EJ article on Y-A

Lyle. Our group in CONCACAF is hardly tough - Guatamala, T&T, and Cuba (Group A). Mexico has a greater chance not to qualify than us - they have to be one of the best two out of Canada, Honduras, and Jamaica (Group B).

...and yes, I'm assuming that either USA or Mexico could make the top three out of the final group of six - especially consider the relative minows that will get 2nd place in Groups A and C (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, Surinam).

CONCACAF is getting better and there are now 6 or so teams with a legitimate shot at getting the third WC spot (after USA and Mexico), but, gun for us all they want, we're improving at a faster rate than any team in CONCACAF south of the 49th parallel.

 

I am trying to take a healthy wait and see attitude with EJ. I have enough gray hairs and stomach problems to worry overly much about him. I like EJ and I certainly hope he finds his scoring boots but I don't think Roy can afford to wait and hope like I do.

 

It's going to harder than you think. Honduras, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Canada can all beat us. And if the U.S. gets an African team in their group, along with two Euros or a Euro and a South American team... getting out of the group won't be a foregone conclusion.

 

I only see Jamaica, Canada, and Mexico as able to beat us; T&T almost didn't make it to this round, given all they could handle by Bermuda. Costa Rica has lost a step and Honduras, while good at the U-23 level, doesn't really have the chops yet to challenge our full senior team.

I agree on the World Cup group, but you can't deny that, despite the odds, we've gotten it done in World Cups outside of Europe.

 

Well, we have in the last 20 years... before that we hardly ever went to the World Cup.

Honduras will be the surprise of the tournament I think. They have three or four players who may be better than anything the U.S. has. Palacios, Figueroa, and Suazo are top class.