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Canada vs. Mexico U20 WCQ Feb 20 2017(R)


Gian-Luca

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59 minutes ago, An Observer said:

 

I personally think that perversely this may be MLS academy related.  While that is created much greater depth of players, the stars previously had to go to Europe to get training and developed much better in a tougher environment.  Of course, we had defections and we certainly lacked depth but the players that were there were much better.  Anyway, its a theory.  10 years after the start of Toronto MLS, I would have thought our youth would be much better than they are.

The problem with this theory based on the evidence of the tourney so far is that our best player has been from an MLS team (Liam Fraser) and our worst performer today (Borges) is playing in Europe. Of the many players we are missing, the biggest one is also from an MLS team (Tabla).  I would say that Uccello and Fraser looked to have two of the better soccer IQ's for our team, although our captain (also with an MLS team) seems to have one of the lower IQ's.

Its disgraceful though to play defensively, stay with one striker through a game you must win, and still lose 5-0. Antigua and Barbuda performed better against Mexico. I believe Gale is now 0-5 as a U20 WCQ coach, and yes I know we have a ton of players missing through injuries but at some point you need a coach that can get us remotely close to winning a game, never mind qualifying.

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24 minutes ago, Keegan said:

I was excited to see him but he hasn't really shown much tonight.  Still he's very young for this cycle, just like many of our players.  

What a drop off in talent we've had in the past 10 years.  In 2007 we had players who had played and scored in the EPL, Championship, Eredivise and MLS.  Now? We don't have one player with an MLS match in this team!  It's crazy.  

I think the last two cycles we underachieved with the players we had but in this cycle we really look raw.  

I thought Brault-Guillard was probably our best player tonight. Isn't saying much.

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I was willing to give Gale another cycle after the 2015 tournament, but it is clear that his time with this program has come to an end. Despite doing what I thought were some great things for the U-20 group off the pitch (convincing dual nationals to play for Canada and the numerous camps held in Central America before the tournament), on the pitch it's been a complete and utter failure.

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3 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

I believe Gale is now 0-5 as a U20 WCQ coach, and yes I know we have a ton of players missing through injuries but at some point you need a coach that can get us remotely close to winning a game, never mind qualifying.

As they were showing close-ups of Gale with Jazic behind him, I was wondering what Ante was thinking, and hoping it was along the lines of:  "here are all the things I would do differently".  Because you have to wonder how it's possible, when we hire within the CSA family over and over again, that we never seem to do anything differently.  All these guys (Gale, Findley, Hart, Yallop, Mitchell, Fonseca, Lenarduzzi, etc. etc.) were around at various levels getting lots of experience at what doesn't work before they got the job themselves, and yet we still bunker and still play with way too much reverence and not nearly enough mental sharpness against Mexico.  You know that Jazic and Diesel are in line for coaching jobs at higher age levels as time goes by.  Hopefully, their playing experience gives them enough imagination to do some things differently.  When one of our midfielders gets mobbed by 4 opponents, we should be PUNISHING them.  They have committed four guys to close down, meaning there should be wide open spaces if you can break through.  Yet our guys were not at all mentally and positionally ready to help out a teammate in trouble and turn it into an opportunity.  Ever.  That shouldn't be acceptable for professional players.

Sorry, rant over. Just such a disheartening game to watch.  I'm sure Gale is a good guy, but I agree our coaching positions need to be more results-dependent.

I would have pulled Borges 15 minutes earlier for his whining over non-calls.

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Mexico totally undressed the squad of Rob Gale.  The little positive shown in front of Honduras faded quickly in front of the Mexico squad.  I don't even believe that we will earn a positive result when facing Antigua.  Our players are far behind in skill and game savvy compared to the rest of Concacaf teams in this championship.

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17 minutes ago, PopePouri said:

20 years ago, we would have still lost to Mexico. 

And if we don't want to still be losing to Mexico in another 20 years, we need to look at why and make corrections.  If it's tactical acumen, then we need coaches that fully understand the Mexican game and what works to break it down, and who can instill that in younger players.  If it's mental preparation, that is also on the coaches for player selection (which ones have the right disposition) and preparation for beating Mexico/Honduras/USA/Costa Rica/Panama, not just bunkering for a draw.  We've got a collective inferiority complex that we have to shake.

If it's a skill deficit (and not just poor execution on the day, which to my mind can be explained as much by poor mental preparation and lack of team cohesion) then I'm at a loss, because we have players that are skilled enough to play for the junior sides at Liverpool, Lyon, Energie Cottbus, Chelsea, etc. -- how could those same players not be skilled enough to compete with players playing at similar levels in Liga MX?  Except perhaps that there is a greater identity of how El Tri plays among all the young Mexicans.  

Have to say, though, whatever the explanation, the skill deficit today was huge.

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26 minutes ago, PopePouri said:

20 years ago, we would have still lost to Mexico. 

20 years ago we tied Mexico and beat the US. We were Concacaf U20 champions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_CONCACAF_U-20_Tournament

We also beat Mexico in 2001 in this tourney and won our group with Mexico in it to qualify

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_CONCACAF_U-20_Tournament

And qualified in 2003 by winning our group by beating the US

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_CONCACAF_U-20_Tournament

And won are group again to qualify in 2005 by beating Mexico again

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_CONCACAF_U-20_Tournament

so hence, you see the regression at Concacaf level since the MLS academies have come about (remember that Whitecaps have had their academy for the same length of time I believe as TFC)

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Also, look at the qualifications per country from this age group.  We are still third in number but have not qualified since 2007 (when we hosted).

Number of FIFA U-20 World Cup qualifications by country.

Nation No. Qualifying years
35px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png United States 14 1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015
35px-Flag_of_Mexico.svg.png Mexico 14 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015
35px-Flag_of_Canada.svg.png Canada 8 1979, 1985, 1987, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007
35px-Flag_of_Costa_Rica.svg.png Costa Rica 8 1989, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2011
35px-Flag_of_Honduras.svg.png Honduras 6 1977, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2015
35px-Flag_of_Panama.svg.png Panama 5 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2015
35px-Flag_of_Trinidad_and_Tobago.svg.png Trinidad and Tobago 2 1991, 2009
35px-Flag_of_Jamaica.svg.png Jamaica 1 2001
35px-Flag_of_Guatemala.svg.png Guatemala 1 2011
35px-Flag_of_El_Salvador.svg.png El Salvador 1 2013
35px-Flag_of_Cuba.svg.png Cuba 1

2013

 

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so my 2 cents...tactics all wrong set up to loose...or tie no intent to win in a must win game...I don't care what kind of players you have(Tabla or messi's son)  if u set up the way we did you have no chance...like I said before I am an ex pro player, ex pro coach and UEFA A licence coach but what do I know...

Lastly we were robbed tonight and I mean literally. Upon trying to enter the stadium the security frisked us and then told us that we could not take any coins into the stadium and we had to give them all our money or we couldn't come in...it was a real shake down...I am seriously disgusted by what happened...

The game itself I won't say anymore about for me we need to fix the tactics before we complain about the players...

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1 hour ago, An Observer said:

20 years ago we tied Mexico and beat the US. We were Concacaf U20 champions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_CONCACAF_U-20_Tournament

We also beat Mexico in 2001 in this tourney and won our group with Mexico in it to qualify

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_CONCACAF_U-20_Tournament

And qualified in 2003 by winning our group by beating the US

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_CONCACAF_U-20_Tournament

And won are group again to qualify in 2005 by beating Mexico again

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_CONCACAF_U-20_Tournament

so hence, you see the regression at Concacaf level since the MLS academies have come about (remember that Whitecaps have had their academy for the same length of time I believe as TFC)

I think you should have a look at the roster for all of the above.  I"m sure you will find as one Example the 2001 team were made of 81- 82 players, relatively same age group.  This team had only a few 97 5 in total the rest all younger  in age.  They had no chance against Mexico, who's roster was primarily made up  mostly of age.  Way to young of a team to compete at this level. A start would have been more 97 than rather younger, I think would have been better 

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2 hours ago, spitfire said:

Lastly we were robbed tonight and I mean literally. Upon trying to enter the stadium the security frisked us and then told us that we could not take any coins into the stadium and we had to give them all our money or we couldn't come in...it was a real shake down...I am seriously disgusted by what happened...

Sorry. That isn't being robbed. That is common practice. Can't take coins to the stadium.

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6 hours ago, shorty said:

 

If it's a skill deficit (and not just poor execution on the day, which to my mind can be explained as much by poor mental preparation and lack of team cohesion) then I'm at a loss, because we have players that are skilled enough to play for the junior sides at Liverpool, Lyon, Energie Cottbus, Chelsea, etc. -- how could those same players not be skilled enough to compete with players playing at similar levels in Liga MX?  Except perhaps that there is a greater identity of how El Tri plays among all the young Mexicans.  

 

Being with U18 sides at top clubs like Liverpool and OL (not so much Cottbus) doesn't mean as much as most people think. Those guys are young to play effectively in U20 matches like these. Also, who is at Chelsea?? If you're referring to Tomori well he's not even here. That's probably the biggest problem with this squad - we don't have our 3 best players in this age group (Tomori, Tabla and Davies). The lack of quality is extremely noticeable so not sure how Gale gets so much blame 

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