Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Draw Date

The WCP Cup Draw will take place at the Italian Club on Friday, March 26.

The Italian Club is located on 2148 Connaught Street, just off of Lewvan and 13th Avenue. It's the best part of March, and it's always sure to be a great time. Bring your friends, and show them just how much fun the Saskatchewan Soccer community can have. See you all there!

There also seems to be some confusion as to which teams are even entered in the tournament. If you know for a fact which teams are entered, please post them in the comments so we can get some in-depth analysis going.

NEWS:

Early Favorites- The favorites for the tournament this year might surprise some people. The previous pre-tournament favorites, such as ROI, Laos, Ukraine, and Scotland, are no longer the teams they once were. ROI is the only team that looks to remain a top contender, but even they are feeling the effects of age. Laos has lost a couple key players this year, and hasn't gained any difference makers. It is uncertain as to whether Ukraine will have a team due to many difficulties in assembling players, and Scotland is unlikely to have a team.

So we're essentially left with ROI and Laos from those 4, but those two will be challenged by new and old teams this year. El Salvador, last year's runner-up, will still be strong, and France will be out for revenge with a better team as well. Can Jamaica regain some former glory? Can Serbia finally get the players they hoped would come?

New challengers will include Germany, who are always considered a top team but have never had the players to push them over the top until this year. Also, Poland looks to have added good players and will build on their surprising success last year. Afghanistan is a newcomer, and will likely have a lot of the players that made Saudi Arabia a contender last year. Canada has gained former Scotland players, and should make it back to the top ranks this year.

-To note: With Saudi Arabia not in the tournament this year, who takes their place in the top 4? With all the new teams this year, we could see a Group of Death like no other.

Any other news, please post in the comments.

7 comments:

mstrmnd said...

well lets start having a real conversation about the tournament, player transactions, and who sucks, and whose not coming. Lets start off with ES - who have they lost and who have they gained?

Al Ligator said...

I've heard they have a new goalie as well as the mvp from last year's saudi team. They'll definitely be contenders once again. Who's next?

mstrmnd said...

ROI, LAOS, and Canada?
so much hype on canada but i don't understand why? the only real impact attacker they gained was tavis was it not? everyone else they got are fillers...

Al Ligator said...

Not necessarily. They picked up other pretty good Scotland players, and a couple other players from other teams. They will be good, but it's debatable whether they'll be top 4 good. Considering the quality of all the teams, it'll be tough for anyone to get into the top 4.

scott.myrah said...

Yea nice to find real conversation. El Salvador lost their goalie but added Mark Diakiw who is one of the Huskie goalies. They also added Josip from Saudi Arabia.

As for Laos we lost two players which happened to be both our starting wingers, Jiyu and Josh Northey. We have added a couple new faces who will definitly fill the voids left.

Anonymous said...

People are name dropping on here like these guys are stars and play professional soccer. Who cares if a goalie plays for the huskies. Does that mean he's good? I don't see any Messi's out on the Regina soccer field. Sorry, but I'm being honest.

The last big name to come out of Regina was Kevin. Most of you guys don't even know some of the guys playing on the other teams (Afghanistan, Serbia, Botswana, Nigeria). They have some awesome players too. So do me a favor and stop name dropping like these guys are all-stars. I could sit here and name drop on guys that thought they where big deals here in Regina and are actually not that great.

Anonymous said...

but they stil own the tournament so why not?