My first post

[tellytubby]

I've been reading these boards on and off for the past five years. I've also been watching Canada since the 86 World Cup. Who would've thought that it would be the only time they'd make it. It's actually a weird thing to see that our strength at that time was our Fullbacks(Wilson,Bridge and Samuel)and now it's our Achilles heal.

Anyway to my point. The last two games and the state of the Canadian team. The first game would have been a good professional win if Onstad hadn't of screwed it up. They were favorites to win at home and they were playing a team that was happy for a draw. Although Canada didn't play their best game, they did enough to win. Onstad should never play for Canada again. Period. Ride Lars the rest of the way.

Fast forward to the second game. Mitchell is a twit, but he was right about one thing, losing Radz was the turning point. Radzinski looked like he knew this was one of his last chances to shine and he was going to leave it all out there. That would have opened up space for everybody else and I'm almost sure we would have got another goal. This unlucky break was almost as troubling as the Onstad boner in the Jamacia game. Deguzman and Dero seemed lost out there after that. I refuse to allow that the pitch was the sole reason for this.

I also refuse to blame Hume for what happened. I know he's a professional and your supposed to be ready for anything but Mitchell put him in a no win situation. The wise thing would have been to switch him and Dero. Although Dero isn't a great defensive player, he was warmed up and could have picked up where Radz had left off, thus letting Hume get warmed up in a more forward position. Very annoying to watch. it was like Mitchell was already thinking conservative early. That's a recipe for disaster with a team that hasn't exactly been known for keeping clean sheets.

As for the defenders. Every game I watch them it's like they're all on a separate page. They have absolutely zero cohesiveness and and they can't pass. It looked like the Honduran manager made adjustments at half time with his forwards and our fullbacks fell for it hook line and sinker. Anyway lets hope for a result in Mexico.

As for the state of the Canadian team. I love their enthusiasm for going forward and being creative. I have seen them do things since the Gold cup offensively that I've never seen a Canadian team do before. One good thing that came of the Gold Cup was Steve Hart allowed them to play this way. Often a manager can come along at the perfect time and that's what I feel he did. To pull him out after that was silly. I can't think of any place else that this would happen. He'd gained the trust of the players.

On a positive note, it was proven that Canada could get results by playing an attacking possession game. My biggest fear is that if Canada doesn't qualify they'll revert back to the old way instead of using this as a stepping stone to Canada finding it's own distinct style of play. Sorry for the long post.

[Toronto MB]

Very articulate first post. Agree with a lot of what you said. Welcome.

[SF]

Also agree with your views. One thing I would add is that the team appears to lack mental strength. That could come down to preparation, leadership, coaching, who knows. It just seems that Canada is far to easy to play against and lacks the ability to overcome any adversity. You simply cannot give up leads at home (twice in a row) in World Cup matches.

[bettermirror]

Absolutely agree. I finally watched the match a full 36 hours after the fact this morning - it's 4:00 and the Clash's 'Sandinista' record is my consolation.

We did not lose from some incredibly poor non-calls by the officials; We did not lose because of the choppy pitch (although that did favour the Hondurans being from the country they are from - erm, economics if you didn't catch my drift; We lost because of a naive coach, negative play (oddly enough), and our defence looked COMPLETELY LOST on counter attacks.

It should be worth noting we had our fair chances to equalize, and their goalie made the saves a decent goalie should make. 2-2 would have been fair. Yes, Radz deserved penalty when he cut his hand, but that's life.

9 points from 3 away and 1 home game is not impossible. Mental pick-me-ups are most absolutely required, and I am not sure who is gonna take this team by the scruff to get them up and going. McKenna possibly, but he doesn't play. Stalteri is too hot headed, they won't listen to him. De Ro is a skill player who will say the right things but when it comes down to it the guys follow his example, not his words - De Guz is the same. An Imhoff type probably would be able to get these guys going verbally....but for some unknown reason Mitchell felt Bernier was ahead of him in the pecking order and he falls in the same boat as McKenna. Lars possibly could have verbally picked these guys up, but he's an outsider as he has only just gotten back nto the side.

Such is life. Where's the beer?