New National Coach for Puerto Rico, Jeaustin Campos!

Jeaustin Campos, national team player for Coata Rica, Successful coach for Saprissa, and he helped the local club reach the final 4 in the CArribbean Cup Club competition 2010.

The USA is not the only national team getting a new coach. Puerto Rico is indicating that they now want a full time national coach/technical director. Puerto Rico has been in contact with Costa Rican, Jeaustin Campos. Campos was an accomplished player for the Costa Rican national team. He is only 40 years old. He already has coaching experience. Campos coached the most famous club in Costa Rica, Saprissa. At Saprissa he won 4 Championships for Saprissa and 2 CONCACAF Championships. Then Campos moved to Puerto Rico Soccer League, club team Bayamon FC. His also had great success with this new club in the Puerto Rico league. He helped this club qualify for the Final 4 in the Caribbean Cup Championship.




Collin Clarke is the present coach who has done extremely will with the PR Islanders. Clarke has coached both the Isnanders and the national team since 2008.  The federation wanted a full time national team director/coach and a fresh start to the 2014 World Cup Qualifying. Campos is a quality coach, who will want to mold the Puero Rico national the way he wants. He will not have much time to do this. Puerto Rico starts Septemper 2nd against St Kitts. The next game may well determine their faith. This game is Sept 6th against Canada in Puerto Rico.

Puero Rico's group. First game Sept 2nd 2011

Jurgen Klinmsmann takes over

         The US national team has been lifeless since the end of the World Cup in South Africa. They have been one of the power nations with in CONCACAF however this status has been shaken. In 2011 the played 3 South American teams all on home soil and did not record a victory. US 1-1 Chile, US 1-1 Argentina, US 0-1 Paraguay. Then they were undressed by Spain 0-4 right before the Gold Cup. Sam’s Army had nothing to build on. Confidence was not built up. They then lost their first group game to Panama on home soil. This was with a veteran team. They did manage to make the final against their arch rival Mexico. This started out great. The US had a 2-0 lead and the US would soon tie Mexico with 5 Gold Cup titles and confidence would be restored. However the US gave up 4 unanswered goals. This was the final straw that something had to be done.



Sunil Gulati pulled the trigger and fired Bob Bradley last week. No, Bradley is not a bad coach but it was time for a change. The stagnancy had to be removed from US soccer. Sunil Gulati hired a Europena to take over the American camp. The European is ex-player and ex-German coach J. Klisman. I think this is a great move by Gulati. Stefan Brody has a nice article explaining how Germany was once a methodical defensive unit. Klinsman turned this unit into a smooth attacking one. The big question about this hire will be how much influence Klinsman will have over the US soccer program. There are millions of dollars invested in the youth development. The youth development is enormous that stretches through the country. How much influence will Klinsman have to change the development process.

Well, personally I just wish the US would play with the ball at their feet more. I love how Barcelona, Spain, Brazil and Mexico for that matter play the game. The players play a tight passing, tic- tack-toe, pass and run game. They control the ball and control the game. This builds confidence and demoralized your opponent. The US is almost the opposite. Their best offense is the long ball to a talented, athletic forward and can make one more and over power a defender. This is nice to get a goal but the rest of the game is not as much fun to watch.

This is a significant step in the US camp and I say it was good timing.
“No longer will the success and failures of U.S. Soccer get pinned on the rigid American style of play. By announcing the hiring of Jürgen Klinsmann yesterday, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati not only nabbed the team’s first foreign coach since 1995, he has given the keys to an offensive-minded showman unafraid to reinvent the system”

The CONCACAF draw

A quick look at Round 2

Group A  El Salvador's Group
( El Salvador, Suriname, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic.)

          This is the group of 3's. El Salvador, Suriname and Dominican Republic were all #3 ranked teams in their Pots. Cayman Isl were 5th. El Salvador plays great at Cuscatalan Stadium. They will difficult to beat there. Mexico and Costa Rica both lost in Cuscatalan Stadium. They are my clear favorites in this group. Suriname is the South American nation that could surprise us with the South American flair and attitude. They will be new to World Cup qualifying since they do not have much history here. I do not know much about Cayman Islands. Dominican Republic has been a favorite of mine to follow. They did play in the preliminary round and have not been scored on yet. Their hopes rely on Jonathan Fana (PR Islanders). I am hopeing they can keep things interesting for their fans and the group.
Prediction El Salvador easily win the group. followed by Suriname is a close fight with the Dominican Republic.

Group B     The Rivals Group 
(Trinidan & Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Bermuda)

        T&T is not the Caribbean power that dominated for a decade. T&T does not have the influence of Jack Warner overlooking the team and the games. The favorable calls for T&T will not be there this qualifying cycle. With that said I still like T&T as the favorite of this group. They have better players overall and experience. This island nation keeps going deep in the Caribbean Cups, playing many times in the Gold Cup and playing in the World Cup. They have the best domestic league in the Caribbean.
     There is a good rivaly brewing between Guyana and T&T. Many players on the Guyana’s national team play in the T&T league. This will be interesting how they play and interact when they play each other. Guyana recently lost to T&T in the Caribbean Cup 2010 but the game was in T&T. The score was 2-1. Guyana will be quite excited to play T&T in Guyana finally. Barbados did not advance in the Caribbean Cup 2010 but they did tie St Kitts and St Vincent all with 5 points. They could not advance because of GD. Barbados will keep thing tight. Bermuda is the mystery team. Not only did they not play in the preliminary round of this World Cup qualifying, they did not enter in the Caribbean Cup 2010. They are a great unknown and they may be biding their time for this WC Cycle. There will not be a huge gap in points when this group is done.
Prediction...T&T first followed closely bu Guyana

Group C      Panama and the rest
 (Panama, Nicaragua, Bahamas, Dominica)

      Panama is the strongest nation in Pot 1 and they got the easiest draw. They got the last seed in Pot 2 Dominica. They then got the last seed in Pot 3 (Nicaragua). They followed this up with Bahamas a #5 seed. Panama should dominate from start to finish. Their fans are already looking at their seed in the next round. (Panama if they win would be placed with Honduras, Cuba and the winner of Group Group D..Canada possibly). Dominica is a weak Caribbean nation and I do no see them advancing here. Nicaragua fans are very glum with drawing Panama. I think they would have liked anyone but Panama in this draw.           Nicaragua has slowely been building Nicaragua soccer, from the national team, the new national stadium, their youth programs and the Nicaragua national league. This building process is being undertaken by Enrique Quique Llena Leon, who is from Spain. If he can implement anything like the Spanish U-19 youth teams then Nicaragua will be great fun to watch progress. This qualifying cycle was suppose to jump start the country away from baseball and into soccer. I think they end up the #2 team after all games are played. Bahamas have not been scored on yet however they drew 2 Central American teams. The party is over here. Prediction Panama then my upset for #2 ..Nicaragua

Group D            Canada vs the Caribbean
 (Canada, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and St Lucia)

It will be fun to listen to the Canadian media critique their team as this group progresses. The Canucks expect to win and I expect them to win also. St Kitts was a # 4 seed on Pot 2 but Puerto Rico was a #1 seed from Pot 3. Canada can practice their ball control philosophy against the weaker Caribbean opponents in this round. The Canuck fans are estatice with their semi-final grouping also. The winner of this group will not have to face Us nor Mexico in the semi finals. Puerto Rico could challenge for the 2nd spot. Puerto Rico could even challenge for the top spot but not win it. They have a few players who play for the Puerto Rico Islanders so they will be use to the travel, international games and the professionalism. St Lucia will not make this group easy. They may make it miserable for the group with their tough play.
Prediction Canada followed by another upset...Puerto Rico

Group E           Central America vs Caribbean
(Guatemala, Belize, Grenada, St Vincent).

    This will be interesting how the Central American nations stakc up against the Caribbean nations. Grenada is ranked above Guatemala and St Vincent is ranked above Belize. I think Guatemala will get more points than Grenada and Belize with win with more points than St Vincents.                                                     The top seed Grenada does not look like the favorite here. Guatemala, the Central American nation will be to hard to beat at home. Guatemala also just demolished Grenada 4-0 in the Gold Cup 2011. Guatemala in my mind is the clear favorite. I am very glad they were not grouped with Panama nor El Salvador. However they did draw fellow Central American foe Belize.  All of Guatemala is celebrating with this draw. Grenada has played well over the last few year, qualifying for the Gold Cup 2 times in a row. This is a great accomplishment. This group will not be as hard as the Gold Cup groups however they will have to prove themselves here. Belize, I feel sorry for. The governement is interfering to much and the federation FBB is not that good. They do however finally have a home pitch to play on. St Vincent has earned the nick name the "giant killer". This small group of islands can put togather a good team. They will not win the group but could come up with intersting results.
Prediction Guatemala then Grenada however Belize and St vinny will not be far behind Grenada


Group F               The Caribbean Group
(Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao, US Virgin Islands)

This group has all Caribbean nations playing. The favorites Haiti are in disarray after their earthquake. FIFA is restoring their playing pitch and stadium for the qualifying rounds but the team will be hard pressed to overcome the dismay that still exists in the country. I believe this group has the weakest teams overall. Antigua and Barbuda was the #1 seed in Pot 2 and Haiti was the #6 seed in Pot 1. So these two nations should battle for top spot.  I am going to go for the upset here and believe A&B can win this group. Curacao will take over the previous records of the Netherland Antilles and will keep pace with Haiti and A&B. They will keep pace because I see them getting 2 wins against the USVI. The USVI will be cannon foder in this group. They will be lucky to win even at home.
Prediction A&B is my upset of this round. followed by Haiti. Ouch

Semi Finals
      No one wanted Cost Rica in their group since they were the best nation in their pot. Mexico was saddled with this team, thus making it unpleasant for both nations. If my prediction are correct here are the semi finals, (I will add teams that could win).
Group A
USA
Jamaica
Guatemala
Haiti / Antigua and Barbuda

Group B
Mexico
Costa Rica
El Salvador
T&T/Guyana

Group C
Honduras
Cuba
Canada
Panama

The Hexagonal "Hex"
    6 nations from the Semi-finals will advance to the Hex. The top 2 nations of each semi-final group will advance to the Hex. These nations will play a home/away series. The 3 top nations will qualify for the World Cup. The 4th place team will enter into a playoff with the Ocianic Confederation. More than likely New Zealand.

Second Round CONCACAF



  

Round 2

This will be the most anticipated and comprehensive for World Cup Qualifying for CONCACAF. Never before have there been so many teams eager to qualify. Most nations believe they can win their group. The last qualifying round had 24 nations in a home/away series to get to the Semi-finals (Final 12 teams). Some of these smaller teams were slaughtered in this round against the powers of CONCACAF. USA beat Barbados 9-0 aggregate, Mexico belted Belize 9-0 aggregate and Jamaica blasted Bahamas 13-0. These were not competitive games. Most nations waited 4 years for these 2 games and were bounced early. They had to wait another 4 years to qualify again. This format did not promote the sport at all.

This new revised qualification will have 24 nations play in 6 groups of 4 teams. In these groups each nation will play a home and away series against the other 3 nations. This will give each team a minimum of 6 games. Most of these nations will be hosting 3 World Cup Qualification games for the first time. This is great for the host country to promote the sport and get the country behind the national team.

Another aspect I like is that the power nations (top 6 nations like USA, Mexico, Costa Rica) are not involved in Round 2. This will make the Round much more competitive and interesting. The favorite nations (pot 4) are not “shoe ins” to qualify for the next round. This will make the groups so much more interesting to watch.

A few notes.

Pot 4

          I see Panama as the top team here. The only way they lose is they become over confident and choke. Canada will want to prove themselves after a disasterous Gold Cup. El Salvador should  not lose at Cuscatalan. Grenada is the newcomer so surprises are expected, Trinidad and Tobago wants to regain their past dominance over the Caribbean and Haiti is very happy to have their national stadium remodeled by FIFA after the earthquake.

Pot 5

Guatemala should be in Pot 4 so no one in Pot 4 will want them in their group. They are extremely good at home. I personally do not want them group with Panama or El Salvador. Hoping they get a Caribbean nation. The South American Nations of Suriname and Guyana will not play each other in this group. This will be great to see how they compete at home against most Caribbean teams. so we can see how they fair against other CONCACAF nations. Dominica is the weakest and I am not expection much from them.

Pot 6

We have been waiting for the Puerto Rico national team to compete as well as the Puerto Rico Islanders. I hope it is this fall in this qualifying round. I want their fans to pack their stadium. They could surprise will a favorable draw and get a Caribbean teams from Pot 4 and Pot 5. Barbados and Curacao will also make noise in a favorable draw but I do not expect either to win their group. Nicaragua is also hoping they avoid their Central American foes in this upcoming draw. They play competatively in the Central American Cup but could lack confidence against Panama, El Salvador and guatemala. They will make it difficult for any Caribbean nations to play at Estadio Cacique Diriangén. We may even see Nicaragua play in their new national stadium in Managua. Nicaragua has been slowely building thier youth program so we can see how they have progressed. They will be fun to monitor.

Pot 7

I do no see anyone from this group to advance to the next stage. We have not see Bermuda play yet but they could surprise. Dominican Republic and the Bahamas have not been scored on yet so we will have to keep an eye on them. USVI  hope they are not slaughtered and embarassed every game. Saint Lucia has played the most competative series against Aruba so far. Hopefully they can gain confidence from this win to the next round and stay focused. I have lost any faith that Belize can compete near the top in this next round. There is to much turmoil in their camp.The government and the BFF are quarrelling and this is not good for the sport in Belize. It was a shame they Belize could not host games in Belize because of this disagreement. I thought they could win a few games but this look bleak in this camp.