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Under 23 qualifying roster speculation


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Never to early to speculate. If we could get to Toyko I think we'd have a very good team with Davies, James, et al + over agers. Surely, Herdman would back away from his once-a-senior-team-player-never-a-youth player roster choices at the actual Olympics.

 

But, he won't for Qualifying (and it's a non-FIFA date tournament). Here is my off the top of my head line-up prediction. I've included a couple players that would have to be negotiated to be on squad, but it's mostly a CanPL roster (as I expect it will be).

 

GK - Busti

FB - Chung

FB - Godinho

CB - Baldisimo

CB - Legault

MF - Borges

MF - Verhoevan

MF - Estevez

MF - Gutierrez

FW - Rollocks

FW - Zanatta

Bench - St Clair, Langwa, Furlano, Campbell,  Hernández, Abzi, Galvis Llano  

 

Thoughts?

 

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26 minutes ago, Duane Rollins said:

Never to early to speculate. If we could get to Toyko I think we'd have a very good team with Davies, James, et al + over agers. Surely, Herdman would back away from his once-a-senior-team-player-never-a-youth player roster choices at the actual Olympics.

 

But, he won't for Qualifying (and it's a non-FIFA date tournament). Here is my off the top of my head line-up prediction. I've included a couple players that would have to be negotiated to be on squad, but it's mostly a CanPL roster (as I expect it will be).

 

GK - Busti

FB - Chung

FB - Godinho

CB - Baldisimo

CB - Legault

MF - Borges

MF - Verhoevan

MF - Estevez

MF - Gutierrez

FW - Rollocks

FW - Zanatta

Bench - St Clair, Langwa, Furlano, Campbell,  Hernández, Abzi, Galvis Llano  

 

Thoughts?

 

I hope/expect it to be CanPL heavy.

I really like what Rollocks brings, as well as Estevez. I hope those two get a chance.

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To be fair, I don't follow many youth field players, so I can't really argue with you there. But I know my keepers though, and I'm always disappointed not seeing Desjardins considered in these lists. Maybe I have a little bias cause I've been following him for quite a while, but I rate him very highly, even higher than Busti. I'm pretty positive he'll get invited to the Qualifying camp and if he impresses enough, I believe he might get that starting spot.

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I'll say the same thing I did about our failed U20 World Cup qualification: bring the absolute best team you can (which the U20s didn't). I feel like it has been too long (or too few) since Canada has participated in a major tournament (Men's side).

Sometimes it seems like Canada are content with just participating in the qualification games. I know they "want" to be in big, attention getting tournaments like the U20 World Cup and the Olympics, but at the same time I just don't get a sense of urgency. It's frustrating.

 

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46 minutes ago, BLennard said:

To be fair, I don't follow many youth field players, so I can't really argue with you there. But I know my keepers though, and I'm always disappointed not seeing Desjardins considered in these lists. Maybe I have a little bias cause I've been following him for quite a while, but I rate him very highly, even higher than Busti. I'm pretty positive he'll get invited to the Qualifying camp and if he impresses enough, I believe he might get that starting spot.

My guess on the keepers is that it will be three of Pantemis, St. Clair, Busti, Hasal, and Desjardins. I think at the moment St. Clair would be my starter with Pantemis as his backup.

I think the keepers in Italy have potential but are not currently the best options we have to start.

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All six PFC guys you’ve listed have been impressive so far, despite our shaky start.  (Would leave PFC with only 13 players available though...yikes)

Edited by shorty
Missed Campbell and Hernández on the bench
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8 hours ago, BLennard said:

To be fair, I don't follow many youth field players, so I can't really argue with you there. But I know my keepers though, and I'm always disappointed not seeing Desjardins considered in these lists. Maybe I have a little bias cause I've been following him for quite a while, but I rate him very highly, even higher than Busti. I'm pretty positive he'll get invited to the Qualifying camp and if he impresses enough, I believe he might get that starting spot.

Let us not forget about Breza who has been starting as of late for Potenza in the Italian 3rd tier.  He could be rated higher than Desjardins.

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21 hours ago, Bertuzzi44 said:

I'll say the same thing I did about our failed U20 World Cup qualification: bring the absolute best team you can (which the U20s didn't). I feel like it has been too long (or too few) since Canada has participated in a major tournament (Men's side).

Sometimes it seems like Canada are content with just participating in the qualification games. I know they "want" to be in big, attention getting tournaments like the U20 World Cup and the Olympics, but at the same time I just don't get a sense of urgency. It's frustrating.

 

I agree that the choice to send a weakened squad to the u20s was hard to justify, but the u23 qualifying is on a non-FIFA date. Almost impossible to get the "names" released. For that reason CanPL will be massive for the Olympic program -- tournament takes place just after CanPL ends.  

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Even with the U23 CPL players, it seems like CB is going to be our weakest spot. I think that Nsa and Langwa could have a chance to start together in the qualifiers, considering they'll have already established chemistry. I'd rather move Legault out wide, but we seem to have some depth with Chung, and possibly Godinho/ZBG. Would think we'd have to look outside of CPL for some of those CBs.

I think that TFC2 will still be looked at for qualifying. Shaffelburg would be a good shout having looked great in the CCL, and Romeo/Dunn could fill the CB gap for qualifiers. 

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Predicting this squad will be harder than predicting the full MNT. Mauro Biello, will have a lot of more players to choose/scout from with players playing all over whether in the CPL, MLS, USL or Europe. With limited camps, im already calling there will be some head scratchers. 

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9 hours ago, shamrock said:

Cornelius is 21...Btw if you look at that body of Noble Okello, I'd try and put him in the back-line. 

I think it would be interesting to see Noble there as a potential ball playing centre back. 

But for the U23's, there's a lot of centre backs where it might not be necessary for size to be the reason. 

Kamal Miller | 1997 | 6'
Callum Montgomery | 1997 | 6'3
Thomas Meilleur-Giguère | 1997 | 6'1
Scott Kennedy | 1997 | 6'2
Martín Amuz | 1997 | 6'1 
Chrisnovic N'sa | 1998 | 6'
Kosovar Sadiki | 1998 | 6'3 
Julian Dunn-Johnson | 2000 | 6'2
Rocco Romeo | 2000 | 6'2

Missing a few guys, but it'll be interesting to see what guys are called/available. 

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So here's something I think about. Legault was called up to the Toulon tournament, and did decently well. Guys like N'Sa and Langwa were probably not even considered. Yet, if you've watched these three in the CPL, you would not see why a guy like Legault would be considered in a different class (and this is not to disparage Legault, I like what I've seen so far and I do realize he's slightly younger than the HFX guys).

Speaking of CPL guys we'd like to see that came out of nowhere, in my opinion Joel Waterman has been the best centre back in the league so far. Assuming the age rules for qualifying are the same as the actual tournament (aside from the three overagers, obviously) he just makes the age cut off as a January '97.

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How far off is Carducci ? GK of the year last year in PDL. Starters role for Cavalry this year. Has looked excellent in first two games. He hasn’t had many chances against but the ones he does he plays the ball well. Excellent rebound control.

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2 minutes ago, Reign said:

How far off is Carducci ? GK of the year last year in PDL. Starters role for Cavalry this year. Has looked excellent in first two games. He hasn’t had many chances against but the ones he does he plays the ball well. Excellent rebound control.

Carducci is a '96, so he misses the cut off

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16 hours ago, Shway said:

I think it would be interesting to see Noble there as a potential ball playing centre back. 

But for the U23's, there's a lot of centre backs where it might not be necessary for size to be the reason. 

Kamal Miller | 1997 | 6'
Callum Montgomery | 1997 | 6'3
Thomas Meilleur-Giguère | 1997 | 6'1
Scott Kennedy | 1997 | 6'2
Martín Amuz | 1997 | 6'1 
Chrisnovic N'sa | 1998 | 6'
Kosovar Sadiki | 1998 | 6'3 
Julian Dunn-Johnson | 2000 | 6'2
Rocco Romeo | 2000 | 6'2

Missing a few guys, but it'll be interesting to see what guys are called/available. 

I think you're right, there's a lot of options. Of course some players from the new league should be selected, but right now, I think MLS/USL players have an edge. The better players ATM are over there. 

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Maybe re: MLS/USL players however if a guy is rotting on the bench in USL or MLS then they’re not going to be in full form.  

The CanPL guys are playing every week and it will be the end of their season.  We’ve seen so far that the CanPL is playing a pretty good level.

Some of them will have just played a full 2,000 pro minutes.  They could be in excellent for for a camp and tournament.

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The impact of having the CPL and more importantly having such a visible product will make the selection harder but our pool has also become much more publically visible. The pressure and scrutiny will certainly amp up on the national coaches. We are already seeing players emerge from the CPL.

While there is room for optimism, not least with a better standard of play than most expected in the CPL, we also have plenty of talent in better leagues too, many of which are less visible. Likewise those getting minutes for club that shan't be named in ontario. The playing time and also familiarity between players (pacifc) could come into play for sure. I hope however the selection isn't pressured into picking a weaker side politically. Qualification is important I think as part of building more public momentum on the road to 2026 and hopefully 2022. 

Talking of which, as already mostly accepted we are likely to have to forget anyone eligible thats in the CMNT for the qualifiers unless they are on the fringe. ZBG is a good example. It's a calculated risk leaving some of our most talented players out but the rewards are potentially in the future giving other players this experience and chance to step up. It shortens the odds on us not qualifying though. Rather a risk I'd rather we didnt take (i want the glory and yesterday like everyone else) but I get it. 

 

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12 hours ago, baulderdash77 said:

Maybe re: MLS/USL players however if a guy is rotting on the bench in USL or MLS then they’re not going to be in full form.  

Of course, but lot's of them are getting minutes in at least USL League One. Which is comparable with CanPL ATM. I really hope there'll be a couple of CANPL guys, but I expect a roster with mostly MLS (-drafted) players combined with foreign-based players and then other USL players. 

Edited by shamrock
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