It will be interesting to see how many games the OFC rep plays between now and next summer. On paper New Zealand may have a decent shot against Panama. However, they didn't play for two years and the majority of their roster will have less than 10 caps going into OFC qualifying.
Probably. But if it is one-off games, there is still the chance for chaos. In the last World Cup qualifying, New Zealand drew a game vs. New Caledonia, and in the 2016 OFC Nations Cup, they beat Papua New Guinea in the finals on penalties. New Zealand is the best in the region, but it's not like they steamroll like they're Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatia league.
I guess they still have a chance for fourth, but the current top three all have at least 8 points left in them.
This might be controversial but if the intercontinental playoff is Panama-New Zeland in Qatar I'd rate chances 50:50. I don't know why New Zeland gets so much overlooked. They have an excellent target man in Chris Wood and also a decent crop of young players coming up. New Zeland did well at the last Olympics for example. Teams like Australia and Japan are overrated imo in this cycle. South America isn't what it used to be etc.... New Zealand is an unknown quantity and flying under the radar which could benefit them.
Japan or Australia should be favorites against Ecuador, since the Pichincha warriors are the type who mostly gets points at home, in the heights of Quito, playing in the Casa Blanca. Uruguay is the opposite: a team that often does better away than at home. So IMO they'd be heavy favorites against the #5 in Asia. Aging Chile would have a tough time, and a Peru-Japan could prove interesting, with two teams very focused on precise passing and control of the midfield.
Exactly. One thing to note is that Panama got lucky with the scheduling, injuries, and Berhalter playing the 2nd/3rd team vs. the US, and here on out they have a tough schedule. Playing the first string on US soil, they will lose that game 3-0. They also have away matches at Costa Rica (where they may well get a result, and put Costa Rica out), and at Mexico. I'd expect Panama to get around 8-9 points the rest of the way. This means the US can probably win out at home against weak teams and qualify.
I was thinking, what Berhalter should do for the US's next game vs. El Salvador is maybe play what is kind of 2nd stringers in the defense. It's not clear exactly anyway who is first/second string. Then you can play fresh defenders three days later vs. Canada. For example, give Joe Scaly, who may be deserving to be a first stringer anyway, a start.
Huh? Ecuador is not dropping a 6 point and 11 goal lead to be fifth. Also, they've gotten results away against Chile, Colombia and Bolivia.
Ecuador has a poor record playing outside South America. For their sake, I hope they don't blow a tire.
The current standings are reflecting the reality. Ecuador are right now the third best team in South America. I have no doubts on that. I expect them to keep that third place until the very end. If not handed a horrible draw I expect this generation to repeat what the 06 team did. So I wouldn't bank on them to do poorly in Qatar. Stats and records are nice but it's only useful if you consider the context.
Damn, damn, damn NEW: Alphonso Davies will miss Bayern’s game in Köln & will be out for a spell after that, per Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann. “A slight myocarditis” has been detected in the examination following the Canadian international‘s Covid-19 infection. Nagelsmann’s quotes below.— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) January 14, 2022
Here are the start times in Eastern Time: Thursday January 27: Jamaica vs. Mexico at 7:00 P.M. USA vs. El Salvador at 7:30 P.M. Honduras vs. Canada at 8:05 P.M. Costa Rica vs. Panama at 9:05 P.M. Sunday January 30: Canada vs. USA at 3:05 P.M. Mexico vs. Costa Rica at 6:00 P.M. Panama vs. Jamaica at 6:05 P.M. Honduras vs. El Salvador at 7:05 P.M. Wednesday February 2: Jamaica vs. Costa Rica at 7:00 P.M. USA vs. Honduras at 7:30 P.M. Mexico vs. Panama at 8:00 P.M. El Salvador vs. Canada at 9:00 P.M. If you count 8:00 and 8:05 as the same and count 9:00 and 9:05 as the same, both weekdays have the same start times.
On February 2, Mexico vs. Panama will be at 10:00 P.M. https://www.concacaf.com/world-cup-...tte-recalls-2-0-win-vs-u-s-it-gave-us-belief/ is titled "Piette recalls 2-0 win vs. U.S.: “It gave us belief.” https://www.concacaf.com/world-cup-...ch-gomez-the-team-is-ready-to-give-their-all/ is titled "Honduras Coach Gomez: “The team is ready to give their all”."
Canada 🇨🇦 has 1 final hurdle before World Cup qualification: Getting results in Central America. In this @TSN_Sports @TSNSoccer essay with @TSNScianitti, Julian de Guzman explains why this qualifying window is so challenging, and why this Canadian team can overcome anything pic.twitter.com/GwhLxr3b0z— TSN Soccer (@TSNSoccer) January 24, 2022 Very funny to me how some canucks paint their trips to Central America in fútbol terms… from Julian De Guzman voice (of course, with special ingredients added by the media)
https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/me...-cup-qualifying-preview-afc-concacaf-conmebol is titled "Crunch clashes on the qualifying menu." It says: "Concacaf: In the final straight Team Played Points GD Canada 8 16 +8 USA 8 15 +7 Mexico 8 14 +4 Panama 8 14 +2 Costa Rica 8 9 -1 Jamaica 8 7 -4 El Salvador 8 6 -6 Honduras 8 3 -10 The penultimate set of fixtures is imminent in the North, Central America and Caribbean zone, as teams jockey for one of three automatic qualification berths. Mathematically at least, the final eight sides still have all to play for, but group leaders Canada (16 points) are best placed to progress, even if USA (15), Mexico and Panama (both on 14) are hot on their heels. The remaining teams harbour hopes of securing the intercontinental play-off spot, which would set up a match against the winner of OFC qualifying in Qatar in June. Match in focus: Costa Rica-Panama Fifth meets fourth on 28 January in San Jose. Costa Rica and Panama shared the spoils when they last played in September 2021, but neither can afford to drop points here with third place in their crosshairs. Los Ticos have featured at five World Cups to date, but they are currently fifth in the table with just nine points. Los Canaleros, meanwhile, made their debut at the global showpiece at Russia 2018, and go into the match full of confidence after beating USA in October. Can Panama harness that momentum and earn a fourth victory in what will be their 18th World Cup qualifying game against Costa Rica? 46 The number of goals scored across the 17 World Cup qualifying matches between Costa Rica and Panama to date, at an average of almost three per game. Goals are all but guaranteed." Today is my birthday, and I don't have sports to watch. It will be very bad if USA doesn't beat El Salvador. The game in El Salvador was scoreless without many chances for either team. Here are my predictions made before the round started: USA 4-0 El Salvador Honduras 1-1 Canada Costa Rica 4-2 Panama Jamaica 1-2 Mexico Canada 0-0 USA Honduras 2-0 El Salvador Panama 2-1 Jamaica Mexico 4-0 Costa Rica USA 3-0 Honduras El Salvador 0-0 Canada Mexico 4-0 Panama Jamaica 2-1 Costa Rica