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Canadians abroad: January 24-30, 2014


DJT

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Guidelines for this thread

  • In this thread post match updates on all Canadians abroad for January 24-30, 2014.


  • If you find updates posted in some other thread then post them here as well, but be sure to credit the original poster.


  • If there is news that is particularly significant (eg. someone scores a big goal, someone gets injured, etc.) then feel free to begin a new thread on that topic in order to draw greater attention or start a discussion, but also post that news here.


  • Some comments on news posted in this thread are okay, but let's not let this thread go off into a long discussion. If the news already appears in another thread (as per the previous bullet) then post your comments in that other thread, otherwise if you want to say something significant or if it is likely to generate replies then begin a new thread.

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Turkey

Trabzonspor 1-1 Besiktas

Atiba played the full match at right back.

Portugal

Liga de Honra

Farense 3 -1 Santa Clara

Pacheco played the full match.

Scotland

League Two

Stirling Albion 1-1 Annan Athletic

No Gasparotto in the squad. Could be due to the national team call-up

Germany

Bundesliga

Dortmund 2-2 Augsburg

de Jong stayed on the bench

3rd Liga

Jahn Regensburg 1-1 MSV Duisburg

Ledgerwood played the full match as a defensive midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

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Turkey

Trabzonspor 1-0 Besiktas (KO at 12:00)

Atiba starts at right back.

http://gofirstrow.eu/watch/235078/2/watch-trabzonspor-vs-besiktas.html

I say it's time we put Atiba at right back for the MNT. It's a consistent weak spot for us and he plays regularly for a club at a high level at RB.

We've always put him in the centre of the park hoping he'll control the game and bring us goals but he's not that type of player. He's solid but really not a #10 and he's never produced offensively for the MNT. With the emergence of Will Johnson at the club level I think he can be the new leader for the centre of the park going forward, he has a healthy engine that lets him run and play box to box and he's a threat from outside the 18 which is important for us.

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I say it's time we put Atiba at right back for the MNT. It's a consistent weak spot for us and he plays regularly for a club at a high level at RB.

We've always put him in the centre of the park hoping he'll control the game and bring us goals but he's not that type of player. He's solid but really not a #10 and he's never produced offensively for the MNT. With the emergence of Will Johnson at the club level I think he can be the new leader for the centre of the park going forward, he has a healthy engine that lets him run and play box to box and he's a threat from outside the 18 which is important for us.

I am not convinced Johnson is skilled enough to be a number 10 at the international level. Atiba has been a pretty good number 10 for us in my opinion. Where it breaks down is the other forwards are not nearly of the same quality he is. Given the lack of skill up front maybe Johnson could be a short term solution if we are going to use physicality and athleticism to make up for technical deficiencies but given that our younger players are starting to develop better technical ability I am not sure that is a very good route to go down. I wouldn't be opposed to trying Johnson on the wing though seeing as he is one of the few Canadian players who is actually scoring at the club level.

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I say it's time we put Atiba at right back for the MNT. It's a consistent weak spot for us and he plays regularly for a club at a high level at RB.

We've always put him in the centre of the park hoping he'll control the game and bring us goals but he's not that type of player. He's solid but really not a #10 and he's never produced offensively for the MNT. With the emergence of Will Johnson at the club level I think he can be the new leader for the centre of the park going forward, he has a healthy engine that lets him run and play box to box and he's a threat from outside the 18 which is important for us.

I've been calling for this for some time now and always end up getting booed off the pitch, weren't you one of the posters booing? Ever since Atiba started putting in good performances at RB for his club I figured he needed to play there for our MNT, it's been a position of uncertainty pretty much since Diesel retired! I get the argument that he is valuable to us in the midfield but as you state, it really hasn't transformed in to what many are expecting! I believe we have to build from the back, hopefully other players step up and become quality midfielders for us and Floro is able to use Atiba at RB, he's our best option for us there at the present time!

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Fact is with Osorio and Teibert right now, if they keep their form, we have more decent options at mid than we do at RB. I as well would rather see someone like Hutch pushed there than a CB pushed over that can't work well on the wing.

The only CB I like in that role is Edgar...the rest don't have enough skill on the ball.

And I was one of those that always didn't mind Hutch playing RB, for the record, but I'm also fine with Edgar there. I wonder if the CMNT will be considering FC Edmonton or Fury players for RB role as well? You can put Edward and Fresenga on the list of options in that case.

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Fact is with Osorio and Teibert right now, if they keep their form, we have more decent options at mid than we do at RB. I as well would rather see someone like Hutch pushed there than a CB pushed over that can't work well on the wing.

The only CB I like in that role is Edgar...the rest don't have enough skill on the ball.

And I was one of those that always didn't mind Hutch playing RB, for the record, but I'm also fine with Edgar there. I wonder if the CMNT will be considering FC Edmonton or Fury players for RB role as well? You can put Edward and Fresenga on the list of options in that case.

I see this the exact opposite. If Osorio and Tiebert continue to develop (and hopefully a return of Simpson) we start having players who can actually play with Hutch so the attack is not stopping when Hutch gets the ball because no one else is in proper position for him to pass to or when he does get the ball to them they lose it or screw up their goal scoring opportunity. Edgar is a decent choice at RB, Ledgerwood is at least defensively solid (and at times can move the ball though he also loses it), Straith is a better RB than CB (when he realizes this I think his career will go better, his early success at Cottbus was at RB), Ouimette can also play right back. Plus we have both Brovsky and Camara apparently interested in gaining citizenship and playing for Canada. And while RB has been a problem for us since Stalteri retired, the number one problem on this team is the lack of offence not defence. Building from the back is fine if you have some offence and can counterattack effectively but I think it is clear that we are incapable of this presently. If your offence is impotent like ours then concentrating on defending is basically allowing the opposition to eliminate 1/3 of the playing field in their half and attack constantly, ie. we would be simply bunkering and hoping for a lucky goal. That occasionally works but is a poor strategy for developing into a strong team. One of the best defensive strategies is to have an attack that threatens the opposing goal so the other team has to be cautious and can not do whatever they want without fear of getting scored on.

Johnson just does not have the skill level to be a midfield general controlling the play and distributing the ball. Atiba does have this skill level but has lacked players of a similar skill to receive it. I would have no problem with Johnson being moved forward to the wing since he can score and would give Atiba a better passing option than he has previously had but he is not a #10 and we can not move our only decent #10 to defence if we have a viable option at the #10 position, ie. a younger midfielder develops into a good #10.

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Johnson just does not have the skill level to be a midfield general controlling the play and distributing the ball. Atiba does have this skill level but has lacked players of a similar skill to receive it. I would have no problem with Johnson being moved forward to the wing since he can score and would give Atiba a better passing option than he has previously had but he is not a #10 and we can not move our only decent #10 to defence if we have a viable option at the #10 position, ie. a younger midfielder develops into a good #10.

I would put Johnson and Atiba in the midfield and let them do what they do best: cover space and physically control the midfield. Maybe I'd give the distribution responsibility to Atiba, but also alternatively I might find someone else who could drop deep and take that roll. Thought Edgar did pretty well with that last time I saw him play and if JDG has anything left than maybe he can be the person who does that short run.

Mids and forwards looking something like this perhaps:

------------????-------------------

Tiebert----------------------Osorio

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

-------------JDG------------

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That's the reason to have someone like Atiba on RB, to more help out with the offence. It's not like he can't play defence, but it's because he's better offensively that you'd want him at RB, helping link the ball forward from the defence rather than just playing hoofball from the back, and not getting out of the defensive third safely. We have more guys at the midfield capable of doing what Atiba does, than we do of guys at the back capable of doing what Atiba does.

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My opinion is the spine of the team is most important, and the centre of the park is stronger with Atiba there than it is with Atiba at rb. We don't have enough quality In the middle of the pitch to be moving someone of hutch's ability to rb.

I don't think Canada has the skill to play through the middle even with Atiba in there. That's why we always end up playing hoof ball. I think we have better luck playing up the flanks, using our athletic ability. You can't dismiss the threat that someone with Atiba's quality can have going forward from RB.

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I've been calling for this for some time now and always end up getting booed off the pitch, weren't you one of the posters booing? Ever since Atiba started putting in good performances at RB for his club I figured he needed to play there for our MNT, it's been a position of uncertainty pretty much since Diesel retired! I get the argument that he is valuable to us in the midfield but as you state, it really hasn't transformed in to what many are expecting! I believe we have to build from the back, hopefully other players step up and become quality midfielders for us and Floro is able to use Atiba at RB, he's our best option for us there at the present time!

I was actually a little mixed because I thought that Johnson might be a better option at right back in 2012. After watching Hutchinson at right back for Beskistas and seeing how well he times his runs forward I think that putting him there would be beneficial not only to our back line but to our attack as well. Teams will not be able to key in on our best player when he's at right back and I think that makes him more dangerous than ever.

Grizz is right though, Johnson isn't a #10 at all he is most effective in front of the backline in a box to box role. And I can understand the concerns that we would concede too much of the field with a weaker midfield. However, I think we need to put out a team that fits with the style Floro wants to play.. and we've heard many times that includes building the play out of the back. Guys like Straith, Edgar and Hainault aren't players you really want dribbling forward and playing effective balls up from RB. While it would be nice to have someone like Camara at right back he isn't eligible just yet and other options aren't proven.

----------Johnson--De Guzman------

De Jong--Edgar--Jakovic--Hutchinson

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I don't think Canada has the skill to play through the middle even with Atiba in there. That's why we always end up playing hoof ball. I think we have better luck playing up the flanks, using our athletic ability. You can't dismiss the threat that someone with Atiba's quality can have going forward from RB.

We've tried this before. Without balance across the field, other teams stuff the channels and our wide players simply don't have the quality to take a man on 1v1 with trickery or pace.

I would say the better option is for us to play some sort of 4-2-3-1 derivative or the increasingly popular bastardized 4-4-2 (stacks 4-2-2-2) where the flanks are left open for the LB and RB to sweep in. When the focus is already out wide it just gets too tricky for our guys to operate. We can use players like Osorio and Tiebert to keep possession while others rush in to fill the space. We are still incredibly handicapped by the lack of forward quality, but that remains an issue no matter how we decide to line up.

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Back on topic... From Sunday.

Greece

Xanthi 0-2 Olympiacos

de Guzman started, picked up 2 yellows and was off after 48 minutes

Cyprus

Apollon 2-1 Doxa.

Haber didn't play. I don't know if he was on the bench or not, it wasn't mentioned who was on the bench.

Turkey

Sivasspor 3-0 Kayserispor

No Borjan on the bench, which is surprising considering the team only had 5 foreigners on their gameday squad.

Tavasanli Linyitspor 2-0 Bucaspor

Ricketts stayed on the bench.

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