General Discussion on CMNT

[Watchmen]

18 hours ago, Shway said:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the number of Canadians in the USL will soon decrease (next year) as Canadians will go back to be counting a internationals rather than Domestic.

whats funny is how this rule has changed so often after so many claims for lawsuits, and labour laws bullsheit.

I would think that would depend on whether every team is using their full allocation of international spots and how the Canadian players compare to players from other countries. So, maybe it decreases.  Maybe it doesn't.

[dyslexic nam]

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

I would think that would depend on whether every team is using their full allocation of international spots and how the Canadian players compare to players from other countries. So, maybe it decreases.  Maybe it doesn't.

Over time though, it has to have an impact.    Currently we have preferential status in the league compared to other non-US nationalities which gives us an advantage.    Eliminating that advantage will have to reduce the opportunities for players.   That obviously doesn’t mean that no Canadians will be playing there in the future, but it is hard to see how it couldn’t reduce the attractiveness of signing a Canadian kid vs another international.   

[Kadenge]

With all Canadian players in MLS now based in the US perhaps a MLS  CMNT camp in the US  later this year is possible? There are many new/young  players that are either starting for their teams or playing significant minutes and perhaps call up dual nationals such as Gutierrez  or Akinola. Herdman  needs to see a few of the newbies in  camp before WCQ starts

[Shway]

I agree, but someone will mention pandemic and budget - oops I did it.

[SpecialK]

Ferreira and Gutierrez should be there. Maybe Ferreira can attract some MLS teams? 

[Corazon]

Canadians in MLS:

Player	Team	Position	GP	GS	MP	G	A
Zach Brault-Guillard	Montreal Impact	RB	14	12	1165	0	1
Samuel Piette	Montreal Impact	CM	13	13	1151	1	1
Russell Teibert	Vancouver Whitecaps	CM	12	12	1054	0	0
Mark Anthony Kaye	Los Angeles FC	CM	13	13	997	3	4
Jonathan Osorio	Toronto FC	CM	11	11	983	1	2
Dejan Jakovic	Los Angeles FC	CB	12	10	854	1	0
Derek Cornelious	Vancouver Whitecaps	CB	10	9	827	0	0
Lucas Cavallini	Vancouver Whitecaps	ST	10	9	798	2	0
Richie Laryea	Toronto FC	RB	11	8	774	4	1
Alistair Johnston	Nashville SC	RB	11	8	772	0	1
Ayo Akinola	Toronto FC	ST	9	6	596	6	0
Tesho Akindele	Orlando City	ST	12	5	537	2	0
Cristian Gutierrez	Vancouver Whitecaps	LB	8	5	474	0	0
Tajon Buchanan	New England Revolution	RW	14	4	445	1	1
Michael Baldisimo	Vancouver Whitecaps	CM	6	4	407	1	3
Theo Bair	Vancouver Whitecaps	ST	9	5	352	1	0
Kamal Miller	Orlando City	LB	6	3	309	0	0
Raheem Edwards	Minnesota United	LW	11	2	251	0	3
Joel Waterman	Montreal Impact	CB	3	3	233	0	1
Ryan Raposo	Vancouver Whitecaps	CM	9	1	223	0	1
Tosaint Ricketts	Vancouver Whitecaps	ST	8	2	217	1	0
Jay Chapman	Inter Miami CF	CM	7	2	194	0	0
Liam Fraser	Toronto FC	CM	7	2	176	0	0
Patrick Metcalfe	Vancouver Whitecaps	CM	5	2	168	0	0
Karifa Yao	Montreal Impact	CB	2	1	127	0	0
Shamit Shome	Montreal Impact	CM	7	2	121	0	0
Jacob Shaffelburg	Toronto FC	LW	3	1	94	0	0
Anthony Jackson-Hamel	Montreal Impact	ST	5	1	88	0	0
Jayden Nelson	Toronto FC	RW	2	0	30	0	0
Noble Okello	Toronto FC (Loan)	CM	1	0	22	0	0
Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla	Montreal Impact	ST	1	0	15	0	0
Jordan Hamilton	Columbus Crew	ST
Callum Montgomery	FC Dallas (Loan)	CB
David Norman Jr.	Inter Miami CF	CM
Mathieu Choiniere	Montreal Impact	CM
Clement Bayiha	Montreal Impact	RB
Ashtone Morgan	Real Salt Lake	LB
Julian Dunn-Johnson	Toronto FC (Loan)	CB
Rocco Romeo	Toronto FC (Loan)	CB
Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty	Toronto FC	CM
Georges Mukumbilwa	Vancouver Whitecaps	CM
Simon Colyn	Vancouver Whitecaps	CM
Gianfranco Facchineri	Vancouver Whitecaps (Loan)	CB
Damiano Pelice	Vancouver Whitecaps	CM
Player	Team	Position	GP	GS	MP	S	GA
Thomas Hasel	Vancouver Whitecaps	GK	9	8	752	35	14
Dayne St Clair	Minnesota United FC (Loan)	GK	6	6	540	23	7
Maxime Crepeau	Vancouver Whitecaps	GK	4	4	328	12	10
Greg Ranjitsingh	Minnesota United FC	GK	3	3	270	15	8
James Pantemis	Montreal Impact (Loan)	GK
Jonathan Sirois	Montreal Impact	GK

[Corazon]

Player	Team	Position	GP	GS	MP	G	A
Ryan James	Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC	Defender	15	14	1265	5	0
Paris Gee	Saint Louis FC	Defender	15	14	1233	0	1
Karl Ouimette	Indy Eleven	Defender	13	13	1170	0	2
Skylar Thomas	Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC	Defender	15	13	1164	1	0
Zachary Ellis-Hayden	Oklahoma City Energy	Defender	13	13	1124	0	2
Aidan Daniels	Colorado Springs Switchbacks	Midfielder	14	14	1121	3	1
Tyler Pasher	Indy Eleven	Forward	13	11	1029	9	1
Carl Haworth	Indy Eleven	Defender	9	9	750	1	2
Dayonn Harris	Real Monarchs	Forward	12	9	749	0	3
Brian Wright	Birmingham Legion FC	Forward	15	8	734	3	1
Jordan Murrell	Las Vegas Lights FC	Defender	9	8	725	0	1
Callum Montgomery	San Antonio FC (On Loan from FC Dallas)	Defender	8	8	718	2	0
Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare	Saint Louis FC	Defender	9	7	653	0	1
Alex Comsia	North Carolina FC	Defender	9	7	607	0	0
Kembo Kibato	Rio Grande Valley FC Toros	Midfielder	10	7	599	1	0
Malik Johnson	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Midfielder	10	4	494	2	2
Drew Beckie	El Paso Locomotive FC	Defender	5	3	345	0	0
Mamadi Camara	Colorado Springs Switchbacks	Forward	12	2	294	1	0
Massimo Ferrin	Loudon FC United	Forward	6	4	271	0	0
Jordan Schweitzer	Phoenix Rising	Midfielder	12	2	261	1	1
Emile Legault	Rio Grande Valley FC Toros	Defender	3	2	217	0	0
Jordan Peruzza	San Antonio FC (On Loan from Toronto FC)	Forward	4	3	213	2	0
Ashtone Morgan	Real Monarchs (On Loan from Real Salt Lake)	Defender	1	1	90	0	0
Mathieu Laurent	Birmingham Legion FC	Defender
Player	Team	Position	GP	GS	MP	S	GA
Sean Melvin	Colorado Springs Switchbacks	Goalie	9	9	630	16	19
Dayne St. Clair	San Antonio FC (On Loan from Minnesota United)	Goalie	5	5	450	12	3
Andre MacRae	Tulsa FC	Goalie

[Ruffian]

If even a portion of these players can not play in the USL next year there will be a flood of talent coming to the CPL. Let's hope there is a new team to help absorb the numbers or there will be a lot of young Canadian players without a team.

[johnyb]

Curious what everyone's thoughts are on Skyler Thomas? He clearly wasn't good enough for Valour or CPL last year, but is starting CB for a very good Pittsburgh team in the USL. They have the best goals against average in the league. Is CPL a step above, did he have an off year, stronger CB partner? What gives?

[Bison44]

42 minutes ago, johnyb said:

Curious what everyone's thoughts are on Skyler Thomas? He clearly wasn't good enough for Valour or CPL last year, but is starting CB for a very good Pittsburgh team in the USL. They have the best goals against average in the league. Is CPL a step above, did he have an off year, stronger CB partner? What gives?

He is what he is..same with Murell, they were both capable defenders in USL, new team, system, bad coaching, Mitter...the backline was a mess and they all looked worse than they are because of it.  Ryan James and former CDN Dover are also on that riverhound backline.  James/FB is younger than Thomas and is playing better this year if your looking for USL guys to invite to a camp poutine.......  

[Obinna]

2 hours ago, johnyb said:

Curious what everyone's thoughts are on Skyler Thomas? He clearly wasn't good enough for Valour or CPL last year, but is starting CB for a very good Pittsburgh team in the USL. They have the best goals against average in the league. Is CPL a step above, did he have an off year, stronger CB partner? What gives?

I think it demonstrates that being in the right situation can make a world of difference.

I don't watch much of the USL-C, but I know Pittsburgh is strong. It's probably a more settled group than last season's Valour. There may be a different motivation for to prove himself this time. He must have fresh memories of what didn't go right in Winnipeg. 

So in short it could be lots of situational things, more so than the level. That's my take on it. 

[baulderdash77]

2 hours ago, Bison44 said:

He is what he is..same with Murell, they were both capable defenders in USL, new team, system, bad coaching, Mitter...the backline was a mess and they all looked worse than they are because of it.  Ryan James and former CDN Dover are also on that riverhound backline.  James/FB is younger than Thomas and is playing better this year if your looking for USL guys to invite to a camp poutine.......  

Winnipeg was a mess in 2019.  They couldn’t keep possession and if I remember correctly their right side was very weak.  Teams knew they could go up that side all game long and Murrell  or Thomas would get out of position to compensate.  
 

Some of those games got really ugly and while Thomas and Murrell were looking bad a lot there was bigger problems with the system and setup I think or at least they didn’t fit in it.  Sometimes with bad teams it’s hard to tell where the line between players and coaches blurred.

[baulderdash77]

8 hours ago, Ruffian said:

If even a portion of these players can not play in the USL next year there will be a flood of talent coming to the CPL. Let's hope there is a new team to help absorb the numbers or there will be a lot of young Canadian players without a team.

I don’t think there will be.

However the CPL looked better this year as teams had more continuity and many players already knew the systems.

There is always going to be a fair bit of roster churn though and competition will always be good for spots.    The MLS clubs will be more active looking for loans next year too I think.  
 

Pro sports is by its nature so competitive.  At least the Island Games went well and got broadcast around.  I suspect that more than a few players will be going off to Europe in January.

[Ansem]

Platt had an article where he splits the Canadian pool into 3 teams due to the busy 2021 windows.

Since it is unlikely that clubs release guys for all 2 windows - we are looking at a Team A for WCQ and Team B for Gold Cup

This is Pratt chart

[Club Linesman]

Truly incredible that we can can field 3 teams now of professionals where almost all are getting minutes.  Also shows the importance of the CPL.  And he doesn’t include Kennedy or Elva so there are even more serviceable players out there for us.

[Ansem]

This is my chart

• Borjan starts for WCQ / Our #2 Crepeau starts Gold Cup / I put St. Clair as starter for Olympics. Splitting them makes sense to see their ability to carry the team
• WCQ: Guys that are playing lots of minutes at high level with International experienced who knows Herdman's system
• Gold Cup: Guys that could make the A team will want to use the Gold Cup to make their case. Also a great opportunity to acquire national team experience
• Olympics: Incomplete - Open to suggestions - Any U24 guys you think are part of the future not making our A or B team

[SkuseisLoose]

I think Nelson would be gold cup and be replaced by someone like Millar or Akindele depending on how their seasons go.

[CanadaFan123]

23 minutes ago, Club Linesman said:

Truly incredible that we can can field 3 teams now of professionals where almost all are getting minutes.  Also shows the importance of the CPL.  And he doesn’t include Kennedy or Elva so there are even more serviceable players out there for us.

Or Jakovic or Romeo, which is odd because one is starting in MLS and the other is playing on the same squad as Okello who he has on the WCQ squad (not for me tbh - he would be on the u23s not sure what he’s thinking there as he has him behind others who have broken into higher levels).

Also, no Twardek, Pasher or Perruzza? Obviously a CPL tilt given the journalist.

Richie Ennin is another and let’s be real... Godinho has to be on a squad! The poor guy had a couple mistakes and drops from CMNT starter to off the u23 team?!

Could easily put together a solid team of guys not on any of the lists. We have a pool about 100 players deep now.

Edited October 3, 2020 by CanadaFan123

[PopePouri]

2 hours ago, Ansem said:

This is my chart

• Borjan starts for WCQ / Our #2 Crepeau starts Gold Cup / I put St. Clair as starter for Olympics. Splitting them makes sense to see their ability to carry the team
• WCQ: Guys that are playing lots of minutes at high level with International experienced who knows Herdman's system
• Gold Cup: Guys that could make the A team will want to use the Gold Cup to make their case. Also a great opportunity to acquire national team experience
• Olympics: Incomplete - Open to suggestions - Any U24 guys you think are part of the future not making our A or B team

Your list is better than Oliver's.

A few things I would change:

1. I think we need to bring Akinola into WCQ and we either drop Millar or Wotherspoon to Gold Cup.
2. Jakovic has to be there somewhere if he hasn't retired. 
3.  I'd add N'Sa and Godinho, possibly Simmons and Young for the Olympic team.

Edited October 3, 2020 by PopePouri

[Ansem]

2 hours ago, SkuseisLoose said:

I think Nelson would be gold cup and be replaced by someone like Millar or Akindele depending on how their seasons go.

For the WCQ, I doubt Herdman will get experimental. It will be our best XI and we go for the jugular. It's "ocho" or bust.

Nelson is more likely to play more minutes with the U23 than most of the Gold Cup forwards who are playing more minutes and are playing well.

It's better for him to be challenged and be put in a situation where he's a crucial part of the team and is expected to produce.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Ansem

[Ansem]

29 minutes ago, PopePouri said:

Your list is better than Oliver's.

A few things I would change:

1. I think we need to bring Akinola into WCQ and we either drop Millar or Wotherspoon to Gold Cup.
2. Jakovic has to be there somewhere if he hasn't retired. 
3.  I'd add N'Sa and Godinho, possibly Simmons and Young for the Olympic team.

I think Akinola could legitimately compete for good minutes against Bair, Buchanan or Akindele - I just don't see him getting minutes over David, Larin Cavallini or Hoillet.

We could argue Millar but I could move him depending on his next loan situation 

I think Jakovic retired from the National team

Yes, I will add N'Sa and look into simmons and Young.

Godinho was a healthy scratch today...not a good sign. I'm biais for Chung and Farsi.

[dyslexic nam]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

I think Akinola could legitimately compete for good minutes against Bair, Buchanan or Akindele - I just don't see him getting minutes over David, Larin Cavallini or Hoillet.

We could argue Millar but I could move him depending on his next loan situation 

I think Jakovic retired from the National team

Yes, I will add N'Sa and look into simmons and Young.

Godinho was a healthy scratch today...not a good sign. I'm biais for Chung and Farsi.

If Akinola commits to us, I think it is impossible to say where he would fit in the order.  The only one who I think is guaranteed a starting spot ahead of him is David.  On Ayo’s current form and trajectory, I don’t think you can rule out the possibility that he could force his way into the starting 11 past guys like Larin or Cav.  Throw in another year of development, and it is possible that Akinola could leapfrog one or both of them.  

[red card]

20 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

If Akinola commits to us, I think it is impossible to say where he would fit in the order.  The only one who I think is guaranteed a starting spot ahead of him is David.  On Ayo’s current form and trajectory, I don’t think you can rule out the possibility that he could force his way into the starting 11 past guys like Larin or Cav.  Throw in another year of development, and it is possible that Akinola could leapfrog one or both of them.  

Only way Akinola could force his way would be to become a regular TFC starter for the rest of this season and playoffs. And I would like to see him double his current goal total. 

Working against him is no senior team training and playing experience, no connection with potential starters ex Osorio & no WC qualifying experience. History has shown newbie Canadian senior national team players tend to have stage fright. If he commits, I would use the Gold Cup to see if is he up to playing at the senior international level.

[Ansem]

1 hour ago, red card said:

Only way Akinola could force his way would be to become a regular TFC starter for the rest of this season and playoffs. And I would like to see him double his current goal total. 

Working against him is no senior team training and playing experience, no connection with potential starters ex Osorio & no WC qualifying experience. History has shown newbie Canadian senior national team players tend to have stage fright. If he commits, I would use the Gold Cup to see if is he up to playing at the senior international level.

Excellent point. I was on a CSA call where Biello was explaining their playing style and tactics which Herdman came up with.

Trust me when I say it's unwise to bring a newbie in the middle of the WCQ unless they are there to observe only.

That's why in my chart, I have the usual suspects in the WCQ squad, the guys with experience who have assimilated the system.

The World Cup squad is best to play guys that are knocking on the door and learning that system while giving the coach a chance to see how they perform in the National team. Akinola is at his place there trying to beat Akindele, Bair, Brym or Buchanan for minutes.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Ansem

[Shway]

Can we really say we have an identity? A playing style? I don’t think so....

The Haiti GC game, USA home and away NL games we’re all completely different. The major thing being that Davies went from playing RW in a win to playing LB in a loss.

If things were as stringent or meticulous as stated, then it would be known how our best player would be utilized - which is still a debate. 

So to say that Akinola couldn’t be vetted in as the number 9 that he already plays as, is weird statement especially if he’s currently playing better than all those guy’s mentioned.

Also Buchanan, Brym are not number 9s and I know they are being suggested but in order to have a system and to implement tactics you have to have the right players that work.