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

[Shortdutchcanuck]

1 hour ago, mpg_29 said:

This is a bizarre camp. People that were listed not there. People who were not listed now there.

This is part of Herdmann's master plan.  New Zealand doesn't know who the hell to prepare for.  

[Shortdutchcanuck]

Guessing Atiba just picked up a knock last weekend.

30 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I think he would have mentioned it to his club, don't you?

Since I don't know if you are joking, I'll be straight up: he's not, and with Barça B missing players for international duty, it's a good weekend for him to be with the team.

I never should have joked about him being close in the first place.

[hamiltonfan]

Predictions on our  formation, starting XI, subs? 

[Bison44]

4 hours ago, yomurphy1 said:

If this is what a Herdman camp looks like I'm not very impressed. It looks like he has them playing at half speed. 

And I think from the video he should turn the tunes down a bit while practice is on.  That music was really blaring!!  

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

What really gets me is he has people thinking "Herdman" rhymes with "periodization", when it clearly doesn't.

Clearly you are not The Word Man!

[Keegan]

10 hours ago, hamiltonfan said:

Predictions on our  formation, starting XI, subs? 

Looking much weaker without Arfield and Hutch.. knew that was too good to be true.

Players in midfield likely to be Kaye, Piette and Osorio.. I don’t think those three styles combine.

[hamiltonfan]

1 hour ago, Keegan said:

Looking much weaker without Arfield and Hutch.. knew that was too good to be true.

Players in midfield likely to be Kaye, Piette and Osorio.. I don’t think those three styles combine.

Wotherspoon should get 90. Not much pedigree in camp to challenge for those minutes

[apbsmith]

Maybe I missed it, has New Zealand's roster been announced or posted? Couple pages of rhetoric didn't want to read through lol.

NZ are not a bad squad at all imo.  Could have/should have beaten Peru at home in the final WC playoff, hit post and some unlucky bounces,  before dropping their away game to Peru.  I don't think we would have done any better vs Peru last fall in a home and away playoff, especially considering the history of our "away match'" results.

With the current state of our D, expectations fairly low for me with this match,  I would be very pleased with a result and a goal.

Hhonestly, for me the most important thing is a goal, I want us to continue with the offensive mindset OZ had us playing. Instead of the mentality to "steal a win" and/or play for 0-0, however who knows, because it appears we don't even have our true starting 11 and top offensive firepower.  I guess that's the point of friendlies, for evaluation :)....still hope we bag a goal!

Mind you my opinion could change based on the NZ squad.

[Rheo]

MLS.com game preview

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/03/21/canada-vs-new-zealand-2018-international-friendly-match-preview

[Shortdutchcanuck]

31 minutes ago, apbsmith said:

Maybe I missed it, has New Zealand's roster been announced or posted? 

It's listed in the MLS.com game preview Rheo just linked.  Missing their two Premier Leaguers and Colorado Rapids contingent.  A lot of younger guys but still some experience and talent there.  I think New Zealand always play a pretty disciplined, tough, physical game that is not easy to break down.  We have more depth in our player pool judging by some of their callups.  But  now missing Cavallini, Davies, Hoilett, Arfield, Hutchinson, and DeJong we are down 5-6 starters right there.  I expect a pretty even match but I'm a lot less sure where the offense will come from with Arfield and now Hutch not coming.

[Shortdutchcanuck]

                         Larin

                        (Ricketts)

Edwards                                           Millar

(Akindele)                                   (Twardek)

             Osorio        Wotherspoon

             (Chapman)       (Kaye)        

                         Piette

                         (Fraser)

Adakugbe                                     Petrasso

(Morgan)                                     (Godinho)

                   Edgar         James

                  (Jakovic)   (Cornelius)

                            Borjan

                            (Leutwiler)

                           (Thomas)

[Shortdutchcanuck]

Obviously Wotherspoon plays more on right wing and maybe is more likely to start there.  But without Hutch I'd like the extra experience/offensive ability in the middle.  I'd also love to see Millar with the starters, and we seem to have more forwards/wingers on the squad now than CMs.  Osorio is going to have to pull some strings and be attack-minded, but I'm guessing a lot of the offense will have to run through the wide areas, with Adakugbe and Petrasso picking their moments and getting forward.

New Zealand with a new manager themselves so this will be very much an experimental game for them too.

[Keegan]

I hope I’m wrong but I can see this one going like the El Salvador game. We’re missing all our key creators.. tempted to move Petrasso up to the wing and let Godinho get his shot at RB.  Maybe Millar surprises and he’s the next Josh Simpson. 

Larin has to be fired up for this one with his poor Canada performances and lack of club time. 

[El Diego]

Unless Millar looks absolutely over matched in training I would start him with our best XI. Might as well see how he fares at this level (whatever the level here is), hard to get a read on him just from training and youth club matches.

[johnyb]

2 hours ago, Keegan said:

I hope I’m wrong but I can see this one going like the El Salvador game. We’re missing all our key creators.. tempted to move Petrasso up to the wing and let Godinho get his shot at RB.  Maybe Millar surprises and he’s the next Josh Simpson. 

Larin has to be fired up for this one with his poor Canada performances and lack of club time. 

Surprised due to his age, I agree. But I have a much higher ceiling for him than what Josh accomplished. (no offence to Josh)

[deschamp86]

2 minutes ago, johnyb said:

Surprised due to his age, I agree. But I have a much higher ceiling for him than what Josh accomplished. (no offence to Josh)

I'd be pretty stoked if he accomplished what Josh did.

Yeah he may have a higher ceiling but that and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of coffee. We've had a number of guys with promising youth careers and early call ups amount to nothing (though lets hope this isn't the case here)

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Keegan said:

I hope I’m wrong but I can see this one going like the El Salvador game. We’re missing all our key creators.. tempted to move Petrasso up to the wing and let Godinho get his shot at RB.  Maybe Millar surprises and he’s the next Josh Simpson. 

Larin has to be fired up for this one with his poor Canada performances and lack of club time. 

I am looking forward to see what Osorio will bring. Big opportunity for him. 

[Kent]

3 hours ago, Keegan said:

I hope I’m wrong but I can see this one going like the El Salvador game. We’re missing all our key creators.. tempted to move Petrasso up to the wing and let Godinho get his shot at RB.  Maybe Millar surprises and he’s the next Josh Simpson. 

Larin has to be fired up for this one with his poor Canada performances and lack of club time. 

OK, this is pretty random, but reading that line reminded me of how I used to not be able to keep Will Johnson and Josh Simpson straight. I couldn't remember who each one was, for some reason the names were both generic enough and close enough to each other that I got them confused. So I looked up Josh Simpson just now to see how many games he played for Canada, and as a result how disgraceful I was for not being able to differentiate them. And wouldn't you know it, as of today according to Wikipedia Will Johnson has 43 caps and 4 goals scored, and Josh Simpson has... 43 caps and 4 goals scored.

[BradMack]

This NZ roster is not very strong. We would've bossed the midfield with Hutch, Arfield and Oso. Hopefully Oso, Wotherspoon and Piette can do the job. Our striker is much scarier than theirs and their backline is below the level Cyle was playing against in MLS. I don't think Boxall is that good and MLS' preview wrongly states the amount of goals theyve given up this year, he actually doesn't have a clean sheet.

[Sudburycanadafan]

redlight raso my bro you are now a follower and let's get Canada on the map for soccer me and you buddy can do it. I told you the story how I fought with everyone at niagara casino to put the Canada Mexico game on and they all gave me a hard time . March madness was more important until they started watching and they liked it, we are gonna push to get everyone on board for the bright future that we have. Everyone should be doing the same.

[El Hombre]

From a Waking The Red interview:

 

It has only been a couple of days since players arrived in camp, but Wotherspoon says Herdman has already gone to work imparting his vision for the future of the team on his players.

“He’s very passionate, he knows what he wants from the team and it is definitely coming across,” said Wotherspoon. “Everyone is getting very excited by the ideas and the message that he is bringing across and everyone’s sort of buying into it and getting used to it.”

 

Good news, if true.  I was worried about Herdman's legitimacy in the eyes of the players.

[apbsmith]

Delete

[apbsmith]

1 hour ago, El Hombre said:

From a Waking The Red interview:

 

It has only been a couple of days since players arrived in camp, but Wotherspoon says Herdman has already gone to work imparting his vision for the future of the team on his players.

“He’s very passionate, he knows what he wants from the team and it is definitely coming across,” said Wotherspoon. “Everyone is getting very excited by the ideas and the message that he is bringing across and everyone’s sort of buying into it and getting used to it.”

 

Good news, if true.  I was worried about Herdman's legitimacy in the eyes of the players.

 

Agree, good news ^

Also with our pool getting deeper, and more and more now realizing the value of what strong international exposure and performance can do for a club career, the competition for selection and starting 11 only helps/force players to buy in.

I'm waiting for the day where players go from.....

"hhhmmm let me evaluate and see if I should take this call up" ..................

"&$$%*%* I hope I get called up"  ( and this is already happening with some players)

[Bison44]

1 hour ago, El Hombre said:

From a Waking The Red interview:

 

It has only been a couple of days since players arrived in camp, but Wotherspoon says Herdman has already gone to work imparting his vision for the future of the team on his players.

“He’s very passionate, he knows what he wants from the team and it is definitely coming across,” said Wotherspoon. “Everyone is getting very excited by the ideas and the message that he is bringing across and everyone’s sort of buying into it and getting used to it.”

 

Good news, if true.  I was worried about Herdman's legitimacy in the eyes of the players.

Remember the scene in Bull durham where the rookie gets taught how to talk to the media? 

At the very least Wotherspoon (new to the program but an old pro) would know where his bread gets buttered eh?  And everyone had rosy things to say about Zambrano in his first camp too.  But I do hope that the players really take to Herdman and buy into whatever positive mental motivation he seems to be pushing.  Come September they all better be in line so they can catch some rays in the carabean after crushing it in CONCACAF nations league.  

[Ansem]

2 hours ago, El Hombre said:

From a Waking The Red interview:

 

It has only been a couple of days since players arrived in camp, but Wotherspoon says Herdman has already gone to work imparting his vision for the future of the team on his players.

“He’s very passionate, he knows what he wants from the team and it is definitely coming across,” said Wotherspoon. “Everyone is getting very excited by the ideas and the message that he is bringing across and everyone’s sort of buying into it and getting used to it.”

 

Good news, if true.  I was worried about Herdman's legitimacy in the eyes of the players.

He was always a great communicator. Good thing he has Biello to handle the tactical side of things