It's too early to worry about what players to hold in reserve over card concerns. The important thing is to get the win in Port of Spain. If don't , we'll have to gamble in Honduras and maybe at home against Costa Rica. If we do get the win, Bradley can wait to see what the other Round 8 results look like and decide what players to sit based on points, health, and form. Depending on those results, a win in T&T and a tie in Honduras could be enough for us to qualify (17 points) even if we lost at home to Costa Rica. And ties against Honduras and Costa Rica would almost certainly qualify us (18 points). My back-of-the-envelope calculations have the Hex most likely to finish this way: Mexico. 21 points. USA. 20 points. Costa Rica. 16 points. Honduras. 15 points. El Salvador. 7 points Trinidad and Tobago. 5 points. Of course, I put those out there purely for entertainment purposes because who the hell knows how things will play out.
True. But consider this... If Honduras can get a win at El Salvador on the final day (not far fetched), we would end up tied with HON on points but in the #4 position because of goal differential. You can play it out here: http://www.mediotiempo.com/hexagonal/simulador-hexagonal.php
It's hard to finish in the top three without winning at least one away match. The only team to do it in the last three hexagonals was Jamaica in 1998, We won at Canada in 1998, at Honduras in 2002, and at T&T and Panama in 2006. We've already missed one good chance this cycle and really need to step up tomorrow. It may not be a must win, but a win Wednesday greatly reduces the chance of facing a true must win in the future, against better opposition.
Right, my point is that after Wednesday's game we'll have a lot better sense of how things look, so right now there's no point real point debating which, if any, players to sit against Honduras.
I just wonder if there's any chance Jones plays in the Honduras game. His coach didn't rule him out (yet) for playing this Saturday. Bradley is going to want him on the field ASAP.
Only if the German fed releases the necessary paperwork and FIFA actually processes it on time. Annoying. Also, I wonder if Edu will be fit and match fit.
This probably belongs on the Chicke Little thread (and I am not suggesting it is what will happen, in fact have suggested numerous times the opposite will happen). Costa Rica somehow manages to win in El Salvador and we lose at Port of Spain. We are in some major trouble, grin. Costa Rica is enjoying the worst form, right now, of all of the top 4. Lost at home to Mexico 3-0. Lost on the road to Honduras, 4-1. I am hoping/insisting that we step up tomorrow night and seize the day. Costa Rica appears to be self destructing right now and I, for one, hopes it continues. Both T and T and El Salvador each have a very outside chance of qualifying through the 4th place playoff route with Connebol. Costa Rica hosts T and T in their next match (hopefully T and T has a lot of pride to play for). If El Salvador runs the table winning it's last three matches they could still qualify if T and T can beat CR at Saprissa and we beat them in Washington, DC in October.
I think everyone feels a little uneasy at this point with the closeness of the standings but in all reality... We are at the top of the group... Playing the worst team next who has one just once... Followed by a difficult but winable away game... Followed by a home game against a struggling side... Come on people, anything short of finishing in the top three means we would have been blown out in SA anyway. Fuk me...We will be fine!
This is the one away game we really have to WIN. ES would have been a nice away game to win but at least we didnt lose it. Winning away vs honduras would be awesome, but is not necessary really. Tying away vs honduras would be pretty good, and even losing there is no real big deal, as long as we can tie or beat costa rica at home (which there is every indication we will do). So as long as we win this, we're pretty much qualified.... if we dont win this game, like donovan said about the home vs ES, we soort of dont deserve to go to the world cup at alll.... i mean this trinidad and tobago people, we have no reason not to win this game, NONE. so if we lose or tie here, we really dont belong at the world cup, we would have no chance vs any of the teams there. so thats how i look at this, this is a MINIMAL requirement for us to even play in the world cup, beating a crap team like TNT in their house
I don't want to sound overconfident...but i'm fairly certain the squad we had at the gold cup would be able to take care of TnT pretty handily. If we go down and squander points Bradley will have some real explaining to do. The only way this TnT will even get a sniff at goal is through a mistake at the back or a Tim Howard boner. With Gooch back and with Howard hopefully learning his lesson on the El Salvador goal (What the hell was he doing), we should be okay. I'd predict a 2-0 win. If TnT somehow breaks though early...we're in for the fight of our lives. A win against the US will clean up all the disapointment for that island nation. It won't happen though.
Put me in the camp of NOT sitting players against Honduras (if we beat T&T). I just think it's too risky, but let's get 3 points tomorrow first and then we can worry about it.
This has been particularly troublesome to me as of late. Don't get me wrong, Tim is great, and has kept us in a number of games, but it seems that lately he's been caught off his line... Thoughts?
Depends. Hon goes to Azteca tomorrow. That GD may be in our favor if they lose by 2 or 3 goals and we win by 2 or 3 goals. A tie at Honduras, and you're talking about HON having to make up possibly 5 goals on the final matchday to push ahead of us.
After watching the second half of Saturday’s U.S./El Salvador match a second time, reading some of the comments on Bigsoccer.com, and thinking more about the issue of which four players Bob Bradley should start across the back against Trinidad and Tobago tomorrow, I now would prefer for Bradley to start Steve Cherundolo at right back, Oguchi Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra at center back, Jonathan Spector at left back. I’m more comfortable with Bradley’s starting Spector at left back than I am with his starting Chad Marshall at center back. Spector has played left back on more than one occasion this season for a club that last season finished in tenth place -- and this season is in eleventh place -- in one of the top leagues in the world. In addition, Spector has more international experience than Marshall does (19 caps versus 10). In addition, Spector is faster and nimbler than Marshall. Also, in the 86th minute against El Salvador on Saturday, Marshall might have been partly at fault on a play that required Tim Howard to make a good save. Rodolfo Zelaya had crossed the ball from El Salvador’s left wing into Christian Castillo, who was in the U.S. box. Marshall stepped up on Castillo as Castillo used his chest to pass the ball forward to William Reyes. Reyes then fired a one-touch shot at the U.S. goal. Marshall probably should not have stepped up on Castillo, at least not as much as he did. Carlos Bocanegra and Kyle Beckerman already had pretty good position on Castillo. And Reyes was in at least as dangerous a position as Castillo was. In fairness to Marshall, Castillo was in a fairly dangerous position. Still, Bocanegra and Beckerman already had decent position on Castillo. In addition, Marshall was part of a back line that conceded five goals to Mexico in the Meadowlands in the Gold Cup final. Finally, he was part of a back line that, on August 26th, conceded five goals to Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF Champions League. Marshall had two own-goals in the match. For tomorrow’s Trinidad and Tobago match, I now slightly favor Bradley’s starting Ricardo Clark at defensive midfield and Michael Bradley at attacking midfield rather than Michael at defensive midfield and Benny Feilhaber at attacking midfield. First, Clark will be fresher for the match than Feilhaber will be. Second, I would worry about the U.S.’s lack of athleticism in central midfield if Michael and Feilhaber start in central midfield. Clark brings added athleticism, which is important against a team as athletic as T&T. It is important for the U.S. not to concede an early goal. Although Feilhaber is a better attacking player and possession player than Clark is, the U.S. was decent in the attack and in possession against Spain in the Confederations Cup, a match in which Michael and Clark started in central midfield. Finally, if Bob were to start Clark, he would be able to bring Feilhaber into the match in the second half if Clark struggles and/or the U.S. needs a goal. However, I think it’s a difficult decision. The U.S.’s possession and offensive dynamism were significantly better against El Salvador than against Mexico in Azteca, and Clark started against Mexico in Azteca, whereas Feilhaber started against El Salvador. Nevertheless, the U.S.’s improvement in these areas probably was almost entirely because of the difference in the quality of the opposition and the difference in the difficulty of the atmosphere. If Clark -- rather than Feilhaber -- had started against El Salvador, the U.S.’s possession and offensive dynamism still most definitely would have been significantly better than they were against Mexico in Azteca. I agree that Landon Donovan should start at left midfield tomorrow against Trinidad and Tobago. My believing that he should is partly why I wrote the following: However, at some point, I would like to see Bob Bradley play Donovan at attacking center mid in a friendly or a less important game than tomorrow's. It would give us an opportunity to see if playing Donovan at attacking center mid in some situations would be good for the U.S. As I recall, Donovan has almost always played well for the U.S. at that position, and the U.S. has almost always played well when Donovan has played that position. For instance, in 2005, Donovan played attacking center mid against Trinidad and Tobago in Trinidad and Tobago. The U.S. won the match 2-1. He also played there when the U.S. beat Costa Rica 3-0 in Salt Lake City in 2005. Donovan scored a great goal in the match. Bradley could play Donovan at attacking center-mid and Michael at defensive mid, with Stuart Holden at left midfield. However, if and when Jermaine Jones and Maurice Edu are added to the U.S. roster, it may be best never to start Donovan anywhere other than left midfield for the rest of this World Cup cycle. When they are added to the central midfield contingent of Bradley, Clark and Feilhaber, maybe the U.S.’s strongest possible starting line-up always will include Donovan at left midfield. However, even if Donovan shouldn’t start any more matches this cycle at attacking center mid, maybe there would be some matches in this cycle in which it would be good to move him to that position at some point in the second half. He likely would get more of the ball. In addition, he is really good at picking the ball up the ball in his own third, or in the middle third, of the field and dribbling down the center of the field at speed.
Not so clear to me. In my book, Feilhaber starts over Clark against ES at home no matter what. Dolo not so sure. His form has not been great of late.
Huh? Mexico and the US would have to win by a combined 8 goals on wednesday for that scenario to play out. I think we have a great chance to win against T&T and CR, but our chances of beating out Honduras on GD alone are unfortunately really slim.
Heck, if the US can have a 6 goal swing happen to them in less than 2 hours, like what happened in the Confederations Cup, then anything's possible.
i think we pretty much done covering this, but it's not just me saying it here is a quote from Jeff Carlisle, ESPNsoccernet "And three points (for a win) -- not one (for a tie) -- is exactly what the U.S. must take from this match. And with the U.S. closing out qualifying with matches at Honduras and at home to Costa Rica, the Americans must do everything they can to give themselves some breathing room. Goal difference is all that is separating Honduras and the U.S. at the top, while El Tri and the Ticos are just a point behind. "