Gold Cup 2021

[Ivan]

Tough group.  I like it!

[dyslexic nam]

11 minutes ago, Kent said:

I agree with this except the part about worrying about avoiding Curaçao. CONCACAF is getting more wide open and they are one of many teams at a similar level.

I get it - but t I still wanted to avoid them over the other pot 3 teams.  They def have more potential to be top 2 in a group IMO.  

[dyslexic nam]

[Kent]

16 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

I get it - but t I still wanted to avoid them over the other pot 3 teams.  They def have more potential to be top 2 in a group IMO.  

Yeah, after reviewing the teams in that pot, I had different reasons to not have a preference. Didn’t want Suriname since we should be playing them in WCQ, didn’t want Martinique because it would be nice to be a seeded team next time around, so FIFA points are nice.

[jtpc]

45 minutes ago, SkuseisLoose said:

We’re like a magnet to non fifa nations at the gold cup.

That's 3 Gold Cups in a row that we've had a non-FIFA member in our group (French Guiana 2017, Martinique 2019, and Martinique again in 2021). It's unbelievable how often this happens to us. We also had to play French Guiana in one of our Nations League qualifiers last year.

[king1010]

Revenge match against Haiti to move to the knockout stages. If we cant finish ahead of them we dont deserve to move on. 

[CanadianSoccerFan]

With the awful timing in July and the overlap with the Olympics, expect some c-level squads in this tournament.

[Redpunkfiddle]

Revenge match against Martinique for not giving us any FIFA points last time.

[jtpc]

I wonder if anyone at CONCACAF is sweating behind the scenes about our group, knowing that their desired Mexico/US final hangs in the balance of who finishes 1st and who finishes 2nd in the group stage. Imagine if we pulled off the group stage win. The US would have to play Mexico in the semi. Someone at CONCACAF is probably thinking: "See, this is why we usually don't do real draws for this tournament!" 😂

Edited September 29, 2020 by jtpc

[Shway]

Now that the groups are determined. I'm interested to see how the games will be scheduled and where the games will be played.
I don't know at which point I would want to play the USA. The first game? the last? the middle? It definitely will be interesting!

[Kent]

17 minutes ago, jtpc said:

I wonder if anyone at CONCACAF is sweating behind the scenes about our group, knowing that their desired Mexico/US final hangs in the balance of who finishes 1st and who finishes 2nd in the group stage. Imagine if we pulled off the group stage win. The US would have to play Mexico in the semi. Someone at CONCACAF is probably thinking: "See, this is why we usually don't do real draws for this tournament!" 😂

Ah crap. Now I am worrying about them going back to the non-crossover system in 2023 after we beat the USA in 2021.

[Floortom]

The Gold Cup will be mostly B squads due to timing of it and the WCQ window. Good chance for fringe and young players to get experience 

[Shway]

 

And the Olympics if we qualify - talk about depth being created.

[Ngravs]

3 hours ago, Kent said:

We always get the non-FIFA team in the Gold Cup. Gah!

Do the FIFA points really matter for us anymore though? Considering 2022 other is set and 2026  is at home. Still annoying but at least it won’t make us play minnows for 0.11 of a point lol

[archer21]

5 hours ago, Shway said:

 

And the Olympics if we qualify - talk about depth being created.

Kind of makes the tournament more pointless than most years though. Obviously, Herdman is right to prioritize WCQ but it'll still be frustrating to watch our best players miss the tournament if that's the case. Hard to get excited for a match against the USA when their depth is clearly better than ours and our best chance is to have our stars take over the game. Like you said though, it will be a good opportunity for young/fringe players to get some good experience.

[CanadaFan123]

Great draw for us. If we're worried about Haiti we have problems... they haven't won a match since beating us.

[Alex]

I don’t mind playing Haiti at all, as someone stated earlier they might not beat Bermuda in qualifying. It will be interesting to see how the squads shape up. I feel like guys will want to play both the June window and the gold cup seeing how they probably won’t play for Canada at all this year. 

[Kent]

10 hours ago, Ngravs said:

Do the FIFA points really matter for us anymore though? Considering 2022 other is set and 2026  is at home. Still annoying but at least it won’t make us play minnows for 0.11 of a point lol

They don’t matter nearly as much for quite a while because of what you mentioned, but I would still like to see us get to the top 4 so we can be a seeded team at the 2023 Gold Cup.

[Obinna]

I like the USA draw and the potential Haiti rematch. The universe is giving Herdman and Canada a chance to right their wrongs.

[SpursFlu]

I like the draw. If you look at the likely teams going thru, each group is tough. Its actually better that you face US because your crossover is against a lesser 1st place finisher

[red card]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

 I feel like guys will want to play both the June window and the gold cup seeing how they probably won’t play for Canada at all this year. 

Not for the Euro guys who would have just played a compressed season due to covid & Euros. Their summer will be gone playing in 2 windows. If they take vacation time. it will force them to miss some or all of their pre-season training.

It's fine for the MLS/CPL guys since they would be playing anyway. But to maintain good club relations, a bit prickly to take away player for basically 2 months.

If qualified for Olympics, then Gold Cup squad will be at B- team.

[TOCanada115]

2 hours ago, Kent said:

They don’t matter nearly as much for quite a while because of what you mentioned, but I would still like to see us get to the top 4 so we can be a seeded team at the 2023 Gold Cup.

I think you guys are all forgetting if Canada somehow makes the World Cup, their World Ranking will be used to determine what pot they’re in. I’d much rather be in pot 3, then 4. 1 gold cup game potentially could be the difference. 

[CanMNT Memes]

 

[johnyb]

I like it. We avoid Mexico until at least the semi final and potentially the final if we finish first. I figure we have a chance to advance against everyone else. Not much separating 2nd from 6th anymore.

[SpecialK]

I hope we see great mix of some fringe guys like Caniggia Elva , David Wotherspoon, Juan Córdova, Charlie Trafford. Some new young guys like Harry Paton, Theo Corbeanu, Dominik Yankov, Scott Kennedy. Also maybe Ricardo Ferreira. And have some regular guys. This Gold Cup could be super useful and important for the program to see what kind of Depth we really have. 

Edited September 30, 2020 by SpecialK