Concacaf Olympic Qualifiers 2020 ❂

I had no idea that this was true for Canada Soccer, but this is seriously ridiculous. And people wonder why women's soccer doesn't generate more revenue (reminds me of the jersey issues with the USWNT post-WWC):

Also, for those wanting to buy a Christine Sinclair jersey or any other player...you can’t. @CanadaSoccerEN do not have any jerseys available for fans to buy. This isn’t new. It’s been like this for so long now. Please do better.

— Hami (@HamiPhotos) January 29, 2020

 

Clear PK not given on that last Mexico action in highlights.

 

Canada now leads 7-0 and Huitema has a hat trick and Beckie has a hat trick as well. This means that Group B is pretty much decided with Mexico and Canada advancing to the semis and the others just playing for one win.

The only thing left is to see who plays who in the Semis I think it will be:
Canada vs Costa Rica with Canada advancing to the final
US vs Mexico with the US advancing to the final

The final, if it goes as I expect in the semis, will be interesting because Canada looks much improved from the World Cup.

 

Unless Mexico can upset Canada or even the USA in the semis, we'll see the USA & Canada in the Olympics.

 

Does CONCACAF refs ever read IFAB rules?

Jessica McDonald vs.Yenith Bailey (10th minute)


(no foul called, no card given.. Bailey ends up with broken cheek bone)

 

Its ugly, yes, but it was a 50/50 challenge (and I don't believe either used reckless or excessive force...or at least neither more than the other). Both are going for the ball, and end up head to head. McDonald is up in the air going for the header when Bailey punches the ball. Both are running towards the ball and then jump in the air with momentum towards the ball; McDonald cannot avoid the challenge. (Both hit heads, but Bailey ends up getting the worst of it.) The refs went with the earlier call here as they should. McDonald was offside when the challenge happened. It was an indirect kick coming out.

 

Two participants doesn't auto-make 50/50 blame.

One crucial difference - Bailey's timing is perfect (notice how she adjusted her run from goal, accounting for both charging opponents), McDonald on the other hand dosen't account for opponent GK at all in her calculations (unless she has eyes on the back on her head) when she's making her challange, she is late and thus misses the ball completly.

That's no excuse. She has a functionig brain. She makes a decision to challange at speed with no regard for opponent and consequences of what will happen would she fail.
It's reckless and ends up in serious foul play.

Serious foul play
A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play.

Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.

Simply put ....if the boot was on the other foot with McDonald first to the ball and then K.O'd by Bailey, everybody would scream bloody murder PK! PK! PK! and at least yellow for Bailey!
But since it's other way around then suddenly it's a fair 50/50 challange?

EDIT. Another one, this time permanent "Red Card" should go for Panama's medical staff. Who is the doctor out there a 18 y.o athlete or a proffesional with MD in front of his name.

 

Watching Hatti vs Panama and I really think that Panama is showing to be totally outclassed. 30:00 in and it is already 3-0 and it really should be 5-0.

Panama has only had a couple of plays in the attacking half and those were not close and from a long distance. Hatti has had at least 5 clear breakaways and is breaking Panama's trap with great ease.

I do want to say that this match day should really have been match day one. That would allow Hatti vs Panama to be a match that would still have meaning. As it is now the "meaning" is only the pride factor. That is not unimportant but it would mean a lot more if this was the first match day.

The US vs Costa Rica later is also pretty meaningless mainly because winning the group means so little. But I guess the US will want to avoid Canada in the semis but the other group is undecided at this time so trying to avoid someone does not really come into play at all. But I think the US beats Costa Rica easily and Canada beats Mexico easily so the semis will be: US vs Mexico and Canada vs Costa Rica as most expected from the start.

 

If Hatti had any real finishers it would be 8-0. But it is only 3-0 at the half.

 

It ends 6-0 and it was not that close. Panama just could not compete with anyone in this tournament.

The final did bring Hatti back to a 0 goal differential in spite of having played the US and Costa Rica. It was a positive tournament for Hatti and Panama needs to regroup in order to be competitive.

 

Really, WTF happened to the Panama from the WWCQ campaign? They beat T&T, upset Mexico, and drew Jamaica a year and a half ago. Even when Mexico turned around and creamed them in the PanAms, they still had respectable results against Costa Rica and Argentina (and drew Peru, but that's not much to write home about). Their embarrassing performances these past few days are utterly baffling.

 

One friendly match played in past 13 years with barely three NT camps called each year (all on official competition days). Panama's FA doing nothing new while some others around starting to invest in WoSo. I guess it finally caught up wth them.

 

worse is what happened to Jamaica?(with their 0-9 slaughter to Canada).It's really still about the HAVES vs the HAVE NOT/rich vs poor. What I don't get if woso claims to want equality, than why don't they make the Olympics for just u23?(like the men bascially do with a few exceptions). This would really give way more parity(as te u20 Concacaf proved a couple of years ago),

 

Maybe... It's just surprising that they did so well in 2018/19 with little support, but I don't really see any of the "others around" starting to invest, aside from maybe Mexico with their pro league truly getting off the ground after a few years of questionable progress.

One bad game does not a fall from grace make. Once you get past 0-5, the score doesn't really matter. The difference between Jamaica and Panama right now is that the former played Mexico close and looks likely to beat SKN handily, which is roughly in line with past performances, while the latter got absolutely blown out by both CRC and Haiti, which is *far* below expectations. If I were Jamaica, I would only worry if SKN surprises me.

That said, I always thought that it should've been Panama, not Jamaica, to have won that 3rd place game a year and a half ago. I was never actually sold on the idea of Jamaica being that good. Panama did better than Jamaica at the 2019 PanAms.

 

There are levels of investments...sometimes when there's no money, certain goodwill from FA's can make huge difference.
ie. Look at Haiti, their recent success didn't come from nowhere
https://equalizersoccer.com/2018/08...cess-future-2010-earthquake-impact-resources/

what I ment is Costa Rica at least plays some friendlies and Valverde seem to have some pull in their federation to get opponents like Japan. Haiti youth program is starting to bear some fruits as well while Panama's only "big move" seem to be to hire Kenneth Zsermeta who has done some good things with Venezuela U-17's

 

As of now @ 10 mins in Mexico is playing pretty even and maybe a little bit better than Canada. However they seem to be working a LOT harder than Canada and they might tire after a while.

 

The first half ends with a goalkeeping mistake by Mexico leading to a second goal for Canada. Canada is up 2-0 at the half but Mexico's attack keeps giving the ball away early so, unless things change, Canada will will this one even though Mexico is playing pretty well.

 

I kinda wanted this a closer game Mexico.... why do ya have to give up goals like that?