General Discussion on CMNT

[Bison44]

43 minutes ago, Scorpion26 said:

Quick question...

Is there any Canadian player in the up coming MLS draft that could make an impact of CMNT in the next few months?

Also St.Clair has been compared to Zack Steffen could he be an impactful GK for CMNT honestly similar to USA 1#?

If you mean replace Borjan?  No.  But if he makes a MLS roster and gets in a few games the puts him at a level of Crepeau.  He could easily squeeze himself into the picture with Thomas, Leutwiler, Crepeau fighting for #2 or 3.  If one of the CB's can break into a MLS roster and earn some starts they would do the same thing, maybe not a starter but they would be strong contenders.  So hard to tell which kids are able to make the leap from college to pro.  None of these guys are the stud that Larin was, and we have had most of the canadian Adidas signings go nowhere when they hit MLS.  

[Soccerpro]

1 hour ago, Scorpion26 said:

Quick question...

Is there any Canadian player in the up coming MLS draft that could make an impact of CMNT in the next few months?

Also St.Clair has been compared to Zack Steffen could he be an impactful GK for CMNT honestly similar to USA 1#?

Calum Montgomery is an MLS ready CB according to Ives Galarcep. That would make him better than every other CB eligible for Canada currently.

[Bison44]

Hehehehe....I guess Henry isnt MLS ready?  Geesh, a couple red cards, a couple penalties..the odd own goal, lets let bygones be bygone.  

[Mikmacdo]

8 hours ago, Soccerpro said:

Calum Montgomery is an MLS ready CB according to Ives Galarcep. That would make him better than every other CB eligible for Canada currently.

That’s good to hear. 

Canada needs to develope some kind of consistency in the back 4 or 3 depending on formation. 

[nolando]

10 hours ago, Bison44 said:

If you mean replace Borjan?  No.  But if he makes a MLS roster and gets in a few games the puts him at a level of Crepeau.  He could easily squeeze himself into the picture with Thomas, Leutwiler, Crepeau fighting for #2 or 3.  If one of the CB's can break into a MLS roster and earn some starts they would do the same thing, maybe not a starter but they would be strong contenders.  So hard to tell which kids are able to make the leap from college to pro.  None of these guys are the stud that Larin was, and we have had most of the canadian Adidas signings go nowhere when they hit MLS.  

After Borjan, our keeper depth looks suspiciously weak like our CBs. Positions are there for the taking.

[Scorpion26]

Well seems like MLS are going to draft some good young talent. Hope many will succeed in MLS and also be called up to CMNT. Too bad CMNT don't have many friendlies would be great to bring in those players soon. 

[Ansem]

Edited January 13, 2019 by Ansem

[Dominic94]

Our midfield depth is great, only going to get better.

[SkuseisLoose]

Except for petrasso and Cornelius I agree. I’d put godinho first then Cordova then Guillard. And for centre backs I’d put Vitoria ahead of Cornelius but Cornelius ahead of Edgar 

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

Everywhere ahead of our back line is great. We have tons of potential on our back line too, if our young guys can keep improving. Specifically Cornelius, Henry, James, godinho, adekugbe, Cordova, and of course Davies as LB. ?

 

[Guest]

Lineup looks pretty good 

[KW519]

Im taking Edwards or Akindele over Edwini-Bonsu at LW. Ashtone Morgan the 3rd LB, and Liam Fraser over Kyle Bekker mostly because he's actually been in Herdmans plans. Bit of CPL bias I suspect 

[SpursFlu]

I think its too rigid. I prefer to move players around a bit to get the best 11 in the field. But if you want to set up like a table hockey team then yah thats about right

Edited January 13, 2019 by SpursFlu

[Vince193]

I wanted to go on a bit of a rant with this post, and I'd love feedback about it. If you aren't fond of this sort of stuff no worries, no need to read, I just wanted to get this off my chest since It's a sticking issue I have with supporting this team.

I'm really frustrated with the state of the men's national team right now, and in general the men's program. Specifically I'm frsutrated with the lack of camps and games we play.

Looking back at 2018 the men played 4 games. Three of which were mandatory. Comparing to other programs in this region that's severely less than the likes of Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama etc. I bring these countries up because in media interviews and such, John Herdman and the CSA have consistently patted themselves on the back comparing themselves to these countries saying that Canada can match them.

Now if the reports are true and the CSA simply doesn't have the money to host friendlies or have regular camps for the team, then that's okay. My gripe is that the CSA then needs to set expectations accordingly and actually treat the program like a lower level Caribbean or CA nation who face similar money issues and rarely play games. For the aspirations that Herdman and co keep spewing out (2022 WC) playing 4 games a year is not sustainable at all. 

Friendlies, while not cheap provide a fantastic opportunity to view players and get more players game time outside of official competitions. David Wotherspoon committed to us in March, yet only has 1 cap to his name because he couldn't get onto the field in October or November. We have too many players to name that have few caps because we barely play games. It would have been nice if there was a friendly where players like Wotherspoon, Liam Fraser, or Jay Chapman could have appeared as one of the 5 substitutions and add caps to their name. Jamaica (who on paper we should be able to beat) faces similar budget issues yet has been able to schedule friendlies before their CNL qualifiers. Saint Kitts and French Guiana, who we beat, and will play in March, respectively, played 6 games last year.

Then there's the lack of a January Camp. We've had them in the past, and in January 2018 we didn't run one and instead had an informal training camp for the U23s(?). The US is running one, as is Costa Rica who will be facing the US in February. We have a number of CPL players who could immediatley be frigne options for us (Carducci for exmaple) and many Canadians in MLS who would benefit from an international camp during this offseason (Crepeau, Akindele, and the younger TFC and Montreal guys come to mind).  This program isn't really moving forward if we aren't getting these guys together when we can so they can continue to build an identity and chemistry. Once again the lack of money comes into play (a recurring theme that doesn't seem to come up when the CSA continues to toot their horn about how the game is growing in Canada with this social media posts).

Our next game is in March and the CSA is drumming up interest and talking about supporting the team, but is that really it? One mandatory game against FG is some sort of big leap forward? There's been no talk about adding a friendly before that, and most likely our direct rivals in CONCACAF will be playing two games in that window. After March we probably won't play again until the GC. Better than that, while countries like the US, El Salvador, CR and Panama will most likely have a # of friendlies before the GC as they often do in years past, Canada will be quiet and simply go into the tournament only playing the mandatory games they have to play (We at least played that one friendly against Curacao in 2017).

I'm not going to delve into the youth too much, but this same stuff applies. The US has youth camps running right now at every age level, and it includes the likes of Akinola and a Whitecaps goalkeeper. I also bring up the fact Kosovar Sadiki has switched his allegiance to Albania. There are barely any youth camps being run, and our U20s crashed out of qualifying after literally only being together for that tournament, outside of the select players who played in the Toulon Tourney (which apparently cost the CSA 300k). I don't really blame youth players for not opting for Canadian colours if as of late Canada doesn't want to run youth camps or play youth friendlies.

I hope with Canadian Soccer Business in the picture now, and things like the Nike deal having an impact, that this recent disturbing trend of doing the bare minimum but presenting themselves as boundary pushers comes to and end and we see some real progress.

TL:DR Canada needs to play more games or we aren't going to get anywhere.

Edited January 13, 2019 by Vince193

[Grizzly]

You guys demanding friendlies and camps are all old school and living in the past! We don't need them, this is the modern era and the CSA is leading the way in the soccer world! When our coach/master guru puts posters like this in the hallways before games it pumps up the players so much than any improper squad selection due to not seeing the players play, players defecting to more active teams or lack of cohesion because they do not play together becomes irrelevant and Honduras will not know what hit them! 

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

5 hours ago, BenFisk'sBiggestFan said:

Everywhere ahead of our back line is great. We have tons of potential on our back line too, if our young guys can keep improving. Specifically Cornelius, Henry, James, godinho, adekugbe, Cordova, and of course Davies as LB. ?

 

The other day I heard a commentator on European transfers argue that in general, in the world, it was hard to find solid centre backs. I was surprised by the notion, but he seemed to feel that it was the one position that was clearly weak, so that teams looking for CBs had to be creative, bring up youth, sign players below their apparent level and try to work them in successfully, and the like. 

I think it is true that there are eras where certain positions shine, and periods where certain positions are harder to fill. I am not sure I would say worldwide, but certainly if you look at certain leagues, or national teams., or even successful clubs. 

So I am wondering if this is affecting us at all when it comes to CBs. 

[KW519]

I think we would all like to see the CSA find reasons to have camps, and not find reason to not have camps 

Edited January 14, 2019 by KW519

[Mikmacdo]

4-3-3 doesn’t really get our best players on the field. 

I think 3–5–2 fits the roster a lot better. 

Goalkeeper

Borjan

Thomas

St Claire (will be 2 soon)

CB

1. James

2. Vitoria

3. Henry

————

backups Jakovic, Cornelious, Montgomery (will soon be a starter)

RWB

Liam Millar

-backup Teibert

LWB

Davies

backup adekube

DM

Hutchinson

backup Piette

CM

1. Osorio

2. Arfield

backups- Wotherspoon, Chapman

Forwards

1. Hoilet

2. Cavalinni

backups Tabla and David

[nolando]

5 hours ago, Grizzly said:

You guys demanding friendlies and camps are all old school and living in the past! We don't need them, this is the modern era and the CSA is leading the way in the soccer world! When our coach/master guru puts posters like this in the hallways before games it pumps up the players so much than any improper squad selection due to not seeing the players play, players defecting to more active teams or lack of cohesion because they do not play together becomes irrelevant and Honduras will not know what hit them! 

 

If you took only the words and put them on a t-shirt, you would have the perfectly random type of English on half of the shirts you see for sale in Japan.

[Scorpion26]

Well all I know I am excited for CPL and MLS. Many more Canucks will want to prove their worth to be part of the CMNT. I am interested to see how some of MLS drafted Canadian will do in two months. Does any have a chance to perhaps make it into the team for Gold Cup and also anyone from CPL any players to watch ?

[Corazon]

6 hours ago, Vince193 said:

I wanted to go on a bit of a rant with this post, and I'd love feedback about it. If you aren't fond of this sort of stuff no worries, no need to read, I just wanted to get this off my chest since It's a sticking issue I have with supporting this team.

TL:DR Canada needs to play more games or we aren't going to get anywhere.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Edited January 14, 2019 by Corazon

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, nolando said:

If you took only the words and put them on a t-shirt, you would have the perfectly random type of English on half of the shirts you see for sale in Japan.

Or, the visual display for a TED talk.

[shamrock]

2 hours ago, Scorpion26 said:

Well all I know I am excited for CPL and MLS. Many more Canucks will want to prove their worth to be part of the CMNT. I am interested to see how some of MLS drafted Canadian will do in two months. Does any have a chance to perhaps make it into the team for Gold Cup and also anyone from CPL any players to watch ?

Like I said, if any of the drafted CB's establishes himself as a starter for his MLS-side, he should be at the Gold Cup. 

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Mikmacdo said:

4-3-3 doesn’t really get our best players on the field. 

I think 3–5–2 fits the roster a lot better. 

Goalkeeper

Borjan

Thomas

St Claire (will be 2 soon)

CB

1. James

2. Vitoria

3. Henry

————

backups Jakovic, Cornelious, Montgomery (will soon be a starter)

RWB

Liam Millar

-backup Teibert

LWB

Davies

backup adekube

DM

Hutchinson

backup Piette

CM

1. Osorio

2. Arfield

backups- Wotherspoon, Chapman

Forwards

1. Hoilet

2. Cavalinni

backups Tabla and David

Going to be brutally honest with you, i’d pray for us if that was our starting lineup.

We don’t have the cb quality to play 3 at the back and if our wingbacks were more defensive it would still be an idiotic formation seeing as Millar and Davies are not defenders.

This formation looks like one of those Team of the Years each league makes to try and fit in all of their best attacking players

[Keegan]

Great post @Vince193 you’re saying what everyone is thinking.  

Things have changed alright - for the worst!  Like, imagine thinking that was even possible. 

The funniest thing is remember for YEARS we have been told by CSA apologists that the reason we don’t play as many friendlies as our rivals is because they have domestic players and that was why we played in Europe and not at home etc. 

Now we have enough domestic players to call about 4 squads worth of players for a domestic camp and the only thing that has changed is they got rid of the other friendlies.

You can’t make this up - how the hell do we not have money?!  I feel like I’m watching a gold Rolex do a slow circle around the toilet bowl as we waste this generation AND Hutchinson’s final year.

Edit: another thing - we haven’t played a friendly prior to the Gold Cup since 2011.  That is 4 straight continental tournaments without a warm up match.  How can any team even PRETEND they’re serious and do that?  Curaçao was in a separate window in 2017 people seem to forget.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Keegan