World Cup Qualifying: A Look Ahead

by: Jim Brouse

It started on 15 June 2011. One match, signifying that a grueling 3 year, 816 match tournament had
begun. In this tournament, 208 national squads vie for 31 remaining spots in the greatest tournament in
the world. That is, the 4-year gem known as the World Cup.

There are only 3 matches being played in February. These matches are all from the same qualification
bracket. On the 6th this month, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association
Football (CONCACAF) starts its final round of Qualification: The Hexagonal.

The Hex, as it’s known in the football world, is a 6 team round robin tournament, where each squad
plays the other in a home and home series, meaning 10 matches per national squad.

The 6 remaining countries are as follows:

• Mexico (FIFA rank, 15 worldwide)
• United States (28)
• Panama (46)
• Jamaica (58)
• Honduras (59)
• Costa Rica (66)

The top 3 teams will advance to the World Cup, and the 4th place team will square off against the
winners of the Oceana Region, in a home and home to decide one of the final spots.

At first glance, this doesn’t look like much of a challenge, especially for the United States, but don’t let
the world rank confuse you. In the last round, the US lost to Jamaica on the road, and barely defeated
them at home. Especially these Central American teams, their home crowds provide a level of passion
and energy that really levels any match.

Picture found here

The only “gimmie” is Mexico, as their level of play as of late has been phenomenal. Aside from that, it’s anybody’s tournament for the taking.

Jurgan Klinsmann, the coach of the US squad has already stated that he expects to win every game. That is something they should definitely strive and expect to do, however it’s a long and tough road ahead, and there are still many question marks with this US team. Most notably, who is going to defend in the big games? That has definitely been a weakness for this squad, and hopefully Klinsmann can get the most out of what they have for these games.

The first matchup for the US is a road test at Honduras. Honduras is no slouch (they knocked Canada out
of qualifying with a 8-1 thumping), and the hostile environment of these first games will be a fantastic
test for them. The big question will be, can the US respond on Wednesday? Even more of a test will
be if they can sustain a full game. The US has been rather sporadic as of late. They defeated Mexico,

in Mexico, during an August friendly, and turned that around by losing to Jamaica in September. While
they haven’t lost since that match (Defeated Jamaica, Antigua&Barbuda and Guatemala and drew with
Russia and Canada) they looked incredibly bland in their performance vs Canada just a few days ago.

That lack-luster performance was surprising due to the nature of that game. Klinsmann gave a bunch of
MLS stars the opportunity to prove their talents by playing them, and nobody really seemed to want it.
It looks like the US will be back to relying on international stars Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Herculez
Gomez and Michael Bradley to carry this team. While these players are definitely good enough to do
this, seeing some youth or some fresh faces would have been really nice. But we will have to hope that
the veterans can carry the team, while the younger players get the occasional opportunity to build their
skills.

Picture found here

While I am an obvious fan, I do think that Klinsmann has gotten this team playing well recently. Hiccups will happen, but overall Klinsmann is starting to get this US squad clicking into his gameplan. I say the US wins this 2-1, but not without its heart-attack moments for the US fans.

In the second game, Mexico hosts Jamaica in a  game that I predict to be at least a 3 goal embarrassment. While Jamaica is a decent and   scrappy team, they just don’t have the skills to win in Mexico. Mexico is going to roll over them, and throw a clean sheet. I predict this to be 3-0, at best.

Finally Panama hosts Costa Rica. Panama is the host and the better team. Costa Rica will come out
strong in this game, but Panama and the home crowd will run Costa Rica into the ground. Panama had a
solid qualifying session in the last group, and should continue this with a 1-0 victory over Costa Rica.

Those are my predictions and a look-forward to the matches Wednesday!

We’re U-S-A…
and we’re going ALL THE WAY!