Saint Kitts & Nevis vs Canada - Sunday November 18th

[Ansem]

1 hour ago, BenFisk'sBiggestFan said:

What boggles my mind is that no other coach has done this. Is this actually a thing unique to Herdman? You would think other coaches would have thought of this too...

Details like this could have made a world of difference for the USA when they lost to Trinidad on a wet and bad pitch...

[KMB]

As others have said, if we don't go into this game expecting anything other than a win, there is something wrong.  Don't underestimate them, I don't think Herdman will underestimate any team, but if we can't beat this team away with the players we currently have, we don't deserve to be thinking about WC qualifications.  I do hope we play a proper formation.  I understand why Herdman played the formations he did in the previous matches, but I still disagree and think we should have used those games to get used to playing a formation that we will be using for important games.   I think we will win by 3-4 goals though.  Let's not mess this one up boys

[RS]

4 hours ago, Ansem said:

Details like this could have made a world of difference for the USA when they lost to Trinidad on a wet and bad pitch...

They also played four days earlier in Orlando, IIRC.

[Scorpion26]

This should be a good game for CMNT and should be a win. I am hoping a balanced line-up and having our players at their positions. 

[red card]

On 11/16/2018 at 5:00 PM, Ngravs said:

Love seeing #CANMNT in the the Freepress at work in the morning! Nice to see they’re getting attention. 

But it is a bit of lazy journalism. It's the same old same old doing a player profile and profiling Edgar which I bet Davidson has already done in the past. 

If they're going to do player profiles, focus on players that Canadians don't typically see or read about like the ones playing outside of the MLS. But ideally, a real piece would have focused more on the team level such as in tactics (including for SKN), players to watch and get people up to speed on CNL.

[ktf]

I like Herdman for this type of thing. It seems mindboggling obvious, but the fact it has not been done is rather sad. Two friendlies in a break aside, they should, at some point, have trained on a pitch of relatable conditions. It is kind of a testament to the fact that we (using this rather all encompassingly) have always pretended to be CONCACAF elite, but have never really had the results. I think Herdman really does do a great job with the mental aspect of preparation. It does seem like he is projecting confidence, but also the need to gain respect. The idea of not begging players to play for us as well really appeals to me. 

From an outsider perspective it really feels like he has created the "buy in" where the players want to be there and if they decide not to be committed GTFO. I will leave the squad selection and tactical comments until later on, but he is definitely strong with creative narratives around the team.

On a side note, I was originally against not adding friendlies in these breaks, but the practice time must be highly valuable. 

[Grizzly]

3 hours ago, ktf said:

I like Herdman for this type of thing. It seems mindboggling obvious, but the fact it has not been done is rather sad. Two friendlies in a break aside, they should, at some point, have trained on a pitch of relatable conditions. It is kind of a testament to the fact that we (using this rather all encompassingly) have always pretended to be CONCACAF elite, but have never really had the results. I think Herdman really does do a great job with the mental aspect of preparation. It does seem like he is projecting confidence, but also the need to gain respect. The idea of not begging players to play for us as well really appeals to me. 

From an outsider perspective it really feels like he has created the "buy in" where the players want to be there and if they decide not to be committed GTFO. I will leave the squad selection and tactical comments until later on, but he is definitely strong with creative narratives around the team.

On a side note, I was originally against not adding friendlies in these breaks, but the practice time must be highly valuable. 

Shouldn't we wait until he actually accomplishes something other than beating minnows before crediting Herdman with a lot of accomplishments and doing a great job of mental preparation? Which coach was begging players to play for us? We will know very little about whether Herdman is a good coach or not until we start playing better teams but anything less than a 3 goal victory today is not a success.

[PhillyJawn-guy]

As an American who's newly converted into supporting Canada, good luck and I'm sure you guys will get a big win. Thanks for not making the USA's Trinidad mistake by properly preparing instead of complaining followed by off-colour remarks about "hotshot Euro teams" playing here.

[ktf]

2 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Shouldn't we wait until he actually accomplishes something other than beating minnows before crediting Herdman with a lot of accomplishments and doing a great job of mental preparation? Which coach was begging players to play for us? We will know very little about whether Herdman is a good coach or not until we start playing better teams but anything less than a 3 goal victory today is not a success.

It does not say anything about a lot of accomplishments in there, as I noted I will wait to judge more extensively on his coaching when the competition heats up. I will be the first to critique then. However, with that being said, to not credit the attitude shift would be rather blind. He has shifted the mentality. The coverage and interviews (players included) just present a different vibe. Zambrano also sounded nice in terms of wating to open up offensively, but he never did present a full vision (we will never know). Floro was so cautious and defensive that it really I feel carried into everything else. Honestly, training on a poor pitch is a great idea that has basically never been done. Hopefully it helps. Finally, I believe pretty much every coach has chased players to play for us.

As for the 3-0... I would like to see that, but, considering our track record on the road, I am firmly in the win is a win group. With the exception of that 7-0 win over St. Lucia on the road, we have tied Belize, St Kitts, and had a rather fortunate 1-0 win over Cuba in the past 8 years. Even the Gold Cup winning team lost rather soundly 4-0 in Trinidad during WCQ in 2000. Consequently, I am not willing to say we won 1-0 write this team/Herdman off. Or we won 8-0 we are going to the WC/All hail Herdman. 

[Grizzly]

44 minutes ago, ktf said:

It does not say anything about a lot of accomplishments in there, as I noted I will wait to judge more extensively on his coaching when the competition heats up. I will be the first to critique then. However, with that being said, to not credit the attitude shift would be rather blind. He has shifted the mentality. The coverage and interviews (players included) just present a different vibe. Zambrano also sounded nice in terms of wating to open up offensively, but he never did present a full vision (we will never know). Floro was so cautious and defensive that it really I feel carried into everything else. Honestly, training on a poor pitch is a great idea that has basically never been done. Hopefully it helps. Finally, I believe pretty much every coach has chased players to play for us.

As for the 3-0... I would like to see that, but, considering our track record on the road, I am firmly in the win is a win group. With the exception of that 7-0 win over St. Lucia on the road, we have tied Belize, St Kitts, and had a rather fortunate 1-0 win over Cuba in the past 8 years. Even the Gold Cup winning team lost rather soundly 4-0 in Trinidad during WCQ in 2000. Consequently, I am not willing to say we won 1-0 write this team/Herdman off. Or we won 8-0 we are going to the WC/All hail Herdman. 

I see no evidence of a change in mentality whatsoever. The interviews are the same usual player interviews one hears all the time. I think you are imaging this based on a lot of mumbo jumbo from Herdman himself. Yes Floro was a defensive coach (though with less offensive talent available) while Zambrano seemed to be more offensive so if you are comparing the switch from Floro to Herdman yes we have changed from a defensive coach to an offensive one with a short cameo by a previous coach who was also offensive.

As for training on a poor pitch I think it is a good and obvious idea but do we know that previous coaches did not do this? One thing you can be sure about with Herdman is that if he has an idea he is going to promote it, claim it was his and if it works take credit for it while saying stuff like it was the players who did it. Also as has been previously mentioned we have rarely had time to prepare for matches like we have had in Nation's League with one match per window so it has been a lot easier to arrange stuff like practicing in the playing conditions for several days before a match.

Herdman seems to be of the egotistical self promotion salesman style of coach. That doesn't mean he is a bad coach. Maybe his attitude will be good for the players, maybe he is a great tactician etc. There are good coaches in this style, Mourinho, for example. However, I am not buying the hype until I see the goods produced. If we go into Honduras and start getting results there, then I will say that he has changed the mentality, until then I will remain skeptical. I am not saying that we should write him off if we win 1-0 today either but at the same time for the narrative that we are on the right track with Herdman to continue I think at the least a convincing 3 goal victory is necessary. 

 

[goleafs67]

8 hours ago, ktf said:

I think Herdman really does do a great job with the mental aspect of preparation. It does seem like he is projecting confidence, but also the need to gain respect. The idea of not begging players to play for us as well really appeals to me. 

He's definitely focused on it. These were posted in public hallway at team hotel 

[gator]

Game Day! I'm excited to watch us play what could be a tricky CONCACAF away match, I have a feeling we will get the job done just on the quality of the squad, I'm glad we are playing in the evening assuming it is very hot there, the ref could be a huge factor as well!

[Zem]

Loving these extended interview/preview bits

 

[hamiltonfan]

Game day!!! Enjoy the match! 

[Ngravs]

As we talked about this game is expected to be much tighter. Odds are making us 2 goal favourites compared to 5 and 6 goal favourites in the past two games. My initial feeling is lots of goals because our d-core blows and our offense is great but is that realistic considering our performances in these types of conditions?

[Obinna]

6 hours ago, Grizzly said:

I see no evidence of a change in mentality whatsoever. The interviews are the same usual player interviews one hears all the time. I think you are imaging this based on a lot of mumbo jumbo from Herdman himself. Yes Floro was a defensive coach (though with less offensive talent available) while Zambrano seemed to be more offensive so if you are comparing the switch from Floro to Herdman yes we have changed from a defensive coach to an offensive one with a short cameo by a previous coach who was also offensive.

As for training on a poor pitch I think it is a good and obvious idea but do we know that previous coaches did not do this? One thing you can be sure about with Herdman is that if he has an idea he is going to promote it, claim it was his and if it works take credit for it while saying stuff like it was the players who did it. Also as has been previously mentioned we have rarely had time to prepare for matches like we have had in Nation's League with one match per window so it has been a lot easier to arrange stuff like practicing in the playing conditions for several days before a match.

Herdman seems to be of the egotistical self promotion salesman style of coach. That doesn't mean he is a bad coach. Maybe his attitude will be good for the players, maybe he is a great tactician etc. There are good coaches in this style, Mourinho, for example. However, I am not buying the hype until I see the goods produced. If we go into Honduras and start getting results there, then I will say that he has changed the mentality, until then I will remain skeptical. I am not saying that we should write him off if we win 1-0 today either but at the same time for the narrative that we are on the right track with Herdman to continue I think at the least a convincing 3 goal victory is necessary. 

 

I think your skepticism is totally fair. I do suspect that Herdman's style will be positive thing for this team, but time will tell as the games become more challenging. He is also working with more talent, so I think even if he gets results they'll be those who point that out too. So far the returns have been good and I have said before but I'll say again, I think the Biello factor is critical. Moreover, the imaginary can become real, so if Herdman convinces the players, fans and media that everything is great, that can eventually materialize. It's kind of like Trump pretending the economy is great, and despite the real, foundational problems with it, he's kept it going for longer than expected simply by convincing (or tricking - depending on your perspective) people to believe in it.

Edit: just saw the Borjan interview in that short twitter video that was shared. He said John is doing something no other coach has done with the program before, so that is at least one example of departure from the same old interviews of the past.

[Obinna]

Pumped for this match! What time is kickoff?

[gator]

3 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Pumped for this match! What time is kickoff?

So am I, 7 ET!

[Canadian Pride]

Hey guys, sorry to ask this question if it was already asked. I tried looking for answer.

Is the game being shown on tv...tsn etc? Does not look like it...

if not which is the site you can watch the game feed on?

[dyslexic nam]

8 minutes ago, Canadian Pride said:

Hey guys, sorry to ask this question if it was already asked. I tried looking for answer.

Is the game being shown on tv...tsn etc? Does not look like it...

if not which is the site you can watch the game feed on?

OZ live sports.  A sign up is required but it is just an email and password registration process.  No additional personal info required - and it is free for now.  Not on TV AFAIK.

[KMB]

Didn't realize that Borjan had a Canada tattoo.  Already had tons of respect for the guy.  Now have even more.

 

[Admin]

I have seen a few people complaining about the stream.

I have this weird feeling if we just told people we secured a private dedicated stream for the The Voyageurs, charged them to log into part of the site and just embedded the stream they could get for free they would be happier somehow.

 

[Grizzly]

5 minutes ago, admin said:

I have seen a few people complaining about the stream.

I have this weird feeling if we just told people we secured a private dedicated stream for the The Voyageurs, charged them to log into part of the site and just embedded the stream they could get for free they would be happier somehow.

 

Everyone should absolutely be complaining about the stream even if it turns out to be good quality. It is a disgrace matches like this are not being broadcast.

[RS]

5 minutes ago, admin said:

I have seen a few people complaining about the stream.

I have this weird feeling if we just told people we secured a private dedicated stream for the The Voyageurs, charged them to log into part of the site and just embedded the stream they could get for free they would be happier somehow.

 

"Streaming is so bush league."

[Proceeds to watch Netflix, DAZN and Prime Video for the rest of the day]

[hulkrogan]

I’m stuck at my in-laws for dinner during this time slot. Any tips for how to record the stream or otherwise watch this game later?