CONCACAF 2020 Olympic qualifying: All team and tournament news and info

What a miss by Canada's #11 in the 91st minute. That really should have won the game. Unforgivable.

 

Ballou Tabla. He missed a sitter last game, too.

 

Encapsulation of a career.

 

Yea he should have put that away easily.

It won’t matter if Canada beats Honduras but unless Honduras looks miles better than Canada I’m not worried about USA’s chances of advancing.

 

Honduras will be able to rest players for the last game, they'll only need a tie & Canada can't finish.

We're likely to go with everything to beat Mexico as a matter of pride.

 

If he does that for that reason, Jason Kries should be fired.

Immediately.

He didn't get this job to beat Mexico for pride in a meaningless group match. He got it to qualify this team for the Olympics.

Nobody with a yellow card or a slight knock should see the field against Mexico.

 

Good point, but beating Mexico would get us a much easier rival in semis.

 

Halfway through Group B, I don't see a whole lot of difference between Canada and Honduras that one of them would qualify as "much easier" than the other...and it's not that much of a drop to Haiti for that matter...at least when they get to start the game with 11 players and a real goalkeeper.

 

If Mexico finishes first in our group all the top players will be starting for both teams. Nobody wants them in semis.

 

0-0 HT in the Honduras El Salvador match, both sides have been poor with Honduras looking the better side over El Salvador but neither team has come close to scoring , Honduras got a real gift with Haiti playing basically two players down in the opening match, Haiti might be the best team in the group.

 

It’s tough but Tabla did what you’re supposed to in that situation. Low, hard, back the way it came. Unlucky that the ball came off the keeper’s toe. It’s easy to blame him after the fact.

It’s a good chance, don’t get me wrong, but in reality players miss that more often than they score.

 

Honduras is just doing enough to win their easy group, IMO.

 

Thank you Hugo.

PS: LOL... El Salvador is out-CONCACAFing Honduras.

 

FT 1-1 Honduras El Salvador this is HUGE for the US, both Canada and Honduras have to go full strength for the final game as all four teams in group B still have a chance to advance, big risk to rest any players

 

They both will want to avoid Mexico. Canada needs a win, Honduras wins the group with a tie.

 

Winner will most likely avoid Mexico though, have to think Canada and Honduras would prefer the US based on the last two games

 

That is true, but I doubt they will conspire. Both teams will have to play their best and go their hardest. Maybe if they reach stoppage time tied, they kick the ball around or go super defensive. But I can't imagine it will happen all game.

 

Yup. Since our game is first, those two teams will know what result they need to avoid Mexico.
It may end up in a draw anyway, but we'll see. If one team wins that outright, then the door is ajar for El Salvador or Haiti.

I totally want that Canada team in the semifinal. They look like Taj Buchanon and 10 others at times.
Haiti was on the front foot for much of the portion of the game that I watched.

.............................and let's be blunt. Taj Buchanon doesn't make the US U23 squad. He has 2 career MLS goals in 33 games.
He's nowhere near as accomplished in MLS as players that didn't make the US squad. Jeremy Ebobisse has more than 10 times the career MLS goals than Buchanon, and he wasn't even at the training camp.

Don't get me wrong. Buchanon shows that he's dangerous, particularly on the counter. But these are the types of forwards that Glad, Kessler, Pineda, etc. see every day. Hell, Kessler does see him every day in training.

What I'm trying to say is I would rather face that Canada team than Honduras. Honduras looks like more of a threat. El Salvador versus Honduras is a really intense rivalry. I take that result for Honduras with a grain of salt.

 

Buchanan is a good player -- frankly, I'd take him over our wingers. But the rest of the roster is pretty thin at spots.

 

I'd also take their result against Haiti with a grain of salt. May have been a whole lot different if the whole game had been 11 v 11.

 

By this point, Honduras fans must be pretty salty.

 

Canada needs the win to top the group, a tie wouldn't be enough. And they must know their style and weaknesses are a horrible match to face Mexico. They have a better chance against us. Not much, but still.

Of course that supposed we rest players and allow Mexico to beat us hard. Which may be the smart thing to do, according to some.

In that case, Canada is done: having to attack to avoid Mexico, they'll fall easily to Honduras. The quick counter is their best weapon. And that means us facing Honduras for the ticket.

I think we always knew it was going to come to that.

 

If the US is smart, they can come in more rested for the important game. Honduras and Canada will have to sweat getting knocked out (if they don’t conspire to tie).