Gold Cup 2019

[El Hombre]

19 minutes ago, narduch said:

Canada's lack of friendlies finally pays off....

...And will continue to do so as Haiti was the only team in the tournament to play three warmup games.  They'll be dog-tired come Saturday.

[BCM]

2 hours ago, apbsmith said:

I fell asleep before the 2nd half haha... thought for sure El Salvador were going to get a positive result (tie or win). 

Anyone who watched do you think fatigue of the tourney set in, in the final 1/3 of game for El Salvador? + A bit of mental collapse after going down 1-0? Or the pressure to get the result set in? 

I'm mainly curious from someone's standpoint who watched the entire 2nd half.

I do think we could do some damage to Haiti also in the final 1/3 of the game.

ES had the better play for the first 5 or so minutes in the half, missing a few chances. Pretty dominant in fact. Then Honduras scored (beautiful shot) and ES never looked the same. When the second went in they were mentally deflated and out of gas. I can't even say Honduras hit them on the counter attack after that because ES lost the plot and were dominated.

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by BCM

[Zem]

Quill makes his debut for Guyana tonight!

 

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Great read from Tom Marshall of ESPN.  Herdman is leaving zero details to chance.

 

 

[Dr.Dre]

9 hours ago, apbsmith said:

I fell asleep before the 2nd half haha... thought for sure El Salvador were going to get a positive result (tie or win). 

Anyone who watched do you think fatigue of the tourney set in, in the final 1/3 of game for El Salvador? + A bit of mental collapse after going down 1-0? Or the pressure to get the result set in? 

I'm mainly curious from someone's standpoint who watched the entire 2nd half.

I do think we could do some damage to Haiti also in the final 1/3 of the game.

I fell asleep too before the second hafl. What a suprise I had in the morning when I looked at the score.

[lazlo_80]

Just watched the USA-Panama game.

I have no reason to think so far we aren't at the very least a top 3 team right now in this tournament.

[The Beaver 2.0]

Just saw an interview from a day or two ago where MDS says that he feels Canada has a very good shot at winning the Gold Cup this year. To be clear, he points out that this is not Mexico's A-squad, and he notes that the US is not quite firing on all cylinders under Berhalter--yet--both of these items giving further credence to the notion Canada might have a real crack at winning the whole shooting match.  (For what it is worth, MDS is not a big fan of the Gold Cup. He does not like all the 5 - 0 games. He would like to see a competition featuring the best of the Americas, not just North America. Doing so would raise the profile of the tournament significantly, perhaps a decent rival to the Euros. [Before anyone craps on me, please note I said "decent"]. He liked the idea of the tournament happening every four years. Not sure I disagree.)

[Obinna]

I think you could make the argument that 3 of the top 4 teams remaining are on our side of the bracket

Side A: Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica

Side B: USA

[CanadianSoccerFan]

6 hours ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

Just saw an interview from a day or two ago where MDS says that he feels Canada has a very good shot at winning the Gold Cup this year. To be clear, he points out that this is not Mexico's A-squad, and he notes that the US is not quite firing on all cylinders under Berhalter--yet--both of these items giving further credence to the notion Canada might have a real crack at winning the whole shooting match.  (For what it is worth, MDS is not a big fan of the Gold Cup. He does not like all the 5 - 0 games. He would like to see a competition featuring the best of the Americas, not just North America. Doing so would raise the profile of the tournament significantly, perhaps a decent rival to the Euros. [Before anyone craps on me, please note I said "decent"]. He liked the idea of the tournament happening every four years. Not sure I disagree.)

The Gold Cup should really only be 8 teams but politically that will never happen

[Hawkguy]

On 6/25/2019 at 10:19 PM, Kent said:

It wasn't "tactics to lose". There is a difference between picking a starting 11 that doesn't give your team the best chance to win a game and actually wanting to lose a game. If Herdman could have picked the result, he still would have picked a win.

However, sometimes to give your team the best chance to win a championship, you have to do something that doesn't give your team the best chance to win a particular game. If you play your best 11 every game, regardless of the circumstances, you just might be tanking your chances in the long run. Just like you don't run a marathon at a sprint pace.

Did I say we needed to play our best 11 every game? No. We could have easily beat Cuba with the line-up from game 2. No questions asked. 

I disagree with that style. But I was always the guy who wanted to put my best foot forward. Hopefully Herdman pulls out the W and makes me appreciate his decision.

I'm a fan of Herdman as a coach for the most part so I'm not going to shit talk too much. Although I dislike looking past opponents, which I hated in his presser when he talked about the semi-finals like it was a given. I appreciate the confidence, but I just dislike that train of thought. I've always been about tackling what's next and not worrying about what if scenarios. 

[Hawkguy]

7 hours ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

Just saw an interview from a day or two ago where MDS says that he feels Canada has a very good shot at winning the Gold Cup this year. To be clear, he points out that this is not Mexico's A-squad, and he notes that the US is not quite firing on all cylinders under Berhalter--yet--both of these items giving further credence to the notion Canada might have a real crack at winning the whole shooting match.  (For what it is worth, MDS is not a big fan of the Gold Cup. He does not like all the 5 - 0 games. He would like to see a competition featuring the best of the Americas, not just North America. Doing so would raise the profile of the tournament significantly, perhaps a decent rival to the Euros. [Before anyone craps on me, please note I said "decent"]. He liked the idea of the tournament happening every four years. Not sure I disagree.)

I've heard this about Mexico a lot. How much are they really missing? One of their best, the coach doesn't care for and didn't even invite to the tournament. 

Hernandez, who I think is their all-time leading scorer, declined due to a child birth... but he's been passed by Jimenez anyway. 

I know they have another fella in Portugal who declined from Porto. But who else?

[Floortom]

12 minutes ago, Hawkguy said:

I've heard this about Mexico a lot. How much are they really missing? One of their best, the coach doesn't care for and didn't even invite to the tournament. 

Hernandez, who I think is their all-time leading scorer, declined due to a child birth... but he's been passed by Jimenez anyway. 

I know they have another fella in Portugal who declined from Porto. But who else?

Vela and Lozano are the really big losses IMO

[Chad_Impact]

6 hours ago, Obinna said:

I think you could make the argument that 3 of the top 4 teams remaining are on our side of the bracket

Side A: Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica

Side B: USA

I wouldn't count out Panama, have some solid pieces. 

Easily could have beat the U.S last night with a little more patience on their counters. 

Edited June 27, 2019 by Chad_Impact

[Obinna]

45 minutes ago, Chad_Impact said:

I wouldn't count out Panama, have some solid pieces. 

Easily could have beat the U.S last night with a little more patience on their counters. 

Certainly not counting them out. They've looked better than Costa Rica at times. I still think CR are better, but perhaps just barely. Panama are in better form at the moment.

[Corazon]

2 hours ago, Hawkguy said:

I've heard this about Mexico a lot. How much are they really missing? One of their best, the coach doesn't care for and didn't even invite to the tournament. 

Hernandez, who I think is their all-time leading scorer, declined due to a child birth... but he's been passed by Jimenez anyway. 

I know they have another fella in Portugal who declined from Porto. But who else?

Jesus Corona (Tecatito) from FC Porto in Portugal is out injured. 

Hector Herrera from FC Porto in Portugal is out allegedly focusing on joining Atletico Madrid this summer.

Hirving Lozano from PSV in Netherlands is out through injury (highest market value of any Mexican even Jiminez).

Hector Moreno of Real Sociedad in Spain, formerly Roma, PSV and Espanyol is arguably their best defender did make the roster but yet to play due to injury.

Erik Gutierrez from PSV in Netherlands only saw 30 minutes of tournament before going down injured.

Chicharito of West Ham United in England is out to stay back for the birth of his child.

Miguel Layun who returned from FC Porto in Portugal to join Monterrey this year missed out through injury.

Marco Fabian has come back from Bundesliga to MLS but dropped out injured before the tournament.

Diego Lainez of Real Betis in Spain played in the U20 World Cup instead.

Carlos Vela basically picks and chooses when he wants to play for Mexico

Orbelin Pineda - not sure why he missed out.

Could argue Gio given his Gold Cup past but was released by Galaxy before the season and currently on Unattached FC

 

The latter 3 or 4 players either are currently not good enough or were not chosen for other reasons but According to the "Wise" TransferMarkt  about 10 of the most valuable 15 Mexican players are not in this squad (most listed above).

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by Corazon

[mrstepp817]

I think Canada is easily the third best team in the tournament and rising....it was hard to read much of anything from the USA-Panama game....US started a totally new starting eleven and Panama didnt seem to be super interested either with nine new players...from a US perspective the only thing noteworthy was Altidore played 80 minutes and probably worked off a lot of rust...

Edited June 27, 2019 by mrstepp817

[jtpc]

The Gold Cup has chosen who they feel have been the best eleven players from the group stage. Congratulations to Jonathan David and Derek Cornelius! 😃 

Edited June 27, 2019 by jtpc

[SpursFlu]

3 hours ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

The Gold Cup should really only be 8 teams but politically that will never happen

That's like saying the World Cup should only be 8 teams. I like the expansion and have really enjoyed watching the tournament 

[Obinna]

32 minutes ago, jtpc said:

The Gold Cup has chosen who they feel have been the best eleven players from the group stage. Congratulations to Jonathan David and Derek Cornelius! 😀 🇨🇦

 

Glad to see Cornelius get recognition. He has quietly put in a fantastic performance so far. Defensively solid and ball player out from the back. And he's 21...What's not to like?

[apbsmith]

3 hours ago, Hawkguy said:

 

I'm a fan of Herdman as a coach for the most part so I'm not going to **** talk too much. Although I dislike looking past opponents, which I hated in his presser when he talked about the semi-finals like it was a given. I appreciate the confidence, but I just dislike that train of thought. I've always been about tackling what's next and not worrying about what if scenarios. 

Well in this interview, he is def not taking Haiti lightly. He hit some key points I also agree with in this match. 

If you have 5 mins, worth the watch: 

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1559038531755

Edited June 27, 2019 by apbsmith
In other match thread already

[Pottsy3]

10 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

That's like saying the World Cup should only be 8 teams. I like the expansion and have really enjoyed watching the tournament 

Agreed with you. We've seen Guyana almost beat Trinidad last night, and Bermuda gave all 3 matches a good run. Hard to argue that we should be making the tournament any smaller, I'd suggest we're closer to further expansion than we are to decreasing size.

[apbsmith]

19 hours ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

 He would like to see a competition featuring the best of the Americas, not just North America. Doing so would raise the profile of the tournament significantly, perhaps a decent rival to the Euros. [Before anyone craps on me, please note I said "decent"]. He liked the idea of the tournament happening every four years. Not sure I disagree.)

AMERICAS tourny would be amazing + you could do it as a prep tourney for the World Cup in 2026 with the 3 host nations. 

Based on how many empty seats have been in the Copa America games(to my surprise), I hope it gets looked at again. 

Almost every South American team game would be a sell-out in my opinion, especially if you put it in the right demographic city. 

Honestly it's prolly just about sorting out the financial revenue and profit sharing between the two confederations. 

Absolutely no reason it can not be a win, win, win for everyone from fans to federations, to confederations.

Edited June 27, 2019 by apbsmith
Host nations not cities

[apbsmith]

11 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Glad to see Cornelius get recognition. He has quietly put in a fantastic performance so far. Defensively solid and ball player out from the back. And he's 21...What's not to like?

Completely agree, Cornelius has been excellent thus far (knock on wood continues into KO round). I criticiszed his early season form with the Whitecaps but he was also played out on LB. 

Let's not forgot we had Mexico at 0-0 up until the 40th min when Mexico scored with Cornelius on the sidelines nursing a bloody nose. No disrespect whatsoever to our legend but I do think Cornelius clears that header on Mexico's  1st goal and we go into half 0-0.

[The Beaver 2.0]

43 minutes ago, apbsmith said:

AMERICAS tourny would be amazing + you could do it as a prep tourney for the World Cup in 2026 with the 3 host cities. 

Based on how many empty seats have been in the Copa America games(to my surprise), I hope it gets looked at again. 

Almost every South American team game would be a sell-out in my opinion, especially if you put it in the right demographic city. 

Honestly it's prolly just about sorting out the financial revenue and profit sharing between the two federations. 

Absolutely no reason it can not be a win, win, win for everyone from fans to federations.

Yes, and it everyone would refer to it as "The Americas", which is just as sexy as "The Euros", at least euphonically.  And you could have different hosts every four years, swapping between confederations every other tournie.  

[Bertuzzi44]

4 hours ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

The Gold Cup should really only be 8 teams but politically that will never happen

Curaçao are the best story of the Gold Cup so far!