Figure we needed a thread for this as it started tonight. Just got done watching the Canada-French Guiana match--whoch was quite entertaining though not of the highest quality. They have a kid who looks good, tho.
Panama is a decent team. We should win, but I'd be surprised at a 3-0, especially with us only having a B team. EDIT: OK... just looked at Panama's roster. They have a bit of a B team as well. No Penedo is goal. No Torres, Baloy, Cummings, or Machado in defense. No Quientero on the wing. No Tejada or Perez up top. Looks like they are resting a lot of their veteran players for WCQ. Though some could come in after the group stage I suppose, especially in defense since three of those four guys play in MLS.
It's gotta be, right? TBH the entire back looks weak. Gonzalez and Besler are shadows of what they were before. Yedlin and Zusi are the only options at right back (unless you want to try the Chandler experiment), and at left we have...DaMarcus Beasley. And minding the net is none other than Charlie Brown.
Eric Lichaj is also an option at right back. I think a lot of USMNT fans want to see him get a shot. Voted player of the year at Nottingham Forest, seems like a good potential backup option for Yedlin at RB.
I was talking about him as one of the many "where did that guy go" defenders we've had over the years.
Well... that game was... uh.... yeah.... not exactly a barnburner. First half was pretty uneventful for the most part. Second half was better, but more because Panama really started putting us under pressure. No one in the defense looked good except for Guzan. Zusi is good going forward but predictably, and understandably, a liabilty defensively. Villafaña was crap. Omar and Besler weren't great, but i dont think McCarty or Acosta helped much. Dax was quite simply not good enough. Acosta is still young and inconsistent. He's a good complimentary piece, but not ready to be the main man. Rowe was ok, but I'm still not convinced he's A Team quality. Corona... meh. Bedoya was garbage. He's been garbage since joing Philly. I'm done with him. Dwyer works hard, but I still think he's only super sub level for the senior team. Man of the match was clearly Miguel Camargo. I definitely think he's getting more minutes when he goes back to NYCFC.
Weird situation though. French Guiana is not FIFA. Which begs the question of why they wee allowed to compete in the first place. Yeah, I know. Politics. But if Puerto Rico can have a FIFA team, why not these locales?
True true. On a positive note, I think the Crew found a second striker who can score and would be cheap, Parsemain.
Anyone else go to the Panama-Martinique game? If so, any trouble finding where to enter? Also, does CONCACAF have a rule against printing game programs? None at the first-round qualifier at MAPFRE and none for the Gold Cup.
Yeah, my buddy and i were there for both games, no issues. The panama v martinique game was far superior to the US v nicuragua game. US game so boring we left around the 70th min to go get something to eat before making the drive back to Cbus.
I have to believe that Nagbe and Bradley are going to make our midfield look more like a team, and less like a group of old men trying to find Bingo night.