July 7 GC - Canada v Costa Rica - POST-match [R]

[kelownaguy]

Ken,, great lineup for tomorrow.. I like that one a lot and it should be our "ideal" starting group.. I would bring in Serioux as our first sub,, at some point it would be nice to get a look at Dodds as well.. Canada showed some good possession out there but we look like we just don't have a clue what to do with the ball once we cross midfield..(besides a few late chances) This was a Costa Rican B team that was made up of many players from their domestic league,, and there were many times where it certainly looked like B team vs B team,, there was some stretches in the second half where watching paint dry may have been a little more exciting..lol.. But all in all,, we have to get our young core (Simpson, Atiba, Hume, Dero , Occean, Bernier, Peters) playing together as many games as possible so I think every game helps.. Gonna be in real tough tomorrow but we have a shot at beating Cuba if we can get just one darn goal....

[aussoccerfan]

quote:Originally posted by ken

this is a first post after viewing for a long time

My view of last nights game:

Greg Sutton; although I have been a supporter of lars as canada's keeper ( since the finland game and the way that he worked with the defense as compared to Onstad) I think that it is claear that Sutton is desevedly no. one, he seemed to have the confidence of the defence and did all that was expected of a keeper.

Adam Bras; I was suprised that he started, but he didn't seem out of place, nothing spectacular but nothing cringeworthy either. deserving of another look as part of the second eleven.

Kevin Mckenna; looked more comfortable on defence than in the N.I. game, I agree with the comments that you can't keep him off the pitch due to his strike rate and heart but his play in the back does not inspire confidence.

Atiba Huthchinson; Mithchell put him at the back in the under20's to settle down the team and I guess thatFY is doing the same. No one has mentioned that the tactics have chaanged and that a part of his job was to harry the ball carrier on goal kicks after canadian corners, the last few games we have been vulnerable to fast counter attacks after corners ( think Duff in Ireland) but there were none in last nights game, I attribute this to a change in tacticcs and Huthchinsons execution of those tactics. A team leader and furure captain.

Josh Simpson; didn't have a particularly good game, seems to have a problem in keeping his feet underhim. Does have the ability to take on people one on one but hasen't shown much success in it ( at the senior level) doesn't mean I wouldn't start him.

Patice Bernier; I thought that this was the best game that I had seen him play for canada, should start against US.

Patrick Leduc; perhaps tv doesn't do justice to his preformance, but I thought that he looked lost out there, an the rare occasion he got the ball he only looked for grande regardless of where he was. let another player start.

Sandro Grande; Agood ball distributing mid fielder. benefits from having a large number of Montreal players about to feed him the ball and knowing where they are likely to be, deserves his starting position.

Jim Brennan; clearly has the skill, looked a bit out of form last night, but then again who else on the squad can do his job, should have scored but didn't, should be the captain against the US (veteran, showed leadership by showing up in nothing tournament and we want him to continue to show up).

Dwayne Derosario; Had some nice runs, couldn't finish, looked dangerous but has the frustrating tendancy to give up the ball regularly, a young Stalteri did that too but he grew out of it, I don't think that Dero is going to at this point in his career, borderline between starter and sub for some of the young strikers.

Ali Gerba; didn't look out of place, merits the place on the squad, but shouldn't start ahead of Hume and Occean.

Ian Hume; did well for the short time on the field, am I the only one that thinks FY sisn't start him because of the likelyhood that he would run into yellow troubles against a central american team and that it would be better to give him a full run against the US whee his style is less likely to get him in trouble?

Adrien Serioux; amazing throws, needs more af a run to give an opinion.

Jamie Peters; One tremendous run, but that was all he had time to do, give hime 15-20 mins against the US.

As to tommorrows game Occean will be back, Gervais will have to play, and I think that Hume will start.

Sutton

Braz gervais Huthinson Simpson

hume bernier grande brennan©

derosario occean

Hi ken,

always glad to see another atlantic canadian on here, especially someone from my home province of New Brunswick.

As you probably noticed- forum member argh1 is also from Moncton.

_________________________________________

On sportsnet's broadcast you could hear some of the chants.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by Gordon

[it didn't give us any benefit by arguing, there was a series of goofy yellows afterwards and we've lost McKenna for the next game as well as playing short when trying to come back. Sometimes you have to suck it up and take the hit. And bitch afterwards.

Sometimes, yes. This time, no, especially since it would have been totally un-realistic to expect a team captain not to complain about that call on the pitch. If McKenna went overboard with the language used (which I can believe, though Prendergast is a trigger happy Ref when it comes to yellow cards, including when people daring to challenge his almighty authority so its possible he didn't go overboard & still got carded) that's one thing, but its another entirely to suggest that as the leader he shouldn't stand up for his team and object when we are getting outrageously shafted by the Ref. That's the suggestion I see being made here and I totally disagree with that, it suggests a lack of pride and passion for your country, which thankfully is not a problem wit Kevin McKenna. When I was a team captain I was the first to object to crappy calls, and guess what, I never got carded once.

[BearcatSA]

I have enjoyed reading the wide range of comments here. There is not much more I have to add except that I like Grande as a defensive holding midfielder, considering his solid variety of distribution, perhaps pulling DeRo into the centre mid spot, and playing Hume or Gerba with OO up front. Hutch was very impressive at CB: late in the second half he read a Tico striker's diagonal run, then used his pace to beat him to the ball, subsequently drawing a free kick for a shove to his back. Quality defensive play!

The Bernier was solid and workmanlike, but I think we needed the introduction of a true right winger (Peters) earlier in the second half to shake things up against a truly listless CR side. I hope Brennan gets the captaincy because I believe he will rise to the challenge and have a better match against the US.

Now for my Abe Simpson moment: didn't we use to be really good on set piece situations at the international level many moons ago, particularly with corners? In the "old" days, we scored most of our goals that way: Gray or Valentine inswinging corner to near post, flicked on by Bridge, hammered home by Mitchell. Against the Ticos, how many corners did we have? (Rhetorical question: answer is "many") We need to upgrade that part of the game, add some variety to the service, try some short corners, anything, because what I watched on Thursday wasn't very impressive. A side that is seriously goal shy from open play needs to produce set play results to be competitive.

[Soju]

Seems to me we still are scoring from set pieces as demonstrated against Honduras and Northern Ireland. I think McKenna's goal against Portugal also came from a post free kick scramble.

[BearcatSA]

Yes, and for all the dead ball opportunities we had in the CR match our best chance came off of a long throw in.

[An Observer]

I finally have had the chance to watch the match after downloading last night. I have to say that I am increasingly impressed with the way Canada is playing....much more possession football than we ever have had before. This is encouraging....Costa Rica created almost no chances other than the header off the bar, the Simpson slip in the first half, and the run where Hutchinson got the yellow. To me, that play by Hutchinson was pure class and reminds me of the cynical play of hte Italians. He had to leave the guy he was guarding to step forward and take the player down. Otherwise that was a sure run in straight onto our goal either by the guy going past Hutchinson or the man he just left.

My view of the players is almost identical to ken from Moncton so i won't comment further. I would only play Serioux in place Hume against the US as we will need help on that side against Beasley.

[footyfanatic01]

Costa Rica was very, very lucky to win this game. I was impressed with Canada on some area's, but on other's the Canucks were just terrible.

I thought Josh Simpson played terrible, especially in the 2nd half. This guy isn't a quality national team player, he wasn't supporting, his passes were off, and he singlehandely gave CR a chance with his terrible giveaway.

Derosario was good, has good skill, I would of liked to see him in a CM midfield role, we didnt have much creativity in there. Derosario has good skill, but lacks the top class finishing touch that most good strikers have. Not sure what position he plays in San Jose, but I definetly would of used him in a midfield role, most likely in the center.

Atiba Hutchinson was our best player. He was quick, good defensively, good vision, moved the ball well..it was nice to see a class player like that in Canada.

The A-league players Yallop brought were good, but our european players were much more polished, and played the game much better then there counterparts.

All in all, it was a good performance. We still had balls that went nowhere, but I was impressed with the ball movement, as I havent seen that in a long, long time with the national team. Costa Rica had a much more skilled side, and did more with there possession than we did. I think they deserved the win. Did they have a 1st team squad? Can anyone find this out for me (I havent read the previous posts).

Cheers.

[aussoccerfan]

Any photos from the game ?