CONCACAF Hexagonal, June Bad Call Edition

Schedule/Results:

Date	Home	Score (H)	Score (A)	Away	Hex Game
4-Jun	Jamaica	0	1	Mexico	6
7-Jun	Costa Rica	1	0	Honduras	4
7-Jun	Jamaica	1	2	United States	4
7-Jun	Panama	0	0	Mexico	4
11-Jun	Honduras			Jamaica	5
11-Jun	Mexico			Costa Rica	5
11-Jun	United States			Panama	5
18-Jun	Costa Rica			Panama	6
18-Jun	United States			Honduras	6

Updated Table:

Hex	GP	W	D	L	GD	GF	GA	Pnt	Pts/15	Pts/20
Costa Rica	4	2	1	1	2	5	3	7	15	19
United States	4	2	1	1	1	4	3	7	15	21
Mexico	5	1	4	0	1	3	2	7	11	18
Panama	4	1	3	0	2	5	3	6	11	16
Honduras	4	1	1	2	-2	4	6	4	13	16
Jamaica	5	0	2	3	-4	2	6	2	7	11

Question: what on earth is happening with Mexico? The win against Jamaica was surely going to kick-start this team out of its slumber, right? As you can see above, another listless scoreless draw later, that does not appear to be the case.

It's not even the lack of results (well, it kind of is), but their inability to put the ball in the net is perplexing. Only Jamaica has scored fewer goals so far in the Hex, and Jamaica is pretty clearly the 6th team in this 6-team Hex. 

I would prefer to talk about the game, but thanks to it being on beIn Sport, I couldn't watch it. Judging by the looks of the telecast from the highlights I saw, beIn Sport may simply be a high school production club. Thanks for putting money over fans, US Soccer/FIFA, well done. 

Okay, let's get to the bad call: 

See the guy in the yellow shirt on the very left of the mass of people? That's the Jamaican player who scored the tying goal in the 89th minute of Friday's USA-Jamaica game. This player is clearly in an offside position (less than 2 players between him and the goal he's trying to score on) at the time the kick is taken. 

The linesman (light blue shirt just above the "JAM" in the score box near the top of the screen) should see this (and raise his flag to signal it). Why doesn't he? I'm not sure. But he's clearly out of position. A linesman is supposed to align himself with the second closest player to his own goal-line. In the picture above, there are 3 Team USA players closer to their own goal-line (including the not-pictured keeper) than the linesman. 

Even with his terrible position, there does not appear to be anything obstructing the linesman's view of the offside player. My best guess? The linesman simply had a brainfart, and focused on the wrong section of the mass of players, and by the time he looked up to the bigger picture, he had no idea where the goalscorer had come from. And if he's not sure, he's not going to make a call. 

Luckily for him, and for the US team, they scored less than 4 minutes later to take back the win, but this could have been a disastrous embarrassment for CONCACAF. 

CONCACAF Hexagonal, June Preview

This is a big month in the CONCACAF region's quest to qualify for the World Cup. Each team plays 3 qualifiers this month, after which only 40% of the qualifying matches will remain.

Schedule/Results

4-Jun	Jamaica	0	1	Mexico	6
7-Jun	Costa Rica			Honduras	4
7-Jun	Jamaica			United States	4
7-Jun	Panama			Mexico	4
11-Jun	Honduras			Jamaica	5
11-Jun	Mexico			Costa Rica	5
11-Jun	United States			Panama	5
18-Jun	Costa Rica			Panama	6
18-Jun	United States			Honduras	6

Updated Table:

Hex	GP	W	D	L	GD	GF	GA	Pnt	Pts/15	Pts/20
Mexico	4	1	3	0	1	3	2	6	11	18
Panama	3	1	2	0	2	5	3	5	13	18
Costa Rica	3	1	1	1	1	4	3	4	15	19
United States	3	1	1	1	0	2	2	4	15	19
Honduras	3	1	1	1	-1	4	5	4	13	17
Jamaica	4	0	2	2	-3	1	4	2	10	14

For a discussion of the Pts/15 and Pts/20 columns, see the After 1 game report

In the After 3 games report, I mentioned how it looked like there might not be any pushovers in this year's hexagonal. One mere game later, that statement looks a little premature. With a home loss to Mexico, Jamaica is on track to be the minnow in this year's shark-infested qualifying waters.

The main argument against Jamaica being the weakling of this group? They achieved a scoreless draw in Mexico in their first game. A fluke in scheduling gave the Reggae Boys a chance to really put the screws to the Mexican team earlier than anticipated, but instead Mexico delivered the message that they have finally righted themselves. All accounts indicate Mexico dominated their June 4th game, and that is the Mexico we expected to see from the beginning.

That makes tonight's game extremely important for Team USA. The Americans lost in Jamaica during the previous round of qualifying, which gave US Soccer fans everywhere a bit of a cardiac event. The US recovered and moved on to the hexagonal round. This time around, a loss could be more damaging. Panama has gone into Jamaica and earned a point. Mexico earned three. Both teams currently sit above the USA in the standings (granted it's early and Mexico has played an extra game). But if Jamaica is to be this year's sacrificial lamb, the USA cannot afford to give up points that, right now, they have to expect their competitors to accumulate.

After they play Jamaica, the USA will finish June with 2 more home games. The US needs 7 points from these three games to give itself some solid footing. The team that took a 4-1 lead on Germany less than a week ago can certainly achieve that, if not better. The team that let that game turn into a dogfight that they held on to win 4-3 could easily jeopardize any (or all) of these three games.

The road game in Jamaica gives the US a chance to bank some points and give themselves some breathing room for their two home matches. It also would give themselves 4 road points with 2 more away games still to come, which is what it has historically taken to finish top-4 and guarantee at least a chance to qualify for the World Cup.

Most Adorable Goal Ever

Watch this and try not to smile.



The son of one of Chelsea's players stole the show after Chelsea's final game of their English Premier League season.