CONCACAF Nations League 2023/2024 - Group Stage & ¼finals - General Thread

[RS]

34 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Don't feel good about playing Jamaica. Unlike them we won't have a friendly to prep and will go into the match cold.

Realistically how many starters will be playing in that game for Jamaica? It's before the international break, so only their domestic and MLS/USL players (that are not involved in playoffs) will feature.

To be fair, that's still a pretty big contingent, but it's not like Jamaica's Euro-based players are going to have an extra game under their belts — and lack of cohesion is Jamaica's biggest flaw.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

2 minutes ago, Obinna said:

The losers tourney will determine the final 2 Copa America spots and that will be a one-off game at a neutral venue, probably in the USA.

If we don't get past Jamaica

"These single elimination matches will be played in March 2024, in a centralized venue, between the four League A losing Quarterfinalists."

https://www.concacaf.com/news/concacaf-announces-formats-for-men-s-national-team-competitions-for-the-2023-2026-cycle/

So it could be in the USA.

Could they fit 3 matches into the window for a round robin?

If not, then why a central venue and not two seperate home & away matches? 🤔

 

[narduch]

Jamaica confirmed. 

 

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

23 minutes ago, narduch said:

Jamaica confirmed. 

And that the away match is the Friday the 17th. 👍

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Official CONCACAF confirmation here:

https://www.concacaf.com/nations-league/news/concacaf-confirms-23-24-concacaf-nations-league-quarterfinal-pairings/

If we don't get past Jamaica:

"The four losing Quarterfinalists will still have an opportunity to qualify for next summer’s Copa America via a single-match direct elimination Play-In, where they will play for the two remaining slots for Concacaf nations. This Play-In will also take place in March 2024."

[Alex]

The US is at such a disadvantage, having to play both Trinidad and Tobago. 

[dyslexic nam]

For me the biggest issue is us going into these games cold.  We play well when we have had the chance to build chemistry over time.  We saw this throughout WCQ when we started playing with the familiarity and fluidity of a club team.  The converse  is that when we don't spend time together as a unit, we look as awkward as a group of shy-guys staring across the gym at the girls during a grade 8 school dance.  We generally play at our floor when we get thrown together with one a few days prep.  And unfortunately for us, barring any unforeseen plans to bolster our prep going into these matches, I suspect we will see the same sort of unfamiliar, disjointed play that is all too common in these windows.  

And as much as Herman may not have been the master tactician, what he was really good at (at least initially) was firing up the troops.  We may miss that this time around.  

[dyslexic nam]

4 minutes ago, Alex said:

The US is at such a disadvantage, having to play both Trinidad and Tobago. 

11 v 22.  God bless America. 

[Watchmen]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

Remember, it's not all about Copa America there is a Nations League trophy to play for too. If we want to be a top 3 team in this region we cannot be missing out on the NL finals.

Honestly, I'm the opposite. I care about the NL only because it means Canada is playing and not sitting passively on the sidelines because they couldn't organize a friendly. And of course I'd be pleased if we won the thing. But really, to me this is Copa America qualifying and not an NL match. I'll maintain, playing in the Copa with teams like Brazil and Argentina is a bigger draw for the casual fan than likely even winning the NL is.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Watchmen

[Watchmen]

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Edited October 18, 2023 by Watchmen

[CanadaFan123]

58 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

For me the biggest issue is us going into these games cold.  We play well when we have had the chance to build chemistry over time.  We saw this throughout WCQ when we started playing with the familiarity and fluidity of a club team.  The converse  is that when we don't spend time together as a unit, we look as awkward as a group of shy-guys staring across the gym at the girls during a grade 8 school dance.  We generally play at our floor when we get thrown together with one a few days prep.  And unfortunately for us, barring any unforeseen plans to bolster our prep going into these matches, I suspect we will see the same sort of unfamiliar, disjointed play that is all too common in these windows.  

And as much as Herman may not have been the master tactician, what he was really good at (at least initially) was firing up the troops.  We may miss that this time around.  

100% and contrast that with Jamaica having had some nice prep in the last year. Still, we faced one of the best sides in the world this window and have more overall experience as a team. 
 

Jamaica has lost by a combined 8 goals in their last 3 appearances in Toronto. 

[Borjans Sweatpants]

1 minute ago, Watchmen said:

Honestly, I'm the opposite. I care about the NL only because it means Canada is playing and not sitting passively on the sidelines because they couldn't organize a friendly. And of course I'd be pleased if we won the thing. But really, to me this Copa America qualifying and not an NL match. I'll maintain, playing in the Copa with teams like Brazil and Argentina is a bigger draw for the casual fan than likely even winning the NL is.

I was thinking about this the other day, the amount of attention Copa is going to get with an American and Canadian audience and media attention is going to be massive (particularly on the Canadian side if we make it). It’s pretty exciting. 

[InglewoodJack]

Jamaica gets me nervous, but at the end of the day, if we’re who we think we are, we beat teams like them, especially with a game on our home turf. 
 

Hoping for 3-1 in Toronto, 1-1 in Kingston. 

[Kent]

We won't likely ever find out because I expect USA to have no problems with T&T, but I bet if they lost their QF and had to play in the Copa America qualifiers in March, their neutral site game would just happen to luckily be at home.

[Treppy2]

1 hour ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Official CONCACAF confirmation here:

https://www.concacaf.com/nations-league/news/concacaf-confirms-23-24-concacaf-nations-league-quarterfinal-pairings/

If we don't get past Jamaica:

"The four losing Quarterfinalists will still have an opportunity to qualify for next summer’s Copa America via a single-match direct elimination Play-In, where they will play for the two remaining slots for Concacaf nations. This Play-In will also take place in March 2024."

From that link: "per the competition regulations, the four pre-seeded federations, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States, themselves had the opportunity to decide whether they would play first at home or away."

Interesting to see that both the U.S. and Costa Rica chose to play their first match at home and their second match away. I wonder what their reasoning was. It was mentioned that maybe the U.S. didn't want to play at home on Thanksgiving weekend, but Thanksgiving isn't until the Thursday after the second match day.

[Watchmen]

2 minutes ago, Treppy2 said:

From that link: "per the competition regulations, the four pre-seeded federations, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States, themselves had the opportunity to decide whether they would play first at home or away."

Interesting to see that both the U.S. and Costa Rica chose to play their first match at home and their second match away. I wonder what their reasoning was. It was mentioned that maybe the U.S. didn't want to play at home on Thanksgiving weekend, but Thanksgiving isn't until the Thursday after the second match day.

I guess they just think nothing bad can happen to them in a critical qualifying match in T&T.

[Alex]

Also of note, the nations league final matchups will be seeded based on quarter final results. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

22 minutes ago, Treppy2 said:

Interesting to see that both the U.S. and Costa Rica chose to play their first match at home and their second match away. I wonder what their reasoning was. It was mentioned that maybe the U.S. didn't want to play at home on Thanksgiving weekend, but Thanksgiving isn't until the Thursday after the second match day.

- Travel is chaotic for the whole week in the USA; likely easier for fans and staff to travel the week before.

- Easier for Costa Rica to hold a camp at home prior to their match maybe? Panama City also has the best flight connections to fly players back to Europe or North America due to COPA Airlines. The logistics are different when you are playing your neighbour just a quick flight away. 🤷‍♂️

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

Honestly, I'm the opposite. I care about the NL only because it means Canada is playing and not sitting passively on the sidelines because they couldn't organize a friendly. And of course I'd be pleased if we won the thing. But really, to me this is Copa America qualifying and not an NL match. I'll maintain, playing in the Copa with teams like Brazil and Argentina is a bigger draw for the casual fan than likely even winning the NL is.

I get the sentiment that it's a qualifier first in the eyes of many (myself included), but a few things on the bolded part of your post:

Firstly, winning this tournament and playing in Copa America aren't mutually exclusive, they go hand in hand, because if we are lifting that NL trophy in March we are playing in Copa America in the summer. I know you know that, but I am stating the obvious here because (I feel like) in this scenario everyone (including casuals) will only care about the trophy win, as qualification will already be in the bag. By the time March rolls around Copa America qualifying will be old news and the attention will be on lifting silverware.

Secondly, there is no guarantee we play a Brazil or Argentina. It could be the USA or Mexico and a few lesser known SA sides like Paraguay or Venezuela, which wouldn't move the needle as much. Not saying it won't be important to play those teams or play in the tournament, because it will be.

I appreciate for many people NL is an afterthought, but I guess my angle here is that we shouldn't just forget about it and we as fans should keep the pressure on this team to qualify for that final in March. We shouldn't get to casual about losing to Jamaica just because we have a second route to Copa America, because we NEED silverware to get to the next level. That's my angle.

[jdheid]

Just spitballing, but do you see any value to CANMNT playing a friendly with CPL champion prior to Nations League? Not sure if the CPL players would be around, but we saw how disjointed they looked against Japan without having played for a long time. I know it's not the caliber of competition we want, but might help with onfield chemistry and added benefit of helping a CPL club prepare for top competiion in CCC?

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 6/27/2023 at 4:30 PM, The Real Marc said:

Proof it occurred, in case it doesn't last the weather ... or the streetcar.

I hope you have bought a ticket for November and will bring back the sign @The Real Marc.

 

On 10/3/2023 at 10:01 AM, Ottawafan said:

Please no Brym please.

Haters gonna hate

[Obinna]

7 minutes ago, jdheid said:

Just spitballing, but do you see any value to CANMNT playing a friendly with CPL champion prior to Nations League? Not sure if the CPL players would be around, but we saw how disjointed they looked against Japan without having played for a long time. I know it's not the caliber of competition we want, but might help with onfield chemistry and added benefit of helping a CPL club prepare for top competiion in CCC?

It's better than not playing at all.

[RS]

8 minutes ago, jdheid said:

Just spitballing, but do you see any value to CANMNT playing a friendly with CPL champion prior to Nations League? Not sure if the CPL players would be around, but we saw how disjointed they looked against Japan without having played for a long time. I know it's not the caliber of competition we want, but might help with onfield chemistry and added benefit of helping a CPL club prepare for top competiion in CCC?

Just now, Obinna said:

It's better than not playing at all.

Are we talking about domestic players? Because no one playing in Europe will be taking part in any national team match prior to the Jamaica away fixture.

[jdheid]

1 minute ago, Obinna said:

It's better than not playing at all.

That's my thinking, but I have no idea of logistics involved

[jdheid]

4 minutes ago, RS said:

Are we talking about domestic players? Because no one playing in Europe will be taking part in any national team match prior to the Jamaica away fixture.

I wasn't sure if they were meeting in Toronto first for a few days and could maybe squeeze in a closed door friendly with a complete rotation at half?  Probably not enough time though