Quote:
Originally Posted by Matty81
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.
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We will agree to disagree. Costa Rica, U.S and Mexico all have stronger pools than us. Look at how many players Costa Rica have playing in top tier European leagues. Kendell Watson isn't even a starter for them at CB, that's crazy!
Larin and Cavillini are not great forwards. Larin hasn't shown he can get it done for Canada yet, he had chances to win the El Salvador game, but didn't. He's good, but not elite, even by Concacaf standards.
We still haven't won in Central American in forever. Costa Rica barely beating Haiti at home isn't a slight, Haiti are much improved, have some really good players and are athletic as hell. Panama has never had many players in Europe, doesn't mean they aren't good. They've always primarily been domestic and Central American based. Many play in Colombia too.
Again, I don't see why we should be favoured over any of these countries, even if we got a new RB. At best it's a coin toss, at worst, they're better (T&T have beaten Panama away and drawn Mexico twice this year!, twice!, I'd love to see us do that!)