July 2 Friendly - Canada vs Honduras (R)

[MikeD]

On Peters, I agree that people here are being too hard on the lad, much like Stalteri. I was as guilty as anybody of bashing Stalteri back in 1999/2000, so I've sworn to give young players more slack nowadays.

That being said, Stalteri didn't get a sniff of action for Canada until he was about 22 and had already been training and playing with Werder Bremen's youth and reserve sides for a couple of years. I really think Peters needs at least another year of seasoning with Ipswich before Yallop even thinks about starting him. Look at what a year playing in the English Championship did for Josh Simpson. He went from being a talented young winger with a great left foot into a complete package (and a hard b@stard from the looks of his recent performances as well). I have no problem with Yallop using Peters as a sub in this tournament though.

On McKenna, wait until the guy gets to the Bundesliga this year. Defenders who lack pace need to make up for it with their brains - reading the game well, knowing where to be and when. Jason DeVos and Tony Menezes were both slow but they made up for it with brains. Paul Fenwick was way faster than either of them and most people on this board hated him. My point is that McKenna is still young enough to learn to play with the savvy and confidence of DeVos and I think he'll get there if he gets to play in the Bundesliga and benefit from some top-quality coaching. He'll be facing much higher quality strikers and he'll have to have to improve mentally or he won't play. In fact, I think he could surpass DeVos because his skill level with the ball is arguably better than DeVos.

If McKenna only gets used as a striker with Cottbus, or if he fails to improve and doesn't get to play at all, then I'll be ready to agree that we should move him up front as a target man. Until then, I'll remain convinced that he's our best hope of being the next DeVos and support Yallop using him in every single match at the back. It's three years until we play another meaningful game, so the main things I want to see on the field right now are potential and steady improvement.

[Vancouver Fan]

quote:Originally posted by maxG

Was just at the game and I have to ask was there a voyageurs section for this one? If so, you guys need to buy some tickets for some loud fat men who wear red. Also is Olivier Occean also Kayne West?!?!

There were half a dozen of us that were doing the chanting in Section A.Instead of having to recruit loud fat men why don't you join in next time.

[Vancouver Fan]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

I feel sorry for the fans in Vancouver who keep coming out to support the team & see them lose out there. Honestly, when was the last time we won a match in that stadium, not counting the B team matches against Millwall - 1996?

As I've seen no footage from the match, I don't know if this is a bad sign for the Gold Cup, another incident of the Curse of Burnaby, or both......

Excuse me if I sound sensitive on this issue but please don't call it a curse GL.I do think however,that it is time to have games in other parts of Canada and God willing I'll be there.The thing is there aren'too many options at the moment to play games eleswhere.I beleieve that the players and coaches would rather play in Burnaby because of the quality of the pitch.If there were Swangards in other parts of Canada I'm sure we'd see more games there.

Having said that can we agree that location of games is not the reason for the bad results in the past few years.

[youllneverwalkalone]

quote:Originally posted by Vancouver Fan

There were half a dozen of us that were doing the chanting in Section A.Instead of having to recruit loud fat men why don't you join in next time.

[Markus]

A couple of things that frustrated me at the game (aside from the result):

1- I sat in the east bleachers and besides having to remove honduran fans from our seats when we got there, there were large numbers of them standing on the steps throughout the game and blocking the view of the fans around them. When they refused to move, fans got the "authorities" which consisted of one lady and four boys who must have been 12 years old, not surprisingly, they were ignored.

2- I don't own a team canada jersey [:0] so I thought I'd buy one at the game so I can show my support at the gold cup next week but there were none being sold at the game. Sure, I'll just buy a jersey somewhere else but I thought it odd that there werent any available at a MNT game.

As a side note, I did spend the second half in section A where the voyageurs were, and the chants seemed pretty loud to me for such a small group. I'll be joining in more once I learn all the words... some of them are pretty funny.

[Vancouver Fan]

quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone

There was that one loud fat guy with the lemonaid who was having a go at Brennan and seemed to think he was at a hockey game.

Yeah,we call him the Lion and he's been attending National team games for as long as I can remember.He's pretty funny to listen to.He uses hockey terms all the time.He's not that fond of Yallop either.

[analyst]

quote:Originally posted by snake

a few friends who were at the game said that josh simpson was the best player for either team today.

I can understand you want to support BC players, but, Simpson made a big defensive blunder in the first half. He was attempting to head a ball out of our end, and instead he headed it directly in front of the centre of our goal, 20-25 years from goal. Reminded me of Mark Watson's error in last years failed MNT qualifying effort.

[Vancouver Fan]

quote:Originally posted by Markus

A couple of things that frustrated me at the game (aside from the result):

1- I sat in the east bleachers and besides having to remove honduran fans from our seats when we got there, there were large numbers of them standing on the steps throughout the game and blocking the view of the fans around them. When they refused to move, fans got the "authorities" which consisted of one lady and four boys who must have been 12 years old, not surprisingly, they were ignored.

2- I don't own a team canada jersey [:0] so I thought I'd buy one at the game so I can show my support at the gold cup next week but there were none being sold at the game. Sure, I'll just buy a jersey somewhere else but I thought it odd that there werent any available at a MNT game.

As a side note, I did spend the second half in section A where the voyageurs were, and the chants seemed pretty loud to me for such a small group. I'll be joining in more once I learn all the words... some of them are pretty funny.

Good to see you join us in the 2nd half Markus.We had Guatemalans in our section last summer.They had some blue and white flags tied to our bleachers which I promptly removed with my utilty knife.Unfortunately this will continue to happen as long as they(central americans)are allowed to do so.

If you can't get a Canada jersey for the Gold Cup just wear a red t shirt.See ya there.

[Gian-Luca]

Vancouver Fan, I wasn't complaining that this match was held in Burnaby - as I've mentioned in other threads, it made perfect sense for us to play this match there since we are playing our first two games in Seattle.

What I'm complaining about, and I think we all can agree on this, the fact that Canada never wins there! Its ridiculous how long its been since we've won a match on the West Coast. We are so overdue for a win in that stadium its not funny.

[zacRWE]

besides Commonwelth in Edm and the stadium in Kingston, where else can we play? I guess untill Montreal build the Saputo centre the MNT is destined to play in Burnaby?

Also, like many have stated, the team needs to grow together... we have talent but no commonality. we have players in England, USL, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and so on. There is no collective style being played.

Lets hope that the CSA does something to adress promotion of the game. It is horrible that on Canada day weekend only a handful of Canadians knew that a national team was playing, whether it be soccer, hockey or croquet!!!

[An Observer]

Your comments on people sitting in your seats reminds me of a World Cup Qualifier against Jamaica about 15 years ago that I went to see at varsity stadium in Toronto. We too had Jamaican fans sitting in our seats...there were about 20 of them. They refused to leave even when the one usher came to ask them. Which meant that we ended up having to move to behind the goal (we had seats in the center) and stand the whole game.

It was quite pathetic that the stadium had essentially no security on hand to deal with the problem. One day, Canada will get a pitch invasion or a riot during qualifying...and then they will have to do something about security like the rest of the world does.

[aussoccerfan]

quote:Originally posted by zacRWE

besides Commonwelth in Edm and the stadium in Kingston, where else can we play? I guess untill Montreal build the Saputo centre the MNT is destined to play in Burnaby?

Why can't they play a game in Halifax ?

Halifax always seems to give Team Canada good support.

http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaypackphoto?2003/01/06+184.raw+1051+WorldJuniors+2

http://www.tradecentrelimited.com/photos/10/World%20Jr%20Hockey%2069.jpg

http://www.tradecentrelimited.com/photos/10/World%20Jr%20Hockey%2032.jpg

http://www.tradecentrelimited.com/photos/10/Fan_Support.jpg

Couldn't they play here-

For that CFL exhibition game they added 8000+ temporary seats. Couldn't they do that again ?

[canso]

"am I the only one salivating about the possibilities of a Hutchinson-DeGuzman combo in central mid in the future?"

You are not alone.

[David C.]

No Canso, you are not the only one. I've been looking forward to seeing a Brennan-deGuzman-Hutchinson-Stalteri midfield for some time.

Now, if we can only get that defense rebuilt...

[canso]

"get that defense rebuilt"

In a word...Nsaliwa.

[Daniel]

1. CCR is, from those who have seen both, apparently better than Richardson as an overall facility. On top of that, the Impact are averaging over 11,000 this season. I agree that this game was logical in Vancouver, but no games in Montreal in 11 years (especially this time around during WCQ) is unacceptable. Does the CSA think we're all gonna burn the maple leaf or something???

2. Hutch-JDG-Hume played together and know each other well. Hopefully, with the possible likes of Peters and maybe JDG2, they'll form our offensive core (and all from Ontario ).

3. As for Halifax, I know what it is to be a homer (see #1 ), but Huskie Stadium is in no way suited for an international soccer game. Artificial surface, football lines and 5k in what looks like a Cambodian stadium...

[Gian-Luca]

Just thinking that our team is going to need to have a lot of goals to progress in this tourney. The slowness of our defense on a counter-attack may not be a problem against the US because we may be trapped in our own end for much of the the game anyway.

If Atiba isn't going to be used at right back, I'd put Serioux there, or Pozniak - Braz seems to me more suited to central D and we don't have much cover for McKenna and Gervais if one of them goes down with an injury, is red-carded or moved up to striker (though I guess the latter isn't happening), so I assumed Braz would be it. Adrian & Chris I believe have more speed for the right side and with Grande & Atiba in the middle of the midfield there's no room for him to start anyway. It seems we have more midfielders than we know what to do with on this team (Rhian Dodds didn't play, and is that right that Brennan replaced Peters? They play opposite wings, so somebody was either out of position or

When Occean comes back for game two, if he goes up front with DeRo I'm assuming Hume plays on the right and Peters sits. Or Bernier goes there and Brennan plays on the left. Brennan has too much talent & int'l experience to be sitting on the bench in this fairly young & in-experienced squad.

I am really worried about getting burried down the middle of our defense by the US, who have considerable speed with LD & DMB. Difficult to say against Costa Rica since I don't know much about the players they are bringing, whereas I still think we can beat Cuba. By that game (the fourth this team will have played together) the familiarity problems should be reduced somewhat.

[sj]

If grass surface was one of the criteria

then even the was supposed to be built toronto stadium it would have been unfit to host this game

in other word we will still be stuck with Richardson, Swangard and Commonwealth.

As for Rudi

here is a few broken record nominee for you

Canada's record against concacaf opponent at home

Guatemala 2-0 fail to win at home

Honduras 1-1 fail to win again

Costa Rica 3-1 fail to win again

Hoduras 2-1 you got it

and how about the complaint about no merchandising at the games

this has been the same whenever Canada plays

may be those civil servant from the CSA find it lower class to have abooth and be a merchandise vendor.

keep that broken record logo around because you will have to post it time and time again and very soon too.

[matthew]

I got wondering about Kevin McKenna's effectiveness up front as opposed to coming up from defence on set pieces. So I thought it'd be somewhat useful to revisit his goals . . .

7/2/05 v Honduras — header off a corner. McKenna was a defender.

3/26/05 v Portugal — Peters nods down a corner in the box, DeRo shoots the pass off the bar and McKenna scrambles the ball in. Actually I can’t remember if he bent over and headed it or kicked it. McKenna was a defender.

6/13/04 v Belize — DeGuzman tries to take a free kick quick and is blocked by the Belize player, so he rolls it to Brennan who crosses it to McKenna to head home. Almost a set piece, but not really. McKenna was a forward.

6/1/03 v Germany — scores on a header off of a Marty Nash cross on a set piece. McKenna was a forward.

2/12/03 v Libya — Libya clears their lines and as they’re coming forward, Imhof steals the ball and it finds McKenna just on-side on a break. He slides it inside the post. McKenna was a forward.

1/26/02 v Martinique — Heads home a cross from Jim Brennan. McKenna was a forward.

1/18/02 v Haiti (2) — Imhof hits a hard cross that hits McKenna almost as much as he heads it. From the run of play.

McKenna is all alone in front and cooly side-foots a cross from Stalteri into the top corner past the on-rushing keeper Gateau Ferdinand (yeah I just wanted to write Gateau Ferdinand). McKenna was a forward on both.

5/30/00 v Honduras — I never saw this friendly in Winnipeg, but I believe McKenna scored on a header (and he has his back to goal if I remember right). No idea if it was a set piece of not. McKenna was a defender. (or appears to be anyway).

So that’s nine goals. At least six were headers. Three of the last four were off of set pieces and the fourth was more or less a set piece. He scored two-third of his goals as a forward, but his last two came as a defender.

I was wondering how many came from set pieces and how many came from when he was a forward. Clearly most of his goals came as a forward and from the run of play. So that takes a little away from my main point, but here it is anyway . . .

I don’t see why we can’t play Big Kev in the back. With Klukowski as the other central defender and Jazic/Simpson and Hutch/Stally as the outside backs there’s plenty of pace in the defence. Occéan is a decent, young target forward and better with his feet than McKenna. As a matter of fact, most teams seem to think we play aerial ball and I think we might be better served using the pace of Hume, DeRo and Radz than our size. Our outside mids aren’t great crossers either, though five of McKenna’s goals came on crosses so obviously we’re capable of delivering them.

I'd play Bernier at right back. While Atiba helps the midfield (if we had a full team) I think he depleats the back (though less so if we had Tam) more than he helps the midfield. I mean it's Grande or Imhof at d-mid with Stally-DeGuz-Brennan or Hume on the right with those three and Hutch at right back. Or we drop a guy like Hume/Grande/Imhof for who at right back? Bernier? Pozniak? Reda? Braz?

That being said if Hutch stays in the midfield and Spurs uses Stally at a rightback, I'd swap em, but I think we're better with one or the other at RB rather than both in the midfield. Of course I'm looking forward to seeing more of Grande and more of Hutchinson in the midfield.

cheers,

matthew

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by Daniel

3. As for Halifax, I know what it is to be a homer (see #1 ), but Huskie Stadium is in no way suited for an international soccer game. Artificial surface, football lines and 5k in what looks like a Cambodian stadium...

NO. Its far worst than a Cambodian stadium:D.

check out Phnom Penh National stadium ( capacity 50K)

http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/asia/cambodia/phnom_penh_national.shtml

[Gian-Luca]

I believe it was Patrice Bernier that headed the ball to DeRo on the Portugal goal, but my pedantry aside, I agree with your main point. Since McKenna scores as a defender, it makes more sense to have somebody else up there as a striker giving us more offense (and with McKenna one of our better central defenders, even if that doesn't mean a whole lot these days).

It concerns me that we aren't scoring from the run of play in general - our last three goals being off a corner, off a free kick (against Portugal) and off a free kick (N.Ireland).

Also, we need Iain Hume to start notching goals for Canada at the senior level. He is overdue for his first senior team goal, and I will be disappointed if, assuming he plays a lot, he doesn't notch one in the Gold Cup.

[Loud Mouth Soup]

quote:Originally posted by sj

If grass surface was one of the criteria

then even the was supposed to be built toronto stadium it would have been unfit to host this game

in other word we will still be stuck with Richardson, Swangard and Commonwealth.

As for Rudi

here is a few broken record nominee for you

Canada's record against concacaf opponent at home

Guatemala 2-0 fail to win at home

Honduras 1-1 fail to win again

Costa Rica 3-1 fail to win again

Hoduras 2-1 you got it

and how about the complaint about no merchandising at the games

this has been the same whenever Canada plays

may be those civil servant from the CSA find it lower class to have abooth and be a merchandise vendor.

keep that broken record logo around because you will have to post it time and time again and very soon too.

Got tired of going by the name 'Beast', huh?

[Vancouver Fan]

It's interesting that both U20 goals in Holland were also scored from dead ball situations.If this continues eventually teams that do their homework will be able to defend that part of our game more easily.

[matthew]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

I believe it was Patrice Bernier that headed the ball to DeRo on the Portugal goal, but my pedantry aside, I agree with your main point. Since McKenna scores as a defender, it makes more sense to have somebody else up there as a striker giving us more offense (and with McKenna one of our better central defenders, even if that doesn't mean a whole lot these days).

Well I punted my copy of the Portugal game on, but I watched that goal like the Zapruder film because I thought it was Peters and couldn't believe he won that header. If you watch he looks like he's lined up in the right position to be the guy, but they go from aerial angle to tight in the box and you lose track of the runs. But I still think it was Peters, but I'm certainly not positive.

cheers,

matthew

[The Ref]

quote:Originally posted by matthew

I was wondering how many came from set pieces and how many came from when he was a forward. Clearly most of his goals came as a forward and from the run of play. So that takes a little away from my main point, but here it is anyway . . .

One could say that all of his goals came as a forward, at least he was standing in a forward position when he scored, right in the middle of things. I don't particularly like his defensive play, so I would stick in as a forward where he can do the least damage and use his scoring knack.