BrennanFan Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Who will score goals for us in this next cycle? Our current batch, Occean, Hume, Gerba and Friend proved to be mediocre at best. They were not good enough, and they were in their prime this time around. Friend is a decent level striker in Germany but his style does not easily fit in with our midfield. Sad but true. He was unable to elevate his game when we needed him. He will be in his 30s next time around. He may still prove useful but we cant rely on him anymore. So who do we have coming up? Vladimir Vukovic (89) FK Laktasi Derek Gaudet (89) Toronto FC Randy Edwini-Bonsu (90) Vancouver Kyle Porter (90) Energie Cottbus Igor Pisanjuk (90) Ferencvárosi Torna Club That list does not inspire me with confidence. Maybe one of these guys will make our bench next cycle, MAYBE. So who will take the responsibility to score goals? Johnson? Simpson? Ornoch? Our defence is actually looking up with Edgar, Hainault, Nana, Gala, deJong and Ledgerwood, not to mention Lecost-Lebuis, Straith, Suprenant and Gage. But at Striker, I fear things will get worse before they get better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I don't know how you can say that Occean was mediocre at best when he only played 10 min for us in the last 12 months? I agree with your feelings about our strikers. I'm a bit worried as well because we have the guys you mentionned and the only decent prospect is Johnson and that's about it... And maybe it will be a good thing. That will force us to play catenaccio and we'll score on set piece. If we want to qualify for 2014 we'll have to play like Greece 2004.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrennanFan Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 True about Occean, but its fair to say that he's hit his professional ceiling in Norway, and that won't be good enough to qualify us, ever. ...and Johnson is being turned into a wide midfielder at RSL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by BrennanFan True about Occean, but its fair to say that he's hit his professional ceiling in Norway, and that won't be good enough to qualify us, ever. ...and Johnson is being turned into a wide midfielder at RSL. Well, Occean, Gerba and Friend all could improve in the next 2-3 years. It's not likely they'll improve dramatically but it's possible. They are all 26-27 so they'll be 30-31 in 4 yrs, not too old to lead us. I just hope OO will be given a proper chance next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deschamp86 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Andrea Lombardo. No but seriously. Things may look bad right now, but who knows, in a few years some of these kids could be really good. We'll just have to wait and see. Next Qualification: Rob Friend (31) Olivier Occean (31) Ali Gerba (30) Iain Hume (29) Issey Nakajima-Farran (28) Simeon Jackson (25) Randy Edwini-Bonsu (22) Plus there is always time for a few unknowns to arrive on the scene. No need to get scared... yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I'd put my money on Ali, he did perform quite well for us this time around, and was able to put the ball in the back of the net. Plus I love chanting the ALI! BUMAYE! chant when he has the ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I'll take the mediocre Gerba and Friend for the next couple of years. Gerba could rewrite the goal scoring records with a good GC run. Edwini-Bonsu looks like he might be a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Ornoch sees himself as a goal scorer. Obviously he'll have to prove himself consistently playing club soccer. He's still relatively young. If he develops, he'll be involved in the next WC run. Rob Friend should still be an important piece in 4-5 years and hopefully he'll continue to grow as a player (Canadians are notoriously slow developers) I'm confident that we'll be able to score goals next time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Well, our problem this around was defense....we gave up 13 goals in 6 games. We scored 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnipeg Fury Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Mitchell has 19 goals. Catliff 18 Bunbury 16 Derosario 15 Peschisolido 12 Gerba 11 Corazzin 11 Radzinski 11 McKenna 9 Friend 2 Occean 2 DD's next goal will tie him with the great Alex Bunbury of Maritimo. He could become our greatest striker this year with a solid Gold Cup. Gerba is a couple of years younger than DD, and if he can keep producing over the next couple of years, he too could take Canada's scoring crown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by loyola Well, our problem this around was defense....we gave up 13 goals in 6 games. We scored 6. Half of the six coming from set play/dead ball situations (one from a corner, two from headers off of free kicks), the other three from open play. Of the 13 goals conceded, I felt we gave up too many off of the counterattack (at least 4, perhaps 5, I can't recall correctly). So though our back line rightly deserves criticism for a number of the goals, I won't let our midfield off the hook of responsibility, especially considering the lack of offensive support they provided (no where near the levels displayed at GC 07). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saviola7 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I'm still holding out hope for David Hoillett (mainly because I'm a masochist). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squizz1402635577 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury Gerba is a couple of years younger than DD, and if he can keep producing over the next couple of years, he too could take Canada's scoring crown. And then he could aspire to, some day, be an overwhelmed, under-qualified, universally-reviled head coach (as I'm sure Mitchell did when he was bulging the onion bag for the red and white). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 quote:Originally posted by BearcatSA Half of the six coming from set play/dead ball situations (one from a corner, two from headers off of free kicks), the other three from open play. Of the 13 goals conceded, I felt we gave up too many off of the counterattack (at least 4, perhaps 5, I can't recall correctly). So though our back line rightly deserves criticism for a number of the goals, I won't let our midfield off the hook of responsibility, especially considering the lack of offensive support they provided (no where near the levels displayed at GC 07). Absolutely! That's why I refered to Catenaccio earlier in the thread. I should've said defending instead of defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 quote:Originally posted by loyola Absolutely! That's why I refered to Catenaccio earlier in the thread. I should've said defending instead of defense. Well, me thinks with Mitchell still in charge we may see a lot of tackler-types on the field, guys with little craft but a lot of graft, because I think he's going to have a number of no-shows/declines/"injuries" during call ups. So I guess we'll get our goals where and how we can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maccaliam Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Saviola7 I'm still holding out hope for David Hoillett (mainly because I'm a masochist). Fingers crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keano Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 For whatever reason, Gerba overachieves for his country and has shown absolutely no sign of stopping. Anyone with half a brain knows we have to hang it all on him with the lack of any young gun coming up. Incidentally that just illustrates that Mitchell clearly has less than half a brain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finchster Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 quote:Originally posted by dsqpr Theo Walcott. He just scored a hat-trick for England in Croatia and four years ago nobody had ever heard of him. Walcott was called to the 2006 World Cup England team. He also had a sponsorship deal with Nike at age 14 so i guess a few people heard of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildguy27 Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 Friend is a good striker. He simply wasnt used properly in the WCQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucklefan Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 Also, I believe Olivier Occean was doing good with Lillestrøm S.K., since 2006 he has 30 goals in 74 games played, and this season he finished topscorer of his club and one of the best of the league. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Premier_League_2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 I had a conversation with a former coach for Igor Pisanjuk and he told me that this is a player we should be keeping a close eye on in the future. He's young still and a tad raw in some areas of the game but, according to this coach (who has been instrumental in the development of several young Canadian pros) Igor is a pure goal scorer. it will be interesting to see how he develops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 I agree with many on this thread that the subject is a bit misleading. Our striker situation is not bad, we are no worse off than when we relied on Pesch and Corrazin. Maybe we are better even? We need a more technically competent coach and defensive and tactical rigour. I am more worried for the near future about Hume's injury than anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Abde Sylla. He's only 16 and if he didn't have to wait until turning 18 to play with the Metz reserves, he might already be doing so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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