Discussion:
Concacaf nations league thingy
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MH
2019-03-18 22:59:14 UTC
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It's back, everyone's favourite weird unbalanced competition -
qualifying for the CONCACAF nations' league.

Last round of matches coming up this weekend. Some rather important ones


Guadeloupe 23 Mar '19 Martinique

Martinique on 9 points, but have a tough last game away to local rivals.
Guadeloupe on 4 points, can't make it into league A


El Salvador 23 Mar '19 Jamaica

Jamaica on 9 points, GD + 11, but again a tough away match could, if
they are unlucky, knock them down to league B. El Salvador, on 6 points,
would need a big win to squeeze into the top six in qualifying.


Dominican Republic 24 Mar '19 Bermuda

Both teams have six points and a pretty positive GD, so either could
profit from a slip up by Jamaica or Martinique.


Canada 24 Mar '19 French Guiana

Canada on 9 points, plus 14 GD, and at home. But they have blown things
before. A draw would in normal circumstances be enough to make sure
they stay in the top 6, given who everyone else is playing.


Haiti 24 Mar '19 Cuba

A matchup between two Carribean powerhouses (?) both on 9 points, Haiti
+ 16, Cuba + 14. A draw should be enough for both. Biscotto, anyone ?

Barbados 24 Mar '19 Nicaragua

A big win by Nicaragua might just be enough if other results go their
way.

Antigua and Barbuda 23 Mar '19 CuraƧao

Curacao top the table on GD right now, and have beaten Grendad, US
Virgins, and surprisingly, Guadeloupe 6-0. Their last match is not a
hugely challenging one, and anyway, their GD practically makes them safe


British Virgin Islands 21 Mar '19 Turks and Caicos Islands
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 21 Mar '19 Bonaire
Anguilla 22 Mar '19 U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint Lucia 22 Mar '19 Aruba
Cayman Islands 22 Mar '19 Montserrat
Dominica 23 Mar '19 Bahamas
Sint Maarten 23 Mar '19 Saint Martin

The above one will confuse commentators.

Suriname 23 Mar '19 Saint Kitts and Nevis

St. Kitts and Nevis have 6 points and a good GD, but Suriname are not
that bad. Outside chance for the Kittens.

Guyana 23 Mar '19 Belize

A big home win for Guyana could make them leap ahead of Jamaica or
Martinique or Cuba, if any of those slip up and lose (a draw is fine for
any of the current top six)


Puerto Rico 24 Mar '19 Grenada
Dominican Republic 24 Mar '19 Bermuda
Jesper Lauridsen
2019-03-21 22:13:44 UTC
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Post by MH
Sint Maarten 23 Mar '19 Saint Martin
That's a proper derby.
MH
2019-03-23 00:10:54 UTC
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Post by Jesper Lauridsen
Post by MH
Sint Maarten 23 Mar '19 Saint Martin
That's a proper derby.
It is also a possible wooden spoon derby, as both have zero points right now

I guess if they arrange a biscotto, they might both avoid last place, if
other results go OK for them.
JG
2019-03-24 00:31:14 UTC
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Post by MH
Post by Jesper Lauridsen
Post by MH
Sint Maarten 23 Mar '19 Saint Martin
That's a proper derby.
It is also a possible wooden spoon derby, as both have zero points right now
I guess if they arrange a biscotto, they might both avoid last place, if
other results go OK for them.
The pitch and commentary were worthy of a worst team in the world derby, I don't know where the strike came from:
https://twitter.com/CNationsLeague/status/1109551640393084929

Guyana beat Belize (with TFC reject Emery Welshman scoring the winner), which practically clinches their Gold Cup spot and sparked surprisingly emotional celebrations for a bunch of English guys. They might make League A too.

St. Kitts/Nevis blew their chance, losing 2-0 in Suriname.
JG
2019-03-22 04:36:53 UTC
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Post by MH
Cayman Islands 22 Mar '19 Montserrat
Montserrat article:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/22/montserrat-football-london-caribbean-gold-cup

They are in 15th place at the moment and the top 10 qualify for the Gold Cup so I guess they have a decent chance considering that most of the teams ahead of them are playing each other. Of course they were helped a lot by drawing the lowest-ranked Pot B team (Belize) and the lowest-ranked Pot C team (Aruba).
MH
2019-03-23 03:57:36 UTC
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Post by JG
Post by MH
Cayman Islands 22 Mar '19 Montserrat
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/22/montserrat-football-london-caribbean-gold-cup
They are in 15th place at the moment and the top 10 qualify for the Gold Cup so I guess they have a decent chance considering that most of the teams ahead of them are playing each other. Of course they were helped a lot by drawing the lowest-ranked Pot B team (Belize) and the lowest-ranked Pot C team (Aruba).
And they won 1-0 tonight, jumping to seventh (temporarily), and 9
points. Great story if they make it. Also great for Curacao, but they
have been there before (as Netherlands Antilles ?), and are also the
reigning Caribbean cup champions, so perhaps not as big a surprise as it
would seem at first glance.
JG
2019-03-23 22:29:51 UTC
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Post by MH
Post by JG
Post by MH
Cayman Islands 22 Mar '19 Montserrat
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/22/montserrat-football-london-caribbean-gold-cup
They are in 15th place at the moment and the top 10 qualify for the Gold Cup so I guess they have a decent chance considering that most of the teams ahead of them are playing each other. Of course they were helped a lot by drawing the lowest-ranked Pot B team (Belize) and the lowest-ranked Pot C team (Aruba).
And they won 1-0 tonight, jumping to seventh (temporarily), and 9
points. Great story if they make it. Also great for Curacao, but they
have been there before (as Netherlands Antilles ?), and are also the
reigning Caribbean cup champions, so perhaps not as big a surprise as it
would seem at first glance.
Curacao has a pretty strong squad of Europe-based players.

With the expansion to 16 teams there should be several first-time Gold Cup qualifiers.
MH
2019-03-24 18:36:14 UTC
Permalink
Post by JG
Post by MH
Post by JG
Post by MH
Cayman Islands 22 Mar '19 Montserrat
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/22/montserrat-football-london-caribbean-gold-cup
They are in 15th place at the moment and the top 10 qualify for the Gold Cup so I guess they have a decent chance considering that most of the teams ahead of them are playing each other. Of course they were helped a lot by drawing the lowest-ranked Pot B team (Belize) and the lowest-ranked Pot C team (Aruba).
And they won 1-0 tonight, jumping to seventh (temporarily), and 9
points. Great story if they make it. Also great for Curacao, but they
have been there before (as Netherlands Antilles ?), and are also the
reigning Caribbean cup champions, so perhaps not as big a surprise as it
would seem at first glance.
Curacao has a pretty strong squad of Europe-based players.
Lost to Antigua and Barbuda though.

And Jamaica lost to El Salvador, almost certainly condemning themselves
to League B. They will need a lot of help (eg, either Haiti or Cuba
thrashing the other one by lots of goals) to get into the top six.
Post by JG
With the expansion to 16 teams there should be several first-time Gold Cup qualifiers.
JG
2019-03-24 23:11:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by MH
Post by JG
Post by MH
Post by JG
Post by MH
Cayman Islands 22 Mar '19 Montserrat
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/22/montserrat-football-london-caribbean-gold-cup
They are in 15th place at the moment and the top 10 qualify for the Gold Cup so I guess they have a decent chance considering that most of the teams ahead of them are playing each other. Of course they were helped a lot by drawing the lowest-ranked Pot B team (Belize) and the lowest-ranked Pot C team (Aruba).
And they won 1-0 tonight, jumping to seventh (temporarily), and 9
points. Great story if they make it. Also great for Curacao, but they
have been there before (as Netherlands Antilles ?), and are also the
reigning Caribbean cup champions, so perhaps not as big a surprise as it
would seem at first glance.
Curacao has a pretty strong squad of Europe-based players.
Lost to Antigua and Barbuda though.
And Jamaica lost to El Salvador, almost certainly condemning themselves
to League B. They will need a lot of help (eg, either Haiti or Cuba
thrashing the other one by lots of goals) to get into the top six.
Post by JG
With the expansion to 16 teams there should be several first-time Gold Cup qualifiers.
Bermuda won 3-1 in the Dominican Republic to clinch their Gold cup berth and likely a spot in League A. Not bad for a team that started the competition with a loss to Aruba.

With French Guiana down 3-1 at halftime against Canada, Nicaragua can grab the last Gold Cup spot with a win in Barbados tonight, otherwise Montserrat will qualify.

This is all very unfair but quite entertaining.
MH
2019-03-25 14:22:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by JG
Post by MH
Post by JG
Post by MH
Post by JG
Post by MH
Cayman Islands 22 Mar '19 Montserrat
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/22/montserrat-football-london-caribbean-gold-cup
They are in 15th place at the moment and the top 10 qualify for the Gold Cup so I guess they have a decent chance considering that most of the teams ahead of them are playing each other. Of course they were helped a lot by drawing the lowest-ranked Pot B team (Belize) and the lowest-ranked Pot C team (Aruba).
And they won 1-0 tonight, jumping to seventh (temporarily), and 9
points. Great story if they make it. Also great for Curacao, but they
have been there before (as Netherlands Antilles ?), and are also the
reigning Caribbean cup champions, so perhaps not as big a surprise as it
would seem at first glance.
Curacao has a pretty strong squad of Europe-based players.
Lost to Antigua and Barbuda though.
And Jamaica lost to El Salvador, almost certainly condemning themselves
to League B. They will need a lot of help (eg, either Haiti or Cuba
thrashing the other one by lots of goals) to get into the top six.
Post by JG
With the expansion to 16 teams there should be several first-time Gold Cup qualifiers.
Bermuda won 3-1 in the Dominican Republic to clinch their Gold cup berth and likely a spot in League A. Not bad for a team that started the competition with a loss to Aruba.
With French Guiana down 3-1 at halftime against Canada, Nicaragua can grab the last Gold Cup spot with a win in Barbados tonight, otherwise Montserrat will qualify.
This is all very unfair but quite entertaining.
The system was certainly not very fair; I don't see why they could not
have had eg. six groups of five or six teams (plus a playoff among the
weakest 4 second place finishers to get the final two gold cup
qualifiers), seeded by FIFA ranking. They could have had more than
one match scheduled per international break per team to accomplish this,
and even if the groups were single round robin, not home and home, it
would be better than what they ended up with.


Canada were unimpressive in their win yesterday - lots of loose passes
and the central defending pairing of Cornelius and Henry did not inspire
confidence. The goal by F. Guyana was a comedy of errors on our part
at the back, with Piette and Borjan the main culprits. The bad pitch (I
can't believe they play MLS on that ?) did not help. That is the first
goal we have conceded in the Herdman era, in which our record is 5-0.
But we have not played any serious opposition in that time (sorry NZ and
Kiwi fans !). The team is young and there is some promise, but there is
still a long long way to go.

Missing today were the injured Alphonso Davies and Scott Arfield. It
might have been Atiba Hutchinson's last home appearance for the Canadian
team. What a career he has had. I suspect he has played more CL games
than any other Canadian, for example, though I would have to check.
Jonathan David (19 years old), doing quite well for Ghent, and Lucas
Cavallini (doing OK in LigaMX for Puebla, ) were in among most of the
strong moves and accounted for 3 goals between them. Hoilett, who had a
strong game as well, also scored. Zachary Brault-Guillard looks like a
keeper at right back and is only 20. Cyle Larin needs to find a team
where he will get to play a bit.

Futbolmetrix
2019-03-23 23:44:14 UTC
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Post by MH
And they won 1-0 tonight, jumping to seventh (temporarily), and 9
points. Great story if they make it. Also great for Curacao, but they
have been there before (as Netherlands Antilles ?), and are also the
reigning Caribbean cup champions, so perhaps not as big a surprise as it
would seem at first glance.
But will they ever match the glory of Clash of the Nations?

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.sport.soccer/5TI6Xdh6Oz4/PZwj6F4grrcJ
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