After waiting so long to find out the home venue for the first CONCACAF Hexagonal Round qualifying home match, U.S. fans look like they might not be waiting so long to find out the identities of the remaining venues.
Less than a week after U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati revealed that the remaining four home qualifiers will be played at MLS venues, Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl tweeted out a list of venues he is hearing will be chosen (and no, there are no surprises):
Source: USSF aiming for home WCQ venues June 11 (PAN) Seattle; June 18 (HON) Salt Lake; Sept 10 (MEX) Columbus; Oct 11 (JAM) Kansas City.
As if the beginning of The Hex wasn't enough to get you out of bed this morning, Revolution fans have a little extra incentive today: a close-up look at their star striker in a Honduras uniform. We all saw Jerry last summer at the Olympics, but that particular tournament is a modified U-23 format, so this may be the first look many fans are getting at him with the full national team.
While the U.S. men's national team will be trying to avoid falling further behind Jamaica in
Group A on Tuesday, 10 other CONCACAF teams will be looking to improve their chances of reaching
the Hexagonal round of qualiyfing in what are sure to be intense and intriguing matches.
The final round of matches in the second round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying might as well
not be played, as all the teams to advance are now known.
The six teams to secure their passage into the third round of qualifying were finalized on
Friday, with Canada being one of the teams to secure its passage.
And from the looks of things this is about as easy a path as the USA could hope for. No real
threats until the Hexagon.
The USA enters in Round 3 (of 4) and has been drawn into Group A with Jamaica & the winners of what
look to be the 2 weakest groups from the previous round (Rd 2) E & F.
Rather than let this wait till morning, I thought I'd just float a single, rambling thought while
the game is fresh in the memory...
Great game. Great final. The better team won and the hex is lifted. Old Mexico would have gone down
2-0 and proceeded to self-destruct. New Mexico played their game and deserved to win because of it.
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras It is the worst possible start for the U.S. Men's National team as they embark on gauntlet that is the Hexagonal Round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, but the good thing about turning in such a flat and uninspired performance in their HEX opener is the fact they have nine more matches to turn things around.
"Until then the door is open." At the end of this week Jürgen Klinsmann will announce the 23
players he has called in for the September qualifiers, a home and away set against the Reggae Boys
of Jamaica. These two matches against one of the strongest of the second tier teams in CONCACAF
present the Americans with a chance to punch their ticket for the next round of qualifying, the
Hex, and could bring.
Call it what you want: a curse, a hex, some kind of hoodoo, whatever. Last night's victory for
the United States over Mexico was an amazing, monumental achievement, and it lifted the malaise
that has hovered over the USMNT when traveling south of the border for 75 years. This mystical
spell has been broken, and nothing will ever be the same for either team.
Only two days separate the U.S. men's national team from the start of its 2014 World Cup
qualifying campaign, but plenty of questions about the team still remain after the three summer
friendlies ended with mixed results.
Whether it was tired legs at the end of a three-games-in-nine-days stretch or Canada's ability
to stymie the U.
There were no goals, and few quality scoring chances, only question marks and some concern for
the U.S. national team as it heads toward World Cup qualifying following Sunday's 0-0 draw against
Canada.
Credit to the Canadians, they stayed organized and compact and never let the Americans get
comfortable in the final third.
Tuesday's match is on BeIN sports with coverage starting at 12:30 and kickoff right about 1 PM. Connections to the Seattle Sounders are as strong as they've ever been for a World Cup Qualifier.
A road match in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying is about getting points. Either a win or a draw sets the United States up well for the rest of their journey to Brazil 2014.
Admit it. If you are a U.S. Men's National Team fan who likes traveling for big national team matches you have probably spent an irrational amount of time scouring flight prices and checking Twitter and your email repeatedly for any sort of word on just where the five home World Cup qualifiers for the USMNT will be this year.
Today US Soccer announced which city will be hosting the USA's third and final home game of this
round of qualifying against Guatemala. The USA will be coming back to Kansas City and Livestrong
Sporting Park for the game on October 16th. It'll be the third time the USA has played in Kansas
City, the second World Cup qualifier, and the second time at Livestrong Sporting Park.
I put this blog on hiatus shortly before Christmas last year with the promise of being back in
the new year with a clearer idea for the future. This might not be what anyone thinks of as "the
new year", but here I am and it's not last year.
I've written and re-written this post countless times, but it always degenerates into a verbose,
self-indulgent trip down memory lane.
Given that Sam Allardyce supposedly had the hex over us while he was in charge at Bolton, it was
interesting to find out that we've actually won 9 out of our last ten games against Bolton in the
league. Until today, our last failure to beat Bolton was the rather galling 2-1 defeat last year,
when Nasri choked, and we failed to defend our set-pieces.
Since they last won the FA Cup in 1991, Tottenham Hotspur reached the semi-finals of the
competition on six occasions and lost every time. It is, perhaps, possible that this has has effect
on the inner psychology of a club. Something close to indefinable, in the furrowed brows of the
supporters when the final comes into view, in the words of journalists and the quietened mutterings
of the club's office staff, a self-perpetuating and self-defeating cloud that hangs over the entire
institution.
Chelsea travel to the Midlands on Saturday afternoon in desperate need of a full set of points.
However, this match has shaped into something more altogether after today's news regarding Aston
Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov.
Good player, better man
Villa revealed today that Petrov has been diagnosed with acute leukemia.
* In terms of stupid statistics, the one that was frequently mentioned before the game yesterday -
that Arsenal hadn't won a league match against QPR in over a decade - was particularly stupid. They
haven't been in the prem for that long, that's why, not because they have some form of hex over us.
For better or worse, the planets seem to be fatefully aligning at Manchester United of late at
least in terms of their striking options. The dismal trough of slurry in which Wayne
Rooney currently finds himself knee-deep would certainly be a much more pressing issue in
United circles were it not for the perceived shift in 'talisman duties' to one Dimitar
Berbatov who is finally hitting his stride/saunter at Old Trafford.
KINGS OF THE DRAW! KINGS OF THE DRAW! KINGS OF THE DRAW!
Shoot me.
Add DC United to the list of teams that have succumbed to the Chicago Fire's unstoppable draw
powers. Another disappointing, disgusting 1-1 home draw. Look things have gotten so bad that my
indoor team wore Fire kits for our game tonight and we DREW 6-6 in INDOOR SOCCER.
It could be the defining game of the 2010/2011 Indonesia Super League season.
Persipura have led the ISL since putting Pelita Jaya to the sword way back in September. They
have been ruthless and relentless, steamrollering lesser teams and happy to snatch a point when
against stronger opposition.
The hex for MLS clubs in Mexico has finally been broken.Â
Marvin Chavez scored in the 66th minute to give FC Dallas a 1-0 victory over Pumas UNAM in their
Group C opener. With the win, Dallas become the first team from MLS to win in Mexico in the
CONCACAF Champions League 24 tries south of the border.
With a 1-0 win in Rochester the Fire advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup tournament
and will now face the New York Red Bulls at Toyota Park on July 12. The Columbus Crew were upset by
the Richmond Kickers and were the only MLS side not to advance. The Fire Premier team was defeated
by Sporting Kansas City 3-0.
Today's world is a modern world. A world in which even the most ghastly looking man can get arm
candy after making countless surgical alterations to his face and doctors cure diseases before
they're even discovered. A world in which you can no longer avoid annoying relatives who live far
away thanks to video chatting and in which the moon will get its own hot-dog stand any day now.
When does coincidence become a curse? I honestly don't know but I think that someone recently put a
hex on Metro coaches of old. Check out the victims list from the last 7 days: back in the day
gaffer Carlos Queiroz got the boot from Portugal last week, Juan Carlos "The Professor" Osorio just
got the chop down in Columbia and there are rumors of "Trader" Mo Johnston's demise in Toronto.
Exaggerate them, make them seem worse than they are, really stretch out the time it will take
for the player to come back.
Why?
Is it not obvious?
This new Walcott injury and the manager's comments on the official website seem not quite
fitting to me, on one hand the injury is not as bad as expected as the scan is clear, but then he
says it will be up to 6 weeks till we see him again in an Arsenal shirt.
The United States begins the final round of World Cup Qualifying today against a familiar face to Revs fans: Jerry Bengtson. On the road, in a tough environment, in the middle of a hot day, can the Yanks get their final round started off on the right foot?
As if the beginning of The Hex wasn't enough to get you out of bed this morning, Revolution fans have a little extra incentive today: a close-up look at their star striker in a Honduras uniform.
I put this blog on hiatus shortly before Christmas last year with the promise of being back in the new year with a clearer idea for the future. This might not be what anyone thinks of as "the new year", but here I am and it's not last year.
I've written and re-written this post countless times, but it always degenerates into a verbose, self-indulgent trip down memory lane.
How great would it be to have something like this at or around BBVA Compass Stadium? Destroying
the essence of our soon-to-be-departed foe. Houston Dynamo concessions people (or at least food
trucks serving crowds in the immediate environment), let's get on it!
Stadium flavor: Hex the Next
"you might have stabbed a few pretzels into a giant, jersey-wearing voodoo doll doughnut
.
Thailand were sent crashing out of the AFF Cup at the group stage for the first time since
when?
Surprisingly, given that Indonesia had already qualified for the semi final, coach Alfred Riedl
only made three changes, bringing in M Roby at the back and Eka Ramdani and while Bryan Robson made
four changes including, perhaps surprisingly dropping top scorer Surayoot and bringing in Kirati.
The Serie has gone wild. Today's match was a cracker with plenty of attacking football by both
sides. However, Argentinian playmaker Javier Pastore caught the eye with his skill getting the
first goal was all his after Marco Storari blocked Mauricio Piniella's effort. The match was barely
two minutes old.
The International break is over and as it is almost always the case, half of those who left Arsenal
in a healthy state come back with minor or major knocks to heal. Is it a Hex, ...
In the grand tradition of this site, allow me to step over the still cooling ashes of Curt Onalfo's
career to discuss who comes next to manage DC United. Let me introduce this by saying that Kevin
Payne has already ruled out hiring Olsen next-season on a non-interim basis. Thus, he's not on the
list.
