The Road to Qatar.

[Bison44]

You would think this "brotherhood" mentality and team cohesiveness has been building for awhile now.  Some of the vets that skipped the GC prob wish they had have been there, but I doubt the others will exclude them in any building sense of "family" amongst the players/coaching staff etc.  Borjan, Arfield, Hutch are all vets with strong credentials, Davies, David are the stars..these guys shouldn t have problems.

[jtpc]

Just looking at our schedule, we're very home-heavy in the first half of the Octagonal. 5 of our 7 home matches are between September and November. We could really do ourselves a lot of favours if we were in an excellent position after November because points may be a little harder to come by between January and March. 4 of those 6 January to March matches are away in Central America. Ideally, we're in an excellent position after November AND we slay some away dragons in the new year! 💪

[jtpc]

A couple of schedule observations in terms of who some of our opponents play directly before us in the same window. It could be totally irrelevant since everyone's depth will be tested, but it still seemed interesting:

- Both times we play El Salvador, we face them right after they've played Honduras 2-3 days before (could be good if it's been physical)

- In 3 of the windows, we get teams right after they've played the US (Jamaica in October, Mexico in November, Panama in March)

[SpursFlu]

I would flip the Brotherhood thing on its head. Atiba and Arfield come in to the September window and we take 7pts. Someone who sat on the bench for a 3 win 2 lose gold cup catches feelings about being left out. How is that brotherhood? Isn't the purpose for Canada to get to the Gold Cup? The message from Herdman will be that these guys are not spring chickens, stay positive and you'll get your shot. Herdman will make his decisions window to window and we can judge him accordingly after each one and things will change over the next 16 months

Plus, with all the insane travel and 3 games in 10, you may say Arfield and Atiba aren't starters, Its pretty nice to rotate them in for 1 game because i think it offers our best opportunity to maximize pts

I just think its amazing when you consider everyone wants to be there, the quality of player that will be left off the squad 

Edited August 6, 2021 by SpursFlu

[dyslexic nam]

1 hour ago, jtpc said:

Just looking at our schedule, we're very home-heavy in the first half of the Octagonal. 5 of our 7 home matches are between September and November. We could really do ourselves a lot of favours if we were in an excellent position after November because points may be a little harder to come by between January and March. 4 of those 6 January to March matches are away in Central America. Ideally, we're in an excellent position after November AND we slay some away dragons in the new year! 💪

Honestly, I view this as one more example of our excellent WCQ scenario this cycle.  Just like the last stage(s) where we moved progressively from minnow to Haiti, this next phase let’s us get some momentum going at home before we build to the hard away games in Central America.  While an early stumble in the home games would put us behind the 8 ball early, there will always be banana peels - and I still think that this scenario and the way the games have progressed give us the maximum chance to qualify.  It is a pretty refreshing change from cycles where everything seems to be conspiring against us.  

Edited August 6, 2021 by dyslexic nam

[JohnnyFranchise]

5 hours ago, jtpc said:

A couple of schedule observations in terms of who some of our opponents play directly before us in the same window. It could be totally irrelevant since everyone's depth will be tested, but it still seemed interesting:

- Both times we play El Salvador, we face them right after they've played Honduras 2-3 days before (could be good if it's been physical)

- In 3 of the windows, we get teams right after they've played the US (Jamaica in October, Mexico in November, Panama in March)

i don't think that's entirely irrelevant at all, el salvador could be limping into those games after those bloodbaths.

it's just too bad we don't play anyone right after they've played at the azteca.

^^^futher to that, i would seriously consider taking a skeleton squad to mexico on october 7th. but i know that conversation could have its own thread 🤣

 

[BearcatSA]

7 hours ago, Bison44 said:

You would think this "brotherhood" mentality and team cohesiveness has been building for awhile now.  Some of the vets that skipped the GC prob wish they had have been there, but I doubt the others will exclude them in any building sense of "family" amongst the players/coaching staff etc.  Borjan, Arfield, Hutch are all vets with strong credentials, Davies, David are the stars..these guys shouldn t have problems.

You only find out how strong your culture is when you are having a rough patch of adversity and results.  We have fourteen games congested in what, five international windows? There will be ups but there may be some significant downs.  How we handle those will be the difference between qualifying or not. 

[dyslexic nam]

So an interesting pre-game bit on MLS on TSN had JdG identifying his optimal starting lineup if we make Qatar and Herdman has everyone available to him.  

Interesting factoid 1: he has us in a 4-5-1 rather than Herdman’s recent 3-5-2.  

Interesting factoid 2:  he has Davies back at left back to accommodate Buchanan further up a d to load the left side. 

Interesting factoid 3:  Super Scotty Arfield was no where to be seen.  Not on the starting 11 and not even on the bench (that had room for Liam Fraser).  Not sure if he has any insider info that we haven’t seen yet, but that is a pretty big omission consider the scenario was if everyone was healthy and Herdman had everyone to choose from.  

[Kent]

4 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

So an interesting pre-game bit on MLS on TSN had JdG identifying his optimal starting lineup if we make Qatar and Herdman has everyone available to him.  

Interesting factoid 1: he has us in a 4-5-1 rather than Herdman’s recent 3-5-2.  

Interesting factoid 2:  he has Davies back at left back to accommodate Buchanan further up a d to load the left side. 

Interesting factoid 3:  Super Scotty Arfield was no where to be seen.  Not on the starting 11 and not even on the bench (that had room for Liam Fraser).  Not sure if he has any insider info that we haven’t seen yet, but that is a pretty big omission consider the scenario was if everyone was healthy and Herdman had everyone to choose from.  

You skipped over this new guy "Victoria". Is he a dual national? He looks like Vitoria, I hope he is at least as good.

[Kent]

On 8/5/2021 at 11:32 PM, An Observer said:

Not sure I agree.  A month ago, I had us as 3rd or 4th in the region on paper (as many did) but we were up against Costa Rica and Honduras who both have pedigree.  What the Gold Cup changed was that we played Costa Rica off the park with their team being much closer to full strength than ours and Honduras (again with a closer to full strength side) didn’t perform very well in this tournament (and in particular against Mexico where we did).  And neither of these sides have been performing well going into the Gold Cup.

In the Gold Cup Honduras lost to Qatar and Mexico, who are both very good teams. Pretty similar to us losing to USA and Mexico.

Before that, in the Nations League they finished 3rd place. Won their group, then lost to eventual champions (and eternal host) USA in the semi finals (on an 89th minute goal) and then beat Costa Rica in the 3rd place match (granted, in a shoot out).

I've seen a lot of people claim Honduras hasn't been good recently, but I honestly don't know what that is based on.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

40 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

So an interesting pre-game bit on MLS on TSN had JdG identifying his optimal starting lineup if we make Qatar and Herdman has everyone available to him....

Based on recent play, I am not O Kaye with this squad.

20-man squad? Don't read anything into it.

[costarg]

1 hour ago, dyslexic nam said:

So an interesting pre-game bit on MLS on TSN had JdG identifying his optimal starting lineup if we make Qatar and Herdman has everyone available to him.  

Interesting factoid 1: he has us in a 4-5-1 rather than Herdman’s recent 3-5-2.  

Interesting factoid 2:  he has Davies back at left back to accommodate Buchanan further up a d to load the left side. 

Interesting factoid 3:  Super Scotty Arfield was no where to be seen.  Not on the starting 11 and not even on the bench (that had room for Liam Fraser).  Not sure if he has any insider info that we haven’t seen yet, but that is a pretty big omission consider the scenario was if everyone was healthy and Herdman had everyone to choose from.  

Having Vitoria AND Henry in there over Johnston, Miller and Kennedy eliminates any and all credibility the guy had. 

Edited August 9, 2021 by costarg

[trc2014]

 

[EJsens1]

3 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

 

 

[trc2014]

Per the broadcast - left knee strain.  If true and even mild this would be a 6 week recovery.

Edited August 9, 2021 by trc2014

[frmr]

4 hours ago, Kent said:

You skipped over this new guy "Victoria". Is he a dual national? He looks like Vitoria, I hope he is at least as good.

Wow, that says a lot about TSN.

[gigi riva]

7 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Based on recent play, I am not O Kaye with this squad.

20-man squad? Don't read anything into it.

right now as far as CBs go I would have Kennedy and Miller ahead of Henry

[BearcatSA]

43 minutes ago, frmr said:

Wow, that says a lot about TSN.

Amateur hour

[cronaldo7]

Keep in mind, JDG is probably more likely to pick guys he’s friendlier with, like Henry and Hoilett (still think ideally Junior comes on as an impact sub).

Arfield not mentioned is probably insider information and as most of us are assuming means Scotty ain’t coming back.

[BuzzAndSting]

44 minutes ago, cronaldo7 said:

Keep in mind, JDG is probably more likely to pick guys he’s friendlier with, like Henry and Hoilett (still think ideally Junior comes on as an impact sub).

Arfield not mentioned is probably insider information and as most of us are assuming means Scotty ain’t coming back.

Herdman just said last Friday that Arfield and Hutch are back in for September.

[Alex]

3 minutes ago, BuzzAndSting said:

Herdman just said last Friday that Arfield and Hutch are back in for September.

Where did he say this? 

[Alex]

By the way.... WERE COMING HOME. Where’s Ric Flair? Woooooooooooooooo

[narduch]

1 minute ago, Alex said:

Where did he say this? 

 

[narduch]

We have match times now.

 

 

[BearcatSA]

12 hours ago, cronaldo7 said:

Keep in mind, JDG is probably more likely to pick guys he’s friendlier with, like Henry and Hoilett (still think ideally Junior comes on as an impact sub).

Hoilett had a great Gold Cup but I'm like you in that I would love to see him off the bench like a Quaresma and you could play him with a lead or chasing for a goal.

The only thing that I would note in discussing the full squad is that we likely will (or certainly should) see one or two players emerge or get dropped simply due to form or simply being stuck on the bench with their clubs over the next couple of months, especially with the back ups.  Granted, a large number in this team are regulars with their clubs but I still think you need room for the "hot" player.  

Edited August 10, 2021 by BearcatSA