Canada vs New Zealand - March 24, 2018 - Friendly - PRE-match thread

[Ansem]

Canada to face New Zealand in Men’s International Friendly in First Match for Men’s National Team Head Coach John Herdman

Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team will face New Zealand on 24 March during the upcoming FIFA international window. The two sides will meet in Murcia, Spain for the Saturday afternoon match at Pinatar Arena. This fixture will be the first official match with John Herdman at the helm of the Men’s National Team since he was announced as Head Coach and Program Director on 8 January 2018.

https://www.canadasoccer.com/canada-to-face-new-zealand-in-men-s-international-friendly-in-first-match-for-men-s-national-team-head-coach-john-herdman-p161368-preview-1

[Ansem]

Safe to say that it's a must win in his case?

[Toje]

Nea Zealand media are reporting that the match will be played behind closed doors.

[Obinna]

Finally!!!!

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

 

 

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

Just now, Toje said:

Nea Zealand media are reporting that the match will be played behind closed doors.

That sucks

[Unnamed Trialist]

Well I am going to try to go. That is just as Holy Week begins here, but a good day to travel.

Regarding closed doors, they said that for Floro's first friendly in Oliva, near Valencia, but they let us all in. There were about 150 watching, including the Mauritanian ambassador to Spain!

I think the subject is that they don't want to have to handle doing ticketing, or require a stadium to be fully staffed and pay for that accordingly. Also, that is a training stadium, near La Manga where tons of teams train in winter, that is how they make their money. But that does not mean they would block the people wanting to watch, which we could imagine could be a few hundred. Makes sense to ask the CSA regardless. 

Best flight options would be to Alicante airport and then drive an hour south.

Edit: I have a flight for 37 euros that day.

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

4 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Well I am going to try to go. That is just as Holy Week begins here, but a good day to travel.

Regarding closed doors, they said that for Floro's first friendly in Oliva, near Valencia, but they let us all in. There were about 150 watching, including the Mauritanian ambassador to Spain!

I think the subject is that they don't want to have to handle doing ticketing, or require a stadium to be fully staffed and pay for that accordingly. Also, that is a training stadium, near La Manga where tons of teams train in winter, that is how they make their money. But that does not mean they would block the people wanting to watch, which we could imagine could be a few hundred. Makes sense to ask the CSA regardless. 

Best flight options would be to Alicante airport and then drive an hour south.

Alicante was the cheapest I could find from London (£90 return). Are there trains from Alicante?

[BrennanFan]

NZ is a good team.  They have a handful of very good players.  Burnley's Chris Wood is an excellent striker who buries most half chances.  We have more skill in midfield, but they play as a team, very cohesive, they know what they want to do, they know how to defend as a team and nick goals on the counter.  Most likely we will have a lot of the ball early, think we are bossing the game, only to give up a goal on the counter and then have the bus parked on us.  

[Unnamed Trialist]

31 minutes ago, Greatest Cockney Rip Off said:

Alicante was the cheapest I could find from London (£90 return). Are there trains from Alicante?

Well there you go, good prices from London, but watch, that being Easter week they may go quickly. Trains are not going to get you close to San Pedro de Pinatar. I just looked, there are local buses direct though very slow, almost three hours. My thought was to rent a car, it is the easiest option and I am pretty sure they are reasonable down there. And more so if shared. Would be less than an hour drive.

We don't know game time but I imagine midday, or mid afternoon, to avoid playing under lights. My provisional idea would be to get to Alicante airport early same day and then drive down. My best options are returning the Sunday from Alicante, so stay a night.

It would be great if a few of us could meet up.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

2 hours ago, Toje said:

Nea Zealand media are reporting that the match will be played behind closed doors.

FFS! People will book flights unless the CSA says otherwise.

@admin the CSA NEED to be clear with us.

[saladroit]

New Zealand's a decent side. Pretty much half of their starting XI plays in MLS, and then they've got their 3 or 4 European based players like Wood, Rojas, and Thomas who are all pretty quality. Good test for us, interested about how it'll go!

[Boominbooty]

Hmmm nice to have a game but I kind of like the approached floated around by Oz about playing relevant teams on their home soil so we are ready for WCQ.  We are almost back to playing Azerbajain or equivalent in a farmer's field in the depths of Austria. Not all that relevant to playing in 32c heat and 94% humidity with pennies being whipped at your head and piss bags hucked at your bench. 

[Vince193]

26 minutes ago, Boominbooty said:

Hmmm nice to have a game but I kind of like the approached floated around by Oz about playing relevant teams on their home soil so we are ready for WCQ.  We are almost back to playing Azerbajain or equivalent in a farmer's field in the depths of Austria. Not all that relevant to playing in 32c heat and 94% humidity with pennies being whipped at your head and piss bags hucked at your bench. 

Well I mean Oz wanted to make Canada more relevant and wanted to do more with the program. The CSA can't have their cages rattled! Herdman is a good boy who will follow instructions.

[Unnamed Trialist]

I think it is fine for Herdman to start this way. From what the CSA story says, he is taking the first group of esp European-based players to camp in La Manga that week, so it is a nice place to be and it is the right sort of environment to be working in. I also think it is fine for a new coach to start with a team that is even or similar to you. For me, I don't see a problem with this first friendly.

I mean, I don't believe a lot in Herdman, but I really would like him to succeed and the NT thrive.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

FFS! People will book flights unless the CSA says otherwise.

@admin the CSA NEED to be clear with us.

I've been looking at friendly games at Pinatar between international teams and local club teams (because they announce them and talk about them more),, and most are mid-afternoon, and free entrance. They do not impede fans from seeing games.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Just now, Unnamed Trialist said:

I've been looking at friendly games at Pinatar between international teams and local club teams (because they announce them and talk about them more),, and most are mid-afternoon, and free entrance. They do not impede fans from seeing games.

Well, this is a bigger risk to take for those of us that need to give money to airlines and not just the RENFE Good to know though.

[Unnamed Trialist]

9 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Well, this is a bigger risk to take for those of us that need to give money to airlines and not just the RENFE Good to know though.

I'd be flying too, no RENFE for me, but I am pretty sure about this. 

They simply do not want to be in a ticketing mode.

I know what you are saying, but it is possible we will only get an off the record confirmation from the CSA, so hoping Jamie or someone in contact with them can confirm this for us soon. I mean, I doubt there'll be much more than a dozen  Vs there.

[Guest]

Alright all we need is one more friendly

[kacbru]

4 hours ago, saladroit said:

New Zealand's a decent side. Pretty much half of their starting XI plays in MLS, and then they've got their 3 or 4 European based players like Wood, Rojas, and Thomas who are all pretty quality. Good test for us, interested about how it'll go!

And Winston Reid...

[BearcatSA]

Looking forward to seeing which players get the call up for this one...and which ones don't.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

@Greatest Cockney Rip Off @Unnamed Trialist

For those looking to go, the CSA's Richard Scott has promised to get in touch with us regarding the access/no-access situation.

He says the CSA doesn't use the term "closed doors".

Is email is listed: http://www.canadasoccer.com/staff-s14654

[jpg75]

1 hour ago, BearcatSA said:

Looking forward to seeing which players get the call up for this one...and which ones don't.

I hope i'm wrong, but the cynic in me thinks we'll see more UK-based players than we've been used to recently. 

[Toje]

56 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

@Greatest Cockney Rip Off @Unnamed Trialist

For those looking to go, the CSA's Richard Scott has promised to get in touch with us regarding the access/no-access situation.

He says the CSA doesn't use the term "closed doors".

Is email is listed: http://www.canadasoccer.com/staff-s14654

This is where I found the info.  However,  as UT said, it can still be possible to get inside to watch the match.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/football/all-whites-face-canada-in-behind-closed-doors-friendly

"Both nations have agreed the match will be played behind closed doors, which means it won't be seen by media or the public."

 

[harrycoyster]

1 hour ago, dsqpr said:

I'm glad we are at least playing but "behind closed doors" means "training match" to me, rather than "friendly", per se.

I'd honestly rather play a worse team in a legitimate friendly. At this point everything should be with the goal of getting our boys used to playing "CONCACAF soccer" for when it matters....crazy heat, hostile atmosphere, bad conditions, etc....

So naturally the CSA gets us a closed door match in Europe.