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USMNT drawn with Canada, Cuba in Concacaf Nations League

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The inaugural Concacaf Nations League is one step closer to kicking off and the U.S. Men’s National Team learned their fate in League A.

Wednesday evening saw Gregg Berhalter’s side get paired with Canada and Cuba in Group A. In qualifying, Canada finished with a perfect 4-0-0 record while Cuba posted a 3-1-0 record to earn their places in League A with the USMNT. Haiti, Martinique, Curacao, and Bermuda rounded out the six sides who qualified for League A.

Also in League A is Concacaf heavyweights Mexico and Costa Rica who have been placed in Groups B and D respectively. El Tri will deal with the likes of Panama and Bermuda while Honduras and Trinidad & Tobago have been paired in Group C.

The USMNT will begin group stage action later this October with a champion in each league to be crowned. The final will take place in March 2020.

Here’s a closer look at the entire Concacaf Nations League draw:

League A

Group A: United States, Canada, Cuba.

Group B: Mexico, Panama, Bermuda.

Group C: Honduras, Trinidad & Tobago, Martinique.

Group D: Costa Rica, Haiti, Curacao.

League B

Group A: French Guiana, St. Kitts & Nevis, Belice, Granada.

Group B: El Salvador, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Montserrat.

Group C: Jamaica, Guyana, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica.

Group D: Nicaragua, Suriname, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Aruba.

League C

Group A: Barbados, Cayman Islands, St. Martin, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Group B: Bonaire, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands.

Group C: Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Anguila.

Group D: Guadalupe, Turks & Caicos, St. Maarten.

Comments

  1. Still don’t like this Nations League set up. I get that with Europe starting their own League of Nations, our options for friendlies are limited. But it’s brutal to think that most of USMNT’s games between now and WC 2022 (fingers crossed…) will be against the likes of Canada and Cuba. We already play many of these teams in qualifying and for the Gold Cup. I’m annoyed that US Soccer plays nice with Concacaf when we are basically propping them up (along with Mexico and CR). How about exploring games against African and Asian teams, along with Conmebol?

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    • ITA. It might make sense IF we put the highest ranked nations in League A like Europe is doing. Having 6 minnows including Bermuda in Curacao in League A makes a mockery of the concept. IMO you should take the Hex teams plus a few other top ranked sides in League A and put the also rans like Canada and Cuba in League B.

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    • First off, we barely escaped the semis last time, and on paper lately have been 4 or 5 in Concacaf, and struggling in friendlies, so there is a hint of nostalgia and arrogance in acting like this is some elite squad being denied its due. Canada actually often plays us tight so I want to see we have in fact grown. Second, I expected more teams in each group (before UEFA started and I saw how it was being done), and I think that would address a lot of concerns. If you went to 5-6 team groups and played each other once, it goofs up the home-road balance but then you would definitely get 2-3 Hex type teams per group. The way it was done was more like a GC group which can be a crapshoot cakewalk, or pose some difficulty, all based on the draw. Third, in terms of the diversity of teams at different levels, this is American-centric, most of the teams down the order a little bit would be looking for variety so their team can find its level. Only a top dog is like why is Canada in my group. I know we almost rig regional play in our favor but the idea regional teams would do it again on purpose if they could structure how the tournaments would go? No. If we are as good as we think, we slide through the group and get tougher knockout games, as well as GC. But last cycle even a semi quali group was work. So I want to see us prove it.

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    • Worth noting Leagues B and C have some 4 team groups. If you did 3 4-team groups instead of 4 3-team groups, you’d probably pick up a better team in our group. You’d then have to advance a second place lucky loser to the semis but I wouldn’t cry about that.

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      • Right but then the 2nd place team from the weakest group is always going through because they will beat up on 3rd and 4th. Also encourages teams to run up the score so they can top other group’s teams on GD. I’m not sure if it was you or someone else, but if you just want to make it top end competitive 2 groups of 4 with 1st and 2nd advancing to semis is optimal. Concacaf wants to get more teams involved in higher competition though so the hex isn’t always the same 6 or 7 and GC isn’t the same 12-14.

  2. I believe it is home and away round robin in the group stage. Last place moves down to League B. First place moves on to a semi & final. So, there’s the Gold Cup champ (still every 2 years, I believe — maybe playoff is gone because Confederations Cup is gone/going) plus the Nations League champ. Lots of crowns to be had.

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      • Probably because it has been a long day Gomer, but that made me laugh out loud. My family is now looking at me very strangely.

    • Group first advances to semis (and then a final) in March 2020. Group first and second stay in League A for next cycle. Group last is relegated to League B next cycle.

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  3. Michael Bradley on every picture. Perfect and free marketing for the old -boy SUM crowd. Reporters have no problem being little sheep.

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      • Or…. Could it simply be he is a player with 140 caps who every single coach who thinks he still has it has been fired? Hmmmm….?

    • Or maybe it’s because images of Michael Bradley are reliable clickbait for easily triggered haters. Seems like it worked, too. Who’s the sheep here?

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      • You are, if you ask me…?. I mean a picture is only bait if the player is a game-changer, helps WIN during clutch moments and is not a liability to his team. We ALL SUFFER the mediocrity of the USMNT not just a selected few, therefore WE ALL ARE SHEEP being subjected to the same ol’ players doing the same ol’ $h!t expecting different results……. so bababababababa, Food for thought ?

      • More to the point, I’m looking at the main page right now and the claim that Michael Bradley’s photo is in every USMNT article is just totally false. This is in fact the only article…. by contrast Zardes is featured in like 5. Some people just see what they want to see…

      • Don’t care about his picture…lol, just his abilities and contribution on the field. Because when he sucks WE ALL SUCK…simple

  4. Jury is still very much out to me on this whole “Nation’s League” concept. The European version wasn’t as pointless as I expected and perhaps there is something valuable in the idea. Let’s see how it goes.

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    • In CONCACAF, it’s very much in place to build up the bottom of the Confederation, where a lot of the teams struggle to find or just flat-out refuse to play games. This go-round saw some also-rans take advantage of the qualifying aspect of things and step up to the plate (Bermuda & Montserrat, the latter just missed GC qualification, which is kinda nuts if you klnow their history)…which is what they are hoping for. We’ll see if that continues once the League itself actually starts. In its current form, it’s not really for the top teams at all…though it at least guarantees matches for all in windows that have, and will continue to see a decrease in available teams to play.
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      As far as this goes, I always hate playing Canada because of their cynical style of play, but perhaps with Davies and some other young talent they may try and open things up. Cuba has been improving…I guess it helps that players have more of an option to leave nowadays rather than waiting to disappear on trips to Wal-Mart during the Gold Cup.

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      • “I always hate playing Canada because of their cynical style of play”
        LoL. What’s that saying- look out, when you point a finger at someone, you have 3 pointing back. If I had a nickel for every time another team has said that about USMNT….

    • I think they kind of jacked up Europe where the larger group UEFA qualifying seemed to work fine. Basically like they already do for world cup. Maybe the idea wasn’t to make it so much like world cup qualifying all over, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

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      • In Europe it is a time factor, you couldn’t do a large group nations league, large group Euro qualifying and large group WC qualifying. There just aren’t enough dates to make it work.

  5. Should be noted Cuba beat Dom. Republic, Grenada, and Turks and Caicos. Canada beat French Guyana, st. Kitts, Dominica, and US Virgin Islands.

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