Greece v. Canada - Feb. 9, 2011 - Match Thread (R)

[guppy]

Player Notes

Borjan: Very solid debut. Wasn't tested much but made one or two big saves in the second half. Also seemed to be a calming influence on the team. I'd like to see more of him in the future.

Peters: Looked very good at right back. Played good defence, made some good runs and delivered one very gorgeous (left footed) cross. I think he might be our right back of the future.

Jakovic: Had a decent game. Not much to say here really.

Cann: Struggled a bit, but a lot of times got caught trying to cover for Straith.

Straith: Looked totally out of position from the get-go. I think this guy may still have a place in our squad of the future, but it's definitely not as a left back. He seemed to pussy-foot the ball a lot of times when he should have made an easy clearance. Definitely shied away from using his left foot, too, and got exposed for it.

Hutchinson: For a while was doing well as a deep lying playmaker, working well with DeRo and the wingers to orchestrate the attack. Looked like he was trying to do too much in the second half after being moved to attacking mid.

Johnson: Quiet but solid game for Johnson. Put in a couple of good hard tackles and didn't look out of place as a defensive mid.

Jackson: Made some good runs, swung in a nice cross in the first half. Would have liked to see him put that shot on net after the turnover.

De Rosario: Looked very good in the middle part of the game when he was controlling traffic in the middle of the park and distributing the ball to the wings. Once we got behind he started trying to run at the defence and things got a bit sloppy. Had one great looking shot from a set piece, but that long range effort near the end was not a good decision.

Simpson: Easily Canada's most threatening player all day. Gave the Greeks fits with his pace and work rate all game.

Occean: Was never really able to break free from his markers to get any decent looks.

Friend: Didn't seem to be in sync with the team at all. Made a couple of passes to no one in particular. Also missed a beautiful chance from the header. I've been one of those who says we need to get him better service in the middle, but for a player in mid-season form he needs to be better than that.

Edgar: Nice to see him finally get his first cap. Was interesting to see him play as a holding midfielder, but would also like to see him get a shot in central defence. Not a bad debut, would like to see what he does over a full 90 minutes.

Ricketts: Never really got much of a chance on the ball, so I don't really have an opinion on him yet.

Pacheco: Built on a solid debut in the Venezuela game with another decent performance here. Another player I'd like to see more of in the future.

I thought Cann was poor, didn't belong ... Anyway, the left side of the defense was bad, bad... Straith was a threat, for Greece! Johnson passing was poor, generally .. Borjan, nice surprise, very agile and spidery .. Dero was sluggish (I suppose most of the MLSers were out of sorts, time of the yr, I guess--Hart did say he would have rather stuck to Europe players but had to use some MLSers..). Peters did ok. Jakovic good. Friend wasn't on the field for long and got the best scoring chance of anyone, and Canada had most of the play at the very end, so I'm not about to dump on him! Edgar ok for the brief time I saw him. Simpson best player, needed someone else up front with his ability to help finish the plays. Jackson, Occean didn't notice them. Hutch was great early then seemed to have little impact after positional adjustment ..

[Saviola7]

I agree with pretty much everything Grizzly wrote. I would be a little harsher on Hart's half time team talk which, though I obviously didn't hear it, was a failure given how they came out after 45. This is a trend with the club under the current manager and needs to be rectified.

But this is the way it has been for the past couple of matches. Peru, Honduras, Ukraine ... in all of these matches, we had a great 1st half, and then the first 20 minutes of the second half we suffer. If it is that we come out flat or that other teams make adjustments I don't know.

I must say though that I felt that Hart trying out Edgar as DM was a good move. He felt that we could press for a goal, but the only way to do that was to let Hutch move forward.

Other things:

- I echo some other comments that Poz should have been there. For sure.

- Re: Friend. As a self-professed Friend-lover, I was heart-broken that he couldn't finish that header. The optimist in me says that it was pretty close and that it is a goal 50% of the time. I would like to see Ali G more, but I'm not convinced that his consistency can be extended against high-level teams (yes I know he has scored against Mexico twice).

[Lurker]

Minutes 45-70 have been very poor for Canada in at least their last 4 games. Awful vs. Peru, Honduras, Ukraine, and now today. Hart has to fix this; are the players fatigued? Or, more likely, after seeing Canada for the first 45 opposing managers are adjusting and tinkering. Heads up, Stephen!

If we could put together a solid 90mins... well, we'd get more results.

Here's what I saw today.

Canada worked harder and expended more energy in that first half. They looked good doing so and maybe with a better strikeforce deserved a goal. Didn't happen. A more rested Greece, took advantage of the 6 subs (agreed to before hand) and appeared to bring on more fresh bodies for the 2nd half than Canada who brought on only Friend. A more energized Greek team carries the play and arguably gets a deserving goal (the goal they got was crap but they had a couple of others that could have been, especially the one Borjan saved one on one). Canada eventually completes their planned subs and the game sways back in our favor, partly because we have fresh legs and partly because Greece sits slightly on the one goal lead. Canada doesn't capatilize on their late chances and we lose 1-0.

[Keegan]

This would of been the perfect time to call up Martin John, I wonder if the call was made ?

I don't think so, John has played just conference football this season and one carling cup match for Cardiff in an emergency basis

The way I look at it is if we ran into this problem in a competitive match we wouldn't be calling Martin John we would make due with the other defenders in the squad who could potentially play left back. All I can say is calling Pozniak and Hume/Issey would have definitely helped throughout the match

[tarnado1555362291]

perfect in that it is (hopefully) the only instance we are without Klukowski and De Jong at the same time.

[Lord Bob]

We're really blaming Hart's team talk? This isn't Football Manager.

I actually thought Canada came out fairly well in the second half against Honduras. We came out badly against Peru but, well, we played the whole game badly against Peru. The Ukraine and Greece friendlies were much more typical examples of "bad second half" and we've also had some very good second halves under Hart, like in the 2009 Gold Cup.

What really happened this morning was:

1) Greece made a number of adjustments with their substitutions which Canada didn't immediately catch onto. For example, it looked like they were playing one of their midfielders further forward (no, I didn't catch his name) in a sort of DeRo role. Except unlike DeRo this guy was mainly snuffing out ill-advised passes, particularly from Hutchinson, and it was a good twenty minutes before we stopped sliding lazy ground balls through the middle of the park and started attacking up the flanks which, not coincidentally, was when we went back on the attack.

2) We put in Rob Friend. I know, I know, here I go again. Occean had a crappy first half too. But the difference is that Occean was tracking back, trying to create his own opportunities and putting some pressure on defensively. Friend didn't do that; Friend's never done that. He just hasn't got the mobility. With Occean, even when he's playing badly he's stirring up ****. Friend saved Greece from that.

3) Simpson, in particular, got tired and made more mistakes on that awful grass. Hart could hardly have taken him out at half, though, as he was our best player by far in the first forty-five. I dunno, maybe he should have clicked "Disappointed" instead of "Sympathize".

[Keegan]

perfect in that it is (hopefully) the only instance we are without Klukowski and De Jong at the same time.

Yes, really really unlucky don't forget Hainault and Jazic too! (Im sure if it came down to it we'd call Jazic still)

[Sam]

Not the worst result in the world. Anyone else start laughing when they saw Milan up for the free kick in injury time... can't remember the last time I saw that in a friendly

[youllneverwalkalone]

We're really blaming Hart's team talk. He isn't a football manager.

FYP. Good managers make half time adjustments to earn results in the final 45. They certainly don't blame the pitch, when their players come out flat.

[Keegan]

FYP. Good managers make half time adjustments to earn results in the final 45. They certainly don't blame the pitch, when their players come out flat.

Its a friendly though so lets not judge on tactical decisions throughout the match

Hart's competitive match record for the MNT is 5 wins 1 draw 3 losses*

TWO of those three were due to bogus calls, I'd give Mr. Hart a draw for both

And what a time to talk about half time talks, Canada came out absolutely flying for the second half vs. the States and who inserted Iain Hume in the greatest Canadian super sub moment I've seen that turned around the game? Mr. Hart

Let's give him some credit, he is manager for a reason besides politics

[BrennanFan]

I'm glad the new WCQ team is finally taking shape. Hutchinson as Captain. Peters favoured over Stalteri. Simpson becoming that dangerous winger we all want him to be. The team has new leaders and we're better for it.

I'd like to see deRo dropped from the starting 11 completely. We need to move on.

Straith had a crap game, hope he can bounce back. Edgar looked very comfortable on the ball, he has earned more minutes next time.

Cann and Jakovic did fine. Peters was excellent. Borjan was solid. The midfield was good overall, its just too bad we can't capitalize on our few chances. Occean and Friend are simply not good enough.

Looks like Hart is gonna go with a 4-2-3-1, I'd say our best options in that formation are:

----------Doesn't matter

Simpson---Hutchinson---Jackson

-------JDG----------Johnson

Kluka--Edgar/Nana/Cann/Straith--Jakovic--Peters

-----------Hirsch/Borjan

[youllneverwalkalone]

^I don't dislike Hart. I think the Nats have played some reasonably attractive football under his guidance. And I'm not particularly dis-hart-ened with the result. However... It's obvious to everyone that we need FIFA rankings points in a bad way to avoid getting a crap draw in WCQ. It's been obvious for at least a year, and still we're playing the likes of the Ukraine and Greece. I have no doubt that Panama, Cuba, El Salvador, or Guatemala would welcome us down there any time for a friendly. So why don't we pick up these winnable matches if we need FIFA points? Well the only conclusion I can draw is that we're afraid of losing. And why are we afraid of losing? Because if we lose to El Salvador we'll have to answer tough questions that every other football nation must face every day. Such as... Is the manager competent? Only in Canada do you get to lose with no consequences. "It was only a friendly", "we played pretty well", "you have to beat everyone eventually!" The last one is the best, because we can't even draw Greece on bad day, yet we think we're going to beat Honduras or Costa Rica when the chips are down. Personally I'm a little sick of accepting we're crap at the most important game in the world. Forgive me for wanting better.

[Redcoatsforever]

Its a friendly though so lets not judge on tactical decisions throughout the match

Hart's competitive match record for the MNT is 5 wins 1 draw 3 losses*

TWO of those three were due to bogus calls, I'd give Mr. Hart a draw for both

And what a time to talk about half time talks, Canada came out absolutely flying for the second half vs. the States and who inserted Iain Hume in the greatest Canadian super sub moment I've seen that turned around the game? Mr. Hart

Let's give him some credit, he is manager for a reason besides politics

+1

Also, the whole snide comment about him blaming the pitch, if you watch the rednationonline video he says he's not making excuses with that. If you watch the match, the grounds were like mud that had been painted green.

[kj52]

It sounds like quite a few here seem to have been in the dressing room at the half. The fact is no one here was in that room and for sure no one here would even come close to being able to manage a national team. The one goal loss was hardly reason to start in on the coaching, even with the benefit of hindsight some of the comments on this game are a bit weak to say the least. Take it for what it was, not a terrible performance against a side that has a well-deserved reputation for giving up very little.

[Sam]

First off let's lay off Hart. He had two days, if that, to work with a misfit squad and almost got a result against the team ranked 10th in the world (and yes I understand that Greece were far worse than the 10th best team in the world). Point is as I've always said, let's not go too excited or too down on Hart until World Cup Qualifying. At the moment I'm fairly happy with what he's done to the national team, but not jumping to any conclusions.

As for the match itself, there were a few positives. First off Josh Simpson was awesome. The booking in the opening five minutes, the pressure he put on the Greek full back and centre backs, his pace on the ball. Simpson gets me more excited about World Cup Qualifying than any other player in the squad. He was my vote for Voyageurs Player of the Year and would not be in the least bit surprised if he was my choice for 2011 as well.

As has been said a lot on here already DeRosario had one of his best matches with the national team in a few years. He was a constant threat in that centre midfield position, he wasn't trying to do everything by himself something he most certainly has been guilty of in the past, and he had a rocket of a free kick.

Hutchinson was a mixed bag for me. I though he looked alright when he had some space in the midfield to work with, and his distribution was good. But he was caught in possession far too many times, and often when there was a simple outlet pass. He also had some absolutely horrendous touches in the second half where a fairly innocent looking ball would bounce 10 feet off his foot. Not his greatest performance, but he's clearly one of the best technical players out there so I'm not too worried.

I like most of what I saw from Johnson, he picked up a few too many clumsy challenges which he almost surely would have been booked for in a competitive match, but he was pretty solid defensively for the most part. He also seems to have quite the passing range as he picked out both Simeon and Simpson on the wings several times during the match.

Dejan Jakovic was good, but made more mistakes than normal in my opinion. I playing alongside someone he's so rarely played with in Cann contributed to this. Hopefully when McKenna is back we'll see more of the Jakovic that played in the 2009 Gold Cup. I think we can all agree that however good of a defender Cann is with Toronto FC, he is out of his depth at the international level. Also Straith had his worst game for the national team yet, highlighted by that mistake which lead to the goal, but everyone is allowed one howler I'm confident that was a one off.

Jamie Peters looked much better at right back today than he did in his last appearance for Canada at left back against Peru. He was a threat going forward, and I like him and Simeon playing on the same wing. It adds a bit more width to the attack.

I was impressed with Milan Borjan he needs to come to a better understanding with the back four, but that will come with more games. Technically I thought he was very good and has a very good shot of usurping Lars as the starting keeper for the Gold Cup and World Cup Qualifying.

Finally we get to the forward issue. I really like what I've seen out of the Canadian attack over the last few games, but like almost every other team on the planet we need someone who can put the ball in the back of the freaking net. Rob Friend is not the answer, Occean is not the answer. I think Hart has to give Gerba a shot, his goalscoring record with Canada is just too good to ignore. Despite having a pretty fluent attack at the moment I struggle to see this team scoring more than one goal in many games over the next few months.

I'd also like to comment just on the result/reaction. I think we do need to start expecting more, sure the performance is alright. But it was an good performance against Brazil, an alright performance against Costa Rica in friendlies that got us excited for World Cup Qualifying in 2008. The fact is we have not been winning games over the past year, and if we just keep putting in acceptable performances and being content with them, I fear we could be in for a repeat of 2008 come World Cup Qualifying. Both in pre-tournament hype and the team's performance.

[JOGAKANATA]

Defence: Slow & sloppy

Midfield: overrated

Attack: Dull(like trying to cut someone with a balloon)

[JamboAl]

Defence: Slow & sloppy

Midfield: overrated

Attack: Dull(like trying to cut someone with a balloon)

Are you talking about England?

[jpg75]

I don't believe a coach should ever get a free ride when the full squad is playing, friendly game or not. That said, i think Hart has done a decent job so far but there are some concerns that have popped up and i think they need to be scrutinized going forward. The apparent lack of adjustments/preparedness early in the 2nd half and his dogmaticness to the 4-5-1 system. I like Hart and more imporantly the players like him, but he has to be on the clock now and it should not be a given that he's the man going into WCQ - he has to earn it.

[JamesW]

I think everyone here will judge Hart based on the Gold Cup. (and I hope, though doubt the CSA will as well) Until then, come on, he has done nothing to lose the job that was given to him.

[villus]

Friend or Occean don't fit with the type of players that we have or the type of soccer we play. The big lone target man is not going to work for us because as other have said we don't have the wide men providing good enough service. Gerba fits better, hopefully he continues to stay motivated and we can bring him back into the squad or we can look to someone else. Friend and Occean are good players but they do not fit in with what we have and we can't continue to force them into a roll that they are not. I think we need to start experimenting with guys in the forward roll before its too late.

[tmcmurph]

Hart deserves one WCQ cycle to put everything together and get it done. This summer's gold cup will be the acid test for the whole program.

As to Dero sheesh. What does the guy have to do? Pass accurately to teammates? Check. Put shots on the net? Check. Play hard? Check. Don't cough the ball up by dribbling too long? Check. I mean he was one of the few bright spots out there today offensively.

Actually forcing the keeper to earn his pay seems to be a problem for us. We didn't even force a save on 5 or 6 chances. All wide. Made his day way too easy. Seriously I think Ali Gerba needs to be starting up front for us. We need someone to get the job done and so far he has come through for us.

[trueviking]

edgar is not a midfielder....i would really like to see him paired with mckenna in the middle of our defence....i think their height could cause problems for central american teams.

it didnt totaly make sense to me to go down by a goal and then substitute a speedy winger with a lanky central defender and then put him in a position he doesnt play....it seemed at that point moving forward was our issue....burnley bailed on the edgar midfield experiment, i think we should too....

i really dont get the dero bashing....TFC fans need to get over the cheque thing....i simply do not see the failings that others do in comparison to our options....it is getting petty.

mckenna and JDG would have helped.

we really really hoillett need to come aboard for WCQ.....JDG2 too for that matter.

who were the 67% of people who voted that they like the new kit...it is brutal...worst kit ever.

props to diesel for showing up....he needs to be thanked.

[trueviking]

Agree, he is better than any Canadian keeper I've seen in term of distribution. I hope he starts at the GC as Lars won't be available.

why wont lars be available for the gold cup?

[tarnado1555362291]

his league in Norway is played in the summer and as he is Valerenga's starting keeper, at least last year, he likely will not be available for such a tournament

[trueviking]

ah...right....thanks.