Game is Sunday at 7:00 PM EDT. Isn't much of this Haiti team the same players from the Olympic Qualifier we played against them last year? I keep hearing much of the same names during broadcasts of their games in this Gold Cup. I know they gave the Nads some problems, but I don't think we will have much of a challenge against them. Talk away.
We should be able to deal with them quite easily. I think another good showing will calm a lot of nerves out there. I'm really not too familiar with the Haitian team.
Three of the players from the Olympic Qualifiers are on Haiti's Gold Cup squad. And I believe all three have started for Haiti in the GC (defender Ednerson Raymond, froward Fabrice Noel, and goalkeeper Peterson Occenat).
Well I know that midfielder Sampuer and forward Saint-Preux are on this roster and played vs USA were also on the Olympic qualifer game against us.
Mexico has not progressed that far to take any opponent lightly. There are a couple of things that I would like to see improve, namely the tendency to make such poor unhurried passes in midfield. I counted at least 3 passes from Torrado that were not only not on the mark but practically given to the opposing player. Torrado is not the only guilty party. The poorest passes in midfield are routinely made under little or no pressure. WTF? The other trend and this I can attribute to Aguirre's arrival is the tendency to play the corners short. I would be willing to wager that more than half of Mexico's corner kicks of late are of the short variety. Does this mean that Aguirre is conceding the other team's height as an excuse for not crossing it into the box more often or a real ack of creativity? It just bugs me when I see it.
I don't blam em for the short corners. Everything else about the Mexican player is short. Plus, they don't have someone like Rafa or Borg back in the day- those guys could really make something happen in the air. Your spot on about the passes though.
I am not too concerned about the corners, or I should say, it does not bother me too much. You can't teach height. The passing does worry me, this was our bread and butter not too long ago, good passing, which leads to ball control, which leads to pace control... But I still think this can be improved with practice. Perhaps there are other intangibles, like pressure, which are making the team less precise. But what really worries me is the amount of backwards passes. Hate all you want on Osorio/Salcido, but in 20 minutes either of these has more forward passes than what I have seen out of "El Gringo". It seems like the whole team is quick to pass backwards. There is nothing wrong with passing backwards, but I at least would like for them to try or get some looks at other options. It is not like we are playing Brazil and the score is 2-0 in our favor. I know there are other factors here, CONCACAF teams tend to shell up and wait, (and it was seen against Guadalupe who didn't and Mexico flowed slightly better). But still, if we can't control against these teams... /p
we scored off the corners guys, let's do short corners against TALL experienced teams. But against inexperienced Caribbean teams, I think we can score more often.
What I think will happen. Mexico will have control of the game.Haiti will play a 4-5-1 and do nothing but defend.Late in the game,we get some late goals. Every team in this region has been doing this against Mexico.So it will come as no surprise to me.
Hatti probably won't give you too many problems. The US outplayed Hatti with a bunch of 5th stringers so I can't see any reason to worry too much.
not sure they were outplayed. the score was 2-2. but i agree with mexico's likely dominance of this haiti outfit.
I dont' think Aguirre and Carrillo will dabble with the lineup too much. Although, the delantero situation is where the controversy is at as not sure which of the three he will team up between Bravo, Guille and Vela. Pretty sure Sabah, despite his goals (2), won't be a starter. I would save Vela as a sub once Bravo has had a bit of time to run at the defenses and/or Guille starts showing fatigue. I also think Israel Castro has won the starting gig from Noriega so he will be teaming up with Torrado. And Medina has beat out Jagger as well so he and Gio will be the outside Mids. I liked the patience they showed in teh first half against the French colonials so I hope that continues as well against the Haters.
I think I posted something similar in the Vela thread but I dont think the guy should start this game unless he is 110% and is kickin everyone's ass in training. I expect Sabah and/or Bravo to start based on the decent performances these 2 have had. Who knows how in-form Franco may be, but I really expect him to be a sub. I think Norriega is a little too inexperienced to be paired with Torrado in the middle. We need someone smarter, more experienced and a better passer to offset Torrado's defeciencies....and I think Israel Castro > Norriega
so whos going to the game? i bought my tickets already, the good thing is i wont have to pay for parking and wait in traffic since i live walking distances from the stadium.
I'm thinking about it. You can still get decent seats (behind the goals) for $25 if you do the family pack. Have to balance the check book and see if the trip to Houston didn't ruin me for the rest of the month. If I go, can I park at your house?
so the $100 seats.. no one is buying them.. get some cheap seats and move down. Try and look for the HAiti section behind the player's benches. They always reserve a section for the apposing team.
I concur here although from what I've seen so far I like Noriega better than Torrado. Torrado has tendency to get beat alot so he makes up for it by being a brute and/or giving away freekicks. So pairing Castro with Noriega would still leave us with that outside shooting threat from Castro.
I just gave the fmf $132 (Two tickets). It's the best decision i've made in a while. I've never seen the Tri live ( saw a boring clasico at azteca and a boring America Tigres at azteca).
Yeah, ideally I think we rather have a noriega/castro combo, but I dont think Torrado is goin anywhere until he dies Seriously