I thought it was the 2nd match day that is away at Canada. 1st and 3rd match days are in USA.jeffk said:Getting word Canada is seriously considering Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field for the World Cup qualifier vs USMNT in winter window. FieldTurf surface. “The Donut Box.” 🍩
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) November 17, 2021
From what I've read, the sites for our two home games that window are somewhat dependent on where Canada chooses to send us for the rubber match.
I mean, if they want to match climate then just plan it at Minnesota and call it a dayjeffk said:
Yes, I'm a dummy and used "rubber match" incorrectly.
And I've seen several folks mention that USSF wants to lessen travel time between those three games and find similar climate/altitude to help our guys transition between matches.
I thought FIFA has always been against the artificial surfaces for official FIFA-sanctioned events and has very strict installation and material standards if it's used for FIFA events.jeffk said:
USSF still has this hang-up with artificial turf too... which I sort of understand. But if you're going to play games in Jan-Feb and also want those matches to be at high altitudes in colder climates to screw with our SA conference-mates, then you're going to have to play on pretty crappy grass as well. At some point you have to wonder if trying to make things difficult on your opponents is negatively impacting your own team's play.
Great breakdown. Some thoughts I hadAston94 said:
We are now just over halfway through the Octagonal, all 8 teams have play 8 matches and have 6 more remaining. In the last 2 matches Canada and Panama were the big winners, both going 2-0 and claiming 6 points. US was a respectable 1-0-1 claiming 4 points, while Mexico went winless.
Here are the current standings:
1. Canada 16 pts (+/- 8)
2. USA 15 pts (+/- 7)
3. Mexico 14 pts (+/- 4)
4. Panama 14 pts (+/- 2)
5. Costa Rica 9 pts (+/- -1)
6. Jamaica 7 pts (+/- -4)
7 El Salvador 6 pts (+/- -6)
8. Honduras 3 pts (+/- -10)
In my projections before WCQ began, I saw the US sitting on 14 pts right now, so we are 1 above my projections.
Here are the remaining matches for the US, and I have other matches for the top 4 teams listed as well. Costa Rica is the one team out of the bottom 4 that still could put up a challenge, but Panama separating themselves this last round of matches really makes it difficult for Costa Rica.
Remaining Matches:
Fourth Set of Matches
Jan. 27 - vs. El Salvador (#64 World Ranking, #7 CONCACAF). Home game against a Central American squad in January? These are the kind of games where you HAVE to get three points.
Canada at Honduras (Beginning of a crucial 3 match swing for Canada)
Mexico at Jamaica (Will Mex have a new coach for this trip?)
Panama at Costa Rica (game will end CR's chances or make for an exciting finish for 4th spot)
--US is only one of top 4 teams with home match this round, claiming all 3 points is a must.
Jan. 30 - at Canada (#59 World Ranking, #5 CONCACAF)--The site of Berhalter's lowest moment as U.S. coach, a comprehensive 2-0 Nations League loss at BMO Field in Toronto in Oct. 2019. Canada hadn't reached the last round of World Cup qualifying since the 1998 cycle. So where in the Arctic zone will Canada schedule this match?
Costa Rica at Mexico
Jamaica at Panama
--Mexico and Panama will both be looking for 3 points at home to lower opponents. Get a point in Canada and get out!
Feb. 2 - vs. Honduras (#67 World, #5 CONCACAF)-- Home game against a Central American squad in early February? These are the kind of games where you HAVE to get three points. Honduras is bottom of table, their interest in a match in the cold in the US, in the last of three matches in the set, should be minimal.
Panama at Mexico.
Canada at El Salvador.
--Panama-Mexico will be the big one here. Will be interesting to see what Canada will do with their 2 trips to Central America within a week, playin the US at home in the middle.
6 points is a must from this round of games. 7 points would be awesome. This is the US team's easiest round of matches and must make some ground here, especially given the harder matches Panama and Canada especially have in this set of games. 7 points would put the US at 22 points with 3 matches remaining.
Projected Points after 4th Set of Matches:
1. USA 22 pts
2. Mex 21 pts
3. Canada 20 pts
4. Panama 18 pts
5 . Costa Rica 11 points
Fifth Set of Games
March 24 - at Mexico (#9 World Ranking, #1 CONCACAF). The Octagonal's home stretch begins at the Estadio Azteca, where the U.S. is unbeaten in its past three visits, a friendly win in 2012 followed by qualifying draws in '13 and '17. Would love another draw here this go around.
Honduras at Panama--plan on 3 points here for Panama
Canada at Costa Rica--another Central American trip for Canada, will Costa Rica still be an interested party?
March 27 - vs. Panama (#74 World Ranking, #8 CONCACAF). The US faced Panama at home in the penultimate match of the 2018 WCQ Hexaganol, and recorded a decisive 4-0 win, making us all rather confident (including the team apparently) that they would cruise down to Trinidad and Tobago and finish qualification. Well we know the rest of the story, so hopefully we can repeat the win over Panama and then not have to worry about the final game away from home. US will likely need to get a win here to guarantee their spot in WC, don't want to need points from a trip to Costa Rica.
Jamaica at Canada
Mexico at Honduras
I would assume 3 points for both Canada and Mexico from these matches.
March 30 - at Costa Rica (#44 World Ranking, #3 CONCACAF). We all better hope that the US has fully qualified for the WC and that we can send a C team down to Central America for the final WCQ match.
The U.S. has had a brutal run in Costa Rica, where it's 0-9-2 all-time, including eight straight losses. If Costa Rica is out of contention you know they would love nothing more than to spoil a US World Cup party.
Canada at Panama---Really could be the match of the WCQ cycle. 4th trip for Canada to CA in their last 6 matches.
El Salvador at Mexico--If MExico needs points still then this match should be the 3 points needed
Final Projected Points:
1. Mex 30 pts
2. USA 26 pts
3. Canada 25 pts
4. Panama 22 pts
5 . Costa Rica 15 points
Mex, USA and Canada all qualify, Panama goes into playoff games.
oragator said:
By the way, even Mexico's nickname is silly. It is supposedly because their flag has three colors. There are tons of countries that have a Tri color flag. Heck France, Italy, Netherlands, Ireland, Hungary, Lithuania, Belgium, Armenia, Luxembourg, Germany, Moldova among others…and that's just Europe.
So that's what makes Mexico unique to rally around?
gougler08 said:I mean, if they want to match climate then just plan it at Minnesota and call it a dayjeffk said:
Yes, I'm a dummy and used "rubber match" incorrectly.
And I've seen several folks mention that USSF wants to lessen travel time between those three games and find similar climate/altitude to help our guys transition between matches.
For the match at Q2 last month they had a lottery for Austin FC season ticket holders as well as American Outlaws members. Don't know what the odds were but my buddy and I each got seats.Pahdz said:gougler08 said:I mean, if they want to match climate then just plan it at Minnesota and call it a dayjeffk said:
Yes, I'm a dummy and used "rubber match" incorrectly.
And I've seen several folks mention that USSF wants to lessen travel time between those three games and find similar climate/altitude to help our guys transition between matches.
I'm here for it! For those of you who have had season tickets at a venue were you able to access tickets before the general public for WCQ?
You don't say…gougler08 said:I mean, if they want to match climate then just plan it at Minnesota and call it a dayjeffk said:
Yes, I'm a dummy and used "rubber match" incorrectly.
And I've seen several folks mention that USSF wants to lessen travel time between those three games and find similar climate/altitude to help our guys transition between matches.
So sounding as though Canada must submit venue to Concacaf by Monday. At that point, assuming 🇨🇦 goes East (Hamilton?) to play 🇺🇸 Jan 30, US will lock into E/MW locations for El Salvador & Honduras home matches Jan 27 and Feb 2. Columbus and St Paul both under consideration. 🥶
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) November 18, 2021
USMNT up 1 to No. 12 in the FIFA world rankings. Mexico down 5 to No. 14. US would have to rise 5 spots to be a top-seeded team at World Cup 2022. Would certainly help if Italy and Portugal didn't qualify.https://t.co/gkgM62PSJs pic.twitter.com/UPf59aBxEJ
— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) November 19, 2021
i was curious about Wahl saying we need to move up 5 spots to be one of the top-seeded teams because that would put us at 7.. he must have meant move up 4 spotsakm91 said:
I just don't see how we can get into the top 8, even if Portugal and Italy misses out.
Five is right. We'd need to be top 7 since Qatar is seeded.theNetSmith said:i was curious about Wahl saying we need to move up 5 spots to be one of the top-seeded teams because that would put us at 7.. he must have meant move up 4 spotsakm91 said:
I just don't see how we can get into the top 8, even if Portugal and Italy misses out.
Italy finished 2nd in their group behind Switzerland, so I guess they're going to some playoff.ChipFTAC01 said:
And I thought I saw that at least Italy was cruising through qualification.
I think we'd need some blowout wins and Italy to miss out - only 13 points between us and Portugal.akm91 said:
I just don't see how we can get into the top 8, even if Portugal and Italy misses out.
TRM said:Italy finished 2nd in their group behind Switzerland, so I guess they're going to some playoff.ChipFTAC01 said:
And I thought I saw that at least Italy was cruising through qualification.
It's not only the points that separate us from Portugal that really matters, it's that there are 4 teams between us and the 7th spot (big assumption that Italy doesn't make it). As we gain points, the others will also.TRM said:I think we'd need some blowout wins and Italy to miss out - only 13 points between us and Portugal.akm91 said:
I just don't see how we can get into the top 8, even if Portugal and Italy misses out.
Remember we'll have a higher multiplier since we're playing WC qualifiers compared to Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany playing friendlies. Obviously, Italy is the key.akm91 said:It's not only the points that separate us from Portugal that really matters, it's that there are 4 teams between us and the 7th spot (big assumption that Italy doesn't make it). As we gain points, the others will also.TRM said:I think we'd need some blowout wins and Italy to miss out - only 13 points between us and Portugal.akm91 said:
I just don't see how we can get into the top 8, even if Portugal and Italy misses out.
We will need to gain:
13 more than Portugal (assuming they qualify)
10 more than Denmark
6 more than Netherland
1 more than Germany
Luckily Switzerland is 5 points behind us.
Not sure when the seeds are locked in but given all the countries in front of us are European, they more than likely have better opportunity to rack up points.
If Italy wins their playoff then there's no way we'll catch Spain as they are 57 points ahead of us.
