"Concacaf scores weaken image" (w/ Canada diss!)

[sstackho]

From a Californian newspaper

SPORTS
ON SOCCER // Lopsided scores weaken image

Luis Bueno
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
487 words
26 June 2004
The Press-Enterprise
E07
English
Copyright (c) 2004 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.

We were duped.

CONCACAF suckered us all into thinking that last week's World Cup qualifiers were indeed true contests among even teams.

They weren't.

In the 12 second-round matchups, all 12 favored nations won. And the matchups really weren't that close. Consider, Mexico demolished Dominica, 10-0. Canada advanced over Belize on an 8-0 aggregate; Panama advanced past St. Lucia, 7-0; Trinidad & Tobago beat the Dominican Republic, 6-0.

When soccer-poor nations like Panama and Canada are winning on lopsided aggregate scores, something's wrong.

Minnows like St. Lucia and Dominica should not be allowed to play against the region's mid-level nations like Panama, let alone against the class of CONCACAF in Mexico or the United States.

Costa Rica struggled, advancing on road goals after a 3-3 aggregate score against Cuba.

CONCACAF is not one of the world's top confederations, but letting your upper- and middle-echelon sides have a free-for-all against your weak sides just makes the federation look weaker than it actually is.

Next time around, we suggest let the minnows eliminate each other and give the United States and Mexico byes until final round of qualifying.

SAMPSON OUT

Costa Rica nearly became the laughing stock of CONCACAF when it could not beat Cuba. Fallout was fast, as Costa Rica sacked Coach Steve Sampson.

Sampson led the United States to World Cup '98 only to scrap much of the veteran side that helped the team qualify in favor of younger, unproven players who flopped in France.

We don't know much about Sampson's replacement, Jorge Luis Pinto, but can't imagine he'd be any worse than Sampson.

EUROPE'S LEVELING FIELD

CONCACAF might not be a level playing field, but Europe is certainly becoming one.

Gone are the days when the top sides could field teams and advance on pure talent alone. World powers Italy, Spain and Germany each failed to get out of the first round in Euro 2004.

Germany moved quickly to rebuild its squad. Rudi Voeller resigned after four years on the job. Recently sacked Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld is the early favorite to replace Voeller and get the team ready for Germany 2006.

Spanish coach Inaki Saez crumbled under intense pressure to resign, quitting a day after saying to do so would be cowardly.

QUICK HITS

Midfielder Cobi Jones will miss the Galaxy's game at Chicago Sunday because of a concussion and neck strain ... Once Caldas of Colombia held Argentine side Boca Juniors scoreless in the first leg of Copa Libertadores Thursday in Buenos Aires ... Club America announced striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco will be allowed to negotiate with other clubs ... Chivas of Guadalajara declined to pay the $1.4 million transfer fee on aging striker Francisco Palencia, returning him to Cruz Azul.

[Gian-Luca]

Stupid article. I didn't think anyone was suckered into thinking what the author is suggesting, so I've no idea at all what the author is talking about.

Also, what's with the suggestion that the US & Mexico should get bye into the Hex? Why not just give them an automatic berth in the World Cup while we're at it.

[mattbin]

So we should follow Europe's system? And have our CONCACAF Andorras and Maltas stay in through the whole qualifying sequence?

One would almost think that the writer has no clue at all about this "World Cup" thing.


Allez les Rouges,
M@

[Free kick]

He says:" When soccer-poor nations like Panama and Canada are winning on lopsided aggregate scores, something's wrong"

Response.;

Then what does that say about the US, who squeeked by that Soccer super power; Grenada.

[beachesl]

I do agree, however , that the teams that made the World Cup the previous goaround should have a bye to the semis. There should be layered preliminary rounds, with the weakest having to play a set of at least three home-and-away series prior to advancing to the semis.

It is ridiculous that teams like Belize start out in the second round. It means that the better teams have to play too many matches, and the quality of the overall competition goes down. If they unexpectantly earn a berth to the final round, like the Solomon Islands did in Oceania after going through several preliminary matches before earning the right to meet Australia and the Kiwis, so much the better. Their accomplishemnt could then be recognized by higher placement on the ladder.

With other Confederations getting a bigger piece of the World Cup places as time goes on and with extra countries and quasi-countries joining, even lordly UEFA is going to have to bite the bullet and have eliminations to weed out most of the mini-minnows before the Group stages after 2006.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

He says:" When soccer-poor nations like Panama and Canada are winning on lopsided aggregate scores, something's wrong"

Response.;

Then what does that say about the US, who squeeked by that Soccer super power; Grenada.

Well, they won pretty comfortably in the end. Yes, they may have won by the slimmest of margins in the 2nd leg, but when you take into account that even a 2-2 tie would give them the advantage on away goals and they were already up 3-0 after the first leg, it was a fairly comfortable (though not lopsided) win.

I believe the writer is mainly a Mexican fan, if he's the same guy that used to write all those terrible Mexico articles on "internetsoccer.com" a few years ago (when it was still around). If so, a typical example of Mexican soccer arrogance within Concacaf.

[DJT]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

I believe the writer is mainly a Mexican fan, if he's the same guy that used to write all those terrible Mexico articles on "internetsoccer.com" a few years ago (when it was still around).

Yes, it's the same guy. Those articles were indeed horrible.

Here's a blog response to this article at MatchNight!:

http://blog.matchnight.com/blogindex...&commentID=343

[torontosupport]

That guy is smokin' crack.

Good crack, but crack nonetheless.