The "Thoughts That Don't Require Their Own Thread" Thread VIII

Charlie Davies should have been selected for New Hampshire instead of Heaps.

 

Well, a whole bunch of states couldn't even manage a pro, much less a USNT/WC player. Sheanon Williams and Ryan Johnson haven't made it to the international level, but there's hope for Will Packwood.

The list just shows how concentrated the talent really is. Probably half the states don't have any high-level male or female players.

And, Heaps over Davies from NH? I'm not so sure. Longevity, yes, but Davies short, but impressive international career gives him the edge in my book.

I think that list is where they were born, so Fagundez wouldn't qualify - though Caldwell probably would.

 

Jozy on score sheet today.

 

I saw reference to this on TV this morning so I tracked down a link. - Jacksonville Jaguars Send Letter Asking Fans to Sit Down at Games

 

At least they aren't obediently following God Jumbotron!

 

New wrinkle on a very old joke:
Q: What's the difference between Sunday School and a Jacksonville Jag-you-ares game?
A: In Sunday School the children sing "Stand up for Jesus," and at the Jagwires game, they yell "Sit down, for Christ's sake!"

 

Sweet! Playing in every Copa America is what will get the US better, good enough to raise their game at the World Cup. Playing Caribbean and Central American minnows (or brook trout sized fish at best) isn't going to make us able to beat the countries that regularly make it to the final 8 of World Cups.

 

Rowe (#16) getting interest from Augsburg

http://mlstransfers.blogspot.com/2014/09/24-under-24-transfers.html?m=1

 

Bert Patenaude >>> Mike Burns

The first WC hat trick was scored by an American. Why American soccer fans don't embrace this is beyond me.

 

Gotta feel for Canada. Every other team had/has 2 chances to qualify for Copa. Their regional tournament and Gold Cup. Canada just gets the Gold Cup.

 

I guess, but then you think about it and realize they've only qualified for one World Cup in their history ('86) and that they haven't even made it to the Hex since '97. Maybe they're getting what they deserve?

 

Canada won the Gold Cup a few years back, eh?

Considering that there are several nations in both the Caribbean and Central America, and that they are 2 of the 3 "sub-regions" of CONCACAF, it makes sense for them to have their own mini-tournaments. Minnow countries can have meaningful, competitive games where at the end, one of them can do a victory lap with a trophy and the whole country can have a celebration. Luxembourg will never get that opportunity! How much fun would it be (for Canada) if there was a similar tournament for the "North American" region, getting wailed on by Mexico and the US?

 

Same goes for Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador. Why should they get 2 tournaments to make it, but Canada get 1?

 

All of those teams have been more relevant than Canada in recent World Cup Qualifying, even though those countries are less than a tenth the size. I agree that it's not fair, I guess I'm just saying that the Canadian FA had this coming and doesn't really deserve anything better.

 

When we lived in PEI a few years back Sue and I made ourselves real popular by telling most of the locals who were still talking to us that PEI and most of Eastern Canada were going to become the 51st to 57th States in the US. Used to make en look like boiled Lobster

 

55 seconds in!

 

Here is a not so fully baked thought that does not deserve its own thread inspired by Tom's comment above about minnows.

Would CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) ever consider splitting up into two confederations? No, not when money is the main driver. However, it might be a good idea from the standpoint of competitive soccer and having something to play for. Below are the two confederations I would set up.

Confederation One consisting of ten teams from the North and Central American regions.
Confederation Two consisting of the 31 teams from the Caribbean region.

For World Cup Qualifying purposes gets Confederation One 2.5 teams. Maybe 3.5 teams? If 2.5 teams, then the third place team must qualify via home and home playoff series against a qualifier from another confederation. The qualifying format could be changed to something similar to what is used in South America. Could make for some great games between US, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras... This would be a decent confederation having teams that could get out of the group at the World Cup and maybe do some damage deep into the tournament.

For World Cup Qualifying purposes gets Confederation Two 0.5 teams. I think of this confederation as Oceania West. Perhaps the top team in this confederation gets to play a home and home playoff against the top team from the other Oceania confederation (11 teams) which is typically New Zealand. This could create some great games between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago and perhaps some other smaller nations (Bermuda, Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, Haiti, Puerto Rico). The winner of the Oceania playoff gets into the World Cup. If not, maybe the winner still has a playoff against a qualifier from another confederation? So what if this gives Jamaica and TnT a better shot at the Cup? Could be good for both confederations (current CONCACAF) as a whole in the long run.

You could then have a Confederation tournament the year after the World Cup for each confederation (think Gold Cup for each confederation). Two years after the World Cup would be a combined tournament (think the current version of the Gold Cup). There would be no tournament the last year before the World Cup (year of Confederations Cup). The fourth year would be the World Cup. Repeat this cycle every for years. We could still play all of those friendlies against smaller CONCACAF teams. The US could still host the Oceania West version of the Gold Cup and friendlies. One of the big ideas here is an attempt to give some Caribbean a real shot (or a perceived better shot) at the World Cup and make New Zealand work a little harder.

 

Why would US,Mexico,Canada,CR,Honduras etc vote for this? Why would FIFA allow this?

 

Yeah, but whose laughing now?

Much as we Americans like to believe that we're the best at just about everything, those canucks (as well as many other countries) are leaving us in the dust in a lot of categories.

 

US, Mexico, CR, Honduras, Canada, etc. all fight for 3.5 spots now. Like I said, maybe have 2.5 slots, maybe 3.5? If 3.5, then Canada's odds just got better. From the US, Mexico, CR POV, at 3.5 spots, there is no change. At 2.5, all three still can make it.

Why do top teams sometimes want to form their own league and leave other, perceived inferior, teams behind to play among themselves? Maybe it is different at the country level as compared to the club level.

Regarding FIFA, just curious, but what would be the big objections at FIFA? Their income would not change and there would likely still only be 1 island (Oceania) team having a chance at the Cup. Some years it would be New Zealand, others it would be Jamaica, others TnT.

FIFA allows the different confederations to come up with many different ways to qualify. What I stated could be implemented without changing CONCACAF, just by changing the way we qualify. Maybe the US, Mexico, Canada, CR, and other big players would like that? Look at the process in Africa.

Money is why this would not happen. How much money would the Oceania teams lose if things were changed? You might also say "tradition". Also, it is just change for the sake of change in the eyes of other. The 3.5 spots that CONCACAF gets could rise or fall. No matter, it still takes a good team to qualify. Even the Oceania teams (in one option) would still have to win a playoff against another confederation.

Like I said at the start, just a half baked idea... that could be a bad one.

 

Well, the better Caribbean teams have held their own, with one of them usually qualifying out of the Hex, although not this time around. Certainly T&T and Jamaica are not out of their place in comparison to the Central Americans, but it's the smaller "countries" where the entire population can fit in an NFL stadium, that have no realistic hope of competing.

Money is always the driving factor, and for the same reason the USSF is not going to give up a payday of a home qualifyer (if they split CONCACAF into 2 groups, for example), the smaller nations are going to want to play the big fish in the region too, even if it means getting stomped.

If you use UEFA as an example, there are maybe 10 true minnows out of the 50 members, teams who would do well to get 10% of the possible points. For competitive reasons, if you cut that in half and only had the "best" ones play in the groups, they'd howl, because right now, they get at least one home game vs Italy, Germany, Spain, etc., as well as a couple mid-level teams and even a 3rd rate team that they might have a chance at taking points from every now and then.