What the Finland Match Tells Us

[Ian Kennett]

IF THIS COMES UP IN ONE HUGE PARAGRAPH, THEN COULD SOME KIND SOUL LET ME KNOW WHAT I DID WRONG?

I watched the Finland match for the second time with a more critical eye and I came up with these speculations/lessons - but what do I know?

1) Yes, there were a few questionable player selections or, more notably, omissions that must be addressed in future matches, but we Voyageurs have always been quite vocal about who is in and who is out. Certainly Holger did not escape our views, and Miller, or whomever the CSA selects as our coach, will not escape our wrath. And, remember, that had we won this game, many of ur comments would be much more positive, and some would be saying that Miller is our man.

2) What we Voyageurs have not been able to see, ever, is a full strength Canadian side. The next friendly, and there better be at least one before qualifying, must include our top players from the top teams in the top leagues. Politics must be purged from our system and players must be selected on the basis of form unless a given player is such an ass that he poisons the dressing room. In other words, our future coach must pledge himself to abandon blind loyalties to any player. Players selected must deserve to be included based upon merit.

3) Friendlies provide opportunities for coaches to look at new players and these chances must not be wasted. Ideally, of course, Canada would have a friendly each month, or every 6 weeks for a year in non-qualifying years, but alas! The rarity of games makes it even more important that we play new guys, notwithstanding #2 above, when the opportunity arises. With respect to the Finland match, I wonder about players like Marco Reda who is doing very well in the Norwegian Premier, or Fernando Aguiar who is doing well in the Portuguese First Division, or Mike Klukowski who is doing very well in the Belgian First Division. I am certainly not the first to ask how such players can be omitted in favour of players who are in much lower divisions, and with whom coaches are already very familiar. I have no doubt that Richard Hastings and Mark Watson are not at the top of their game right now, and nor is Paul Fenwick. While it might have been fair to see what Watson could still offer, one must certainly ask why Hastings and Fenwick were picked for this game. The next coach must think very seriously about seeing new, potentially better, players when the chance is there.

If I were king for the next match, my 18, keeping in mind that they all need to be playing well, and that Devos is hurt, would be

Hirschfeld (Onstad or Stamatopoulos)

Reda McKenna Klukowski Brennan Bent (the best 2 of Fenwick, Watson, Pozniak, or Nsaliwa)

Jazic Aguiar Imhof Bircham Stalteri de Guzman

Radzinski De Rosario Peschisolido

Agree? Disagree? Have at it!

Cheers!

[Cheeta]

I'll bite.

As soon as I saw the starting line up and the formation Miller had choosen for the Finland match I think I knew, as did most Voyageurs, the result before the kickoff had even been taken. If that bunch had pulled off a victory, friendly or no, the players would have been much cheered and Miller still much blasted. And rightly so say I.

It's nice to be on the right end of an off side call now and again. Or no call if you like. I'll give Radz. the first one. The 2nd was a courtesy as far as I was concearned. Radz.'s pass to DeRosario on the two man breakaway certainly was. Take away the 2nd goal and it's 3-1 Finland. Two shots on net for Canada, and nothing worthwhile accomplished except that we know now for certain who not to call up and who not to start.

Drop Bircham. Gotta have Hume. Maybe Aguiar won't ever show his pretty face so you can keep your Bircham, but room has to be made for Hume. I'll give Jazic another look or two at least. Rough match to make an impression but yeah, there's some talent there. What? No JDV? Healthy, JDV has to be in so scratch Reda. McKenna has to play and I still think Fenwick has something to contribute (Didn't Gandalf say that about Gollum?). If your looking at using Bent as a fullback Tam could easily push him onto the bench. Is that 18?

Otherwise, that looks like a pretty universal 1st team for the most part.