Canada vs Uzbekistan Tuesday June 7th (10amET/7amPT). Game thread.

[Keegan]

It's just odd and infuriating that Floro was down to try "trick"/unconventional set plays early on like the chip to the edge of the box by Bernier to Edgar or the quick FK that sent in Ricketts v Czech(?) and now we seem to be the most obvious team in terms of set pieces.  If we are going to play a 2 v 1 it should be a quick give and go to swing in a deep cross that just needs a touch... the guys always seem to just pointlessly play it back and forth until they win a throw, lose possession, or most infuriating of all play it back to our cover.  

[Bison44]

53 minutes ago, Keegan said:

It's just odd and infuriating that Floro was down to try "trick"/unconventional set plays early on like the chip to the edge of the box by Bernier to Edgar or the quick FK that sent in Ricketts v Czech(?) and now we seem to be the most obvious team in terms of set pieces.  If we are going to play a 2 v 1 it should be a quick give and go to swing in a deep cross that just needs a touch... the guys always seem to just pointlessly play it back and forth until they win a throw, lose possession, or most infuriating of all play it back to our cover.  

You have hit the nail on the head there.  I know we dont have the talent to play the tiki taka possession game or the counterattack effectively against the guys we need to beat.  But geesh! We dont have 1 guy who can whip in a cross to any number of guys that have proven they can score off corners?? Floro doesn't trust Hoilett, Arfield etc to get a good cross in?  Haber, Edgar, Henry are all tall dudes that have a chance at knocking them in.  If you are going to play defense first, 6 CB ball, thats fine, I understand the thinking but at least give them a chance when you win a corner eh?   

[dyslexic nam]

It is a sad commentary on the state of things if we are playing short corners because no one can deliver a decent ball into the box.  It isn't rocket science.  Hit it with a bit of pace into a predetermined area.  Don't sky it, but don't keep it so low that a near-side defender can intercept.  You don't need to be able to curl it into the far corner - just put it into a space beyond the keeper's reach that your tall guys can attack.  If we can't manage to do that with some minimal level of consistency, we are well and truly cooked.

[Yohan]

1 hour ago, dyslexic nam said:

It is a sad commentary on the state of things if we are playing short corners because no one can deliver a decent ball into the box.  It isn't rocket science.  Hit it with a bit of pace into a predetermined area.  Don't sky it, but don't keep it so low that a near-side defender can intercept.  You don't need to be able to curl it into the far corner - just put it into a space beyond the keeper's reach that your tall guys can attack.  If we can't manage to do that with some minimal level of consistency, we are well and truly cooked.

Kinda boggles my mind that some players can whip in a decent cross while running full tilt, but have trouble putting in a decent corner or free kick, which are deadball situations.

[Unnamed Trialist]

43 minutes ago, Yohan said:

Kinda boggles my mind that some players can whip in a decent cross while running full tilt, but have trouble putting in a decent corner or free kick, which are deadball situations.

There is a certain right back who played for Barça for 8 years, most appearances of any foreigner, and won like 30 trophies, who still can't cross properly, on the run or from a set play. His crosses are a mess. He plays for Brazil. Some guys with great skill sets have problems on certain things that do not seem that hard.

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

Payet is terrible at corners. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

1 hour ago, Greatest Cockney Rip Off said:

Payet is terrible at corners. 

Sorry but he's not. Not as spectacular as his free kicks but I can think of at least three goals last season from his corners.

Are you just going by that one at Marseilles that is all over Youtube? 

[rightback]

6 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

There is a certain right back who played for Barça for 8 years, most appearances of any foreigner, and won like 30 trophies, who still can't cross properly, on the run or from a set play. His crosses are a mess. He plays for Brazil. Some guys with great skill sets have problems on certain things that do not seem that hard.

Harsh. In his first few years at Barca I remember Dani making many excellent crosses. Sadly, that skill seemed to diminish somewhat as he got older.

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

6 hours ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

Sorry but he's not. Not as spectacular as his free kicks but I can think of at least three goals last season from his corners.

Are you just going by that one at Marseilles that is all over Youtube? 

I've never seen that youtube video. This based on me standing behind the goal and watching him live everyweek. He rarely gets it past the first defender. He is great at scoring from free kicks but rarely puts in a dangerous cross from a corner. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

1 hour ago, Greatest Cockney Rip Off said:

This based on me standing behind the goal and watching him live everyweek. He rarely gets it past the first defender. He is great at scoring from free kicks but rarely puts in a dangerous cross from a corner. 

Sorry mate but terrible is an exaggeration, as is "rarely."  Again not as good as free kicks but I have seen (many also live) him put in plenty of dangerous balls including three for goals as I mentioned.  He did fade a little in that area like everything else (but free kicks) after the injury but overall a weird comment to make.

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

1 hour ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

Sorry mate but terrible is an exaggeration, as is "rarely."  Again not as good as free kicks but I have seen (many also live) him put in plenty of dangerous balls including three for goals as I mentioned.  He did fade a little in that area like everything else (but free kicks) after the injury but overall a weird comment to make.

Maybe terrible is an exaggeration but the difference in quality between his corners and free kicks is pretty large.  I also remember DiCanio being the same, great at free kicks but poor on corners. 

As an aside, I am right to assume based on your user name that you live in Oxford?

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

49 minutes ago, Greatest Cockney Rip Off said:

Maybe terrible is an exaggeration but the difference in quality between his corners and free kicks is pretty large.  I also remember DiCanio being the same, great at free kicks but poor on corners. 

As an aside, I am right to assume based on your user name that you live in Oxford?

Never was great at original usernames, so yes.  Been here for about 4 years now. 

[apbsmith]

On ‎2016‎-‎06‎-‎08 at 1:17 AM, Alex1775 said:

Osorio?

 

Hoilett/Tesho/Petrasso/Jackson all OP Osorio on the wings....no way Osorio is stronger then any of the ~5-6 in the midfield pool at the moment....maybe in a few years.  

The French left of some very good midfield passers off o Euro team.... sometimes you are just to far down the depth chart in your position.  Currently Osorio is, give it a rest.

[apbsmith]

On ‎2016‎-‎06‎-‎08 at 9:35 AM, Grizzly said:

  Poorly placed corners are very dangerous on the counterattack particularly against a team like Honduras. Floro probably thinks we have at least as high a chance of scoring from a short play as on an inconsistently placed corner and much less chance of giving up a dangerous counterattack going the other direction. He may not be wrong in that assessment either,

This, honestly never crossed my mind but it is a really good point though.  Funny I probably score 1/2 my goals in fifa on counter attacking a corner.

Guess I can be a bit less angry now about the short corners.   If we are down a goal in the 80th+ min and short corners are still happening well..... I will be angry again about them again.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Now that I am into commenting elite players, Xavi, arguably one of the greatest creative mids in football history and the player the entire success of Barça and Spain was built around, ALWAYS put in corners short. Could not put them onto the penalty spot, just barely made them to the near post. Some of this stuff is bewildering, because, for example, I happen to be very good at corners and was even when I was a crappy teen player. And can put them in with both feet. 

You now know the full extent of my football skill set.

[Obinna]

On Thursday, June 09, 2016 at 5:23 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

There is a certain right back who played for Barça for 8 years, most appearances of any foreigner, and won like 30 trophies, who still can't cross properly, on the run or from a set play. His crosses are a mess. He plays for Brazil. Some guys with great skill sets have problems on certain things that do not seem that hard.

I saw him put in a pretty good one a few days ago, but you have a much bigger sample size to draw on.

[Unnamed Trialist]

8 hours ago, Obinna said:

I saw him put in a pretty good one a few days ago, but you have a much bigger sample size to draw on.

Eight years and literally hundreds of comments later from fans....

This brings up an interesting point, about what a pro can or is supposed to learn. I think it was maybe Guardiola, who was asked directly about Alves' problem crossing. The question was whether it was something to practice in training. And the answer in press conference was that certain things a pro just had to work on himself and should not need the club or trainer to tell him how to do. Which made fans groan inside, thinking, great, they are not going to work on this. 

This is sort of funny, because it is true, for example, that normally a pro coach won't go out and set left foot exercises for the right-footed clutzes on the team (at least not on a high level). This is odd because free kickers practice their free kicks and defenders heading and keepers all kinds of specific tasks. So why shouldn't they do specific exercises? Is is somehow demeaning for a player?

Shortly after signing Alves Barça brought in Abidal, put him as left back, and the first year he could not cross in with his left foot. By the start of the second he could, and quite well. He put it upon himself to learn. You would think any pro would do the same. Hey, Floro needs someone who can put in a proper cross, or free kick, or long throw in---who is it going to be? And the guy who already does it right, or has been working on them, steps up. Is that so hard?

[Bison44]

I think it must be hard, because plenty of guys dont do it.  We hear about guys changing their diet and conditioning/exercise program in the offseason, but rarely do you hear about guys working on their crosses or other basic skills.  Maybe when you get to be a pro in your mid 20's the thought is to stick with your strengths, stick with what got you there.  But the best players are always rounding out the skill set, bringing new things to the table.  Look at Robin, with his new cut into the right move he has developed (HEHEHE).  

[Guest]

Canada is actually losing points for the FIFA rankings after their set of friendlies lmao. Would go from 363 to 350. What a joke.

[Addona]

8 minutes ago, canta15 said:

Canada is actually losing points for the FIFA rankings after their set of friendlies lmao. Would go from 363 to 350. What a joke.

I believe that this is partially due to losing the win vs. Cuba in WCQ and the draw vs. Honduras in WCQ from 4 years ago.  The weights of these results are fairly small now but I still think it makes a difference because they are highly valued as WCQs.

Not sure how the other results from the past 4 years are changing in weight, but this could also affect things ... predicting FIFA point changes over short stretches is a tricky business.

In Sept. & October, we will lose points from our wins over Panama and Cuba in the last WCQ, but then the "good" news is that we enter a long stretch of losing very few points ... because we didn't earn many!!!

[Bison44]

There is the tricky business of FIFA rankings right there.  In another thread there was a discussion of rankings and how they are mostly BS and you cant use them as anything but a very broad indicator of quality of a squad.  So our ranking/points are dropping as positive results from WCQ 4 years ago are coming off the board.  And the positive results from our friendlies dont carry enough weight (points) to maintain our points/ranking.  I think Blackdude is the one who knows this system inside and out and could go through all of it in detail.  But if you know what the ranking is based on and what it means to the CMNT squad today..you wont feel so bad about it.  Its too bad the fifa ranking is used for some very important things in WCQ, considering the convoluted system used to calculate it.  BUT...thats why quality friendlies are important and tournaments like the gold cup etc mean even more than just for CMNT prep for WCQ.  We could use more games, more tournaments etc (like the carribean nations) to get more points..ie jump through FIFA hoops!!  

[Unnamed Trialist]

According to FIFA rankings we have low possibilities of making the HEX, not being ranked high enough, and even lower to make a WC. We should be able to make a quarter final in the Gold Cup.

Which is totally accurate. And that is accurate enough for me. 

Saying we are a joke at 90 in Fifa rankings does not make any sense. 90 reflects exactly what our realistic level and expectations are.  Rather than criticize the rankings, seems to me more coherent to criticize our results.

Never in the history of a ranking system has someone proven they were unfair by NOT winning against superior opponents.

[Bison44]

The rankings are strange, poor results from years ago can weigh down a squad that has totally turned things around and gone on a winning streak.  The Caribbean teams get huge boosts from the Gold cup qualifying.  No system is perfect, but I would take the ranking for what its worth.  Getting too excited or depressed when it goes up and down is the perfect way to make your hair go white.  

[Obinna]

The only qualm I have about FIFA's ranking system is the weighting of official matches, because not all official matches are equal.

Someone correct me if I am wrong here, but aren't World Cup Qualifiers designated the same weight as say, Caribbean Championship Qualifiers? One is a small regional tournament while the other qualifies you for the world's biggest competiton.

Perhaps a case can be made to make WCQ equal to say, Euro qualifying, but to treat these the same as caribbean championship matches is bogus and for small Caribbean nations, it can really pad their rankings unjustly, in my opinion.

Canada, being in a unique position of not playing many official matches, is hurt by this aspect more than anything, so I personally bump us up 20 spots whenever the rankings come out

[A_Gagne]

13 hours ago, Addona said:

I believe that this is partially due to losing the win vs. Cuba in WCQ and the draw vs. Honduras in WCQ from 4 years ago.  The weights of these results are fairly small now but I still think it makes a difference because they are highly valued as WCQs.

Not sure how the other results from the past 4 years are changing in weight, but this could also affect things ... predicting FIFA point changes over short stretches is a tricky business.

In Sept. & October, we will lose points from our wins over Panama and Cuba in the last WCQ, but then the "good" news is that we enter a long stretch of losing very few points ... because we didn't earn many!!!

give zero f@#$s. #elo (not that our elo rank is much better at this moment)