Let's see your All-Concacaf team. Could they give Brazil a struggle or All-Conmebol? I bet they could.
Central American attackers with an American midfield and a Canadian defensive line. Just the keeper might be a toss up.
My (somewhat biased) selection: GK Brad Friedel SW Rafael Marquez LCB Gilberto Martinez RCB Eddie Pope DM Gerardo Torrado LM Ramón Morales RM Claudio Reyna AM Rolando Fonseca AM Landon Donovan FW Carlos Ruiz FW Clint Mathis Reserves: GK Kasey Keller GK Oscar Perez DF Manuel Vidrio DF Jason de Vos DF Mauricio Wright DF Melvin Brown MF Francisco Palencia MF DaMarcus Beasley MF John O'Brien FW Brian McBride FW Jared Borgetti FW Carlos Pavón
I like that for the most part Elninho..the changes I'd make are: Switch Perez with Hirschfield Palencia with Staltieri Morales is nice, but I'd rather have Arellano..although I realize they play on opposite sides, so I dont know how that would work... Mauricio Wright is garbage...I'd take McKenna, Sanneh or Carmona over him Stern John over Pavon
I would switch Mathis and McBride and add Ralston as a sub. (I know he didn't play in the World Cup, but I think he would have helped the U.S. if he had.)
See this thread for some suggestions: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=608489#post608489 How about Cuoutemoc Blanco, Dwight Yorke, Stern John, Tony Sannah, DaMarcus Beasley, and Paulo Wanchope- don't they have a place on the team?
If this team is based on current form, I'd say Radzinski should be one of the two starting strikers. Switch him with Ruiz.
Canadian defensive line???? We certainly would not use any entire line from CONCACAF's 7th best team. Based on performance in the World Cup and club play since the World Cup: First Team: 4 Mexicans, 3 - USA, 2 - Costa Rica, 1 - Guatemala, 1- Canada. All: Mexico - 10, USA - 9, Costa Rica - 5, Canada - 5, Guatemala - 1, Jamaica - 1, Panama -1. First Team Goalie - Brad Friedel Defender - Rafael Marquez Defender - Eddie Pope Defender - Gilberto Martinez Right Mid - Jesus Arrellano Left Mid - Ramon Morales DMid - G. Torrado Central mid - Claudio Reyna Attacking Mid - Rolando Fonseca Forward - Carlos Ruiz Forward - Radzinski COMMENTS: 1. The back line picks itself. I did consider the Canadian DeVos as he is a good player. But playing at the 3rd level in England and lack of a World Cup indicates to me that he didn't accomplish as much as Pope this year. 2. Reyna played mostly in the center for club and country and he is the best in CONCACAF at this type of role. 3. Fonseca versus Donovan is close, but Donovan was kind of mediocre in MLS this year. 4. Mathis is one of the best players in CONCACAF, but he just didn't actually perform well enough in MLS or the world Cup to make the cut. Radzinski's club play deserves recognition. Honorable Mention Goalies: Keller, Perez Defenders: DeVos, Kevin McKenna, Jim Brennan, Tony Sanneh, Mauricio Wright, Manuel Vidrio Midfielders: John O'Brien, Pablo Mastroeni, Walter Centeno, Palencia, Staliteri, Donovan, Johan Rodriguez, Ricardo Gardner, Mauricio Solis Forwards: Mathis, Blanco, dely Valdes, Borghetti, McBride
Re: Re: Post Your All-CONCACAF Team Here Well despite what the FIFA rankings indicate I wouldn't rank Canada as low as 7th in the region - however I would agree that realistically I would not take the entire Canadian defensive line for a Concacaf all-star squad. In a four-four-two system I'd put De Vos as the starting central defender, with perhaps Menezes on the 2nd team as the sweeper (behind Mexico's Marquez). I'm not in a position to do a full line-up justice - unfortunately Canada doesn't play Concacaf teams all that often, playing most of its friendlies in Europe or Africa nowadays, & we seem to get our fair share of non-Concacaf teams as opposition in the Gold Cup (4 non-Concacaf matches in the past two Gold Cup alone). What this means is that Canadians are at a disadvantage at judging Concacaf nation players who either didn't make the World Cup or don't have high-profile players playing in leagues that can be easily followed in Canada (ie. EPL, Serie A, etc.). There could be some hidden gems I don't know about But it also means that followers of other Concacaf nations might not be the best experts on Canada. We are in many ways the odd-ball when it comes to Concacaf - not part of any Central America or Carribbean rivalry, & not the chief rival in the eyes of the Mexicans or Americans either.
Is Shaun Goater over the hill? I'm a little surprized he at least isn't on someone's reserve team at forward.
politely put ricv, youre insane marquez is quite an elegant defender he was awesome at world cup until he freeaked out (which he will do sometimes with mexico, not so much with monaco) and yeah wolves id definitely take goater as a sub and if wanchope was healthy wed find a spot for him too personally id start o brien at LB (where he plays for AJAX) therefore a 4-4-2 often would look like a 3-5-2 with JOB attacking liberally - i think morales, JOB and reyna would wreak havoc down the left (theoretically giving LD and radszinski space on the R) GK-Friedel LB- JOB CB- Martinez CB- Marquez RB- Pope DM- Torrado LM- Morales CM- Reyna RM- Donovan LF- McBride RF- Radszinski subs: palencia, gomez, mathis, ruiz, sanneh, mastroeni, borghetti, de vos, goater, keller, mckenna, r. gardner, DMB
All-CONCACAF -----------------(1) Brad Friedel ----(2) Pope--(4) Marquez--(3) Martinez-- -(5) Torrado-----------------------(6) O'Brian ----(7) Arellano--(8) Reyna--(11) Morales------ --------(9)--Donovan----(10)--Blanco------
There are only 3 players from concacaf that I feel are locks for starting on an all concacaf team: Friedel, Marquez, and Torrado. Up front you could go with popular players like Blanco and Donovan, you could go with Carlos Ruiz or Radszinki or McBride or Borgetti or Wanchope. Its really the deepest position and IMO the strongest candidates for Canada, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, and T&T all play up front. Other than up top the rest of the team has to be made up from Mexican and American players as their just aren't many dominate players in the rest of concacaf in those positions. Clint Mathis and Landon Donovan. Morales John O`Brien Arellano Torrado Reyna Pope Marquez Sanneh Friedel And if I had to choose one player from each position I'd go Mathis, Torrado, Marquez, and Friedel. Those are concacafs 4 best players, but Marquez needs size around him.
TFC's Best One only needs to take a look at the Gold Cup to see how good the Regions players are. We can easily come to the conclusion that the Central Americans cant cut it. They have yet to win the Tournament which Cup is dominated by North America. Three Cups for Mexico, Two for the U.S and a Fluke (Praticall Joke of the fUtbol gOds) Win by the Canuks. Now there are some good players for Costa Rica and Honduras but i wouldnt rate them any better than the U.S or MEX. They are only better than the Canadians but then again who isnt Lets be Honest where would the Fish be if it wasnt for the MLS ? Stop Hyping up el pescadito he has yet to do anything important at the top level international stage. Last i checked Diaz Arce (isnt he an A League player) Also got to be MLS Champ and leading goalscorer.
Eliziar.. you make some good points. But I would add Blanco as a pure lock alongside Friedal, Marquez, and Torrado. I think that Arellano, Carmona, and Pope are great players but dont get the credit they deserve. Pope is just as solid as they come in the air. What he lacks in positioning he makes up for it in quickness. Arrellano is the most complete player in Concacaf. He can play any postion (other than GK). Aside from his quickness and ball control, this guy runs faster in the 90th minute then he does in the 1st minute. He is just amazing. Carmona is another complete player. He can play from the left and from the right. He is a defender by position but can penetrate the flanks consistantly. few players in the world can use both feet the way Carmona and Arellano can. Too many players stop and try to reposition themselves in order to get a shot or a a center...I like to see players that can move the ball with both feet without repositioning thier bodies.
I believe that Mathis is a lot of what Blanco is (amazing passes, great finisher, etc) and a whole lot more (better speed, better shooting). I honestly would rate Borgetti or Blanco either one better than Donovan though. The reason I would choose Donovan up top is that he is so much faster than Blanco or Borgetti and much better at taking players on. But I was trying to decide between Borgetti and Donovan. If I did choose Borgetti I would have had to have considered Wanchope a bit more though as Wanchope has speed and size, but I like Borgetti more for some reason. I doubt many people in concacaf pick Borgetti over Blanco, Radz, Wanchope, Ruiz, and McBride though 8) I know there is no way we will all agree on this and I enjoy the thinking on it. Its fun to see how players who know the players a little better feel about different people. I do think its important to note that basically the Mexican midfield is the all concacaf midfield. I think that is both why Mexico did so well at the World Cup (every game their midfield put their stamp on the game) and why they lost to the US - outside defending was weak, also cost them vs the US in Columbus and their offensive players couldn't break down the US D (neither Borgetti nor Blanco really were). I might be wrong, but wasn't Morales very effective on the offensive end in the first 20 minutes and then subbed out at the World Cup? I just remember thinking that Mexico just subbed out their most dangerous player in the game so far for a forward that was a disappointment in MLS. For me the saddest moment of the World Cup was seeing Marquez come in for the flying kick and head butt on Cobi Jones. He had been silky smooth and IMO one of the top 2 or 3 defenders in the cup and then to exit like that was despicable. If there was truly any competition for his spot I'd want to get rid of him just for that, but he is the most skilled defender in Concacaf.
Starting XI: ----------------------FRIEDEL---------------- POPE---------MARQUEZ-------MARTINEZ ARELLANO----TORRADO------MORALES ------------------------REYNA---------- ----------------------DONOVAN------- -------------McBRIDE------BLANCO I'd fancy my chances against a lot of teams with that roster. Various Styles> beat us out of Estadio Guillermo Caneda and then you can tell me Gold Cup 2000 was a fluke. It's been almost 10 years since you've done that. Even in a pro-Mexican atmosphere in San Diego you couldn't beat us and you sure can't win in Canada. cheers, hobbes
Arellano over Stalteri on the right side of midfield (where Paul starts every week for a 2nd place Bundesliga side)? Sacrilege!
Since when did starting for a good team necessarily make one good? Haven't the Nevilles been getting regular PT at Manchester United for ages?
Hey some of you MFL fans. Does Blanco ever play in the hole? He seemed to at the World Cup although I would guess he was officially a striker. What about this line up Mathis Donovan Blanco Morales O'Brien Torrado Arellano Pope Marquez Sanneh Friedel After seeing all the lineups so far I think this is the one I'd go with. And I'd go with these subs: Wanchope, Ruiz, Reyna, Damarcus Beasley, G Martinez, Keller, and 1 more defender but I can't really say I know of one that I'd fancy at this point.
They are the exceptions that prove the rule. If a player plays 90 minutes every week for a good team it follows logically that he is one of the reasons why the team is good. This is the case with Stalteri, known in Bremen circles as "the all-rounder" because he is by far their most versatile player. And besides, what did you want me to argue, that the fact that he plays 90 every week for Werder Bremen is proof that he sucks?