Official hex draw reactions thread

1) Someone with more math skills than me can pls. correct me, but for discussion, I'm going to assume winnning half your games (15pts) + 1 pt more or less gets you in the top 3. If that's the case, I think it sets up nicely with wins on Match Days 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 for the 15 pts, and then a Mexican-unfriendly venue (Seattle? The requisite Gillette game?) against The Tri for the clincher (or if we've stumbled into a tie or loss in a previous match, the near clincher). That would make 8 and 9 mettle-testers for some of the youngsters (Dr. Ching, Dr. Ching, please call your service) in nasty environs, with -- let's be honest -- either a walk through the frozen park in central Ohio or a very winnable must-win game against the Panamacicles.

2) WCQ at Legion Field? If it happens, my friend, all your tailgating is on me.

 

No chance of HDC on 8/17, I say Foxboro or Columbus. I doubt we are good enough to have already qualifying for the next round, so European players will need to fly in for the one game.

Labor Day weekend versus Mexico is interesting. That is the final weekend of NFL preseason. KC and Foxboro (and Denver for that matter) will have already had one or two NFL games on the fields and may not be in ideal shape for soccer (although Foxboro hosted ES the same weekend this year) so this game may be headed for a Columbus or Dallas or worse, LA. Interesting, will USSF go for the big payday of 65,000 fans or go for 25,000 pro US atmosphere or go for a second Mexican home game in LA or Dallas.

Besides Mexico being at HDC as a possibility, I would bet HDC gets Costa Rica in early June. Euro's are home, its a good place to have a camp, and then a reasonable trip to Panama from the camp's base in LA.

Dallas gets the October Panama game, unless the new park is ready for March 30.

The rest of you wanting cities can fight it out for Gold Cup games.

 

Good and bad with this set-up..

Good:

4 out of 5 games at home with the away match being at Panama..

All of our home matches are during the MLS season.. I know the first match is on the last weekend in March, but for the most part, all of the domestic players should be very close to being match fit..


Bad:

First two on the road, and as others have mentioned, we could very well have no points or only 1 point heading into our home matches..



All in all, I would have like to have had the home/away thing we had last time around, but this will do..

 

How about Guatemala on March 30 in RFK?
Baseball's Opening Day isn't until April 4th.

 

One more thing. When do we find out where these games will be played?

 

Good guesses, with the following possibilities: I would think HDC gets at least one game. If not 8/17, then maybe March 30 right after our Mexico away game. (Yes, I know, we would probably prefer a cold weather venue.) If not Denver or HDC on 3/30, then perhaps Gillette or RFK?

I sure hope you're right on the KC guess for the Costa Rica game. That worked out well in '01.

One last thought. If, heaven forbid, we go into the final matchday absolutely NEEDING a result, we have the best possible scenario - Panama at home. They won't soon forget the butt-whuppin' we put on them the last time.

 

fid... your guess would be insane for people in the middle of the country


a qualifier in chicago????

i'd love it... but i don't see it happening

i'd imagine kraft will get a bone thrown towards him

 

screw hdc... give them friendlies

nothing else

 

I wouldn't fancy playing Guatemala at HDC. That would be our RFK 2001 mistake all over again me thinks...

 

Not a bad idea: sucker a sea-level team into the Rockies.

Gotta make it a northern venue; I'd say this has FOXBORO written all over it.

The Toolshed. Nuf sed.

Labor Day Weekend. A stadium named for a construction crew. Perfect.

Given the House of Horrors that happened last time, I would not be averse to having this at RFK if they can turf over the infield cutouts.

 

kc did fantastic four years ago

 

The boys better perform well early! 3 of the last for are going to be tough.

Mexico
@Guatemala
costa Rica
Panama

The home fixtures are mandatory W's early.

 

No way are we playing Mexico or Guatemala in Dallas, Denver or LA.

Exactly 0% chance.

What are you people smoking this morning?

 

Except half the seats are available.

My guesses


> Match Day 3 – Wednesday, 30 March
> #6 USA vs. #2 Guatemala (@ Foxboro)
>
> Match Day 4 – Saturday/Sunday, 4/5 June
> #6 USA vs. #3 Costa Rica (@ KC?)
>
> Match Day 6 – Wednesday, 17 August
> #6 USA vs. #5 Trinidad & Tobago (@ HDC)
>
> Match Day 7 – Saturday/Sunday, 3/4 September
> #6 USA vs. #4 Mexico (@ C-bus)
>
> Match Day 10 – Wednesday, 12 October
> #6 USA vs. #1 Panama (@ Frisco)

 

I'm with Brian on this one..

I think you nailed it right on the head..

 

I like Hartford for purely selfish geographic reasons.

 

A non-US note: Mexico has to open in Costa Rica, but gets to return the favor by having them on the August date, which would probably be the hardest to play in Mexico City.

 

Yeah, I think this is close to what will actually happen. But I wouldn't like to see Guatemala at Foxboro, unless the fed has previously announced that there must be a game there. If so, switch Costa Rica to Foxboro. Because Guatemala in Denver makes sense for a lot of reasons: it will be cold there, and Guate. will just have had a hot home game. And the US will likely have just played a game at altitude, v. Mexico. Didn't we play Costa Rica in KC last time around?

 

I'm surprised there is no mention of Seattle as a venue.

 

Why? I would put a large amount of money on the fact that no non-MLS city will get a qualifier.

 

Except that when the teams play the US, they have the same travel issues.

 

yeah... i don't want a game at the hdc

but i expect it will get one