HexagonalBlog

The new Red Bull Park, take 2 or 3

You can see the new artist's impression of the redrawn Red Bull Park at the NYRB website.

It does look like a nice stadium, but I'll believe it when the ribbon's cut.

A look at the first round: CONCACAF Group 1

This post is going to be the first in a three-part series, as I analyze the first-round matchups in the three CONCACAF World Cup qualifying groups.    Being that most of the first-round participants are the smallest of the Caribbean countries, lots of good information is hard to come by (most of it was from Wikipedia).  But I'll do my best and if I miss anything I trust you to contribute in the comments.  If anyone from the federations want to give some input, that's welcome as well, whether by email or the comments.  Without further ado, I'll start with Group 1.

Dominica vs. Barbados

The last time we heard from Dominica in the World Cup, they were providing less than token resistance to Mexico.  They lost 18-0 over two legs, and they had to play their home leg in San Antonio because there were no home grounds that met international standards.  Dominica will be able to play at home in this round, with the help of the Chinese (Windsor Park), but it still may not make much of a difference.  They did draw Guadeloupe 1-1 in a friendly before the Gold Cup, which in light of Guadeloupe's success reflects well on them, but they haven't played a match since.

Barbados is a relative power in the eastern Caribbean and has a number of players who have played professionally in England (Paul Ifill, Mark McCammon, Gregory Goodridge), albeit in Division One/Championship level and below.  However, they have plunged 30 places down the FIFA Top 100 in the past 12 months.  Most likely that's because they haven't played a match in almost nine months, something that is very common among the small Caribbean nations. 

Barbados has more players with international experience than Dominica, and I think that will make the difference at this stage of the qualifiers.  I expect Barbados to go through.

Turks and Caicos vs. St. Lucia

Turks and Caicos lost to Haiti over two legs in WC 2006 qualifying (and I heartily recommend this article to experience what qualifying means to countries of this size), but this time they might have an easier time of progressing to the next round.  TCI's best known player is Gavin Glinton of the San Jose Earthquakes, and with three goals he is the national team's all-time leading scorer.  I was impressed with his play for the LA Galaxy in the second half of the MLS season, and hopefully he and his brother, Duane, can use their professional experience to provide leadership to a side that is predominately amateur. 

St. Lucia also has a player with professional experience -- Earl Jean, who has played in Portugal, England, and Scotland -- but can he still make a contribution at 36?   The lack of playing time will most likely work against the team (no matches of any kind in over a year), and I expect Turks and Caicos to advance to the second round for the first time.

Bermuda vs. Cayman Islands

An interesting match between islands that are attractive to tourists and those seeking offshore
banking.  Bermuda has had a number of professional players in their ranks in the past, most notably Shaun Goater, and currently Khano Smith (Real Salt Lake New England Revolution) and John Barry Nusum (Philadelphia Kixx - MISL).  Cayman Islands' side is very amateur and has suffered heavy losses in the past, but their biggest losing margin has been "only" seven goals.  That record should remain intact, but Bermuda should advance.

Aruba vs. Antigua and Barbuda

Aruba are at the bottom of the FIFA rankings, and have neither won nor drawn a competitive match in over seven years.  They have one player (Ronnie Nouven) who plays competitive football in the amateur divisions in the Netherlands.  That's about all I know about them.   I know this blog gets readers from Aruba -- anyone want to comment on their team?  Antigua and Barbuda is not much better; two of their players tried out unsuccessfully for semipro English clubs.

This is admittedly a gut prediction but I have to believe that Antigua and Barbuda will defeat Aruba rather comfortably. 

Jack sticks the boot in

Everyone else is ripping England after their failure to qualify for Euro 2008, so why not Jack Warner?  The president of CONCACAF and T&T MP continues to endear himself to the English with his comments at the CFU's website: "England's Euro Exit Doesn't Surprise Warner".

Alajuelense fined, stadium closed

UNCAF came down very swiftly after the events at the Morena Soto stadium last night.  Alajuelense have been fined US$10,000 and their stadium has been banned from hosting international matches for six months.  The 3-0 scoreline in favor of Municipal was also confirmed.

UPDATE (11/29, 9:17pm):  The fallout from Tuesday's events continues -- manager Carlos Restrepo resigns, followed by general manager Francisco Aguilar.

UNCAF Final, Leg 1

Saprissa drew 1-1 with Motagua in the final of the UNCAF Interclubes tonight.  Both teams are already through to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, so they are playing for the pride of winning the Central American club championship.

The return leg will be in Tegucigalpa on 5 December.

Down to the wire in Argentina

Argentina's Apertura tournament will be decided between Lanús, a modest club in the southern suburbs of Buenos Aires, and Tigre, another modest club in the northern suburbs that has former RSL 'keeper D. J. Countess on the lineup.  Tigre came from behind to defeat Boca Juniors 2-1 in Victoria, and Lanús hammered Gimnasia-La Plata 4-0.  This has been an amazing tournament in Argentina, and the first time in a very long time that a small club will win the league title.  What makes it even more amazing is that one of the title contenders - Tigre - was just promoted to the top flight this year.

Lanús are in a better position to win their first league title, but they must avoid defeat against Boca next weekend.  Tigre must beat Argentinos away and hope that Boca defeat Lanús in order to send the championship to a one-match playoff.

I'd like to say that Countess has had something to do with this title run but that's not the case, unfortunately.   He hasn't played at all during the Apertura and has rarely made the lineup, and that's not going to change now that Tigre is contending for a championship.  I don't expect him to get any opportunities for match experience until the summer mid-season tournaments get started.

Nevertheless, this has to be an incredible experience for Countess, not to mention the people in Victoria and San Fernando.  It's like no other place in the world.

CONCACAF at the Champions League, Matchday 5 [Wednesday's matches]

Today there were three matches involving clubs with CONCACAF players in the lineups:

Rosenborg 'keeper Lars Hirschfeld had a busy day for the wrong reasons as the Norwegian side lost 0-4 at home to Chelsea.  I'm relying on the match report, but it appeared that Hirschfeld couldn't be faulted on any of the goals.  Even with the defeat Rosenborg still need just a point against Schalke to advance as the second place team in Group B.

In Group D, Celtic defeated Shakhtar 2-1 with practically the last kick of the game to stay in the race for the top two.  Nery Castillo (Shakhtar) was not in the squad list.

Benfica and Milan drew 1-1 in Lisbon, but Celtic's last-minute victory eliminated the Portuguese side from further action in the Champions League.  Freddy Adu (Benfica) entered the match in the 88th minute. 

CONCACAF at the Champions League, Matchday 5 [Tuesday's matches]

VfB Stuttgart took their first points in this year's Champions League with a 3-2 victory over Rangers, in a match where two of the CONCACAF players from both sides were prominent.  DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers) played an active role in the match; he should have scored early on and midway through the first half sent in the corner the led to Rangers' opening goal.  Unfortunately he was taken off the field in a stretcher four minutes into the second half, and Rangers manager Walter Smith fears that he may be out for an extended period (HT Ives).  Pável Pardo (Stuttgart) was also an active participant, sending in the cross that Cacau converted in first half stoppage time, and then scoring a goal of his own to give the German side a 2-1 lead.  Ricardo Osorio (Stuttgart) was on the substitutes bench and did not play.

Lyon drew 2-2 with Barcelona in a thrilling match at Stade Gerland.  Barça still advance to the round of 16 as Group E winners.  Rafael Márquez (Barcelona) entered the match and played eight minutes, and Giovani dos Santos was not in the Barcelona squad.

Inter Milan defeated Fenerbahçe 3-0 to clinch first place in Group G.  David Suazo (Inter) did not start but played the final twelve minutes.  He was on the field long enough to take a shot on goal, be  fouled twice, and get caught offside once.

PSV grabbed a precious 1-0 victory away to CSKA Moscow, and maintained their chances of advancing to the knockout rounds.  Carlos Salcido (PSV) started the match in defense and played the entire game.  Interestingly enough, he was the only member of that defensive unit who didn't commit a foul during the game.

Crowd invasion in Costa Rica

I'm watching the UNCAF Interclubes 3rd/4th place match between Alajuelense and Municipal in Costa Rica (Municipal's leading 2-1 at 80'), and the match has been stopped because of an invasion by some barra bravas minutes after Fredy García scored the go-ahead goal.  There were some comical moments as a couple of the fans nimbly evaded the attempts of the security guards to capture them.  But now it has gone all bad.  "Fans" - and I put that in quotes unreservedly - at one end of the stadium running on top of the fence surrounding the field, throwing barrels and even turnstiles over the emergency exit onto the field. 

The players of both teams, as well as the referees, ran toward the field entrance located behind one of the goals -- in the section where the disturbances are taking place.  They're running under heavy guard by the riot cops.

As I was writing that previous sentence, another unit of  riot police charged through the section where most of the disturbances were taking place, and they seem to have taken control.  You can see images of injured police officers being carried away, and of innocent fans, many holding small children, looking on in amazement and horror.

The situation seems to be out of control.  I'm listening to the Spanish-language commentator on Gol TV right now (it's the Costa Rican feed actually), and it seems that Alajuelense's barras only arrived at the match during the second half, and they devoted their time to making chants and threats against the directors of the club.

This post will be updated through the evening.  So once again we have another incident of crowd trouble at an international match in Costa Rica, and Alajuelense could be in some serious trouble from UNCAF and/or CONCACAF.

UPDATE:  Costa Rica's Nación newspaper has a report on their website.  There were also incidents between gangs and the police outside the stadium.   An UNCAF official has said that the match will be declared a 3-0 Municipal victory, which just about settles the tie with the return leg in Guatemala left to play. 

The article title says it all: Bochorno en el Morena Soto (Shame in the Morena Soto stadium).

CONCACAF's draw

As you all know, the draw for the World Cup qualifiers was this morning.  Here is the part of the draw most relevant to this region:

Group 1

Dominica/Barbados vs. USA
Turks and Caicos/St. Lucia vs. Guatemala
Bermuda/Cayman Islands vs. Trinidad & Tobago
Aruba/Antigua and Barbuda vs. Cuba

Group 2

Belize/St. Kitts and Nevis vs. Mexico
Bahamas/British Virgin Islands vs. Jamaica
Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico vs. Honduras
St. Vincent and Grenadines vs. Canada

Group 3

US Virgin Islands/Grenada vs. Costa Rica
Suriname/Montserrat vs. Guyana
El Salvador/Anguilla vs. Panama
Nicaragua/Netherlands Antilles vs. Haiti

As they've done in previous draws, the first round matches and their second round opponents were paired and then placed in one of the three semifinal groups.   And seeds 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12 were placed  in separate pots, as I expected.

With regard to the top three seeds, the USA and Costa Rica have easier draws in the semifinal round, but Costa Rica might have the bigger hurdle in the second round if Grenada advance.  Shalrie Joseph and Jason Roberts are the two most widely known Grenadian players, and their leadership will be important in the qualifiers.  Mexico will not have the "Caribbean Vacation" that they had in the previous qualifying cycle, with potential trips to Jamaica, Honduras, and Canada in the semifinal round.  Jamaica are rebuilding their team after going from one disaster to another in the last four years, Canada are rapidly improving, and Honduras will be looking to finally fulfill their potential.  Mexico should be able to advance to the Hexagonal, but not without a fight.

In addition to Grenada, the only other country in the first round that (to me) might make some noise in the qualifiers is Bermuda.  This is all a really big stretch; it really is amazing how many weak teams there are in this region -- almost 2/3 of CONCACAF's national teams are currently ranked below the FIFA 100!

UPDATE:  Just what I get for not watching the draw on TV -- I had a conversation with a friend of mine and found out that CONCACAF did not do the draw the way I had assumed.  Instead seeds 1-3 and 4-6 were placed in separate pots, and seeds 7-12 were together in a third pot.  It was just sheer luck that seeds 7-9 and 10-12 were separated from each other.  No wonder the rest of the world was confused -- sheesh.

UPDATE #2:  I should also mention Bobby McMahon's post before the draw, wondering why CONCACAF based their seedings on FIFA rankings taken before the Gold Cup.    Putting aside one's incredulity about the rankings, CONCACAF's decision certainly helped a couple of Caribbean countries, including the one with three words.  Coincidence?

WELCOME BigSoccer.com readers!  Thanks for the link, and take a look at some of my other musings on David Beckham's future with the English national team, and what the CONCACAF Champions League might look like, among other topics.