SCF08 Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Free kick On a passing note. the Euro draw is very interesting in that it is turning out to be increadibly balance!. I have a tough time find a group of death amongst the UEFA draw. Isnt Croatia , England , Ukraine , Belarus , Kazakhstan and Andorra group of death enough ? Only 1 qualifies and the 8 best numbers two will play play-offs. Also France , Romania , Serbia , Austria , Lithuania and Faroer Islands are a tough group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 As I've never so much as seen a TFC match on TV, can anybody inform me what the general makeup of the home crowds is? Are there a lot of 'ethnic' supporters who might just turn up for a Canada game to support the opposition? If not, distribution through TFC would be the best way forward for any matches in Toronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 There will be enough Mex/Hon/Jam fans willing to pay enough money that TFC "fans" will sell the tickets. The only way to get a pro-Canada crowd in Toronto is to play double headers with TFC. This way TFC fans won't be able to sell the tickets. Even if they don't show up, still better than more visiting fans. Double headers won't happen because of financial issues, but if the CSA was serious... okay, never mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Toro What are the other CONCACAF groups? They haven't posted them on Soccernet yet. go to fifa.com. its happening live on that site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 Well, this is all pretty depressing. The worst possible combination of opponents for the Semis. Why am I not in the least surprised? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSoccerFan Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 Gents, rather than be afraid of these teams we need to rally to support our boys. I'm confident that for any match in Toronto it won't be too hard to recruit the RPBs and USector to help make it a tough place to play. Definitely different from years gone by in T.O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by nazzer Do you seriously think that 9,000 is the best Toronto can do? It was a low profile friendly on a Wednesday night. World Cup Qualifiers are another story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 I don't think you can do double-headers with FIFA matches & club matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballfreak Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 Yikes, Sudan and Chad grouped together in Africa. Not pleasant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hectorj Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 Of course, we got a tough group again, but there's hope. Obviously we have to get at least 10 points from home games and about 4 to 6 on the away matches. The home games cannot be in Vancouver....too small, too many Central Americans. If we can control the tickets for Toronto, that would be great, but definitely no Jamaica there. I agree with the unconventional home settings for at least one of the games. We should use Edmonton if we get autumn games as the psychological factor will work in our favour. Honduras-Toronto Jamaica-St John's/Winnipeg/St. John Mexico-Edmonton We take all 6 pts from Jamaica, 3 from Honduras and 3 from Mexico. We end up in 2nd place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Dave Well, this is all pretty depressing. The worst possible combination of opponents for the Semis. Why am I not in the least surprised? I'm not surprised either. We heard that FIFA was annoyed with us for the comments Linford made, so it doesn't surprise me that we didn't get the "luck" of the "draw". But I'm not depressed. Bring'em on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronto MB Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 Well, it certainly won't be easy but I'm still feeling great about our boys. There is no reason we can't beat any of these teams, home or away, with the possible exception of Mexico at Azteca. If we really feel like this squad can get us to the World Cup and have any chance of competing with the best on the world stage than this is the challenge we were looking for. I can't wait to be at every one of these games in Canada. I would also LOVE to fly down to Mexico City for that game, any takers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted November 25, 2007 Author Share Posted November 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by nolando How about Honduras in Montreal or Atlantic Canada, Mexico in Edmonton as usual? (OK OK Honduras in TO if we have to play somebody in BMO - better not make it a Jamaican home game) Maybe we can fix the ticket sales so that all of the TFC season's tickets holders get in first and we can block out the Hondurans. Jamaica in Vancouver where they have virtual no immigrant presence. Can CSA resist not selling 20,000 tickets to see Jamaica, though? Dammit.. I tried to go to sleep but to no avail (2 AM Monday morning - ouch!) The vision I had was of the allocation for the four games: St. Vincent and the Grenadines - maybe 5,000 turn out in Burnaby (if we get to host both games like we did against Belize then have the other one in Victoria) Honduras - Montreal's new stadium with extra seats Mexico - Toronto with a nasty TFC style crowd Jamaica - Edmonton (you might get 20,000 there, with most being Canadians - if it was the deciding match it could even come close to a sell-out) Canada's four big cities, and three big biggest soccer markets all represented, with opponents sent to slightly-less hospitable environs than where we would have seen them sent in the past. Fairly decent take for the CSA as well. Please, no Caribbean Carnival in Toronto! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toro Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 We have the best side we may have ever had. We can certainly get by Jamaica and Honduras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by hectorj Of course, we got a tough group again, but there's hope. Obviously we have to get at least 10 points from home games and about 4 to 6 on the away matches. The home games cannot be in Vancouver....too small, too many Central Americans. If we can control the tickets for Toronto, that would be great, but definitely no Jamaica there. I agree with the unconventional home settings for at least one of the games. We should use Edmonton if we get autumn games as the psychological factor will work in our favour. Honduras-Toronto Jamaica-St John's/Winnipeg/St. John Mexico-Edmonton We take all 6 pts from Jamaica, 3 from Honduras and 3 from Mexico. We end up in 2nd place. It'll be pretty hard to get ten points from only three home games, mate. We'll need 9+ points overall to qualify. We need to win our home games against Honduras and Jamaica, beat at least one of them away, and sneak a point in one of the two games with Mexico. Ten points, we're through to the final round, and Bob's your uncle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 Success by the Canadian Mens National team is the best marketing tool for football in Canada that there will ever be in the foreseeable future. It is in TFC's strongest interest that the MNT enjoy success. There are very good reasons for MLSE and the CSA to get together on creating a strong pro-Canadian environment for whatever matches that are played out of BMO. Double headers? Actually sounds like fun. Won't know if it's possible until we see the available dates for WCQ matches. And as I've mentioned before the CSA has to be careful about how it would handle ticket access, particularly in a case like that. Could very well end up shutting out Canadians from outside of Toronto and that would be poison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 How safe is Azteca for a visitting supporter? Does anyone have any firsthand experience? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca I'm not surprised either. We heard that FIFA was annoyed with us for the comments Linford made, so it doesn't surprise me that we didn't get the "luck" of the "draw". But I'm not depressed. Bring'em on! On the positive side. It kind of worked out well the last time because things weren't really decided until later on in group play. that was because the group was tough all round and there were no minnows. whereas in in 2001, one bad result early on and you cant recover. One the negative side, this is an even tougher group than than last time. we still have Hon, CRC has been replaced with Mex( an even tougher opponent) and Gua has been replaced with Jam ( a side we split with last year and more consistent performer in int'l play). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 I say play all three games in Toronto and sell it as a pack. One stadium, one home base. Who gives a crap about Jamaica, we did so poorly at home last time round it is almost better to play away. More tension. Our players will not let their guard down even once, it is do or die from day one. I also think the group is fine, I mean not that easy, but I think there is good reason to think everyone will lose points to everyone else. Meaning noone is going to run away with anything and I think we'll still be fighting for the spot with two game left. 9-10 points is what we'll need I think, three wins and a bit more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Dave How safe is Azteca for a visitting supporter? Does anyone have any firsthand experience? I'm going to go out on a limb and say "not very", especially in WCQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hectorj Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 Re: Azteca....I went to opening game (Italy v Bulgaria) at 86 World Cup at Azteca. They sold beer in bottles and the stadium is concrete. Needless to say, broken glass was everywhere. There was a gang rape of a woman after the game as well. I would DEFINITELY not feel safe at a Canada game in Mexico/Central America. I saw a WC qualifier in Guatemala who were playing Nicaragua. The Nicaraguans were bombed with baggies of piss. If I was in a big group, maybe, but a solo guy in a Canada jersey is asking for trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted November 25, 2007 Author Share Posted November 25, 2007 It's not that much different than our last group of four. Mexico's the giant, Honduras is still Honduras, and Jamaica is at a quite similar level to where Guatemala was the last time around. Our team is potentially twice as good as last WCQ, much deeper for sure, so there are some positives there. We desperately need appropriate warm-up matches, with most of them in our region if possible. I would like to see us play T&T, Guatemala, El Salvador, Cuba, and maybe Colombia or Paraguay as a stand-in for Mexico before the next WCQ. And we need to not only play those games, but win most of them as well, to have any hope in hell during WCQ. Quit messing around in Europe and get a CONCACAF routine going, like the the rest of our competition. If South Africa and Jamaica can book two friendlies (including flying in half of their own squad) in five days and play well in them then so bloody well can Canada. Scrap any plans for a C-team North American camp in Miami in January and make it a long weekend in Europe if that's what it takes to get most of the full squad together. I say it's time to go into damage control mode already, don't you agree? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 The way I see it is that last time Costa Rica gave up 3+1 points to Honduras and 3 to Guatemala. So they gave away seven points to the other 2 teams in our group. Now Costa Rica is replaced with a stronger Mexican side who will probably not give up seven points to Honduras and Jamaica. Even if we lose both to Mexico, if Mexico only lose once to either of the other teams, we definitely have a really good shot to get in. Plus, I guarantee those teams see us as the #2 team. We're that good, take it to the bank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 Trying to find some positives: Mex is guaranteed first place, due in part to their skill level, but largely due to other teams being unaccustomed to breathing carbon monoxide fumes at altitude. Finishing ahead of Honduras is therefor critical. I assume Hond will lose in Azteca. They will almost certainly beat Jamaica at home, as I don't see the Jamaicans being able to deal with the crap that they will experience there. It's quite conceivable that Honduras will be held to a draw, or perhaps lose, in Kingston. Historically they don't travel well. I also wouldn't be surprised if the Mexican can pull off a draw in Honduras. Now, I will go further and assume that, no matter how well we play, CONCACAF will have arranged things so that we will lose our game in Honduras. I'll go further and say that, with talent we have at present, and with hopefully a pro-Canadian crowd, we win at home against Hond. So in that scenario, Honduras ends up with 8 points. We have 3 points after losing our away games to Mex and Hond, and beating Hond at home. As always, we will have trouble scoring goals, so any tie breaker will favour Honduras. Therefor to avoid a tiebreak situation, we need 6 points from our remaining three games. Obviously the home match with Jam is a must. We don't win that and we're out. If we get three points there, then the whole thing comes down to whether we can win one more game, either in Kingston, or at home against the Mexicans. I rather like our chances against Mex, provided the game is scheduled late in the year, after the Mexicans have already qualified to the Hex. Otherwise we are likely looking at a tough must-win in Jamaica. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 I don't want to start at home this time - let's start on the road, come home for the second game & then play two road games & then a home match in October & November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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