Bosoxen said:Looks like that debacle finally knocked some sense into the powers that be. De La Torre is out.
http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/story?storyId=1546652
Infield Infidel said:Behold the insanity of CAF qualifying - the confederation recently ruled a bunch of players ineligible, retroactively changing the point totals for teams in over half the groups. So, tomorrow, the final matches of the second round have increased the stakes for a number of teams.
For Cape Verde, they were 5 points behind Tunisia (11-6), with one match to go, conveniently against Tunisia. But with the change in the E. Guinea match, Cape Verde now has 9 points, only two behind Tunisia. A win would put Cape Verde in the WC for the first time ever.
DLew On Roids said:From the August rankings, it looks pretty likely that we know the five seeds:
18. Ivory Coast
24. Ghana
34. Algeria
35. Nigeria
36. Cape Verde
48. Burkina Faso
51. Cameroon
61. Egypt
78. Senegal
102. Ethiopia
Based on the FIFA calculator, based on results in the last month, Cape Verde are currently on 739 ranking points, Nigeria has 709, Algeria has 704, and Burkina Faso have 628. Even a 3-0 win over Nigeria on Tuesday wouldn't help Burkina Faso overtake the Super Eagles or Algeria, which could lose 3-0 to Mali and still be 50 points clear of Burkina Faso. Cameroon is well behind Burkina Faso in ranking points, even though they were only three spots behind Burkina Faso in the August rankings.
The one matchup I don't want to see--which probably makes it inevitable--is Cape Verde vs Egypt. Anything else and we're guaranteed seeing an unexpected visitor in Brazil.
bumpDan to Theo to Ben said:With Us-Mex on ESPN, Honduras-Panama on BEIN, Red Sox on NESN, Poker on Deuce, and Motorcross on NBCSN, anyone have a clue if Brazil Portugal is being shown live on some DVR-able place?
(BEIN seems to be showing on 24 hour tape delay, and Fox Soccer channel seems to be gone from my lineup replaces with some FXXX movie crap)
Thanks.
thanks, only on TW, BH, Fios, and Dish, I have comcast.Domer said:beinsportplay.tv if your provider participates
Yep. Everyone interested in the result of Honduras-Panama is watching ESPN anyway. And any H-P interest is 99% based on the result, and not the game play / entertainment.Bosoxen said:You're complaining that a World Cup qualifier with regional interest is preempting a friendly?
Is there a typo here?Bosoxen said:You do realize Mexicans don't make up 100% of the Hispanic population in the United States, right? There would be more people going out of their way to watch that game than to watch Brazil "change their socks." Besides that, what do you think are the odds you'd even see the big names like Neymar or Hulk?
Never mind that the friendly can be aired on tape delay with no risk of giving away the end result. A World Cup qualifier, on the other hand, is best aired live.
Bosoxen said:That's too much ado about nothing, though. Mexico's problems run way deeper than that, even though inconsistent club playing time doesn't help matters. Guardado plays pretty regularly for Valencia and he's one of the most inconsistent players on the team. Chicharito scored 18 goals for Manchester United last season in sporadic playing time. That these players get irregular playing time is not the sole cause of the team's poor form.
Take a look at Mexico's results in the Hex and the largest issue is pretty obvious: they can't score goals. Whether that's due to tactics or player inconsistency (Guardado and Dos Santos, in particular) remains to be seen. But under normal circumstances, bringing in a striker like Peralta will result in at least a hope of increased scoring chances. My reaction when he was brought in was that they were just shuffling chairs on the Titanic because the midfield was not linking up with the players up front at all, evidenced by the fact that Chicharito was basically nonexistent. That is an issue that has plagued the team for just about a calendar year now.
Which gets me to the larger issue at hand. I'd always found it curious why Carlos Vela, one of the key players in the "golden generation" had become a forgotten man. Now, he's not exactly lighting it up for Real Sociedad (14 goals in 38 appearances), but he's still a talented player that could really help the Mexican squad. It turns out that there were some personal issues between himself and executives of the Mexican federation, most notably de la Torre. It's curious that his name is now starting to pop up as a potential addition to the team for the next round of qualifiers. This leads me to believe that there is a deep-seeded dysfunction in the federation and that removing the manager is only a small part of what needs to be done. What else is necessary is beyond my comprehension. But the fact that multiple Liga MX managers were vying for de la Torre's job long before his dismissal says a lot to me about the stability of that organization.
teddykgb said:
I agree with you about Mexico's attack. I think I've watched some or all of 3 of their qualifiers, and nothing is coming off for them. I think Chicarito's exclusion at United has really hurt, he was on some fine goal poaching form there for a while, and he's just not that player right now. As much because he has very little service and the strikers are very disconnected from the rest of the team. Dos Santos and Guardado are not consistent, but I do feel like they are being asked to do more than they are capable of. They're kind of supposed to create a bunch of offense for the team but I think I feel like they're similarly stranded forward in the 4-3-3 Mexico has been sort of playing, without a ton of passing options for some of the creative triangles I'd expect them to play.
Infield Infidel said:Cape Verde were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player. Tunisia gets their spot. No word if CV can appeal
I'm pretty bummed.
The Cape Verde Football Federation (FCF) was quoted by Portuguese media as saying that it considered Varela's suspension had been annulled along with the result of the match in Equatorial Guinea.
"The matches in which Cape Verde faced Equatorial Guinea were declared void, giving 3-0 wins to Cape Verde, and the effect of those (decisions) was that the disciplinary sanctions arising from the games were lifted," it said in a statement.
Infield Infidel said:Well, they aren't going down without a fight http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/12/us-soccer-world-capeverde-idUSBRE98B0S220130912
teddykgb said:
At least this starts to make some sense of it. Counting to 4 isn't particularly hard, no matter what your day job is. But if they felt the suspension was void because the game was void, then at least there's a reason why this happened. I still don't understand how/why there have been so many.