David C. Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 I wonder if our central defending is worse since we adopted a 4-4-2 formation. I don't remember such bad central breakdowns in the old 3-5-2 format. Maybe a DeVos-McKenna-Nsaliwa backline with an extra midfielder - including Stalteri - would help this situation. Maybe three central midfielders help clog up the middle. Just thinking aloud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. Anyone see how he was belting out the national anthem? Good on you boy. We didn't get the anthems over here. Did anyone else sing? If you watch the anthems in Finland I swear you can see Bircham sing 'Oh Canada, our home and native land" then yell "come on lads!" imploring them to start singing. It's almost sad really. Still not pleased that Birch insists on wearing a QPR kit under his Canada shirt. You could see the blue colar under his shirt as he came off. I agree almost entirely with Jeffrey's ratings. G-L, did you enjoy Stalteri's f-bomb in the first half? cheers, matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Jeffrey - unfortunately Sportsnet declined to show the national anthems in Canada, something which always irks me no end, but I'm grateful they at least showed the match. But we didn't get to see Bircham belting out the anthem. Overall I agree with your players assessments. I thought Bernier showed athleticism & ball control ability in the brief time he was out there, but having seen him play live I was already aware of those skills. But good to get him involved with the national program, as we will need as many bodies as possible. I just can't see any new full-time coach worth his salt continuing to use Hastings as a starter. When qualifying comes around and all of those capable left-sided young players become available once again (even if Brennan & Aguiar aren't) I doubt we will see Richard pencilled in to the starting line-up. By the way, I left out Iain Hume & Aguiar in my list of better midfielders we use instead of Hastigns in an earlier post. And I'll throw in Robbie Aristodemo as well just for the hell of it (since indoor players are no longer out of bounds it seems). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayo Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 For our part, Ireland were very poor today. Aside from the players who felt they needed to prove themselves most of them played in second gear which was really disappointing for me. Canada deserved more then they got, Ireland just didn't put the effort in baring a few players. Canada did well, and I think you're a good team, hope to see you guys in 2006. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Thanks for the good sentiments Jayo. I had suspected that Irish fans would not exactly be overjoyed with their performance despite what the 3-0 scoreline might suggest (having watched them in the World Cup, I know that they can do better). You saw a fairly decent Canadian team today, but we still have the personnel (largely consisting of players playing on important U20/U23 squads this week) to be much better, which is the encouraging part for Canadians. Maybe we'll we have a drink sometime in 2006. Matthew - I presume you are referring to Stalteri's "Ref! Hand-Phucking-Ball!!" in the first half? A classic. That reminds me, when I have the time I really need to update that list & do a new thread on this board which I can then retrieve to update from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Gerry suggested that Canada will likely meet in Florida in January for a camp and possible friendly. Obviously this will be a game against a CONCACAF side. I think these recent European freindlies will have us playing at a high level. I don't know how you can not be pleased with these two games. Big deal that we did not win; we played competitive soccer for a half against the 10th best team in the world and than we played very well against the 18th best team. I have no problem bashing the CSA, when they do stupid things. But for once it appears that they are doing the right thing. My brief comments on the match: I thought Bircham played well. He was a tackling machine! (He even got decent applause from the Irish fans when he was subbed out). I thought Jazic was solid. He is a huge upgrade from Hastings. Jazic should be our starting left D. Hopefully, others on the team will take notice and play with a bit more pep. McKenna is prone to brain freezes. He needs to be playing more. Stalteri looked good on the right side. He has some offensive flair to him. De Vos played good. He brought shape to our D. With time, I think we have the potential for a good defence corps. My biggest worry is depth. If either of these four guys get injured we will suffer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarrek Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Mimglow said: quote: That's pretty harsh considering he's proven he IS a world class keeper I don't think he has proven himself as a world class keeper just yet. He's far from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domdick Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Come on guys, Ireland are a world class team, they would have qualifyed for Euro 2004 in my opinion if it wasn't for an unfortunate manager change in the middle of the campaign. Anyway, had to chuckle at Bircham taking out Kavanagh, maybe there was some bad blood left over from the Play-Off final when Cardiff beat us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domdick Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Come on guys, Ireland are a world class team, they would have qualifyed for Euro 2004 in my opinion if it wasn't for an unfortunate manager change in the middle of the campaign. Anyway, had to chuckle at Bircham taking out Kavanagh, maybe there was some bad blood left over from the Play-Off final when Cardiff beat us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonovision Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 I've never been a Bircham fan, but I liked him in the part of the match I saw (the last 35 minutes of the 1st half). He actually didn't look too bad in posession, and won a lot of tackles. Still, he should have been carded much earlier as he showed a tendency to make clumsy challenges that ended in bear hugs (2 in the first half). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC supporter Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 You've got to appreciate Bircham's willingness to stick his nose in. But he also compensates for his lack of pace and skill by constantly tugging and grabbing opponents -- and you have to figure that, unlike the Irish, some of our Caribbean and Central American friends would be damn quick to roll around on the ground while the ref reaches for his yellow card... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayWay Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Remember when we were all bitching about how we only play the same CONCACAF teams over and over again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew W Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 I'm sure Richard Hastings is a great guy. Apparently he has a hot girlfriend. He's got neat hair. He simply can't play soccer. Ireland didn't even account for him in their set-up after the first 15 minutes of play. I would think that the clock is passing 14:59 on his 15 minutes of fame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 I have just finished watching my tape of the game. The gap between midfield and defence on the first goal was as big as a prairie farm! I had posted on another topic the possibility that may be Staltieri feels most comfortable at right back, since he usually plays there (or right wingback in 3-5-2) for Werder Bremen. Difficult to speculate, but we haven't heard any rumblings from the Canadian camp about this issue. If he is dissatisfied about playing right back, but is shutting up and putting country and team above his personal interests, then he should be commended for setting a good example. Apart from being skinned by Duff on the first goal, I liked his performance offensively. I usually criticize his passing consistency from centre mid, but he threaded a beautiful pass through an Irish defenders legs on the right flank to set up either Pesch or Radz in the first half . . . class move! I don't want to talk about Hastings, plays like a stay at home defender at left mid. His first half miss . . .well . . . I like the observations about Imhoff: he does the holding role in midfield, but won't ever be mistaken for Patrick Viera or Roy Keane. Pesch did a good job of springing Radz in the latter stages of the first half, though too often he puts his head down when he takes on a defender and seems run into a wall, losing the ball. At least he tries to generate plays for the front runner. De Rosario is better at this, however, and I would really like to see the De Rosario-Radz partnership for 90 minutes. Elsewhere in midfield, Bircham is combative, but he was too loose with possession. His set play delivery was poor today. I guess I'll have to argue with those who thought Bent was one of our best players today. I'm not saying he was poor, though I did wonder if he could trap a bag of sand after he let a routine Radz pass ricochet off his foot to Duff during a counterattack late in the 1st half. Bent played his usual workmanlike game: lots of hustle, defensive awareness, plays the way he faces, safe passes. But I didn't see much in the way of really telling passes: how many basic crosses did he get in? How many opponents did he take on with the dribble? In the second half, after some pressure, he received a pass from either Staltieri or De Vos, then promptly hoofed up field in the general direction of Pesch, but about 25 yards over his head to an Irish defender (I'm being a little harsh, because it looked like Pesch was his only option, and he was about 30 yards away from him). However, I think we need to get a more dynamic offensive player in that position: I would like to see what Iain Hume could do there on a consistent basis. In his brief appearence as a sub, Nash came on and promptly hit a great diagonal ball from the left flank that Radz ran onto and made an almost spectacular play from the ensuing lob. I believe it was his cheeky backheel that also sprung Radz very late in the game, but Dunne defended well. I wonder why, when he was younger, Nash couldn't stick with a good club, either in MLS or Europe: he always impressed me with his passing, off either foot, from open play or set plays. Pace or fitness problems? Nash always seemed to have that playmaking mentality: must be in the genes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Just to clarify, Nash is on the wrong side of 30 now and should not be a starter, but we are looking for a playmaker. De Rosario from striker does this, and may be De Guzman. Not Xausa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Just to clarify, Nash is on the wrong side of 30 now and should not be a starter, but we are looking for a playmaker. De Rosario from striker does this, and may be De Guzman. Not Xausa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Nash is about 27. And it was actually McKenna's back-heel (when he was played briefly as a striker at the end of the match once Fenwick was brought on for Hastings) that sprung Radzinski. Having watched the match a 2nd time, I have to say how unlucky we were not to have tied up that match. If De Vos hadn't moved ahead to tap in the ball into the empty net then Pesch would surely have done so (and it was his header in the first place so he couldn't have been offside). A correct intrepretation of the rule, but a bit of an aggravatingly silly rule in this instance. Probably the best part about this match is that we actually played soccer. None of this long-ball crap (which many of us assumed we'd seen nothing but under Miller), but largely ball on the ground, emphasis on keeping possession & and on passing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Saw it again, Gian-Luca, thanks for your correction! Nice backheel by McKenna! Always thought Nash was older? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 I forgot to mention Hastings . . . well . . . I tend to agree with my others' sentiments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 One option is to play Pesch in behind both De Rosario & Radzinski as the play-maker. This would mean playing one less player in midfield or at the back - though in today's match you could have taken Hastings out of midfield & it wouldn't have hurt us one bit. The problem with using Pesch, Radz & De Rosario is that you still needs strikers on the bench to replace them. Hume is one player that could do that, and the other youngsters on the U20 & U23 squads are also possibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca Having watched the match a 2nd time, I have to say how unlucky we were not to have tied up that match. Having watched the game again, if Radz was on today (or two inches taller), we might have had three in the first half. We generated 6 good to great scoring chances before half time. Another 2 or 3 in the second. Looking at Duff's goal six more times, it does look like perhaps Lars could have stopped it. You can't fault him for not getting down there but it did go in under him. quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca Probably the best part about this match is that we actually played soccer. None of this long-ball crap (which many of us assumed we'd seen nothing but under Miller), but largely ball on the ground, emphasis on keeping possession & and on passing. Yes, we did very well there. Second viewing doesn't change my disagreement with Jeffrey about DeVos' passing out of the back either. Was watching more for Imhoff, and he did alright. I like the way we played today in that respect. It is clear though, that this was not as strong on the left side as Hastings really didn't seem to be able to move into passing lanes. Jazic could have hit Imhoff a few times but opted to go to Lars and/or McKenna instead. It doesn't look like he pushes forward much from his back position, so perhaps that is why he did not make much of an impression at left mid. There were a few bad first touches that need to be improved. We had more bad passes than the Irish, and that too is something that needs to be improved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancouver Fan Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Radzinskis performance was less than inspiring today.His spot on the team is unfortunately too safe.He knows that Canada dosn't have anyone right now that can take his spot on the field.Thats one reason he's more effective at Everton.Of course he probably has better service at Everton. I'm not too concerned about the results in Europe recently.We've been able to play against many different sides and styles this year and that will help in the long run.We've seen roughly 34 players used and have a pretty good idea of who will make up the core for WC qualifying.We know where our defeciences are and we have time to correct them.The thing now will be to narrow down the field and get games against sides we have a better chance of beating. I think it is important to have a few games at home.I think the players need to know that they have fans that care about how they do.It does help to motivate them in games that do not mean much.It must be tough to be a travelling team all the time.I really wonder sometimes how they must feel about not playing in front of a home crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Georgio Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 After watching the game and reading these posts I find it funny how differently people see the matches. One thing I noticed is that just about every attack generated by the Irish was either down their left side where Duff was or down the middle - not down Hastings and Jazic's side at all except the one time where Jazic had to pull down the attacker just outside the box ( that was smart and professional ). I don't think they were really all that aware of how bad Hastings was or their coach (Kerr) would have gotten them to attack down their right side more. I agree Hastings was neither here nor there in the match and should not be on the pitch but I don't think Ireland really caught onto that fact or they would have exploited that side a little more. I just recall waiting for ever to see anything happen down that side. Our left side is still a mystery to me without Deguzman or someone like him to create offensive attacks the way Stalteri can on the right. Once you have Klukowski, Brennan, Jazic and Deguzman available for that left side, the variation of player combinations seems endless to me. I guess that's a good thing - just waiting for such an ocassion where these players are available at the same time. All in all there were some positives but I did not expect us to get scored on three times with that backline, particularly the two goals when Devos was still in. I'm not gonna make excuses for anyone - we could have done much better defensively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Georgio "55:00 - A potential Canadian goal is called offsde; Peschisolido sends a great header to the net where Given makes a one hand stop which leaves the ball open for deVos who finds the net." This makes no sense. If the header were considered an attempt on goal how could it be offside?? Was pesch in an offside position to head the ball - that's the only explanation I can come up with not being able to see the game. I could not watch the game. If DeVos was in an offside position when Pesch headed the ball, then the reboud to DeVos must be penalized. It does not matter if it rebouded from the keeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 it was a correct call. this was a very positive match. i for one, am quite optimistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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