South Africa bringing B team to Gold Cup

Well it does sound that their hands were tied a bit due to club refusals, etc. But here's to them having a miserable tourney and CONCACAF representin'

 

South Africa don't even want to participate anymore but they couldn't pull out of it this late. Colombia and Mexico are also sending b-teams, so we should win this tournament fairly easily. Mexico will probably still make the final, though.

 

I was looking forward to South Africa bringing a strong team to the Gold Cup.

I hope that Guatemala and Jamaica beat them 3-0...





... and that they beat Mexico 1-0

 

Why would the Concacaf tourney be any more than a tryout for an African team? they've got a continental tourney to contest, as well as Qs to worry about.
South Am at least has the excuse that they don't have many nations to pull from.

 

Whats the problem in watching future stars play? England brought a "depleted team" to the US and yet we still saw future star material in Kirean Richardson and Richard Green etc. The US doesnt have a full deck for the tournament either - regrettably we wont see much in the way of "future US stars" as Arena is hardly using any new blood.

 

Look Concacaf is totally stupid for thinking that we have enough talent to have our championship every two years. This tournament is mostly ridiculous so why shouldn't SA send a B squad. If we would just switch to an every 4 year tournament it might start being a bit more important.

 

Did concacaf vote for South Africa to hold WC 2006? I don't think so.

 

I may be mistaken, but I believe that in a FIFA sanctioned tournament, clubs can't flat out refuse to release players. If that's the case, then SA in theory could have made their best guys come play, but just didn't.

In all fairness, they have their own WCQ to worry about.

 

If SA wins the gold cup, do they get the concacaf spot in the confed cup?which raises another point, does this count as a tourney that leads to something since there will be another gold cup before the next confed cup.
And, beyond the talent, is there the interest?
Maybe every four years have a gold cup, then come up with a combo SA/asia deal or something if we need more games.

 

Because that was a friendly and this isn't.

If a non-CONCACAF team wins, then either the highest CONCACAF finisher or playoff winner would get the spot. However, I'm not sure there will be a 2007 Confederations Cup so it may be a moot point.

 

It used to be that clubs could refuse to release players for friendlies, and that includes any tournament that is not the WC or WCQ, after the player involved had played a set number of times for their country's team in a year. (I think 3 was the number but it could have been 5)

However I just checked the FIFA site on the release of players and the language for that limit has now been removed it seems. IT now simply states that the clubs must release players for international matches as long as those matches fall in the "allowed" date range for international matches or are WC related. Clubs may refuse to release players if the games are not on the dates allowed.

So it looks like FIFA has reduced the club's power to withhold players but have tightened the date requirements for friendlies.

 

Did CONCACAF know this would be a problem? Did they ask? Why invite a guest that won't be bringing its best team. It's one thing when Brazil does it, but South Africa? Not good.

I agree, once every four years (same years as Euros) would be good.

 

Well, the top two CONCACAF teams aren't bringing their full #1 squads, so why would outside invitees do so. I don't blame them, even though it is dissapointing.

 

i've got nothing against watching new/young talent, but there is also a serious difference between progams like England, Brazil, Argentina, etc. on the one hand and south africa and many others on the other hand in terms of depth to field a strong B team.

as for the US, there are some players missing, but this is the "A" team with some holes, and in some cases with differing opinions as to whether the "A" player should be in the lineup or not. by my count we can start 7 of our regular starters: keller, cherundolo, gooch, donovan, beasley, mastro, ralston/lewis. although pope's there, it's fair to say we're missing two defenders (gibbs & boca) and our top two forwards (EJ and McBride) and then Reyna who fits in somewhere, although you can still describe this as an "A" midfield without him. add in that JOB is back, and that Dempsey will get a more full look, and the US shouldn't have any excuse about who is there if they don't win this.

 

as i noted above, i don't buy this for the US team. a few exceptions, but we're pretty much bringing our top guys.

 

i'm guessing that Gold Cup for most of the month of July does not fall on "allowed" dates.

if you consider the depleted rosters that we're going to have to watch in MLS for the next several weeks, you can actually understand why teams might refuse to release their players as a general rule, and i can certainly understand why they'd be scratching their heads about releasing them so that south africa can go try to win the concacaf championship.

 

We're bringing more starters than some other sides, but you cannot at all argue this is our #1 side. And yes, there is no excuse for not winning this tournament this time around.

 

So where does the Gold Cup fall in relation to FIFA dates?

I wouldn't be surprised to discover that the Gold Cup, while it's a FIFA sanctioned tournament, is being held on non-FIFA dates.

 

Well they should have known it would be a problem becasue Mexico has done it before. They sent what a C/D team one year. I hate this tournament.

 

There's nothing wrong with watching future stars, but present stars are always preferable. We're living in the present after all, not the future.

 

Bruce has gone on and on about the timing if this tournament (in WCQ year) for some time. CONCACAF, do something smart, would ya?

No excuses not to win is always true even if you don't always win; by my recollection we've usuall shown well in the Gold Cup. It might be more accurate to say: full expectation that we make it to the finals.

I didn't like our GC roster at first but now I see it for what it is: a test run of how the line-up in our third, fourth, or fifth game in Germany might look like after a statistically-reasonable-to-expect number of injuries, suspensions, fatigue from our A-Team after a few games.

Lastly, if S.A. can motivate its players for Gold Cup as an opportunity to win a spot for African Cup of Nations and Germany 2006, this could still be an interesting side to watch.

 

ding ding ding! having this tournament every 2 years is beyond dumb. same thing is true for conmebol. it takes away from the excitement and prestige of these tournaments when they are held too often.

 

I thought conmebol had switched to every four years... but then I saw something about "Venezuela '07". The last Copa America was played in '04, the same time (almost) as the European Cup.

 

South Africa has an A-team?