Roster for Iceland announced

[Soju]

So happy (and surprised) to see Radz on this roster. Hopefully someone can ask him what's up in his club career and put the rumours to rest. Strong squad for this match now if Mitchell doesn't eff with our sexy gold cup style then I'm stoked.

[ANC2]

Notice Dasovic on the list as an assistant. Hart and Mitchell will not work out and Mitchell will ease his boy in the position. I can see it now. The only reason Hart is involved is Mitchell does not want to clean house too early

[trueviking]

i am shocked that radz is there...arent their issues of insurance and liability if an unattached player plays internationally...wasnt that the reason he didnt play in the gold cup?

that being said, it is great to see...i hope he signs somewhere soon.

[trueviking]

i wish we had this team for the gold cup actually...we would have won the damn thing....this is the best line up we've had since qualifying last time around.

[Grizzly]

I wonder if there is a chance of Stalteri becoming the permanent captain. Sometimes new coaches change captains and if I remember correctly Stalteri was captain during the Gold Cup. He may not be our most disciplined player but I still think his passion would be good as a captain. Additionally, other than his injury filled last season I can't think of anytime when he ever turned down a Canada callup. I like him much better as captain than McKenna primarily because I think he is a more skilled player and is an automatic starter. I am not sure if we have an upgrade for McKenna but I sure wish we did so in my books he is not an automatic starter and only has his position until we can find someone better which is not a good thing for a captain.

[BearcatSA]

Grizzly, where has Bernier been playing at Kaiserlautern this year?

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by BearcatSAFor Ledgerwood, I thought #2 usually is the right back, so maybe we'll see him replace Stalteri there at some point in the match.

ken, your selections would also be my starting eleven. Not sure of Radz's fitness: is it better to start him then sub him or vice versa?

Where in the midfield has Bernier been playing with Kaiserlautern? (Maybe Grizzly can tell me?). I can see him being replaced by Imhoff at half time. Too bad that Tam's not available.

Here is the tactical formation according to Kicker...

link

...with Bernier playing as right defensive mid in front of the centerbacks. I don't think this is entirely accurate as he really came forward a lot. I think the 4 FCK midfielders are playing a very flexible formation with them interchanging positions. He really moved around a lot in this game and was very effective, much moreso than he usually is with the national team so hopefully he can start playing like this for us more frequently. Incidentally he was taking the corner kicks and FCK has this weird and cool looking tactic when receiving a corner. The players run around outside the box and don't take position until the ball has been kicked which makes it hard for the defenders to know where they are going. It must also be hard for Bernier to judge where players are going to be but his delivery was very good and FCK should have done better on corners as they won a lot of them and Bernier placed many of them perfectly. It would be neat to try this tactic in CONCACAF because it would probably confuse the hell out of some of our opponents.

[BearcatSA]

Thanks for the info, Grizzly.

From what I have seen of him he does a good job defensively but I have never been convinced of his offensive acumen, and during the last two GCs we never got enough out of him when he played exclusively on the right flank. Once Nash went off against the U.S. Bernier seemed to slot more centrally and yet still made a run or two down the right side (on one occasion being unable to keep Hasting's best long range pass of the tournament in play). I think you make an interesting point about the FCK interchanges in midfield and I could see a similar thing with Canada's midfield: at times we saw DeGuzman and Hutch taking turns coming back deep to receive passes from the back line and I see Bernier fitting in in a similar fashion. I envision the midfield situation as Hutch being the more offensive midfield attacker, working off of the lone striker, DeGuzman being the box to box guy either pushing up or dropping back depending on the tempo of play, and Bernier primarily being the more defensively minded of the trio. I believe he has the defensive quickness and if he can distribute quickly, safely, and consistently from a central position he will certainly stake his claim for the job.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by BearcatSA

From what I have seen of him he does a good job defensively but I have never been convinced of his offensive acumen,

I would agree with you based on most of his national team games but he was really effective offensively in the FCK game. I have also seen him play like this a few times for Canada but not very often. Until the recent Gold Cup DeGuzman always seemed to perform below the level he was at his club side possibly due to coaches not employing him properly. His dramatic improvement may have been due to Hart's tactical plan (or possibly lack of plan, ie. giving the players some freedom). Hopefully Mitchell will find a way to get performances out of Bernier consistently that are of a similar quality to his last FCK game.

[BearcatSA]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

I am not sure if we have an upgrade for McKenna but I sure wish we did so in my books he is not an automatic starter and only has his position until we can find someone better which is not a good thing for a captain.

That reminds me: with a European based squad, a little thin in centre defense, I wonder why a guy like Edgar wasn't called. Injured, or did I miss some other info on the thread or forum? I'm not saying he subs in during the match but at least Mitchell could see how his U20 captain looks in training with the senior men's side.

[BearcatSA]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

Until the recent Gold Cup DeGuzman always seemed to perform below the level he was at his club side possibly due to coaches not employing him properly. His dramatic improvement may have been due to Hart's tactical plan (or possibly lack of plan, ie. giving the players some freedom). Hopefully Mitchell will find a way to get performances out of Bernier consistently that are of a similar quality to his last FCK game.

The thing I noted in this forum about DeGuzman (and DeRosario, for that matter) is that during the last WCQ they both seemed to be trying too hard to make something happen every time they touched the ball, lacking that bit of patience to pick the when and where to do it. I think he is maturing as a player, benefitting from the style of play in La Liga, and remember many of his starts came in the second half of the season, so he brought a certain level of freshness on arrival at the GC. And, he was in dynamite form and led by example: Bocanegra's brutal hack didn't deter him from the task at hand, he kept his poise and maintained his determination to get us back in the game, without yapping, screaming, and pointing fingers.

Perhaps he's the captain you're looking for?

[VPjr]

quote:Originally posted by BearcatSA

That reminds me: with a European based squad, a little thin in centre defense, I wonder why a guy like Edgar wasn't called. Injured, or did I miss some other info on the thread or forum? I'm not saying he subs in during the match but at least Mitchell could see how his U20 captain looks in training with the senior men's side.

IMO, none of the U20's are playing enough with their respective club sides to deserve a call up to the national team. Edgar is better served in staying at Newcastle and trying to earn some playing time with the big club and/or getting as much playing time with the reserve squad as possible. I personally hope that he gets loaned out so he can play every Saturday in meaningful games. His development will become stunted without meaningful playing time.

[BigBird]

Can you cap players in exibition matches such as this one,,,,,if so why would they not call younger players like Edgar, and others maybe one or two young players, for this match and secure their status for the mens team.

Is anyone not capped, on the list provided.

If not disregard this comment!

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by BigBird

Can you cap players in exibition matches such as this one,,,,,if so why would they not call younger players like Edgar, and others maybe one or two young players, for this match and secure their status for the mens team.

Is anyone not capped, provided.

If not disregard this comment!

By playing with the U-20's or the U-17's in CONCACAF qualifications or a Youth World Cup, a player is capped tied with the country he played for in those competitions.

So Edgar is capped for Canada.

The only exception is if a player wants to switch countries, he can make the switch (if he's eligible for the new country) before he turns 21. Marcel DeJong is an example of this because he was capped by Canada at the youth level and thought about making the switch for Holland (it doesn't seem like it will happen).

At the senior level, a friendly like the Iceland game will cap tie a player if he enters the field of play (if he stays on the bench, it won't count).

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by ubuntu

I think it's better to have a lot of option up front than to have none like a few years ago when our only "striker" was McKenna!

Interesting article on TSN, but with a few mistake!:

http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/news_story/?ID=216145&hubname=soccer

--quote--

Four players were invited but were unavailable for the Iceland trip: goalkeeper Josh Wagenaar (ADO Den Haag, Netherlands) is injured while defender Kevin McKenna (FC Koln, Germany) and midfielders Marcel de Jong (PSV, Netherlands) and Tam Nsaliwa (Palonius, Greece) were all kept at home by their clubs.

--quote--

PSV?? Palonius?? It's still good to know that they think about them!

I'm curious to know which players would not be in Iceland if those 4 were available.....

[Gian-Luca]

Here's another article on the roster called by Ryan Johnston from sportsnet.ca;

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/article.jsp?content=20070814_152526_200

[jpg75]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

I'm curious to know which players would not be in Iceland if those 4 were available.....

My 2 cent guess: Begovic (Wagenaar), Hastings (McKenna), Ledgerwood (Nsaliwa - both can play DM and RB) and Imhof or Issey (De Jong)

Bigbird, Ledgerwood and Begovic are not capped at the senior level. Though Ledgerwood is permanently cap-tied to us already...

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by jpg75

My 2 cent guess: Begovic (Wagenaar), Hastings (McKenna), Ledgerwood (Nsaliwa - both can play DM and RB) and Imhof or Issey (De Jong)

Agree except for Hastings, I think Gerba would've been the one not called (not many defenders and too many forwards on that roster).

[David C.]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

Agree except for Hastings, I think Gerba would've been the one not called (not many defenders and too many forwards on that roster).

I agree too that Hastings would have been there regardless. Plus, I suspect that we would have had a roster of 18, had more first-choice players been available. As noted previously, McKenna's missing #4 roster number hints that he may have been a last-minute drop from an 18-player roster.

[ken]

quote:Originally posted by jpg75

My 2 cent guess: Begovic (Wagenaar), Hastings (McKenna), Ledgerwood (Nsaliwa - both can play DM and RB) and Imhof or Issey (De Jong)

If I had to guess, Begovic for Wagenaar, Ledgerwood for Nsaliwa and Dejong for Mckenna, as neither of the last two made it we have a 17 rather than an 18 man roster and no #4.

[George]

Tam and AEK have a huge CL 3rd round 2nd leg qualifying match against Sevilla on Aug. 28th. That could be why he is a no show.

[jpg75]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

Agree except for Hastings, I think Gerba would've been the one not called (not many defenders and too many forwards on that roster).

I was reluctant to drop a forward because i) everyone believes Mitchell is evaluating that position. ii) we might play 2 forwards. iii) Gerba deserves a look after his GC performance and iv) Issey is a forward at the club level.

But as David C. mentioned, looks like an 18 man roster if McKenna sticks. However, if De Jong is selected then maybe Hastings is dropped? Kluks can fill in at CB if needed.

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by George

Tam and AEK have a huge CL 3rd round 2nd leg qualifying match against Sevilla on Aug. 28th. That could be why he is a no show.

We'll see if he's present for the september 12 game against CR. If he isn't, I'll start worrying.

[squid2]

I agree it's a good roster.

If Mitchell plays with two or more up front and he lets the boys play and go about their business, I'll be in shock, but at least I be very happily in shock.

Nothwithstanding the Euro slant, I'd still prefer to see DeRo on it.

I'm hopeful that Mitchell doesn't start "tinkering" too much or start

re-evaluating to identify "his" pool of players. He doesn't have that kind of time.

Every game counts, as our players require time together - to pick up from where they left off at GC - continuity of play, as well confidence and comfort with one another.

And I'll agree with VPjr on Edgar - however I hope that when McKenna is in the lineup, I'd wouldn't mind seeing Edgar teamed with him for a spell in the middle. More so to establish whether the depth is there behind McKenna or not.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by jpg75

My 2 cent guess: Begovic (Wagenaar), Hastings (McKenna), Ledgerwood (Nsaliwa - both can play DM and RB) and Imhof or Issey (De Jong)

Agreed on Begovic & possibly Ledgerwood, I think McKenna would have been there as an additional defender though.

What also might be interesting to speculate is who the 20-plus European-based players & 10 to 15 North American based players are.

Euro:

The 17 that are on the roster, plus the four players invited but unable to attend, makes 21. That's already 20-plus, but I think that we can safely add Josh Simpson, Jamie Peters & Will Johnson to that list especially given how high Mitchell is on the latter two, that would make it 24. Who else might be added from Europe. Ademolu? Grande? Giacomi? Dodds?

NA-based:

De Ro, Jazic, Harmse, Serioux, Brennan, Sutton, Stamatopolous, Pozniak, Braz and Reda (the MLS senior players, not counting Lombardo & Canizalez) would make 9. Onstad would make 10 I suppose. Who else can be added to make up another possible 5? Nash, Gervais & Ribeiro I suppose as another 3 based on their Gold Cup call-up, and I guess Lombardo might make it 14 (though I think he's way behind the other strikers at this stage) given the level he's playing at. I struggle to come up with a 15th name, unless I'm missing someone obvious.