Game Thread: Canada vs St Kitts & Nevis, Nov 18 (R)

[Obinna]

I think SKN deserve credit. They played well and were far superior to Dominica and USVI. Sawyer, the guy who plays for Brentford in the English Championship showed a lot of quality. He'd be a starter for us if he was Canadian. 

I hope they make the Gold Cup. This was the strongest SKN side I have ever seen and if there's one thing the Gold Cup needs, it's strong teams on the bottom end.

[gator]

4 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I think SKN deserve credit. They played well and were far superior to Dominica and USVI. Sawyer, the guy who plays for Brentford in the English Championship showed a lot of quality. He'd be a starter for us if he was Canadian. 

I hope they make the Gold Cup. This was the strongest SKN side I have ever seen and if there's one thing the Gold Cup needs, it's strong teams on the bottom end.

Agree, they were a much better test for us, I watched Sawyers play at QPR just before the international break and he is definitely a quality player for Brentford!

[dyslexic nam]

8 hours ago, PhillyJawn-guy said:

Scoring in MLS doesn't mean anything since the quality of play isn't international level. Maybe Larin is a cautionary tale about how terrible MLS really is at developing competent players and in the future any Canadian NT players should stay away from that league.

Cool that you are here (I think) but if every post is just a vehicle to shit on MLS, you will go on mute pretty quick.  I get that you don't think much of the league, but not every post should be a soapbox about it.

[Guest]

12 hours ago, SirBobsaget said:

Was really hoping that since the next game is at home that scheduling a 2nd friendly would be a possibility. be nice to see more of the guys being called in to camp but not getting minutes. But the FG match is scheduled for March 26th, the FIFA window closes that same day. So again will be a 1 game window unless they're crazy enough to schedule a friendly before the key game.

Not that much of a crazy idea. Maybe our team can gain some cohesion with a friendly prior to march game rather than have to deal with this cluster fuck again

[RS]

12 hours ago, toontownman said:

Interesting considering he confirmed it was at BMO after the last game. Wonder what occurred there.

It's been widely reported that TFC's groundscrew will be using the March international break to have the field injected with plastic fibres (making it a hybrid). There was likely no other time to do that given TFC's compressed early season schedule.

[Guest]

12 hours ago, toontownman said:

Interesting considering he confirmed it was at BMO after the last game. Wonder what occurred there. The toronto crowd was a bit embarrassing (albeit against other things happening) in comparison to Vancouvers crowds in recent years.

A smart marketing move with it being alphonso's first return to Vancouver. 

10 000 against a Concacaf minnow midweek that is for the qualifying of a competition that was made up this year is embarassing?

TFC had 15k for the Canadian Championship game midweek

[Guest]

8 hours ago, PhillyJawn-guy said:

Scoring in MLS doesn't mean anything since the quality of play isn't international level. Maybe Larin is a cautionary tale about how terrible MLS really is at developing competent players and in the future any Canadian NT players should stay away from that league.

Just an educated gues here but i may be wrong. I feel like the MLS has a better overall quality than St Kitts. Just a guess tho

[RS]

49 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Cool that you are here (I think) but if every post is just a vehicle to shit on MLS, you will go on mute pretty quick.  I get that you don't think much of the league, but not every post should be a soapbox about it.

Thank you for reminding me that you can mute people on here.

[Admin]

9 hours ago, PhillyJawn-guy said:

Scoring in MLS doesn't mean anything since the quality of play isn't international level. Maybe Larin is a cautionary tale about how terrible MLS really is at developing competent players and in the future any Canadian NT players should stay away from that league.

Happy to have you here talking about soccer and your bullish position on Canada is refreshing.

But can we just not do the MLS crusade thing again? 

Philly isn't that far, come up for a game when you get the chance and meet some people. 

[goleafs67]

A couple morning-after points from our pitch-side vantage:

* Field was incredibly bumpy. I know we always talk about pitch quality away in CONCACAF, but in-person it's much more obvious of an issue. Lots of passes bouncing over feet or changing direction last-second, making it hard to play one-touch. Yes we had more-defensive MFs playing in attacking roles due to Oso/Scotty missing, but a lot of the timidity in central MF seemed to be borne out of caution to minimize counters. Team was very vocal when a SKN got anywhere near a canMNT and saw a lot of backpasses rather than turns upfield (SKN much more aggressive / successful on these balls). As frustrating as it was to see lack of aggressiveness going forward it was clear Herdman wanted them thinking defence first. 

* SKN was very physical and finished many tackles pretty late. Surprised there weren't more yellows on both sides. 

* As others have stated need to see Davies more forward up the field. When he's attacking one-on-one and has an overlapping teammate offering an outlet / drawing defenders he was very dangerous. Could have had one or two if not for their keeper. 

* Shaky start but by 2H could see/hear the team was much more confident on the ball and moving better off it. Created at least three clear chances they should have potted. A lot of people like to take the pessimistic angle but given SKN only had a couple of half-chances (at best) and we created much better in 2H this could have easily been 3-0. 

* Friendly hosts, no issues at all. Pales in comparison to horror stories from Central American away games. 

[Keegan]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

I think SKN deserve credit. They played well and were far superior to Dominica and USVI. Sawyer, the guy who plays for Brentford in the English Championship showed a lot of quality. He'd be a starter for us if he was Canadian. 

I hope they make the Gold Cup. This was the strongest SKN side I have ever seen and if there's one thing the Gold Cup needs, it's strong teams on the bottom end.

I also hope they make the Gold Cup.  They actually look like a team that can play football and not just a team that relies on dirty tricks to keep it close.  

All it takes is a couple quality players and a rigid structure to compete.  We have been the St Kitts in the past.. I remember Ukraine in 2010 when the only real quality we had was Simpson and Hutchinson but they got on the ball and we gave Ukraine a tough match. 

This was a League Two level team playing at home.  You regularly see Premier league teams trip up at such stages and I’d say this was even tougher with the venue and of course it being international football.  I’d go out on a limb and say they are a top 5 team in the Caribbean along with Jamaica, T&T, Haiti and Curaçao.  Sawyers would start on most teams in concacaf except USA/Mexico.

We could have been more clinical and missed a few chances to break them down but got the 3 points.  2011 was a long time ago but this felt like night and day from our last trip there.  We looked comfortable, which is most important in my mind.

[rob.notenboom]

12 hours ago, Blackjack15 said:

Pretty much confirms that they monitor the forums and don’t want anyone to know until the official announcement 

When I heard Hetdman’s interview I immediately quote tweeted it saying ‘Did he say BC Place in March?’ 

So they may monitor the forum, but the quote tweet would be hard to miss. 

[trc2014]

“Oh stop that Alphonso!” needs to be on a t-shirt.

[nfitz]

7 hours ago, RS said:

It's been widely reported that TFC's groundscrew will be using the March international break to have the field injected with plastic fibres (making it a hybrid). There was likely no other time to do that given TFC's compressed early season schedule.

Previously It was widely reported that it would be done in April.

When did they report it would be done during the March break - which starts on March 18th.

That seems too early to me - they've only just put the new sod down. I'd think they'd want a bit more growing time (which could well be the reason they don't want people playing on it in March!)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/article-after-mounting-complaints-mlse-moves-to-upgrade-playing-surface-at/

Gosh - a groundscrew - now that could be a cool piece of kit!

[RS]

13 minutes ago, nfitz said:

Previously It was widely reported that it would be done in April.

The link you provided says "the artificial fibres will be stitched in during a FIFA international break." March is the next one up (and the only one prior to the Argos' season starting). There is no FIFA break in April.

[nfitz]

5 hours ago, RS said:

The link you provided says "the artificial fibres will be stitched in during a FIFA international break." March is the next one up (and the only one prior to the Argos' season starting). There is no FIFA break in April.

How bizarre. if you read the previous paragraph it says "And in April, the field will be strengthened by artificial fibres that will hold the surface together, protect the grass and reduce recovery time between events."

I confess that after reading that it would be April, I didn't read further.

It certainly can't be both in April and an international break. So one of those sentences is wrong. Presumably the former - but the situation is hardly clear.

Hopefully they have enough sense to stay off the turf in February and early March, and go back to playing the Champions League matches at Skydome (which is still an option as long as they have weeks to convert it back for the Jays rather than days).

 

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

18 hours ago, trc2014 said:

“Oh stop that Alphonso!” needs to be on a t-shirt.

Just wanted to bump this as a hint to our Voyageur designers... Something I would certainly buy.

[Obinna]

Rewatched the match last night.

My opinion hasn't changed. SKN played well. They have some good players and some not so good players, but as a team they played well.

We have more talent than they do, but we are not better than the sum of our parts yet, which should surprise nobody at this juncture.

I do see the makings of a good Canada team, but the ball movement was far too slow. I appreciated our patience in the build up at times, but we weren't able to drag them out of their shape and exploit gaps, because of our slow ball movement. 

When David came on for Tabla and Millar came on for Hoilett, the game opened up. I think that was due in part to their directness. I also get the sense those substitutions were part of the plan and not an in-game adjustment, but I am just speculating.

Unless Hoilett and Tabla play more directly, which I believe they could, I don't know if we want them playing on the wings at the same time.

If Davies is going to play wingback (which I don't support), I would like to see Hoilett play on the left, where he can cut inside and do some play making, giving Davies the space on the outside to exploit.

But in front of ZBG on the other side of the field, I would like to start Millar next match. Have him run at defenders while ZBG provides some stability. 

Then, have David and Tabla as game changing options off the bench.

[xcalibre]

On 11/18/2018 at 7:10 PM, admin said:

Wut. Really? 

I'll be in Vancouver so.... good thing (for me)

 

Yeah that's huge. I'll be there

[Admin]

22 hours ago, Obinna said:

Rewatched the match last night.

My opinion hasn't changed. SKN played well. They have some good players and some not so good players, but as a team they played well.

We have more talent than they do, but we are not better than the sum of our parts yet, which should surprise nobody at this juncture.

I do see the makings of a good Canada team, but the ball movement was far too slow. I appreciated our patience in the build up at times, but we weren't able to drag them out of their shape and exploit gaps, because of our slow ball movement. 

When David came on for Tabla and Millar came on for Hoilett, the game opened up. I think that was due in part to their directness. I also get the sense those substitutions were part of the plan and not an in-game adjustment, but I am just speculating.

Unless Hoilett and Tabla play more directly, which I believe they could, I don't know if we want them playing on the wings at the same time.

If Davies is going to play wingback (which I don't support), I would like to see Hoilett play on the left, where he can cut inside and do some play making, giving Davies the space on the outside to exploit.

But in front of ZBG on the other side of the field, I would like to start Millar next match. Have him run at defenders while ZBG provides some stability. 

Then, have David and Tabla as game changing options off the bench.

Rewatching that deserves some kind of award, or medication.

[Admin]

On 11/19/2018 at 6:21 PM, nfitz said:

That looks like a much more portable system than the other ones I have looked at..... hmmmm

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, admin said:

Rewatching that deserves some kind of award, or medication.

Maybe my reward is the medication?

[Admin]

4 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Maybe my reward is the medication?

That is indeed, always the reward. Or so they tell me, what can I say, I can't get out of the restraints.

[Heepster]

On 11/20/2018 at 12:35 AM, nfitz said:

... and go back to playing the Champions League matches at Skydome (which is still an option as long as they have weeks to convert it back for the Jays rather than days).

I'm not sure if it is a realistic option. I think, since the Argos left and part of the concrete floor was dug up for the Blue Jays new dirt infield,

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/construction-begins-new-dirt-infield-rogers-centre-1.3442659 

it may have made using the stadium for football or soccer impractical. Even if the lower (100 level) stands can still be moved into that configuration, I would assume they no longer have an artificial turf field for that set-up, and I doubt anyone would be willing to pay millions of dollars for a new one that would likely only get used once or twice. 

[Big_M]

Mediocre performance

The Henry-Cornelius duo wont be good enough against stronger teams..bring in Hainault, Straith, James and try Hutchinson at cb, where he has experience and go with the best duo..could be Hutchinson directing the play with Straith beside him, a trio of Piette, Hoilett, Arfield in front of them with Davies and Wotherspoon on the wings and Cavallini at striker

Gotta be careful playing all these youngsters..most of them arent ready for do or die situations against strong teams

Not convincing at lb rb..spots to be won there between de jong,petrasso,cordova,adekugbe,brault..and why not even a strong usl player like dover or someone could emerge from cpl