Costa Rica Gets Pupusa All Over Its Face

Last night’s 1-0 loss to El Salvador complicated Costa Rica’s 2010 World Cup bid. After the last two games, Costa Rica went from 1^st to 4^th, Honduras from 2^nd to 3^rd, Mexico from 4^th to 2^nd and the US went from 3^rd to 1^st. Whew! Too much juggling, but it is same pool of players in the CONCACAF Hexagonal. And, all of them still have a chance to make the 2010 World Cup. Remember, the top 3 teams earn automatic bids to the World Cup and the 4^th place team takes on the 5^th place CONEMBOL team (ouch!). The only thing separating 3^rd place from 4^th place is 1 point. And when all of the games are played, it could come down to goal differential to determine who is an automatic bid or who has to be slapped around by Argentina, Uruguay or Colombia.

Below are the current standings after last night’s games . . . .

CONCACAF Qualifying
	GP	W	D	L	GD	Points
US	8	5	1	2	5	16
MX	8	5	0	3	3	15
HN	8	4	1	3	6	13
CR	8	4	0	4	-4	12
ES	8	2	2	4	-2	8
TT	8	1	2	5	-8	5

So, who will not earn an automatic bid for South Africa in 2010? Again, looks like Costa Rica by the slimmest of margins. Although they should earn at least 4 points in the last 2 games, so should Mexico and Honduras. These 3 countries play a “softy” in their final 2 games and they should get the valuable 3 points. The US should lose to Honduras and earn a point in a hard fought battle against CR in DC. Even though this game will feel like a home game for Los Ticos, it will not be enough to get them over the hump. And when it is all over, Costa Rica will have an acid reflux moment when it looks back to the El Salvador game they should have won or tied.

Below is what the final CONCACAF table should look like after the final games are played on October 14th . . . .

CONCACAF Qualifying
	GP	W	D	L	GD	Points
MX	10	6	1	3	5	19
HN	10	5	2	3	7	17
US	10	5	2	3	4	17
CR	10	5	1	4	-3	16
ES	10	2	3	5	-4	9
TT	10	1	3	6	-9	6

Who knows, the last time I did this I thought Mexico would end up in 4^th place and now they are in the driver’s seat. Shows you what I know. Regardless, it will be exciting. Stay tuned and support the US!

Who's going to South Africa from CONCACAF?

Before we print Mexico’s ticket to South Africa after the win against the US, we need to remember there are other teams (very good teams) competing as well. Last night, Honduras pasted Costa Rica 4-0 and is now sitting pretty at 2^nd place. The US better start feeling the pressure or it too will be in a tight spot. The current CONCACAF table looks like the following (remember, the top 3 teams advance and the 4^th place team has a playoff with the 5^th place CONMEBOL team).

	GP	W	D	L	GD	Points
Costa Rica	6	4	0	2	0	12
Honduras	6	3	1	2	4	10
United States	6	3	1	2	3	10
Mexico	6	3	0	3	-1	9
El Salvador	6	1	2	3	-2	5
T & T	6	1	2	3	-4	5

Here’s my prediction . . . . Mexico is playing well, but their recent victories were in front of pro-Mexico crowds. This will not be the case in Costa Rica and T & T. Mexico does not play well in T & T, and it will be the last match for T & T who should play the spoiler to Mexico’s automatic bid.

The US will struggle to earn two more victories in the next four matches. The biggest hurdles will come in the last two matches on the road in turbulent Honduras and at home against Costa Rica. The next two matches (El Salvador @ home and T & T on the road) are critical for the US and are their best chances to get victories. If they win these, they will go to South Africa. But like Mexico, this would require winning in T & T and the US does not play well there.

As of today, CONCACAF could be won by any of the top 4 nations. But each team is playing poorly away from home. Thus, the table stays the same and the US takes the coveted 3^rd place slot on goal differential. Mexico will play Colombia, Ecuador or Uruguay for a ticket to South Africa (my bet is on Uruguay advancing). So on October 14^th around 10PM EST after the final games are played, the CONCACAF table will look like the following . . .

	GP	W	D	L	GD	Points
Costa Rica	10	6	2	2	3	20
Honduras	10	5	1	4	5	16
United States	10	4	3	3	4	15
Mexico	10	5	0	5	1	15
El Salvador	10	2	4	4	-6	10
T & T	10	2	4	4	-7	10

Gold Cup: México vs. Haiti at Cowboys Stadium

This past Sunday I was fortunate enough to attend the very first sporting event at the new billion dollar + Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. No, it wasn't a Dallas Cowboys' football game. The first sporting event was a SOCCER game of all things. That this event is part of the regular CONCACAF Gold Cup calendar and fell on a date in July long before the first preseason game was a stroke of luck. But the genius of it was that it was a México game...which guaranteed a sell-out crowd to show off the new stadium to the Metroplex media. There were an impressive 82,252 people at this event.

All of this would be enough. But there was also a Texas Rangers' game that same night across the way from the sparkling Cowboys Stadium at the Ballpark in Arlington. (Google Maps still has it listed as "Ameriquest Field" - someone should e-mail Google that Ameriquest and the rest of their bad loan/subprime mortgage ilk are long gone). So this was an ideal test of the traffic flow for Arlington city officials. Our group drove from the University of Texas at Dallas (in lovely Richardson, Texas). Traffic was pretty smooth flowing. We arrived and parked in Lot 13 in fairly short order. We took a group of students from México who are studying this summer at UTD. For most of them it was their first chance to see their Mexican National Team. So naturally they were thrilled. They wore their "selección" jerseys, painted their faces and proudly sang the Mexican National Anthem.

I took my fancy Nikon camera to document the event. I thought I might go around the concourse to get a real sense of this new landmark stadium. But unfortunately, there's no way to go completely around the stadium like we used to in Texas Stadium. Our tickets were in Section 244 which can only be accessed by entering the stadium through Gate C.

July in Texas was also a good chance to sample the indoor air conditioning of this facility. In the heat of the summer, it held up alright. Mind you, it's not chilly like a typical Dallas shopping mall. But it was kept around 80-85 degrees pretty consistently. It still beats a preseason game at Texas Stadium in August any day.

Beers are $7. Parking was $25. (Although I understand that parking lots for Cowboys' games will cost more like $40). The tickets we bought were 2nd lower balcony and cost $29. Standing Room Only tickets were $20.

As for the structure itself, Cowboys Stadium is very impressive. It's no Bird's Nest, of course. But it's sleek, modern, and shiny. It looms on Tom Landry Highway like some heaping half of the Star Wars Death Star. I imagined what went through the minds of the Haitian National Team as they approached the enormity and grandeur of it as if they weren't anxious enough playing the mighty Mexican National Team.

Mexico's 2nd team dominated Haiti 4-0. So the Mexican fans in the 2nd half of the game spent most of their time thinking up chants to sing together, perfecting the Mexican wave and swelling with pride. One of them sitting behind me thought I was a reporter (thanks to the fancy Nikon around my neck, no doubt) and told me that he was one of the electricians who worked on the stadium. It gave him a great sense of pride to work on this great stadium but that night he was overwhelmed sharing that pride with so many countrymen.

Beckham & KG play a little reverse shoe horse

New Cowboys Stadium 2010: World Cup Final Host?

One of my favorite soccer blogs is the New York Times' GOAL. The most recent post is regarding FIFA's contingency plans being in place in case South Africa doesn't have all its ducks in a row by the end of the year. 

One of the countries that could possibly step in to host the 2010 World Cup is the USA. Jerry Jones' new Cowboys Stadium would be an ideal place for the finals. It's a summer tournament, so the finals could be hosted indoors at what will arguably be the finest facility of its kind when it opens in 2009.