CANADA vs Martinique - July 7th - 2:30pm PST (R) Game Thread

[Christian B.]

There is absolutely nothing anymore that justifies the fact that Canada is automatically qualified for every single Gold Cup. All we deserve from now on is the requirement of participating in the qualifying process like Belize, Caiman Islands, Puerto Rico, etc. in order to secure a place in the tournament.

[wcs53]

The players just didn't look like they were that interested in being there tonight. There should probably be a collective blame for tonight's result, starting with why did the Canada Soccer Association choose Friday to name their new coach, right on the eve of a tournament. Either have one in place for the tournament or wait until the tournament is over. Even without getting into whether or not Miller should've been there, it wasn't really fair on him when getting the team prepared. He knew he was gone after the Gold Cup, but why put the extra pressure on him at that point. Maybe he could have made his substitutions earlier, but the way things were going not much might have changed. The players have to look hard at themselves as well. They let down a lot of people with what looked like a lack of interest. I know I'll have to watch the remaining two games. I just can't not watch them knowing they are on. I just hope we see some players who actually try this time.

[tmcmurph]

The Good: Our club players will be back with their clubs sooner than we expected.

The Bad: We got beat in every way by a freaking MINNOW

The Ugly: We are now behind not only the regional powers and the regional also rans and wannabes, we are now behind the minnows of CONCACAF.

We pass like crap, we can't do anything but lob long balls down the field (and inaccurately at that) and play cross after cross into the box. We suck. Royally. They out passed us, had more chances and deservedly won the game. We are so far behind in the modern game of soccer that even a minnow can beat us and soundly. The only thing we can do is pass the ball around in our half and then go long. We suck. Our few skilled players would get a few passes and give and goes clicking and then someone would just aimlessly punt or cross the ball to one of our players covered by 2 or 3 of theirs.

The score wasn't that close. If they had actually got their shots on net it was easily a 4-0 or worse result in their favour. We suck. Our players have been raised to be "athletes" instead of soccer players. As a result most of our players suck where it counts.

Our new coach has his work cut out for him. I seriously hope he tests all players for their touch and control then says goodbye to all who can't play the modern game. Good luck Benito and we will be with you through thick and thin but it will be a very hard road to get our collective heads out of the ancient form of athlete based play that we seem stuck on.

Cheers

[CUJO]

Nah, coaches change. The players, well they don't.

Thats an interesting way to think about things

[1zzurri]

Just got home, saw the final score and read the million pages of this thread and I don't know what to say. Not shocked whatsoever anymore. Maybe it was a good thing it was only on sportsnet world. Less chance for the haters to insult us but f**k. Never a joy. Never a damn joy. At least mexico just lost if that means anything. Someone shoot me.

[madmonte]

But it WAS Miller's fault that he had the wrong lineup to start the match. It WAS Miller's fault that he didn't use his subs properly. He took what Hart left him, and then big change he added was to give them the FC Edmonton strategy of booting the ball up the pitch every time they touch it.

I honestly defended Hart and didn't think he was THAT bad, but he wasn't THAT great. Miller though, made mince meat of his term as interim coach.

Look, just because I'm pissed at Miller doesn't mean I don't think players deserve the blame too. Some more than others. And some of the ones I think are deserving of the blame are the ones I can't believe Miller started in the first place.

[red card]

This wasn't a totally surprising result. Even with an A lineup and under a variety of managers, Canada has generally played down to the level of minnows of CONCACAF. The commonality is that our player development hasn't changed, our players lack vision, pass the ball like a brick and our managers always pick the same type of players and strategy.

[TOcanadafan]

Our players have been raised to be "athletes" instead of soccer players.

This has always been our problem. The only quality players who have found their way into the CNMT program received their football education outside of Canada. I wonder if we'll see an improvement as the MLS academies become more established?

I can only speak for what I've seen out of TFC. Henry and Morgan are excellent athletes who lack the fundamentals to play the game at a higher level... and it seems like their soccer skills are actual getting worse over time. Osorio has had some interesting flashes, we'll see how he progresses. Interesting that Teibert left TFC to join Whitecaps... he seems like our only half decent prospect.

[Mr.Impact]

Colin Miller coaches a division 2 side with a losing record. What did you expect, inspiration from Jonathan De Guzman? Nothing surprising to me.

[killgod]

There were many runs in the game the players didn't see, the ones they did they gave terrible service to.

Miller's management was crap, but the players were anti-clinical.

Nothing much to care about with this side for about 2 years now. Yippie.

[red card]

This has always been our problem. The only quality players who have found their way into the CNMT program received their football education outside of Canada. I wonder if we'll see an improvement as the MLS academies become more established?

I can only speak for what I've seen out of TFC. Henry and Morgan are excellent athletes who lack the fundamentals to play the game at a higher level... and it seems like their soccer skills are actual getting worse over time. Osorio has had some interesting flashes, we'll see how he progresses. Interesting that Teibert left TFC to join Whitecaps... he seems like our only half decent prospect.

Their skills aren't necessarily getting worse as they play more against professional men being an athlete isn't going to be good enough. When they were younger, being better athletes hid a lot of their flaws and made the game easier. Now they're probably just realizing they're going to need to work hard and think hard. Not everyone is up for it and they plateau. We seen it many times with highly touted Cdn youngsters.

[Addona]

At least mexico just lost if that means anything. Someone shoot me.

Yes, it means that they will be absolutely blood thirsty when they play us ... Woo hoo.

[Ivan]

I can only speak for what I've seen out of TFC. Henry and Morgan are excellent athletes who lack the fundamentals to play the game at a higher level... and it seems like their soccer skills are actual getting worse over time.

I actually thought Henry was one of our better players out there today.

[Cheeta]

^

Meh.

Great tackle here and there but he's the New Millennium's Paul Fenwick. Ass Sprayer.

Oh, he may know where he wants this or that pass to go, I'll give him that much. But the execution...well. Ass Sprayer. Try though he may you just don't know where his **** is going to land.

[ag futbol]

I'm just sick to ****ing death of the annual "blame the coach"-a-palooza that's been going on here for as long as I've been on this board. Coach after coach, it never changes, the only constant for every disgrace is the men on the field.

Well, it's not unexpected when we continually rely on underwhelming and under-qualified people. It's also worth pointing out that these people have a role in creating the players who are on the field today. They didn't simply train themselves, they relied on people like Miller who are all huff and bluster but short on results.

Accountability has to start at the top.

[tmcmurph]

So what's worse the San Pedro Sula massacre or this result today?? I'm not including the potential Panama and Mexican wins, as they're considered favourites over us on paper and the Vegas odd lines.

The 8-1 loss was heartbreaking, gut wrenching and total humiliation on the verge of making the HEX for the first time in more than a decade.

This was just sad, pathetic and almost expected

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

But it WAS Miller's fault that he had the wrong lineup to start the match. It WAS Miller's fault that he didn't use his subs properly. He took what Hart left him, and then big change he added was to give them the FC Edmonton strategy of booting the ball up the pitch every time they touch it.

I honestly defended Hart and didn't think he was THAT bad, but he wasn't THAT great. Miller though, made mince meat of his term as interim coach.

Look, just because I'm pissed at Miller doesn't mean I don't think players deserve the blame too. Some more than others. And some of the ones I think are deserving of the blame are the ones I can't believe Miller started in the first place.

Couldn't have said it any better myself.

[The Ref]

Have only one thing to say. Miller go home.

[Bully]

.

[Admin]

Fml

[Blackdude]

I'm too lazy to find the original post on Johnson getting subbed off at halftime. Incorrect. He got subbed off early in the second half, and he also gave the armband to JDG. I remember that there was a moment when you could see Will and he didn't have the armband. Hope Will's OK and can continue the tourney with the team.

[xcalibre]

Standard

[BrennanFan]

Cant believe Adam Straith cant get on the field over goddam nik ledgerwood.

Marcus Haber and Tos Ricketts should not even be on the squad, and yet Miller relied on them to score goals?

Johnson, our strongest central midfielder goes down early, and to replace him we bring on a forward and put him on the wing, and move useless Ricketts into a central attacking role. Pacheco, Osorio, and Aleman remain nailed to the bench??? How can this be real?

Is Colin Miller a real person? Or is he some kind of collective hallucination, a manifestation or all of our worst nightmares?

[redhat]

Cant believe Adam Straith cant get on the field over goddam nik ledgerwood.

Marcus Haber and Tos Ricketts should not even be on the squad, and yet Miller relied on them to score goals?

Johnson, our strongest central midfielder goes down early, and to replace him we bring on a forward and put him on the wing, and move useless Ricketts into a central attacking role. Pacheco, Osorio, and Aleman remain nailed to the bench??? How can this be real?

Is Colin Miller a real person? Or is he some kind of collective hallucination, a manifestation or all of our worst nightmares?

I was thinking the same thing. Colin Miller made poor choices with on-field selection and tactics, but really it's the way we played that's disappointing. It seemed that we played not to lose rather than playing to win decisively. The loss was awful, but it's the way we played and couldn't finish that's worse. Piettte and Ricketts looked out of place, Johnson was subbed out too early, and Henry and Morgan were out of their element. We really missed Atiba and Bernier in midfield to battle and control. People can say all they want about Martinique but they played well and battled to the very end --- and we didn't.

Colin Miller couldn't bring out the best in our players in the past and in this game.

[Max]

F^ck that.