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Thoughts from Hart in Kingston


Sam

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Hart was one of several coaches at Coaching the Coaches this year in Kingston, and last night answered a few questions about the national team I thought I'd share on here.

-He talked about how wonderful CONCACAF is, saying he thinks that most European countries would struggle in CONCACAF. He talked a bit about the trip to Honduras in the last WCQ in which he instructed the players to unplug the hotel phone as soon as they got to their rooms, but they were still kept up all night by speakers... he suggested we try fireworks when they are here next time :) The elevator in the stadium apparently also got stuck for an extended period of time when they were in Honduras.

-I asked him about the forward situation, he said he's been thinking about trying Simpson up front. He also said Gerba and Radzinski are certainly not out of the picture. Radz sounded like an idea, while he seemed pretty certain Gerba would be recalled

- He briefly spoke about Hoilett, saying that he texts him every week after he plays with Blackburn, he then said "I don't want anyone who doesn't want to play for Canada to be here".

- He talked about what he's looking for in the new captain for Canada saying he likes someone who leads by example as apposed to the "come on boys" rallying type of captain. He also said he likes passion, but he thinks that some of Canada's past captains could have been a little too passionate and then he laughed... I think we all know who he was talking about

-He said that he doesn't have too much difficulty getting players released from European clubs for internationals, but its still very very difficult to get MLS players released

-He also said when he tells other national team coaches from around the globe that we don't have a national league they often think he's joking :(

Anyways as always Stephen was very open, didn't skive away from any questions and is just all around a really nice guy.

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-I asked him about the forward situation, he said he's been thinking about trying Simpson up front. He also said Gerba and Radzinski are certainly not out of the picture. Radz sounded like an idea, while he seemed pretty certain Gerba would be recalled

Simpson up top is intriguing but I wonder if that is in a two striker set. I guess no one asked him about whether or not he's going to stay with his current formation style of three centrally located mids. Also if he chooses to go with Simpson in a striking role, would he shift DeRo back to the left, like he was used effectively at the GC 07?

Great summary, Sam.

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I'm pretty sure he was talking about Simpson as a lone forward.

As for formation. Someone asked about the tactical switch he made right after the goal in the Greece game in which he brought on Edgar as another defensive midfielder and pushed Hutch forward. He said that is something he may try again sort of a 4-2-3-1. But as I'm sure you've noticed with Hart he doesn't like to talk formations, he always says its not about the formation its about the system and the individual roles.

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Simpson could be our Henry, a former winger who flourished centrally. I like it!

So do I... Moving Simpson up is intriguing and a viable option. One position that we have some depth is left side. Dero, Issey and De Jong comes to mind right away. This is how I see it.

Simpson

Dero-Hutch-Jackson

Bernier-JDG

Kluk-McKenna-Jakovic-Peters

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So do I... Moving Simpson up is intriguing and a viable option. One position that we have some depth is left side. Dero, Issey and De Jong comes to mind right away. This is how I see it.

Simpson

Dero-Hutch-Jackson

Bernier-JDG

Kluk-McKenna-Jakovic-Peters

Or

Simpson

De Jong-Hutch-De Ro

Dunfield-JDG

Kluko-McKenna-Jakovic-Peters

Lars

What a lineup :D

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Thanks for this. I do support Hart so I like to hear his thoughts!

The difficulty in getting MLS players needs to be addressed if we hope that VAN/TOR/MTL are going to help feed our CMNT.

It should be easier this year with MLS taking the September and October FIFA dates off. Those should be the first two WCQ dates.

Of course, Gold Cup is another story, but we cannot reasonably expect MLS to take a full month off in the middle of summer.

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I think Simpson deserves a shot up top but ultimately I think we are going to go with Gerba up top and Simpson on the wing. As lone forward Simpson isn't likely to get the space he needs to run at defenders, so if he were up top I'd say we need to partner him with someone.

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A winter gold cup would make it even more 2nd rate than it already is. A lot of european based players would opt to stick with their clubs and it would turn into a B tournament like the UNCAF Copa Centroamericana.

Agreed, I think the most logical solution for everyone is for MLS to take a break during Gold Cup/World Cup years.... maybe something like this, start the season earlier (2-3 weeks), then take that 4 week break for the Gold Cup during June otherwise how are you going to have the Gold Cup AND MLS become respected competitions? Extend the regular season an extra week or as needed. The MLS season as Jurgen Klinsmann and others have said is too short to begin with, in his prime Jurgen would have 2, maybe 3 weeks off and then be back at it. In MLS players have 2+ months off before preseason, not good enough if this league wants to be first class.

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Agreed, I think the most logical solution for everyone is for MLS to take a break during Gold Cup/World Cup years.... maybe something like this, start the season earlier (2-3 weeks), then take that 4 week break for the Gold Cup during June otherwise how are you going to have the Gold Cup AND MLS become respected competitions? Extend the regular season an extra week or as needed. The MLS season as Jurgen Klinsmann and others have said is too short to begin with, in his prime Jurgen would have 2, maybe 3 weeks off and then be back at it. In MLS players have 2+ months off before preseason, not good enough if this league wants to be first class.

So you're proposing that MLS start its season in February? I'm sure that'll work out just great (and please don't suggest that all early fixture be held in the southern cities).

The first thing the Gold Cup needs to do is stop the every two years bullshit. Play it the same year as the Euro Championships, or the year after the World Cup. Once every four years is enough.

MLS needs to abide by all FIFA international dates (something they are creeping towards). They definitely need to stop for the World Cup (although I've no idea how to practically take off more than a full month in the best weather available to them) and at least lighten the load for the GC (but only if it's once every four years).

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So you're proposing that MLS start its season in February? I'm sure that'll work out just great (and please don't suggest that all early fixture be held in the southern cities).

The first thing the Gold Cup needs to do is stop the every two years bullshit. Play it the same year as the Euro Championships, or the year after the World Cup. Once every four years is enough.

MLS needs to abide by all FIFA international dates (something they are creeping towards). They definitely need to stop for the World Cup (although I've no idea how to practically take off more than a full month in the best weather available to them) and at least lighten the load for the GC (but only if it's once every four years).

I don't think starting the MLS season earlier and running later will work, especially with all the northern clubs! I personally like having the Gold Cup every two years, it mandates matches for Canada, something we need! Some years we may need to patch together a team like other Concacaf nations do but I don't mind that, we get to see other players from our pool!

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