CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying -Texas Tournament - Feb 10-21st

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_CONCACAF_Women's_Olympic_Qualifying_Championship

 

[tc-in-bc]

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

I predict that they will try and CONCACAF us in the draw; they will put Mexico in our group to make the Houston group more interesting and for revenue reasons and that will be a key game to win; it will be harder than when we played them in Vancouver in 2012, the crowd will be on their side in Texas.

Wow! I was wrong about that! We have a ridiculously easy group. I likely won't watch a game even if it's on TV until the semi-final.

http://www.concacaf.com/article/draw-determines-groups-for-the-2016-concacaf-womens-olympic-qualifying-championship

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Broadcast details TBD; I hope there will at least be a broadcast for the semi-final and final. The US will (almost certainly) be playing those days as the matches are doubleheaders so all the broadcast equipment and personel should be there.

 

 

 

[tc-in-bc]

Erin McLeod  will likely sign with FC Rosengard after  the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament. Had she signed earlier then she would not be able to play in this tournament for Canada. In 2015, there is a binding agreement among  Damallsvenskan clubs to not release contracted players to their national teams during non-FIFA dates and the schedule for 2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship is not a FIFA date.

http://www.sydsvenskan.se/sport/en-logisk-vantan-pa-mcleod--os-kvalet-maste-fixas-forst/

Broadly speaking, all Canadian players in the Damallsvenskan are prevented from being selected to play in this tournament. So It's fortunate that Josee Belanger didn't remain with  FC Rosengard in 2016.

[Trillium]

Anyone thinking of catching some of these games live in Houston .. ?

It might be the last chance to see the team in action this year unless some friendlies are organised during the summer.

Only two teams come out of CONCACAF, so Canada has to beat out USA and/or Mexico. We should clearly make it out of our group in first, but T&T has appointed a new coach and the advances under Randy Waldrum should continue ... so there could be some challenge if Herdman goes in over confident of his vetrans abilitys.

 

[rob.notenboom]

Overconfidence and complacency could be a serious issue with the group they've drawn, as well as the leap in quality between the group stage and knockout round.

[67soccer]

On 1/23/2016 at 1:02 PM, Trillium said:

Anyone thinking of catching some of these games live in Houston .. ?

It might be the last chance to see the team in action this year unless some friendlies are organised during the summer.

Only two teams come out of CONCACAF, so Canada has to beat out USA and/or Mexico. We should clearly make it out of our group in first, but T&T has appointed a new coach and the advances under Randy Waldrum should continue ... so there could be some challenge if Herdman goes in over confident of his vetrans abilitys.

 

Failure to qualify should have Herdman and his circus boarding  the first flight out of Canada . He has been over rated since the fluke bronze in 2012 .

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

6 hours ago, rob.notenboom said:

Overconfidence and complacency could be a serious issue with the group they've drawn, as well as the leap in quality between the group stage and knockout round.

Ya, I'm concerned about this. Squad announced tomorrow. Mexico will be very prepared for this tournament.

[rob.notenboom]

2 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Ya, I'm concerned about this. Squad announced tomorrow. Mexico will be very prepared for this tournament.

On a positive note, there seems like there is more competition within the squad, and that's a good thing. Been a long time since people were competing for spots in the WNT.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

4 minutes ago, rob.notenboom said:

On a positive note, there seems like there is more competition within the squad, and that's a good thing. Been a long time since people were competing for spots in the WNT.

Ya the competition is good. +Roster will be 20 players for the Olympics instead of 23 for WC/WCQ.

I wonder if our best U-17's will be left off Herdman's roster (even though 1 or 2 might make it) so they play in Grenada in March. It's tough to call them for two tournaments in a row. (Kennedy Faulknor, Deanne Rose, Sarah Stratigakis). I'm thinking they'll only go to Grenada.

[Blackdude]

Ok, so the roster is there. So forget about the two Sarahs, it's about the two Beckies. (Yes, Rebecca=Beckie is a bad pun, but I'm going with that) There's a huge media blitz with players on a lot of shows TV/Radio you name it. 

 

http://canadasoccer.com/canada-soccer-names-roster-for-concacaf-women-s-olympic-qualifying-championship-texas-2016-p159108

 

GOALKEEPERS (3): Erin McLeod, Stephanie Labbé, Sabrina D'Angelo.

DEFENDERS (6): Shelina Zadorsky, Kadeisha Buchannan, Rebecca Quinn, Rhian Wilkinson, Allysha Chapman, and Josée Bélanger.

MIDFIELDERS (5): Diana Matheson, Sophie Schmidt, Desiree Scott, Ashley Lawrence, and Jessie Fleming.

FORWARDS (6): Janine Beckie, Christine Sinclair (Captain), Nichelle Prince, Deanne Rose, Gabrielle Carle, and Melissa Tancredi.

 

[Alberto7]

Very happy to see a lot of young players getting their chance but what in the hell is Melissa Tancredi doing there?

I saw three players on Canada AM this morning talking about being selected. Great to see that.

[mtlfan]

It's sad that there is nobody better than her in the mind of the coaches. Hopefully she will see limited action.

 

[rightback]

2 hours ago, Alberto7 said:

Very happy to see a lot of young players getting their chance but what in the hell is Melissa Tancredi doing there?

I saw three players on Canada AM this morning talking about being selected. Great to see that.

I wonder what on earth he sees in her...there must be something.

[MrsC]

I'm hoping so see Sabrina D'Angelo get some playing time in the group stage.  I'm hopeful she can earn that #2 spot sooner rather than later because Labbé doesn't instill a lot of confidence.  I will be very curious to see how Labbé does in the NWSL this year if she is the player to be named later in the Chicago/Washington trade.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

27 minutes ago, MrsC said:

I'm hoping so see Sabrina D'Angelo get some playing time in the group stage.  I'm hopeful she can earn that #2 spot sooner rather than later because Labbé doesn't instill a lot of confidence.  I will be very curious to see how Labbé does in the NWSL this year if she is the player to be named later in the Chicago/Washington trade.

Agreed.

 

Question to all: So they got many players to go on TV, did anybody mention the broadcast schedule for this tournament? What's the point of all the good PR if fans can't see this on TV?

 

Also: Mexico has finished its 4-nations tournament in China.

They went:

0-0 vs China
2-0 win vs South Korea
1-0 win vs Vietnam

Not outstanding results for them but certainly quite decent. They will be a threat. The crowd in Texas will be very pro Mexico. If we can't get past them, Herdman should get the sack.

[BearcatSA]

A fair number of veteran defenders (Moscato, Sesselmann, Gayle, and Nault) aren't here.  Wilkinson kept her place and I see that Belanger is listed as a defender (is that where she's been playing most recently?).

Maybe I haven't been checking enough but this is the first time in a long time that Kyle hasn't been on an important WNT roster

[tc-in-bc]

[  1  ]   Sportsnet  owns the  Canadian rights  to the 2016  CONCACAF  women’s  and men’s qualifying  tournaments for the Rio Olympics  across all platforms  -- so whenever  they’re ready to inform awaiting fans about their  broadcast plans .

http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/concacafs_canadian_rights_bought_by_sportsnet

[  2  ]  Three clean sheets for Mexico in the Four Nations Tournament and Bianca Heninger , who has yet to play any minutes,  is their backup keeper. Statistically,  Heninger ,playing for the Houston Dash, was  a top 5 keeper in the NWSL in 2015.

[  3  ]  Playing devil’s advocate here:   Melissa Tancredi  is a large body who plays physical and is experienced ,  whereas Beckie, Prince ,Carle, and Rose are  not very big,  nor are they  very physical , and they ‘re all  inexperienced at  the senior level.  To me, diversity improves a team’s competitiveness. That being said, Tancredi  played poorly in 2015:  slow,   ineffective.   If  Canada qualifies for the 2016 Rio Olympics and  has to cut the roster down from 20 players to 18 players  then one of the obvious cuts should be Melissa Tancredi .  Overall, this has to be her last chance to rediscover some good form.

 

 

[rkomar]

I wouldn't push Tancredi out just because she isn't playing as well as she was three years ago.  I would only do it if there was someone better to slot in.  Based on the Panam games last year, none of the young forwards convinced me that they are better than Tancredi at this point in time.  Some day some of them may be, but not yet.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

What happened to Leon?

[The Ref]

On 1/26/2016 at 3:00 PM, MrsC said:

I'm hoping so see Sabrina D'Angelo get some playing time in the group stage.  I'm hopeful she can earn that #2 spot sooner rather than later because Labbé doesn't instill a lot of confidence.  I will be very curious to see how Labbé does in the NWSL this year if she is the player to be named later in the Chicago/Washington trade.

So do I.  Whenever  Erin retires, I tremble to see Labbé taking the number one spot.  She shouldn't even be there.

[MrsC]

14 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

What happened to Leon?

She isn't even listed on the Chicago Red Stars roster anymore.  It is hard to infer too much until we see that Canadian subsidization list because we don't know if she has been allocated to another team. My suspicion is that she is either retiring or isn't subsidized anymore.  It probably isn't that she is going to Europe to play because Tancredi is still listed on their roster and we know she is going to Sweden.  

[mtlfan]

On 29/01/2016 at 9:20 AM, MrsC said:

She isn't even listed on the Chicago Red Stars roster anymore.  It is hard to infer too much until we see that Canadian subsidization list because we don't know if she has been allocated to another team. My suspicion is that she is either retiring or isn't subsidized anymore.  It probably isn't that she is going to Europe to play because Tancredi is still listed on their roster and we know she is going to Sweden.  

She was traded to Western New York.

[MrsC]

10 hours ago, mtlfan said:

She was traded to Western New York.

Sigh.  I knew this and forgot about it.  I remember now (until I forget again )