Sampson should not be condemned for the performance of his players. The team basically sucked. The two best players, Ramos and Wynalda, should have been powers. However, neither was anywhere near the top of his game and, in my opinion, neither should have made the bench, let alone played. Both had had serious injuries during the preceding year and it was apparent to virtually everyone that neither was international game fit. In the back, Dooley was also considerably past his prime, a 1998 version of 2002 Agoos. Forget the numerical alignment, 4-4-2, 4-5-1, 5-4-1, 5-5, it would not have mattered one bit. The talent wasn't there.
Just to clarify further. The draw is on December 9th, 2005 in Leipzig. I gues that it will be in the evening (8 PM is a guess). This means we have to wait 1 year, 16 days, 16 hours 20 minutes.
No, I didn't mean to suggest that that Mexico team was missing many players. I hope you didn't rub it in too much. In large part, my point regarding Sampson's interim status is that he took over a team which already had the ability to get good results against strong opponents. From there, things mostly stagnated. In spite of the general growth trend in American soccer, I don't think he left the team any stronger than it was when he arrived.
You're assuming that, in the years leading up to the start of 1990 WCQ cycle that Costa Rica was considered one of the two best teams in Concacaf. This wasn't the case. The highest they'd ever finished was 3rd in a 3 team final group for the '86 WC. Going into qualifying Canada, El Sal, Hondorus and even Guatemala would have been considered superior teams.
I had the chance to meet Sampson when he was Bora's assistant, and I thought, at the time, that he had a lot on the ball. Bora's team's were conservative, and Sampson told me that he felt it was time for them to move forward more and play a more direct style. It made sense to me. After USA 1994, the hype was about Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas, Mike Sorber and Claudio Reyna. Reyna was hampered in that World Cup with either a sore groin or hammy (little did we know that would only be the beginning). Sampson was named coach, and I remember being optimistic about that. Some things just got out of his control. He was not fully responsible for some of the stuff that was going on behind the scenes. Team chemistry meltdown was not all his fault. Then again, he was exposed for failing to repair that chemistry. I've always wondered if the 3-6-1 was a political move more than a football move....