The real Hex standings

it was on the road.

 

The correct metric is deviation from 3 at home, 1 on the road. So if you lose at home that's -3, if you win on the road that's +2, if you lose on the road that's -1 etc.

By that standard today's match was 0 for us, -2 for El Salvador. In fact, we're sitting at 0 overall, which point-wise is just fine for the moment.

 

I bet ES loses a number of game at home.

We dropped 2 points tonight.

 

No, we really didn't. We just didn't get 2 "bonus points" for a road win.

 

I think the OP's point was that other teams *are* going to come into ES and win bonus "win" points, if they do we loose 2 by comparison.

 

they only have 3 more home games.

 

I'd have to question if the OP even watched the game then... because that was a damn good team we played with a damn intimidating stadium. If they can fix fitness/mentality issues or whatever is causing them to give up leads late, they will surprise people. I think going there assuming 3 points is a mistake waiting to happen.

 

Barring (probable) clerical errors, I think this is how it actually stands:

11.2.2009 CR - HN 2:0 (0:0) San Jose, CRC
11.2.2009 ES - TT 2:2 (0:2) San Salvador, SLV
11.2.2009 US - MX 2:0 (1:0) Columbus, Ohio USA
28.3.2009 MX - CR 2:0 (1:0) Ciudad de Mexico, MEX
28.3.2009 TT - HN 1:1 (0:0) Port of Spain, TRI
28.3.2009 ES - US 2:2 (1:0) San Salvador, SLV

Deviation from 3 at home, 1 on the road

CR 0 : -1 HN
ES -2 : 0 TT
US 0 : -1 MX
MX 0 : -1 CR
TT -2 : 0 HN
ES -2 : 0 US

Table

US 0
MX -1
CR -1
HN -1
TT -2
ES -4

But like I said, you might want to double check this.

 

You are correct. That was my point.

 

Let them. Look, we all would have preferred a win. I'm pissed off about the game too. But the realty is we're perfectly on track. The trick is to stay on track.

 

Who? Costa Rica aren't exactly road warriors. It'd be a mistake to expect a CR win @ ES. Mexico has the talent, but their issues on the road are well documented (and worse than ours). Honduras? Please. It wouldn't shock me if HON won @ ES, but I sure as hell don't expect it.

This thread is a joke. 3 at home 1 on the road is the only "altered" table worth anything.

 

TT should be -2 instead of -3, but yeah, what you said.

 

I'm confident we will qualify, heck at HT I said I expected the US to come back and tie once ES got tired and their quickness advantage went away.

I was just explaining what the OP meant.

 

Oops. Fixed.

One thing I noted doing that table: it's slightly remarkable that we haven't seen any home losses already.

 

Yep. I don't see any way to rationalize tonight's game as acceptable. Hell, if they managed to pull off the win I still would've considered the night to be a dreadful mess. Tough road games are one thing. Being outclassed in every way for 70+ minutes by a El Salvador is quite another.

 

The goal isn't to win the group; it's to finish top 3. An away win is 2 points stolen.

Still, I expect the US to win 2 games on the road. Which games, I'm not sure but not Mexico.

If you take 4 points from all but 2 or 3 teams, you're fine.

 

Latino teams historically struggle alot against the Caribbean teams due to physical matchups. Assuming TnT can't get results against CR, Mexico, and Honduras is incredibly naive and shows a lack of understanding about the region. Just ask Mexico wat the think of Jamaica.

 

Honduras isn't any better than ES.

The chances of the results not finishing...

Going to WC: (in any order)
USA
MEX
CRC

Going home:
HON
T&T
ES

are pretty small. The three upper tier teams are head and shoulders better than the other 3. Before you argue for Honduras, I point you to the current standings, where they sit in last place on 1 point.

 

And have yet to play a home game...

 

Yeah, but the point of this thread is that "dropping" points against ES would come back to bite us when Mystery Team A goes on a rampage on the road and steals our WC spot from us, which is fantasyland stuff.

No one is winning on the road right now, just like most years. That's the point of win at home, tie on the road. Hold your ground, scrap out points (more importantly deny points from the home squad) on the road, and you're going to the WC. Guar-an-frickin-teed.

 

Bingo.

The telling this thus far that everybody should take from this, IMO, is that NOBODY has yet lost a home game. (Which in turn means that Honduras, which has yet to play a home match, has yet to win... no big surprise there.)