Road to Brazil 2014

[Breakwood]

A thread to post musings, thoughts and comments about World Cup Qualifiers.

So far there are only two confederations who have qualifying started. Those are Concacaf and Asia.

No real upsets during last night's Concacaf match day. All the group favourites won last night, however T&T wont be happy with only a 1-0 win over Bermuda. As well Canada's first half performance left much to be desired. The marquee matchup for matchday 2 will be Panama's match versus Nicaragua.

In Asia (AFC); Jordan upset Iraq 2-0 yesterday and Oman held Saudi Arabia to a draw, while all the other favourites won their matches. On Tuesday look to Saudi Arabia vs Australia and Uzbekistan vs Japan for the marquee matchups.

South America's (COMNEBOL) qualifying will begin in October with a double round-robin between all members except the hosts Brazil.

Oceania's (OFC) qualfying kicks off in Novemeber with a 4-team tournament to see who qualifies for the OFC Nations Cup which acts as round 2 of qualifying.

Also in Novemeber, Africa will begin their qualifying with 2 legged playoffs between the 24 lowest ranked African teams.

Finally the UEFA qualifiers will have to wait for the Euro Championships to finish, and will begin in August of next year.

A reminder of the allotment of places in the World Cup draw:

UEFA - 13

CAF - 5

AFC - 4.5

COMNEBOL - 4.5 plus Brazil

CONCACAF - 3.5

OFC - .5

[NJTank]

You heard it here first, the United States Men's National Team will fail to qualify for Brazil 2014.

[NEW.ERA]

And Canada will qualify

Nah, US should qualify so they can live up to their Overrated status, maybe Klinsmen can be the guy who knows, but it's not exactly the hardest thing to qualify out of Concacaf. No more excuses for Canada.

[johnrafael]

Thanks God Brazil won't play the Qualifiers. If need play, maybe not qualify.

[-kj]

You heard it here first, the United States Men's National Team will fail to qualify for Brazil 2014.

Well, we've heard it from someone who doesn't know much about soccer and has illustrated that a number of times. So we'll see come 2013 if your prediction holds.

[NJTank]

Yes we will and it is true I dont know much about soccer its just a gut feeling the Americans have been sloppy and are due for a letdown because they have done nothing to improve.

[Guest]

Yes we will and it is true I dont know much about soccer

You can stop right there.

[twi]

USA and Mexico are guarantees, costa rica should get in too. I think a success for Canada would be getting to the final hexagonal round.

[IceCap]

No more excuses for Canada.

We're just not very good.

[crashcarson15]

USA and Mexico are guarantees, costa rica should get in too. I think a success for Canada would be getting to the final hexagonal round.

Eh, I think CONCACAF's getting better as a whole. I think Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Canada et al have a shot at knocking one of the US or Mexico out of the World Cup. I really do.

[DEAD!]

No more excuses for Canada.

We're just not very good.

Like NEW.ERA said, No MORE excuses

[justie]

Canada Will Qualify. GO GO!

[Breakwood]

No more excuses for Canada.

We're just not very good.

No doubt we aren't all that good. But I think this new style of qualifying helps out out the most. We get 6 competitive games before we play a decent team. That is something we've never had before. The biggest problem facing Canada has always been consistently putting out an 'A' squad. I hope we can get a squad working together well and create some chemistry before the next round.

And all this can be undone if we cant beat Puerto Rico or St Kitts and Nevis.

[DDR]

I went to Costa Rica on my honeymoon during last year's World Cup. Everybody was freaking crazy about it, and Costa Rica wasn't even in the damn thing. If they make it in 2014, I just might have to go back there.

[Breakwood]

I went to Costa Rica on my honeymoon during last year's World Cup. Everybody was freaking crazy about it, and Costa Rica wasn't even in the damn thing. If they make it in 2014, I just might have to go back there.

Have you ever been to Toronto for the World Cup or the European Championships? You'd think the tournament was happening in the city. It's ridiculous theres so much excitement for those tournaments, but when Canada tries to qualfy nobody gives a crap.

[GFB]

Just listened to some dad run his mouth at a soccer game about how bad the US team is because he watched the Costa Rica game... blah, blah, blah. You have to realize:

1) It was Klinnsman's second game. In an entirely new system of play. If they're still losing games like that this time next year, then you can start showing some concern.

2) No one who played on that back line in the CR game sans Bocanegra will even sniff the roster come WC14.

3) No Dempsey, No Bradley, no really big stars for Costa Rica either... this was essentially the 4th preseason game in the NFL.

[Don]

I was pretty impressed with the play besides the striker play. Jozy played alright but not one could finish worth a damn. The US hasnt produced a decent consistent striker since McBride. Davies scored some big goals but since the accident he hasnt been good enough to prove that hes better than Altidore, Agudelo, Wondolowski, etc. Really impressed by Torres in the midfield though.

[Guest]

Just listened to some dad run his mouth at a soccer game about how bad the US team is because he watched the Costa Rica game... blah, blah, blah. You have to realize:

1) It was Klinnsman's second game. In an entirely new system of play. If they're still losing games like that this time next year, then you can start showing some concern.

2) No one who played on that back line in the CR game sans Bocanegra will even sniff the roster come WC14.

3) No Dempsey, No Bradley, no really big stars for Costa Rica either... this was essentially the 4th preseason game in the NFL.

4) It was a friendly. In no way does that represent the best the US can offer.

[GFB]

I was pretty impressed with the play besides the striker play. Jozy played alright but not one could finish worth a damn. The US hasnt produced a decent consistent striker since McBride. Davies scored some big goals but since the accident he hasnt been good enough to prove that hes better than Altidore, Agudelo, Wondolowski, etc. Really impressed by Torres in the midfield though.

See, I'm not. I don't get the hype with him. Sure, he can do some nice things in space and has good vision, but he is terrible at possessing the ball in small areas with defenders around him (Not knocking his dribbling skills, but more of his efficiency once he tries taking on defenders). He gets physically dominated when defenders are on his back, which results in an insane amount of turnovers. He brings little presence on set pieces (too small for headers, does not strike a good enough ball to take them), his defensive skills are somewhat suspect (though, I really liked his hustle towards the end of the game... relentlessly got the ball back once or twice), and I don't see him as a real threat on the attack.

What Torres brings in the midfield is that he is an above average distributor, however, he isn't efficient enough with his turnovers and doesn't bring enough to the table to fully settle into that offensive midfield slot, in my honest opinion.

Though, I have been impressed with the youngsters Shea and Rogers. Both have provided a nice spark... Also, Jozy is the most frustrating player to watch. All-world potential with a JV work ethic. Agudelo works hard, but he isn't getting towards goal, his runs are always taking him away from goal. He's still young and with some good teaching and apprenticeship from Thierry Henry at Red Bulls, he could develop nicely. Donovan is Donovan... he's a diva without the elite skills to warrant it. Yet, when push comes to shove, he usually comes through and makes things happen.

[Don]

I was pretty impressed with the play besides the striker play. Jozy played alright but not one could finish worth a damn. The US hasnt produced a decent consistent striker since McBride. Davies scored some big goals but since the accident he hasnt been good enough to prove that hes better than Altidore, Agudelo, Wondolowski, etc. Really impressed by Torres in the midfield though.

See, I'm not. I don't get the hype with him. Sure, he can do some nice things in space and has good vision, but he is terrible at possessing the ball in small areas with defenders around him (Not knocking his dribbling skills, but more of his efficiency once he tries taking on defenders). He gets physically dominated when defenders are on his back, which results in an insane amount of turnovers. He brings little presence on set pieces (too small for headers, does not strike a good enough ball to take them), his defensive skills are somewhat suspect (though, I really liked his hustle towards the end of the game... relentlessly got the ball back once or twice), and I don't see him as a real threat on the attack.

What Torres brings in the midfield is that he is an above average distributor, however, he isn't efficient enough with his turnovers and doesn't bring enough to the table to fully settle into that offensive midfield slot, in my honest opinion.

Though, I have been impressed with the youngsters Shea and Rogers. Both have provided a nice spark... Also, Jozy is the most frustrating player to watch. All-world potential with a JV work ethic. Agudelo works hard, but he isn't getting towards goal, his runs are always taking him away from goal. He's still young and with some good teaching and apprenticeship from Thierry Henry at Red Bulls, he could develop nicely. Donovan is Donovan... he's a diva without the elite skills to warrant it. Yet, when push comes to shove, he usually comes through and makes things happen.

See I love Shea, but Rogers just doesnt seem to be at the right speed to play at the international level. I completely agree with you about Donovan. Hes a big fish in a small pond. Yeah hes good, and he was decent at Everton, but everywhere else in Europe he really didnt perform. I think alot of the hype with Donovan is A. hes been a good soldier for MLS most of his career, and B. No mistake about it, he is a very clutch player. I dont know where to start with Jozy. He is so big and can use his body to create space, maybe the distribution isnt there for him? I dont know whatever the problem is it confounds me. Hes done so well with Alkmaar so far, we'll see how he keeps growing. I agree that Agudelo will get better playing with Henry, but I dont think hes ready for call ups yet and the fact that he keeps getting called up is a sign of how thin we are as a nation at the striker position.