Your discounting the fact that many Canadian players historically played at such a low level that they didn’t know how to deal with adversity or real pressure. Nevermind the fact that lots of our guys routinely head to Mexico and Central America with their MLS clubs now for CCL. The “aura or mystique” of these trips compared to 20 years just isn’t the same. Jonathan Osorio loves playing at Azteca, he always balls out there. Is there intensity, crappy reffing and dirty tricks there? Sure. Finally our team does dirty tricks now. Richie Laryea is one of the dirtiest players in WCQ. I’m all for it. Maybe we lose in Panama, but you can’t convince me we shouldn’t get a win in El Salvador, no matter how hot or rowdy the crowd is. That’s the expectation for our ballers. Why should we be afraid of Honduras after they collapsed twice at home with a lead? Aren’t they fragile?
"Points Dropped" table (should win at home and draw on the road) after matchday 7: Mexico: 0+2+0-2+0+2-1 = +1 USA: 0-2+2+0-1+0+0 = -1 Canada: -2+0+0+0+0+0+0 = -2 Panama: -2+2-2-1+0-1+2 = -2 Jamaica: -1-3+0-1-2+2+0 = -5 Costa Rica: 0-3-2+0+0-1-1 = -7 El Salvador: -2-2-1+0-1-3-2 = -11 Honduras: 0+0-3-2-1-3-3 = -12 Mexico remains on top. Panama pulls into a tie for the last automatic spot with Canada. Jamaica and Costa Rica may still have hopes if they can pull off a victory on the road somewhere. El Salvador and Honduras seem to be realistically finished; but, it may be premature to write them off due to the extra number of games the Octagon format provides. Looking ahead to match day 8: I suspect the individual matchups won't allow for very interesting movement in this table. Jamaica and Costa Rica will look for home wins in order to not fall any further behind. Honduras and El Salvador will hope for a road win to resuscitate their qualifying campaigns. Panama and Canada home losses (to El Salvador and Mexico) would potentially condense the standings for 3rd-7th considerably. Jamaica and Costa Rica home losses would potentially create an insurmountable gap between 4th and 5th.
Who had this Panama team in fourth before the games started? That's a big surprise. Canada not so much a surprise.
Is it? Panama has Been good for 2 decades now. What year was it when they reached the gold cup final and only lost it in pks. If the Gold Cup was in Panama, Panama would be Gold cup Champs, @bballshawn @Paul Calixte
At lot of the key players from those victories had aged out and most pundits were expecting a rebuilding cycle.
It's less the level of the player and more how well they are playing as a cohesive unit after having aged out so many "referentes". Costa Rica and Honduras are also going through the issues of aging out old glories or playing new less integrated players and they are struggling badly. Panama instead seems to be playing as well or maybe even better than last cycle. They are currently at 11 points in 7 games. Last cycle they managed 13 points in 10 games. Even more impressive is that they have played a tough schedule with the most difficult home games. So, yeah, this is above what just about anyone expected.
Panama really are a fortress playing at home. They play with lots of passion and pride, despite not having the most individually talented players. They are a blueprint for other Concacaf countries to study and replicate.
Good morning from Edmonton, where it is now snowing, 2 days out from #CanMNT vs MexicoPlus, over the next 2 days, the city will see ~15 cm of snow, while dropping to a cool -8 degrees by kick off Tuesday, which will feel like -16These next few days are going to be wild pic.twitter.com/0uMPgi2VCI— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) November 14, 2021
I mean, Panama has been constantly qualifying to U20 and U17 World Cups (the latter with less success)… but now we see a lot (probably all of) of them being part of the NT… this is a surprise for those not too much involved in CONCACAF to be honest. Even knowing that Panama last cycle went to the World Cup and two cycles back already knocking the door until the last round for Brazil 2014. All that being said, honestly should be the Canadian campaign the BIG surprise (more than 20 years without showing up to the last round of the CONCACAF WCQ)… not Panama… but whatever… seems like having Davies in Bayern kinda erase that from your minds…
The level of play of your Canadian team is definitely something to be proud of but crazy things happen in Central America and I think you may be guilty of the same overconfidence that a lot of new USMNT fans have every cycle. It doesn't matter how much better your squad is when they're playing on the road in Central America in CONCACAF. Questionable reffing, horrible field conditions, crap being thrown at players, impossibly small spaces to take corner kicks, parties outside your hotel at 2AM, laser pointers, ect. Qualifying is ALWAYS harder than you think it should be. When you played the US in Nashville there was none of that.
Canada has played on the road in horrible conditions since end of 2019 to the first WCQ window this fall. This includes in Haiti where the previous team bus was held at gunpoint in the capital. This team learned and got much tougher on the road after all of that... let's not forget what they did to Mexico and the US in both countries on their turf and got a result in both already. 1st or 2nd place is very much on the menu Speaking of our Mexican friends...We've learned to CONCACAF as well Condiciones climáticas extremas en estadio Commonwealth en Edmonton! Y para el martes se espera peor.🇨🇦 🇲🇽 #EliminatoriasQatar2022 pic.twitter.com/FuHOyogGxu— Gerardo Velázquez de León (@gvlo2008) November 14, 2021
The conditions in Edmonton are going to turn this game into a skating rink with the frozen turf. Its not going to be a real soccer game but rather just a battle of wills.
I concede it’s difficult. I concede winning isn’t easy there. But C.A teams haven’t been great at home this round. I note El Salvador have 3 draws, 1 win and 1 loss at home this round. Honduras have 3 losses and a draw at home this round. Costa Rica have one win, one draw and one loss at home this round. Panama has 2 draws and a win at home this round. Why can’t Canada get a win or two in these places? It’s tough - got it. But if other teams have gotten results there this round, why can’t Canada? Because of what happened to our teams in the past? These home records don’t exactly look like fortresses to me this time around.
This is my point of view as panamanian: 1- Honduras and Costa Rica are teams with history, their fútbol could be in their worst situation and even so, they are dangerous. That’s called “equipos con oficio” in spanish. At CONCACAF level, only MX and US have challenged them but at the same time, they are the only two teams that were able to beat them in MX/US soil playing the last round of WCQ since 1998, if I am correct. You might say I am mixing things here but for me there’s a lot of correlation between both statements. Btw, their sport press is saying that they both are in their lowest level in the last 20 years or so… so my conclusion of those two is: this is your chance, it is now or never to beat them. 2- El Salvador is rebuilding the team, thus their expectations are low but they want to see some progress along the way, thus they are not punting away the games. They are strong at El Cuscatlan historically but it doesn’t mean that Canada can’t go there and take the 3 points… for me this is the easiest of your trips to C.A. not because they are weak (they are technically gifted) but compared to H and CRC, they could fail more often. 3- Panama is a rollercoaster, historically. We can give you a masterclass playing away and then pissing the bed while at home 3 days after. We’ve learned some lessons from previous cycles paying them with heart breaker eliminations… it paid the suffering in the last cycle. Now we are in a rebuilding phase with a lot of elements that were in the previous cycles (they were much more young) but U20 and U17 teams have turned into a good source of talent used as subs or even as starters as the old guard of players started to get old… previous coaches used to mix them during the call ups with the more experienced players (Baloy, Blas Perez, Tejada, Penedo, etc) I forecast this as your most difficult away match if Panama is still battling for the direct ticket… even so, as I mentioned, we are used to blow games at home because succeeding at home is a heavy bag to carry for our players, not from now but historically.
Not sure if you can tell, but there’s a surprise guest at #CanMNT training - Canadian Prime Minister, Justin TrudeauHe just shared a quick word with the team ahead of tomorrow pic.twitter.com/fbaGDlZzSJ— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) November 15, 2021
The big question mark for Panama going in was how quickly Christiansen could acclimate (I clearly remember one of the personalities on RPCTV sneering, "Listen, Christiansen - this isn't Europe. This is the jungle.") - and there were real questions back in March when they they were made to sweat against Dominica But once his side handled that group-clincher against the Dominican Republic w/o any drama, I realized that he had turned a corner.
Anyone like to bet on these matches? This article says that Canada is value vs. Mexico in the frozen arctic tundra of Edmonton: https://ourworldinprediction.net/wp-admin/post.php?post=9791&action=edit
Much of the snow storm has tapered out early (at least in Edmonton - it's state-of-emergency situation in the valleys to the west leading to Vancouver - but all rain there). And forecast has warmed up some. So not so harsh weather wise. A relatively warm -8°C (18°F) for the match. The wind might be the biggest issue, with windchill of -15°C (5°F). Chilly, but hardly record-breaking. Shouldn't be too frozen turf. It only got below freezing about 24 hours ago, so not into the ground.
On the other hand ... #ICETECA | #CanMNT pic.twitter.com/2EpO5S7GvI— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) November 16, 2021
Jamaica 1-1 USA USA scored first. Both goals were in the first half. USA had possession in the second half without threatening. Four of eight people in my prediction contest got the exact score, and it's the first time in 29 Octagonal games that at least four people predicted the exact score. Mexico and Canada will move up to first if they win, and a draw would leave USA above Mexico on goal differential like before today. If Canada wins or draws, and Panama wins hosting El Salvador, Jamaica will be 7 points behind fourth with six games left. If that happens, Costa Rica will be fifth and 5 points behind fourth if they win hosting Honduras, and if Costa Rica dosen't and the other two games go the way I said, the gap from fourth to fifth will be 7 points. The next games are the day after my birthday.