Archive for the ‘CONCACAF’ Category

The Story So Far — March 27th Punchy CONMEBOL, wide open CONCACAF

Posted by Richard Whittall under CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, Mexico, South America, The Story So Far, Uruguay, USA on Mar 27, 2013

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The Lead

European World Cup qualifiers are what put asses in the seats, but the football drama seems to be lingering squarely in the middle of the Western hemisphere. Last night, the United States made history with a 0-0 draw in the Azteca stadium. It was, as Jeff Carlisle wrote this morning, only the “second in its history” that the US managed to secure a point at the Azteca in qualifying.

There will be quibbles with the aesthetic of the US national team in their draw, particularly as Mexico managed 19 attempts to the USA’s 1. But that’s the nature of CONCACAF: it’s a dirty, mud and snow soaked horror show right until the dying stages. You watch these things with an upset stomach, not a stimulated mind—why else would DaMarcus Beasley be out there? The US clearly did what they needed to defensively to leave the Azteca hype for another day.

Meanwhile the Hex table speaks for itself, even at this relatively early-ish stage. Panama is first, followed by Costa Rica, the USA and Honduras, all tied on 4 points and separated by goal differential. Meanwhile Mexico is in fifth on three points. This is of course bound to change significantly as the campaign progresses, but is already far from your dad’s Hex.

As for the Brazil-less CONMEBOL, Uruguay’s struggle to compete continued yesterday with a 2-0 loss to Chile, a game that may lead to a lengthy suspension for Luis Suarez for punching Gonzalo Jara in the first half (he’s already out of the next game against Venezuela on yellows). If you don’t think that’s a bad thing, Suarez has been scoring a lot of goals this campaign with a total of 8, tied with Lionel Messi. Uruguay are struggling this time around, two points outside the playoff spot.

Finding all this compelling doesn’t make you a hipster. It makes you a conscious person who likes football.
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Report: Costa Rica to file protest over Snowmageddon

Posted by Devang Desai under CONCACAF, World Cup 2014 on Mar 23, 2013

Costa Rica v United States - FIFA 2014 World Cup Qualifier

Both teams pleaded with referee Joel Aguilar to keep the match going. At least that’s what the commentators on the ESPN broadcast led us to believe. While it did look as though the visitors did want to continue as they began to carry play in the second half, apparently, that wasn’t the case.

Via Reuters:

Ten minutes into the second half, Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto wanted referee Joel Aguilar of El Salvador and match commissioner Victor Daniel of Grenada to suspend the game, but U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann made a case for playing on. Play continued after some heated discussion. Pinto was angry during and after the game. “I asked them to stop. They should suspend the ref,” Pinto said. “It was an embarrassment. It was an insult to Costa Rica and people coming in here.”

More from midfielder Cristian Bolanos:

“Honestly, it was robbery, a disgrace, I’ve never played a game in these conditions,” midfielder Cristian Bolanos told Reuters. “You couldn’t see the ball … if we had played without snow, we would have won, I am sure.”

Reuters reports Costa Rica plans to file an official protest with FIFA. Something tells me this won’t be the last we’ve heard of this.

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Snow kidding: USA v. Costa Rica in Pictures

Posted by Devang Desai under CONCACAF, USA, World Cup 2014 on Mar 23, 2013

It wasn’t the Heat or the Lakers. It wasn’t Georgetown losing in the first round to the fifteenth seed in Philadelphia. The sporting event that captivated non-footy mad Americans around the country was a soccer game. That’s pretty damn special. The U.S.A moved to second place in the Hex, beating Costa Rica 1-0 thanks to a Clint Dempsey goal in the first half. The main story here, however, was the conditions in Denver.

Kudos to the Costa Ricans for playing on in less than ideal conditions. A brief stoppage in the second half ended after protests from both teams.

Costa Rica v United States - FIFA 2014 World Cup Qualifier
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Stolen Video: Since when did the CCL become the most entertaining tourney in North America?

Posted by Richard Whittall under CONCACAF, LA Galaxy on Mar 14, 2013

The LA Galaxy’s Villarreal scores a neat little goal against Costa Rica’s Herediano FC. When will this competition stop being so damn fun?

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Hexagonal bicycle kick golazo

Posted by Devang Desai under CONCACAF, Golazo!, Honduras, USA, World Cup 2014 on Feb 06, 2013


Yea. That’s pretty good. Juan Garcia’s ridiculous bicycle kick has leveled proceedings in San Pedro Sula. Clint Dempsey scored for the Americans. 1-1 at halftime.

Gif via BuzzFeed

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Cavernous silence is Golden for CONCACAF

Posted by Richard Whittall under CONCACAF, Gold Cup on Jan 23, 2013

In Europe, teams play in front of empty stadiums as punishment. In the United States, they do it every other game in the Gold Cup.

CONCACAF just announced its venues for the Confederation tournament forever hosted by the United States, and they should be fairly familiar to fans of all field sports:

The region’s premier National Team tournament will again expand its footprint by visiting eight new world-class venues in this year’s edition: Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA; M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD; Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, CO; Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT; BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, TX; Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL; JELD-WEN Field in Portland, OR and Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT. Six new Gold Cup cities are featured in this group of newcomers, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Hartford, Portland and Salt Lake City. Houston and Miami return to host the tournament, for the 5th and 9th time consecutive time, respectively.

The event will also return to five venues from its previous editions including Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX (2009, 2011); Soldier Field in Chicago, IL (2007, 2009, 2011); Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA (1991, 2002, 2011); Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ (2011) and CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA (2005, 2009). Years in parenthesis denote Gold Cups at each venue.

As someone on the Twitter quickly surmised:

And, additionally, a few matches in cavernous stadiums at one-third capacity.

Despite the boosterism offered by CONCACAF about 600,000 in attendance and 9 sellout games, there were more than a few games in the Gold Cup two years ago played in NFL stadia that were two-thirds empty. They can’t all be Mexico/USA games. I always try to be polite to the Gold Cup, dutifully watching at inconvenient hours online in anticipation of some incredible refereeing blunder that destroys Canada’s chances. But the reliance on NFL venues—a big money-maker for the games which exceed 45,000 capacity—really sucks the life out a tournament that no one really cares about except the nations that rarely win it.

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CONCACAFONMEBOL: On Copa America in America

Posted by Richard Whittall under CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, Copa America on Oct 25, 2012

So this happened, and I’m paid a small, grandmother’s purse worth of rupees to “Have An Opinion About It.”

Which is: about effing time. Still, many smart bloggers like Aaron Stollar for example express some caveats. Not that I’m the best authority on this, but I think I can at least answer some of the concerns. So this isn’t a Fisk in the “Let’s Make an Ass Out of This Joker” sense, but more an attempt to add another useless layer of speculation (remember the rupees).

How are the clubs going to feel about the scheduling of another international tournament during a period when they feel their players (their assets) must rest?

Um, probably pretty shitty. But really, is this now the benchmark for these things? Particularly in CONCACAF? Ideally Copa America in 2015 in Chile would have been cancelled, but then Chile would be SOL far, far too close to the tournament proper. So the clubs can deal. And likely will deal.

Will the big countries be able to call up their full squads? The answer to this question will be critical to the value of the TV rights, especially for the English language US rights. (Mexico could send a Oaxacan regional U17 team to this event and, as long as they’re wearing the green and red, Univision or Telemundo will pay millions for the Spanish language TV rights).

Yes, because FIFA will obligate the clubs to release eligible players called up if they are healthy. If there’s pressure not to release players, it should be for the 2015 Copa tournament. South America would love, LOVE to open up to US markets.

More locally, what will MLS do during this period? You can be sure that most teams will find their starting lineups decimated by the loss of CONCACAF and CONMEBOL players and if MLS elects to carry on playing during this tournament, it only goes to show that the league doesn’t value its regular season product whatsoever.

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