HFX Wanderers launch/2019 offseason thread

[Unnamed Trialist]

I think this kit is fine, without being too busy, or too odd. It is not spectacular, but it is definitely a jersey that will sell, as it can be worn as casual wear, not just game day.

[FromAwaysHFX]

8 hours ago, DigzTFC said:

Found a glitch in the matrix.  If you try to order a jersey with a player's name they have the entire roster including the new signings from today with the associated jersey number.

https://shop.canpl.ca/halifax-wanderers-macron-authentic-home-cpl-soccer-jersey.html

A player listed on the jersey site that has not been officially signed - Tomasz Skublak - Forward - USF NCAA.  Too add to our list of nicknames - Skoobie

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-player-profile/tomasz-skublak/cpid-117515

http://www.usforacle.com/news/view.php/1034389/Skublak-ready-to-return-to-action-agains

 

Some filthy finishes in that, he looks decent.

Good spot!

Edited April 5, 2019 by FromAwaysHFX

[DigzTFC]

https://globalnews.ca/video/5132571/hfx-wanderers-fc-reveal-home-and-away-kits-for-inaugural-season

Home opener is sold out

[Copes]

I'm very okay with the kits. Not blown away, but not upset. I also expected the Away kit to be the primary colour of the Home kit. And admittedly I expected us to have a white Away kit with dark blue accents. So not what I was planning for. 

I don't think I like two shades of blue for our two kits. I certainly LIKE the kits more than white, but I feel there are a couple teams that we will clash with, or they will be forced to wear their Away kits at home when we visit. 

Overall though I'm okay and look forward to buying them both. I'm think Sukunda on one to commemorate our first signing, and our Captain's name on the other (whoever that is) to commemorate our first Captain. If Williams ends up wearing the armband I'll do our top scorer instead.

[LatinInuk]

Like I said, I think Halifax will top the league this year with players of their experience and quality. 

Of course though, they have Hart who is probably the only manager to concede 8 goals against Honduras in anything ?

 

[LatinInuk]

I'm obviously just being sarcastic. I'm sure Hart will do a wonderful job.

It must be said though. #Banter

[Copes]

On 4/5/2019 at 1:20 AM, DigzTFC said:

Found a glitch in the matrix.  If you try to order a jersey with a player's name they have the entire roster including the new signings from today with the associated jersey number.

https://shop.canpl.ca/halifax-wanderers-macron-authentic-home-cpl-soccer-jersey.html

A player listed on the jersey site that has not been officially signed - Tomasz Skublak - Forward - USF NCAA.  Too add to our list of nicknames - Skoobie

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-player-profile/tomasz-skublak/cpid-117515

http://www.usforacle.com/news/view.php/1034389/Skublak-ready-to-return-to-action-agains

Also, it is interesting the numbers for players and implications for positions:

• Bona 3
• De Carolis 24
• Al Aziz Yousef 22
• Firth 15
• Garcia 11
• Gutierrez 7
• Hocine 4
• IIDA 9
• John 5
• Kourouma 12
• Lamy 14
• Langwa 20
• N'Sa 6
• Ouattara 13
• Oxner 50
• Perea 10
• Rampersad 18
• Schaale 2
• Simmons 8
• Skublak - 17
• Sakunda - 25

Coming back to this, do we think the numbers give us any sense into the front-runners for starting positions? 

Presumably Williams is "1" and is our starting Keeper. 

Perhaps Schaale, Bona, Hocine and N'Sa across the back (surprised not to see Sakunda here, although numbers aren't everything). 

John, Guti, Simmons, Garcia (and maybe Iida?) leading the charge for the midfield spots. Ouattara is probably in the mix too, Hart seems high on him. 

Perea I think was always expected to be our leading forward. I think we'll be playing with a single-striker given Hart's push for defense. 

I tossed out 13 names there - I know we know very little, but do those sound like the front-runners for our ideal Starting XI from what we know? I would have expected Rampersad in the mix as well - but those 14 kind of make sense to me.

[Big_M]

Sukunda

[DigzTFC]

I'm thinking

• Perea, Iida
• Garcia, Simmons, Ouattara, Guti
• Langwa, Schaale, Hocine, Sukunda
• Williams

It's harder than you think to get 6 Canadians in the squad with Williams starting.

I'm also unsure about the rule for USport Players being considered Canadian for a portion of time. 

If anyone can explain that one it would be helpful.

• With Simmons being #8 I seem him as a lock at CM. 
• With Iida being #9 he must be a starter but will be interchanged with Lamy. 
• With Guti being #7 he will probably attack from the wings rather than centrally.
• I see our wingers lining up with a Left Foot/Right Wing and Right Foot/Left Wing scenario to cut into the attack rather than pump crosses in. 
• With Langwa & Sakunda having high numbers I think that is indicative of playing attacking wing-backs.   
• I see the Langwa & Sukunda providing the crosses into Perea.
• Ouattara and John will be interchanged depending on a Canadian playing on the wing or striker in the starting lineup. 

I like our roster construction in the midfield and our defence, however, we need to supplement our attack from Perea and Guti.  Hume and Simeon Jackson please

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by DigzTFC

[Chris 1976]

Some of those players with high numbers would have specifically asked for them such as Langwa Oxner, Sukunda and De Carolis. 

 Core group of pencilled in starters for me if all fit for game 1 would be.

Williams, sukunda, Hocine, Schaale, Simmons, Rampersad, Gutiérrez, Perea, Lida 

[FromAwaysHFX]

1 hour ago, DigzTFC said:

I see our wingers lining up with a Left Foot/Right Wing and Right Foot/Left Wing scenario to cut into the attack rather than pump crosses in. 

Yeah, for sure on the left side. I had a chat with Guti at the kit launch the other night. He said he'd been playing as a right-winger or as a no.10 in training, so that fits.

 

1 hour ago, DigzTFC said:

• Perea, Iida
• Garcia, Simmons, Ouattara, Guti
• Langwa, Schaale, Hocine, Sukunda
• Williams

I see this: 4-2-3-1

• Perea
• Iida - Guti - Garcia
• Simmons - Rampersad
• Langwa - Schaale - Hocine - Sukunda/Bona
• Williams

Or this: 5-3-2 w/ wing-backs

• Pera - Garcia/Lamy
• Simmons - Guti - Rampersad/John
• Langwa - Sukunda
• N'sa - Hocine - Schaale
• Williams

Unsure on Sukunda on the right though as he didn't play RB once during the week's training. I've always written about him as a RB though so hopefully he plays there!

1 hour ago, DigzTFC said:

I'm also unsure about the rule for USport Players being considered Canadian for a portion of time

They're definitely classed as Canadian while they're still at school. After that, I think it depends on their immigration status. If Bona has been here for a long time then I'd assume he's a permanent resident, so he'd be considered a Canadian even though he's no longer studying. Re. Schaale, he's only going to be with Wanderers until August anyway, then he has to go back to school.

On Bona, I'm a bit confused by why he was selected as a U-Sports pick. Hasn't he finished school now? Feels like a waste of a pick if so, as they could've just signed him outright.

Tbh, I don't think the U Sports thing has been properly thought through by the league. I know the delay in signing Schaale was completely down to the league, not the club. The league hadn't decided out exactly how it worked, how much they could be paid etc etc. Wasn't the club's fault at all.

[Copes]

This is the sort of speculation I've wanted. Loving it, especially since I'm a bit far to catch a training session. 

I'm surprised by the number of people leaving John out of the 11. The combination of his number (5) and his experience (which has been highlighted in a number of articles about him) has honestly led me to believe hr would be a stapled on leader. Possibly Captain option. Any thoughts from people more in the know?

[FromAwaysHFX]

18 minutes ago, Copes said:

I'm surprised by the number of people leaving John out of the 11. The combination of his number (5) and his experience (which has been highlighted in a number of articles about him) has honestly led me to believe hr would be a stapled on leader. Possibly Captain option. Any thoughts from people more in the know?

Completely agree, but the one thing that makes me think otherwise is that for the open training, he had Simmons & Rampersad playing as a midfield pair for the whole week. No other two players did that. Might be reading too much into things there though.

[DigzTFC]

4 hours ago, Copes said:

This is the sort of speculation I've wanted. Loving it, especially since I'm a bit far to catch a training session. 

I'm surprised by the number of people leaving John out of the 11. The combination of his number (5) and his experience (which has been highlighted in a number of articles about him) has honestly led me to believe hr would be a stapled on leader. Possibly Captain option. Any thoughts from people more in the know?

If you listen to Jonathan Hammond's interview with Langwa (highly recommended), Langwa describes John as captain material without saying it, however, I think it will be Williams.

 

[m-g-williams]

https://canpl.ca/article/wanderers-approaching-sell-outs-as-halifaxs-reputation-entices-fans

"Martin revealed the club is “going to get pretty close to sell outs” across the season, with less than 500 single tickets remaining for the club’s first home match against Forge FC on May 4.

There are also fewer than 500 season tickets up for grabs, too, and less than 1,000 single-match tickets remaining for matches throughout the rest of the season.

It means the Wanderers – who are currently in the Dominican Republic for pre-season training – head into their first season knowing that a strong base of some 5,000 fans will be in attendance week-in, week-out."

[Keegan]

Beautiful!  Those last numbers should be easy to fill especially as the weather gets nicer. 

[Ansem]

 

[BuzzAndSting]

13 minutes ago, Ansem said:

 

7 G in 12 GP for the USF Bulls last season.

[Blackjack15]

5 hours ago, Ansem said:

 

Does anyone know his background? I'm gonna guess Polish, definitely one to keep an eye on! Will be interesting to see how HFX Wanderers utilize their 1,000 minutes given to 21 and under players, he's a 97 so eligible for the Olympic Qualifying tournament in October 

[BuzzAndSting]

3 hours ago, Blackjack15 said:

Does anyone know his background? I'm gonna guess Polish, definitely one to keep an eye on! Will be interesting to see how HFX Wanderers utilize their 1,000 minutes given to 21 and under players, he's a 97 so eligible for the Olympic Qualifying tournament in October 

He’s from Hamilton. He went to Cardinal Newman Catholic High School, then to Guelph, then to USF.

[longlugan]

3 hours ago, BuzzAndSting said:

He’s from Hamilton. He went to Cardinal Newman Catholic High School, then to Guelph, then to USF.

Cardinal Newman could arguably be considered one of the best all-time high school programs in the country...not that that means anything lol.

[HfxCeltic]

20 hours ago, Ansem said:

 

Apparently he had a trial with York 9, but wasn't offered a contract. His style of play seems to fit well with most folks interpretation of Hart's system; big CF with good hold up play and able to get on crosses. Highlights showed a bit of pace and good instincts in front of goal too.

Edited April 10, 2019 by HfxCeltic

[Copes]

Looks like HFX beat Edmonton in a pre-season friendly down south. 

http://northerntribune.ca/fc-edmonton-vs-halifax-wanderers/

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[dyslexic nam]

^^^^  I will be there along with the fam.  Should be awesome.