Pros and Cons about the Germany match

[Guest Jeffery S.]

All of us were pleased to hear Canada got a match with Germany, but since then some things are emerging that make me wonder if the CSA and Holger have done the right thing, or more like if they have done it in the right way.

We were all optimistic about seeing most of our top players vs. Germany, but we now discover this is not the case. One of the key reasons is timing. The match is on a weekend that many European players actually have club games on, so few if any could skip committments for a date not amongst those sanctioned by FIFA. Imhof comes to mind, his team is scheduled for the 30th I think in league play, important match for them. Klukowski is another example. Even if the match could have been played a day or even two later we would have more guys to draw from.

Playing on the Sunday also means Germany won't have all their players, or if they are in the Germany camp the BM and Kaiserslautern players won't play, being the day after the German Cup. So the Germans already had a bit of an excuse, if fielding a team of Bundesliga players, half at the World Cup, is cause for excuses.

Most here have wanted to see some A-Leaguers called for matches, mostly thinking about making an effort to play in Canada, even vs. a lesser team, just to try some guys out. Our proverbial N-America based B side, a wide base for the WC qualifying run. As is we are going to be experimenting in Germany, vs. one of the world's great sides, far from home with a few first caps in there too. Is this what we were really calling for?

So Holger's calls to folks like Jordan or Pizzolitto are fine, esp from what folks say about them, but not cause for great optimism going into the game. Let's be realistic. We were already outmatched vs. the States and in the end the scoreline reflected this. That match could have been a bit better with some more coordinated defending, something I am really hoping for here too. The midfield should be competent with Stalteri and de Guzmán, and they'll be highly motivated, as will Jazic. The back line may not be up to the task though. And clearly our attack is highly suspect. I hate to say we'll be lucky to score.

So in the end what are we going to get out of this? I would have hoped for top players to keep it close and maybe even fun. The Germans may come out flat and unmotivated to begin, so I'm hoping we can surprise them. But if we can stay within three goals I would have to say that the whole effort will have been acceptable. But only that. I am braced for an embarrassment, and I'm not really sure I want to be embarrassed. Germans I know here I told about this were quite indifferent to playing us, they expect to kill us. I hope they don't.

But can Holger and his bosses at the CSA really be happy about going back home with a team he can't be entirely confident of? Wouldn't he have rather held out for a bit better scenario?

Any predictions?

[Free kick]

I think your right. I'm concerened about the fact that a german B team could be more dangerous than an "A" team full of players with nothing to prove. The A league has come a long way in the last three years but are the players ready to be put under this kind of environment? I would not want to hear post game comments comming out of the German camp like those that we heard from Holland when they played and defeated Canada 3-0 in 94 prior to the WC. Recall that at that time the cnd team was exhausted after playing string of freindles against sides like German, Brazil, Spain etc in avery short period of time.

Tony

[Gordon]

I agree that it is not an ideal situation. I think the date was probably a german insistence given their Euro match against Scotland on June 7th. In terms of who to call, well I wonder if, when the match was arranged, the CSA knew what the circumstances would be. Or could reasonably be expected to know. The Scandanavian based players? Yes, they should have figured they would not be available given mid-season and a non-FIFA date. But certainly one might have assumed the English based players available, and who would figure Klukowski's modest side to be in the Belgium Cup final? Injuries have to have taken away some possibilitites. Will we be outclassed? Perhaps - No probably. But such is fate, and I think that givent he absence of nations seemingly willing to play us, we more or less have to take the games we can get, when we can get them, IMO.

I would have preferred a date in Edmonton personally, against pretty much anyone. But it seems that was not possible. I am not so sure we can turn down matches, even matches we know we might get smoked in.

In a World full of catepillars it takes balls to be a butterfly.

[Gian-Luca]

Imhof will be available, apparently, as his team re-scheduled their match for some reason (this according to a Neil Davidson article). So our midfield of Jazic-Stalteri-Imhof-De Guzman should help to keep this match competitive.

I'm a bit curious about the Pizzolitto call-up - I think I'm the only person who likes it, Nevio is very quick, tall & good at covering his man. He should do fine against Germany. But I'm surprised that he's needed as we seem to have enough defenders for this match. It suggests that someone in defense who was previously thought to be available isn't after all, or perhaps we are going with an 18 or 20 man squad rather than just a 16 man squad - perhaps because Holger wants to look at more players prior to the Gold Cup.

Germany has struggled against minnows recently (which we will be in their eyes), beating the Faroes 2-1 & drawing with Lithuania. So for a while, when I thought we would have our best team, I was picturing a Canadian victory as being possible. Now, with so many players unavailable, I am less optimistic of a victory (to say the least), particularly because I have no idea (outside of Jordan) who is starting up front & even with Jordan I'm not sure how well he will fare. We will be without our top 8 strikers - its a bit much for any team no matter how much depth they have, to win without their top 8 strikers being available. It will be an interesting test of A-league quality, as it looks like at least 5 A-league players will be called.

I think if we had heard the CSA had turned down a chance to play Germany in Germany, we'd all be going ballistic at their imcompetence.

I'd like to see our actual line-up (overdue by now, the camp for this match starts in about 5 days time so flights must be getting booked for days prior to that) before I make some predictions.

"All them rock & roll writers are the worst kind of sleaze, selling punk like some new kind of English disease. Is that the wave of the future? Awww spare me please!" Frank Zappa, Joe's Garage (1979).

[MikeD]

I'm actually more optimistic about this one that I was going into the US-friendly last January. At least we have close to our best midfield (only Brennan is missing) and, since most matches are won or lost in midfield, that alone puts in a better position that we were for the US match (with all due respect to Atiba, Tam and Maycoll - who gave us their all in midfield in Fort Lauderdale.)

The other advantage this team has over the Fort Lauderdale team is experience - the Fort Lauderdale starting 11 consisted of 3 current U-23s (Pozniak, Canizalez and Nsaliwa), two current U-20s (Hutchinson and Matondo). At least most of the A-Leaguers who are being called for this match are more experienced - Pizzolitto has five caps and is four years more experienced than the young guy we saw last time he played for the nats while Fletcher, Dasovic and Nash are veteran warriors. As for Jordan, I've never seen him play but he's got to be a step up from Matondo (again, no disrespect to Matondo, he was just way too young to be thrown to the wolves the way he was against the US - Jordan is just more experienced.)

Bottom line: I don't think we're going to be embarrassed like we were in January. I'm not confident of winning (I'm never confident of winning when DeVos is absent) and scoring a goal will be a bloody miracle, but I'm sure our veterans will put in a better defensive performance and give the give the Germans a hell of a fight.

Mike D

[DJT]

Here's my con: this match probably won't be as good a seller of Canadian soccer as I had hoped. I thought that if we could do well in such a high-profile match then that would help create some interest in the team. But now that doing well is a much bigger task than first anticipated...

I am not sure whether to tell everyone I know about this match. Before we played the US in January I decided not to and I'm glad I didn't. I'm having the same feeling now. (Similarly I have not promoted the Lynx games on Rogers. Non-fans would never watch again if they saw either of those first two games.)

On the other hand, since the Germany match is on tape delay then there will be time for some last-minute phone calls if the result is better than anticipated. (Similarly with Lynx games.)