They don’t carry over to the WC.
Ahhhh…so everybody start fresh? That makes sense. But if you get a yellow in the first game of the WC and another in the Final with nothing in between, you’re out?
Yes, everyone starts fresh. No, taking a second yellow in a tournament won’t get you ejected from that game. You’re out for the next game.
Okay, so yellow in first, yellow in semi, out for final? Even though you played like 6 clean games in between? That’s just silly.
Keep in mind that this is their record only in the the final hexagonal. They went 6-0-0 in their previous group stage.
I’m not certain that’s true. I seem to remember from the last World Cup that they clear the slate at some point. It might be after the group stage; those teams going on to the elimination rounds have their yellow cards forgiven, so to speak.
Don’t take my word for it, though. I may be misremembering.
Two questions:
(1) I thought Spain was automatically qualified because they won the last WC. Is that not how it works? Did it ever work that way?
(2) Does being #1-#2-#3 in CONCACAF have any impact in the draw for the WC? Or does that seeding happen based on FIFA ranking or something?
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It used to be the previous champion already qualified, but that has been changed with this world cup.
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The final seeding procedure hasn’t been announced yet but, based off of the 2010 procedure, no, it almost certainly won’t matter. Unless a team is powerful enough to get put in the top seed pot, which no team in CONCACAF realistically is, all the teams from the region go into the same drawing pot. Once you’ve qualified, there’s little to really play for except pride.
Panama actually has the tiebreaker (I believe they’ve scored more goals); Mexico is sitting in 5th place :eek:. If Panama can steal a point in Azteca (and everyone else seems to be doing so), we need to send a C team of marginal/young players. I sure wouldn’t mind losing that match.
Mexico is reeling. I keep expecting them to start clicking, but this has got to be deep in their pysche now. Panama getting points in Azteca wouldn’t shock me at all.
Oh, and Hup Holland (my other team)!
Mexico’s collapse in the hexagonal really is baffling, especially given certain factors:
[ul]
[li]They won the 2011 Gold Cup.[/li][li]They won the Gold Medal at last year’s Olympic Games.[/li][li]They went 6-0-0 in the previous COCACAF group stage (technically, round three).[/li][li]Where they also managed to beat Costa Rica twice, 2-0 (away) and 1-0 (in Azteca).[/li][li]Where they finished with the most total goals scored (15).[/li][li]Where they allowed the fewest goals in the group stage (2), for a GF of +13, the best in CONCACAF.[/li][/ul]
Of course all of that was 2012. This is 2013, and they:
[ul]
[li] Lost to Panama in the semifinals of the Gold Cup.[/li][li] Were eliminated in the group stages of the Confederations Cup by Brazil and Italy, only managing to beat Japan (who actually are not a bad side) and only accumulated three total goals.[/li][li] Have only won a single match in the hexagonal, but also lost two.[/li][li] Have only scored four goals in 8 matches, but only allowed six, tied for second fewest.[/li][/ul]
Four of Mexico’s matches in the hexagonal have ended in 0-0 ties (Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama, USA), one 2-2 (Honduras). It seems basically that Mexico’s defense is still pretty good, but their goal scoring has totally dried up. Give them a single goal in only each of three of the four matches that ended 0-0, and Mexico would have 14 pts, and this would be a very different story.
Any thoughts as to what has happened to Mexico’s goal scoring?
Maybe I’m over thinking this. But it is really kind of surprising, if you ask me.
I have noticed a lack of “get after it” by Chicharito but there is a baffling lack of aggressiveness by everyone in the forward third. After the U.S. scored early in the second half, there was no counter-surge that one would expect from a team teetering on WC elimination; if anything, the team seemed deflated and let the U.S. take over the midfield area.
I don’t know what to make of them. Didn’t they also have a pretty good run in the most recent U-21s?
I don’t pretend to have all of the answers, cause it certainly is baffling that no one on that team can score, but I really think part of the problem is Chicharito. Because he plays for Manchester United - and plays well there - Mexico think they have a world-class striker who should be able to score at will against the weaker opponents of CONCACAF. The problem as I see it is that he’s a one-trick-pony - he uses his speed and smarts to get behind defenders at just the right moment to pounce on a good cross and score. That works great for United, because he’s always playing with midfielders and overlapping defenders who can fire pinpoint-accurate crosses in to him from the wings at the appropriate times. He also plays alongside guys like Rooney and van Persie who are naturally taking up the lion’s share of the attention from defenses, leaving him the available chances to sneak in unnoticed.
As a Man U fan, I love Chicharito. His skill set is perfect for what you want out of a late-game offensive substitution, and he’s scored plenty of goals to prove it. But for Mexico, what he does doesn’t work, because he doesn’t have the players around him to give him the crosses and the distraction that he needs. A year ago you would’ve been laughed out of the room for suggesting it; but right now, I would take Jozy Altidore over him in a heartbeat… if we’re talking about a starting forward at the national team level. Because Jozy does what Chicharito doesn’t - he plays up top alone, can hold the ball and distribute with his back to the goal, and, on occasion, can create his own shot when nothing else is working.
So the problem as I see it is that no one in Mexico can accept that what Chicharito does is perfect for United, but doesn’t really work at all for Mexico (unless they’re playing Belize or St. Lucia, and then I could play up top for them and score… maybe).
Chicarito is good, but he ain’t that great. He needs the right players around him becuase he’s much, much more of a goal poacher than a creator. IMO the jury is still out on Altidore, he looked superb towards the end of the season in the Eredivisie, but there’s a big difference between being able to score for fun in Holland and being an effective striker in one of the absolue best leagues like the Premiership.
If I was made Prime Minister I would place Roy Hidgson under house arrest for treason. Playing a team like Ukraine (as good as they are) with no plan at all to score goals puts him on par with Lord Haw-Haw.
To expand on what has already been said on this, the problem definitely lies with FIFA. Their position is that the game should be played with the same level of officiating at all levels, from Sunday Leagues to the World Cup. This clearly just will not do, but FIFA insist that is how it should be.
One day Blatter and his “yes” men will go and we may get some progress.
In case you haven’t seen it, here is the goal that was not given to England in the 2010 World Cup. It would have meant England had got back to 2-2 from 2-0 down and Germany would have been wobbily. Instead it left England crestfallen and they fell apart.
That, to me, is an utterly disgusting decision and every German player should have been ashamed of themselves for accepting it. The entire defence saw it. The goalkeeper definitely saw it, grabbed the ball OUT OF THE GOAL and played on. One of the absolute worst decisions I have seen in a major tournament and I have no respect for the German football team after it.
Personally, I think England should refuse to take part in any further tournaments until FIFA adapts and starts to use technology for off-field refereeing. It needs someone to take a stand.
Honourable mention to this for “worst dives”:
Every new England manager is immediately put under unreasonable pressure by the media.
Because we won the World Cup in 1966 (at home), the papers always claim we can win whatever tournament we are in (World Cup; European Championship.)
Actually, we haven’t reached a final since 1966. :smack:
The situation against Ukraine (we were away) was that a draw would keep us one point clear in the group, with two home games to come.
A win would have been great (but we don’t have any world-class players :rolleyes:) and a loss would put us in danger of not qualifying. And of course after a loss there would be banner headlines calling for Hodgson to be instantly sacked…
So I sympathise with Hodgson. Yes, he played for a draw - and he got it comfortably.
But until England starts developing young players with ball skills, we’ll never do any better.
Re: officiating. Bad calls and even badly called games certainly exist but that is a price I’m generally willing to pay in return for a free-flowing game. One of the NFL’s biggest shortcomings these days is the maddening amount of time spent on getting the calls* just right*. Fans have only themselves to blame for this, of course, but the necessity of peering through microscopes to see if a pinky grazed a line is a clear message to me that we’ve gone over the edge. Or that maybe the game itself is flawed if this is how it has to be adjudicated.
Totally agree.
But here’s the thing: watching a gridiron football game is hardly less maddening in terms of bad calls–I almost can’t count how many people on FB and Twitter bitched about the officiated being biased or screwed up one way or the other, just last night during and after one single NFL game (49ers v. Seahawks). So what – you’d get a slower, oft interrupted game (at odds with the whole concept of what the “beautiful game” is all about) with no actual less bitching about missed calls or ref bias.
No thank you.
No sporting event that isn’t computer-controlled is going to have flawless officiating.
But comparing soccer (football) to American Football makes no sense. They have totally different play styles with stoppage built right into the American game. Their style of replay makes total sense for their style of game. For Soccer, the replay would need to work more the way that it does in the NHL, and you can hardly say that NHL replay slows the game down. Replay in the NHL has only made the game better and the officiating fairer. Why wouldn’t you want that?
Goal-line technology is available (and will be used in the WC, IIRC) and it gives instant results, so that will not slow the game. For dives like the Costa Rican player did, it must be able to be reviewed after the game. I don’t think the Costa Rica dive linked above was from the television coverage, but from a sideline camera, maybe from a local TV station getting highlight footage. That angle certainly wasn’t shown on live TV.
Review all available footage a day or two after the game and give the diver a five match suspension. That should clear things up quickly.
I brought up gridiron football not to suggest they’re comparable, but to point out that even with a superfluity of opportunities to check replays and an army of refs, there’s still inevitable and frequent bitching about bias and botched calls.
I’ve no issue with goal-line technology, which is already being implemented.
Checking replays during match time I have an issue with.
Post-game replay checking for diving and unsportsmanlike behavior, with resulting fines and suspensions, I have no issue with, either.