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The Importance of Alphonso Davies


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44 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

What's baffling is that you think that having our better players at the Gold Cup will somehow be detrimental to our WCQ chances, when it's quite evidently the opposite. More competitive games together, a long period of training as a group, strengthening the social bonds amongst a group that we'll be asking to embark on a monumental journey in just a couple of months....how do these things not help our chances?

Because for players who play for big clubs overseas,   The off seasons are very short.   Having a key player who is fatigued during WCQ might be worst than whatever chemistry you gain from playing at the GC.  

        Besides, we just finished playing about half a dozen games in the past few months.   So its not like Canada hasnt been playing.  
 

edit.:   When we won the gold cup,  we had beaten Mexico in the quarter finals.   Within the next 12 months or so that followed, we played them twice in WCQ and they beat us.  Do you you think Mexico regrets the results of the Gold Cup?  Or the fact that they didnt field the same squad for GC as they did in WCQ.

Edited by Free kick
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13 minutes ago, Free kick said:

Because for players who play for big clubs overseas,   The off seasons are very short.   Having a key player who is fatigued during WCQ might be worst whatever chemistry toy gain from playing at the GC.  

        Besides, we just finished playing about half a dozen games in the past few months.   So its not like Canada hasnt been playing.  

I'll refer you back to my previous post. If Alphonso Davies isn't playing football with Canada, he'll be playing football for Bayern Munich. Fatigue and risk of injury are the same either way. The only question is, does Gold Cup participation hurt an individual player's long-term career prospects? For the Daves, I think it's a pretty clear 'no'. For younger players in more precarious positions, the answer may be different. I don't think Corbeanou should be called, as he should be trying to impress his new boss at Wolves at that time. Same with Liam Millar. I can see a direct line of benefit for Canada should Theo become a Premier League player on a more regular basis next season. But Davies and David are going to walk back into first-team positions whether they go to the Gold Cup or not.

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1 hour ago, Free kick said:

He has a contract to play for Bayern.  Its his job and he is paid for it and that that job helps him improve his game.  He as to play for Bayern but he doesnt have to play at the Gold Cup.  

He'll have to play either at the Gold Cup or with Bayern.   And he could get injured at either.  That's the point.

You seem to think that doing well at the Gold Cup somehow means not Qualifying for the World Cup?   Wait until you find out what happened after all the Gold Cups Canada didn't win.

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10 minutes ago, Free kick said:

The Gold Cup is being played in July.  Not august.  Camps start in europe in august.

Ligue Un starts on the weekend of 7 August. The Premier League, Bundesliga, and La Liga start the following weekend, and Serie A starts a further week later. Players in those leagues will be in pre-season training during the period that the Gold Cup is being played.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Kent said:

What if Lewandowski gets hurt playing for Poland at the Euros? He gets his pay cheques from Bayern! Or what if Muller, Gnabry, basically every player but Davies, get's hurt in the Euros?

Barça just lost Dembele for 3-4 months, thanks Deschamps. 

I have a clear memory of how Saviola ended his career at Barça. He chose to play Copa America and Olympics in one summer and not rest. He came back unprepared, out of synch and with a msg to us that we were secondary. A player resting is a sign he's serious, rest, sleep, are just as important as training. 

Anyways, if we were a serious soccer nation the press would be talking about the real reason Davies is playing GC: he's no longer interested in spending time with his girlfriend. 

Edited by Unnamed Trialist
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4 hours ago, kacbru said:

Yeah, Portugal won the Euro's already, I'm surprised they bothered entering the Euros again this year.  And surely they sent their B team, because why would they risk Ronaldo getting injured when they have the much more important WCQ games coming up in September.

Greece obviously knows the secret that only @Free kickis aware of. They won the Euros once so they hardly tried to qualify. With that, I expect they will dominate the World Cup next year.

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1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

 

Anyways, if we were a serious soccer nation the press would be talking about the real reason Davies is playing GC: he's no longer interested in spending time with his girlfriend. 

Lol. Won't she be in Japan anyways?

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7 hours ago, Free kick said:

The Gold cup, when its sandwiched in between WCQ,  is meaningless.  A glorified series of freindlies.  You dint even get to go to the confedartions cup.

It sure as hell wasn’t meaningless when we won it.  I got into footy a few years after the 86 WC, and watching Hastings banging in the winning goal in the GC final was probably the best moment in a long history of frustration as a Canadian footy fan.  

I get that the GC isn’t as glamorous as the Euros. But it is still our confederation championship and it damn well means something.  And I can assure you that the players would feel the same way if they got to hoist the trophy.  

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It's pretty simple really: it'll be nice to play a game or two against quality opposition to see if this back three with wingbacks works when you aren't dominating possession.  You can draw absolutely no conclusions with how it went over the last 6 games. 

I would rather test that out at the Gold Cup with our A squad then hope for the best as we go into the most important international break in 20+ years in September. 

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On 6/24/2021 at 7:45 AM, dyslexic nam said:

It sure as hell wasn’t meaningless when we won it.  I got into footy a few years after the 86 WC, and watching Hastings banging in the winning goal in the GC final was probably the best moment in a long history of frustration as a Canadian footy fan.  

I get that the GC isn’t as glamorous as the Euros. But it is still our confederation championship and it damn well means something.  And I can assure you that the players would feel the same way if they got to hoist the trophy.  

I dont disagree with anything you said. It is nice to win the Gold Cup.  I remember vividly that Hastings goal,  that GC win is how and why i found this forum.    But if you win the Gold Cup and then cant qualify for the WC,  then it really sucks.   We’ve been there.  Some people here (in the last two pages) are trying to infer that i am stating that there is a cause and effect between that two.  This really ******* annoys me !  Do people know how to read.  
 

All i am saying is that:  the most important player we ever had and the one  who is our key to getting us out of the dolrums, doesnt need to be playing in this tournament.   The public wants us to qualify for the world cup?   Thats what counts in this region. What risk would there be if he sat out this event and let domestic based players play.  

Edited by Free kick
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Players have been hurt in internationals, so they should no longer play internationals? Players have also been hurt in training, perhaps they shouldn't train either. Players also get hurt with their clubs, so maybe they should stop playing for their clubs as well.

I have seen debates about controversial picks for national teams (Canada and other countries, soccer, and other sports) in the past, but I think this has to be the first time the controversy is about the best player on the team being picked to play in a continental championship and he isn't even injured.

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Not having an off-season can be a risky move fatigue-wise and it has to be said that the US are leaving most of their European-based stars off this Gold Cup roster for exactly that reason (although with Pulisic in particular, they probably want him wrapped in cotton wool because he is made out of glass). Maybe because Davies was injured this past season for about 6 weeks & that was following an extended break last year because of COVID, he feels fresh enough with just a 3 week break this summer.

There are the benefits of course that people speak of, that winning a Gold Cup will give the team a lot of momentum & either way the team more time to gel with our best players and also have a few more players integrated into the team & used to playing alongside them. But I do get the lack of cartwheels of joy on this news, and at the same time I also get the excitement for it.

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31 minutes ago, Free kick said:

I dont disagree with anything you said. It is nice to win the Gold Cup.  I remember vividly that Hastings goal,  that GC win is how and why i found this forum.    But if you win the Gold Cup and then cant qualify for the WC,  then it really sucks.   We’ve been there.  Some people here (in the last two pages) are trying to infer that i am stating that there is a cause and effect between that two.  This really ******* annoys me !  Do people know how to read.  
 

All i am saying is that:  the most important player we ever had and the one  who is our key to getting us out of the dolrums, doesnt need to be playing in this tournament.   The public wants us to qualify for the work cup?   Thats what counts in this regaion. What risk would there be if he sat out this event and let domestic based players play.  

So our most important player should play less games for Canada and that will help us qualify for the World Cup? And he should instead risk injury with his club because that benefits us more?

None of this makes sense. It's good for Canada and it's good for the region if the Gold Cup is to ever grow to a competition comparable to the Euros or Copa America. 

Davies playing more games for Canada is a good thing from a Canada perspective. Period. He is 20 years old - playing a tournament in July isn't fatiguing him for September matches.  If we were talking about Hutchinson maybe I could see your point.

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44 minutes ago, Free kick said:

Thanks.  I wanted to check what the americans and Mexicans were doing.   And i am not surprised that they are leaving out their key stars.  Makes us look naive.

Yeah. Mexico have brought an A squad. Rumor is that Jamaica is bringing an A squad. Costa Rica and Honduras will probably bring A squads. It's really only the USA treating this as a B tournament.

They still have a very solid B team, so it will be interesting to see how this pays off for them.

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2 hours ago, Free kick said:

Thanks.  I wanted to check what the americans and Mexicans were doing.   And i am not surprised that they are leaving out their key stars.  Makes us look naive.

I haven't read through all the latest comments, but why are we saying it's naive to try and win a tournament, and get our players some game time against quality opposition before essential WCQ matches?

Potential injuries, missed pre-season? Let the players and clubs decide. They know what's best.

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29 minutes ago, El Diego said:

It's pretty lame that our continental tournament has the potential for B teams. Can you imagine if there was a conversation about Ronaldo/Lewandowski/Mbappe etc. resting during the Euros?

In all fairness, the only reason we are talking about resting players for the Gold Cup is the WCQ windows just before and just after the Gold Cup.  Otherwise, it would be our strongest squad, no question.

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5 hours ago, El Diego said:

It's pretty lame that our continental tournament has the potential for B teams. Can you imagine if there was a conversation about Ronaldo/Lewandowski/Mbappe etc. resting during the Euros?

It is what it is.  We should blame concacaf.  If they schedule it in the year following the WC, then its perfectly fine.  But for some stupid reason (actually the reason is $$$$$… short term profit at the expense of long term gain) they schedule it on the year following the the WC AND on the years when its in the middle of WCQ.  How stupid is that?   What ends up happening is that they are hurting the prestige and importance of the tournament because everyone’s focus is on WCQ.  

I like that we have a Gold cup.  But The Gold cup can never be like the euros or Copa.  The asian or african championships are not like The euros or Copa.  Our region is just very different than Europe or south america where the demographics are diametrically opposed. Unlike Europe and South America, The majority of countries in Concacaf are minnows and are spead out over a vast territory. You have two counties of over 100 million in population, and another 25-30 with less than half a million.  So you can never have a tournament as competitive as Europe and South america, so it will never be as prestigous.     In europe,  most people can travel by train to almost anywhere to catch games. 
 

 I see nothing wrong with the GC as is.  We can still enjoy it. Except that it should only be played every four years in the year after the WC finals,  when there is a void in the calendar for international matches, not in the middle of WCQ.   But what i find silly is the expectation is that it is and should be regarded in the same way like Euros.   Its not, never was never will be.

Edited by Free kick
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