rob.notenboom Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 First group stage game for our girls goes tomorrow against Germany. Didn't think it would be televised but I just read that the game will be broadcast on Sportsnet World. More info at the link below. Hope our girls have a good showing. No secret that the first game will be a real test. Then they play North Korea and finally Ghana. Anyone want to do an over/under for the true average age of the North Korean girls/women? http://www.canadasoccer.com/canada-w17-ready-to-brave-the-heat-for-fifa-u-17-women-s-world-cup-opener-p156061 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Is it my impression that we ran out of steam in the second half against Germany. Yekka and Fleming the best in my view, but we needed more bodies forward when near the German goal. We seemed to get all tangled up when attacking. All in all we did well in front of German girls who were bigger, stronger and faster. Germany with maybe even a bit better ball skills and less giveaways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sincforpm Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 We did run out of gas in the second half. They were letting the Germans coming on to them as they was backing up into a defensive shell in the second half. They were unfortunate not to have a 3 - 0 lead though as Yekka barely missed with her shot. That could have put the game away! We completed dominated the first half and had played a sound possession game. A strategy that the John Herdman had been advocating but the senior team had yet to deliver. Could it be Beverely Priestman is a better coach than Herman? Was extremely impressed with Fleming and Yekka but not so much with the GK. Looks like Herman will certainly call Yekka up for the 2015 and perhaps Fleming as well. My only concern is she is only 15 years old. To inject her into the senior lineup at such young age may have harmed her physically. That being said, the senior team needs any help that they can get these days. It is extremely encouraging to see such awesome display of soccer from the youngsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Bob Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 We ran out of gas, definitely; having the wind in our faces for the second half might have been a decisive disadvantage. That said, I thought there was some superb fightback from Canada after the called-back German goal and we ended the game on the front foot. Was well pleased by that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympique_de_Marseille Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Looks like Herman will certainly call Yekka up for the 2015 and perhaps Fleming as well. My only concern is she is only 15 years old. To inject her into the senior lineup at such young age may have harmed her physically. We do have the U-20's this summer: I think they will both get called up for that squad. How they do at that tournament will determine their possible role in the senior team in 2015. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red card Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 if we ran out of the gas, the Germans did also. Germany played better in the 2nd half. They pressured our back 4 whose passing was a bit slow and too often backwards. Otherwise, first goal was bad decision-making by goalkeeper and Yekka created 2 glorious chances with no goals. The corner kick goal was hard to defend but it got to a corner kick because of being slow to handle German pressure on the ball. 1st half was good composed play by Canada and we took advantage of our 2 chances which doesn't happen for Canadian teams. Next step is to be as consistently good in next match which is also a failing of Canadian teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Something to remember. Most teams are 15-16 years old. The mathematical odds of players at this age band converting to senior nationals are very low. It's like watching an international midget hockey tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Could it be Beverely Priestman is a better coach than Herman? Not a stretch at all. It may be that the pupil ended being better than the teacher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Mexico under the direction of the "old fox Leonardo Cuellar" once again showed its quality by defeating Colombia 4-0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Speaking of pupils, the old fox hired his son to run their youth team. I'm sure that came at the end of an extensive review. At the dinner table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Speaking of pupils, the old fox hired his son to run their youth team. I'm sure that came at the end of an extensive review. At the dinner table. I remember when Cuellar used to play, he was something else. His son has been coaching for a while now and if he is as good as the old man, the more power to him. I always like to watch the mexican girls, they don't look like much, but boy, can they play! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I saw a picture of him a while back in a "this-was-them-when-they-were-younger" piece, he was a real wild man with the beard. Doesn't matter if he's superman, the optics of hiring your son come at a cost. She sounds like a great person and talented lady, we're lucky to have someone like her and if she can tie the Germans she's a complete and utter rockstar. Trivia question. Who is the only other Canadian women's coach to tie the Germans? Hint: Sydney Leroux was on the bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I saw a picture of him a while back in a "this-was-them-when-they-were-younger" piece, he was a real wild man with the beard. Doesn't matter if he's superman, the optics of hiring your son come at a cost. She sounds like a great person and talented lady, we're lucky to have someone like her and if she can tie the Germans she's a complete and utter rockstar. Trivia question. Who is the only other Canadian women's coach to tie the Germans? Hint: Sydney Leroux was on the bench. What do you mean with optics of hiring your son come at a cost, has there been some complaints in Mexico, or what? And who is Sydney Leroux? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Good question. No guess on the coach? You know him. Nepotism is unethical. When you work for an organization and the President hires his son to be Vice-President, everyone who works there thinks it's corrupt. Most professional places I have been the practice has been not just to avoid it, but avoid any appearance that could be misconstrued as it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sport Shaman Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Good question. No guess on the coach? You know him. Nepotism is unethical. When you work for an organization and the President hires his son to be Vice-President, everyone who works there thinks it's corrupt. Most professional places I have been the practice has been not just to avoid it, but avoid any appearance that could be misconstrued as it. Ian Bridge, the same man who coached Canada to Silver in the U-19 WWC Canada 2002. The result you refer to occured at the U-19 WWC in Thailand 2004. http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/u20womensworldcup/thailand2004/matches/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Yup, and exited stage left under Morace. He figured it out long before we did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympique_de_Marseille Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Did we really hit the crossbar twice and the post once only to then get scored on by the North Koreans? So typically Canadian soccer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Pretty sure they've hit it more. We were strong in the first half when they backed right off us and let us play, but in the second half they're taking our time away and forcing errors. Pretty savvy tactic actually, let us have 60% possession and wear ourselves down in the first half knowing they're fitter and can swarm and unsettle us in the second. Think the shots early were around 6-5. Now they're 20-5. Defense is solid. I'm not sure about our numbers back late in a tied game but the players are quality and they work a good system. We have a lot of flash but not enough substance in the attack, especially in service from the midfield. The linkage between the mids and strikers is below the level of play. The keeper has been impressive, she got us the tie and almost won us the game with a great first save. Wow. Amazing - stream is dead but FIFA say's 1-1 on a North Korean own-goal. Final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympique_de_Marseille Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Wow. Amazing - stream is dead but FIFA say's 1-1 on a North Korean own-goal. Final. Wow indeed! If we win against Ghana (who have nothing to play for) we move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 What a disaster! we got our butts kicked and we looked as beginners. Someone please refresh my mind as to why was Rosenfeld replaced by this pupil of Herdman. It certainly doesn't look good. Can't see our chances against Ghana being any better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sincforpm Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 For the first 10 minutes we had problems dealing with the pace of of the Koreans but we managed to settle down a bit after that. Yekka had a brilliant game and saved a sure goal in the second half. Jessie Fleming fared better in the 1st half than the second. I thought Foster would have gotten the start as Kerr had a poor showing in the last game. Kerr seems to have problems defending set pieces. Not too impressed with Gill either. We were fortunate to salvage a tie from this game. The Koreans were the better team as they rarely waste any passes. They also had a lot of pace and was giving the baby reds a hard time. I watched the Ghana vs Germany game as well and am not optimistic of our chances against Ghana. The Ghana girls are big, strong and fast. The girls would have to give more than a 100 per cent effort to get a result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red card Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 This has to be the most subpar goalkeeping I have seen for a Canadian women's team. More bad decision making and inability to handle crosses in 2nd match. Players have probably best technical skill I have seen for Canadian women's team but we're hopeless in the last third which was foreshadowed in qualifying against the good teams. Yekka actually drives more to the goal than any of the strikers or midfielders which could because they seem to lack pace. Passing is also slow and not enough variety in terms of attacking. Can't believe I'm saying this but the ball is being played too much on the carpet. Need more crosses and headers. The most surprising aspect was that they came back to tie it which we didn't see live since Sportsnet/FIFA lost the feed. Other Canadian teams would have again meekly left the tournament after what happened over 3 halves. So maybe this team is mentally strong enough to get a win against Ghana as otherwise we don't match up well with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 The two most under-appreciated goalkeeping skills: keeping the ball out of the net and not losing. Jorge Campos would never have made a Canadian team. I've met a lot of great goalkeeping instructors in my life, but none who really understand that. Can't believe I'm saying this but the ball is being played too much on the carpet. Need more crosses and headers. If they were adults yes, but the problem is U17 girls are very weak when the ball is in the air. In the middle of the field when a player on either team head the ball you had no idea if the ball was going forward or backward (and they probably didn't either). Given that the Germans and North Koreans couldn't find a successful tactic against Ghana, it will be interesting to see what our game plan is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Although Ghana will hope to win the final game in the group round, they do not need to, they are through as first place in the group, so one would expect the coach to rest the star players, and place the reserves on the pitch, now does that mean the depth shows and we are in tough game.. quite possibly, but it does let us have hope that we do not meet the steam roller Ghana was in its first to matches of group play. Tactics ? ... Attack, like we did the Germans in the first half, get up a goal or two and keep attacking, if we go out at least go out with a offence minded team, not playing 11 women behind the ball for ninety minutes and hoping for stellar goal tending. Should be an interesting technical test of the team and the coaching staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 This has to be the most subpar goalkeeping I have seen for a Canadian women's team. More bad decision making and inability to handle crosses in 2nd match. A regular vampire.... can't handle the cross Players have probably best technical skill I have seen for Canadian women's team but we're hopeless in the last third which was foreshadowed in qualifying against the good teams. Yekka actually drives more to the goal than any of the strikers or midfielders which could because they seem to lack pace. Yes Yekka and Fleming do more attacking and are more dangerous upfront that all the rest. Both of them would be my strikers rather than full backs. Passing is also slow and not enough variety in terms of attacking. Can't believe I'm saying this but the ball is being played too much on the carpet. Need more crosses and headers. I can't believe you are saying that either! The most surprising aspect was that they came back to tie it which we didn't see live since Sportsnet/FIFA lost the feed. Other Canadian teams would have again meekly left the tournament after what happened over 3 halves. So maybe this team is mentally strong enough to get a win against Ghana as otherwise we don't match up well with them. Well actually they didn't tie the game, the Koreans did it for them. Korea 22 shots with 13 on target. Canada 7 shots with 2 on target. We had more possession but obviously we don't know what to do with it, except to make errant passes to the opposition. My posting in blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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