Saturday, January 5, 2019

Upcoming 2019 USA sporting evnets


2019 (Soccer, Hockey, Rugby)
Host
Dec 26- Jan 5th
U-20 “World Juniors” Hockey
Vanc & Victoria
Jan 26-27th
World Rugby Seven Series
Hamilton, New Z
Feb 2nd-3rd
World Rugby Seven Series
Sydney, Australia
Feb - March
American Rugby Championship (Argentina XI, USA, Canada, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile)
Home /Away
March 1-3rd
World Rugby Seven Series
Las Vegas, USA
March 9-10th
World Rugby Seven Series
Vancouver, Can
March 21, 26th
Nations League Qualification-CONCACAF (no –USA)
Home/away
April 5th-7th
World Rugby Seven Series
Hong Kong, China
April 13th 14th
World Rugby Seven Series
Singapore
April 18th-28th
IIHF World U-18 Championship (10 nations)
Sweden
April 21st –May 7th
U-17 CONCACAF Championship
No picked yet
May 10th -26th
IIHF Hockey World Championship  
Slovakia
May 25-27th
World Rugby Seven Series
London, England
May 23 – June 15th
U-20 FIFA World Cup
Poland
June 1 and 2nd
World Rugby Seven Series-Final
Paris, France
June
2019 World Rugby U-20 Trophy Qualification V Canada
Home/Away
July 9th -21st
2019 World Rugby U-20 Trophy (8 Tier 2 Nations)
Brazil
July 9th -30th
Gold Cup 2019 –CONCACAF 16 nations
USA
Sept 2 -10th
Nations League A Match 1 & 2
Home/ Away
Sept 20th – Nov 2nd
Rugby World Cup 2019
Japan
Oct 7th – 15th
Nations League A Match 3 & 4
Home Away
Nov 11th – 19th
Nations League Match 5 & 6
Home / Away

Rugby End – of –year-test
away

The World Juniors or the IIHF U-20 hockey tournament always starts the year off with an exciting bang. This year Canada will host again.  The
USAU-20 is now considered equal to Canada and Russia in this tournament. However Sweden and Finland are both just as good. This
tournament is played in Canada every other year, since it is a huge event and Canada hockey makes the most mula and kicks back revenue to
the IIHF.  
The American Rugby Championship starts 2 weeks after the Super Bowl with 3 games in Feb and 2 in March. This year the Eagles will again
have 3 home games, First Austin TX then 2 in Seattle. They will have to play Argentina XV away this year, so this year it will be much more
difficult to repeat. Hoping we see lots of progress.
We then switch back to Hockey for the IIHF U-18 Championship, which will be held in Sweden this year. The USA has dominated, yes I said
dominated in this Championship. They have reached the final 9 out of the last 10 years and winning 7 of the 9 times. The USA has the best
junior program.
The CONCACAF U-17 Championship will be in April and the host is not picked. It was hosted in Mex (09), Jam(11), Panama (13), Honduras
(15) and in  Panama (17) again. I believe the new president will try to get this tournament to Canada or a Caribbean nation next. I am thinking
a nice island like Curacao, Martinique, Bermuda or Guadeloupe. Since the USA host the Gold Cup, the last 3 Olympic qualifications and the last
U-20 Men’s Championship I believe it has to move to another location.
IIHF Hockey World Championship is in Slovakia, This tournament starts in May right after the completion of the second round of NHL playoffs.
 So when your NHL team is knocked out you get to tune in and cheer for Team USA. Canada has 26 Championships, Russia 27, Czech 12, and
Sweden 11. Finland and USA only have a paltry 2.  The USA just do not take this tournament that serious or they are just out gunned by better
teams …EVERY YEAR!?
FIFA U-20 World Cup is in Poland in May which is a great summer start for soccer.  The USA U-20 performs much better than the senior side
in the World Cup at this level. USA has reached the quarter finals the last 2 years. They enter as CONCACAF Champions.
Then we have the high intensity (Rugby) USA Selects v Canada A for the qualification to the U-20 World Rugby Trophy. This is a yearly
tournament that will be in Brazil this year. Canada has beaten the USA Selects last 2 years. Canada then flopped at last year’s Tournament
. Let’s hope we can finally beat Canada and play in the international U-20 Trophy tournament in Brazil. The tournament is the same time
as the Gold Cup.
CONCACAF Gold Cup is the Granddaddy of all USA tournaments in 2019.  It will be hosted in the USA (also Costa Rica). There will be
15 venues in the USA. Alliance Field will be a brand new SSS due to open in March 2019. Also Banc of California Stadium just opened in
2018. These stadiums will be perfect for the expanded Gold Cup. The tournament finally expanded to 16 nations. I am hoping for more
scoring and we should get that in the group games. There should be some quality Caribbean nations who will bring a plethora of European
players to make for a really good competition.
Then we have the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan to start the Fall.  The USA Eagles will not be favorite in any match. Every nation in their group
out ranks them. I am personally hoping for massive improvement in this tournament.  I am hoping we can keep up with the thoroughbreds here.
Except for the Nations League and the 3 or 4 Rugby test matches that will wrap up 2019. The Nations League comes right after the Gold Cup.
The nations League is a much smaller tournament and will not get the glitz the Gold Cup had.  The test matches comes after the Rugby World Cup.
The Test matches will seem miniscule after the exciting Rugby World Cup 2019.

Order of excitement/importance for me

  1. CONCACAF Gold Cup (July)
  2. U-20 World Juniors (January)
  3. Rugby World Cup (Fall)
  4. FIFA U-20 World Cup
  5. American Rugby Championship
  6. U-20 World Rugby Trophy (if USA qualifies)