USA Gun Talk - Trinidad Express i'd quote some of it... but it won't let me copy it (i just want portions, which is pretty much acceptable... not the whole thing or even close to it)... and i'm not going to type it out dammit... i'm betting everything is going this route... bastards yorke rips their federation and jack warner... good stuff please make notes of the quote from TNT captain angus eve arena and bruce gave them some posterboard quotes... thus the title... (and theirs)
I love his quote about San Juan Jabloteh beating the Fire, and thats the reason they'll win against the national team. Bragging about beating the last placed team in the league, a team that doesn't even have first-team US players on it anymore!!! Wow we really are going to beat them...
That's how the article begins. "We believe we can..." said Reyna. "If we win..." said Reyna. My guess is that Bruce and Landon were even more respectful in their statements, and that's why they were not quoted. Looks to me like this T&T reporter and their captain are trying to play up the "underdog" card as a motivating factor the team. Can't blame them for that, but the evidence just isn't there that we're taking T&T lightly.
Control + C is a beautiful thing: Reyna's comments came a day after the draw in Zurich, while top striker Landon Donovan and US coach Bruce Arena also predicted a win when they spoke to reporters. Reyna's comments came a day after the draw in Zurich, while top striker Landon Donovan and US coach Bruce Arena also predicted a win when they spoke to reporters. Reyna's comments came a day after the draw in Zurich, while top striker Landon Donovan and US coach Bruce Arena also predicted a win when they spoke to reporters. Reyna's comments came a day after the draw in Zurich, while top striker Landon Donovan and US coach Bruce Arena also predicted a win when they spoke to reporters. Reyna's comments came a day after the draw in Zurich, while top striker Landon Donovan and US coach Bruce Arena also predicted a win when they spoke to reporters. Reyna's comments came a day after the draw in Zurich, while top striker Landon Donovan and US coach Bruce Arena also predicted a win when they spoke to reporters. Reyna's comments came a day after the draw in Zurich, while top striker Landon Donovan and US coach Bruce Arena also predicted a win when they spoke to reporters. Reyna's comments came a day after the draw in Zurich, while top striker Landon Donovan and US coach Bruce Arena also predicted a win when they spoke to reporters.
As is using any browser other than IE... I'm not sure that I agree with Claudio here: "I think the goal is to not only qualify for the World Cup, but to win the group." I'd say that finishing third would do me just fine. Clinch that third place finish and then use the remaning game(s) (if any) for squad development.
yeah i was going to say...is there any real, concrete benefit to finishing first in the group? i think your No. 1 goal is to get experience to new guys and get settled on a lineup (a process which takes several matches...including friendlies) but i guess approaching a tournament with "Let's finish 3rd" as a battle cry would probably be counter-productive...actually you know what, it's probably a good thing to approach it like we're the favorites. sends the message to other teams...
So you're saying that you just want to qualify... which happens to be one of Claudio's goals too, as mentioned in the first part of the quote: "the goal is to... qualify for the World Cup." Why just aim to finish third? I don't think by aiming to finish first it means that we're going to try to play Brazilian football and end up loosing too many games. And if the likes of Spector and Gooch can keep Jamaica to a draw, I don't see why finishing first and squad development have to be mutually exclusive. When you're considered the top dog in the region, you don't say your goal is to finish in third place. That's like shooting for the "A for Effort" trophy or the fair play award.
We don't have to win the blue ribbon. We just need to finish in the 50th percentile. As Argentina and Germany showed us last time around, how you do in qualifying is absolutely no predictor of how well you'll do in the World Cup. But the danger with aiming for the 50th percentile is that you might miss. Better to aim for that blue ribbon.
I have no problems with what Reyna said. Hell if he said that we will beat T&T like a rented mule I would have had no problems with it. I think a win there takes some pressure off the opening streach of games in the Hex, but in reality, we just need points.
My attitude on qualification has changed. Where we finish in the top 3 doesn't matter to me one iota. What does make a difference, in my mind, is how quickly we qualify. I'd like to see us wrap up qualification in 7 games. That'd be sweet. More realistic would be us sealing the deal in game 8 or 9. I sure as hell hope it doesn't come down to the 10th game.
No. Only the top 8 are seeded. Our won-loss-draw record would affect our FIFA ranking, which affects where we would end up in the seeding formula. Unless 2-3 teams ahead of us fail to qualify, we won't be in the top 8. After the top 8, teams are grouped by confederation, so two teams from confederations other than UEFA aren't drawn into the same group. Sachin
It sounds like you are saying Qualifying does matter to me. It may not be easy, but it would be good to be in the best position to finish with a top 8 seed and finishing first can help, right?
Expect to see this alot for this hex. Pretty much everyone except Mexico will be trying to twist our pre-match quotes into arrogance and over-confidence and try to turn us into like Italy or something. They'll learn soon enough that Bruce Arena and our team approach every game as if we are the underdog.
I, for one, cannot understand how anybody can call The Bruce arrogant. I think if we win the group and the Gold Cup, we should move ahead of Mexico who is currently ranked 8th. Also, it always seems like one of hte Top 8 teams fails to make it for some reason, so that could work in our advantage.
I'm not sure that the seeding for the top 8 teams is based on "The Fifa World Ranking." For example, when the Final Draw for WC '02 was made in December 2001, the ranking for the top ten was as follows: 1 France 2 Argentina 3 Brazil 4 Portugal 5 Colombia 6 Italy 7 Spain 8 Netherlands 9 Mexico 10 England Neither Columbia nor the Netherlands made the tournament, which would put Mexico at the 7th position and England at the 8th position. Notice that Germany, which got a "Number One" seeding, isn't even in the Top Ten. Both Italy and Mexico (both in the modified top 8) and Argentina and England (also in the modified top 8) were drawn together. I specifically remember England not being a "One" seed, and I'm assuming Italy was the "One" seed in its group. This would lead me to conclude that other factors go into determing the top 8, and that the Top 8 of the "Fifa World Ranking" and the top 8 seeds aren't one and the same. Even if we finish ahead of Mexico then, that doesn't mean we're a top seed.
Seeds for the WC are based on a weighted average of the last 3 WC results, and the FIFA/Coca-Cola rankings at the end of the 3 years prior to the WC. As of the December rankings, 5/6's of that formula will be known. See the thread in the "FIFA and Tournaments" Board.
the host is also seeded... regardless of their rank... meaning it's essentially 7 seeds (although you figure germany would be seeded even if they weren't the host for the next cup)
Copying from above post: The new FIFA/coke rankings have come out so here are the new seeding formula results. For those who have been following along, there are no surprises. For those just joining, you may consider getting acquainted to the linked threads at the bottom of this post. 63.67 Brazil 51.17 Spain 50.17 Germany 47.17 Italy 47.00 England 46.00 Argentina 45.83 Mexico 45.67 France ________________ 41.67 Netherlands 41.00 USA 39.17 Denmark 36.50 Turkey So the US would need 2 of the top 8 teams to fail to qualify. Doesn't seem very likely.
I'm going to give a link to that thread so that folks can get over there easy and tell eldiablito thank for the calculations.
there is the possibility france does not advance... then usa needs to win the hex and hope mexico falls suficiently.... at least we don't have to deal with POLL voters who can rig their voting...
I think the chances of either the U.S. or the Netherlands catching the seeded teams right now are close to nil. Two thirds of the points are fixed and there is unlikely to be a significant change to the FIFA rankings in the next month which would make 5/6 of the points fixed. If FIFA sticks to the formula, Mexico is going to be seeded if they qualify. The biggest question might be what happens if one of the teams ticketed for a seed fails to qualify and the Netherlands (ahead of the U.S. on points) is next in line. I think the odds would favor the Dutch getting the seed, but with them failing to qualify the last time out you never know.
Ha! And Chicago Fire were not even the Champion Club last season. Unless they were counting a Supporters' Shield winner as the champion!