Ayo Akinola

[RS]

5 minutes ago, Obinna said:

He also mentioned cheating husbands, yet you seem to be the one drawing parallels to the political / social issues in policing and then projecting that onto MtlMario. Tisk tisk.

Or I'm ignoring cheating husbands because it's not really as appalling a comparison. Both are in poor taste, but one clearly stands out above the other.

(I apologize if I'm unaware of a current global movement protesting the actions of cheating husbands.)

[Kent]

29 minutes ago, Trois Reds said:

To be fair, TFC started at 9 am one day, 8 PM three days later, and 9 am again 3 days after that.  Playing 3 games in seven days is hard enough, without the start times. I've worked jobs like that (8 AM start one day, 3 PM the next, etc).  Within a week you're working through fatigue, even if you're awake. He might be a little tired. It did look like all of the starters were fading after halftime.

3 groups have 2 9am games, 2 groups have just 1 game at 9 am. And one group has no games at 9 am. It just so happens that the group with no early games is the group with the two LA teams. Funny how things like that tend to happen in MLS.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Kent
Clarity

[Colliedor]

26 minutes ago, Trois Reds said:

To be fair, TFC started at 9 am one day, 8 PM three days later, and 9 am again 3 days after that.  Playing 3 games in seven days is hard enough, without the start times. I've worked jobs like that (8 AM start one day, 3 PM the next, etc).  Within a week you're working through fatigue, even if you're awake. He might be a little tired. It did look like all of the starters were fading after halftime.

Meh, personally I think that's just an excuse. I understand fatigue, but It was just way to similar to what we've seen from him in the past to say it was "fatigue" for me personally.

[Obinna]

32 minutes ago, RS said:

Or I'm ignoring cheating husbands because it's not really as appalling a comparison. Both are in poor taste, but one clearly stands out above the other.

(I apologize if I'm unaware of a current global movement protesting the actions of cheating husbands.)

Okay you win. I don't want to argue about politics in an Akinola thread. There are other places on the internet you can go if you wanna talk about that. Cheers! 

 

[RS]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

Okay you win. I don't want to argue about politics in an Akinola thread. There are other places on the internet you can go if you wanna talk about that. Cheers! 

 

The weird thing is that I’m not even arguing about politics. It’s simply in poor taste to compare a player representing a different country to a crooked cop regardless of what’s going on in the world. 

The current climate makes it worse and does delve into the political spectrum, but that wasn’t my original point. 

But you’re right, let’s move on.

On topic: Akinola’s finishing was subpar today, but his movement got him into positions that he wasn’t getting into a year ago.

[Obinna]

5 minutes ago, RS said:

The weird thing is that I’m not even arguing about politics. It’s simply in poor taste to compare a player representing a different country to a crooked cop regardless of what’s going on in the world. 

The current climate makes it worse and does delve into the political spectrum, but that wasn’t my original point. 

But you’re right, let’s move on.

On topic: Akinola’s finishing was subpar today, but his movement got him into positions that he wasn’t getting into a year ago.

He didn't look as confident, I wonder if he was affected by all the hype following his hat trick.

The good news is that he connected  extremely well with Altidore when he came on late. That bodes well for Ayo and I can see both of them playing together again at some point next match.

[N1ckbr0wn]

So many mixed stories... potential damage control after it was leaked he didn’t  put Ayos name down and “influenced” him to play for the US? 

 

[jordan]

And that would make it damage control? Maybe it never happened....

[N1ckbr0wn]

2 minutes ago, jordan said:

And that would make it damage control? Maybe it never happened....

Maybe it never happened, maybe it did happen. That’s why I said “potential”. Speculation 

Edited July 21, 2020 by N1ckbr0wn

[bwilly11]

Vanney keeping the Canadians happy, he knows he needs us TFC fans on his side haha

[Kent]

Am I the only one thinking he said that to Ayo while giving him the hairdryer treatment? Here is my made up full quote.

Vanney: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT THERE? YOU ARE OUT OF POSITION ALL THE TIME. WHEN YOU DO GET PASSED TO YOU HAVE THE TOUCH OF SOMEONE WITH BRICKS FOR FEET, AND THE RARE TIMES YOU GET A SHOT OFF YOU FLUB IT! You tell me you want to play for the national team (implied that “the” is USA). I don’t see it happening with how your development is stalling. Heck, if you somehow get a call from CANADA, you should seriously consider accepting it, because you can’t do any better pal.”

[Yohan]

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/07/21/us-national-team-head-coach-gregg-berhalter-toronto-fcs-ayo-akinola-we-consider-him

[MtlMario]

21 hours ago, RS said:

Your parallels between Akinola and a dirty cop Isn’t the point you want to be making here.

To be clear I wasn't comparing him to a dirty cop (or cheating husband as you conveniently forgot to mention), I was just  trying to show that there are differences between people and not all lumped together like you suggested. Yes we are all Canadian but you can't tell me some are not more patriotic then others. That's all I was trying to say, no need to get your nut* in a uproar. Regards.

[RS]

59 minutes ago, MtlMario said:

To be clear I wasn't comparing him to a dirty cop (or cheating husband as you conveniently forgot to mention), I was just  trying to show that there are differences between people and not all lumped together like you suggested. Yes we are all Canadian but you can't tell me some are not more patriotic then others. That's all I was trying to say, no need to get your nut* in a uproar. Regards.

An “uproar” 😂 

[Free kick]

On 7/21/2020 at 9:32 AM, VinceA said:

One thing I can't fault about some of our dual nationals who have played youth footy for other countries is that Canada doesn't play any damn youth games outside of tournaments. It's hilarious sometimes that Canada wants prospects to commit to the program when the program doesn't seem to exist outside of CONCACAF youth tournaments.

I could be wrong here but i really dont hear much of any youth international matches for any country.  Including the US.  Hence, dont believe CND youth teams play any less (to any significant degree) than anybody else.  

The one time that we played a lot more than anybody else was in the lead up to the 2007 U20 WC.  And it didnt help.   International friendlies, at any level, seem to be a dying species.  Not saying it doesnt help to play friendlies, but often its become an excuse.  The makeup of the team is the superceding factor over over whether one team played 3 friendlies versus another who played one or two.

[VinceA]

21 minutes ago, Free kick said:

I could be wrong here but i really dont hear much of any youth international matches for any country.  Including the US.  Hence, dont believe CND youth teams play any less (to any significant degree) than anybody else.  

The one time that we played a lot more than anybody else was in the lead up to the 2007 U20 WC.  And it didnt help.   International friendlies, at any level, seem to be a dying species.  Not saying it doesnt help to play friendlies, but often its become an excuse.  The makeup of the team is the superceding factor over over whether one team played 3 friendlies versus another who played one or two.

The US play a crap ton of friendlies, as does Mexico. Look at Akinola's U20 and U17 caps and compare it to any Canadian the same age.

The US U23 team has had so much prep for the OLY qualifiers and Canada has yet to have one camp. It's ridiculous.

[Free kick]

On 7/21/2020 at 1:21 PM, Gian-Luca said:

Herdman said in an interview taped July 2nd but shown before this morning's TFC match something along the lines that he thinks Akinola's heart is starting to turn towards Canada. Kristian Jack then said in the studio that Akinola's agent told the Canadian U20 team that Akinola was available for them but that he wasn't called, although this seemed to contradict what Herdman said about Akinola having been invited to previous U20 and MNT camps but declining for now. KJ also said Berhalter had been in touch with Akinola since the tournament began, which is hardly a surprise since Berhalter shouting "Nice goal Ayo!" from three feet behind the goal could count as being in touch.

 

This could be summarize as follows if i were to read between the lines:  
Neither side was truly interested in him.  But they are interested now because of his performance in the last three games.

edit:  by the way.  Why is Berharlter permitted to be in the MLS bubble?  I thought that this was for players and club personel.  Was Herdman granted that same opportunity to shout “Way to Ayo”?

Edited July 22, 2020 by Free kick

[Corazon]

2 hours ago, Free kick said:

I could be wrong here but i really dont hear much of any youth international matches for any country.  Including the US.  Hence, dont believe CND youth teams play any less (to any significant degree) than anybody else.  

The one time that we played a lot more than anybody else was in the lead up to the 2007 U20 WC.  And it didnt help.   International friendlies, at any level, seem to be a dying species.  Not saying it doesnt help to play friendlies, but often its become an excuse.  The makeup of the team is the superceding factor over over whether one team played 3 friendlies versus another who played one or two.

Akinola has played 42 youth games for USA and hes been injured recently during call-ups for U20.  The highest I could find was David Edgar at 26 caps.  Our current generation of youth internationals are lucky to hit 10 caps.  So, USA does play many more youth games than Canada.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Corazon

[Bison44]

I guess if uninterested you mean calling him to damn near all their youth camps and he had worn the US jersey 40+ times over multiple age groups.  Not being ready for the senior team at 18 or 19 isnt being uninterested.  

[Free kick]

1 hour ago, Bison44 said:

Not being ready for the senior team at 18 or 19 isnt being uninterested.  

That is true.   I was going to allude to that.  But without going too much at lenght.  I believe that the dates being referred to here that are approximately around the time of that nations league matchup against the US.    It would have been a real tough sell to say (At that time) that Ayo should have been higher on the pecking order of callups than we had up front already (eg.; Jonathan David,  Cavalini).   
 

edit:   But then again Herdman should still be in the loop of a players progress in the system and have some idea of one potential.   Tough to say,  we dont really know of how well informed he is about the pipeline. Or what interest he takes.  

Edited July 22, 2020 by Free kick

[Bison44]

8 minutes ago, Free kick said:

That is true.   I was going to allude to that.  But without going too much at lenght.  I believe that the dates being referred to here that are approximately around the time of that nations league matchup against the US.    It would have been a real tough sell to say (At that time) that Ayo should have been higher on the pecking order of callups than we had up front already (eg.; Jonathan David,  Cavalini).   
 

edit:   But then again Herdman should still be in the loop of a players progress in the system and have some idea of one potential.   Tough to say,  we dont really know of how well informed he is about the pipeline. Or what interest he takes.  

I doubt that Akinola was interested at all from a call from Canada.  If he was, he would have mentioned it once or twice in the last 5-6 years but he was to busy hanging out with american coaches and going to american camps.  If he had gotten a few more starts for TFC last year and a few more goals he might have garned a flyer from the senior USMNT.  ANd I am sure Herdman knows about the kids right in his back yard at MLS academies, usually those are the first one they look to for youth camp evaluations eh??  You would think the national team coach would be better informed than a bunch of goobers on a fan site eh?  Although some times I wonder.  

[An Observer]

Well, if what is rumoured in the Road to Qatar thread is true, we may get our first opportunity to try to get him to file his one time switch in November which is only 4 months away.  Would be a perfect opportunity if we draw a minnow or even as Suriname as I am sure at minimum he could help as an impact sub if we need it or to get a run out if we dont

[Shortdutchcanuck]

https://www.transfermarkt.us/ayo-akinola-quot-everyone-dreams-of-playing-at-the-highest-level-and-that-is-in-europe-quot-/amp/news/366315?__twitter_impression=true

Great Manuel Veth interview with Akinola, discussing his aspirations of playing in Netherlands or Germany, his relationship with Altidore and Phonzie, and how Phonzie convinced him to switch agents to Nick Huoseh of ATG Sports.  Ayo credits Huoseh with pushing him to up his fitness regime, just as he pushed Davies to add some muscles mass with Bayern.  

Might be personal bias and wishful thinking but the kid just sounds Canadian to me

Edited July 24, 2020 by Shortdutchcanuck

[CanMNT Memes]

 

[SpursFlu]

Kristian Jack just said on the radio in Van that Ayo's agent contacted Canadian soccer and told them he's willing to play for Canada if called up