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


RS

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Ya definitely a B squad missing De Guzman, Bernier, Klukowski, De Jong, Hirschfeld, Hainault, Hume, McKenna, Issey (wtf?)

Is Peters our right back? Maybe he didn't look bad

Not to mention the most consistent goal scorer we've pretty much had, Ali.

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Klukowski - McKenna - Jakovic - Peters

Substitutes: Straith, de Jong, Ledgerwood

I'd consider that our best back four. Bold is guys who weren't there.

Right, but several of those guys were injured. If we're going to count a Canada team missing guys to injury (or for mysterious reasons...) as a "B team", then Canada will never field an A team ever.

I'm not saying this was Canada's best team today, I'm just saying I think it's closer to the A team then people want to think.

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Enjoyable match, deserved a better result. Outside of the 20 minutes to start the 2nd half, Canada was equal or better IMO.

We had good chances, but nothing was put away. Jackson needs to do better with the opportunity he had early on, 20 yards out straight in the centre on goal and can't hit the target. That just can't happen. Friend needs to bury that header as well.

I wasn't happy how they stopped taking shots from 18-25 yards out, they did in the first half but in the second they kept trying their luck on passes into the box which didn't work out at all. Wished Hutchinson would have shot on one of the three times he had the ball in that area late in the match.

I would agree with other comments that Cann looked out of place at this level, but that's what friendlies are for...right?

Anyone have an idea why Ricketts wasn't tried up front? Friend and Occean were the weakest part of what we had up there, plays seemed to die once they got involved. Also, Edgar was brought in as a holding mid, but is he not a CB? Seems like with the shaky play from the back line he could have been tried back there, no?

Anyways, it was nice to enjoy the match with other supporters for a change! Looking forward to end of March.

-kg

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Sickening to listen to the condescending stuff from the Bet365 commentator (I know I may have been the only one who suffered through it) but it was all about 70 places lower in the rankings, a gulf in class blah blah blah. The players are there to get a result against a team like Greece, who are not exactly world beaters. I'm not sure the coach is though. Everybody on here who was posting pretty much saw what the weak link was at the back. Why didn't Hart try to fix that at half time? Was there any real semblance of a system with the players playing as a team rather than as a bunch of individuals hurriedly thrown together? Not that I could see. Things have taken a step back in that regard from even the Bobby Lenarduzzi era. Hopefully the CSA will reassess things after the Gold Cup if things don't pick up a bit in that regard and won't allow things to just drift along into another qualification cycle if the results and performances aren't there to warrant it. Given how many players are early in preseason training can't read too much into one friendly game obviously.

If it's any consolation, the Greek radio guy (hilakis from euro 2004 fame) was impressed with the Canadian mids and noted the two good chances canada had.

All these games are important because wc draw on July 31 will use FIFA points and Greece only has two official games vs malta till then. Btw Greek coach was asked before game "why Canada" and he replied bc they were available and bc they put Greece in similar position as Malta game next month where they are expected to attack.

All in all nice to see a full stadium.

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When I watch Serbia I always say "wow these strikers are horrible, Zigic, Pantelic and Lazovic really suck" but than I see Occean and Friend and the word suck just takes on a whole new meaning, Canada is not going anywhere without better forwards.

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All in all thought, we should be proud of our CMNT. Considering they were playing a 10th ranked A squad team, and the fact that they had limited time to prepare and a B squad - they played generally with heart and determination. I am hoping this is signs of good things to come.

I would like to see our CMNT play weaker opponents more often. I would say around 50 to 80 fifa ranked in order to boost confidence and gather fifa points. We can't ask for miracles all the time, we have to take smaller steps forward IMO.

Honestly, I don't think the general canadian population will support the CMNT until they get higher in the Fifa rankings. Playing top 10-20 teams is not helping.

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