Remeber when everyone was fearful of drawing Cuba in the first round of WCQ http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562134580 Well this week Grenada has tied and beaten Cuba in Havana. The US should demolish Grenada and should not leave Columbus with anything less than a 4-0 aggregate lead. Hopefully the Hati debacle was a good thing leading up to this. IMO Grenada should not be a threat, but they are a better team than most people realize. It seems like they have greatly improved their team over the last 4 years and are much better than their current FIFA ranking (154) indicates.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada Right now Grenada is pretty much on par with Trinidad & Tobago and Haiti, but well below Jamaica. They've got several offensive players from Europe but their defense relies on their athleticism. USA wins 5-1 on aggregate.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada I'm still terrified, until we have several goals. This home-and-home elimination round seems excessively risky.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada Agreed, especially now that Grenada has beaten the minnow that no one wanted to play in the first round (Cuba). I'm sure Bruce will try to make sure the team takes it very seriously and he has the Hati thing as great ammunition, but I just hope all the US players come in with the right 'take no prisoners' mindset.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada well let's just INS doesnt work too quick with shalrie joseph's "lost" entry card situation.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada I hate THIS playoff. Like Casper, it has me terrified. I mean one red-card, an injury, a bad PK call, the US coming out and collectivly stinking up the joint...ugh
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada There would be reason to worry if this were not the first WCQ. Nobody takes a first game lightly. maybe third or fourth, but first time out of the box, they should be ready to play. I do wonder, however, if we're enough of a soccer entity that were we to lose to them would it be reported as one of the upsets of the last several decades, or merely as US reverting to form...
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada I almost started another thread asking who from BigSoccer stole it... the timing on this is almost too perfect.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada It's 11 v 11. We'd better not underestimate anybody! We'd better win!!!
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada That is exactly the attitude that scares everyone. You are right that we should destroy this team, but if you go in with the wrong attitude, bad things can happen. Look at what happened when the US recently had to score in stoppage time to tie Hati. A lackluster performance like that, coupled with a bad PK or red card call and the US could be facing a battle in the second leg in Grenada. Not a desirable position to be in, especially given previous history of bad calls against the US on the road in CONCACAF.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada This qualifying format has bugged me from day one, this home and away in particular. Grenada, which has accomplished jack crap, is put on a level playing field with the US. Whatever. When people bitched and moaned about the Honduras roster, I kept trying to point them to this series, and the risks involved. Think USA 1-0 England. We had no business beating England. We probably had no business being on the same field as England. But there we were, winning. The US has to make sure we take every step to avoid being Grenada's 1950 miracle.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada Here I thought the entire population of Grenada consisted of American medical students. Oh well, learn sumthin' ev'ry day.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada The loser of this series may well become the first team entitled to complain about the new qualifying system. Well, also the Haiti-Jamaica and cuba-Costa Rica losers as well. A team like Grenada ought to be in the semi-final round, and might just slip into th Hex. Instead, the more likely scenario, although definitely not certain sdcenario, is that they go down in the firs roiund, with only one home game. Midnight comes early for Cinderella.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada I had really not paid enough attention to this format when it was announced back when. What exactly is the point? Any of these teams - Haiti, Cuba or Grenada has a better chance of slipping by in a home/home series than an actually multi-team, multi-game qualifier. It is, certainly, very strange.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada Not to try and make anyone less scared, but that game that Grenada won at Cuba was against the Cuban U-20 team. From Concacaf.com: "Both squads will continue their preparations for the Second Round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, when Grenada meets Cuba's under-20 squad on Saturday in La Habana." That was after the original 2-2 tie, which was against the full MNT.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada I remember the same sort of paranoia before the last Mexico match. Yeah, this is the cup, that is a friendly. Anyway, respect your opponent, BUT SHOW NO FEAR. If you fear, you've already lost. Even though Grenada doesn't have much to lose I bet a large part of their team will be overawed. That, along with our skill set, should make us comfortable winners. The key is torespect, but attack, attack, attack, and play like the game is always tied, or we are behind. Urgency from minute ONE. Question - Do away goals count as two? Anyone? Anyone?
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada Yea I like the whole show mo fear thing from the the players. But I'm still terrified. If this game is scoreless after a half I'll be in a full blown panic.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada I think that this is the funniest thread I have ever seen on BigSoccer. We are talking about Grenada against a full-strength US squad in a WCQ not some grab-ass MLS squad vs. Haiti in a worthless friendly. We will annihilate them. I'll give us about ten minutes for the first US goal, and then it'll be a slaugther at that point. Have a little confidence in the Nats.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada This terrified talk is all crazy. Grenada is Grenada. This side is on par with Barbados and a huge step below Trinidad. I see a 6-0 scoreline to the US in Columbus with a 8-0 aggregate. Mark this one down. I see no trouble for the US here. Donovan should tear up Grenada.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada We should bring hell down upon anyone we meet in a qualifier, but I think Grenada is getting a touch too much credit here. Grenada tied the full Cuba squad 2-2 after trailing 2-0. The Cuba team Grenada beat was their U20s. This is a team that's 0-5-2 against Barbados the last 8 years, a team we posted an 11-0 aggregate score against in the last set of qualifiers. Two of those losses came just a few months ago in Grenada. They lost 5-4 to Barbados an aggregate in 2000 qualifiers, to give Barbados the privilege of getting thunked by us. The system I've toyed with seems to indicate that, relatively speaking, they have an excellent offense (top 10 in Concacaf) and a very poor defense. In 2002 Grenada gave up 5 goals in one game to Guadeloupe, 3 goals in one game to St. Martin, and an embarrasing two goals in a game to Taiwan (who just lost to Palestine 8-0). Now it could be that they've substantially improved since adding various players from England, but most of them, IIRC, were on the offensive side of the ball. Grenada is probably not a top 12 club in CONCACAF just yet. Certainly Barbados would have a legitimate complaint if you placed Grenada ahead of them. Since the top 10 CONCACAF sides are pretty clear (with Panama number 10), that would leave one spot in the top 12 for Cuba, Haiti, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Belize, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Grenada isn't a minnow of the same type that Mexico is about to pound into a thin red paste, but let's not overstate their capabilities either. If it was one neutral site game, hell yeah I'd be worried, but over two using aggregate goals? I seriously doubt it as long as we bring the best available squad. My fear with Cuba wasn't so much the team (though they can pull a surprise occassionally), it was the prospect of a game played in Havana having significant meaning. It was somewhat a US-centric problem. Also, the system feels Cuba is the opposite of Grenada, relatively strong defensively, weak offensively.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada The most important thing to remember is that, technically, the first qualifier is the World Cup. That thing in Germany in June of 2006 is called the World Cup Finals. That's the beauty of this whole thing. Grenada has 180+ minutes to show their mettle against a goliath like the USA. Anything can and will happen. That's why we love it. That's why it burns as much for a squad like Grenada to lose to the USA as it did for us to lose to Germany in Japorea '02. Here's to the last one standing...and let's hope it's our Nats.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada Dude, deep breath. Man, you are going to get an ulcer. Grenada, yeah that's right, Grenada. How much grief did you cause yourself with the Mexico panic thread. If the full team plays, with urgency, there is no way we will not win by a comfortable margin. Especially over two legs. Our strength is or D. Is our D going to be afraid of Jason Roberts? Sharlie Joseph? That's why I love Bruce (sans Armas of course). He has that attitude, and he passes it along to his players. PS - If any team has any reason to fear anything in the first round it's Jamaica. 50/50 series right here. Flip a coin. If the Jamaicans are at all complacent or not ready (gee, that would be a surprise) they go right out. I don't want to play Haiti in Miami, in front of that crowd, with the emotion they have going for them in a 2 gamer. The Boyz could be looking forward to the bobsled real soon.
Re: US Must be prepared for Grenada i just think this is going to be a hard game for our guys to get up for, i have faith in arena to get them motivated... i mean, it is his ass on the line but this is real, the ball is round and it's 11v11... anything can happen... and our boys had best come ready to destroy i have faith, but that doesn't mean i'm not worried