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Gold Cup News Thread


beachesl

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002359416_goldcup06.html

quote:

The bottom line is that Canada is in development mode. And the future is here, with several young players getting their first kicks in international competition during this Gold Cup.

"It's a chance for us to really look at the younger core of the players," coach Frank Yallop said after practice yesterday at the University of Washington. "I want to make sure I get enough experience to these players early in their careers so that they're more ready for the qualifying group ... in four years' time."

The next World Cup the Canadians can qualify for is in 2010, and qualifying begins in 2008.

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quote:Originally posted by Joe Keeper

Sounds like CR are pretty confident were going to be unchanged since WCQ.

I hope Yallop is serious about his attacking philosophy for the boys. I think the best form of defence against the Ticos is offence. Even if we only put up 1 goal, hopfully good pressure will take time away from their attacks...

Maybe, but if our slow defence moves fwd on attacks they'll just get ran past on the counterattack. This we know CR are quite good at doing.

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quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

Cuba all set for Gold Cup

AP

Cuba was preparing to travel to America on Monday for the Gold Cup, anxious to make it past the first round and score at least one goal in its opener against the United States.

Cuba and the United States meet on Thursday in Group B, which also includes Costa Rica and Canada.

"We are going with the idea of classifying, with a positive mind because we have nothing to lose," Cuba captain and goalkeeper Odelin Molina told The Associated Press. "We aren't favorites, but in modern soccer there doesn't exist inferior teams."

Cuba made it to the quarter-finals in 2003 by defeating Canada 2-0, but then fell to Costa Rica and the United States. The national team was eliminated in the Gold Cup's first round in previous years.

"We aspire to score one goal over (the United States), something we haven't achieved in the last 10 years," Molina said. "We'll be looking for a tie."

Molina said the team was in good shape, especially after playing nine friendlies in May and June in Argentina, Norway and Denmark.

"We've progressed a lot in strategy, and unity on the field," he said.

Enrique Vidaurrutia and Leonal Duarte are two young and fast players who coach Armelio Luis said will "inject dynamics in the attack and complement our defensive work."

Lester More is the team's top scorer.

They played nine (9) friendlies in May and June?!?!?! Did anybody else catch that? They must have been local club teams because on the FIFA site it says their last game was in February against Jamaica when they lost the Caribbean final. People wonder why we can't seem to come together as a team. We have no preparation time and Cuba, CUBA of all countries puts in all kinds of time to prepare.

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quote:Originally posted by Alex

We have no preparation time and Cuba, CUBA of all countries puts in all kinds of time to prepare.

It's easier for Cuba, who doesn't allow their athletes to leave the island, to constantly play together.

Their only job, in essense, is to play for the Cuban national team.

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The writer of that Seattle article must not know the ages of De Guzman, Klukowski and Nsaliwa - the age of the squad wouldn't increase much with them, just with Imhof who's what, 27 or 28. Those players would bring more experience, but the squad would still be a young one.

The fact that Imhof, who has always shown up when called, has turned down the invite says something about how important this tournament is in the eyes of the European clubs that pay our players their wages. "The Gold what?" is probably their response to our players telling them what they've been invited to.

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GianLuca,, I've been trying to say that for a while ,, to us fans this Gold Cup is huge as it is one of our only tournies and games to look forward to in a long time,, Many are calling for our best team possible to do well here and send some kind of message... But I honestly don't think the players care about this even half as much as we do... When you have contracts and starting jobs on the line in Europe, and have to get your body some much needed rest in the short offseasons,,, the Gold What ??? is pretty much right.. Oh well , not much we can do except get some younger guys experience and hope they perform well...

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quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

The writer of that Seattle article must not know the ages of De Guzman, Klukowski and Nsaliwa - the age of the squad wouldn't increase much with them, just with Imhof who's what, 27 or 28. Those players would bring more experience, but the squad would still be a young one.

The fact that Imhof, who has always shown up when called, has turned down the invite says something about how important this tournament is in the eyes of the European clubs that pay our players their wages. "The Gold what?" is probably their response to our players telling them what they've been invited to.

I think it may be just as much the writer not knowing the ages of the inexperienced replacements to our A team players which as I stated in the roster thread is my problem with this selection. Many of our 27 and 28 year old players on the roster have far less experience both in international and club play than their teammates who are 3 or 4 years younger than them. In fact most of the younger players (McKenna, Hume, Hutchinson, Bernier, Serieux, Simpson, Occean) are obvious A team selections or at the least strong candidates for each A-team roster. This makes Yallop's following statement rather astonishing

"It's a chance for us to really look at the younger core of the players," coach Frank Yallop said after practice yesterday at the University of Washington. "I want to make sure I get enough experience to these players early in their careers so that they're more ready for the qualifying group ... in four years' time."

Who is he really looking at that he wouldn't be looking at anyway if we had some semblence of an A team? Instead of calling up some interesting young players who could really help us in the next WCQ and giving "enough experience to these players early in their careers so that they're more ready for the qualifying group ... in four years' time.", he is calling up a bunch of older mediocre players most of whom at best will be depth players only needed if we have massive injury problems (or if a significant number of players refuse to play for Yallop). I don't see the real purpose or future benefit of such a selection regardless of the results in the Gold Cup about which I am not optimistic either. Even if we manage to pull off a couple of surprise results (something that can happen in any tournament) will this lineup and tournament really benefit us in the future.

Regarding Imhof not being there I think it has a lot to do with the move to Bochum being a big career move and he wants to ensure he wins a starting spot. He has always been a bit of a fringe player for the Nat team and thus always probably felt he needed to show up for every match to keep his spot. Since he has played pretty regularly under Yallop while playing in the wilderness of Switzerland and is now moving to a better and more prominent league with a pretty big club that bounces between 1st and 2nd BL he probably also feels a bit more secure regarding his MNT spot.

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With statements like those either Yallop is under-selling the team to the international media so that our opponents may underestimate us, and/or is getting the excuses for an unsuccesful performance by the team in the first round out ahead of time, so as to lower our own expectations. I hope its the former.

The Gold Cup begins today (or tonight, to be precise), and I think I'm actually starting to get excited about this tourney - took me a while, but I got there in the end.

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My personal opinion is that it is excuses designed to help him keep his job after what may be poor results. This is well in keeping with the excuses we heard from him following the WCQ fiasco. The lack of taking personal responsibility for his decisions is something that bothers me about Yallop and also bothered me about Ossieck. If I were Sharpe I could live with some bad results under the current circumstances if I felt he were really building a solid base for the future but I do not think this is suggested by the current selection. Admittedly Yallop has had some less than ideal circumstances, short preparation time before WCQ, many no shows for Gold Cup. However, a good coach performs well regardless of the situation and Yallop has in my opinion consistently performed poorly and achieved far less from the maximum results with the cards dealt him. I keep waiting for him to show some improvement and that he is worthy of the job but at the moment I think if we are poor in Gold Cup it is time to get rid of him. We don't know if we will be in a good or bad situation when the next WCQ rolls around but we definitely need someone who can get maximum results regardless of the situation he is in.

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Found this interview with Imhof on the Bochum site. He states that Yallop wanted him for the Gold Cup but he told him that VFL Bochum was more important to him than the Gold Cup. Can't translate it all due to lack of time but he states that the WCQ team was too young and inexperienced and that WCQ came a year too early for us. He is also a hockey fan and wanted to be a hockey player growing up and is a big fan of the Flames. He is also a very religious person. The interviewer asks him about playing under Ossieck (who was also coach of Bochum in 1st Bundesliga) and he only states that Ossieck first called him into the national team but that now we have a different trainer (a bit diplomatic). The fan forums have stated that he has looked good in training so far.

Interview von vfl-bochum.de

Hallo Daniel! Herzlich Willkommen in Bochum. Am heutigen Montag ging alles ganz schnell und der Vertrag ist noch passend unterschrieben, so dass du aufs Mannschaftsfoto kommen konntest. Wie kam der Kontakt zum VfL zustande?

Danke schön. Ja, heute ging wirklich alles sehr fix. Marcel Koller war Trainer von mir in St.Gallen und er wollte mich schon damals nach Zürich zu den Grasshoppern und zum 1. FC Köln holen. Das hat beide Male nicht geklappt und deshalb bin ich jetzt um so glücklicher, dass es nun geklappt hat. Herr Meinhold hat mich vom Flughafen abgeholt und ein schönes Hotel gebucht und es lief wirklich sehr professionell ab. Diese tolle Organisation und Marcel Koller waren aussschlaggebend, dass ich bei Bochum unterschrieben habe. Außerdem ist das Stadion traumhaft und die Infrastruktur bei diesem Verein vorbildlich. Ich freue mich sehr auf den VfL Bochum.

Wie würdest du deine Fähigkeiten einschätzen - Defensivmann oder auch offensive Qualitäten?

Eher Defensivmann. Ich glaube, ich bin recht zweikampfstark und kann mir den Ball gut erkämpfen. Wenn man mich lässt, kann ich auch in der Offensive meine - obwohl ich keine Riese bin - Kopfballstäke ausüben. Ich glaube, ich habe ein ganz gutes Timing. Ansonsten liegen meine Vorzüge in der Defensive. Marcel Koller hat mir in St.Gallen die Möglichkeit freigestellt, mich auch mal vorne mit einzuschalten, dann treffe ich auch ab und zu. Und meine Freistöße sind ganz gut, glaube ich. Außerdem versuche ich, mein Team mitzureißen, bin ein Teamplayer.

Diese Fähigkeiten bringst du auch bei der kanadischen Nationalmannschaft ein. Wie läuft es bei euch in der WM-Qualifikation?

Die ist leider schon zuende und wir haben es nicht geschafft, uns für die WM 2006 in Deutschland zu qualifizieren. Das Team ist noch sehr jung und unerfahren, die Quali kam einfach ein Jahr zu früh für dieses Team. Aber umso mehr freut es mich, dass ich hoffentlich in einem Jahr mit dem VfL die Chance habe, die tollen neuen Stadien in Deutschland zu sehen.

Kanada ist ja auch nicht unbedingt bekannt für den Fußball, sondern eher für Eishockey...

...genau. Eigentlich war es immer mein Traum, Eishockeyprofi zu werden. Das war und ist meine große Leidenschaft. Wie ich zum Fußball gekommen bin, weiß ich gar nicht mehr genau. Aber das ist auch ein schöner Sport und ich bin froh, ihn ausüben zu dürfen. Eishockey gucke ich mir - sofern mal nicht gestreikt wird in der NHL (nordamerikanische Profiliga) - im Fernsehen an, vor allem die Spiele meines Lieblingsvereins Calgary Flames. Da kann es dann schon mal sein, dass ich auf Grund der Zeitverschiebung mit sehr kleinen Augen zum Training komme (lacht). Aber wenn die Flames gewonnen haben, gewinne ich sehr viel Energie daraus.

Du hast auch unter dem ehemaligen VfL-Trainer Holger Osieck bei der kanadischen Nationalmannschaft trainiert?

Drei Jahre war Holger Osieck mein Trainer in Kanada. Er hat mich zum Nationalspieler gemacht und mir die ersten Spiele ermöglicht. Aber jetzt haben wir einen anderen Trainer und der wollte mich eigentlich für den nordamerikanischen "Gold Cup" nach Kanada holen. Aber ich habe ihm gesagt, dass mir der VfL wichtiger ist.

Es ist überall zu lesen, dass du sehr religös bist. Hilft dir dein Glaube auf dem Platz?

Er spielt sowohl auf als auch neben dem Platz eine sehr große Rolle in meinem Leben. Aus ihm schöpfe ich meine Kraft und gerade jetzt in so einer Situation - neues Team, neue Stadt - hilft mir der Glaube an Gott.

Was sind deine Ziele mit dem VfL Bochum?

Ich möchte dem VfL helfen, sofort wieder aufzusteigen und ich möchte der Mannschaft mit meiner Erfahrung helfen, wieder dahin zu kommen, wo er hingehört - in die erste Liga.

Vielen Dank für das Gespräch und alles Gute beim VfL.

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I remember the consensus in this forum after Yallop's last fiasco was to give him until the Gold Cup to see if he should be fired or not. The Gold Cup is here now and Yallop is already giving excuses. We'll see. What I fear the most is if Yallop is given the boot the CSA may appoint Mitchell to take his place. Although Mitchell may have a better record I don't think his mentality is any more innovative than Yallop's.

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most of the teams are has a predominantly domestic base players content

the big difference is that they have more experienced playing against concacaf opposition be thru panam games,Gold cup and concacaf club championship and that where our domestic base players has the disadavantage.

it that kind of neglection that put us behind the eight ball when we face concacaf opposition.

the players that answered the call should not be blamed, they were never allowed to gain that kind of experience.

in a non eventful yr it is ok to give some of the north american base players some international experience it will help raise the quality of our domestic teams and the fact that Montreal Impact has contributed so many of their main stream players is a good sign, there is no way the CSA would have got such a positive reponses from a foreign team even if they were only into preseason.

lots of the impact followers will follow this tournament with a special interest because it include a lot of players that they support on weekly basis.

one thing remain to be seen is do we try to play an offensive minded game or do we play the eternally too familiar sterile type of boot it upfront and prey that somebody other than an opponent can latch to it and boot it further upfront and hopes it end in the net.

I will be more pleased to see a change in the style of play even if we lose at least they is a genuine effort to play total football.

the main thing I want to see is get ride of that boring and uninspired style that does absolutely not go to promote the game in this country.

Canadians dont need to see more of the same stuff weve seen less that 2 wks ago from our highly touted u20 squad were lack of confusion and finding solutions was constantly evident.

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It's easier for Cuba, who doesn't allow their athletes to leave the island, to constantly play together.

Their only job, in essense, is to play for the Cuban national team.

Rudi we are sending a mainly north American base squad, the lack of players availabilty for tune up games can not be use as a reason

stop covering for constant lack of commitment from the CSA.

they had lots of opportunities to assemble this particular squad

and allow them to play games together and enter this tournament as a collective team.

they beat our so called A team 2-0 last time we played them

in the gold cup and yet we prefer to give our squad an inferior preparation than a team that is already ahead of us.

And how you and the CSA expect up to leap ahead of teams that we already have to play catch up against.

If the CSA keep up that kind of approach soon drawing Cuba and Pamana in Canada in world cup qualifying would be treated as a moral victory for us.

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"or if a significant number of players refuse to play for Yallop)."

It's a long list already.

How much of Hume's seeming lacklustre play in the friendly can be attributed to tiredness and how much to frustration at playing for a manager he doesn't respect?

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quote:Originally posted by canso

How much of Hume's seeming lacklustre play in the friendly can be attributed to tiredness and how much to frustration at playing for a manager he doesn't respect?

There are many legit reasons to criticize Yallop. There is no need to pull **** out of the air.

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quote:Originally posted by sj

It's easier for Cuba, who doesn't allow their athletes to leave the island, to constantly play together.

Their only job, in essense, is to play for the Cuban national team.

Rudi we are sending a mainly north American base squad, the lack of players availabilty for tune up games can not be use as a reason

stop covering for constant lack of commitment from the CSA.

they had lots of opportunities to assemble this particular squad

and allow them to play games together and enter this tournament as a collective team.

they beat our so called A team 2-0 last time we played them

in the gold cup and yet we prefer to give our squad an inferior preparation than a team that is already ahead of us.

And how you and the CSA expect up to leap ahead of teams that we already have to play catch up against.

If the CSA keep up that kind of approach soon drawing Cuba and Pamana in Canada in world cup qualifying would be treated as a moral victory for us.

What are you talking about? He was responding to how they apparently had 9 friendlies in Europe and Argentina. Hes right, your wrong. Hes not talking about the CSA he was talking about how Cuba is communist and how they cannot play outside of their country.

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Alex

waht did prevent us from putting a nine game schedule together prior to the USL preseason?

the main ingredient is unity

when was the last time did you see any Canadian squad play as a unit

how are we going to get unity when asquad is always assembled in a hurry to bail out the CSA of complete embarrasment.

without the USl availibity players we would have had to pull out of this gold cup

we have palyers that wnats to play for Canada.

so why should we not reward them by giving them some kind useful preparation to give Canadian A-league teams some much needed credibility.

Is the Cuba league champion better that the Montreal Impact or the Vancouver whitecaps?

then why does the Cuban players have access to such preparation and ours does not.

they are both representing there country

Its not a matter of communist or not

Guatemala is not a comunist country did they not get the same kind of preparation before humiliating us in vancouver in a meaningful world cup qualifying game that set the tone for the rest of their campaign and the results speaks for itself and deservingly so.

should the Canadian squad fail to make it to the next round it wont be because they are mainly A league players playing for a democratic country but because they did not get the kind of preparation they deserve to represent their country adequately.

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Cuba has access to better preparation because they are always together. Canada has players in the USL and all over Europe, this is the biggest problem program faces. I agree the main ingredient is unity but its unrealistic to give these players "some kind of useful preparation" when they make little money in the first place. If they are making millions or even hundreds of thousands then I would say its no problem. I dont see how we are not giving the A-League teams credibility considering many of the A-League guys we have are starting. Guatemala has many of its players playing domestically and I believe Frank would like this to happen with the Canadian national team.

I think its great that he has selected 6 Impact players because this will bring familiarity to the team, this can only help. There has been alot of talk of the MLS expansion over the last year and this would bring unity as well which is probably why Frank is in such favour of MLS expansion to Canada.

Im sure guys in the USL must have other jobs which is why we cant be touring like im sure Cuba did. Im only guessing this is the case here. The other reason why could be because of the crazy schedule. We have been having B type camps which I think is great so fringe players can get a taste of the national team.

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Cuban Defectors Named

(AP)The Cubans were without forward Maikel Galindo and backup goalkeeper Odelin Molina in the game, and a Spanish-language television station reported that they did not arrive at the stadium with the team. Neither played and they could not be seen on the Cuban team's bench.

Asked if the players had defected, CONCACAF spokesman Steve Torres issued a statement saying, ``This is a matter for U.S. immigration and the Cuban federation.''

A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle, where the Cubans played their first two games, said Tuesday night that one member of the Cuban national soccer team was possibly ``out of status.''

Mike Milne of ICE would not reveal the player's identity or the specifics of the player's immigration problem, but said being out of status can refer to having an incorrect visa.

The player, who was interviewed Monday by ICE, was suspected of committing an administrative violation, not a criminal violation, Milne said.

The player was given a notice to appear before an immigration judge in the Executive Office of Immigration Review, released on his own recognizance and is free to travel anywhere in the United States, Milne said.

``I am not confirming or denying that he defected,'' Milne said.

Depending on what the immigration officials determine, the player could be allowed to stay or be deported.

Milne would not say what brought the possible violation to the attention of ICE.

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