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April 24 Friendly - Germany v Canada (game 2) [R]


The Ref

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Another loss for Canada at the hands of the German girls. The damage was only 3-2 this time compared to the 3-1 from 2 days ago. Canada's goals scored by Hermus and Sinclair. According to the German press they were looking forward to play against Canada as it represents a similar style as played by Norway. Norway being a contender that Germany will have to face. Since Pellerud originated from Norway, hence the connection of styles. I think Pellerud has done great things to elevate Canada to a respectable 11th place in Fifa rankings and be considered as a very strong team in the world. I am a supporter of Pellerud but I am begining to wonder if he has reached his useful potential.

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quote:Originally posted by The Ref

Another loss for Canada at the hands of the German girls. The damage was only 3-2 this time compared to the 3-1 from 2 days ago. Canada's goals scored by Hermus and Sinclair. According to the German press they were looking forward to play against Canada as it represents a similar style as played by Norway. Norway being a contender that Germany will have to face. Since Pellerud originated from Norway, hence the connection of styles. I think Pellerud has done great things to elevate Canada to a respectable 11th place in Fifa rankings and be considered as a very strong team in the world. I am a supporter of Pellerud but I am begining to wonder if he has reached his useful potential.

Why would 2 losses to Germany make you wonder about Pellerud? This is just the start of a 2 year preparation for 2007. The losses mean nothing in the big picture.

To put things in perspective. This wasn't Canada's best personnel and being so early after a long layoff, the team wasn't game-fit. Germany on the other hand played their best team and is in the middle of prepartion for the European Championships. Neither loss was unexpected or a signal that Canada is not making progress. Remember, Canada lost 4-1 to Germany before earning 4'th in the last WWC.

Pellerud is working on getting more experience for the youngsters and building more depth into his back line. Everything depends on the back line - this includes the ability to compete with the best teams as well as the evolution of Canada's style (i.e. he won't play the ball through the middle or attack with back-line wingers until he has a defense that is talented and mature enough to pull it off without giving up goals). He was almost there in 2003 with Boyd, Chapman, Nonen and Hermus, then all hell broke loose. Hermus is the only one of those four to make this trip and Hooper who might be part of the 2007 back-line was not ready to play. Pellerud got good performances from youngsters Andrews and Schmidt and I think he was reasonably pleased with Hermus and Morneau. He also has Nonen and Zurrer to bring back into the mix, so that's why I think he was pleased with how well his team did against Germany.

Canada is pretty loaded with talent as youngsters like Schmidt, Zurrer, Thorlakson, Jamani, Everrett etc. seem to pop out of the woodwork in a steady stream. If the CSA had enough money, Pellerud could put in place a US style program with many more (and larger) camps and residencies. As it is, he has enough money to put a reasonable sized team up against the best so they can learn on-the-job and so he can assess who is progressing to the elite level.

I expect Pellerud will do all he can to look at as many players as possible over 2005 and the first half of 2006, then narrow things down and prepare specifically for the China WWC.

I wouldn't even be surprised to see Canada drop a few notches in the World Rankings and that would be fine by me. FIFA rewards wins but winning is not always the name of the game. Canada will progress far faster by losing to the likes of Germany, the USA etc. than beating lesser teams. By the fall of 2006 we'll be able to see if Canada has the right stuff to compete for the Gold in 2007. Until that time I'll be watching to see how fast he solidifies the back line. As soon as that's accomplished I expect we'll start to see a higher premium on possession and playmaking.

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Sorry, I misunderstood. I'm a Pellerud supporter too. I'd like to see him complete he job he set out to do - take Canada to the Gold medal in 2007. We've come a long way since the days of 9-1 losses to the USA but there's still a lot of work to do.

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  • 2 weeks later...
quote:Originally posted by CAFAN

Sorry, I misunderstood. I'm a Pellerud supporter too. I'd like to see him complete he job he set out to do - take Canada to the Gold medal in 2007. We've come a long way since the days of 9-1 losses to the USA but there's still a lot of work to do.

yes we play crap ball and can't get pass Mexico for the Olympics. The Women's game has progressed since 1995 and Pellerud has been left behind and sadly so has Canada.

40 yard balls long. Crappola.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Failing to qualify for the Olympics was a big disappointment but one disappointing loss is not the whole story:

1. Canada finished 4'th in the 2003 WWC despite missing 3/4 of the back line due to injuries.

2. According to FIFA's published numbers, Canada has gained more points in the FIFA rankings (since Dec. 2002) than all but 2 of the top 20 countries - more points than Germany, the USA, Brazil, Sweden and Norway.

3. Despite the absence of Canada's biggest names (Hooper, Sinclair, Lang, Latham), Canada just recently beat #5 ranked France 2-0. Prior to losing to Canada, France had only a single loss in 2005, 1-0 to the USA - and France has 2005 wins over #3 ranked Norway, #6 ranked Sweden, and #7 ranked Denmark.

Exactly which countries have left Canada behind?

Don't even suggest Mexico. England whipped them 5-0 in the 2005 Algarve cup.

Could it be Germany and the USA (co-ranked #1 by FIFA)? Nope. Last 2 games against those teams were only one goal losses and both were away games for Canada - hard to call that being left behind. Maybe Germany and the USA are slipping and that would explain the close scores? No again. Germany's last opponent (other than the USA) was #9 ranked China. Germany beat China 2-0. The USA's last opponent (other than Germany) was #7 ranked Denmark. The USA beat Denmark 4-0.

So here's the challenge. List the teams that are leaving Canada behind and this time support the allegation with some facts.

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Very thorough presentation CAFAN. You must be a Defense lawyer or something. I don't have facts but I value my opinion. Canada women soccer has made great strides since the early years of Charmaine Hooper when she was the only player worth anything in the team. Of course, Pellerud is the guy who changed things so drastically. He got rid of players not measuring up to world standards, changed the playing style and brought in strong players and professional staff. I was impressed with Pellerud, certainly the most current and innovative coach I've ever met. After seeing the team on the flesh prepare for the WC I was sure they were going to win it all. I could not see how they would not. But holy sh_t, some unfortunate miscalculation on the old German tradition caused us a severe blow. We recovered until our patched up defense could not handle Sweeden. After that, it was just no more contest.

In my opinion we are not going to do much better in the next WC. European teams have made great progress in player and team preparation. It is a serious game for them, just as it is their men's teams. Of course we have to add to that the U.S. and Brazil maybe. I know Pellerud wants to upgrade our gals to the next level, something that must happen for us to do well. But so far, inspite of winning France, it has not happened. Unless Pellerud discover some world class level defenders and midfielders, it will be a tough battle. He is carrying some ineffective players for world level soccer that he needs to discard. Hard to do when there is nobody else on sight. I like to think that each position must have at least 3 more backup players depth. The number 3 being almost as good as the number 1. Right now, we don't have that. At least not in quality. If there are 3 players depth in the roster, the curve drops just too sharply.

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It's too bad Canada didn't get to play the WWC with Nonen, Boyd, Hermus and Chapman healthy. That was a world class back line and getting stronger every game. They weren't only extremely tough to penetrate, they were also getting very good at supporting the m/f and strikers. Canada was just a much more complete team with them on the field. Their injuries changed everything and Canada was left to make the best of a bad situation. No one can say for sure what would have happened but I suspect Canada would have given Germany a much better game in the qualifying rounds and got past Sweden to advance into the Gold Medal match. At that point anything could have happened.

So far Europe is not leaving Canada behind but the writing is on the wall. All other regions, including North America may find themselves lacking the steady diet of high quality club and international competition found in Europe. We'll see over the next few years how big a deal that is.

As far as depth goes, Canada still lacks the kind of depth they'll need in 2007. But the depth is improving and is already much better than it was in 2003. Look at the back line - who are the top 4? Who are the 3 subs?

- Nonen - Zurrer - Lang - Tancredi

- Hermus - Schmidt - Dennis - Nault

- Hooper - Andrews - Gayle

- Morneau - Chapman - Radchuck

The back line that shut-out France was Hermus, Morneau, Schmidt and Andrews. The one that held the USA to a single goal last summer (remember the USA was fully prepared for the Olympics and Canada hadn't even practiced for months) was Hermus, Hooper, Zurrer and Nault(Morneau subbed for Nault in the 2'nd half). It's not so much about finding world-class players as it is about developing those with that kind of potential. I'd like to see how far young/talented defenders like Zurrer and Schmidt could be developed by 2007.

The midfield is a bit different. More needs to be done and I think we're still waiting to see a leader emerge. We have some great young talents like Matheson, Timko and Cicchini but that's not enough. We need someone who can control the game from the m/f, someone who can set the example for the whole team. I'd sure be looking at players like Thorlakson, Schmidt, Tancredi and Everrett and I'd like to see how Walsh is playing these days.

The two places Canada never seems to lack depth is at forward and g/k. Hopefully that trend will continue.

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