The Ref Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 When I first saw the result I thought it was backwards, but no such luck. Japan blew us away with a comfortable 3-0 win. Surely there were some U-19s playing, but that is no excuse when some of our seniors are young too. The Orient is just not good for us. Is the rest of the world catching up? or worse, surpasing us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 quote:Originally posted by The Ref When I first saw the result I thought it was backwards, but no such luck. Japan blew us away with a comfortable 3-0 win. Surely there were some U-19s playing, but that is no excuse when some of our seniors are young too. The Orient is just not good for us. Is the rest of the world catching up? or worse, surpasing us? I don't think this is a significant result for us. Japan was playing a full senior national side gearing up for the Olympics in 2 1/2 weeks time, who have trained and played lots. This was just a B, okay B+, Canada team thrown together, with a lot of extra U-19's. There is nothing to train or prepare for by them, as the next important match isn't until a friendly in September, 2005, in Edmonton against World Champs Germany, when Canada will just then start gearing up for 2007 World Cup qualifying to take place in 2006. Pellerud is just basically on holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 quote:Originally posted by The Ref When I first saw the result I thought it was backwards, but no such luck. Japan blew us away with a comfortable 3-0 win. Surely there were some U-19s playing, but that is no excuse when some of our seniors are young too. The Orient is just not good for us. Is the rest of the world catching up? or worse, surpasing us? I don't think this is a significant result for us. Japan was playing a full senior national side gearing up for the Olympics in 2 1/2 weeks time, who have trained and played lots. This was just a B, okay B+, Canada team thrown together, with a lot of extra U-19's. There is nothing to train or prepare for by them, as the next important match isn't until a friendly in September, 2005, in Edmonton against World Champs Germany, when Canada will just then start gearing up for 2007 World Cup qualifying to take place in 2006. Pellerud is just basically on holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew W Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 quote:Originally posted by The Ref When I first saw the result I thought it was backwards, but no such luck. Japan blew us away with a comfortable 3-0 win. Surely there were some U-19s playing, but that is no excuse when some of our seniors are young too. The Orient is just not good for us. Is the rest of the world catching up? or worse, surpasing us? Regardless of which players were involved our style is catching up to us. Likely Japan passed the ball around and Canada likely pounded long ball after long ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red card Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 Yes, it would have nice to have a closer score; but I wouldn't read too much into it. Japan is in full prep mode for the Games (tied US 1-1 a month ago), Team Canada not fully acclimatized yet and mostly u19s playing. The full senior squad also just beat Japan in the Wordl Cup last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted July 30, 2004 Author Share Posted July 30, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Andrew W Regardless of which players were involved our style is catching up to us. Likely Japan passed the ball around and Canada likely pounded long ball after long ball. It looks like Mexico fiasco all over again. Thanks nothing was at stake, except pride and money. I wonder if the result would have been different had Bridge been the coach of the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAFAN Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Andrew W Regardless of which players were involved our style is catching up to us. Likely Japan passed the ball around and Canada likely pounded long ball after long ball. Let's get real here. First, there are times when winning is paramount and there are times when it isn't. Fans might not appreciate the difference but National Team Coaches are expected to have this figured out. This trip was not about beating Japan, it was about player development. Nothing wrong with that and it's nothing new either. Canada went through this process in the 3 years prior to the WWC and Mexico did exactly the same thing in 2002/2003 before beating Canada out of a 2004 Olympic spot. Look at the records of both teams and you'll see lots of lop-sided losses prior to their greatest achievements. Second, this was a much more capable Japanese team than the one that lost 3-1 to Canada in the WWC. They knocked North Korea (ranked #8 in the world) out of the Olympics and recently outplayed the #2 ranked USWNT (by all accounts, the USA was very lucky to earn a draw in that match). Canada would require its full senior squad, 6-8 weeks serious preparation and 1-2 weeks travel recovery time to even have a chance of beating this Japanese side. But that wasn't what this trip was about. Third, style had nothing to do with this (when is this style rant going to die the death it deserves?). If style was such a big deal then Canada's direct style wouldn't have defeated Japan and China in the WWC and Mexico wouldn't have been able to use long-balls to beat Canada in the Olympic qualifications. Style is not the issue, how well it's executed is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3DMan Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 CAFAN, I agree with much of you have to say... The result should not be a surprise to anyone. This was, after all, a U-19 team with a couple of regular senior players. However, to say the style isn't a problem is not true, I believe. First, Canada was EXTREMELY lucky to beat China in the WWC... it mostly happened because Swiatek played awesomely and China couldn't shoot on goal very often. Japan... Swiatek made two absolutely phenomenal saves, and Canada was just a LOT bigger than Japan. And the Mexico example proves nothing: one direct team beating another direct team. And not that I am completely against the direct style. I think that most object to the complete lack of control, and the meaningless passes up field to no one... usually just back to the opposing team so that they can attack again. Canada needs to control enough so that we can long ball to our own players... in fact, I think that we have the forwards who can do a lot with the long ball if they have a chance to get there, and if they have support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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