GROUP B PREVIEW

It can be said that every group at this year’s Cosmos Copa can be considered the “group of death.” However, Group B should be named the “group of mystery.” Never has there been a group that has forced so many questions to be answered before a ball has been kicked. Can NYC Ivory Coast compete with three pre-qualified teams? Can NYC Senegal prove that their performance last year wasn’t a fluke? Can NYC Ireland keep focused after their mental lapse in last year’s quarterfinals? And can NYC Greece prove that, with a full squad, they should be considered favorites?
 
Led by their extremely vocal team captain/president, Amos Zereoue, NYC Ivory Coast will be pushed to their limit in Group B, as they are the only team who did not have the luxury of pre-qualifying for the group stages. However, their improved play over the two days of qualifying saw a talented yet unorganized side find a happy medium between raw talent and organization. There is no question that the physical prowess of this Ivory Coast team will make life difficult for the rest of Group B, but they will need to focus on maintaining a solid midfield and defensive shape to make up for their lack of offensive firepower (they only scored 4 goals in as many games).
 
The early favorite to top Group B is NYC Senegal, last year’s Cosmos Copa runners-up. Senegal were an offensive juggernaut during last year’s Cosmos Copa as they scored 7 goals during the group stage, 7 against NYC Haiti in the quarterfinals, and 4 against NYC Mexico in the semi-finals before losing 3-1 to NYC Poland in the final. Physically, the Senegalese can go to likes NYC Ivory Coast, but they also have the technical ability to score on any team and are looking to carry their 2011 attacking exploits into this year’s tournament. Most importantly, they are returning the breakout star of 2011, the exceptionally named, Mamadou Doudou Diouf, who lit up the competition last year. Rejoining Diouf for 2012 is the powerful Mame Samb who earned a 2011 Best XI nod last year. Senegal is still a young team and the experience they acquired from their 2011 run, mixed with the sour taste left in their mouth from the 2011 final loss, will see NYC Senegal enter this edition of Cosmos Copa as a team to fear.
 
Another team who exited last year’s tournament with bitter feelings is NYC Ireland. The Irish lost 3-1 to NYC Mexico in a quarterfinal match in which they believed they played the better soccer. However, two late first half Mexican goals forced the Irish to ditch their usually composed and organized style of play, leaving them open at the back for much of the second half. This year, NYC Ireland will look to erase that quarterfinal loss from their memories and keep a stern focus on the task at hand. If their set-piece prowess and staunch defense, marshalled by the burly Dec Reilly, carry over from last year’s team, there is no reason why NYC Ireland cannot return the quarterfinals again. However the concern for NYC Ireland is that they seem like a team that is regressing. They made the final in 2009, the semis in 2010 and then the quarterfinal in 2009. Has the new competition caught up to the traditional powerhouses like the Irish or do they have enough to revers the trend.
 
The final team that will feature in Group B is NYC Greece. The Greeks exited last year’s Cosmos Copa via a 3-0 defeat from eventual champions NYC Poland in the quarterfinals.. However, a lot of “what-if” questions were asked post-match as NYC Greece were forced to field a significantly weaker squad compared to their regular team as 9 players traveled to Bowling Green, Kentucky to play in the final of the USASA National Championships for the Cosmopolitan League's New York Pancyprian-Freedoms. Although NYC Poland was an exceptional opponent, the lack of depth in the Greek squad turned a promising match into a one-sided affair. With a full squad of their most talented players and no extra-curricular matches to contend with, NYC Greece are poised to be a force at Cosmos Copa in 2012.
 
 
 Group B by the numbers: