Finally, Cdn.interview with Holger post-Germany ma

[Gian-Luca]

Clarifies a lot of things, including the Xausa situation.

Osieck getting by in weakened soccer state

Despite losing 4-1 to an obviously stronger German side, the Canadian men's soccer team showed signs the team is ready to compete in next month's Gold Cup.

(posted Jun. 9, 4:22PM EDT)

TORONTO -- Injuries and a thin talent pool have cost the Canadian men's soccer team so far this year.

But head coach Holger Osieck isn't deterred by a 1-3 record in 2003, with lopsided losses to U.S. and German sides.

“I'm not frustrated,” Osieck said after the recent 4-1 defeat in Germany. “I'm fighting and I'm trying to get things together, and I got some positive stuff out of it (the loss to Germany).”

The positives include a passing grade from the German media, who were generally favourable according to Osieck. And German coach Rudi Voeller acknowledged the Canadians, at least in the first half that finished at 1-1, had provided his side with a “wake-up call.”

That recognition is important to Osieck, a proud man who spent 11 years with the German Football Federation.

Another plus was midfielder Paul Stalteri, who ran non-stop against the Germans and proved once again he is one of the first names on Osieck's lineup sheet.

But the German game also showed the weaknesses in the Canadian game.

Osieck has no safety net when key players are injured, demonstrated by the fact that he made just two substitutions late in the second half when his team was being run ragged by a German side refreshed by seven substitutes.

“Whereas I didn't have any options,” Osieck said of his bench.

Canadian midfielder Maycoll Canizalez, who saw some action, is just 20 and has three caps. Veteran defender Carl Fletcher, who also came on, had a hip pointer.

Ante Jazic was injured while Tony Menezes was not deemed in good enough shape to contribute. And Osieck did not think forwards Jason Jordan and Niki Budalic were ready for that level of competition.

In contrast, Voeller had his pick of motivated players who were looking to turn heads ahead of a key Euro 2004 qualifying game against Scotland.

It's worth noting that seven of the 11 German starters against Canada kept their place for the subsequent 1-1 tie with Scotland. The four new faces were unavailable for the Canada game because they were playing in the German Cup final.

That a young understrength Canadian side held the Germans for as long as it did in Wolfsburg is actually quite commendable.

Osieck should have more players at his disposal at next month's Gold Cup, the championship of the CONCACAF region that covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. But the squad will likely still be thin.

When it comes to fresh legs, perennial CONCACAF powers like the U.S. and Mexico are centipedes. Canada falls into the Captain Ahab category.

Canada's No. 1 striker pairing of Tomasz Radzinski (groin) and Dwayne DeRosario (knee) will both miss the Gold Cup. But hard-nosed captain Jason deVos should be back, as should influential midfielder Jim Brennan. And No. 1 goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld is back in training after a troublesome hamstring injury. If he doesn't make it, Pat Onstad is a capable replacement.

There are few options up front, however. And, as the Germany game made clear, that means Kevin McKenna will once again be crucial to the Canadian campaign.

The Hearts defender-attacker played alone up front against Germany and scored his sixth goal in 16 internationals. It was a gutsy performance from a player hobbled by a painful foot injury.

“That he lasted 90 minutes was almost a miracle to me,” said Osieck. “He did a job.”

McKenna's injury involves a nerve in his foot. “Whenever he runs, it creates pain,” Osieck said.

Osieck will probably recall Davide Xausa for the Gold Cup. Before injuries decimated his strike force, Osieck had not planned to summon the Livingston forward so Xausa made vacation plans. By the time he was needed, Xausa had other commitments.

As for prospects like 19-year-old forwards Iain Hume and Wyn Belotte, Osieck says it is too early.

But 22-year-old Julian de Guzman, in just his sixth international, pressed his case for more work by showing off a flashy bag of offensive tricks in Germany although he won't win any awards for defending.

De Guzman is seeing regular action at Hannover and expect to see more of him in a Canadian shirt.

A concern for Osieck s the timing of the Gold Cup -- July this time, as opposed to January. That will make it more difficult for Osieck to get players like de Guzman.

“It's absolutely a very bad time,” Osieck said. “All clubs in Europe have a pre-season and in particular the young players like de Guzman, they want to be part of the pre-season because it determines the rest of the season.

“If they do well, they're part of the team, If they're out and the coach doesn't assess them, and there's always a couple of new transfers that claim spots in the team, it's detrimental to them.”

The trip to Germany also reinforced Osieck's view that the jump from the A-League to the international level is usually too wide a gap to bridge.

“It is a different world, that's for sure,” Osieck said.

Well a lot of things can happen, when you're walking down the street, and it never fails to amaze me, the people that I meet. They all say "See you later" and I just answer "How? How will you see me later, when you can't see me now?" - Kevin Ayers, The Confessions of Dr. Dream & Other Stories (1974)

[MikeD]

It sounds like Holger doesn't want to call up young players like Julian DeGuzman if it will jeopardize their chances with their clubs - I can't say I disagree with him. At least he can safely call up established guys like DeVos (if he's healthy, please, please, please, be healthy) and Brennan.

I wonder if this settles the goalkeeper question - Hirshfeld (assuming he's healthy) definitely fits into the "young player struggling to establish himself with his club" category, so perhaps we'll see Onstad carrying the ball at the Gold Cup by default.

It's too bad Menezes was out of shape - I hope he can get in shape and on form in time for the Gold Cup. Depth at central defence is turning into a real problem for us these days.

Mike D

[DoyleG]

What about bringing Pesch back for the Gold Cup.

Has Kappos fallen off the radar?

[beachesl]

The radar has obviously broken down.

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change

the subject. -- Winston Churchill

[Mimglow]

Good stuff, we really did do great work in Germany, considering the bench.

It would be highly unfortunate to compromise Canada's chances to succeed in the Gold Cup to accommodate the clubs, but such is the scheduling.

This is mostly due to the Confederations Cup. If it hadn't been scheduled in June, I'm sure the Gold Cup could have been in that slot, and we could have recalled whomever we wanted.

Mimglow, Ottawa

_________________________

Where are the weapons of mass destruction?

[Cheeta]

quote:Originally posted by Mimglow

It would be highly unfortunate to compromise Canada's chances to succeed in the Gold Cup to accommodate the clubs, but such is the scheduling.

Mimglow, Ottawa

Yeah, dose kinda suck.

I don't think there really is much of a choice though. You can't risk a seasons worth of development for a little summer tourny. And for some of our lads they're on the bubble as it were with their clubs overseas so please, no pressure to attend. In the long (and short) term Canada well be better off if these fellows are allowed to concentrate first on their personal development.

But boy o boy would I love to see our midfield continue to develop, especially at the Gold Cup. Could have sworn I was seeing some chemestry out there in Wolfsburg and that with Imhoff on an off night and all.

Minority of one

[Canuck Oranje]

Let the young players stay and gain their place at their clubs... Hume may already have a spot sewn up so I suspect he could play at the Gold cup.. I like the long term approach.. Would love to see de Guzman, McKenna, Hirshfeld and Nsaliwa playing at the top level. I think we should really be targetting WCQ.

And besides use the Gold Cup tournament to build depth.

[beachesl]

There should be some smart compromising with the clubs in order to get the right players over at the right time over the next few years. Hopefully, Holger will try to be as good on the internet as he claims to be.

For the younger players, we shouldn't need to bring the Euro -based players over for the U-23 Olympic qualifiers in September against the US Virgin Islands. Just send the non-Euro based U-20 UAE tournament team. The next round in early November against El Salvador should be a good test for the full U20 team, with perhaps a about 4 guys from the 20-23 range as additions. If we make the tournament in Mexico for the New Year, the Under-20's will be greatly toughened, and we get some different 20-23 guys, maybe some of the guys from Germany or Scandinavia who will be on winter break. Then if we make Athens in August, we can improvise, as we will probably get to add 2 or 3 over-age players. The important thing is to work out understandings and trust with the various clubs (diplomacy) so we don't get screwed around.

Similiarly, when the WCQ's start, probably in the early fall of 2004, we should also wisely plan to apportion our players according to opposition, fitness and club commitments. This requires savy communication and planning skills, which have to improve. If players are going to travel a lot (even on internationnally coordinated dates (can CONCANAF manage this), risk club opportunities, and give the efoort we need, they are going to have to be treated with respect and let known where they stand every inch of the way.

Holger and his staff, along with the whole CSA, should play that Aretha Franklin song every morning....."R-E-S-P-E-C-T....justalittlebit.. hmm-hmm...."

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change

the subject. -- Winston Churchill

[The Ref]

Thank you Gian Luca for the posted interview with Osieck. It clarifies some things for me as well. So it appears that at least for the moment our problem is not so much the coaching or our style of soccer, but rather that we cannot get our better European based players because of their commitments and careers, those that we can are injured while others are not ready and the timing of our games such as Gold Cup is not suitable.

[redhat]

I'm not so sure about Holger's comments; I think he has some PR challenges

still. Offering some unflattering comments about the A-League and some of

the players are certainly not the way to go. But I don't want to criticize the coach/leader until it's WC qualifying time. Yet at that point, the same challenges about player availability will probably still be there!

Call up good players who WANT to player for their country; call up Hume, Pesch,Aguiar, etc. If they have the attitude, it's a plus ...

[MikeD]

quote:Originally posted by Sigma

Was he ever on the radar?

-------------------------

Sigma do toho!

Kappos was on a player pool list (from which the final squad for the tournament was eventually selected) that the CSA had to submit to CONCACAF a few weeks before the last Gold Cup, so he was definitely on the radar screen.

I don't recall exactly (I'd have to dig out my program from Miami to confirm this), but I think Kappos' bio was even in the Canadian section of the program (along with a few other Canucks who were on the initial list but who weren't selected in the end, such as Radzinski & Greg Sutton.)

It does seem a bit odd that, with the drastic shortage of strikers we had going into the Germany match, that Kappos wasn't called to camp for a look alongside Jordan and Budalic. This seems to suggest that Kappos doesn't want to commit to Canada (in which case, good riddance) or that he's now a lot lower on the depth chart at striker than he was a year and a half ago.

Mike D