Costa Rica vs Canada - Post Match Thread

[rightback]

9 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Zambrano is a good coach, better than Floro. Not just because he communicates better, which he does. His positioning and tactics are superior and it helps the team. Weaker links in our squad are protected because the overall team play is more solvent.

Could you expand on this a bit? Unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish, so I never really had a good grasp of his tactical plan other than to play defensively first and punish teams on the counter. I couldn't tell whether the players were unable to follow his tactics or whether his tactics were improper to start with.

One thing for sure, his tactics were massively unpopular on this board and, I think, rather alien to the players. If anyone is looking for the Canadian soccer culture, it's definitely not "you can't break us down and we'll kill you on the counter". Our hockey culture is something of press-press-press and attack and I think that's what we enjoy watching on the field. I have to admit, I found these game very fun to watch although I would have expected the same end results (in points against these two teams, maybe 1-0 and 0-0) if Floro had been in charge.

I think that Piette is very much a Floro project and a testament to some aspect of his coaching acumen.

[farrelld]

Maybe I'm just being picky but I wasn't a fan of Ricketts yesterday. Feel like he wasn't where he should be and lost the ball too often. 

 

Other than that game went really well smart coaching decisions (giving Bernier and Cavallini a rest). 

[Vince193]

2 minutes ago, farrelld said:

Maybe I'm just being picky but I wasn't a fan of Ricketts yesterday. Feel like he wasn't where he should be and lost the ball too often. 

 

Other than that game went really well smart coaching decisions (giving Bernier and Cavallini a rest). 

He was out wide where he shouldn't be. Zambrano probably did it because Hoilett was being lazy behind the ball and would rather have Ricketts there, which is also why Hoilett went up top until he got subbed for Cavallini.

[Ivan]

I can't see how Impact don't go after Piette.  Seems a natural replacement for ageing vets Bernier, Donadel & Bernardello.  Is it just me or does no one else see a natural fit? 

[Fastfeet2]

4 minutes ago, Ivan said:

I can't see how Impact don't go after Piette.  Seems a natural replacement for ageing vets Bernier, Donadel & Bernardello.  Is it just me or does no one else see a natural fit? 

Maybe he wants to continue his development in Europe, or maybe he doesnt want to come be a rotation player. Im sure Montreal have expressed interest at some point.

[dyslexic nam]

5 minutes ago, Ivan said:

I can't see how Impact don't go after Piette.  Seems a natural replacement for ageing vets Bernier, Donadel & Bernardello.  Is it just me or does no one else see a natural fit? 

It does seem to be a good fit - especially since he is a local kid.  Having said that, if his recent progress is due to being in the Spanish playing environment, it is hard to argue that he would be better off in MLS.

[rightback]

I have to say I was hugely impressed with the effort level! I guess the rain cooled things down a bit before the game but how would the conditions yesterday compare with, say, Honduras mid-day? Usually, when Canada plays in the heat they look gassed after 2 minutes. I'll give Arfield the credit for his example, the others see his effort and are ashamed for dogging it. (Johnson's effort is usually excellent but it doesn't seem to lift the others as much).

You could tell CR had some more left in the tank at the end though. Thankfully we have Borjan (man, he deserves to be a starter somewhere good).

 

 

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, farrelld said:

Maybe I'm just being picky but I wasn't a fan of Ricketts yesterday. Feel like he wasn't where he should be and lost the ball too often. 

 

Other than that game went really well smart coaching decisions (giving Bernier and Cavallini a rest). 

RIcketts was very much Canada 1.0

[Keegan]

Ricketts wasn't used properly. He never got a chance to get in foot races or challenge for dangerous balls.

[Obinna]

1 minute ago, Keegan said:

Ricketts wasn't used properly. He never got a chance to get in foot races or challenge for dangerous balls.

Well he looked uncomfortable out wide which is understandable given where he's been playing at TFC. He did his job though. 

[jonovision]

Ricketts was clearly sent on with an eye to helping Petrasso defend the right side. He did that part of his job well. He also combined well on a few occasions and had a few good runs. He is what he is, which is someone who is sloppy on the ball but he also has 15 goals for Canada and can run for days.

[shorty]

1 hour ago, Vince193 said:

He was out wide where he shouldn't be. Zambrano probably did it because Hoilett was being lazy behind the ball and would rather have Ricketts there, which is also why Hoilett went up top until he got subbed for Cavallini.

This was exactly what I thought.  Both the midfield and AJH were getting gassed and not tracking back nor pressing well.  Hoillett and AJH were the slowest at that point but Hoillett seemed the more likely of the two to pinch a goal so it made sense to move him up.  Reasonable options at the time were Ricketts, Edwards, and Osorio.  Could have used Edwards I suppose and brought Aird to the right, but I thought Ricketts did okay, and as a veteran helped to see the game out.  Plus, even though it didn't happen, he was the best choice to nick one on the counter of those three.

[kingvikingstad]

I have to agree with others that we didn't necessarily bunker in the last 10 minutes as much as we were totally and utterly gassed. There were plenty of times in the 80th onward that Costa Rica players had the ball in open space above the 18 or on the wings and our defenders/midfielders were sluggish to close them down, yet anytime before the 80th we were consistently closing them down, often with two defenders converging.

The gameplan was clearly to press the ball with multiple players to get CR to give it up and then counter with speed. This strategy requires a lot of time and training, both to get the timing and direction of the press right (our ability to read when and where to press with multiple players was a miracle considering how little they've all been together) and to build the fitness to do it for 90 mins. I thought we played with pure heart from the 75th to 85th minute and then most of the boys completely fell off a cliff with their fitness and held on for dear life for the last 8. 

With all that said, I think this is an excellent strategy to use in CONCACAF - weather permitting. For a very long time, we've had the athleticism and pace and have never put it to very good use, instead attempting to bunker and take on pressure. If we can hound the ball for 85 minutes on a consistent basis the way we did against CR with Davies and Hoillett on the wing who are tricky enough to take on defenders 1v1 and a proper hold up presence like Cav, we will be in the game with quality opponents. Furthermore, it should allow us to overwhelm teams not as technically efficient who can't play through the press. We could really use an athletic and powerful CB to take the role of Vitoria and intervene when the ball goes over the top - I see Henry as an excellent candidate if he can get himself healthy and his career back on track.

As a long-time CMNT fan who has become cynical over the years (meeting its darkest days during the Floro Reich.. I mean reign), Enjoy the ride fellas, I really believe we are going to be a formidable side moving forward.

 

[rightback]

2 minutes ago, kingvikingstad said:

We could really use an athletic and powerful CB to take the role of Vitoria and intervene when the ball goes over the top - I see Henry as an excellent candidate if he can get himself healthy and his career back on track.
 

I'm not too hopeful about Henry, but I think Edgar has been missed. 

[BearcatSA]

54 minutes ago, jonovision said:

Ricketts was clearly sent on with an eye to helping Petrasso defend the right side. He did that part of his job well. He also combined well on a few occasions and had a few good runs. He is what he is, which is someone who is sloppy on the ball but he also has 15 goals for Canada and can run for days.

Agreed on all points.  There was that one play when he was running in front of the forward pass and it hit his heel and became a turnover.  I thought at the time, "That's oh so Ricketts." 

[Kent]

Perhaps slightly off topic, but not sure there is a better place for this.

I was watching Sportscentre immediately after the game. They showed the highlights and talked about Davies and his injury saying they didn't know how serious it was yet. Then like 10 minutes later or something while they were supposed to be talking about something else, they interrupted themselves to let us know that Davies was expected to be available against Honduras.

That has to be the first breaking news for the CMNT that I have ever seen on Sportscentre like that. Progress folks! Progress!

[dyslexic nam]

3 minutes ago, Kent said:

Perhaps slightly off topic, but not sure there is a better place for this.

I was watching Sportscentre immediately after the game. They showed the highlights and talked about Davies and his injury saying they didn't know how serious it was yet. Then like 10 minutes later or something while they were supposed to be talking about something else, they interrupted themselves to let us know that Davies was expected to be available against Honduras.

That has to be the first breaking news for the CMNT that I have ever seen on Sportscentre like that. Progress folks! Progress!

Honestly, the recent levels of coverage and excitement and promotion and interest and... towards Canada's national footy teams is not something I have seen in 20+ years of cheering for the Nats.  That is part of the reason I harp on about things like pushing to host our group games in future GC's, and wishing we could have grabbed a larger share of the WC bid. 

There is a current level of support in Canada that, while not perfect, should be really exciting to anyone who has followed the sport for a while.  With a guy like Davies to generate some interest, the overall success of the women's teams, the push for a domestic league, generally positive developments for our MLS clubs, and a relatively youthful core of CMNT players to push ahead with in the next few years, I have never been so optimistic about the sport in this country.  I would hope that the CSA has the motivation and means to leverage this interest into a quantum step for the game domestically. 

[Gian-Luca]

26 minutes ago, Kent said:

Perhaps slightly off topic, but not sure there is a better place for this.

I was watching Sportscentre immediately after the game. They showed the highlights and talked about Davies and his injury saying they didn't know how serious it was yet. Then like 10 minutes later or something while they were supposed to be talking about something else, they interrupted themselves to let us know that Davies was expected to be available against Honduras.

That has to be the first breaking news for the CMNT that I have ever seen on Sportscentre like that. Progress folks! Progress!

Which one is Sportcentre, TSN's or Sportsnet? I can never remember, the names are too generic.

I still find it odd, if somewhat encouraging in some respects, that Sportsnet has sent down a crew to cover the games while TSN who is showing the games have their crew all sitting in a studio in Toronto

[Keegan]

Tsn' website doesn't even make mention of the game unless you search for it.  Very odd that sportsnet is giving us the coverage that tsn should be giving. 

[Kent]

31 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Which one is Sportcentre, TSN's or Sportsnet? I can never remember, the names are too generic.

I still find it odd, if somewhat encouraging in some respects, that Sportsnet has sent down a crew to cover the games while TSN who is showing the games have their crew all sitting in a studio in Toronto

Sportscentre is on TSN. The game was a prominent story last night (which to be fair, is a slow sports night with the MLB all-star game, rather than a bunch of MLB games) rather than a short mention in the last 10 or 15 minutes like it usually is. So they talked about the game a number of times, and each time they even were giving an update on the score of the Honduras/French Guiana game.

[Sport Shaman]

Doesn't an exciting team just make you feel like doing a happy dance?

 

[Sport Shaman]

Alphonso Davies makes you jump and scream for joy.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

5 hours ago, rightback said:

Could you expand on this a bit? Unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish, so I never really had a good grasp of his tactical plan other than to play defensively first and punish teams on the counter. I couldn't tell whether the players were unable to follow his tactics or whether his tactics were improper to start with.

One thing for sure, his tactics were massively unpopular on this board and, I think, rather alien to the players. If anyone is looking for the Canadian soccer culture, it's definitely not "you can't break us down and we'll kill you on the counter". Our hockey culture is something of press-press-press and attack and I think that's what we enjoy watching on the field. I have to admit, I found these game very fun to watch although I would have expected the same end results (in points against these two teams, maybe 1-0 and 0-0) if Floro had been in charge.

I think that Piette is very much a Floro project and a testament to some aspect of his coaching acumen.

I did feel that Floro had terrible English, and his kid, who was better surely, interpreted for him. But I know Floro, and was hopeful he'd excel, but also knew he was not a modern coach, he is very much old school. I remember him from Albacete days and he was always very straight, serious, honorable, but flat and uncreative. OZ speaks very well for a foreigner who has learnt a language as an adult. He also admires a more modern football, is more cosmopolitan, and is more worldly in his mindset. He actually believes you can take premium models and apply them to modest teams. I actually see classic tactics from certain Barcelona teams being applied (OZ is a huge Barca admirer, so that pleases me), all differences in quality accounted for, eg. like how the back line moves playing out, the backs out wide, the mids dropping into the DM holes for the outlets, and how we keep possession as we move from back to middle actually facing the rival. 

Tactics. OZ is just more sophisticated. Floro said hang back, stay tight, nobody get out of position. Be afraid to lose it and get hit and in case you do, be ready. Defensive readiness even with the ball at your feet. He was not willing to say, hey guys, let's believe in ourselves and have some possession. OZ says pressure together and up higher, at least in the middle and the wings, and leave your position to do it if you have to. Do not let anyone play unchallenged once they are in our half. The rest, compensate for what your teammate is doing as he leaves his position. We had Adekgube pushing up high to pressure 1st half, I believe because OZ asked him to (we could not see this as it was often off-screen), and then he got caught out a few times as they exploited the hole. So there, it was not just Sam missing his mark or out of position, it was the rest not covering as Sam did what the coach was asking. The most important sign of this is how a centre back can be out defending on the wing, covering, as we saw Jakovic doing frequently. Because he knows the other CB will shift over and that a Piette or Bernier has dropped to the back line to cover. That is all on OZ, and the players actually thrive in that system.

[BrennanFan]

When Floro started out, he had Ricketts, Haber, Issey, Jackson to rely on for offence.  Not great.  Our best players were defensive mids.  His strategy made sense, for a while, but if you're too rigid in tactics, you risk getting found out. Honduras out coached us in the 2016 away game.  

Floro got us at an extreme low point, and it gave him the wrong impression of what we were really about, I think. Silver lining is he knew we needed reinforcements. Floros legacy is Akindele, Hoilett, Aird, Arfield, Vitoria and partly Cavallini committing to the program. 

 

[red card]

8-1 debacle wasn't just one match heart attack. The team's heart was scarred for the next few years. Floro started the rehabbing. But like getting stents, t needed a new generation of players to really be over it.