I bet the Pats thinking is that they have another couple of home games to rip it up and if the NFL comes to tell them to resod for the playoffs they can say "hay, we just did that in December!"...
If I'm the Revs, I'm not sure I want the Gold Cup in Foxboro. The 2003 tourney was a dreadful waste of time, and other than the Saturday afternoon when busloads of Costa Ricans and Salvadorans rolled into town, attendance was totally underwhelming. In recent years, the soccer market has been saturated; there were just too many games. If the U.S. plays twice at Gillette in 2005 (and both games are qualifiers), that would be sufficient. But 4 or 5 U.S. games would be excessive. You're not going to package all of those matches as doubleheaders with the Revs, after all.
Simple preference for me: spread the games around. I'm happy to have a match at Gillette, but why not let the Gold Cup go elsewere.
Very true. And if they are going to host the gold cup, at least get some higher level teams. Martinique?
Martinique actually had to qualify for the Gold Cup. I forget who it was they beat (Trinidad?), but it was considered a big upset. They typically use the Shell Caribbean Cup as a qualifyer, but I can't remember exactly how it works. I enjoyed the atmosphere of Costa Rica, El Salvador and some of the other teams, but it wouldn't kill me if they spread the Gold Cup around a bit throughout the country. Tom
Martinique isn't through yet this year. Grenada, St Vincent and Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, Martinique, Cuba, and St. Lucia all proceded to the next round, but they have four games left before they can say they qualified. There are two leg playoffs December 12 - 19 to take them down to six who will play off in another set of two leg playoffs January 9 - 16. The three winners qualify for the Gold Cup Finals. Far as I can tell, the matchups are: VGB - TRI VIN - GRN JAM - LCA HAI - SKN MAR - CUB French Guyana also went through and has a bye to the next round. Central Region is playing a tournament in Guatemala City on Dec 19 - 23. There are two groups of teams: Guatemala Belize Nicaragua Honduras Panama Costa Rica El Salvador They're playing round robin in their groups, but I couldn't tell you how many from each group go to the next stage... But what does Bruce have to say about it? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/grant_wahl/11/30/us.qualifying/
I admit it, I was too lazy to look up Martinique. For those with an interest, per ISO 3166 MAR is the abbreviation for Morocco, which is not in our confederation at all.
Ain't that da troof! I don't know why they don't skip the Gold Cup (and Copa America) during WCQ years, or at least play it in the off years. Every time they do Copa America in the middle of a qualifying run, it basically becomes a B tournament. Playing the Gold Cup in the middle of the MLS season is also a waste--a few years ago, they used to play it during the winter months in warm-weather cities. MLS being a summer league means that three out of every four seasons there is some kind of international tournament taking away internationals and having them miss league games. People can live with the World Cup, but there's no reason the Gold Cup couldn't be played in the winter months in Miami/Ft/ Lauderdale/Tampa or in Southern California/Arizona in January. If MLS is evolving into the CONCACAF Superliga, it needs to get its collective act together with scheduling. People talk about "making the regular season more meaningful" in the context of the playoffs, but what kind of message does holding a tournament like this during the season send? Tom
Well, it's damn near impossible to get MLS and US Soccer on the same page, let alone those nutcases from the islands.
USSF had some fun with the last hex, kansas city and columbus were surprises compared to foxboro and rfk for the other 3 qualifiers, not to mention the PRO USA turn out, i was at RFK for the 10am brunch w/ honduras, ouch, i'd love some surprises come this hex, salt lake sounds great, omaha would be wicked, birmingham, charleston, ST LOUIS, and although it aint too much of a surprise, portland or seattle need one too this time around, and for those in new england, foxboro is never cut short, you all are spoiled, you'll get your hex match
Slight correction--the three winners qualify for the Carribean Cup finals along with host Barbados. The top 3 from that 4-team group will go to the Gold Cup.
Ok, the first home qualifier against Guatemala goes to: http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3264696 Legion Field, Birmingham Alabama. Hands up anyone who even thought of Birmingham as being in the running. Guess the only question left is whether we'll have any nats on the team at that point, or if they'll still be using replacement players. http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/S...779789013&path=!sports!soccer&s=1037645509508
I won't raise my hand, but if U.S. Soccer is acting on the recommendation of Bruce Arena, I think we're bound to see a few new venues. The Magpie
As much as I like seeing the Nats, it isn't such a bad thing to spread the games around a bit. We get our soccer fix in many ways, but people in Birmingham have their closest teams in Dallas and DC. Nothing wrong with throwing a bone to an area that doesn't get soccer all that often. Birmingham has drawn decent crowds in the past, so why not give them another shot? The days when we could consider it our birthright to have several Nats games is over. Tom
Agreed. I have heard nothing but good things about prior US games in Birmingham. If I can't make it Azteca that prior weekend for whatever reason, I'll be in Alabama. Hmm ... Mexico City and Birmingham in one week. There's gotta be a joke or three in there somewhere. Of course, now that I have a job again ... things are looking much rosier (crap Pats game last night not withstanding).
Yipes. Salt Lake and Birmingham? Interesting. Anyone know if there's a stadium in Sioux Falls, that might be where we'll play Mexico?
If their stadium is ready, I can't imagine Dallas won't get Panama in October. That probably leaves T&T in August as the best bet. When do the football lines appear? No way they give el Tri a chance to fill a place the size of Foxboro with their fans. That one should be held behind a chain link fence on a high school field in rural North Dakota.