Even though he wasn’t great in the US-Mexico game at TQL, Ivan Barton (SLV) is one of two non-MLS/Liga MX referees I’d take. Said Martinez (Honduras-worked the Gold Cup final) is the other one. All of the other non-MLS/Liga MX refs just don’t cut it-including Mario Escobar, who seems to be the golden child of CONCACAF right now.
USA really isn’t competing directly with Canada and Mexico anymore, they’re competing directly for points with Panama and Costa Rica. 4 points up on Panama with superior GD with 5 games to go and Panama have to play at USA and Mexico…
The USA has to be better no doubt, so I don’t want to make excuses. But it cannot be underestimated how much the US-ES refs killed that match, and any chance the US had to get a rhythm. As you said, the ref was calling every single touch a foul (God forbid an actual game of soccer breakout on the field), while his line judges frequently awarded the throw in/dead ball kick to the wrong team. He wanted to make himself a part of the story, a part of the action, which is No No number #1 for any serious ref. Anyway, I’ll take the 3 points and hope for good luck on the road vs Canada, who look excellent.
I cannot agree. Panama dominated the early game. In the first 15 minutes, Costa Rica was pinned in its own box, defending, as Panama swarmed. Panama simply couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. But the dangerous play was tilted heavily toward Panama. And at the end of the game, after Costa Rica scored, Panama had one shot off the bar, another cleared off the line, Navas punching/tipping away 3 or 4 dangerous crosses, and probably half a dozen shots blocked by Costa Rican players defending for their lives. If Panama had its shooting boots on and just a smidgen of good fortunate, this would have been a rout. Costa Rica is slooooooooooooowwwwww.
you guys need to thank me. less than a minute before ARob scored today, I got frustrated at our player dribbling into a group of Salvadorenos and said to myself "I'm going into the kitchen now so that they will score". The rest is history.
Costa Rica did Canada, the USA, and Mexico a big favor. The 3 North American teams look to be the automatic qualifiers and, with Jamaica's loss, it looks like a battle between Panama and Costa Rica for the playoff spot.
Honduras is basically eliminated now. I wonder how they will approach the rest of their games, including @USA. It could be another 6-0, or maybe they will play better, since they are just playing for pride. It will be interesting...
I'm glad you said this because I thought it was me being biased. I thought we were going to get CONCACAFed after the first few bad calls but by halftime I realized the refs were just horrible at their jobs as opposed to favoring one team.
Yup. Panama has ridden some luck to get where they are in this ocho. Last night the luck just wasn't on their side. Panama fans must have been beating their heads against the wall watching that game. As far as the Ocho goes, the top 3 is almost done and dusted. If those teams just win the games their supposed to win, they'll be fine. Jamaica's got a tough road, but they're not eliminated from 4th place yet. Their next two games are against Panama and Costa Rica. So it's in their hands. You wouldn't favor them, but the opportunity is there. Costa Rica and Panama both visit the Azteca in this window as well. Jamaica also has the easiest last window of the three, by the way. At home against both Honduras and El Salvador. So the path is there. It just has to start with a win against Panama this weekend.
USMNT favored at +160 https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/l...r/88671560&wpcn=leagues&wpscn=soccer/88671560
Was a very odd performance by a center ref. Don’t recall often seeing a center incorrectly overruling linesmen calls multiple times. If you’re going to overrule those you better be pretty damn sure you saw something they didn’t. Not big impacts on the game, but man really frustrating.
The roadmap is very simple at this point, beat Honduras and beat Panama, that’s 24pts, Panama would need to win every other match to beat USA, including beating Mexico in Azteca.
IMO, if anything changed in the models last night, my guess would be that the US is now more likely to finish 3rd instead of 1st or 2nd. Away wins for Canada and Mexico are huge. Probability for 4th is likely the same for the US, and probability for 5th has likely increased by a tiny margin.
In all fairness, their only away win so far this round was at Honduras. Which funnily enough is also our only away win. The rest of their away matches have ended in draws
Indeed they've had road games at Honduras, Jamaica, the US, and Mexico. We've had road games at Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, and El Salvador. We both beat Honduras and tied Jamaica on the road. We tied El Salvador and lost at Panama while, they tied both the US and and Mexico. We obviously haven't played Canada on the road yet or Mexico, but the main blemish on our road record so far is the loss at Panama.
Sunday's matches are fairly simple for US fans IMO. We would want Mexico to defeat Costa Rica, Panama to either draw or lose to Jamaica, and El Salvador to take points in Honduras. The last is important, because I'd rather face a demoralized Honduras next week.
Shrug. 1st/2nd prediction is always difficult. I mean, there's a scenario in which Canada clinches early and coasts to the line. They may not care about their last 2 games. Often the team that ends up finishing first in the Hex or Ocho is the team that has to play games that matter at the end. They pick up a bunch of points in the final two games while another team is using backups.
Currently 10th in FIFA Rankings after yesterday's fixtures (only .01 behind Denmark), if you're looking at Pot stuff: Rank ↑↓ Team Current Point Prev. Point Prev. Rank 1 Belgium (BEL) 1,828.45 1,828 1 2 Brazil (BRA) 1,818.60 (-7.75) 1,826 2 3 France (FRA) 1,786.15 1,786 3 4 (↑1) Argentina (ARG) 1,758.29 (+7.78) 1,751 5 5 (↓1) England (ENG) 1,755.52 1,756 4 6 Italy (ITA) 1,740.77 1,741 6 7 Spain (ESP) 1,704.75 1,705 7 8 Portugal (POR) 1,660.25 1,660 8 9 Denmark (DEN) 1,654.54 1,655 9 10 (↑1) USA (USA) 1,654.53 (+6.02) 1,649 11 11 (↓1) Netherlands (NED) 1,653.73 1,654 10 12 Germany (GER) 1,648.33 1,648 12 13 (↑1) Mexico (MEX) 1,645.66 (+7.36) 1,638 14 14 (↓1) Switzerland (SUI) 1,642.83 1,643 13 15 Croatia (CRO) 1,620.74 1,621 15 16 Colombia (COL) 1,608.44 (+1.29) 1,607 16 17 Uruguay (URU) 1,605.83 (+9.17) 1,597 17 18 Sweden (SWE) 1,588.26 1,588 18 19 Wales (WAL) 1,578.01 1,578 19 20 (↑1) IR Iran (IRN) 1,565.05 (+7.47) 1,558 21 If Canada beats the US, US drops 16.71 points If Canada and US draw, US drops 4.21 points If US beats Canada, US gains 8.29 points Our goal to reach Pot 2 (I still don't believe in getting Pot 1) is to finish in the top 16. Normally it would be the top 15 + Qatar that get in Pot 1 and Pot 2, but with Italy and/or Portugal failing to qualify, that opens up more leeway. Currently we are 49 points ahead of the 17th place team (Uruguay). As far as the Octagonal is concerned, I think a draw against Canada, and wins against Honduras and Panama should see us enough points to end qualification in the Top 16.
There will never be a demoralized CONCACAF Central American team, especially when playing the US. I have a distinct memory, a few hexes ago, of someone getting knocked out on the last day by a long-eliminated CA team either tying or beating another team. Wish my memory were even more distinct to name the teams. That said, Honduras' only draws have come in the first two games of the sets, and are at the moment on five straight losses. If they give up points against El Salvador, they might not have anything left in them.