Honestly feel all the CONCACAF teams can surprise some teams. If Panama play like they do in WCQ they can give Chile problems and definitely can get a result against Bolivia. Haiti is another team that showed their growth in the Gold Cup, i can see them upsetting Peru and Ecuador. Jamaica, if they play with the heart of the past GC they can throw group C up in the air. And group C is up in the air for me, a lot changes if Colombia bring in the big boys. concacafs schedule:
I'm thinking either Mexico or Argentina wins, maybe Brazil or Chile. US could maybe make the SFs, but they'd need to play like the 2009 Confed Cup team to do so. The potential is there, but recent results are definitely not. Costa Rica could also make the SFs if they play like their 2014 World Cup team.
This could be something amazing with all the top players, Neymar etc, but you can understand the Olympics being the priority. There will be a lot of buzz around the Euros, if we had "our version" going on at the same time with the best available teams it would be brilliant
I legitimately could see Costa Rica stealing 2nd from the USA in Group A. USA aren't in good form right now, and Costa Rica understand how to defend properly. I think the CRC/USA scrap for 2nd is legitimately 50/50. I think Haiti is going home after the group stages. Peru is an underrated side (although they did lose to a struggling USA side recently). Group C is a little tense. I think Mexico can give Uruguay some problems and possibly win the group (I'd say 30% outside shot). Jamaica will probably decide the group based on who they upset (between URU/MEX). Columbia, Brazil, and Argentina should all coast into the quarters.
Nope. I think you're a very safe bet for 2nd. I think Uruguay offer a little more overall quality than Mexico - but only a little.
This is funny.... How do you figure that Costa Rica and USMNT are on the same level?? Certainly not by comparing squads or based on quality of play, so how do you come to that conclusion?
FIFA rankings suggest that the two teams are eerily similar in terms of performance. Costa Rica and the USA have both lost narrow decisions against Mexico in recent memory. Mexico is a really good point of comparison since those two matches weren't friendlies. Costa Rica have two players that we can't "answer" for in Joel Campbell and Keylor Navas (Howard was there, but he's old now) - but the USA has a little more depth that comes in due to their massive population advantage. We'd draw you if we played tomorrow. I really don't see an overall difference between CRC and the USA. Both are a half step (and 10 FIFA positions) behind Mexico. One more thing: You did win an 0-1 friendly 5 months ago. I just don't know if basing national quality on friendly results is a good idea. We've beaten NED and GER away - and that didn't add up to much of anything last summer.
Wouldn't say FIFA rankings necessarily tell the tale here.... The narrow loss against Mexico was with a B side and an inexperienced coach who tried to undo everything that was done in the world cup. Our coach now has reinstated the same system and has far more experience. Honestly I dont think there is one single position where the USA has the advantage over CRC. Our starting XI players all start for their clubs with the exception of Christian Gamboa: ------------------------------------------ Navas (Madrid) ------------------------------------------ -------------- Duarte (Espanyol) - González (Palermo) - Waston (Whitecaps) --------- Gamboa (West Brom) --------------------------------------------------- Matarrita (NYCFC) ------------------------------- Tejeda (Evian) --- Borges (La Coruña) ------------------------ Ruiz (Sporting CP) ----------------------------------------------------------- Oviedo (Everton) --------------------------------------- Campbell (Arsenal) -------------------------------------- Name one player on the USA squad who is superior to anyone on that line up... Maybe Fabian Johnson is the only one that can make a claim but aside from him no one really comes to mind.
I would take Yedlin over Gamboa at this point. Tejeda and Bedoya are about even. I would take Brooks over Watson and Gonzalez, but maybe not over Duarte. Bradley has fallen off - but he WAS better than Borges. Not anymore. Bryan Ruiz was once good, but he's in Portugal now after BADLY falling off in Fulham. Campbell is a dangerous striker - we have no "answer" there. Oviedo's done some great stuff at Everton. There are holes in both lineups. I wish I could post an XI but Klinsmann keeps shuffling players even when he doesn't have to. Why don't we revisit this when we get closer to the Cup itself? I want to see what a competitive XI for us looks like before making a retort. I'll keep this post in mind.
Bedoya is pretty consistent so that's fair. Brooks over Waston? Okay, but definitely not over Gonzalez or Duarte. Gonzalez is superior to Duarte so I'm just going to assume you haven't seen them play too much. Same goes for Gamboa, which I dont think anyone that isn't Costa Rican has truly seen how good he is due to his lack of play with West Brom. Even out of form hes so much better than Yedlin in so many aspects. Bryan Ruiz is still playing very good football at the moment, despite missing a couple of sitters for Sporting CP in recent matches. He and Slimani are widely regarded as their best players this season and they are fighting for 1st place in Portugal. And while Portugal's league may not be top 4 in Europe, it is still a league that consistently pumps out teams that reach the knockout stages in Champions League so there should be no belittling of that since most of the USMNT squad is in the MLS. But yes we will revisit when we are closer to the Cup. Cheers.
I've seen more of Duarte. That's why. Slimani is an underrated player. I'm sorry, but it's hard for me to see Ruiz as still good after a horror show in Fulham. However, it's important to realize that Fulham is a disaster area - and rough waters are often unusually bad for flair players. A lot of USMNT guys are in the MLS right now because the MLS is overpaying for US internationals. It's the only reason guys like Besler didn't go to Europe in 2014 (when he and others had multiple offers). We just had a guy turn down Werder Bremen for this exact reason (which is a mistake, but this is NOT the thread for this discussion). It's very bad for our national team - or at least it will be bad until the MLS becomes more competitive as a league.
What are you talking about? Mexico can make a semifinal appearance. I wouldn't go as far as to say final, but Mexico isn't a team that can be pushed around, by anyone. Especially in the former their players are right now. Costs Rica is still a good team. I can see them putting some good damage in. USA is in their worst moment. So I can't see the USA doing anything in this tournament
...I'm not mexican? Also, you must be new to watching soccer. Clearly. Because last time I checked, Mexico is the team that outplayed everyone in the Olympics in 2012 and in the 2014 WC, played head to head against everyone except Brazil (in which they stole managed a point.) As for CR, while having problems playing soccer in the past, they're the best central American team right now hands down. Followed by panama, then Guatemala, then Honduras and followed last by ES. And if you really wanna talk about team play, look a little further than ONE WCQ game.