msebold:

From a neutral point of view, I agree with LHJS. The next WC qualification will start in 2012. You still have 3 years to prepare for it.
To say that this tournament is a crucial point for that, seems a bit extreme to me. And also, remember, that there is another Gold Cup in 2011, one year before the WC qualfications start.
In the next 3 years, Canada will be plying only friendlies, and here where the problem lies.
Putting a young team for this tournament will not achieve much benefits. And it's possible that they will lose 3 games and go out. So, why not go all the way with your best team and see what you can achieve. Then, over the next two years, start preparing a young squad for the Gold Cup 2011 and what follows.

msebold; I think we disagree on what the Gold Cup{GC}is. You are treating the GC like a U23 developmental tournament. I think the GC should be treated like the EURO's for CONCACAF Nations. Granted there is a lot to do to make the GC a tournament worthy of that comparison. But that is how I look at the Gold Cup, one of only two tournaments were our best play.

LH-JS: I get what you’re saying, but I’d wager that you belong to the minority in terms of whether or not we should be pursuing a WC berth. Certainly, it’s the focus of any media coverage that I’ve seen on our national team, and you’d very likely be hard-pressed to find any country where the general sentiment is to focus on a lower tier event. No, it is, and always will be about the main event, and we need to pursue a sound strategy to start moving us closer. We should take every opportunity to develop the generation of players that should hit their prime starting in 2012, rather than going with the generation that probably will be out of the side by 2014.

msebold; I tend to disagree with you. I think the Gold Cup is Canada's biggest platform in soccer right now. We rarely qualify for the WC in fact we rarely qualify for the final stage of CONCACAF qualification. So doing well in the Gold Cup should our priority, for now.

For anyone interested in taking up the media/marketing/fan-base discussion that was sparked by my ‘provocative’ reference to a statement by the illustrious Stephen Colbert, I summed up my input in a blog post here: community.foxsports.com/msebold/blog/200...