Nov. 14th, Macedonia vs Canada (game thread)

[Gordon]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

Since I only watched the last 7 minutes, I'd like to know who played well for us (if such a thing is possible in a 3-0 loss)??

Can't say that anyone played "well". JW was in competent goal, no mistakes that I could see (the feed was really choppy).

[Macksam]

quote:Originally posted by sinhaya

New Zealand has qualified for South Africa. I did not know that they were a footballing nation...

They're not. Even we would've qualified if we were in their position. Run through all those useless Pacific Island countries and beat Bahrain in a home and home...

[Toronto MB]

Got to watch about 70 mins of the game on a near-perfect stream:

FWIW, my ratings:

Wagenaar - 6: Made some good saves, can't be faulted on any of the goals. Looked like he was comfortable and vocal.

Stalteri - 4: Yikes. Not a good match from Paul, was unlucky to have the first penalty called against him, it was a clean challenged. He just seems to be a magnet for unlucky calls in the box. But overall, poor.

McKenna - 4: Worst performance I may have ever seen from Kevin. He still has a place in my XI when healthy, but poor form today. Slow and gave away a clear penalty.

Hastings - 5: Only slightly better than McKenna, nothing spectacular and nothing stupid.

Klukowski - 6: Mike had an off game, but at least he was involved in the positive play we did create. His touch was poor at times.

Bernier - 3: Work ethic was appaling. Defensive positioning was atrocious. Can't recall one positive.

De Guzman - 5: Very quite performance from Jules. Still commanded the ball better than most, but nothing inspiring whatsoever.

Atiba - 6: The best of a poor team performance in central midfield. Showed good pace and ball retension. Decent performance.

Simpson - 6: Showed the ability to penetrate down the left, but failed to make intelligent decisions on the ball. Good work-rate.

Hume - 5: Work ethic was great as always. Would have been a '6' but that missed penalty hurt the morale across the board. So glad to see him back though, congratulation Iain.

Jackson - 7: Create Canada's best chance in open play with an incisive run into the box, unlucky not to score. Looked positive when he got the ball. Suffered from lack of distribution from midfield.

Friend - 6: Was positive when came on, got himself into some dangerous positions. Was a needed addition of strength up front.

De Jong: N/A

Peters: N/A

JBB: N/A

[gkhs]

I've posted some thoughts, fwiw.

http://untothedogs.blogspot.com/

[VPjr]

Here's the reality of the situation....many of our starters and bench players are irregular players for the club sides.

Wagenaar...never plays

Diesel....almost never plays

McKenna....a sub most of the time

Hastings...not a great player even if he is a starter for his club (which i don't think he is)

DeGuzman...2009 has been a mostly wasted year for Julian

Hume...gets regular playing time but not a 90 minute player

Friend...has lost his regular starting spot and just getting back from injury.

DeJong...benched

Peters...irregular playing time

JBB....a reserve team player

Macedonia, on other hand, has just completed a lengthy WCQ campaign, they are playing at home, were the better team but were fortunate that Canada didn't convert on 3 glorious 2nd half opportunities to score

chalk it up to a bad day boys...not worth making a huge fuss over. I don't really care about the results in these games, just how the team played. They were clearly horrific in the 1st half, pure crap. They know that. 2nd half was more promising but shoddy D did them in.

The one thing I will say is that Canada really needs a better solution at holding mid. We're wasting Julian in such a defensive role. When the boys did so well at 2007 GC, Julez was in a more advanced role and had Nash holding it down in front of the back 4. I'm not a Bernier fan so he's not the answer there IMO.

[RS]

Yikes!

Thank God I decided to ignore my alarm this morning. Horrible.

[BrennanFan]

someone remind me why i continually suffer this same crap over and over and yet expect a good result every time.

see its happening again... i think we'll do well in poland with radz...

obviously, i need help.

[Lord Bob]

One positive. We haven't heard from mass or Cyrus yet, so presumably they're out clubbing with Julian De Guzman.

[mulliganl]

quote:Originally posted by Rudi

Yikes!

Thank God I decided to ignore my alarm this morning. Horrible.

+1

[redhat]

quote:Originally posted by VPjr

Here's the reality of the situation....many of our starters and bench players are irregular players for the club sides.

Macedonia, on other hand, has just completed a lengthy WCQ campaign, they are playing at home, were the better team but were fortunate that Canada didn't convert on 3 glorious 2nd half opportunities to score

chalk it up to a bad day boys...not worth making a huge fuss over. I don't really care about the results in these games, just how the team played. They were clearly horrific in the 1st half, pure crap. They know that. 2nd half was more promising but shoddy D did them in.

The one thing I will say is that Canada really needs a better solution at holding mid. We're wasting Julian in such a defensive role.

Dino's absolutely right. Chalk it up to a bad day and fix that defensive mid issue for the long-term. And practise PKs, ffs.

[redhat]

BTW, thanks should be extended to our Macedonian friends for attempting to provide access to this match.

Hope you destroy Bosnia in a future match ...

[Lord Bob]

Jackson is a regular penalty taker for Gillingham. He's not terrific but they like him in that role.

Penalties aren't the sort of thing you should be wasting national training time on, honestly. I know we're frustrated but you should practice penalties at your club. It makes no difference whether it's Bob "League One Defender" Smith or Paul Stalteri standing behind you when you take it.

I think Hume was probably a sentimental choice to take the first crack: give him a goal on his return. He'd been in good form to that point even if he chunked a difficult volley off a Klukowski corner. If this game had mattered for more than the FIFA rankings I bet Jackson would have taken them both.

[bettermirror]

I think Hart's on the right path with this team simply by being honest and saying they deserved what they got....wish I could say I had seen the match.

[bettermirror]

Ok, let's give Hume a bit of a break (who took the 2nd?).....

Fabiano just missed a peno v. England! So we aren't alone. (but Brazil are winning...)

[RJB]

Stephen Hart is 0-1.

[BearcatSA]

When things aren't going your way on the field you need to catch whatever lifelines get thrown your way in order to change the momentum. Two missed penalties say it all.

This midfield grouping of JDG, Hutchinson, and Bernier (or even Will Johnson, if we choose to play him there) is too lightweight against physical sides. But that's the deck Hart is playing with at the moment, so we'll see how he proceeds from here.

[ag futbol]

As a starter, i don't care how we play ... as long as we're actually playing. It's basically 4 years until crunch time for next WCQ so let's not be shy about falling on our face a few times to get some long-term team chemistry.

I would rather us play as many international dates as possible and strike out 90% of the time, then do what we've done in the past. Without prep, there will never be any results. Let's start there.

Hart has at least two years to impress (up to the next GC). If he has a good run, we can keep him on to manage the WCQ campaign. If he dosn't, well he can find a position elsewhere in the organization and we bring as high quality of a coach as possible.

at being said: 3-0 is a nice kick in the nuts.

[piltdownman]

Some good news from Macedonia , Massimo is safe and at his hotel. On his way to go out and find a wife ok I made up the wife part ... but it might be true

[Guest Jeffery S.]

I bought a car (used) instead of watching the game. Sounds like I made a good choice.

[loyola]

Here's Gerry Dobson comments about the game:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2009/11/14/dobson_canada_macedonia/

Here's a detailled match report (even if it's from Goal...):

http://goal.com/en-us/news/1589/canada/2009/11/14/1624492/fyr-macedonia-3-0-canada-goran-pandevs-brace-makes-it-easy

The only good news is it seems Wagenaar, not a popular man here, had a good performance despite the scoreline.

I'm a bit surprise by the outcome, I was expecting a loss but not by that kind of margin and by being outplayed like that. I would think an experienced squad like the one we had would be able to play with Macedonia. I hope we can get a draw in Poland.

[DoyleG]

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

I bought a car (used) instead of watching the game. Sounds like I made a good choice.

From the sounds of it, they wouldn't have stacked up well against either Bahrain or New Zealand. Good thing I choose to watch that playoff as it seems to be far more entertaining.

[Ivanovski94]

Thanks to Wagenaar this wasn't a blow out.

[Tuscan]

Let's just wait and see how things turn out in Poland. Coming home 0-2 after playing two European sides who recently (much more recently than Canada) came out of playing critical WCQs would not be the end of the world nor a reason to panic and start jumping off the wagon.

[nolando]

I dunno...maybe instead of these European games in Nov we could play a three team mini cup somewhere inside CONCACAF's boundaries. Jamaica, Mexico, Costa Rica might all be good venues - scout a few future opponents, get used to away CONCACAF conditions and give the boys a nice week somewhere warmer than Europe at the start of winter. Yeah, yeah, I realize some of the Euro-based players would be encouraged to turn it down, but since few play regularly for first teams these days, teams might be willing.

I know I can be a broken record, but I just don't see what the point is with these Euro get-togethers, except for the odd game when it would be completely impossible/unfeasible to travel. I don't see any results coming from the aforementioned fostering of camaraderie or increased consistency, no clear-cut benefits that demonstrate that getting together half of our A-team at two separate times (one half in Europe, one half in N.A.) is really getting us anywhere. I know since most of the V's have European heritage and follow European football as well this can be an unpopular stance, but this is a set-up that needs as many games as possible against the mid-top level CONCACAF opponents. Heck, I wouldn't mind playing a side like Costa Rica or the US in a regular home-and-away each year if humanly possible.

In a way, I kind of hope we get blown out 5-0 in Poland so that a few more people might get it and the powers that be have a total rethink.

[Grizzly]

^^ The reason you are not seeing result from Euro games (or any other friendlies for that matter) is that they occur too infrequently. If we start playing every international date on a consistent basis we will get better though it won't happen overnight. We should play CONCACAF sides more often but we should be happy with any decent opposition we can play against especially when it makes it easy for our players to make the games.