Michael Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Group is definitely tough, but I think we can pull through in 2nd place. If our team can play like a team, like we did at the Gold Cup, their is no doubt in my mind that we will make it to the hex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Get 7 points at home and another 2-3 on the road, and we'll be through. Don't win at home, and you can forget it. Semi-final round 2000 at home: 1-1-1 4pts Semi-final round 2004 at home: 0-2-1 2pts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballfreak Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Just a thought for those planning on going to Mexico. Are we sure Azteca will host the semi-final games? Last go round, they put their semi-final games in Pachuca, Puebla and Monterrey. In fact, they only held 3 of their Hex games in Azteca (USA, Costa Rica and Panama). Even if they do decide to host us in Mexico City, the likelyhood of having 110,000 screaming fans turn up isn't as great as we might think. (Attendance at Azteca for 2006 WCQ) vs USA 110,000 vs Costa Rica 27,000 vs Panama 40,000 I'm not trying to imply we can just waltz into Mexico City and take 3 points, but the optimist in me thinks we at least have a shot at a draw. A point away to Mexico would go a long way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Daniel Get 7 points at home and another 2-3 on the road, and we'll be through. Don't win at home, and you can forget it. Semi-final round 2000 at home: 1-1-1 4pts Semi-final round 2004 at home: 0-2-1 2pts We lost to Guatemala and CR in 2004. It's a 0-1-2 record with a total of 1 point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Oops, you're right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Guys..again ..dont look to the groups you have draw before that is not ..a push over..lose in SV&G and tie at home and your out ..your hex dreams gone. There is only one objective now ..to win in round two before round three.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 We can't spend 6 months only talking about SVG . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by footballfreak Just a thought for those planning on going to Mexico. Are we sure Azteca will host the semi-final games? Last go round, they put their semi-final games in Pachuca, Puebla and Monterrey. In fact, they only held 3 of their Hex games in Azteca (USA, Costa Rica and Panama). Thats great news. The most amazing thing would be a match in Guadalajar on Nov 19. Spend a week on the beach, and bus in for the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Look at the road ahead ..SV&G can have its players working out each day under a technical trainer..being super fit and developing there skills... from now to June..few foriegn based players.. and lots of pride... how may days of prep will Canada have ? If the SV&G team continues with its solid defensive...style of recent past...they could pull an at home win..and then the pressure would be on at home in CAnada... how would we fair ? Past recent history shows we can wilt...when the pressure is on..do you think Mitchell can really lead in such a scenario ? We are at risk of only playing two games in WC qualifying ..anything else as analysis ...is ..only putting on blinders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Trillium Guys..again ..dont look to the groups you have draw before that is not ..a push over..lose in SV&G and tie at home and your out ..your hex dreams gone. There is only one objective now ..to win in round two before round three.... Come on!!! We're well aware of that possibility but I can't start every post with the mention "If we win against St-Vincent". Just assume we're saying it, OK? The only one who can't talk about the group are the players. We are just fans, we can speculate all year long... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Riders! I don't think we shoul dbe sweating this draw. If we are 3rd or 4th in CONCACAF we are going to have to beat out the others with these same pretensions. We will be in trouble if we have little to no preparation and start at home against Jamaica or Honduras. If all goes according to Hoyle, we will see the US, CR, Mex, Pan, and ??? in the Hex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Gordon Riders! As a former Maple Creek, Sask resident (for a little while, anyway)... I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballfreak Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Trillium If the SV&G team continues with its solid defensive...style of recent past...they could pull an at home win..and then the pressure would be on at home in CAnada... how would we fair ? Canada has the first home leg. Your point is valid, but we can't spend all our time dealing with St. Vincent. Ideally, Canada takes care of business at home and runs up the score a bit. If that happens, then the game in Kingstown can be used to try out some new things. If not, we grind away for whatever result we need. But sitting around in fear of St. Vincent (no offense to them) is not the kind of attitude the fans or the team should be fostering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trueviking Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 well...there was nothing more annoying than being esentially eliminated after our third game like last time, but really the point is to qualify and not just to get as far as possible....if that is the case then we would have to beat honduras and jamaica anyways...we will just have to do it early...the hex will be far easier with those two teams out. i was kind of hoping to not be in the american or mexican group but really there is no reason we cant beat teams like honduras....most other countries trying to qualify would love to be facing a country of that calibre... get a lead early to keep them from diving like they have been shot with a bazooka all game with the inevtiable result being canada falling prey to lousy calls from the officials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballfreak Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Had a look at the recent results for Mexico vs Honduras, Jamaica and Canada. And while trends over the last 10 years or so don't necessarily mean anything, Honduras appears to have an edge on us and Jamaica. They've beaten Mexico this year at the Gold Cup, and won 3-1 in San pedro Sula the last time they played in WCQ (admittedly, 2001 is quite a while ago). Honduras winning vs Mexico would not help our chances (unless Mexico completely collapsed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Here's the thing... WE make it the Group of Death. WE were the best team in pot C. Honduras isn't happy it drew us. Mexicans are talking about how happy they are to be in this group because it provides them with quality competition prior to the WC. Realistic Jamaicans have to be irritated that they have Mexico and two teams clearly better. It is what it is. But, we are good enough. Now, we just have to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trueviking Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Trillium Guys..again ..dont look to the groups you have draw before that is not ..a push over..lose in SV&G and tie at home and your out ..your hex dreams gone. There is only one objective now ..to win in round two before round three.... it is true that st. vincent is probably the most difficult minnow we could have drawn...if the draw was last march, they would be ranked 3 spots ahead of us...currently being ranked ahead of trinidad and jamiaca hardly qualifies them as minnows. (geez, moldova is ahead of us now) if we cant get past them however, i think we should withdraw funding to the CSA and concentrate on rugby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by footballfreak Had a look at the recent results for Mexico vs Honduras, Jamaica and Canada. And while trends over the last 10 years or so don't necessarily mean anything, Honduras appears to have an edge on us and Jamaica. They've beaten Mexico this year at the Gold Cup, and won 3-1 in San pedro Sula the last time they played in WCQ (admittedly, 2001 is quite a while ago). Honduras winning vs Mexico would not help our chances (unless Mexico completely collapsed). I don't mind Mexico in the group one bit. Actually, I'm looking forward to that challenge. Honduras I could have done without. Why? I felt that we were clearly better than the other two pot B teams. I think we are even with Honduras. Jamaica is trickier than I would have wanted, but we are better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by footballfreak Canada has the first home leg. Your point is valid, but we can't spend all our time dealing with St. Vincent. Ideally, Canada takes care of business at home and runs up the score a bit. If that happens, then the game in Kingstown can be used to try out some new things. If not, we grind away for whatever result we need. But sitting around in fear of St. Vincent (no offense to them) is not the kind of attitude the fans or the team should be fostering. Our last score run up was.. in Kingston ON. at a four to zip versus ... Belize.. not sure we have shown any distinct fire power recently ..I am of course willing to be humiliated by the team ..with a dominating win in the second round, home and away. So our history playing the Garifuna ...is pretty good ..but then we might be surprised with the relative ...power of the St. Vincent group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 So this is about as brutal a draw as we could get, but we have to beat these teams at some point anyways right? As has been mentioned, the Mexicans are typically strong both at home and away and will likely not give up points the way Costa Rica did last time. We just have to make sure WE don't give up points to the Mexicans and take care of business on home soil. Also, we are capable of stealing points on the road, especially in Honduras. Contrary to what alot of people have written the Hondurans are in fact a poor home team. They drew all of their opponents (CR, CAN and GUA) at home in the last WCQ cycle, and with a win in CR and a draw in CAN they had more points away than at home. In the 2002 Hex they lost at home to the US, CR and T&T. Again, they were actually better away from home during that cycle with a 2-1-2 record (the only loss in Mexico). I believe the reason for this is the counter attacking game plan the Hondurans use on the road, it masks the atrocious defence they have and allows their forwards space in attack. At home, they have to press the attack and the element of surprise is missing from their attack. It also leaves them vulnerable to counter attacks and their backline are turnstile-like. The key then is to play them in Honduras first with nothing to lose, and then sit back when we get them at home. Then we get them to press the game both times and fall for the counter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballfreak Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Trillium Our last score run up was.. in Kingston ON. at a four to zip versus ... Belize.. not sure we have shown any distinct fire power recently ..I am of course willing to be humiliated by the team ..with a dominating win in the second round, home and away. So our history playing the Garifuna ...is pretty good ..but then we might be surprised with the relative ...power of the St. Vincent group. A 3-0 victory over Guatemala in the Gold Cup doesn't count for anything? Going to Kingstown up 3-0 would be more than enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Trillium Our last score run up was.. in Kingston ON. at a four to zip versus ... Belize.. not sure we have shown any distinct fire power recently ..I am of course willing to be humiliated by the team ..with a dominating win in the second round, home and away. So our history playing the Garifuna ...is pretty good ..but then we might be surprised with the relative ...power of the St. Vincent group. Hey Trillium... why... do you post... with so many... ellipses? Just... wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancouver Fan Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by loyola St-Vincent are just like Guadeloupe, they could surprise us. They are no Belize. Absolutely. Canada will have to be on their game. Mitchell will have to iron out any bugs before hand. Hopefully the CSA will support him with at least 3 friendlies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancouver Fan Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 We are going to have a tough time trying to qualify for the hex. There is no doubting that. Making it to the hex where anything can happen will taste that much sweeter when it does happen. It's gonna be fun and I hope to attend as many matches as possible including some of the away matches. We should try to forget about who our oppenents are and try to focus on what we can do to lend support. The kind of support that we have not seen before for national team games. We've seen what can happen in Toronto. There is enough enthusiasm and positive energy here that we can make ourselves heard in whatever stadiums are chosen to host. We've heard some good ideas already with regards to organising. Let's not let this opportunity go by without a great showing from the Voyageurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamR Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I'll offer a couple of thoughts I have had since reading through this thread. 1. Playing against tough but beatable opponents is sometimes more desirable than meeting opponents who may be just below ones level but easily underestimated. Canada has a time capable to rise to this challenge as long as the build up is handled properly with the right amount of positiveness. 2. The competitive nature of the group may actually help with home fan support and atmosphere. 3. JDG2 needs to make his decision before the qualifying begins because if he ends up choosing Canada (I realize this is against the odds) he'd best get involved in this qualifying campaign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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