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The 2016 Rio Olympics thread: August 3rd to 19th


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1 hour ago, DJT said:

Heads-up: Germany vs. Canada is kicking off on TSN2. It will move or be duplicated on TSN1/3/4/5 after tennis is complete. No CBC.

So it moved to TSN1/3/4 (not 5, which has the UEFA Super Cup) and TSN2 switched to beach volleyball. It was originally scheduled for CBC, switched to TSN2 for the first half, then switched to TSN1/3/4 for the second half. Good luck to anyone trying to record it to watch it later. Terrible. :wacko:

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24 minutes ago, tc-in-bc said:

Honestly, the German defending on Tancredi's match tying goal seemed really soft -- as if the German's don't want to win the group.

But a Germany loss combine with an Australia 7-0 win over Zimbabwe would see Germany finish 3rd in the group with a potential USA - Germany quaterfinal as a reward.

They surely don't want that.

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1 minute ago, aloyol said:

But a Germany loss combine with an Australia 7-0 win over Zimbabwe would see Germany finish 3rd in the group with a potential USA - Germany quaterfinal as a reward.

They surely don't want that.

No, but they want a draw. That's why they weren't doing much at 1-1 and made changes / stepped it up down 2-1.

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Final:

Germany 1-2 Canada

Australia 6-1 Zimbabwe

Australia led 6-0 and needed one more goal to take second in the group, but Zimbabwe scored at 90'+1' (TSN reported it as a 6-0 final before it was even over :wacko:). Germany hold on to second place by goal difference over Australia (+4 to +3).

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Good win over Germany, no Sinclair and no Buchanan, confirms my impression from Houston qualifications, the wheel has turned, Sinclair should now be a playmaker or late sub, let Diane Rose, and Beckie et al lead us to top ranking, still think Matheson is the bomb and an inspirational leader on the team. Some thing Herdman is a reason for success, I think circumstances have shown him the way...go with the new ones in program, go out and find more, tell clubs in Canada to recommend who should be drawn in for next cycle.

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Fantastic result.  Now let's hope for the Kiwis to upset New Zealand in the day's final match!

Anyone know of a stream with the France - New Zealand match?  I tried the CBC website which had the Canada - Germany game on, but they don't seem to be showing France - New Zealand.

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3 minutes ago, umpiredice said:

Fantastic result.  Now let's hope for the Kiwis to upset New Zealand in the day's final match!

Anyone know of a stream with the France - New Zealand match?  I tried the CBC website which had the Canada - Germany game on, but they don't seem to be showing France - New Zealand.

Never mind, found it on CBC: http://olympics.cbc.ca/video/live/soccer-1800-29298.html

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The tournament setup for this event is one of strangest i have ever seen.  I spend a lot of time over years looking fifa brackets for tournaments and the possible permutations.  While there is always reason to to be suspicious in regards to grouping (usually in regards to who is grouped with who) but i have never doubted the tournament layout of the matches in the knockout stage because there was a certain randomness and unpredictability to it.  

However this time, canada was in a group whereby there was no chance that they would face the third place qualifier when/if they reach the knockout stage.    Meaning, they were going to get a tough opponent regardless of whether they first or second.  I have never seen that before.  Usually its setup whereby, based which third place teams advance,  every first place finisher puts itself in a good possition to get an easy opponent in the first games of the next round. This setup was probaly fine for germany  becuase they are after all the second ranked squad in teh world, but canada?   I dont think so.  Canada are more looking to medal than to win it all.  

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From the little I saw, Canada was very effective in preventing the German possession game, forcing them to try longer, riskier passes.  Excellent win against quality opponent.  Well done to the team and coach.

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15 hours ago, Trillium said:

Good win over Germany, no Sinclair and no Buchanan, confirms my impression from Houston qualifications, the wheel has turned, Sinclair should now be a playmaker or late sub, let Diane Rose, and Beckie et al lead us to top ranking, still think Matheson is the bomb and an inspirational leader on the team. Some thing Herdman is a reason for success, I think circumstances have shown him the way...go with the new ones in program, go out and find more, tell clubs in Canada to recommend who should be drawn in for next cycle.

Amazing. Been lucky to watch all the matches so far and there's been plenty of luck, calls, and help from Sinclair but we should be confident in the future after she hangs her record breaking boots up.

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17 hours ago, Trillium said:

Good win over Germany, no Sinclair and no Buchanan, confirms my impression from Houston qualifications, the wheel has turned, Sinclair should now be a playmaker or late sub, let Diane Rose, and Beckie et al lead us to top ranking, still think Matheson is the bomb and an inspirational leader on the team. Some thing Herdman is a reason for success, I think circumstances have shown him the way...go with the new ones in program, go out and find more, tell clubs in Canada to recommend who should be drawn in for next cycle.

 

My only comment is that there is a pretty significant difference between re-envisioning Sinclair as an effective playmaking offensive player sitting just behind a striker like Beckie, vs relegating her to a late sub role - essentially implying that she is done as a starter and should just be thrown on as a last ditch effort when we need an offensive spark or someone with good hold-up play.  I have no issues with the idea of revising her position, but would object (pretty strongly) to the suggestion that she should lose a starting spot at this point.

The games I have watched have confirmed not only that we have some great young players coming up through the system, but also that Sinclair is not just there as a gesture of respect - she is still a major contributor in our starting 11.  She has both scored and set-up goals, seems to have solid chemistry with Beckie, and is far from being relegated to a sub role.  Heck, she even (somewhat surprisingly, to me) outran the Aussie defenders for her breakaway goal.  Basically, she is still demonstrating that she is competitive and productive in the roles she is expected to fulfill.  And in the absence of a strong argument to the contrary, I am still inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who, by any reasonable metric, is the greatest soccer player our country has ever produced when considered amongst their peers. 

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^^ Well said.  To add to this, does anyone feel like Tancredi plays better when she's "in charge", where she knows the team is counting on her, versus her counting on the team?  I think that for the game vs France, yes, Sinclair should start (based on the points given in the above post), but also start Tancredi and hopefully she'll play with the attitude that she has more to prove.

I am actually having mixed feelings about the win from last night. What do you guys think?  Of course, I wanted Canada to face China in the quarterfinals, but at least last night's game shows that our women are about fair play.  They don't have to purposely lose to avoid a powerhouse opponent.  I know Canada's had a good success rate against China, but at the same time, China did beat Japan to "steal" their spot in the Olympics and China did beat USA during Wambach's last game before retirement.  So... you never know.  Playing China is not a guaranteed win, and playing France is not a guaranteed loss.  I am just trying to be positive.  Thoughts?

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As much as it might indicate my own personal flaws, I would have had no issue with us playing at 50% and basically throwing the Germany game.  To me, that is really just a scaled-up version of Buchanan's (presumably) intentional yellow to wipe the slate clean going into the QF's - meaning that it is a fairly tactical approach where we really prioritize the "long game" (not to be taken literally here) in the context of a tournament.   

If we were assured of an easier path to the semi's by losing to Germany, a significant part of me would like to know that we have that kind of pragmatic mentality about major tournaments that allows for effective tactics, even if they are cynical.  Just like arguing that we should cap-tie really bright prospects, or play WC qualifiers in Edmonton in November - I want us to be ruthless in our pursuit of results. 

I have watched too many games (on the men's side) where some Central American country dives all over the pitch, gets favourable calls while clutching their phantom ankle injury, and gets the win - all while we play the 'proper and polite' Canadian way.  And lose. 

Maybe my logic should be different on the women's side.  We are deeper, and better - and we have the results to prove it.  Maybe we are good enough that we can just take on anyone and look for the win.  I don't know.

But I still would have accepted an easier path to the semi's.

 

 

 

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I think it keeps getting forgotten that Sinclair gets a lot more coverage from defenders than the other players.  If others gain from that and start potting goals, it doesn't necessarily mean that Sinclair is ineffective and should be used less.  Pulling her and allowing the defenders to cover the other forwards better probably isn't going to produce better results for us.

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