Jump to content

Brasil 2014, How does Canada Prepare ?


Trillium

Recommended Posts

Really a question for those with a crystal ball on players and who might likely be in a pool of players to form the team when we qualify.

If you were the CSA and you were preparing to qualify what would you do ?

Would you start getting games against South American nations .. as we might need to win a playoff ?

Would you want our players very familar with the environment and country before we qualify ?

As a football fan.. would you begin to plan to go to Brasil no matter what ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Trillium,

Lots of friendlies against Latin American teams. Home, away, hot, high altitude, raining, crap hotels. Make it all second nature. Play away against Guyana, Nicaragua, Haiti, Peru, Bolivia. Whoever will host us. If we can routinely beat the Honduras's of the world, we're in with a shout. Build on what we had in the Gold Cup, instead of letting whatever was gelling just fall away.

Oh, and make sure we have CONCACAF refs. The more exposure to those guys, the better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Cyrus

Trillium,

Lots of friendlies against Latin American teams. Home, away, hot, high altitude, raining, crap hotels. Make it all second nature. Play away against Guyana, Nicaragua, Haiti, Peru, Bolivia. Whoever will host us. If we can routinely beat the Honduras's of the world, we're in with a shout. Build on what we had in the Gold Cup, instead of letting whatever was gelling just fall away.

Oh, and make sure we have CONCACAF refs. The more exposure to those guys, the better.

Good thinking. Also, if I'm not mistaken, games against CONMEBOL teams are worth more points than CONCACAF, so any kind of result against a South American squad like Peru or Bolivia would probably be worth more in terms of FIFA points than a win against some Central American bottom-feeder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Macksam

When it comes to players:

Nana Attakora over Stalteiri

Ethan Gage over Bernier

Lets not get carried away now. We are always guilty of over hyping our talent, especially our young player. I love Gage probably more than anybody else on this board, but objectively speaking, he has had a poor year. He has been surpased by Chin and didn't even make the bench for the Whitecaps last game. He hasn't shown any improvement from last year to this. A few really strong performances does not a career make. Joey Melo anyone?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd give some thought to hiring a coach.

Seriosuly, I would appoint Hart, I think, and do it soon. Let him (or whoever it is) start planning right away. Following this, I would do the following.

1. Bring some young playersw into the fold. The roster needs to be dynamic and some of the players from the last qualifying cycle will not be involved when the next one starts.

2. Assign a new captain. Nothing against Stalteri, but he might be one of the players not involved next time out. It also signals a new beginning (again...). I think of what Klinsmann did when he took over the German team. Choosing a new leader did them significant good.

3. Lay out a plan for friendlies over the next 2 years. I would say a minimum of 6-8 games and camps per year. At least 2 at home per year and, yes, some away games in Central/South America.

4. State a goal of winning the 2011 Gold Cup. There needs to be a winning attitude instilled in the side. That means that the qualifying team for 2012 would be the team fielded in 2011 (allowing for some turnover, of course) and they would have the next 12 months (and another 6-8 friendlies) to gel.

Just some thoughts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is to be done just before the next WCQ cycle:

1. Set up a bank account in either a Caribbean nation with lax regulations, or in Switzerland.

2. Impose a maximum withdrawal clause that breaks down evenly with the couple million dollar balance in the account.

3. Create single-use passcodes and send one to each official and staff memeber in CONCACAF, but send special ones to Chuck and Jack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(sigh)

A more serious answer...

I might think about really focusing on the u-23 players in the next two yeras. Let our vets focus on their clubs, while scheduling 2-3 games a year in Europe that they play in. On top of those 2-3 games we should have 5-6 games that feature the Olympic pool, particularly those that are based in North America. They are going to be the future of WCQ anyway. The more we see them playing now the better.

Play the u-23 (or at least mostly u-23) games against the Caribbean and in Central America. Try and get a couple home games each summer too.

In Jan-ish 2012 the group we send to Olympic qualifying should know each other really well and give us a better chance at that tournament (we need to take Olympic qualifying more seriously as it would open up the program to COA funding. Every bit helps. Besides, we were a game away from going the last time). Then we push hard through the rest of 2012 to get as many games as possible in the lead up to the semis (and in a dream world the Olympics), which will start that summer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by masster

Lets not get carried away now. We are always guilty of over hyping our talent, especially our young player. I love Gage probably more than anybody else on this board, but objectively speaking, he has had a poor year. He has been surpased by Chin and didn't even make the bench for the Whitecaps last game. He hasn't shown any improvement from last year to this. A few really strong performances does not a career make. Joey Melo anyone?

Growing pains I'm sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Hire an under qualified coach, preferably a former national team player.

2. Schedule a fraction of the friendlies of our competition.

3. Use player(s) who should no longer be part of the national team.

This was our preparation the last two times. Will the CSA learn from these mistakes? Probably not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by 86Rooster

1. Hire an under qualified coach, preferably a former national team player.

2. Schedule a fraction of the friendlies of our competition.

3. Use player(s) who should no longer be part of the national team.

This was our preparation the last two times. Will the CSA learn from these mistakes? Probably not.

I've got no problem with #2. Who are examples of #3 this last time?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by squizz

How can you not have a problem with us not playing a decent amount of friendlies?

Not sure if you're joking here or not. His post was clearly sarcastic; in my response, I agreed that an under-qualified coach, and a lack of preparation were problems. Who were the players who had overstayed their MNT welcome?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Tuscan

This is to be done just before the next WCQ cycle:

1. Set up a bank account in either a Caribbean nation with lax regulations, or in Switzerland.

2. Impose a maximum withdrawal clause that breaks down evenly with the couple million dollar balance in the account.

3. Create single-use passcodes and send one to each official and staff memeber in CONCACAF, but send special ones to Chuck and Jack.

Also, hire Rivaldo to teach our guys how to dive and draw red cards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by 86Rooster

1. Hire an under qualified coach, preferably a former national team player.

2. Schedule a fraction of the friendlies of our competition.

3. Use player(s) who should no longer be part of the national team.

[1] First you have to hire a temporary manager, and then replace him as soon as he gets results.

[2] And when we do play friendlies they are in the the arctic during the winter, and/or against a second division danish club. Maybe they can double up and play Skagen IK during their winter break.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...