Comments on: CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinal Thoughts

By: abe

abe — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:18:24 +0000

Larry only few players from this current squad will actually play against the us, the mexican team is missing all of the first team this is as B team as you get. gmonsoon43 go see us VS panama and you’ll see why mexican people loses there heads.

By: gmonsoon43

gmonsoon43 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:27:53 +0000

@Mexican Football—–I agree that Mexican fans are passionate. However, throwing things(mostly beverages) on the field greatly reduces the respect they get from US fans. I am in no way saying “every Mexico fan throws beer”. In fact I would think the supporters of Mexico would be upset to see such themselves being represented poorly by other fans.

When someone turns on the Panama-Mexico game and they see a player escorted off the field to try and protect him from fans throwing drinks at him how can they have any respect for that! This is even after the teams captain comes over and pleads with the fans to not throw anything. And what is the players offense to have the fans upset, being kicked my Mexico’s manager.

By: Enrique

Enrique — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:48:03 +0000

Kartik, I love your site but you have really drank the kool-aid on the Mexican team and the FMF. I agree that Costa Rica plays better on turf but let’s not get crazy and believe that Mexico is going to walk all over CR. Javier Aguirre is the right coach for Mexico but he is a better motivator than tactician and I doubt he out-coaches Kenton.

Costa Rica traditionally has more trouble against Honduras than Mexico, the mistakes defensively Mexico made against Haiti have been costly for them against better teams(ex.: Panama). Costa Rica has the best coaching, chemistry and team play of all the teams in Concacaf even though they have less talent than the US, Mexico, and Honduras. I expect an aggressive Costa Rica to push Mexico back; the team who makes mistakes loses. These two teams come with their base teams, Mexico will use the majority of these players, especially the backline due to all their injuries.

I think that for so long we think of Mexico as the #1 team in Concacaf that we don’t realize that the distance between the US, Mexico, CR and Honduras are shorter now than ever before. It’s not easy playing any of these teams and they prove their strengths at home. Some Mexican players and media to this day look down on other teams and that is false confidence that only damages their mentality. Just because a lot of the games are gritty and ugly it does not mean that there is no talent, if not, Concacaf wouldn’t have the largest amount of players playing in Europe than ever before.

Agree with you about Dos Santos, he needs a smaller club to show off his talents and really mature as a player. Let’s also mention Beckerman from the US, Borges of CR and Escober from Honduras that are showing really good play.

By: Ferd

Ferd — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:45:40 +0000

Turf is here to stay. The sooner we get used to it the better. I don’t like it either, but FIFA and CONCACAF both say it is okay and MLS, USL and Colleges all play on it as well.

By: Joey Clams

Joey Clams — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:35:46 +0000

Andrew, what are you banging on about? Fields THAT narrow? Please. And artificial turf – even the state of the art field turfs – are terrible.

By: remember the crew

remember the crew — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:30:47 +0000

From where I was sitting, Tri > USMT technically, and w/ Dos Santos, maybe even athletically as well. Better get some first team players for the final or it’s not gonna be pretty.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:15:04 +0000

I personally find all the talk of turf fairly pointless. The fact of the matter is that Soccer in the US has not evolved to the point that 80,000 seat stadiums are being built primarily for this sport. The fact that 30,000 seat soccer stadiums are popping up with grass fields. Thats a good start. For now, if a huge crowd is expected, they have to play at a stadium built for a different purpose. Your views on turf have been well documented…constantly discounting results of games on turf really detract from an otherwise decent job of analysis. We all understand that you dislike turf…you’ve made the point VERY clear. The constant preaching on it’s negative point really dtracts from the site.

By: A-RET

A-RET — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:33:24 +0000

Andrew- Kartik is 100% right about the turf and narrow pitches. In fact I wish he’d talk about the college football lines more again, like those which reappeared yesterday at the Miami FC game. Thank god no Rice-Eccles this year in MLS but boo Houston- you cannot get that stadium built soon enough.

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:15:35 +0000

Honduras has performed well in this event. They are playing very few regulars. Compare their squad from the team we faced last month in Chicago and you’ll see this more a “B” team than Mexico has. Mexico in fact contrary to what you nd others have said does not really have a “B” team. Sure, it’s a different team than Sven or Sanchez played but Aguirre has different ideas about players. With the exception of Marquez and Vela this is his team right here. This is the team he is taking to South Africa if they qualify. What this does is give Mexico a huge competitive advantage over the USA or Honduras both of whom have already crushed Mexico in qualifying this year.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:52:43 +0000

Kartik makes some good points about the soccer but his obsession with Artificial turf and narrow pitches clouds his world view. He seems to not realize the new field turf plays almost identical to grass and that narrow pitches are common in England and South Africa ironically where the best league in the world is and the World Cup next year. He makes good points always about tactics and players but these two silly and I mean totally silly and snobbish obsessions kinda ruin it for me, Kartik.