http://www.fifa.com/Service/MR_M/45185_E.html Turkey will join the US, France, Brazil, Colombia, Cameroon, Japan, and New Zealand in the 2003 Confederations Cup, being contested from June 18th-29th, 2003, in France. Presuming they'll split up teams from the same confederation (they did last time with Canada/Mexico and South Korea/Japan), the US would seem likely to play one from France/Turkey, one from Brazil/Colombia, and one from Cameroon/Japan/New Zealand in the group round.
I presume France and Brazil will be kept apart as well. Bearing that in mind, perhaps the USA's draw will end up with Brazil, Turkey and New Zealand. Just my two cents... Cheers, William
Finally ... Yes !!! I knew we (Turkey) were going to have one more shot against Brazil! You know what they say ... third time's a charm ... ;-)
since Qualifiying for WC 06 will start about 6 months after that Teams will probably bringing in their best young players who they think can help them in qualifying. Pretty much making it the toughest U-25 tournament in the world. Remember, World Cup Champion Brazil does not get a free pass and must qualify.
Turkey is a quality opponent and should make the competition stronger. They're one of the few teams to start off Euro2004 qualifying impressively.
Solid choice. Regardless of who the US gets grouped against, it's gonna be a tough and exciting tournament (if they bring their "A" teams...) The groups I'd like to see? USA Turkey Brazil Japan France Colombia Cameroon New Zealand
I could care less about whether they played each other. I'm more interested in the US matches. And 3 matches again Brazil, Turkey and Japan would be 3 tough matches. That being said, as long as we dont get drawn with New Zealand I'll be satisfied
Re: Re: Final Piece to the Confed Cup Puzzle: Turkey I'd like to see to see the US in the group of death and in the knockout round.
I wouldn't expect us to bring our A team, and I don't expect the other countries to either. Arena's already said that this tournament will be used to look at players, and that winning isn't important. Making the knockout rounds would be nice, but just so that we can get extra games in and see more players and combinations. Then again, he said the same about the last Gold Cup, and we ended up winning it.
Does the Confed Cup have FIFA prize money, tv money or any monetary incentive for the Federations, teams or players involved?
In 2001, the top four were paid as follows: 1st - $2.25 million 2nd - $1.5 million 3rd - $1.25 million 4th - $0.75 million http://www.fifa2.com/scripts/runisa.dll?m2.131560:gp:778795:67173+cc/2001/mrel/Display+26041+E
Confed. Cup against Gold Cup Any of you all have an opinion on the quality of the squad we'll put out there compared to what we put on in the Gold Cup?
If this is true--and it probably is--that means that there are only six possible draws: Possibility #1 A-France, Columbia, Japan, New Zealand B-Brazil, Turkey, USA, Cameroon Possibility #2 A-France, Columbia, Cameroon, Japan B-Brazil, Turkey, USA, New Zealand Possibility #3 A-France, Columbia, Cameroon, New Zealand B-Brazil, Turkey, USA, Japan Possibility #4 A-France, Columbia, USA, Cameroon B-Brazil, Turkey, Japan, New Zealand Possibility #5 A-France, Columbia, USA, Japan B-Brazil, Turkey, Cameroon, New Zealand Possibility #6 A-France, Columbia, USA, New Zealand B-Brazil, Turkey, Cameroon, Japan I wonder if Arena will focus more on European based players for the Confed Cup, so others don't have to take time off from MLS. Man, would it ever be sweet to beat France in France.
I must be missing something major here. Surely you're not saying that New Freakin' ZEALAND is going to knock us out of this thing. Perhaps you're worried this (USA vs. Kiwis) won't be an interesting match? It's after 2 am here. Maybe I'm just missing something.
Re: Confed. Cup against Gold Cup It can't help but be better, I'd say. Start with the assumption that all of the players who were available for Gold Cup (MLS + "bench" Euros) will also be available--then add, say, JOB, Stewart, and Sanneh--and you've got an upgraded squad. The biggest unknowns are: will Reyna be persuaded to play this tournament (he's talked about taking two years off from international play) and will we see any of the uncapped (or lightly capped) Euros (like Conner Casey).
that would rule. Just for the curious, there are 20 different combinations if confederations aren't kept separate and only Brazil and France are. (35 if no one is kept separate) If I remember my statistics, though that was 10 years ago.
FIFA Hates Random Draws The draw is supposed to be random but I think it will be rigged. The FIFA web page is crowing about a Brazil-Turkey rematch. How can that be if it is random? Possibility 3 is most likely. France does not want to play the US. Losing to the US at home would be a humiliation even greater than California wine. The U.S. will probably be "drawn" "randomly" (sorry if I can't stop laughing) against Japan, while France gets Cameroun. France beating Cameroun would avenge in small part the loss to Senegal and would draw well, with all the Africans living in France. Meanwhile 20,000 Japanese live in Paris and perhaps 100,000 Japanese tourists would be in France during the month of June. Japan is itching for revenge for the U.S. defeat in the quarter-finals of the Olympic games in Sydney. The U.S. buried the replay at 7 A.M. Pacific Time on a Saturday morning, so most Americans didn't get a chance to see one of the most thrilling events at the Olympics. The replay of the Japane keeper, bleeding from the nose but fighting like a samurai, has been shown endlessly on Japanese TV. We saw more interviews of the gymnasts and synchronized swimming, plus lots of Up Close and Personal stuff. Australians, who cheered for Norway against the USWNT and despised the Dream Team, went wild for the USMNT in that historic game. The crowd support in Adelaide may have made a difference as the two most powerful nations in the world went at it on the soccer pitch. Just My Opinions
Re: FIFA Hates Random Draws I know how some people feel about you Thomas, but your posts to me though a bit out there sometimes, are exactly the type of X-Files thing that BS needs. Keep it up! ps. I'm not being facetious.