Looks like the US will be playing Martinique in the Gold Cup. http://www.ussoccer.com/events/default.sps?iCategoryID=0&sEventsMonth=0&sEventsYear=0&iPage=2 http://www.concacaf.com/news/article.page/1371 7/14/03 CONCACAF Gold Cup United States vs. Martinique Gillette Stadium (Foxboro, Mass.) The other choice was Honduras. It looks like Martinique could advance out of the first round.
This pretty much gives the USA a spot in the semis. First place in Group C, then a quarter-final match-up against 2nd place in Group D (probably Canada) and then a semi-final game against what will probably be the 2nd place finisher from Group A. That July 23rd game in Miami will be great!
There is something about the Martinique mens team that I find amazing. They are affiliated with Concacaf and therefore play for the Gold Cup. However they are not a member association affiliated with Fifa and therefore do not play in WCQ for the World Cup. Martinique is part of France. It is an overseas department, whatever that means ( http://www.info-france-usa.org/atoz/overseas.asp ). I believe their players are eligible to play for France in the World Cup even though they have represented Martinique in the Gold Cup. Sounds unbelievable. Check fifa's listing and you will see that Martinique is not a member association.
Martinique is among France's "Hawaiis" (Guadeloupe, etc.). They are part of France, but are so isolated that their teams can't really play in France (some teams do fly to France for the French Cup I think...).
Yeah, the winner of the cup in each French overseas territory plays in the French Cup. Usually the overseas teams play at home (the lower-division team always hosts in the French Cup), and the FFF pays for their opponents' travel to the islands. IIRC the leagues of each overseas territory are considered equivalent to the sixth level of the French league and the winners win promotion to the fifth level (the lowest "national league"), but for obvious reasons they are never actually promoted.
What baffles me is that Martinique women participate in WWC qualifiers (in 2002 it was the Gold Cup in concacaf), but their men do not participate in WC qualifiers. Yet their men are good enough to qualify for the Gold Cup.
Perhaps they participate because it is or was considered the Confederation championship before the Gold Cup came along, and if they won they wouldn't go to the World Cup but just be considered Confederation Champions? Kind of the way Martinique plays in the Mens Gold Cup, but their is a separate qualifying tournament for it and so it doesn't seem that way. In other words if by some chance Martinique qualified for the WWC by virtue of the Womens Gold Cup, I doubt they would be allowed to take part.
We should all be really scared of some island with an extremely small population. The USA will just play to see how many goals they can score on Martinique. How many will we score on them? 5? I have never seen them play, but I doubt they could be any good.
Martinique lost to Canada in the knockout round of the Gold Cup only on penalties. They could have very well made it to the semi-finals of the Confederation Championships. They've beaten T&T twice now in two years. They are no way a pushover. Do I expect the US to win? Yes. But I think Martinque demands a little more respect than some US fans are giving them...
Don't be scared of this small island or their soccer team (which is a good team btw), but you should darn well be scared of that active volcano (Mt Pelee) if you are on the island. When it last erupted March 8, 1902, thirty thousand people were killed within minutes. http://www.hackingfamily.com/Landfalls/Windwards/Martinique.htm
I think we ought to respect every team we walk out on the field against. Crap, the Faroe Islands beat Denmark, any team can win any game.
The odd thing though is that Martinique participated in qualifying for the 1999 womens world cup as well - and that was a stand-alone qualifying event, not a continental championship (the US didn't even bother to participate since they were qualified as hosts). Don't know how to explain that one. I believe Charmaine Hooper (Canadian women's star) is originally from Martinique. I believe her brother has seen time with the Canadian mens team as well. Martinique is at least as good as Cuba, who has given us some scares over the past few Gold Cups. If we take them lightly, we probably won't win. If we take them seriously, we will likely win.
I agree completely. And population is no measure of a country's soccer team, either. If it was, China would be the world power (a joke in itself) and India would be a quickly rising team (kinda like the US right now).