Costa Rica vs Canada - Post Match Thread

[Zem]

The gaffer's thoughts on the game:

 

[Gian-Luca]

1 hour ago, DeRo_Is_King said:

Also, I hate to say it, but we need a better central defender than Vitoria. Don't get me wrong - I like him and Jakovic together. But Vitoria was beaten too easily in the air on that goal.

 

I think that was originally Adekugbe's man though and Vitoria was trying to compensate for Adekugbe losing him.

That said, I didn't like our corner-kick defending the entire game (or the entire tourney) but that's something that should be fixed by coaching. The one negative on the night for me in terms of our performance.

[DeRo_Is_King]

23 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

But what does that mean?!!

Well, I'm of the opinion that we should play more flat across the back and not rely on Vitoria / Jakovic so much to deal with crosses that come in on the wings. That means our wing backs need to put just enough pressure (quick, aggressive and intense pressure) on our opponents' wingers without playing too high. Our DM also needs to prioritize driving attacking players who come down the middle to the outside.

[gardencity]

I love all you analysts, with this information, and that formation, and only if we'd sub'd in this guy or that guy...I never played this game but without question, this was the best and most entertaining game I have seen our team play in years. I don't need to give you paragraphs, but the best way to tell you that  we may have turned a corner is when Davies scored and I screamed YAAAA!!!! The last time I did that was the OT winner against Mexico when we last won the GC. Go Canada Go.

 

[The Beaver]

A note RE: Kaye: I agree with Jeffrey that Bernier played better in this role than Kaye, but I also agree with OZ who said in the post match interview that Kaye made mistakes but has a lot of potential. As I said earlier, he is a special physical specimen, but his passing must improve significantly. What I find encouraging is that OZ is blooding these guys. Fingers crossed that Kaye and Adekube and Petrasso grow into terrific footballers

 

 

[Northvansteve]

Sure sounds like he will not start Davies vs Honduras. Wants to rotate his players. So I think we will see Edwards and maybe Davies subbing in for him later.

[The Beaver]

1 minute ago, Northvansteve said:

Sure sounds like he will not start Davies vs Honduras. Wants to rotate his players. So I think we will see Edwards and maybe Davies subbing in for him later.

And I feel that would be wise.

[Cheeta]

Maybe a bit unfair to Kaye (things being what they are) but I though he was rubbish.  And totally spent by the 70th minute at that!  Not sure why Ozzie left him in, hope he felt it was out of necessity and not a test because that would have been harsh but there it is, not the man's best night.

Arfield, Man of the Match to my eye. He's having a tourney, no doubt about it, and can't wait to see him against Honduras especially if the team has anything left in the tank for Friday.  Liking what I'm seeing A LOT.

Have to say Piette is also growing on me.  Thankless bit of business has been handed to him, working it in front of those two but he's going about the business of it.  Really showing a good eye and playing the game between his ears.

Terrible defending at times on set plays.  Brutal, brutal, brutal. Ozzie has to wear some of that.  I know it's not fashionable but it will always escape me when nobody is on the sticks for a defending corner.  Short stick at least for fu'ks sake.  Why wouldn't you want to make your 'keepers goal a yard (or two) smaller.  I just don't understand it.

Hard to know what to take away from the match, impressions aside, terrible night for football but we're still a point richer and that's a positive. 

P.S.  Nice bit of ghosting in by Davies on the goal, great cross goal feed and a better finish.  Cheeta like. 

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

29 minutes ago, Zem said:

The gaffer's thoughts on the game:

 

Well, first, if Kaye was shadowing Ruiz then he did a role I did not see. I don't want to say he was terrible, he was just weaker than we could have done. IMO he plays on lowest level of any of them, and it showed. 

Here, however, OZ seems to suggest he is showcasing both Kaye and Adekgube for their clubs, Petrasso too. At least he says they need to play more. Good for him, that is bold on his part.

He is also very firmly committed to rotating, three games straight. That is also admirable on his part, getting all those keen to play in the mix. And not just Davies, who he suggests might come off the bench and only has knocks, no sprain. Great way to get the whole squad focussed and all participating. 

For me, if that is the case, we should see Osorio next match, he deserves it. 

So who would fit into the left side attack for Alphonso?

[jonovision]

1 minute ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Well, first, if Kaye was shadowing Ruiz then he did a role I did not see. I don't want to say he was terrible, he was just weaker than we could have done. IMO he plays on lowest level of any of them, and it showed. 

It appeared to me he was actually shadowing Guzman, at least in the first half, and lost him twice, one leading to the chance that Borjan saved for their goal scoring corner, and another leading to another good chance against. Kaye was by no means one of our better players, but performed better than I would have expected given he's a USL backup, and for the job he was asked to do better than the other options available except for Teibert.

[Free kick]

1 hour ago, El Diego said:

If you play with Vitoria/Jakovic you have to play deep, which means you need to play on the counter. I think that's fine for Canada, but it scares me if we need to chase a goal.

Yes. When you play more linear or more direct, you are usually less concerned about spacing and being compact in the middle of the pitch when you hav eth ball or are attacking.   The central defenders dont have to handle the ball as much and they dont have to move and cover as much space cause they can play back more.  Hence this is more suited for less skilled defenders.  With the amt of pace in attacking role that we now have, you just need to get the ball into open space. Which is kind of what we are doing.   I am good with that because its a system that suite the personel we have.  Might not be my favourite style, but as long as results are there, i am good.  With Floro, i dont know what we were doing.

[ditty]

I really enjoyed the game. It was far more open than I expected and, though Costa Rica certainly had their chances, so did we. We have attacking players who are both athletic AND technical, and the game really suited them tonight. On paper, I think this Costa Rica side is definitely one of the top 3 and we went mano a mano with them. Friday will be another excellent test for this group against a Honduras side that is really going to be under pressure, regardless of what their result vs FG ends up being. 

 

[Yoginess]

with very little time between games, heat in Texas, him playing 2 90 minute games already, a dirty-ass Honduras team (probably? I'm just painting the country with a broad stroke), and being on a Yellow. I would not play Arfield next game. It's critical we have him for the knock out stage.

Give some playing time to Tiebert or Osorio, see if they can hold their own.

[DeRo_Is_King]

13 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

Are you saying that we need to stop the crosses? I don't think that is possible. Good teams will always find a way to put in crosses. Particularly from corner kicks.  And if Jakovic and 6'5" Vitoria don't deal with them, who will?

If by "linear" you mean "direct" or "route one", that only applies when you have the ball. Your defenders typically are needed when the other team have the ball.

Of course they won't be able to stop all crosses, but I think that's what's hurting us the most right now. So, they'd be wise to minimize the number of crosses that come in as much as possible.

I saw our defence get cut open from through balls down the wing way too many times tonight because of the space between our wing backs and centre backs. Having that space keeps attacking players onside and gives them room to put in dangerous crosses. I'm saying that we need to decrease that spatial gap to 1) catch attacking players offside and 2) give attacking players less time with the ball in that space. 

Having our wing backs play deeper will decrease their ability to get forward, but unfortunately, that's the price we pay. Luckily, I think we have a strong enough attack that we can afford to let our wing backs play a bit more conservatively. 

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Well, first, if Kaye was shadowing Ruiz then he did a role I did not see.

As I stopped, played, and replayed sequences on my pvr, it looked like he was responsible for minding Guzman.  He got a couple of good stops in but he was also pretty loose with ball, both with passing but also with dribbling, especially notable on getting stripped very late in the first half,  resulting in a quality save from Borjan.

For all the accolades for individuals and their defending I really felt we should have done a better job as a team keeping watch on Ruiz.  He always seemed too find space and generated some great chances but he really let us off the hook in the first minute of the second half when he missed the net with that first time bending shot after being afforded an acre of space in perfect shooting position (unfortunately, I have to pick on Davies again because he didn't slide over to cover Piette who in turn had to cover for Arfield and Hoillet when they got caught out by Wallace's dribble down the left:  you could even see Vitoria giving him stick for not shifting over).

 

[Gian-Luca]

6 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

So who would fit into the left side attack for Alphonso?

My pick would be Raheem Edwards - I didn't really understand why Aird was brought in to play on the left when Davies went off. I like Aird but has he ever played on the left before?

[Markus]

A few thoughts on the game.

First of all, I had a lot of fun watching it. There hasn't been much for us to celebrate lately so I'm really enjoying this.

Arfield has been outstanding. Sees the game really well and distributes the ball equally well. He makes us dangerous from any set piece. Seems to almost always make the right decision.

I don't remember a player finishing with confidence the way Davies has thus far. He's certainly drawing a lot of attention. I thought it was really telling when he beat a CR player (Gutierrez) on the wing at about midfield and Gutierrez just grabbed Alphonso's shirt and took a yellow card even though there were other players back.

Kaye was an interesting wrinkle. TBH I hadn't heard of him before the game. I can't fault his work rate but his decision making wasn't great and while he battled hard, I thought he didn't win a lot of the ball. I guess his main purpose was to pressure higher up the pitch which he more or less did. 

Borjan was good again. Looks like he's playing with a lot of confidence.

Back four did just enough. Shaky at times. Hopefully they will get a little tighter with more games played together. Having Piette in front of them helps. He was very good.

Jackson-Hamel looked invisible. 

I thought Cavallini was a really solid sub. Controlled the ball well and looked committed defensively. Seems really calm and confident on the ball.

This was the type of game we might have lost 1-0 in the past. Our goal involved our RB pushing up, beating a defender, laying off to Arfield who took a really good first touch, then had the vision and skill to deliver a perfect ball into space, then Davies runs by his man and calmly left-foots it home. Exactly the kind of class that was lacking when we last played CR at this tournament.

I like OZ so far. I like his honesty and his willingness to adopt different tactics depending on the opponent and our own strengths and weaknesses. 

I thought we gave possession away far too cheaply at times and there were some frantic moments but all in all, not a bad showing. Bear in mind, this group has hardly played together and that was a team ranked 74 places above us. 

[Alberto7]

My two cents: Exciting team to watch. Have not seen this speed and poise in a long time (if ever). I was thinking back to previous Gold Cups: Do you remember when Kevin McKenna had to play forward because there was no one available (2002 I believe). That seems like an eternity ago. We have many young aggressive forwards who can score now. We are a tad sloppy in defense but the team plays together and everyone pitches in. Loved what Borjan had to say at the end of the game. These guys believe!

Best players last night: take your pick: Borjan, Arfield(my choice), Piette, Davies

I hate to end on a negative note but Jackson-Hamel looked lost out there. I don't think we will see much more of him in the tournament.

[apbsmith]

1 hour ago, Markus said:

Bear in mind, this group has hardly played together and that was a team ranked 74 places above us. 

+1 especially. 

I don't mind the Aird sub, after Davies went down. Like it not, he is one of our stronger defensive wingers. The sub def set the tone for the squad and changed the dynamic of the match. However, CR likely would have really pushed for the winner(like they did) the last 10-15, regardless who we had out there on the pitch.

OZ in his pre game interview essentially said if tied late they will adapt strategy and tactics to get a result, but to start the game they will be playing to win. 

In his post game interview he said some players made some mistakes as expected but he was happy we grinded out the result. 

As good as we played vs a team that brought 70%+ of their WC roster that got out of the group stage..... Different scoreline without Borjan. 

Borjan is hands down my MOTM

[AvroArrow]

Was especially impressed with the play of Arfield, Piette, and Petrasso, as they all played consistently well through out the entire game.  Davies willingness and ability to take players one on one is a component that has been missing from our team since Josh Simpson went down due to injury.  This is probably the first time I have seen Piette play and not question if we have someone better.  Played an excellent game.

Borjan had a typical Borjan game.  Acrobatic saves combined with high risk/high reward decisions and the occasional brain cramp gaf (the ball drop).

This is the first time I had seen Kaye play and he seemed a bit out of his depth.  I would likely prefer to see Tiebert or Bernier in that position against Honduras depending on the game plan of the coach.

Last 15-20 minutes of the game reminded me of countless Canada games that I have watched in the past.  Gassed Canadians running around in the heat scrambling to maintain a tie.

[Vince193]

Hoilett had some nice moments but overall I feel he was too selfish. He can't finish to he really has no business trying to get a goal himself.

[apbsmith]

5 minutes ago, AvroArrow said:

Last 15-20 minutes of the game reminded me of countless Canada games that I have watched in the past.  Gassed Canadians running around in the heat scrambling to maintain a tie.

Agree was def nervous times but CR DID NOT score :).

Should we send Floro a tape of how to hold shape, absorb pressure and defend? 

[AvroArrow]

4 minutes ago, apbsmith said:

Agree was def nervous times but they DID NOT score :).

Should we send Floro a tape of how to hold shape, absorb pressure and defend? 

It was a good thing they could do that because their ability to maintain any type of possession had pretty much evaporated.  They were playing like my men's rec team does when we know there is a couple minutes left in a game and we are clinging to a result:  hoof the ball down into the other teams end to waste time.

[dyslexic nam]

Just now, apbsmith said:

Agree was def nervous times but they DID NOT score :).

Should we send Floro a tape of how to hold shape, absorb pressure and defend? 

Love the passion, great result, uber happy with the outcome.

BUT that last 15 minutes was not a case study in how to absorb pressure.  While we had opportunities to grab a goal (and the win) at various points during the game, and I think the score was a fair result, but the last 10-15 minutes were chaotic and not the kind of play I would use to highlight how to absorb pressure.  We were fairly lucky not to concede beyond 80 minutes.

[apbsmith]

Just now, dyslexic nam said:

Love the passion, great result, uber happy with the outcome.

BUT that last 15 minutes was not a case study in how to absorb pressure.  While we had opportunities to grab a goal (and the win) at various points during the game, and I think the score was a fair result, but the last 10-15 minutes were chaotic and not the kind of play I would use to highlight how to absorb pressure.  We were fairly lucky not to concede beyond 80 minutes.

I know, I just wanted to get a Floro jab in.....with his all out Def that never worked anyways.