Canada and the 2024 Copa America

[xcalibre]

There could be a Seattle-Vancouver group, or at least matchday. Hey, I can dream

[Watchmen]

18 hours ago, Shway said:

Disagree. The World Cup is second to none regardless where it is... it's the biggest sports tournament in the World...Copa America would make #10 (I wonder what Russia prices were like). 

What I'm saying is gate revenue was not the priority for Qatar, the way it would be for other major events.

[PopePouri]

I tried to purchase tickets. They're charging me 5 dollars delivery as well as the fees and tax, making a 28 dollar ticket now 40 dollars. Why is Mobile not an option?

Edited October 24, 2023 by PopePouri

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

14 minutes ago, PopePouri said:

I tried to purchase tickets. They're charging me 5 dollars delivery as well as the fees and tax, making a 28 dollar ticket now 40 dollars. Why is Mobile not an option?

Wrong thread?

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 10/22/2023 at 10:31 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The draw for this is rumoured to be in Miami....December.

The draw will (very likely) be Thursday, December 7th in Miami.

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[narduch]

 

 

[Obinna]

Probably too early for this, but who do we want to draw?

Do we want a giant like Argentina or Brazil for the experience? We won't face a team that big in the group stage (we are pot A hosts), but we very well could in the round of 32 (should we get there).

I presume the other pot A teams (for Copa America) will be the United States and Mexico, do we want one of those teams, sides we can beat on our day but sides we are used to facing by now? They would give us a better chance to get out of the group, surely.

Also, do you guys figure we'll be a pot 3 side or pot 4 side? I haven't looked into it but I think we might sneak into pot 3. If so, I would prefer a Bolivia or Venezuela to a Panama or Honduras (or whoever else from our region manages to qualify).

[Raven]

Yep. Too early.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

Probably too early for this, but who do we want to draw?

1) I'm too superstitious to answer this question before November 22nd (if relevant).

2) The pot we are in may be different if we need to qualify in March.

 

 

Edit: The official draw announcement can be found here:

https://copaamerica.com/news/conoceremos-los-grupos-para-la-conmebol-copa-america-2024/

Edited November 11, 2023 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

Probably too early for this, but who do we want to draw?

Do we want a giant like Argentina or Brazil for the experience? We won't face a team that big in the group stage (we are pot A hosts), but we very well could in the round of 32 (should we get there).

I presume the other pot A teams (for Copa America) will be the United States and Mexico, do we want one of those teams, sides we can beat on our day but sides we are used to facing by now? They would give us a better chance to get out of the group, surely.

Also, do you guys figure we'll be a pot 3 side or pot 4 side? I haven't looked into it but I think we might sneak into pot 3. If so, I would prefer a Bolivia or Venezuela to a Panama or Honduras (or whoever else from our region manages to qualify).

Where is it that we're pot A hosts, and how did we end up as that without having even qualified yet?

And the answer to the question is "3 South American countries, doesn't really matter which ones" just for the variety.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Watchmen

[Obinna]

47 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

Where is it that we're pot A hosts, and how did we end up as that without having even qualified yet?

And the answer to the question is "3 South American countries, doesn't really matter which ones" just for the variety.

I meant the world cup.

[Kent]

4 hours ago, Obinna said:

Probably too early for this, but who do we want to draw?

Do we want a giant like Argentina or Brazil for the experience? We won't face a team that big in the group stage (we are pot A hosts), but we very well could in the round of 32 (should we get there).

I presume the other pot A teams (for Copa America) will be the United States and Mexico, do we want one of those teams, sides we can beat on our day but sides we are used to facing by now? They would give us a better chance to get out of the group, surely.

Also, do you guys figure we'll be a pot 3 side or pot 4 side? I haven't looked into it but I think we might sneak into pot 3. If so, I would prefer a Bolivia or Venezuela to a Panama or Honduras (or whoever else from our region manages to qualify).

Maybe this is just me, but I find myself feeling like this is more of an exhibition tournament rather than a mini World Cup. For the World Cup I absolutely wanted a draw that maximized our chances of getting out of the group, but would have found a silver lining with drawing a power like Brazil or Argentina. For Copa America, it's not like I expect to in the future be looking to our Copa America record like I would our Gold Cup record or our World Cup record. It's a (potential) bonus tournament. So I kind of just want to see us play Messi, or Brazil. Give me the glamour draw.

As for what pot we expect to be in, with 6 CONCACAF teams, I think they will want to try to minimize the number of CONCACAF teams per group, meaning 2 groups with 2 CONCACAF teams, and 2 groups with 1 CONCACAF team. I suspect they will do that the same way they did for the Centenario. They force USA and Mexico into the top pot ($$$), and then they have a CONCACAF pot for the remaining 4 teams. So I don't think our ranking will matter for this. If we are in, we will be in the same pot as the other 4 non-USA/Mexico teams (I would love for one of those 2 teams to not qualify, provided they don't then steal a spot from a team that earned it).

[SthMelbRed]

Damn! The Yanks were looking like shitting the bed in their home leg against T&T. They've just scored in the 82th minute to take a 1-nil lead, though.

[SthMelbRed]

Just now, SthMelbRed said:

Damn! The Yanks were looking like shitting the bed in their home leg against T&T. They've just scored in the 82th minute to take a 1-nil lead, though.

Now 2-nil in the 86th. Comedy ruined. 

[Watchmen]

3-0 final

[blueseeka]

It is too bad cause T&T kept them scoreless until 82' minute. Played for 50 minutes with 10 players without giving up a goal

[costarg]

Berhalter is holding the USA back, this team needs to be unleashed.  I don't necessarily like them, but I don't dislike them either.  There is just so much potential there it's sad to see it wasted.  

[narduch]

I for one am happy that Berhalter is holding them back

[CanadaFan123]

9 minutes ago, costarg said:

Berhalter is holding the USA back, this team needs to be unleashed.  I don't necessarily like them, but I don't dislike them either.  There is just so much potential there it's sad to see it wasted.  

How would you say he’s holding them back? 
 

I find almost the whole team unlikeable tbh. McKennie, Reyna, Pulisic and Aaronson are all whiny little brats who are good for at least one cry face a game. 

[Obinna]

I watched this game in full. Man did I want T&T to get the result. Too bad for them. 

I mean, I don't want to get knocked out by Jamaica and risk having to face the USA in the backdoor qualifier, but who doesn't want the perpetual hosts of CONCACAF to get knocked down a peg? Would have loved to see the egg on the face of CONCACAF too. 

But that aside, I don't think it's entirely Berhalter's fault. I just don't think he has the players to break down a bunker. Can't use the excuse he never played Reyna in the middle. The goal to break open the dam came from a cross, go figure. The team has some really good players and they have come a long way in terms of keeping the ball and controlling a game, but I don't think breaking down a bunker is in the DNA of these players. This team is built to counter and needs space to thrive, just like us.

My theory is that North Americans in general don't have the guile to break down bunkers effectively. As a team, you need to pull apart the bunker and play the ball into space. It's the "pull apart the bunker" piece that's missing and I think it is a "team IQ" problem. Again, same with us, so I am not ragging on the Americans. It's all well and good to have a couple of high IQ players, like Reyna and Balogun, or in our case Eustaquio and David, but you need a whole team of players who see the game on the same level who can all work together with movement off the ball. I will shout Oso out here for his movement, which is his best quality at this stage of his career, but yeah, I think teams like Canada and the USA need to make a cultural leap that I don't see on the horizon.

We are too diverse demographically for me to believe it'll ever come, but that doesn't mean we cannot be successful by doing the things we are good at.

[costarg]

1 hour ago, CanadaFan123 said:

How would you say he’s holding them back? 
 

I find almost the whole team unlikeable tbh. McKennie, Reyna, Pulisic and Aaronson are all whiny little brats who are good for at least one cry face a game. 

He's a terrible coach, tactician and motivator.  He doesn't use the tools at his disposal, has a one track mind and philosophy, the 18 need to play according to him not the reverse which is what a good coach does.  I feel they'd do better if you just let the 11 go out there and do their thing with no system.  He has them so focused on playing possession ball that there is no end product until a few players abandon the plan and take things into their own hands. 

I see what you mean regarding the individual players and attitudes, however I try my best to ignore that and just look at it from a soccer perspective (it's difficult sometimes!).  If i recall correctly, some of the guys were very well spoken, generous and supportive of our boys with the media.  It was refreshing and a far cry from what we see on the field sometimes.

[Obinna]

2 minutes ago, costarg said:

He's a terrible coach, tactician and motivator.  He doesn't use the tools at his disposal, has a one track mind and philosophy, the 18 need to play according to him not the reverse which is what a good coach does.  I feel they'd do better if you just let the 11 go out there and do their thing with no system.  He has them so focused on playing possession ball that there is no end product until a few players abandon the plan and take things into their own hands. 

I see what you mean regarding the individual players and attitudes, however I try my best to ignore that and just look at it from a soccer perspective (it's difficult sometimes!).  If i recall correctly, some of the guys were very well spoken, generous and supportive of our boys with the media.  It was refreshing and a far cry from what we see on the field sometimes.

This is spot on and seemed to be what we saw from them under BJ. Don't overcoach in the final third and let nature take it's course. The players are very talented and will find a way. 

Berhalter didn't do them any favours and never has, but even without him I think USA was always going to struggle to pull apart a bunker like that. They needed to lure out the Trinidad bunker by working together with sharp interplay and penetrating passes. They tried that in the first half, but too few players have the feet in tight spaces and collectively they don't, can't or won't work together to pull apart a bunker. It's international football too, so it's not like they get enough reps to master this like at a club, so there's that, but I feel like culturally we (North Americans) don't have what it takes to pull teams apart. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 hour ago, costarg said:

Berhalter is holding the USA back

Gio Reyna when thinking about Berhalter:

 

 

[costarg]

1 hour ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Gio Reyna when thinking about Berhalter:

 

 

Accurate temperament!

 

[footballfreak]

As things currently stand, the pots look something like this, based on the FIFA rankings (October):

Pot 1: Argentina (1), Brazil (3), USA (11), Uruguay (15)

Pot 2: Colombia (16), Peru (26), Ecuador (36), Chile (37)

Pot 3: , Panama (44), Canada (45), Paraguay (52), Venezuela (53)

Pot 4: Honduras (78), Bolivia (85), Playoff 1, Playoff 2

Playoffs:

Mexico (12)

Costa Rica (46)

Jamaica (55)

Trinidad & Tobago (99)

Edited November 18, 2023 by footballfreak
Tired and dumb.