CONCACAF Football Discussion

[JUANES]

and now for the obsessed with our calendar..here it is.

CONCACAF’s Road to South Africa 2010 continues next month




8.5.08 - The road for CONCACAF teams to the FIFA World Cup ™ South Africa 2010 begins next month with the Stage 2 of the home-and-away elimination series.

The CONCACAF World Cup Qualification kicks off on 4 June 2008, with Honduras hosting Puerto Rico at the Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula.

Also on the 14 June, the first-leg encounters continue as Guatemala take on St. Lucia at the Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City, while Grenada face Costa Rica at St. George’s National Stadium and then Surinam meet Guyana at Andres Kamperveen Stadium in Paramaribo.

The following day (15 June) the remaining eight match-ups take place. The USA meet Barbados at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, while Trinidad & Tobago and Antigua & Barbuda will be hosting Bermuda and Cuba at Port of Spain’s Hasely Crawford Stadium and Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in St. John’s, respectively.

Belize will be the home team when they play against Mexico at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, while the Bahamas travel to face Jamaica at Kingston’s National Stadium.

Rounding out the first-leg encounters will be St. Vincent & The Grenadines taking on visiting Canada at the Arnos Vale Playing Field in Kingstown, while Panama meet El Salvador at Panama City’s Estadio Rod Carew and then Haiti hosting the Netherlands Antilles at Stade Sylvio Cator in Port-au-Prince.

The second-leg encounters for Stage 2 of CONCACAF World Cup Qualification are scheduled for 18-22 June with the exception of Puerto Rico vs. Honduras which will be played on 14 June at the Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel in Bayamón. COMPLETE SCHEDULE

The twelve winners from Stage 2 will progress to semifinal round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualification that will be composed of three groups of four with matches running from 20 August – 19 November 2008.

The top two from each of the three groups will advance to the six-team CONCACAF Final Round scheduled for 11 February – 14 October 2009.

The top three teams from the CONCACAF Final Round in 2009 will automatically qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. CONCACAF’s fourth place finisher will play off with CONMEBOL’s fifth-place team in a home-and-away series for one of the last berths to the FIFA event.

2010 CONCACAF WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION
STAGE 2
Series 1
15.06.2008: Carson, California USA; Home Depot Center (14:00)
USA – BARBADOS

21-22.06.2008: TBD, BARBADOS;
BARBADOS – USA

Series 2
14.06.2008: Ciudad de Guatemala, GUATEMALA; Estadio Mateo Flores (20:00)
GUATEMALA – ST. LUCIA

21.06.2008: Vieux Fort, ST. LUCIA; George Odlum National Stadium (16:00)
ST. LUCIA – GUATEMALA

Series 3
15.06.2008: Port of Spain, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO; Hasely Crawford Stadium (16:00)
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO – BERMUDA

22.06.2008: Hamilton, BERMUDA; National Sports Centre (19:30)
BERMUDA – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Series 4
15.06.2008: St. John’s, ANTIGUA & BARBUDA; Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium (19:00)
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA – CUBA

22.06.2008: La Habana, CUBA; Estadio Pedro Marrero (17:00)
CUBA – ANTIGUA & BARBUDA

Series 5
15.06.2008: Houston, Texas USA; Reliant Stadium (15:30)
BELIZE – MEXICO

21.06.2008: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon MEXICO; Estadio Universitario (21:00)
MEXICO – BELIZE

Series 6
15.06.2008: Kingston, JAMAICA; National Stadium (18:00)
JAMAICA – BAHAMAS

18.06.2008: Greenfield, JAMAICA; Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium (16:00)
BAHAMAS – JAMAICA

Series 7
04.06.2008: San Pedro Sula, HONDURAS; Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano (19:30)
HONDURAS – PUERTO RICO

14.06.2008: Bayamón, PUERTO RICO; Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel (20:00)
PUERTO RICO – HONDURAS

Series 8
15.06.2008: Kingstown, ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES; Arnos Vale Playing Field (15:00)
ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES – CANADA

20.06.2008: Montreal, Quebec CANADA; Stade Saputo (19:30)
CANADA – ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES

Series 9
14.06.2008: St. George’s, GRENADA; National Stadium (16:00)
GRENADA – COSTA RICA

21.06.2008: San José, COSTA RICA; Estadio Ricardo Saprissa (20:00)
COSTA RICA – GRENADA

Series 10
14.06.2008: Paramaribo, SURINAM; Andres Kamperveen Stadium (16:00)
SURINAM – GUYANA

22.06.2008: Georgetown, GUYANA; National Stadium (15:30)
GUYANA – SURINAM

Series 11
15.06.2008: Ciudad de Panamá, PANAMA; Estadio Rod Carew (16:00)
PANAMA – EL SALVADOR

22.06.2008: San Salvador, EL SALVADOR; Estadio Cuscatlan (18:00)
EL SALVADOR – PANAMA

Series 12
15.06.2008: Port-au-Prince, HAITI; Stade Sylvio Cator (15:00)
HAITI – NETHERLANDS ANTILLES

22.06.2008: Willemstad, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES; Ergilio Hato Stadium (18:00)
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES – HAITI

Photos by Tony Quinn
#1 - USA
#2 - Trinidad & Tobago

source: www.concacaf.com


can you predict the results?

[drucurl]

I sincerely think that Dwight Yorke is one of the best CONCACAF players of all time. I'd only rate Hugo Sanchez and a few of his Mexican compatriots as above him. Yorke has done very well for a player coming from a tiny twin island country that is populated by approximately 1.4 million people.

As a player Yorke was both positionally, technically and tactically complete.(I personally think that he could have been a little faster). He had it all good shooting technique, power and accuracy; devastating in the air, positional awareness and a accurate and visionary passer. Fittness-wise he was amazing and was often found doing push-ups and sit-ups after even games where he excelled.

Dwight made his reputation as a second striker where he dribbled his way past the defences of Juventus, Bracelona, Inter Milan etc - scoring against these just to name a few. Were he couldn't score Dwight fed his strike partner (usually Andy Cole) many a direct assists. When Fergie chose Yorke over the legendary Batigol...many thought the old Scot had lost his mind...but after leading them to many successes both on the domestic and International front- Fergie's reputation of having an eye for buried jewels gained even more crdibility.

Of course like so many stars from his side of the world Yorke's weakness for wine and women had played a significant role in the early demise of his top flight career. Yorke often missed training at ManU and came late for many other sessions.....He famously turned away a helicopter that Sir Alex Ferguson sent for him after a Trinidad Match......choosing to stay home and party (Trini women are the best ever ). This angered Ferguson to the point where their relationship never got back on track until years after Yorke left the theatre of dreams. Another problem most of us Trinis had (except fanatical groupies like me ) had with him is that he hardly gave his all for the Soca Warriors- usually retaining his best for the club that gave him the $$'s

Yorke's eventual journey to maturity and return to his hardworking ways unfortunately came at the twilight of his career and for a time his value to top flight football came into question. Nevertheless such was the success of his performances in the unfashionable A-League that offers from the Premiership came flooding back in. Eventually Dwight opted to be reunited with his old partner in crime and fellow Fergie outcast- Roy Keane at Sunderland.

In his new role as a central midfielder, whether as an attacker or in a more defensive role- he once again excelled.....to the point of being voted the "Best defender" of the first round of Trinidad and Tobago's first ever historic World Cup appearance. I once met Dwight after a game where we raped Mexico (not very hard unfortunately) in a dramatic come-from-behind-game He was so humble and gentle....I couldn't believe that he and Russell Latapy (the only other true legend we have) were such average blokes......he had an English accent (normal I guess he DID live there after all) but you can tell that in his twilight years he finally appreciated the meaning of wearing the red-white-and-black for Trinidad and Tobago

Just some stuff that I wrote off the top of my head (another slow day @ the office)

[manutd fan]

on a manutd forum there is a thread :funny manutd moments that you have seen/been to and this is what someone posted:

I had witnessed SAF grow mad only in three occasions. Here is one of them

If I remember well it was the summer when Manchester United signed Yorke. SAF was invited to Malta and he took Yorke, Rai, Van Del Gouw, Clegg and Wallwork with him. I remember that the club was filled with supporters who came to the club 2 – 3 hours before just to book a good place. I was assigned by the club to take care of the players inside the premises, something that I always like to do because it enable you to have close contact with the players and develop a good friendship. At about 3 pm SAF came with the players at the club, but Yorke wasn’t there. SAF seemed to be at ease and in a joyful mood. The first thing SAF did was to tell the supporters that Yorke would be there in about 30 minutes due to “important personal issues” and then he joined the supporters, signing autographs and socializing with them. I gave little notice to SAF (which was surrounded by the Supporter’s club committee whom I don’t link so well with) and decided to spend the afternoon talking with Rai whom I consider as one of the most down to earth players in the world. Time passed (about an hour) when suddenly SAF raced angrily from the main room right to the committee room. It was clear that something was wrong. Rai told the lads to leave everything and join the gaffer in the committee room and I escorted them to the committee room.

SAF was furious. His face was red, his eyes were filled with anger. The committee was trying to calm him down but it was in vain

“I will not let Yorke making me look as an idiot that was sure” he roared as he took my mobile (without my permission) and called Yorke on the mobile

From the argument I could understand that Yorke lateness wasn’t due to a personal circumstances but do to the fact that Yorke was doing some extra homework with a Russian whore. SAF was furious with him calling Dwight an idiot and a liar, and threatening him that he would surely fine him for such actions. We stood there silent
As if paralysed by SAF and everyone was surprised by the man who turned from a great gentleman into a monster in a split of a second. When the call finished, SAF looked at everyone right into our eyes, one after the other starting from Rai and finishing with me. He knew that he managed to scare the hell out of us and seemed satisfied of that result. He grinned and said “Yorke is not coming today but Ill sort him out, don’t worry”. Then he walked towards me, gave me the mobile and said “Thanks”. I confess that in my life I was never afraid of anyone, but SAF did managed to scare the hell out of me.

After that he went out, apologized for Yorke whom according to him “didn’t managed to solve his personal problems in time” and left the club with a great smile on his face and as confident and at ease as ever. I admired SAF in how he tackled the problem and the way he protected his players despite the fact that he was furious with him.

Years had passed since then yet the witnesses of that event had never talked with each other about that Summer afternoon when we all witnessed some for the first time SAF hairdryer. I promised myself to do my best not to see it again but unfortunately it wasn’t
--------------
on another note, did you know that jordan (the famous ex model) has a son - and dwight is the father.

[drucurl]

Man above me:

yip and the kid was born blind from what I heard. Trinis are famous for the above type incidents. I once remember falling asleep for one final year exam and my final year design project presentation

I still graduated with honours

This is the order of priority of the average Trini:

1)sex
2)partying
3)alcohol (even some of the muslims are certified alcoholics )
4)family life/work/community work etc ('serious stuff')

The other trinis in Europe generally are even more laid back than Yorke. Russell Latapy our most talented and arguably best player ever....never reached the heights that he could have for the same reasons.....he was also a HEAVY smoker (hence no stamina). On his day and when fit Russell could weave through any defense and score with either foot. He had it all speed, vision, and allround great technique....he is the only other trini listed in the top 50.

We are so horribly laid back that our team could be down 4-0 and nobody even sheds a tear because half the stadium is drunk and the other half are trying to get it on

[drucurl]

Oh and one more thing....Trinidad has two FANTASTIC footballers in Kenwayne Jones and Carlos Edwards.....both can play as wingers and are very fast skilled and technical players...Actually Carlos is kind of like a poor man's Cristiano Ronaldo. Kenwayne grew up where my last girlfriend lives ..and is a bit less of a Trini (i.e. a party animal) than the others.....It would be a dream to see him wear red and black but I know it's just a dream.....But just thinking of it he's just what we need a tall strong and fast (rare combination) forward who helps out in wide positions as well. He can hit a freekick pretty well too...I've seen him score them...(most recently was our friendly vs. Peru)

[Lisa]

Here's team USA's roster that'll face England on May 28.

U.S. Roster

GOALKEEPERS: Dominic Cervi (Out of Contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC)

DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)


MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Lewis (Derby County)


FORWARDS: Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nate Jaqua (Out of Contract), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Josh Wolff (Out of Contract)

[drucurl]

Got the TICKETS
going to take pics kids

[Lisa]

Sven Goran Eriksson to be named El Tri's new coach; he's to be presented on June 3.

http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news...ial&type=story

[Lisa]

It's official, Sven's been named Mexico's new coach.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...542367&cc=5901

I've read that some of the players, including Jared Borgetti aren't to thrilled with the hiring.

[JUANES]

ok now back on things.

CONCACAF MATCHES CONTINUED today on saturday and honduras eliminated a fierce puerto rico after drawing 2-2 in San Juan. i didnt expect puerto rico to do something like that. well they're out. Everything is going according to the pundit's predictions here in concacaf.


on other things, mexico and USA have easy fixtures and costa rica complicated themselves in granada with a intense encounter that ended 2-2. i dont know but, i read it has been more than a year since costa rica won a match? ist aht true, if its so then the costa rican team is doing badly. well i expect to see them in the "hexagonal".

on other things My team, panama plays against el salvador. there has been a a lot of rant lately, mostly because we tied against chile and Marcelo bielsa, which i hate because before the game against panama he said he would score 10 goals against us and it would be easy. The thing resulted in a totally different way and we should have won. we draw against canada 2-2 and won against guatemala with a "pistoletazo" shot from our best forward, jose luis garces.

i expect a panama win tomorrow, 2-0 or 3-0, but im scared for the match away in el salvador, since they have a good team for this qualifiers.

let's see what guimaraes is made off. to be honest, panama has a team right now that can win agains mexico and United states easily. the only thing i want for us is to qualify for south africa 2010, which im pretty sure we will do with this team, but we must fight.

by the way, the milan school opened this weekend...great! now we can send our talent to milanello to do trials!!

[ezekiel2517]

Originally Posted by JUANES

by the way, the milan school opened this weekend...great! now we can send our talent to milanello to do trials!!

so that Ancelotti can trade or loan them to smaller Italian clubs

[drucurl]

Great news JUANES

[JUANES]

milan and the fepafut (federacion panameña de futbol) have an agreement on that.

i am very happy about this. if i were like 10 years younger i would inscribe myself without hesitation.

jeje

[JUANES]

fuck yeah!

panama scored!

goal scored by tejada

a joint shot by tejada and blas perez!!

this is the first time i see panama attacking with 3 strikers

4-3-3- formation.

come on blas....score like you did against boca juniors in libertadores!

[JUANES]

ok the concacaf champions league 2009-2010 has started.

May the best team win!


now let's start with the best game of the first matchday.

Arabe Unido 4 (Panama) - Pachuca 1 (Mexico)

Venue: Agustín Muquita Sánchez, La Chorrera Panama.

Pachuca came with an arrogant attitude and left with 4 goals in their pockets.

[adriancg]

[crazy4milan]

Concachampions:
LA Galaxy 1 Puerto Rico Islanders 4.

[Senatore_M84]

REAL football is played in north/south america. that's it


Long but worth a watch, especially if you're american



well made


Edit: MAkes me miss the world cup. What makes the world cup special is usa, ghana, uruguay, slovenia, japan, paraguay, and on. All the 'underdog' countries who are 100% heart. grr.... 4 more years

[crazy4milan]

Originally Posted by Senatore_M84

REAL football is played in north/south america. that's it

And Central America (damn can't wait for the most underrated int. tournament out there, UNCAF , 4 out of 6 teams qualify directly, and 1 goes to play a rematch against a Caribbean team, considering we got Nicaragua+Belize in CA, you can pretty much guess who qualifies, though Nicaragua beat Guatemala last time around, and I remember Honduras players wanting to get rewarded for qualifing in the rematch :O).

No but seriously, in this side of the world football is lived with such a level of passion, very very few places in other continents understand it. It may be quality crap football (but I tell you no one has celebrated like Nicaragua after beating Guatemala), but it's soo high on emotions, rivalries, etc.

Originally Posted by Senatore_M84

Edit: MAkes me miss the world cup. What makes the world cup special is usa, ghana, uruguay, slovenia, japan, paraguay, and on. All the 'underdog' countries who are 100% heart. grr.... 4 more years

WC is such an amazing thing, and watching 'underdog' teams doing well (on their own merit, as say Korea wasn't exactly something nice to watch) or just understanding the emotions of a nation that was able to get a point for their first time ever or get win against a bigger nation, it's the things that make the WC such a magical event.

Include qualifiers drama too, seriously as much as it hurt till the WC finished, that Bornstein goal was such a rollercoaster ride of emotions, I just remember I ended up walking in circles for about 15 minutes thinking "not true not true". And yet we were still so close to beat Uruguay in the Centenario, if only Saborío would've not been in one of his "droughts", he beat Lugano so fucking easily but then made a horrible shot. Never did I thought Uruguay was going to reach the semifinals of the WC later on.

I get highly emotional when hearing my national anthem played in the WC, I have gotten tears (actually it's a small country, when I have heard it in other big moments ever since I was very little I cried, and I'm not an ultra nationalistic, but I love my country). I can't talk much about 1990, but at 2:00 am in 2002, I was soo proud of my NT, specially against Turkey in a moment Emre tried to act like a big dick, and everyone in our NT pushed him around. Or when we kind of bounced back against Brazil from 3-0 to 3-2 (sure they scored 2 more later on, but do you really understand that emotion being 3-0 at the 25th of the 1st half, imagining the worse and then being sooo close, and trust me, even at 5-2 we were soo close to score at least twice again).

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by Senatore_M84

REAL football is played in north/south america. that's it


Long but worth a watch, especially if you're american

well made


Edit: MAkes me miss the world cup. What makes the world cup special is usa, ghana, uruguay, slovenia, japan, paraguay, and on. All the 'underdog' countries who are 100% heart. grr.... 4 more years

Awesome vid, thanks for posting Sam. I cried like a baby when Landon scored that goal against Algeria.

I know what you mean about the underdogs, I fell really hard for Uruguay.