kacbru

Apologies in advance - just being argumentative! Detroit weather right now 26 degrees, 73% humidity at 1am; Grand Cayman 28 degrees, 79% humidity at 11pm. I get your point, usually there is quite a difference. But in this instance, I don't think weather should be used as an excuse in this instance.

Yes, but Cuba was on the road too!

More than a few people have brought up the conditions / the challenge of getting a result away in Concacaf. You've got to be kidding me! This was not San Pedro de Sula in the middle of the day. It was a neutral site game. Are we really so fragile that unless we have blades of grass of uniform dimensions and temperature between 14 and 16 degrees, we shouldn't expect to win comfortably against Cuba, a team that lost 5 players to defection, including 3 starters? If that's the case, we certainly don't belong in hex.

That's the kind of beach training I can get behind!

They at least have had a lot of opportunity to practice this!

Yes, I also don't think Gerba gets the credit he deserves. I was curious - going back to 2010 we've played 87 games and scored 120 goals (1.38 per game). I've determined that since we are borderline minnow, anyone above us in the ranking is a non-minnow and anyone below us is a minnow. Out of those 87 games, 48 were against non-minnows and we scored 28 goals (0.58 per game). I had forgotten how often we used to play decent teams (or how many teams are above us in the ranking!) I did math, so there is bound to be some errors in there...

Reality is Canada only scores against minnows.

Seems like a worrying trend with Herdman. 3D chess didn't work out for us at the gold cup either.

You missed the most likely: 4. No Olympics, No World Cup, but winning a couple games against Cuba in Nations League! In all seriousness, we have gone down the b-team, no prep route for qualification in the past and it doesn't work. Radical idea, try something else.

That's the thing - it would only have an impact if they got a medal. If they crash out in the group, no one will notice, soccer is not why people watch the Olympics. And if you think a medal is a possibility...well, I suppose the fact that I've never seen a unicorn doesn't necessarily mean they absolutely don't exist.

Not just the number of games, but significant difference in quality of opponent.

Whoohooo! A benefit for losing in the quarters.

So that seals it. the goal was Herdman's fault and he should be fired! (Joke)

OK, it might make us all feel better that Herdman (and the CSA) are under closer scrutiny because of the GC results. We might like to think that people calling for him to be fired puts him under pressure to perform in the Nations League. But it is important to remember the context. Reality is there are 100 people on this board doing so. There is no broader questioning of what has happened. As far as Herdman and the CSA are concerned, there is no problem. And that is the problem that we should be thinking and talking about.

What have we learned in the Gold Cup? We are firmly established in the 7-10th best team in Concacaf range, which is where we have been for decades. We can count on beating, and occasionally pounding Caribbean minnows. We can count on being beaten by those above us. We can sometimes get a result against those teams that are at our level. But we are not a hex team and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise. Sure, we have potential to get there. We can have hope. That's why it is so frustrating that our coach doesn't recognize where we are at. All his positive thinking and mental gymnastics doesn't change the fact that we have not beaten anyone yet. How do we go almost 2 years without playing a team at our level? How can he get away with talking about playing Mexico twice at the start of the group stage - and assuming we are playing in the semis? How can he even mention the semis prior to playing the quarterfinal? What have we earned? Haiti was not the underdog. We are the underdog. We need to start acting like it and not assuming that results will be gifted to us because we now do yoga and think positively.