes of Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, El Salvador, and Canada are likely to improve as well. These are the teams we have to beat to qualify. At least this cycle.

D) Our opportunities to schedule big time opponents will dwindle for two reasons.

First, since we kind of suck, they are not as useful as tuneups for the heavyweights. Tunusia puts up more fight and is better preparation. And is closer to Europe. As are a dozen or so African nations.

Second, friendlies are gonna get rarer and rarer. Big clubs hate them. UEFA looks like this:
i) Even year post WC: Fall Nations lge.
ii) Odd yr: Euro Qual + NL finals.
iii) Next even: Euro + fall NL.
iv) Odd pre-WC: WC Qual + NL final.
v) WC year: WC + fall NL

Not a lot of space there for Euro opponents.

CONMEBOL is switching to even yeared Copas, but will play one in 2019 AND 2020 to do so. Their WCQ is long and brutal. 2019 Copa. 2020 Copa + WCQ. 2021 WCQ. Not much space there.

Africa runs Cup of Nations every two years, with qualifying for each. Plus African Nations Cup. Plus World Cup Qualifying.

AFC runs Asian Cup every four years, but I doubt has the heavyweight teams you desire.

And CONCACAF has Nations League as well. And Gold Cup. Twice every four years. Though that could change.
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Point is, big time friendly opportunities are about to become a lot less frequent. Confederations will be playing a lot more of their games within their own confed. So the strength of that confed is MORE vital for a team's success, not less. As you want those games to be real tests.

Get it? Having 10-12 teams in CONCACAF that can provide us with meaningful competition instead of 5 would really help us.

 

Montserrat has done a good job recruiting from its diaspora. Most of its players are in the upper levels of English non-league with a few in Leagues 1/2. It's not going to be a world-beating squad, but it's no joke of a team and it's drawing from more than its on-island population of 5,000. Probably the existence of the Nations League is a boost to getting players to commit to the program, as it gives them more than a 2-game WCQ preliminary round every 4 years.

 

I'm really looking forward to the US entry into this tournament, and generally looking forward to having some competitive matches after the long and increasingly tiresome stretch of friendlies. I'd far rather see competitive matches (even if they're against the same familiar CONCACAF opponents over and over) than low-intensity, uncompetitive exhibition matches (even if they're against big teams).

It seems like the CNL League A could end up being a much more interesting tournament than the Gold Cup, thanks to the home-and-away group stage format, the tougher groups, and the threat of relegation. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing a beefed-up Nations League eventually replace the Gold Cup entirely.

 

If these players are not capped in the Gold Cup, they should all be capped in the Nations League:

Antonee Robinson
Cameron Carter-Vickers
Timothy Weah
Jonathan Amon
Alex Mendez
Uly Llanez
Sergino Dest
Jonathan Klinsman

 

Montserrat gets the victory and keeps their Gold Cup hopes alive. They cling to 7th place with 9 points and need to finish 10th to qualify. 8 teams can pass them win a win tomorrow, and 4 of them are playing eachother

 

C'mon St Kitts & Nevis! You can do it! My maternal homeland needs to stand up and be counted!

 

A pretty badass goal from Sint Maarten. Luckily they'll be in League C, so The US won't have to worry about playing on that pitch

WHAT. A. GOAL! Gerwin Lake of Sint Maarten just scored this beauty to put the score 4-2 over Saint Martin! #CNL #TheDreamStartsNow | @FloFC pic.twitter.com/HhCZvvhra3

— Concacaf Nations League (@CNationsLeague) March 23, 2019

 

Wow, that IS a goal. In other news, table-leading Curaçao is losing to Antigua with 30 minutes to go. Also, unfortunately, my Nevis is losing at half to Suriname and Belize is losing at half to Guyana. All the spreads are 1 goal. St Kitts & Nevis need to win to hopefully squeak into League A.

 

Well, Curacao needed just a point in Antigua to officially clinch their spot in both The Gold Cup and League A but they lost. However with 9 points and a goal differential of +20, they're still essentially a lock for both.

Guyana, leads Belize 2-1 in the 60th. Due to a few unlikely goal differential scenarios it wouldn't be official, but a Guyana win would likely give them their first ever Gold Cup trip, they'd still need help for a League A spot though. A Belize win could keep them alive for the Gold Cup, however getting there would still be unlikely. A tie eliminates both.

Suriname leads St. Kitts and Nevis 1-0 with about 30 minutes left. Suriname would briefly slide into a Gold Cup spot with a win, but they likely wont keep it. A St. Kitts win would likely give them their first ever Gold Cup trip, but they need 2 goals

 

Curaçao loses and will fall from its place atop the standings. Goal difference will still assuredly place them in League A and qualify em to the Gold Cup. It would take a slew of bad results for Curaçao, including at least one double-digit win for the right (or wrong) team for them not to make the GC.

 

Congratulations to Guyana on qualifying for their first ever Gold Cup!

I was mistaken earlier when I said there were scenarios that could technically keep them out, it doesn't appear that there are any.

Suriname gets the win. They'll cling to the to the second to last Gold Cup spot and they're guranteed to get jumped by either Bermuda or The Dominican Republic (and they'll be jumped by both in the event of tie). They need to pray that that game has a winner, Canada takes care of French Guiana, Barbados beats Nicaragua, and that El Salvador does not beat Jamaica

 

Only 2 games left today. Martinique is scoreless with Guadeloupe 30 minutes in. Martinique needs just one point to clinch a spot in both League A and The Gold Cup. A loss would likely keep them in the Gold Cup, but it would put their League A hopes in jeoprady. Guadeloupe needs to win by about 10 goals to have a shot at The Gold Cup.

El Salvador hosts Jamaica. Like Martinique Jamacia just needs a point to clinch a spot in League A as well as The Gold Cup, but a loss could cost them a League A spot if certain results don't go their way. El Salvador must win to keep their Gold Cup hopes alive