ballboy Posted December 19, 2004 Share Posted December 19, 2004 Inspired by Sigma's mentioning of this summer's Gold Cup, I would therefore like to seek some info on the matter regarding (possible) game dates and location (country/city) of our games. I know this might be pre-mature but just wanna see if any of these info are available yet. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted December 19, 2004 Share Posted December 19, 2004 CONCACAF has announced that the tournament will be held in the United States only from 6-24 July 2005. A month ago CONCACAF said that the venues were to be announced "soon", but nothing yet. There will be 3 Groups of 4, the 2 top and the 2 best 3rd place teams to advance to quarterfinals. No word yet as to Canadian TV coverage, but it will probably covered in some semblance by Sporstnet. Check with CONCACAF site where announcements are made: http://www.concacaf.com/ In terms of the 12 teams attending, US, Mexico, Canada, South Africa (guest) and another unannounced guest team will be automatic. The Carribean, 3 teams, are in their qualifying stages now, and that ends in February. The Central American entries (4 teams out of 7 possible) will qualify at February's UNCAF Nations Cup. Past discussion on Gold Cup here: http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5445&SearchTerms=Gold+Cup http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5288&SearchTerms=Gold+Cup Rumours on bigsoccer.com are rampant as to venues, but strong rumours have Giants Stadium near New York (some general non-site advertising at Metros matches) and Columbus Crew Stadium (specific announcements at Crew matches), as well as some wild scuttlebutt about Denver and Seattle, as venues, with a possible final in Miami. This is all speculation however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballboy Posted December 19, 2004 Author Share Posted December 19, 2004 Thanks for the info!!! That pretty much answers everything that I wanna find out. Besides, SA, I wonder who the other guest team might be... ...and I hope our group games will be played in NY or nearby since that will probably be easier for a bunch of us to drive down and support the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamiltonfan Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 There's a rumor at the 'Pride' forum that Canada will play some warm up games in Ontario and Quebec..I dont no if there's any truth to it tho..if u want to check it out go to www.borderstarspride.com then click on fans speack out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadasBest Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 Everytime Gold Cup comes around, Seattle is mentioned as a venue, but nothing ever materializes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 quote:Originally posted by hamiltonfan There's a rumor at the 'Pride' forum that Canada will play some warm up games in Ontario and Quebec..I dont no if there's any truth to it tho..if u want to check it out go to www.borderstarspride.com then click on fans speack out If you go to the article the CSA released about the Northern Ireland friendly it says that Yallop plans on playing some games in Ontario or Quebec in June before the Gold Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurosawa1555362267 Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 Another place to look is the web site of Soccer United Marketing. http://www.sumworld.com/ They entered into a partnership with CONCACAF for the organization, marketing and promotion of the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champs Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 If they play a game in New york why don't Toronto resident people organize a bus trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy_Yank Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 quote:Originally posted by gwallace76 Everytime Gold Cup comes around, Seattle is mentioned as a venue, but nothing ever materializes. Unfortunatly Seattle doesn't draw 30,000+ crowds for friendly matches. That's really what the Gold Cup is, a collection of friendly matches. Maybe if concacaf offered some actually prize money teams would take it seriously. We can expect to see an MLS all star team, and a collection of Mexican kids from those two squads. Personally I hate the idea of guest teams. Would Europe invite guest teams to the European Championships? It just makes our confederation look 2nd rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 "The Gold Cup is the biggest headache on the schedule," Arena (U.S. coach) says. "We want to be respectful of the confederation championship and put our best team out there and try to win it. However, our focus has to be on World Cup qualifying. Those 10 games are the most important." http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/grant_wahl/11/30/us.qualifying/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 ya, the gold cup is bunk as long as we invite teams. if we HAVE to invite teams they should be latin-american teams, or possibly countries in the commonwealth (which i suppose south africa is eh?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 What does the Commonwealth have to do with CONCACAF when only Canada and a few Carribean countries are members? I don't agree with guest teams either but if we are going to invite teams we should invite the best teams interested in playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagebeast Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Not one to start a argument, why does Canada get an automatic berth to this event? After our "great" WCQ display, we should have to earn our way there via qualifcation with the Caribbean nations in CONCACAF. Bettermirrior said the gold cup is bunk as we invite teams. Well it must be bunk if it lets in teams (Canada) that can't cope with CONCACAF teams in WCQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Champ Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 quote:Originally posted by savagebeast Not one to start a argument, why does Canada get an automatic berth to this event? After our "great" WCQ display, we should have to earn our way there via qualifcation with the Caribbean nations in CONCACAF. Bettermirrior said the gold cup is bunk as we invite teams. Well it must be bunk if it lets in teams (Canada) that can't cope with CONCACAF teams in WCQ. 2001 Champions 2003 3rd Place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Canada gets an invite because it's much easier for CONCACAF this way. They just say we qualify as all other champions and the reasoning works for the 3 NA countries. In 1999, Canada played in a round-robin tourny to qualify, with the likes of ES, Cuba and Haiti (I believe) in LA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 Still no word on venues in the uS for the GC, but in the Carribean qualifying, the final seven ofr the three to qualify from that sub-region have been set with Cuba's 4-0 aggregate victory over Martinique: Third Round of the CFU (Caribbean Football Union) Digicel Cup, which is the Caribbean qualification to the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup™ Caribbean Football Union – Digicel Cup Third Round Home Teams Listed First First-Legs (09.01.2005) Series A: Jamaica vs. French Guyana Series B: Trinidad & Tobago vs. St. Vincent & The Grenadines Series C: Haiti vs. Cuba Second-Legs (16.01.2005) Series A: French Guyana vs. Jamaica Series B: St. Vincent & The Grenadines vs. Trinidad & Tobago Series C: Cuba vs. Haiti Final Round Group (20-24 February 2005) Barbados*, Series Winners A, B, C *Host Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 You mean we won't have to face a 10-man Martinique again? Thank Dog!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 Ive been looking at the results on concacaf.com the past little while as there is not much else going on here, and I noticed Jamaica tied St Lucia 1-1 and won 2-1, which isnt too impressive. Maybe this is the end for Jamaica? could I be wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 or they used reserves! their c team maybe. why is jamaica forced to qualify yet we are not? i know, i know, we finished 1st and 3rd consecutively, but still! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 I am reliving the drama and emotion of what must be one of, if not the proudest moment of all Canadian soccer fans. The time the boys from our humble little country heroically came from behind to defeat the daunting, intimidating, fearful, formidable, arduous, onerous and minacious Martiniquians. Imagine, if you will, a Saturday night in Miami, back in January 2002. Our ramshackle squad consisted of Lars Hirschfeld in net (back when he had hair), Mark Rogers, Tony Menezes, Jason De Vos, Paul Stalteri, Davide Xausa, Jim Brennan, Daniel Imhof, Richard Hastings and Kevin McKenna. The Canadians were mere boys, facing the Martinique squad featuring stars such as Lupon, Reuperne, and of course, Huerlie. The match begins, and it takes all of the Canadians' efforts to make it to half-time with the score still level at 0-0. The mastermind Osieck has analyzed the Martiniquians play in the first half, and devises a gameplan that he feels just...might...work against their opponent. But alas, Osieck was no match for the Martinique manager, who had his own tricks up his sleeve. To start the second half, Martinique substitute Agathine in for Bullet, immediately rendering Osieck's plans ineffective. Osieck panics, and removes Menezes for De Rosario in the 54th minute. Guatemalan referee Carlos "Blind as a" Batres takes pity on the poor Canadians, and in the 61st minute sends off Jean-Victor Latril for a tackle on Imhof - which in IMHO warrants a comment on Imhof's name. Mark Rogers gets terribly excited at this turn of events, and immediately puts the ball in his own net to give 10-man Martinique the lead that everyone was expecting. But did the Canadians quit when facing such an uphill battle? Hell no. Jimmy Brennan runs down the wing and randomly lobs the ball into the box, and luckily finds the head of Li'l Kevin McKenna who manages to climb above the towering defenders to put the ball in. Game on. Now the Canadians start to believe in themselves. They feel that today could be the day they manage to pull off one of the greatest upsets of all time. They perservere, and defend against the onslaught of the mighty Martinique offense - even managing to create a chance of their own, only to be called back for offside. After 90 minutes, the whistle is blown, and this epic match goes into extra time. During extra time, as the Canadian players become fatigued against their unstoppable opponents, Osieck is forced to make more changes - replacing Xausa with Julian De Guzman and Imhof with Tam Nsaliwa. Against all odds, the Canadians manage to hold out until the final whistle. At least now they may have a chance in the lottery of penalty kicks. However, they are well aware that Martiniques rank among the best penalty kick takers of soccer-playing land masses that do not have FIFA status. But the Canadians are not going to go down without a fight. Martinique is up first, and Lupon scores easily. McKenna steps up for Canada, and is dwarfed by the the keeper Huerlie, but he manages to put the ball in. Clement scores for Martinique, and now it's Jimmy Brennan's turn for Canada. But he shoots wide, and it is immediately cut from Canada's WCQ 2006 semifinal round squad. DiCanot scores Martinique's 3rd, and DeRosario squeaks one by for Canada. Mirande continues the rout for Martinique, and now Tsaliwa must score to keep Canada alive. And he does. This sets up what could be the final shot of the game. None other than Reuperne for Martinique to win it, and finally snuff out this gutsy, yet outgunned Canadian team. Hirschfeld gives Reuperne his best stare, but he looks about as threatening as that kid from Silverchair. Hirschfeld stands tall. The stadium falls silent. Time seems to stand still. A hawk flies silently overhead. The referee blows his whistle. Reuperne shoots, and the ball soars into the stands. The Canadians have a chance. Captain De Vos steps up and coolly slots his shot home. Sudden Death. This match officials enters the record books as the Greatest Match Of All Time In All Sport. The Martiniquians are still so confident that they will beat the Canadians that they send their keeper Huerlie to take the shot, on which he scores easily. Canada counters with Paul Stalteri, who keeps the Canadians alive with a goal. A dehydrated and confused Hirschfeld has to helped towards the goal line for Martinique's next shot. Lina starts his run-up, Hirschfeld falls over and distracts Lina such that his shot bounces off the post. The Canadians actually have a chance to win it. Jason Bent draws the shortest straw and comes up to take the shot that could win it. He locks eyes with Huerlie for a solid five minutes. The referee blows his whistle. Bent steps up, and hits The Shot Heard Around The World, winning it for Canada. Bent pumps his fists in celebration, and is immediately cut from Canada's WCQ 2006 squad. They had done it. The boys from Canada had done the unthinkable. They beat the Mighty Mighty Martinique. Ten-man Martinique. I learned something that day. That was the day I learned that anything is possible, if you want it badly enough. Not a day passes without me thinking about what that Canadian team had to overcome. When I must face tough challenges in my life, I just think about January 26, 2002, and I know, that anything is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 quote:Originally posted by bettermirror or they used reserves! their c team maybe. why is jamaica forced to qualify yet we are not? i know, i know, we finished 1st and 3rd consecutively, but still! The past champion qualification is a contrivance to save small carribean nations from actually having to face the expense of travelling to Canada for a quliafying game. We have to keep in mind that many of these countries can barely afford to field a national team, let alone pay for the cost of travelling to qualifying games. Given the Confederation feels the need to invite two outside teams to round out the field, and Canada's relative standing in CONCACAF, it seems a reasonable solution. It also prevents the unlikely but theoretically possible, elimination of the US or Mexico. Without even one of these two countries, the tournament ceases to be financially viable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 quote:Originally posted by sstackho I am reliving the drama and emotion of what must be one of, if not the proudest moment of all Canadian soccer fans. ..... A couple of years late, but well worth the wait. Thanks for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Quick question: how good would Martinique be if they became an independent country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Great stuff sstacko...it's postings like that that makes this the best forum anywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Post of the year. Behind Robert's The Real Truth, of course. I'm Yallop in disguise. Kidding, I'm only Miller . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.