CNL: Group Stage - Window 1 (June 9th-14th, 2022)

[Shway]

5 minutes ago, Alex said:

Jamaica is supposed to host Suriname tonight, they have said they aren’t talking the field unless the general secretary resigned. It worked and he resigned. 

are you insinuating something....😁

[Unnamed Trialist]

Grenada, still coached by Canada's Mike Findlay, drew El Salvador 2-2 in Nations League. They play the US next. 

He's doing a great job with them. 

Also: I like those Spice Boys shirts. 

[Ally McCoist]

On 6/7/2022 at 11:52 AM, Shway said:

are you insinuating something....😁

I've decided not to fly out west to Vancouver for the game until Nick Bontis resigns. Hope it works!

[narduch]

 

[dyslexic nam]

The US are all over Grenada.  Just banged in the 3rd in a 3-0 game in the 56th minute.   Don’t think Grenada have a shot yet.  

[Unnamed Trialist]

7 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

The US are all over Grenada.  Just banged in the 3rd in a 3-0 game in the 56th minute.   Don’t think Grenada have a shot yet.  

Grenada are a much lower-ranked team than Curaçao, so if you want to compare, the States only scored late in the first half. Our result was better than theirs.

They are getting decent results lately, drew El Salvador. They did a minnow tour of Europe recently and competed equally vs. Gibraltar and Andorra. They qualified for last Gold Cup. So they are another team that could push out of minnow status into the next tier, making Concacaf a bit more competitive. 

Coached by Mike Findlay, I keep track of them not only because he's Canadian and formerly with our programme, but also because a Vancouver buddy asks occasionally, I think their wives know each other or something.

[jordan]

Remko Bicentini took in the US-Grenada game last night.

[Kadenge]

4 hours ago, jordan said:

Remko Bicentini took in the US-Grenada game last night.

Interesting. So he is still part of the coaching staff? Haven't seen him at any of our games or pics for the last few windows.

[Shway]

6 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

Interesting. So he is still part of the coaching staff? Haven't seen him at any of our games or pics for the last few windows.

Yea I doubt it. Unless he's working as a scout. He isn't listed anywhere on the website.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Surprised to learn that Panama is playing Uruguay in Montevideo today and against Martinique tomorrow.  They've been all over the place

[narduch]

This is on One Soccer. 

 

[canucksfan]

Attendance in Mexico for Mexico v Suriname doesn't look much better than BC Place on Thursday.

[Unnamed Trialist]

6 hours ago, narduch said:

This is on One Soccer. 

 

Odd they start Lainez, he's probably on his way out at Betis, he's "peaked" already and may not be ready to be a top player. 

OK, it's mostly a B team. 

[narduch]

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Odd they start Lainez, he's probably on his way out at Betis, he's "peaked" already and may not be ready to be a top player. 

OK, it's mostly a B team. 

Their Canadian kid subbed on in the 80th minute and missed a penalty 

[Unnamed Trialist]

46 minutes ago, narduch said:

Their Canadian kid subbed on in the 80th minute and missed a penalty 

He seems like he could end up being similar to Lainez. He needs to fill out physically and get some more time vs the men. And even then. 

I am not worried about missing Flores. But I would like to get Lucas Dias and Koleosho.

[pod818]

Mexico beat Suriname 3-0. Reading some of the comments from Mexican fans they seem to like what the Canadian kid did despite missing the PK. He fed the pass through that led to the PK. Either way, don’t think he’s headed to Qatar

[cornerkick]

does anyone know the story with Panama playing a friendly with Uruguay yesterday?  They are scheduled for a game against Martinique today, so they must have sent a youth side or B team for the friendly?

[jordan]

10 minutes ago, cornerkick said:

does anyone know the story with Panama playing a friendly with Uruguay yesterday?  They are scheduled for a game against Martinique today, so they must have sent a youth side or B team for the friendly?

Panama had a team at the Toulon Tournament, they played two days ago, so that’s likely 20 less players to choose from. 

[Kadenge]

2 hours ago, cornerkick said:

does anyone know the story with Panama playing a friendly with Uruguay yesterday?  They are scheduled for a game against Martinique today, so they must have sent a youth side or B team for the friendly?

They had very few regulars in the starting lineup

[Unnamed Trialist]

League A in UEFA Nations League is 16 teams.

8 matches to get to the final. More than you play in the World Cup. And arguably just as hard, if you consider the ranking and level of rivals.

League A in Concacaf is 12 teams.

6 matches to get to the final.

You could argue that Concacaf has too many A teams, in comparison. 

You could also argue it is potentially an easy tournament to win, or should not be hard. The group stage is not overly challenging. Then you have semis and a final, you really need to be on form fo 2 matches. While the Gold Cup also gives you 6 matches, you have quarter finals and so a harder model of a knock-out match: it would be more challenging in principle to play three knock-outs.

[InglewoodJack]

4 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

League A in UEFA Nations League is 16 teams.

8 matches to get to the final. More than you play in the World Cup. And arguably just as hard, if you consider the ranking and level of rivals.

League A in Concacaf is 12 teams.

6 matches to get to the final.

You could argue that Concacaf has too many A teams, in comparison. 

You could also argue it is potentially an easy tournament to win, or should not be hard. The group stage is not overly challenging. Then you have semis and a final, you really need to be on form fo 2 matches. While the Gold Cup also gives you 6 matches, you have quarter finals and so a harder model of a knock-out match: it would be more challenging in principle to play three knock-outs.

CONCACAF nations league has too few games to be considered “a league”, but expanding the number of games would put too much of a strain on players who don’t even really care about the tournament. Would be interested in a March madness type tournament with single game knockouts. It’s less on the players, higher stakes, and fans will actually understand how it works instead of- play these bottom feeders a couple times, then we’ll throw you into a 4 team knockout at some point.

[Kent]

13 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

League A in UEFA Nations League is 16 teams.

8 matches to get to the final. More than you play in the World Cup. And arguably just as hard, if you consider the ranking and level of rivals.

League A in Concacaf is 12 teams.

6 matches to get to the final.

You could argue that Concacaf has too many A teams, in comparison. 

You could also argue it is potentially an easy tournament to win, or should not be hard. The group stage is not overly challenging. Then you have semis and a final, you really need to be on form fo 2 matches. While the Gold Cup also gives you 6 matches, you have quarter finals and so a harder model of a knock-out match: it would be more challenging in principle to play three knock-outs.

It's hardly new information that the level of play in a CONCACAF competition isn't as high as in a UEFA competition.

However, the view that it's easy and you really only need to be on form for 2 matches is overstating it. That point of view is probably only valid for USA, Mexico, and maybe "new Canada" (but let's see if we still think so after tonight's away game in Honduras). Even USA last time around only won their group (against us) on a tie breaker. Costa Rica is one of the top 4 seeds in this edition, and they have 1 win and 1 loss, 4 points behind Panama but with a game in hand, so I'm not sure which team should be having an easy time in that group.

I think CONCACAF League A has a good number of teams, not too many. There have been a couple blow outs but Grenada is the only team that I think is clearly not good enough. Curacao, Suriname, and Martinique are all capable (or could be with more experience playing together) of pulling off good results.

Edited June 13, 2022 by Kent
Just adding some clarity on a couple things.

[Shway]

Whata shit show of a window. 
Worst ever. And worst game ever.

[Ally McCoist]

4 minutes ago, Shway said:

Whata shit show of a window. 
Worst ever. And worst game ever.

Other than 8-1, this was literally the worst CanMNT game I've ever seen in my life. Are there any other games that take the cake? Maybe Haiti 3-2?

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

6 minutes ago, Ally McCoist said:

Other than 8-1, this was literally the worst CanMNT game I've ever seen in my life. Are there any other games that take the cake? Maybe Haiti 3-2?

Haiti 3-2 was frustrating in a different way; it was more the team itself than the ref.

Other bad ones that I recall being just as emotionally frustrating were Canada vs Martinique at the start of the 2013 Gold Cup and friendlies against Australia in 2013 and against Azerbaijan in 2016.