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Canucks in Germany - December 2007


Guest Ed

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Tonight the game FC Köln - FC Kaiserslautern will close the 17th and last gameday in the first half of the season.

After his injury, Patrice Bernier is back in the team and will likely start for the Red Devils. Together with his teammate Josh Simpson he will try to safe Coach Rekdal´s head. With another defeat his days in K´town are counted.

With a victory Cologne could occupy a promotion spot. The game will be televised in DSF, starting 20:15H

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http://www.sport1.de/de/sport/artikel_2045242.html

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/2bundesliga/startseite/artikel/373113/

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/2bundesliga/spieltag/spielpaarungsbericht/object/808014

According to these articles it was a high tempo game with not so much finesse but both teams made up for it with effort and attitude. Second article shows Mc Kenna scoring the equalizer.

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Note to the experts who come down on Kevin McKenna, the man is a player and a leader. Now with Koeln for only 6 months, he wore the captain's armband Sunday and made kicker's dream team for an outstanding game (that puts Koeln into promotion territory at the winter break).

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quote:Originally posted by Ed

Note to the experts who come down on Kevin McKenna, the man is a player and a leader. Now with Koeln for only 6 months, he wore the captain's armband Sunday and made kicker's dream team for an outstanding game (that puts Koeln into promotion territory at the winter break).

I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that Big Kev is about as solid as they come at the Bundesliga 2 level. He's a good defender and he scored 10 goals in the 05/06 season afterall...i think it's when people assume that his play translates well to CONCACAF and playing for Canada that some pipe in with their "not so fast" comments.

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On the topic of McKenna for Canada:

I have seen him play for Koln where he is an absolute beast, and definitely a top 4 figure on that club. Strong in the air as always, extremely fit, extremely hard working and an excellent leader.

As for his pace, I think many people underestimate his pace, McKenna is not "slow". For a 6'3'' central defender he has adequate pace. Certainly faster than JDV.

The one big question mark in Kevin's play is his distribution. Perhaps it is a bit limited. He had an atrocious game against South Africa, but I am confident he will bounce back.

Best-case scneario is a Nsaliwa-McKenna pairing at CB. They compliment each other well.

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I maybe totally wrong here but my view on McKenna is that he is a leader and a rock at club level. However, I think he does lack some pace which is more likely to be exposed at international level where speed is more on show than at club level. Also, I think he is the type of player that at club level can compensate for his lack of pace by reading the game which entails understanding the reactions of his midfield and fellow defenders. As our national side plays so few games, this is more exposed than if he had the opportunity to play with this group for 3 or 4 months. A guy with pace is not so exposed as his pace lets him recover from his poor positioning and lack of understanding of how his teammates will react.

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quote:Originally posted by An Observer

I maybe totally wrong here but my view on McKenna is that he is a leader and a rock at club level. However, I think he does lack some pace which is more likely to be exposed at international level where speed is more on show than at club level. Also, I think he is the type of player that at club level can compensate for his lack of pace by reading the game which entails understanding the reactions of his midfield and fellow defenders. As our national side plays so few games, this is more exposed than if he had the opportunity to play with this group for 3 or 4 months. A guy with pace is not so exposed as his pace lets him recover from his poor positioning and lack of understanding of how his teammates will react.

I don't disagree with you about the importance of pace in defending; if you end up being isolated in a 1 v 1 match up and you don't have an extra gear for a recovery run, you're cooked, regardless of how well you read the game. If you have no wheels your opponents, both at club and international levels, will find a way to victimize you.

I have seen previous arguments on here about McKenna's style of play not translating well at the CONCACAF level, stating that he's not able to deal effectively with "fast, technical" opponents. His detractors would probably make your argument that the consistency of playing with regular teammates at club level helps his overall performance. I don't see him play enough in Germany to draw a conclusion about this but I'm going to guess that he has faced a number of fast, technical strikers in 1 v 1 situations in recent Bundesliga 1 and 2 matches and probably has done well enough to earn his coaches' trust.

I have to admit to not really warming to him as a defender with the MNT in his earlier years, instead being far more impressed with his goal poaching as a striker. But I thought he and Hutchinson did a good job together at the 2005 Gold Cup and since then he has established himself as a regular centre back in a good league (Bundesliga 1 and a rising team in Div 2). To me, it's a question of finding the right partner for him, as suggested by Toronto MB.

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Toppmoeller quits struggling Kaiserslautern

AFP

December 20, 2007

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany (AFP) - Klaus Toppmoeller, the head coach of Georgia's national side, has quit struggling second-division side Kaiserslautern only six weeks after taking over as director of sport.

The 56-year-old had wanted to replace current coach Kjetil Rekdal with former German captain Lothar Matthaeus at the third from bottom side. But the club's bosses have confirmed Norwegian Rekdal will remain in charge.

Blighted with serious financial problems Kaiserslautern, German champions in 1951, 1953,1991 and 1998, are struggling after just three wins all season. They were relegated from the Bundesliga in May 2006.

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I am not a big fan of Toppmoeller but do agree that Rekdal was a poor choice for coach and should be fired. However, I can't think of a much worse choice to replace Rekdal than Matthaeus. That Toppmoeller would suggest him lowers my opinion of Toppmoeller even further. Maybe Wolfgang Funkel who took over the team successfully last year after Wolf was fired should take over again as I think he is still assistent coach. Another good choice would be the former Cottbus coach Petrik Sander (McKenna's former coach) who would be a lot cheaper and more competent than Matthaeus.

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Not much related to our Canadians over in Germany, but it was very satisfying to see Paul Stalteri's ex-teammate Ivan Klasnic return to Werder Bremen last weekend. There are comeback stories out there, but to come back from a kidney transplant (at least his second, as I know one transplant for sure was rejected), score two goals in that return game and put your team level as league leaders at the Christmas break, some story.

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Unfortunatelly the situation in Kaiserslautern is a only chaos. The public image is much poorer than the standing in the tablets reflect it.

But not firing Coach Rekdal was the best what could happen. The team is very young, unexpereineced but has a pretty outlook. Togehter with him the team will be able not to relegate, I´m sure. All of them so many coaches werew fired in the last 6 years without any success. So give him the cahnce, he will make it, I bet

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I´m looking forward continuing discuss with you

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Not player related but here are a couple of examples of a useful national organization, one promoting the men's team "DFB builds 1000 mini-soccer pitches around Germany" and the second a promo shoot for their Women's team and a promo on the WC victory debuts on January 2nd on ARD, one of the big German TV networks).

http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=503957

and

http://www.dfb.de/fileadmin/bildstrecken/frauennationalmannschaft/071030_shooting/01.jpg

http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=504112

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