Debate Saturday

We all know that group D is considered to be the group of death, and should have the most exciting games in the group stage.  But lets break it down even further than that.  This group starts off with Canada battling Jamaica on opening day.  Both of these teams have a serious chance at making it to the knock out stage but those plans could be altered depending on the outcome of this game.  That leaves us with the question, which team would be hurt more by a loss?

Kirk's pick: Jamaica would be more hurt by a loss.  Based on the schedule alone, Jamaica starts off with Canada, and follows up with Germany.  Toughest possible way to start out in this group.  If Jamaica does in fact lose to Canada, they will have very little room for error in the rest of the group stage.  There will be a lot of pressure on them to beat Germany.  Starting out with an 0-2 record could be fatal, and would almost surely deny entry to the knockout stage.  All the exhibition games will be meaningless if they can't continue their winning ways early in the tournament.  These first 2 games will show us if Jamaica is a contender or a pretender.

Mike's pick: Canada would be more hurt by the loss tonight.  They are not a team that is good from playing from behind even within the group and they know how important it is to stay competitive point-wise within their pool. Canada will be desperate to prove they belong in in the elite class of teams given how much flak they take. The last time Canada place so well they dropped all the way to 15th. They need to prove they can be consistently good. The other point about Canda is that their style of play causes a lot of their games to close. A fluke goal here or there could lead too dropped points later. Those points could mean the difference between advancing and bombing out.