South Korea vs Canada - Friday November 11th (in Cheonan 천안시, Korea)

[Keegan]

I would have had Edgar as our #1 central defender going into the October friendlies.  After the last two matches though I'm pretty happy with a Vitoria - Jakovic combo moving forward.  

As for the Haber debate, it's the best I've seen from him in a Canada shirt.  He bullied the S. Korean backline and won most of his aerial challenges, he held up the ball very, very well.. definitely his main strength.  He's also arguably our best header of the ball (excluding defenders), that header he put off the bar would have been world class if it snuck in.  

My worry going into the match was that this would turn into Canada away at Mexico in 2008 where we had Rob Friend alone up top.  Friend couldn't hold possession and as a result we didn't have any looks until he was taken off for Gerba in the second half.  It could have been real ugly if Haber wasn't holding up the ball for our midfield, which is really why I appreciated the shift so much.  

[Vince193]

7 minutes ago, Keegan said:

I would have had Edgar as our #1 central defender going into the October friendlies.  After the last two matches though I'm pretty happy with a Vitoria - Jakovic combo moving forward.  

As for the Haber debate, it's the best I've seen from him in a Canada shirt.  He bullied the S. Korean backline and won most of his aerial challenges, he held up the ball very, very well.. definitely his main strength.  He's also arguably our best header of the ball (excluding defenders), that header he put off the bar would have been world class if it snuck in.  

My worry going into the match was that this would turn into Canada away at Mexico in 2008 where we had Rob Friend alone up top.  Friend couldn't hold possession and as a result we didn't have any looks until he was taken off for Gerba in the second half.  It could have been real ugly if Haber wasn't holding up the ball for our midfield, which is really why I appreciated the shift so much.  

I don't want to see Jakovic near this team anymore. The dude doesn't play at all for his club in the second division.

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, Keegan said:

My worry going into the match was that this would turn into Canada away at Mexico in 2008 where we had Rob Friend alone up top.  Friend couldn't hold possession and as a result we didn't have any looks until he was taken off for Gerba in the second half.  It could have been real ugly if Haber wasn't holding up the ball for our midfield, which is really why I appreciated the shift so much.  

Gerba didn't take off Friend.  They were both on at the same time for about 15 minutes and in fact both were challenging for the same Hume free kick cross with which Gerba scored.  A couple of minutes later Friend was replaced by Occean.

Since that 2007 Gold Cup and to this day our template has been a single striker up top with a lot of guys plugging the midfield and then expected to provide attacking support as needed.

 

[Floortom]

Vitoria is our best CB at this point IMO. He's been solid in all his appearances. Would like to see Gasparotto get a chance soon.

[masster]

4 hours ago, Floortom said:

Vitoria is our best CB at this point IMO. He's been solid in all his appearances. Would like to see Gasparotto get a chance soon.

Gasparotto had a big game this weekend. With Finlay saying he didn't want to interrupt those Canadian players that were getting regular playing time in important matches, maybe he was left out with hopes to call him in the future.

[Yohan]

 

[The Beaver]

On 11/7/2016 at 2:34 PM, Mister215Guy said:

Don't overrate the US. Cyle Larin is better than any American player can daydream about. The US only looks "better" because they have those German military kids. Without them the US is at the level of Belize.

Next time we play them, watch closely: We are usually well out of our depths. To be clear, I don't WANT this to be the case, but pretending otherwise is simply silly. Let's swing for the fences--to mix my sports metaphors--but let's not lose sight of reality.

[Obinna]

On 11/12/2016 at 6:40 AM, Vince193 said:

I don't want to see Jakovic near this team anymore. The dude doesn't play at all for his club in the second division.

After watching Shimizu S-Pulse live in Japan, I don't think he's being kept out the team on ability. Must be a contract thing. Their CB's are not that good.