2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship

[shamrock]

I don't think it is too underwhelming. Ok having Shome there would have been great, but what can you do?

I highly doubt Tabla's absence is because he wants to play for Ivory Coast, since it doesn't do anything to increase his chances. It would probably only raise his stock and he'd still be able to make the switch. My guess would be he senses that he has a chance at Montreal Impact and he does't want to leave this important moment in the season. Important in the sense that Biello is making up his mind about the team right now. 

[One American]

While it's true that Tabla would still be free to play for the Ivory Coast even if he played this tournament, he would provisionally cap-tie. Then while the option is still there, it gets hard to make a switch, especially from a weaker to a stronger team. It's a lot easier to go the other way. 

[jpg75]

Didn't Tabla play in U17 qualifiers 2 years ago?

[ray]

56 minutes ago, jpg75 said:

Didn't Tabla play in U17 qualifiers 2 years ago?

Exactly.  Which makes this all the more baffling.  Why turn down the call up after you have participated in 5 camps in the last year, including 2 this year?  That kind of behavior is unacceptable.  (I am assuming he is not injured since that would most likely be mentioned.)

Then again, if Tabla's focus is elsewhere we don't want him on the team for this crucial qualifier.

[Soccerpro]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Tabla wasn't with the Impact at their recent training camp. So how could he be wanting to focus on his club career? Especially as he was with the u20s as recently as 2-3 months ago.

"focusing on club career" usually means one thing only for Canadian dual nationals and that is trying to flirt with another country to represent. And then if that doesn't work out, Canada is always the back up.

Dont forget, last year Tabla was quoted as saying it would be his dream to play for the Ivory Coast and his Twitter profile pic is a picture of him and Drogba...

[Keegan]

2 minutes ago, Soccerpro said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Tabla wasn't with the Impact at their recent training camp. So how could he be wanting to focus on his club career? Especially as he was with the u20s as recently as 2-3 months ago.

"focusing on club career" usually means one thing only for Canadian dual nationals and that is trying to flirt with another country to represent. And then if that doesn't work out, Canada is always the back up.

Dont forget, last year Tabla was quoted as saying it would be his dream to play for the Ivory Coast and his Twitter profile pic is a picture of him and Drogba...

Actually try 3 WEEKS AGO.

http://canadasoccer.com/canada-s-men-s-u-20-team-prepares-for-panama-test-p160341

What a joke and a classless move on his part.  

[gator]

It's a shame that one potential defection has overshadowed all of the young men who have committed to play for our country! I doubt it will happen because most Canadian MLS fans don't seem to care but if Tabla has decided to pursue the Ivory Coast route fans should be letting him know their displeasure! There aren't many countries where this would be tolerated by the fans! 

[Floortom]

6 minutes ago, gator said:

! I doubt it will happen because most Canadian MLS fans don't seem to care but if Tabla has decided to pursue the Ivory Coast route fans should be letting him know there displeasure! There aren't many countries where this would be tolerated by the fans! 

At the Impact team / fan event last night Tabla was the biggest star apparently. Even fans of our MLS teams don't give a crap about our national team for the most part

[Levi Oakey]

36 minutes ago, gator said:

It's a shame that one potential defection has overshadowed all of the young men who have committed to play for our country! I doubt it will happen because most Canadian MLS fans don't seem to care but if Tabla has decided to pursue the Ivory Coast route fans should be letting him know their displeasure! There aren't many countries where this would be tolerated by the fans! 

In this regard, I trust Biello. Biello is one of the good guys of soccer in my mind, and he is pretty passionately Canadian from what I have heard.

Either way, this U20 team is still exciting. Let's make that World Cup again. Get some Iain Hume moments.

[Shway]

3 hours ago, Floortom said:

At the Impact team / fan event last night Tabla was the biggest star apparently. Even fans of our MLS teams don't give a crap about our national team for the most part

Well.....Montreal isn't Canada, Montreal is Quebec. The impact/Quebec does very little to the national team.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

35 minutes ago, Jahinho Guerro said:

Well.....Montreal isn't Canada, Montreal is Quebec. The impact/Quebec does very little to the national team.

There are some Voyageurs that are Impact fans - they just aren't the majority.

[lazlo_80]

Man, we're getting feisty aren't we? the guy hasn't even played for anyone else yet and people are FLIPPING OUT! At least with Bustos we waited for him to go to a Chile camp before this whole board turned.

Can we put a moratorium on outrage over the Tabla thing and get back to talk about who is on this team and the tourny as a whole?

[Shway]

20 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

There are some Voyageurs that are Impact fans - they just aren't the majority.

Bet those same Voyaguers didn't ask those questions to Tabla.

My point is I feel Mtl is a city of people who would rather see their city/province strive before the nation....but thats just my opinion

[shermanator]

Now that 24 hours have passed, I think we should push the outrage over Tabla to the side and focus on the task at hand. Let's focus our energy on getting a result against Honduras when we need it, for once.

 #FH

[charlesmazz]

12 hours ago, hamiltonfan said:

What do you know about our new Chilean player? Creative? Looking forward to watching him...

Technically and tactically sound midfielder who can also play as a right back. Good short range passing and with a good football brain. 

[zaltan]

Zanatta is looking to be on good form going to the tournament, that twi in two games

 

32' GOAL!!! Dario Zanatta fires a low effort past Crawford and into the bottom corner. Stenhousemuir 0-1 Queen's Park

[Ruffian]

On 09/02/2017 at 2:09 PM, El Hombre said:

So disappointing about Tabla.  So incredibly disappointing.

St. Clair

Chung - Miller - Meilleur-Giguere - Boakye

Twardek - Zambazis - Uccello - Borges

Zanatta - Hundal

You don't think Kosovar Sadiki would get the start over Kamal Miller since he is at a quality club? It does look like Miller has had a good season at Syracuse though. 11 shutouts, scored 2 goals and had 2 assists.

http://www.cuse.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=12905

I would assume Miller will potentially be in the MLS draft next year.

[spitfire]

32' GOAL!!! Dario Zanatta fires a low effort past Crawford and into the bottom corner. Stenhousemuir 0-1 Queen's Park

Well Done Dario!!!

Great to see positive comments about the players. Let's rally around the players that are going to represent US at the qualifiers not harp on those that turn us down...

Kris Twardek gets 60 mins in a 1-0 win From Braintree Town FC today and then posted this 2 mins ago

 

Liam Millar scores again today 2 goals in 3 games, 3 in the last 5 since returning from injury. On great form going into Costa Rica... been training with the LFC u23's recently...can play anywhere in the front 3.

38 goals last year with Fulham FC top academy Goal scorer in the UK... turned down England call up to play for Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thundercaps fan]

Diego Gutierrez was also on the bench for Palestino's senior team. Decent weekend for our u20s abroad.

[Grizzly]

On 2/10/2017 at 0:15 PM, Jahinho Guerro said:

Well.....Montreal isn't Canada, Montreal is Quebec. The impact/Quebec does very little to the national team.

 

On 2/10/2017 at 1:14 PM, Jahinho Guerro said:

Bet those same Voyaguers didn't ask those questions to Tabla.

My point is I feel Mtl is a city of people who would rather see their city/province strive before the nation....but thats just my opinion

Well with such expert analysis and understanding of Quebec from Ajax Ontario one has to be surprised more people here haven't tattooed the Maple Leaf over their hearts. But the next time I get invited to the Tabla family for dinner I will make sure to ask him about his commitment to Canada. Sorry I forgot to ask all the other times I got invited to dinner with them.

I don't think Tabla's absence or that of anyone else with a chance of making an MLS first team has anything to do with intention to switch countries. Any player with a chance to make an MLS team and get significant playing time needs to take that chance and be in the team's camp. Look at the discussion on the DiChiari thread about him and other players who played for a short time at a high level and then did not have much of a career afterward. Sometimes a player has to take the opportunity when it comes and often you only have one chance. Sometimes people think someone who is good enough will always make it but that is not entirely true, the amount of playing time at a certain level and certain age can have a direct effect on your development. It sucks for our U20 team but from the player's point of view he is much better to stay with his club and try to get his career going than join the U20 in a qualifying tournament. One could even make a strong argument that it is also better for our national team for the players to do that and get established as professionals.

The Impact had a poor offseason as far as fixing our weaknesses go especially in the midfield so there is a good opportunity for both Tabla and Shome to win a spot. In a few weeks the situation could be completely different, ie. if the management thinks we are lacking at a certain spot they could make some roster moves and bring in someone else. If you were the manager of one of these players in this situation would you tell them to stay in the club camp or go with the national team? I think anyone with the best interests of the player's career in mind would tell them to stay with the club in this situation.

That is not to say Tabla might not prefer to play for Cote D'Ivoire if he had the chance, I don't know what his opinion is about that and unlike some of the players like Hargreaves he was born there not playing through some family connection and it would be a legitimate choice for him as much as we would not be happy about it. But I doubt this decision has much or anything to do with whether he will play for us in the future or not. I have tried to find some information on Shome's injury and could not find any. He may really be injured but it also would not surprise me if it was a bit of injury of convenience. 

[Dub Narcotic]

Please use blank lines as paragraph breaks. It is hard to read a big wall of text.

[rob.notenboom]

5 hours ago, Grizzly said:

I have tried to find some information on Shome's injury and could not find any. He may really be injured but it also would not surprise me if it was a bit of injury of convenience. 

I believe Shome has a stress fracture. Suffered it at the end of last FCE season, battled through it, kept training in the off-season and by the MLS combine it hadn't fully healed. He played through it anyway as he wanted to have a good combine and make a good impression, but it still hampered him. Then he tried to go with the U20s and he was still suffering so they decided he should get it taken care of. 

[Grizzly]

6 hours ago, rob.notenboom said:

I believe Shome has a stress fracture. Suffered it at the end of last FCE season, battled through it, kept training in the off-season and by the MLS combine it hadn't fully healed. He played through it anyway as he wanted to have a good combine and make a good impression, but it still hampered him. Then he tried to go with the U20s and he was still suffering so they decided he should get it taken care of. 

Ok. Thanks for the info.

[shermanator]

A good article by @squizz1402635577 on the great work Rob Gale is doing in bringing dual nationals into the fold at the U-20 level.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/features/global-scouting-canada-men-longtime-misfortune-analysis?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_m_medium=t

Quote

There are similar stories on Canada’s squad for the upcoming CONCACAF U-20 Championship, including Kris Twardek (who, last year, switched his allegiance from the Czech Republic) and Diego Gutierrez (who’s been on the national-team radar in Chile, where he plays professionally).

Though Gutierrez didn’t debut with Canada’s U-20s until last month, Gale has been tracking him and twin brother Cristian (who also plays in Chile) for three years, a process that has included countless discussions with the players, their family and various officials.

“It’s not like a sudden late call-up,” said Gale. “There’s years of work that’s gone into this behind the scenes.”

It may seem like a lot of effort for a player who might ultimately choose to represent Chile, anyway. But in Gale’s mind, just getting a player into a Canadian training camp is a monumental step.

“We feel very confident (that) once a player comes in with us, they’ll have every opportunity to enjoy their experience … and feel valued by the Canadian Soccer Association.”

Increasing the level of professionalism and the caliber of the off-field experience (from providing sport scientists to upping the quality of travel and accommodations) has been a priority in the men’s program for several years now, under outgoing CSA president Victor Montagliani.

The hope is that such attention to detail will help convince players with multiple eligibilities to stick around—and, perhaps, pass the message on to others.

“The players feel it when they come in, and players talk,” Montagliani said in a 2015 interview. “It’s obvious to these guys that we run a good ship.”

[jpg75]

1 hour ago, shermanator said:

"Increasing the level of professionalism and the caliber of the off-field experience (from providing sport scientists to upping the quality of travel and accommodations) has been a priority in the men’s program for several years now, under outgoing CSA president Victor Montagliani."

Not sure anyone noticed, but there was a video posted of the players boarding a charter from Vancouver to San Salvador back in Nov. 2015. For me that just exemplifies the difference in how the program is now run compared to how it used to be and how some of our CONCACAF rivals still operate. El Salvador players had to take 2 different flights to travel to Vancouver, which is just bush league. That's the shit our players used to put up with as well. Economy class flights from Europe across the Atlantic etc. That may not seem like a big deal, but it is and shapes the perception of the program among the players.