CONCACAF Nations League 2022/2023 - General Thread - Group Stage

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

11 hours ago, Cblake said:

So Canada opens at home vs the pot 2 opponent and then on the road at the pot 3 one in June. 

Where did you get that information?

All I've read is that we will play two matches at the beginning of the June window.

If all Pot 1 teams have a similar schedule, then it might be away match, then a home match because CONCACAF will give Costa Rica Matchday #1 "away" and Matchday #2 "at home" so as to make life easier for them before they play NZ on Matchday #4 in Qatar.

[footballfreak]

Panama and Suriname/Martinique are probably the best opponents from a World Cup prep standpoint. If the JFF can get their shit together (big if), Jamaica would also be good. Curaçao supposedly in a bit of a shambles at the moment, and Grenada are a step below the other Pot C sides. 

If we just want to boss the group and test out some fringe guys, by all means give us El Salvador and Grenada.

[narduch]

25 minutes ago, footballfreak said:

Panama and Suriname/Martinique are probably the best opponents from a World Cup prep standpoint. If the JFF can get their shit together (big if), Jamaica would also be good. Curaçao supposedly in a bit of a shambles at the moment, and Grenada are a step below the other Pot C sides. 

If we just want to boss the group and test out some fringe guys, by all means give us El Salvador and Grenada.

Martinique means no FIFA points 

[Shway]

32 minutes ago, footballfreak said:

Panama and Suriname/Martinique are probably the best opponents from a World Cup prep standpoint. If the JFF can get their shit together (big if), Jamaica would also be good. Curaçao supposedly in a bit of a shambles at the moment, and Grenada are a step below the other Pot C sides. 

If we just want to boss the group and test out some fringe guys, by all means give us El Salvador and Grenada.

Have to aggressively strongly disagree with you lol. No Concacaf team will be preparation for the World Cup. Not to be arrogant, but we ran through Concacaf. We need to play a European team, African or Asian opponent. 

With in the past year we have played:

USA - 3x (1-1-1
Mexico - 3x (1-1-1)
Costa Rica - 3x (2-0-1)
Honduras - 2x (1-1-0)
Panama - 2x (1-0-1)
Jamaica - 2x (1-0-1)
Suriname - 1x (1-0-0)
Martinique - 1x (1-0-0)
Curacao - 0
Grenada - 0

The only preparation that can be done in these games is testing the depth. Having someone have a Tajon like breakout…other than that we can use it for testing set pieces.

Theres a reason why Brazil and Argentina are begging to play someone else other than the Conembol folks…

Edited April 1, 2022 by Shway

[footballfreak]

1 hour ago, Shway said:

Have to aggressively strongly disagree with you lol. No Concacaf team will be preparation for the World Cup. Not to be arrogant, but we ran through Concacaf. We need to play a European team, African or Asian opponent. 

With in the past year we have played:

USA - 3x (1-1-1
Mexico - 3x (1-1-1)
Costa Rica - 3x (2-0-1)
Honduras - 2x (1-1-0)
Panama - 2x (1-0-1)
Jamaica - 2x (1-0-1)
Suriname - 1x (1-0-0)
Martinique - 1x (1-0-0)
Curacao - 0
Grenada - 0

The only preparation that can be done in these games is testing the depth. Having someone have a Tajon like breakout…other than that we can use it for testing set pieces.

Theres a reason why Brazil and Argentina are begging to play someone else other than the Conembol folks…

And we will get those friendlies. If you want to talk about friendlies, by all means make a friendly thread... but if you’re saying it doesn’t matter whether we play Grenada or Suriname, you’re either being disingenuous or don’t watch CONCACAF. One of those teams is a good test for our B squad and made up primarily of Dutch pros. The other is a glorified pub team who lost to Andorra and Montserrat in the last calendar year.

We have a limited number of games left before the World Cup. The Nations League will form a good chunk of our prep. Depth matters. Getting squad selection right matters. Building winning momentum in a competitive environment matters. Familiarity with newer teammates matters.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

The new CONCACAF rankings are out, so the pots are confirmed.

https://www.concacaf.com/rankings/men-s-national-team/

Same as what I posted on March 31st.

On 3/31/2022 at 1:18 AM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Pot 1
Mexico
USA
Canada
Costa Rica

Pot 2
Panama
Jamaica
El Salvador
Honduras

Pot 3
Curaçao
Martinique
Suriname
Grenada

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Rumours from the media in both New Zealand and Costa Rica are that their playoff match will be Tuesday June 14th.

----

The USA also state that they will play 2 friendlies in the June window.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2022/03/road-to-qatar-the-usmnt-timeline-to-the-2022-fifa-world-cup

----

Anybody know what time the draw is on Monday?

No news from CONCACAF or OneSoccer as far as I know.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

I wouldn't mind if the Nations League was remodeled similar to the new regionalized CCL format.  Have a North American league, a Central American League, and a Caribbean league, with the winners going to the finals event.  Would make for something different than the Gold Cup and WCQ.

[Shway]

2 hours ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

I wouldn't mind if the Nations League was remodeled similar to the new regionalized CCL format.  Have a North American league, a Central American League, and a Caribbean league, with the winners going to the finals event.  Would make for something different than the Gold Cup and WCQ.

It already is different from WCQ and the Gold Cup. There’s promotion and relegation, and it’s a qualifier for the gold cup.

I actually don’t like the new CCL format. It was formulated that way to appease Liga MX and MLS.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

1 hour ago, Shway said:

It already is different from WCQ and the Gold Cup. There’s promotion and relegation, and it’s a qualifier for the gold cup.

I actually don’t like the new CCL format. It was formulated that way to appease Liga MX and MLS.

The Gold Cup and Nations League are both 4 groups with the same top seeds.  Make it something radically different.  If it's not regionalizing then make it an actual league like top 6 play 5 games with the bottom 2 relegated. 

The Nations League just feels like the Gold Cup with a home/away group stage and one fewer team in the groups.  June 2023 they'll hand out both titles just a month apart, diluting the prestige of each of them.    

[mrstepp817]

Serious question could Canada do like a split squad type thing and play a B squad in the June Nations League Window and have the A squad play friendlies? Or is that technically not legal? lol 

[SpecialK]

48 minutes ago, mrstepp817 said:

Serious question could Canada do like a split squad type thing and play a B squad in the June Nations League Window and have the A squad play friendlies? Or is that technically not legal? lol 

I was thinking the same thing. Is it possible. Nations league can be useful with young and fringe players

[toontownman]

Worst case we go down a group if we flop in the nations league but we would still have a pathway to the gold cup right? Just might have to qualify more?

We are good for 2026 so its worth blooding a decent amount of players, half the squad would be good. likely too much for Herdman to change though.

Edited April 2, 2022 by toontownman

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

17 hours ago, mrstepp817 said:

Serious question could Canada do like a split squad type thing and play a B squad in the June Nations League Window and have the A squad play friendlies? Or is that technically not legal? lol 

I have never read a rule written clearly about such a thing, but I have read in some Latin American article that FIFA doesn't allow it in the sense that you can't play more than 4 matches in the window.

For example, you can't have an "A" squad play a friendly the same day as the "B" squad plays in Nations League.

You can have such a thing as having one team play during one week and another play during the following week.

Don't quote me on any of that though.

----

I think we may see more of an -A type squad against a weaker Nations League opponent.

Starts for guys like Liam Miller, ZBG, Shaf, Liam Fraser, Cavallini etc...

Edited April 3, 2022 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[narduch]

Draw is 7pm ET tomorrow.

Still do not think the match dates have been confirmed yet.

Top 2 in our Group qualify for the 2023 Gold Cup.

https://www.concacaf.com/nations-league/news/concacaf-confirms-procedures-for-2022-23-concacaf-nations-league-presented-by-qatar-airways-draw/

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

12 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

I have never read a rule written clearly about such a thing, but I have read in some Latin American article...

Now that I think about it, I think it was Brazil or Argentina wanting to play their postponed WCQ match with a "B" team so they could play friendlies in Europe at the same time but FIFA wouldn't allow it.

8 minutes ago, narduch said:

Draw is 7pm ET tomorrow.

Thanks.

 

9 minutes ago, narduch said:

Still do not think the match dates have been confirmed yet.

I think perhaps CONCACAF allows for some flexibility, letting teams negotiate amongst themselves for the best schedule.

10 minutes ago, narduch said:

Top 2 in our Group qualify for the 2023 Gold Cup.

Same as last time.

Grenada would be nice to have in our group so Herdman can start new guys and not worry too much about Gold Cup qualification.

[narduch]

Think its kinda nuts they are going to make Costa Rica play 2 NL games before the Intercontinental playoff.

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

53 minutes ago, narduch said:

Think its kinda nuts they are going to make Costa Rica play 2 NL games before the Intercontinental playoff.

 

Not too crazy.

At worst they have 6 days between matches to fly out and prepare.

Maybe they will let Costa Rica play their Matchday #1 and Matchday #2 games early; a Wednesday / Sunday type of thing, so they get 8 days of prep time.

[Neil R.]

Anyone but Martinique. We've more than done our time with non-FIFA members (2017 Gold Cup, 2019 Gold Cup, 2021 Gold Cup, 2019 Nations League Qualifying). Give the matches that don't accumulate ranking points to someone else this time.

[Obinna]

On 4/2/2022 at 10:14 AM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The USA also state that they will play 2 friendlies in the June window.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2022/03/road-to-qatar-the-usmnt-timeline-to-the-2022-fifa-world-cup

I believe Herdman mentioned we'd likely play 1 friendly in the June window, but if the United States are playing 2 and there's a 4-match limit for FIFA windows, I would kind of like us to book a second friendly. Now, if we are calling up our best squad I think there's an argument for not burning out our players, especially considering June is pretty far removed from the WC, but now may be the time to play as much as possible. Finances shouldn't be a barrier here, we need to put all our resources into preparing. 

[Cblake]

1 minute ago, Obinna said:

I believe Herdman mentioned we'd likely play 1 friendly in the June window, but if the United States are playing 2 and there's a 4-match limit for FIFA windows, I would kind of like us to book a second friendly. Now, if we are calling up our best squad I think there's an argument for not burning out our players, especially considering June is pretty far removed from the WC, but now may be the time to play as much as possible. Finances shouldn't be a barrier here, we need to put all our resources into preparing. 

Italy is playing 5 matches in the June window, four NL and a friendly vs. Argentina. 

[Obinna]

1 minute ago, Cblake said:

Italy is playing 5 matches in the June window, four NL and a friendly vs. Argentina. 

That would dispell what @Olympique_de_Marseille was speculating here:

18 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

I have never read a rule written clearly about such a thing, but I have read in some Latin American article that FIFA doesn't allow it in the sense that you can't play more than 4 matches in the window.

For example, you can't have an "A" squad play a friendly the same day as the "B" squad plays in Nations League.

You can have such a thing as having one team play during one week and another play during the following week.

Don't quote me on any of that though.

----

I think we may see more of an -A type squad against a weaker Nations League opponent.

Starts for guys like Liam Miller, ZBG, Shaf, Liam Fraser, Cavallini etc...

I know you said "don't quote me", sorry about that

[footballfreak]

Something to keep in mind re: friendlies. Canada has played more qualifiers than any other team at the World Cup. A lot of these guys also played the Gold Cup. The A squad will need a rest at some point or risk breaking down. We’ve already seen signs of this this.

With that in mind, the June friendly(ies) may be weaker opponents than we might otherwise expect. Bigger opponents could come later in the prep.

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by footballfreak

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

16 minutes ago, Cblake said:

Italy is playing 5 matches in the June window, four NL and a friendly vs. Argentina. 

What are the dates though?

They can always play a friendly outside the actual FIFA dates.

[Cblake]

57 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

What are the dates though?

They can always play a friendly outside the actual FIFA dates.

The official window is May 30 - June 14. Italy plays Argentina in a friendly at Wembley on June 1st. They then have NL games on June 4, 7, 11 and 14. The final day of Serie A is May 22nd for reference to when players last played. 

Edited April 3, 2022 by Cblake

[Jedi Ram]

On 4/2/2022 at 12:14 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Rumours from the media in both New Zealand and Costa Rica are that their playoff match will be Tuesday June 14th.

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JUNE 7 - Australia vs UAE

JUNE 13 - Costa Rica vs New Zealand

JUNE 14 - Winner of Australia-UAE vs Peru

[ June 13/14 might be switched around to maximize TV and pending the UEFA Path A situation. ]

So far no confirmation on Scotland, Wales and Ukraine situation, but would be played between 2 of those UEFA Nations League window.  Ironically, June 7 is the UEFA Nations League match between Ukraine and Scotland.