Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny199r
"Should make the World Cup"?
Concacaf has 3.5 spots. Right now I'd say Mexico, Costa Rica and USA are almost automatic. For the .5 spot that leaves Panama, Honduras, Jamaica, T&T, Canada.
My bet is Panama to take the spot. But can we say we're better or have played better than the other teams? Not really. Also remember that some of these teams have huge home field advantages which we don't also have.
"Could make the World Cup" is a lot more realistic than "should" right now.
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With a quality RB... yep I have no issues standing by that. Whether they can execute in Central America finally is another matter, but on paper, one of the top 3.5 teams in concacaf now with that addition? no question.
If you develop (or recruit ha) a really quality RB into the mix, something that is a major gap right now, we are every bit as good as any team outside of Mexico or Canada in CONCACAF on paper with Arfield right now.
I think Hoilett-Hutch-Arfield are three of the best midfielders in concacaf outside of the big two teams and Andy Najar. A midfield rounded out with Will Johnson and Akindele is as good or better than every team in Concacaf outside the big 2. Cavallini and Larin are two of the best forwards in Conacaf if Cavallini comes back. If the backline was a little stronger I have no reservation saying they would be favorites for one of the 1.5 spots. RB is brutal. CB is passable but not great. If Gasparrotto keeps developing so quickly he could be a key piece at CB by next year maybe (there are also two potential "recruits" in Vittoria and Ferreira) but that's no help at RB. Playing Ouimette there didn't look like a long term solution. Aird can play there but I've heard he is more of a RM/RW
The ticos roster was weaker than Canada's in the last round of qualis (and Panama was even worse, they have nobody playing at a decent level in europe anymore), they were mostly players from the Costa Rican domestic league with Ruiz, Campbell and a couple decent export defenders. I don't know what the situation is with some of their foreign players not accepting call ups but they barely beat Haiti at home.
Panama, like Honduras, has declined a lot in quality since the last cycle. I think that if Costa Rica got all their players back, Canada could go toe to toe with them these days.