See http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=3632 for the whole story. It seems that both Mexico and Jamaica are becoming strong teams and VERY much able to cause more than a little concern for Canada and the USA. The game between Canada and Jamaica could prove to be the best game of the tournament as I doubt that Jamaica will bunker and Canada will feel the need to attack as well. The US Mexico game could be VERY defensive and low scoring by contrast.
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) I'm certain Mexico will bunker down, but I can't imagine the USA doing that. It probably will be low scoring, with about 90% of the action on Mexico's end of the field.
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) The US is historically VERY poor, when compared to the other aspects of their game, at scoring against a well played bunker with good counter-attacking options. Mexico knows this and so will play a bunker. They have the attacking options to prevent the US from pushing their defensive line past the half line so the game will be defensive but, as you said, played in the Mexican end with the US dominating POSSESSION. While possession is good possession for possession’s sake, as the US has played in the past, is only slightly better than not possessing the ball. Unless the US solves the bunker, which a combo of Abby, Kai, and Lilly just might do, the effective shots on goal could be real close; something like 7-5 for the US. Effective shots are a hard stat to track as it is rarely clear. But I would say that shots that miss the goal or are saves where the keeper did not move or shots that are blocked in the defense (or hit your own team’s players) are not effective. I think there could be 5-7 goals in the Jamaica - Canada game while the US - Mexico game will need to work for that many good shots. BTW: My predictions for the matches: Canada 2 - Jamaica 4 (But Jamaica ends up playing with 10 as they get a player red carded for retaliation.) US 2 - Mexico 1 (One of the US goals comes on a PK) Final: US 5 - Jamaica 1 (No real pressure as both are in the WWC so Jamaica will not play a bunker and will get burned several times from defensive mistakes but they get one on a PK when a US defender trips a Jamaican forward on a late breakaway and also gets a red card.)
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) She is on the 20 person roster so I guess she is back. Ryan would not roster a player that he did not feel was ready as there are many others that could benefit from the experience.
Gold Cup semifnal TV info and tickets (R) Ticket info: The Home Dept Center, Carson Tickets for the Semifinals doubleheader and for the final day doubleheader, taking place at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, on Wednesday 22 and Sunday 26 November respectively, are available through the L.A. Galaxy at 1-877-3-GALAXY or www.lagalaxy.com and TicketMaster at +1/213-480-3232 or +1/714-740-2000 or log on to www.ticketmaster.com . Ticket prices start at $15 and discounts are available for group purchases of 10 or more or when buying tickets to both days. Groups and Ticket packages for both days will be available starting Wednesday, 11 October. Individual tickets will go on sale on Wednesday, 1 November. Please call the L.A. Galaxy for details. http://ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_281462.html
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) What's the deal with Latham, Nonen, and Hooper not playing for Canada? I read somewhere that they are having some sort of legal dispute with the Canadian football association. The Mexico game could be interesting because of Dominquez's presence. She's got a lot of speed and sometimes our defense has been caught flat-footed against this type of player. Without the three players mentioned, Canada is not as deep. Hooper brings a physical presence to match Abby's. Canada's dump and run gets pretty predictable (kind of like the US attack in WC2003). Sinclair is as dangerous as they come. I'll have the game on (and Tivo also)...
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) Does anyone know if the US/Mexico game will be on Telemundo wednesday night? Thanks.
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) Jamica will beat Canada???? Are you kidding me? Even without Latham, Nonen, and Hooper, as another post states, Canada will still win. Jamica is a very poor team. It is unfortunate, but less affluent contries spend most of thier money on the men's team. I agree that the US needs to get better at playing against a bunker, but I do not believe Mexico will play a full bunker defense. A bunker defense is a sign of a team of low skill and experience, done in desperation for a one chance to score against the run of play. Mexico has become a VERY good team, beating Canada in WWC 2003 qualifiers and preventing Canada from going to the WWC 2003. It is the USA's misfortune to play Mexico this time, but only fair I suppose. After the USA, Canada, and Mexico, the rest of the teams in CONCACAF are a joke on the women's side. I wish it weren't true, but it is. As soon as Canada heard the draw for this world cup, that they would not be playing Mexico, they knew they would qualify.
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) They were left off the team because they are protesting the association between the Canadian FA and the owner of the Vancouver W-League franchise. He gave substantial amounts of money to the FA to support the women's national team, and they players charge that the FA and in particular Pellerud, the WNT coach, has tried to steer national team players towards the Whitecaps. None of those players played in the Peace Cup either, and Canada performed quite well. Still lost to the USA, of course. Anyway you can post the recording afterwords?
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) From the CONCACAF article: While most of CONCACAF is quite weak this is VERY impressive and better than Mexico did in the last run up to WWC qualifying. I believe that Canada has slipped a lot in the last few years due to poor administrative decisions and cannot, at this time, field a team that is able to qualify for the WWC. I hope they surprise me but I doubt that Canada will even win the third place game.
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) I think the US faces at least a semi-bunker against most teams it plays. Very few teams have the talent to play the USWNT straight-up; most employ a counter-attacking style with extra defenders. I think the US has done pretty well overall against that approach. I believe you are thinking of the 2004 Olympics. Canada went to WWC 2003 and lost to the US in the consolation match.
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) You don't seem's to know USWNT goals for , goals against in games with Mexico!!!. Mexico have scored like 5 goals from the time they being up against the USWNT. I am not too sure but it's less than 8..
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) You are correct. Confusion and the misremembering of facts are all a result of advanced years and third shift. They say that as you age memory is the first thing to go. I forget what the second thing is. As to the historical edge the US has over Mexico, only in the last three years or so has Mexico even really tried to field a quality Women's team and since they have they are still hit and miss in games but they have shown the ability to shut down good teams whenever they commit to playing a condensed defense. That is why I expect low scoring as the US has yet to solve the bunker with consistency,
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) Thanks for your reply. I thought I remembered something fishy going on during the W-League Championships. Weren't the Whitecap players (Sinclair in particular) released from the National Team while players for the other teams involved not released? I am not a techie...I know just enough about such things to get myself in trouble.
Re: Gold Cup simis set (R) Vancouver was hosting the playoffs, so they had a bye the weekend of the USA vs Canada match. The Whitecaps players on the national team were able to play in that one. The issue surrounded the Ottowa Fury and NJ Wildcats. The Ottowa players were released from national team duty but the NJ Wildcats players were not. To compound that, LeBlanc couldn't play for the Wildcats, but spent the whole US/Canada game on Canada's bench. One would think that Canada's fourth string GK (who was backup for them in the Peace Queen cup) would have been just as capable of sitting on Canada's bench as LeBlanc. Someday it would be nice to see Canada suiting up its best 18 for one of these competitions, and starting its best 11. Hasn't happened since they played Sweden back in July.
There's a new podcast with Greg Ryan up at ussoccer.com, a round robin with reporters. The first question was about Abby, and if she'll be ready to go tomorrow. This is what he said: "Well, we're still hoping she's going to be available. She trained a little last night. She's still getting treatments, I think it's going to be closer to be a game time decision, but we're pretty confident that she's going to able to play." While it doesn't sound very convincing, it's amazing what a whole lot of bandage can do.