[Football] FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualifying - USA vs. CUB, MEX vs. JAM

Bradley's roster selection is still upsetting. He brings in guys like Eddie Lewis, who is a good player but is too old to still be in the player pool while snubbing young guys like Adu and Altidore. All the while his son plays in every game. I can understand the mentality of using veterans to make sure you qualify, but those guys aren't going to be able to cut it in 2010 and the younger guys won't have any experience because they were never allowed to play.

 

Well...at least you mentioned Canada in your post.

Would have been nice to be in the title as well

 

His son was great in Holland last year......

I do want Freddie Adu and Altidore to play as much together as possible.

DD

 

Freddie and Jozy need to be practicing with their team. Bruce Arena also had the same style of player selection. He went with experience until the next round was a sure thing and then brought in some of the youngsters. Wins tonight and on Wednesday will all but assure us a place in the Hex. That gives him basically three games to work with new blood.

 

Adu is garbage

 

Thanks for that stunning piece of analysis. I'm not sure why Sky Sports hasn't hired you yet.

 

I agree completely. I understand why Adu and Altidore weren't called in. They do need to be with their teams. However, this is just the environment that you need to expose the younger players to. On the road in a country that mostly hates us against a team you know nothing about. Eddie Lewis is not going to South Africa in 2010...at least not as a player. Why bother? He still has some ability left, but I'm confident there's a better left mid somewhere in the US than him.

C'mon USA...give me a birthday present by crushing Cuba...

 

Just a thought...is this game going to get played? Ike is not far of the eastern edge of Cuba.

 

I'm not too upset about Adu or Altidore given their new clubs, but what does Kenny Cooper have to do to get a call up to a team that needs a forward?

 

Cooper is a little overrated. Sure he scores a lot but he does it on FAR more shots than many others (Ching, Donovan, etc).

 

it is outrageous that 3 teams from Concacaf qualify for the WC outright and a 4th plays a one-game playoff against the 5th placed conmebol team.
Concacaf should get 2 teams that qualify automatically and the third place team should play a playoff...
cuba, canada, el salvador, haiti,jamaica, T&T, Honduras, Costa rica, mexico, USA....thats a weak ass group to have 3 outright qualify with a 4 playing a one-game playoff.

 

True. But I can't complain since it's because of that 4th place playoff T&T was able to qualify for Germany in '06.

Back then though the playoff wasn't against a conmebol team. I can't imagine the result would have been the same if that was the case.

On a side note, we drew 1:1 to Guatemala at home. Hopefully we can get a favourable result against the US next week.

 

Why? There are generally 3-4 pretty solid sides from CONCACAF every WCQ.

 

because there is no competition. Mexico & the usa are guaranteed their spots with the quality of opponents they play. After that you have Costa Rica that usually has a decent team but nothing special. Last WC T&T qualified and i dont think everyone on their team were pros. look at conmebol right now.
1. paraguay
2. ARG
3.Colombia
4. chile
5.Brasil
6. Uruguay
7. Venezuela
8.Ecuador
9.Bolivia
10.Peru

only the top 4 teams qualify, that means brasil would play a one game playoff against the likes of T&T or a honduras.
No offense to these nations but they are not on the same level.
In fact I would venture to say that Uruguay 6th place team in conmebol would easily qualify with the top 3 in concacaf. Teams like venezuela, ecuador, bolivia and peru would fair much better in the Concacaf region, Much better.

 

You and I both know that Brazil will not be 5th when qualifying is done. There are 18 games to play and only 6 completed.

 

thats true...we will see how things shake out this time around.
I'm starting to get a little nervous with Brasil. Dunga is doing a real bad job and the talent simply isnt there. We play chile tommorow, word is if we lose then dunga will get the axe...its about time

I would hate to see our streak of never missing a WC be on the line against the 4th place concacaf team...but I would like our chances if thats the case

 

I agree, but that means one of the current top 4 would move down.
which one do you think falls? How do you think that team would fair in conmebol? Thats my point. Conmebol is more balanced from top to bottom.concacaf does not have balance, they have two solid teams and 6 or 7 weak teams

 

Concacaf

 

I don't buy the new club excuse for Adu and Altidore not making it. Bocenegra, Johnson, Edu, and Bradley all changed teams during the last transfer window also. Why don't these guys need to adjust to their new teams?