The Road to Qatar.

[narduch]

40 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

If folks listen to the Concacaf Council, the CR rep is very confident that they will get a major home advantage playing in a full stadium. He also says Costa Rica is the toughest place to play in Central America, which we know is not true (it is just that CR has been the best team there for 15 years and their results show). 

So they are confident to be able to get home wins. 

He also mentions that they are finally starting to count on some younger talents.

We have to keep in mind that, arguably, we beat them in Edmonton in large part due to a keeping error, where Keylor Navas has been immense for them otherwise. You could even argue his absence for those few matches is the difference between them being in 5th or higher. 

I am saying this as it makes that first match an interesting challenge. I don't think we'll be intimidated, though it may be hard to be motivated when we are so close already, are really not under that much pressure, and we have the fail-safe of the Jamaica match to get us to Qatar.  

 

Navas has been amazing for them.

Their issue is they can't score.

A 0-0 result against them would not be surprising

 

[pod818]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

If folks listen to the Concacaf Council, the CR rep is very confident that they will get a major home advantage playing in a full stadium. He also says Costa Rica is the toughest place to play in Central America, which we know is not true (it is just that CR has been the best team there for 15 years and their results show). 

So they are confident to be able to get home wins. 

He also mentions that they are finally starting to count on some younger talents.

We have to keep in mind that, arguably, we beat them in Edmonton in large part due to a keeping error, where Keylor Navas has been immense for them otherwise. You could even argue his absence for those few matches is the difference between them being in 5th or higher. 

I am saying this as it makes that first match an interesting challenge. I don't think we'll be intimidated, though it may be hard to be motivated when we are so close already, are really not under that much pressure, and we have the fail-safe of the Jamaica match to get us to Qatar.  

 

Do we know the venue of the game in CR? Seems the old Saprissa stadium was much more rough and intimidating than the new National Stadium. All the games have been at the National Stadium so far this qualifying

[JamboAl]

53 minutes ago, pod818 said:

Do we know the venue of the game in CR? Seems the old Saprissa stadium was much more rough and intimidating than the new National Stadium. All the games have been at the National Stadium so far this qualifying

It should be at Estadio Nacional.

[Redpunkfiddle]

1 hour ago, pod818 said:

Do we know the venue of the game in CR? Seems the old Saprissa stadium was much more rough and intimidating than the new National Stadium. All the games have been at the National Stadium so far this qualifying

It is officially at Estadio Nacional- there is a link or tweet about it somewhere.

It seems every cycle there is talk about putting a game back at Saprissa but it never amounts to anything.

[Free kick]

CONCACAF introduces new appeal process for red cards 

Concacaf boosts refereeing accountability with new Red card appeals process - Inside World Football

[Ruud]

Is this the right place to start talking about warm up games?  And where Canada home base may be prior to the World Cup.?  My guess is that this will all take place around Europe prior to teams flying to the region. Heard the footy podcast with CSA president chatting about this.   Somewhere hot.  Warm up games.  Turkey would be a really interesting choice given our player links there.  

[narduch]

21 minutes ago, Free kick said:

CONCACAF introduces new appeal process for red cards 

Concacaf boosts refereeing accountability with new Red card appeals process - Inside World Football

This for Concacaf's own events.

The World Cup is FIFA's baby

[Free kick]

2 minutes ago, narduch said:

This for Concacaf's own events.

The World Cup is FIFA's baby

Yes.  it included Concacaf Champions league

[narduch]

Just now, Free kick said:

Yes.  it included Concacaf Champions league

Ya. Its not happening for WCQ

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, pod818 said:

Do we know the venue of the game in CR? Seems the old Saprissa stadium was much more rough and intimidating than the new National Stadium. All the games have been at the National Stadium so far this qualifying

Good observation, on that Concacaf Council vlog the CR rep specifically says this, it seems most in Costa Rica feel it would give them an advantage. 

Does Canada have a mean and nasty stadium no one want to travel to? Even when the weather is not sub-zero?

[Gian-Luca]

4 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

If folks listen to the Concacaf Council, the CR rep is very confident that they will get a major home advantage playing in a full stadium. He also says Costa Rica is the toughest place to play in Central America, which we know is not true (it is just that CR has been the best team there for 15 years and their results show). 

So they are confident to be able to get home wins. 

He also mentions that they are finally starting to count on some younger talents.

We have to keep in mind that, arguably, we beat them in Edmonton in large part due to a keeping error, where Keylor Navas has been immense for them otherwise. You could even argue his absence for those few matches is the difference between them being in 5th or higher. 

I am saying this as it makes that first match an interesting challenge. I don't think we'll be intimidated, though it may be hard to be motivated when we are so close already, are really not under that much pressure, and we have the fail-safe of the Jamaica match to get us to Qatar.  

 

Although I still feel that we actually levelled the playing field against them in Edmonton by playing on that turf, which diminished the one on one skills of Davies and Buchanan who were forced to take longer to control the bouncing ball which made them easier to defend. Hopefully the grass in Costa Rica will be more playable, especially as the Ticos will likely have to come at us, affording us some counter attack opportunities (assuming we don’t give up an early goal like we did against Panama)

[pod818]

2 hours ago, Redpunkfiddle said:

It is officially at Estadio Nacional- there is a link or tweet about it somewhere.

It seems every cycle there is talk about putting a game back at Saprissa but it never amounts to anything.

the only article I read was that they haven't ruled out any venue

[Redpunkfiddle]

33 minutes ago, pod818 said:

the only article I read was that they haven't ruled out any venue

https://apnews.com/article/soccer-sports-costa-rica-central-america-el-salvador-0501558fd81d045d08a0ae18a336b664?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP_Sports

If you go to the source article, you see that the CR Federation President says the decision was made in consultation with the players, the technical team.

I'm sure there is a message board out there with Saprisistas and Nacionalistas measuring travel distances.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Redpunkfiddle

[Kadenge]

Our best performance vs CR was at last year's GC. They may have been missing Navas but we were short some of our top stars and we dominated them.  The natural grass in CR is going to be a plus for us assuming it isn't  hacked up. As for motivation, Herdman and the players are gunning for an undefeated record in WCQ and why not? Mexico and USA are in the rear view mirror. They are not going to take their foot off the pedal. We have to be careful not to concede first as CR has been very good defensively with a veteran team that knows how to protect a lead. I'm happy with a draw

[SthMelbRed]

3 hours ago, Ruud said:

Is this the right place to start talking about warm up games?  And where Canada home base may be prior to the World Cup.?  My guess is that this will all take place around Europe prior to teams flying to the region. Heard the footy podcast with CSA president chatting about this.   Somewhere hot.  Warm up games.  Turkey would be a really interesting choice given our player links there.  

Right place. Very much the wrong time.

[Kent]

On 2/13/2022 at 12:29 AM, Redpunkfiddle said:

So then:

Win at Costa Rica OR

Draw at Costa Rica AND either Panama OR USA fail to win.

(If we lose at Costa Rica, there are still (minute) chances we could wind up below two teams and tied with one, so can't make an official clinch that matchday with that.)

EDIT to correct: We can clinch if

Loss at Costa Rica AND the USA loses AND Panama fails to win.

Thanks for this! So is that 100% of our "pop open the champagne" scenarios? Can anyone confirm?

1. Beat Costa Rica
or
2. Draw Costa Rica AND Panama OR USA fail to win
or
3. USA AND Panama fails to win

[maplebanana]

49 minutes ago, Kent said:

Thanks for this! So is that 100% of our "pop open the champagne" scenarios? Can anyone confirm?

1. Beat Costa Rica
or
2. Draw Costa Rica AND Panama OR USA fail to win
or
3. USA AND Panama fails to win

Almost. The #3 should be PAN fails to win AND USA outright loses.

Oliver Platt did an analysis summing it up: https://onesoccer.ca/a/how-canada-qualify-world-cup-2022-qatar-costa-rica-canmnt-wcq

 

[narduch]

 

[Kyle_The_Hill]

32 minutes ago, narduch said:

 

How is the draw happening in 1.5 months and this hasn't been announced officially yet? 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

2 hours ago, Kyle_The_Hill said:

How is the draw happening in 1.5 months and this hasn't been announced officially yet? 

This isn't a breaking news from Grant Wahl, the date of April 1st has been around for months. Since October I believe:

https://www.thescore.com/fmf_ap/news/2205448/

It's just a draw and COVID can quickly change everything about the pomp and scope of the ceremony.

I'm sure we will have a broadcast schedule and a detailed breakdown of the procedure in early March.

The new FIFA rankings will be released on March 31st btw:

https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking

Edited February 15, 2022 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Kyle_The_Hill]

54 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

This isn't a breaking news from Grant Wahl, the date of April 1st has been around for months. Since October I believe:

https://www.thescore.com/fmf_ap/news/2205448/

It's just a draw and COVID can quickly change everything about the pomp and scope of the ceremony.

I'm sure we will have a broadcast schedule and a detailed breakdown of the procedure in early March.

The new FIFA rankings will be released on March 31st btw:

https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking

Thanks, yeah seems like April 1st is now finally confirmed, the April 3rd date UEFA had for a while was confusing.

That reply above though I was specifically talking about why they haven't confirmed how the pots for the intercontinental playoffs will work. 

[AvroArrow]

Reading these last few pages, I see the optimism of those that have joined in the past few years (we've qualified!) and the pessimism of those that have been around for a long time (what has to happen for us to finish 4th?).

I have a friend who I got interested and he started watching in the year of the 8-1 debacle, so he got a healthy dose of pessimism from the get go.  His young sons have started watching this year and they expect Canada to win every game.  His sons never knew the dark times and hopefully they never get to see it.

[Blackjack15]

 

[Meepmeep]

1 hour ago, AvroArrow said:

Reading these last few pages, I see the optimism of those that have joined in the past few years (we've qualified!) and the pessimism of those that have been around for a long time (what has to happen for us to finish 4th?).

I have a friend who I got interested and he started watching in the year of the 8-1 debacle, so he got a healthy dose of pessimism from the get go.  His young sons have started watching this year and they expect Canada to win every game.  His sons never knew the dark times and hopefully they never get to see it.

Showed my young son (who’s first game was vs. Panama) highlights of us beating the US in 2019.  First thing he says is “was there covid in 2019? Why are there empty seats!). 

I had to share with him my first live game experience- Macedonia at Varsity - and explain to him that it looks like he might be lucky and only know good times going forward. 

[maplebanana]

31 minutes ago, Meepmeep said:

Showed my young son (who’s first game was vs. Panama) highlights of us beating the US in 2019.  First thing he says is “was there covid in 2019? Why are there empty seats!). 

I had to share with him my first live game experience- Macedonia at Varsity - and explain to him that it looks like he might be lucky and only know good times going forward. 

A friend of mine is a recent convert to CanMNT as well, and I'm so jealous that he only knows good times. 

Another friend I had brought to the Cuba @ Canada WCQ game in 2012. I was well on my way to fully convert him to full CanMNT fandom when I invited him to a bar 4 days later to watch a certain game in San Pedro Sula. I texted him back in December to tell him it's safe to hop back on the bandwagon now.