The Road to Qatar.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

9 hours ago, narduch said:

Maybe he's being paid in free time shares?

I'm glad the beaches are better in Curaçao than they are in Suriname.

[dyslexic nam]

19 minutes ago, Strait Red said:

Video of Herdman’s interview on TSN

 

I am not a hater but I did chuckle at the fact that the first cutaway shots were 15-20 seconds of just Herdman in various games and sessions.  I suspect he supplied that clip packet himself.  

[narduch]

I almost went on vacation to Curacao but I couldn't convince my wife to go to a country she never heard of.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Some interesting details:
- We might play Aruba in Curaçao; they have played many of their recent "home" games on that island at the Ergilio Hatostadion in Willemstad.
Aruba's "home" games do not conflict with Curaçao's home games.
I'm not sure of the state of their home pitch in Oranjestad, the Trinidad Stadium. Was it unsuitable for CONCACAF Nation's League? Is it unsuitable for WCQs too?
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Stadium
- Our other away game is the Cayman Islands at the Truman Bodden. We played Cuba in that stadium 11 months ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Bodden_Sports_Complex
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/nations-league-canada-cuba-recap-sept-10-1.5278405
That was a hard pitch; we really had to grind for a result.

10 minutes ago, narduch said:

I almost went on vacation to Curacao but I couldn't convince my wife to go to a country she never heard of.

Well, now she's heard of it! I'm not sure how you'll find a flight, but you may be able to see our boys play there against Aruba.

[narduch]

I think teams had to be able to play night games for Nations League. That's why countries like Cuba (and maybe Aruba) had to play elsewhere.

FIFA allows day games for WCQ 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

2 hours ago, narduch said:

I think teams had to be able to play night games for Nations League. That's why countries like Cuba (and maybe Aruba) had to play elsewhere.

FIFA allows day games for WCQ 

I thought that rule was only for teams in Nations League A (because there were valuable TV rights to be sold for those teams).

[CanadianSoccerFan]

The view from Bermuda

http://www.royalgazette.com/soccer/article/20200821/early-promise-vital-to-world-cup-aspirations

“In our previous campaigns playing against Mexico and Panama away we showed up really well,” Lightbourne added. “So in this group we have two of our tough matches away from home in Canada and Suriname and then on paper we’d say we have two fairly easier games in Aruba and Cayman Islands. But we have to take care of our first game with Canada first and all of our attention has to go to that game.

“They [Canada] played some very good football during the Gold Cup and we’re going to have to be at our best to get something out of that game.

[CanMNT Memes]

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

4 hours ago, CanMNT Memes said:

Memes

You should make a meme with the "weak dog / strong dog".

Suriname in 2019 without their Dutch player:

Suriname in 2020 if they get all their dual nationals

[Ansem]

I'm delighted with Laryea being so good on both sides.

For me, he's adding enough good depth on the left (Laryea/Adekugbe) to finally make it easier to push Davies at LM or LW.

On the right, Brault-Guillard is the best match with a more defensive minded playing still

Cornelius is a lock at CB. Personally, unless we go with Vitoria again, I pick Zator ahead of Henry

[CanadianSoccerFan]

The September FIFA window is UEFA only but FIFA has relaxed the rules on mandatory player release where there are quarantine requirements.  I won't be surprised if they do the same for the October window

 

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2020/08/25/club-vs-country-fifa-says-players-need-not-released-covid-restrictions-place/

[narduch]

In that case we should start thinking about who are best domestic squad is for the October matches.

[Alex]

Let’s look at Germany, France and the UK. I’m assuming the problem here is the Canadian government. Davies, David, Hoilett and Arfield can all come overseas but need to quarantine for 2 weeks in Canada correct? Do they need to do it when they return from to Europe from Canada? 

 

The question is if we play our “home game” vs Bermuda in the Caribbean somewhere can we avoid Canada and therefore they don’t need to quarantine at all? Then the Cayman Islands game can be there if they change their stance or at a neutral Caribbean site. 

[Floortom]

36 minutes ago, Alex said:

Let’s look at Germany, France and the UK. I’m assuming the problem here is the Canadian government. Davies, David, Hoilett and Arfield can all come overseas but need to quarantine for 2 weeks in Canada correct? Do they need to do it when they return from to Europe from Canada? 

 

The question is if we play our “home game” vs Bermuda in the Caribbean somewhere can we avoid Canada and therefore they don’t need to quarantine at all? Then the Cayman Islands game can be there if they change their stance or at a neutral Caribbean site. 

Canada is deemed a "low risk" country so one would not need to quarantine for 14 days when going back to Germany for example. 

A lot of the carribean nations are currently deemed "high risk" though. 

[narduch]

41 minutes ago, Alex said:

Let’s look at Germany, France and the UK. I’m assuming the problem here is the Canadian government. Davies, David, Hoilett and Arfield can all come overseas but need to quarantine for 2 weeks in Canada correct? Do they need to do it when they return from to Europe from Canada? 

 

The question is if we play our “home game” vs Bermuda in the Caribbean somewhere can we avoid Canada and therefore they don’t need to quarantine at all? Then the Cayman Islands game can be there if they change their stance or at a neutral Caribbean site. 

Currently Germany and France are mandating a 2 week quarantine for those returning from high risk nations. Cayman Islands might be exempt but I think Suriname is currently considered a high risk nation. So its not just Canadian restrictions that are an issue.

Edited August 25, 2020 by narduch

[narduch]

Also the way things are going in Canada now and with back to school ahead, we may be considered a high risk nation again by October.

[gator]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

In that case we should start thinking about who are best domestic squad is for the October matches.

I agree and have been thinking about our best domestic 11 and will iv be good enough, it should be btw, we might be a little light up front if Cav is suspended for any matches as has been speculated! This will be a chance for some to step into bigger roles which is only good obviously if they seize the opportunity!

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

The September FIFA window is UEFA only but FIFA has relaxed the rules on mandatory player release where there are quarantine requirements.  I won't be surprised if they do the same for the October window

 

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2020/08/25/club-vs-country-fifa-says-players-need-not-released-covid-restrictions-place/

I don't necessarily blame them for doing this, but it will make a mockery of world cup qualifying. I don't see why they wouldn't do this for the October window either. 

It probably becomes a crap shoot where we must hope Bermuda miss out on more of their overseas players than we do.  

A real shame it has to go down like this, but it is what it is.

I wonder if MLS clubs would exercise this new right to withhold our players for the away games, since they will have to return to Canada and isolate. That would make returning players unavailable to their clubs for at least 2 weeks.

On the other hand, who knows if our MLS clubs will be playing in October. How long does the phase 1 must only run until mid September, no?

Edited August 25, 2020 by Obinna

[Floortom]

8 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I don't necessarily blame them for doing this, but it will make a mockery of world cup qualifying. I don't see why they wouldn't do this for the October window either. 

It probably becomes a crap shoot where we must hope Bermuda miss out on more of their overseas players than we do.  

A real shame it has to go down like this, but it is what it is.

I wonder if MLS clubs would exercise this new right to withhold our players for the away games, since they will have to return to Canada and isolate. That would make returning players unavailable to their clubs for at least 2 weeks.

On the other hand, who knows if our MLS clubs will be playing in October. How long does the phase 1 must only run until mid September, no?

Outside of Wells (clearly their best player by far), would Bermuda be hurt that much? Most of their players are domestic.

[gator]

13 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I don't necessarily blame them for doing this, but it will make a mockery of world cup qualifying. I don't see why they wouldn't do this for the October window either. 

It probably becomes a crap shoot where we must hope Bermuda miss out on more of their overseas players than we do.  

A real shame it has to go down like this, but it is what it is.

I wonder if MLS clubs would exercise this new right to withhold our players for the away games, since they will have to return to Canada and isolate. That would make returning players unavailable to their clubs for at least 2 weeks.

On the other hand, who knows if our MLS clubs will be playing in October. How long does the phase 1 must only run until mid September, no?

The prospect of an all CPL side looms, maybe TFC would release players who rarely see the field but I doubt it!

[narduch]

MLS season is supposed to run until December now.

[dyslexic nam]

If any Canadian MLS team knowingly sabotages our WCQ campaign by not releasing domestic players, I would hope there would be strong and unified action against them by anyone who supports the CMNT.  That would absolutely end my support for them.  

[Obinna]

43 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Outside of Wells (clearly their best player by far), would Bermuda be hurt that much? Most of their players are domestic.

Out of their 21 players called for nations league, 7 play in England. One each from Poland (div 2), Estonia (div 1) and Sweden (div 2), and a player from Charleston Battery in the USL Championship. One player was unattached and the remaining 9 play domestically in Bermuda.

[Obinna]

41 minutes ago, narduch said:

MLS season is supposed to run until December now.

Yeah, but I still do not see an answer to their Canadian question. Our 3 teams are not going to keep playing each other. 

If nothing changes with the Canadian Government restrictions, we may see them move south for the remainder of the season, and then when they return to Canada for wcq they will have to quarantine, so they must leave the club 2 weeks sooner than they would otherwise, which really leaves the clubs shorthanded, making it less likely the clubs will agree to it.

Edited August 25, 2020 by Obinna

[Shway]

1 hour ago, gator said:

I agree and have been thinking about our best domestic 11 and will iv be good enough, it should be btw, we might be a little light up front if Cav is suspended for any matches as has been speculated! This will be a chance for some to step into bigger roles which is only good obviously if they seize the opportunity!

Great opportunity for our infamous leading goal scorer, the minnow killer - Tosaint Ricketts!