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Sept. 6, 2011: Puerto Rico vs Canada - Pre Match


BearcatSA

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Don't forget Honduras

I think Honduras away is on a different level than Panama or Cuba away

XI that I wouldn't mind:

-----------------------Hume-----------------

Simpson----------De Rosario--------Jackson

------------Hutchinson---Johnson------------

Klukowski----McKenna----Edgar------Peters

-------------------Borjan--------------------------

4 changes, nothing drastic let's try to come out with some chemistry...

I wouldn't mind seeing Haber come on for Hume again as he has some experience playing in Puerto Rico, De Guzman on for Hutchinson if (when) we are up and let JDG play that holding role. I think it's very important that we learn to control a match on the road here which is why I don't think we should be afraid to have a small man like Hume up top (not that he plays like a small man anyways).

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The last game report from FIFA had Occean, Jakovic listed as subs for that match. But we were told that they were scratched in favour of three additional call ups. Did the three replacements arrive and are they on he bench?

Yes, two of the replacements (Haber and JBB) played in the match but the other (Edgar) stayed on the bench

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My Line-up

--------------Hume-----------------

Simpson----------De Rosario--------Jackson

------------Hutchinson---Johnson------------

Klukowski----McKenna----Hainault------Peters

Borjan

I feel De Guzman will get started, which I don't really care for, but I can live with. I will be very disappointed if JBB gets the start again.

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My lineup:

Borjan

Peters---Hainault--Mckenna--Kluka

Johnson---Dunfield---Atiba---Simpson

Jackson------DeRo

With the lack of experienced target man in the squad, I would try a 4-4-2.

I didn't liked Julian that much in the last game so give a start to Dunfield.

RB is still a problem but with Johnson at RM he will help Peters out defensively. Jazic did well against St-Lucia but let's give a start to Kluka. Borjan over Lars because of that goal.

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--------------------Hume-----------------

Simpson----------De Rosario--------Jackson

------------Hutchinson-----Johnson------------

Jazic----McKenna----Hainault------Edgar

---------------Hirschfeld-----------------

FW: I would consider putting Haber out in this formation, as opposed to Hume, because he's more of a natural lone front man, but at this point I trust Hume more to deliver the mail, so he gets the start.

Mid: Johnson gets the nod over JDG as well. Playing away from home in Central America is always difficult to get up for, so I think we're going to need his youthful exuberance/hustle.

Def: Jazic performed well last game, and is in mid-season form/fitness, so for me he gets the nod over Kulkowski. It seems Edgar is actually getting a bit of PT this year, might be nice to give him a bit of a run out too. For my money, between him and Peters (both players that "should have been") Edgar has also always had a bit more pedigree.

GK: As far as Lars vs. Milan, I'm not sure switching up keepers is the right way to go at this point. Yes he should have got to the goal against St. Lucia, but it wasn't exactly a horrible strike either. Plus it's not as though Borjan's erraticness hasn't cost us in the past as well, and Borjan's season hasn't even started yet, where as Hirschfeld's is in full swing. The tipping point though is that like it or not we're stuck with Lars and Milan here for this qualification cycle, and for me it's a short sighted manager who pulls his keeper at the first sign of trouble. This isn't a club side, and we don't have a ton of depth at GK, so if I was the coach I wouldn't be so quick to throw Lars under the bus, because he (as well as the 10 men in front of him) got caught napping and over confident after coming out and running St. Lucia ragged for the first 5min, and making it look like an 8-0 score line was inevitable - in my mind the whole team was guilty of complacency there. However, that being said, you could make a case though about putting Borjan out in order to get him some proper "cauldron" experience.

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I don't really watch much NASL soccer and since most of their players are from the PR Islanders, I was wondering what kind of playing style we can expect from them? (attacking, etc.)

I don't know about "most". 6 of the 19 players in the squad are from the Islanders, including 5 of the starters in the last match.

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I spoke to Jay Long ("Yankiboy") from IMS Soccer, who's very knowledgeable about the Puerto Rican system, about what we can expect from the team. It seems the Puerto Rican program is in a transitional stage right now (new head coach, only one game played in the past 10 months) and faces some of the same challenges that we do (to an even higher degree), but that the venue tomorrow could work very strongly to the home side's advantage.

The interview is about 25 minutes long:

http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?2176-New-podcast-Puerto-Rico-preview-with-Jay-Yankiboy-Long

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I was at the game on Friday and noticed that there weren't always a whole lot of passing opportunities for the man in possession as the Canadians' off the ball movement wasn't all that great. I would go with a 4-1-3-1-1 formation with Hume up top as the lone striker and with De Ro sitting just behind to pick up the garbage.

------------------------HUME-------------------------

------------------DE ROSARIO-------------------------

----SIMPSON---------JOHNSON---------JACKSON------

--------------------HUTCHINSON----------------------

KLUKOWSKI----HAINAULT----MCKENNA-------PETERS---

-------------------HIRSCHFELD------------------------

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What is the hate on Julian? I think he played well. I don't want to see Peters, I would like to see what Hainault could do at RB. I'd put the same lineup except Borjan in net, Hainault at RB and Edgar at CB.

I agree I thought Julian was the best player we had in that midfield three against St. Lucia. I would be very surprised if he was dropped and to be honest a little disappointed.

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---------------------------Ricketts--------------------------

------Simpson----------------------------------Jackson------

--------------------------De Rosario-------------------------

-----------Johnson-------------------------Hutchinson-------

Klukowski----------Hainault----------McKenna-----------Edgar

---------------------------Hirschfeld-------------------------

60' Hume for Jackson

70' de Guzman for Johnson

80' Dunfield for Hutchinson

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I don't know about "most". 6 of the 19 players in the squad are from the Islanders, including 5 of the starters in the last match.

Well if you factor in that Terry Boss, Christian Arrieta and John Krause all spent a few seasons with the Islanders and that's arguably their nine best players (save Megaloudis) all from the same club.

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Half of this team is not even Puerto Rican but Americans who played in most cases only a year or two for the Islanders and got citizenship to play for the national team. It seems since Puerto Rico is not a country FIFA's residency requirements do not apply which I think is not fair. Either you are a country in FIFAs eyes and have to follow the same rules as everyone else or you are not a country and should not take part in FIFA competitions.

They are a pretty strong team at the back so they might be pretty hard to score on which is worrisome given how poor our finishing was on Friday against a weak team that could not defend. Fortunately with the exception of Delgado (who despite the hispanic name is no more Puerto Rican than the other Americans on the team though at least he has lived there for more than 5 years) there is not much quality in the midfields or forwards so they should not be much threat to score. This is probably why they tied St. Kitts and Nevis.

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