Ghana...v Canada results

[Trillium]

Canada lost, and some will question the coaching decisions, but what shocked me was the generally low technical skills of the players selected to represent Canada.

Surely we can find players with better first touch on the ball?

[ray]

You're right, there.  Horrible first touch ... over and over and over again.  Players didn't have the skill to deal with pressure.

 

Unfortunately, this only reinforces the notion that Canada can't play soccer to the general public.

 

It's sad that Canada has accomplished so little after having the advantage of being early adopters in the women's game.  Now we'll have to guard against being left behind in CONCACAF.

[BuSaPuNk]

From what I did see from going up and down between the drum and watching yea there first touches were very poor.

However ill counter act that with a positive they were very good at using the wings at times and got away from it. Also they had a run of very good play and possession but just couldn't find that final ball into the box.

Overall decent start unfortunate result. Have to get all three points next game.

[shermanator]

The goal was completely on Yekka. She left her marker to cover for the CB, leaving the Ghanian player wide open to cross into Sheridan.

[rob.notenboom]

The women pulled up in every challenge if it wasn't clear they were going to win it, until later in the second half at least. I expected more intensity out of them at least. Game seemed to be moving faster than them at times.

Agree that there were many poor touches and Nichelle Prince was the only one that seemed particularly dangerous going forward.

[Trillium]

The women pulled up in every challenge if it wasn't clear they were going to win it, until later in the second half at least. I expected more intensity out of them at least. Game seemed to be moving faster than them at times.

Agree that there were many poor touches and Nichelle Prince was the only one that seemed particularly dangerous going forward.

 

 

Prince should have been brought on earlier ...or indeed started, she sparked a difference.

 

The team was to play at 4-2-3-1 which after the early goal became a 4-3-3, and the team was disorganized from that time forward in the first half, as one sage old wag...said before the game... "I hope I am wrong but we underestimate Ghana"... and "this team is built to implode".

 

http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/02/41/70/31/eng_01_0805_can-gha_fulltime_neutral.pdf

 

Canada had six corners to Ghana's three, none of the six were sitiuations that seemed to concern the Ghana Goalkeeper, indeed the high lofted balls were easy for her to snag. There certainly was no concept of a different target zone for corners, so it was kiick it in the six yard box and hope for a miscue,  classic Even Pelerud style play still being implemented by the CSA coaching team.

 

Emma Fletcher (20)  who was substituted at the 52 minute appeared to be out of her depth in understanding her role in a 4-2-3-1, she failed to track back early enough to see the Ghanaian player on the left, who had numerous attacks deep into the defensive third of Canada, and completed dangerous crosses into prime goal scoring zones. The substitution at 52 minutes seemed odd, why not pull her at half ? It appeared the coaching staff did not communicate to her during the first half to moderate her actions on the pitch, she was often going forward, then hanging out in an elongated position, seemingly unconcerned about making any defensive recovery run, until her mark had possession of the ball.

 

Janine Beckie ( 11 ) on the opposite side played her role well, it might be good for the coaching staff to have a video session outlining how to play the outside position in a 4-2.3-1.

 

Kadeshia Buchanan cannot carry this team on her own, especially not from playing a CB role. She seemed to have more effect when she moved forward in the end of the game and became a striker.

 

Andrew Olivieri will have a hard time pulling things together, he has to hope Finland does not bite his team hard ...in the next game ( and by hard would be a tie ), with the loss Canada has dug a deep hole, KPR will be very tough to defeat. Not sure what John Herdmann will be saying too Olivieri in terms of what he wants to see against Finland, but between himself and Tony Fonseca they need to get the team focussed on the game and on winning. 

 

"I had said before the tournament that we had the potential to win the World Cup. I don’t know if we’ll do it, but we do see some signs. And we sent a signal that we’re not here for fun - we’re here for business," Bashir Hayford, Ghana coach.

 

 

Others have come to this party to .... do business, have the Canadian players done that ?

[Sport Shaman]

Maybe the explanation for the disjointed performance is related to a lack of experience playing together. Without a qualifying process to go through it appears that the pre-tournament preparations, to knock off the rust, were inadequate.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/canada-falls-to-ghana-in-u-20-world-cup-opener/

"I don’t think it was too much pressure, but it was certainly new pressure," said Canadian coach Andrew Olivieri. "The biggest word right now is ‘adapt’ for them."

Olivieri also said it was "a bit of a curse" not having to go through a qualifying tournament prior to the World Cup — Canada automatically qualified as the host country.

So Canada was lacking big-game experience "… not playing in big matches that you have to win. So this is the first match they’re faced with the need to get a result," he said."

[Red and White]

I was thinking that a lack of qualifying matches may be a reason behind them looking slow last night. But, that is exactly why teams need to play a lot of games, and many at home.

 

Prince was a decent threat when brought on. She played solid, constantly troubling Ghana's defense and creating opportunities. But, she couldn't finish the chances she created.

 

Janine Beckie played good positionally, and had plenty of chances with the ball, but, like Prince, was stalled by poor finishing.

 

Buchanan was another noticeable player, at least when played as a striker. She's a difference maker, but didn't look capable of creating scoring opportunities in my opinion.

 

Overall, I thought the team effort was adequate, but we couldn't finish on any of our chances. It may have been a lack of playing together or crumbling under pressure. Either way, we have to work on burying chances we create. We squandered multiple last night simply because (I thought) our strikers couldn't keep their composure when in front of goal.

[Trillium]

Maybe the explanation for the disjointed performance is related to a lack of experience playing together. Without a qualifying process to go through it appears that the pre-tournament preparations, to knock off the rust, were inadequate.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/canada-falls-to-ghana-in-u-20-world-cup-opener/

"I don’t think it was too much pressure, but it was certainly new pressure," said Canadian coach Andrew Olivieri. "The biggest word right now is ‘adapt’ for them."

Olivieri also said it was "a bit of a curse" not having to go through a qualifying tournament prior to the World Cup — Canada automatically qualified as the host country.

So Canada was lacking big-game experience "… not playing in big matches that you have to win. So this is the first match they’re faced with the need to get a result," he said."

 

 

Next year for the Women's World Cup we need meaningfull games in the lead up ..... will we be in Algrave ?

 

Where will we take the Women's senior side for meaningfull games that pressure the team and coaching staff ?

 

I do not accept the "lacking big-game experience" excuse from the Coach and the program, why did they not have it ?

 

Was this U20 team taken on a tour in Canada to play local all-star U20 sides to get experience ?

 

How would they fair against a U20 selection from the maritimes , the praries, Quebec etc. ?

 

http://www.ghanafa.org/pages/blackprincesses/201407/9769.php Ghans beats U21 Burlington Bayhawks, 3 to 1, Tied 1 to 1 with North Mississuaga Panthers and defeated GS United 2-0, club teams who appear to be not far off the team results for the National u20 team.

 

 

 

 

[xman14]

It was tough to watch, so many chances to hit an equalizer... I do think the keeper could have done better with her save. She put it right to the striker... That needs to be held or pushed very far to the sideline. 

[red card]

This match showed again that Canadian teams are psychologically unprepared for tourney play. I would have thought Herdman would have made a difference here. Their play was too tentative in the first half for a team playing at home. 

 

Good point by Trillium about Fletcher's defensive liabilities as many have written why she was subbed out given she was the only who showed some offensive skill. But in hindsight, Fletcher would have put in chances that Beckie continually muffed and Campbell couldn't get her first touch right. If we had a Buchanan quality player up front rather than in the back, we would have won this match.

 

Yekka had a good first half and petered in the second. I don't blame the goal on her solely as nobody was backtracking and it appeared they had stopped for a foul call that didn't happen. And ultimately, a goalkeeper needs to grab hold of that ball or kick it out. Overall back line was solid other than too many back passes which seems to be part of Herdman's approach.

 

Midfield and forwards didn't connect. Other than Prince and one Fletcher moment, no one showed they knew how to break down a team in the final third. They couldn't handle the constant one-on-one pressure - sign of players not comfortable with the ball. Other than Prince, they also didn't show pace. Corner kicks were horrible given we had Buchanan & Fletcher. 

[Sport Shaman]

Maybe the signs were there all along. Going back through the CSA News releases about the U-20 preparations, I came across this:

 

http://canadasoccer.com/canada-w20-vow-to-learn-from-tough-result-in-mexico-p156651

 

So, what did we learn and how did we apply that knowledge?

 

 

From the article:

 

It’s better that Canada’s Women’s U-20 Team took their lumps now instead of a few weeks from now.

Having gone through a packed couple of days that featured a squad presentation in Toronto followed by a flight to Mexico City where they went straight into training and two games in three days, Canada spent a lot of energy in a short amount of time.

To cap it off, that test was only further exacerbated by the leg-draining impacts of playing at high altitude. Mexico was at home and Canada faded in the second half and conceded three times.

But that’s not being used as an excuse, but rather it’s being used as a lesson heading into the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2014.

“It’s always a learning experience,” said midfielder Emma Fletcher, who played the last 20 minutes on Friday and started on Sunday. “We faced some problems that Mexico presented that we can learn from and definitely try and change so we can get a better result next time.”

 

[Trillium]

We learned the CSA media guys are adept at writing apolgia summaries.

 

What we could hope for is a journalist to ask some tough questions ... as you say... so what did you learn in Mexico that you applied here Coach ?

[Lord Bob]

Is Andrew Olivieri a fucking idiot? Ghana barely played any qualifying either: two of their three would-be opponents withdrew. Did he not even do enough scouting to check past results or read Wikipedia? We have more quality games this year than the Ghana U-20s!

[Joe MacCarthy]

The women pulled up in every challenge if it wasn't clear they were going to win it, until later in the second half at least. I expected more intensity out of them at least. Game seemed to be moving faster than them at times.

Agree that there were many poor touches and Nichelle Prince was the only one that seemed particularly dangerous going forward.

Noticed during the game and agree with every point you made.

[Joe MacCarthy]

It was tough to watch, so many chances to hit an equalizer... I do think the keeper could have done better with her save. She put it right to the striker... That needs to be held or pushed very far to the sideline. 

I won't fault her as there were two white shirts right there and no red ones in sight.

[Joe MacCarthy]

We learned the CSA media guys are adept at writing apolgia summaries.

As far as I know, the CSA weren't on the field.

[red card]

Standard prep especially since we're hosting and getting ready for 2015 is to have played pre-tourney matches against Nigeria, South Korea or China and then a team like France or England.

 

Then we wouldn't have these naïve comments like Ghana doesn't play modern football.

[Trillium]

As far as I know, the CSA weren't on the field.

Geez Mr. Macarthy, I never said the CSA media guys were on the pitch.

But indeed the CSA was on the field, in Canada jerseys with CSA logos, it was not Cook Islands vs Ghana. Or do you think the guys working 100 days a year for CSA making over 100,000 dollars each as coaches have no responsibility?

I am sure you feel the CSA is as good as it can be...I am pretty sure your wrong, tonites game vs Finland is a nice win... But it was close to disaster.

The CSA has till Tuesday to prepare the players they have selected to win.