Olympic Qualifying U24 Tournament - Guadalajara Mexico - March 18 to 30 2021

[CanadaFan123]

13 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

A disapointment like every other cycle, tourney and age group we have been involved in for ummmmm, as long as I can remember?  On paper is damn near worthless talk, until we actually start routinely beating the also rans (everyone not USA or Mexico) we should not be talking about catching up to Mexico.  

Who could forget our classic loss to St. Kitts & Nevis last U20 cycle?

[Shway]

@Dominic94 I get the hype, I get the excitement, I get the anticipation - but it's overall naive thinking. 
 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

5 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

Who could forget our classic loss to St. Kitts & Nevis last U20 cycle?

St. Kitts & Nevis almost qualified for this one. They lost to the Dominican Republic in extra-time.

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The problem for us is that these smaller nations tend to call their best youth players as many of them are within country. Ours are scattered around the world.

[Ivan]

6 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

St. Kitts & Nevis almost qualified for this one. They lost to the Dominican Republic in extra-time.

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The problem for us is that these smaller nations tend to call their best youth players as many of them are within country. Ours are scattered around the world.

You're right! Davies, David, Millar, Tabla probably would have been somewhat good to have in those games. 😄

[CanadaFan123]

1 hour ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

St. Kitts & Nevis almost qualified for this one. They lost to the Dominican Republic in extra-time.

---

The problem for us is that these smaller nations tend to call their best youth players as many of them are within country. Ours are scattered around the world.

That's a lame excuse though. So we're disadvantaged because they can call all their best guys from Basseterre FC and we're stuck with our USL and MLS guys? There's a significant gap even if we called a D squad. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

9 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

That's a lame excuse though. So we're disadvantaged because they can call all their best guys from Basseterre FC and we're stuck with our USL and MLS guys? There's a significant gap even if we called a D squad. 

We aren't playing St Kitts this time; we are playing Honduras and El Salvador.

El Salvador are invested in this.

https://www.elsalvador.com/deportes/futbol/seleccion-de-futbol-sub-23-el-salvador-juegos-olimpicos/794676/2021/

They'll be ready.

Honduras too:

https://futbolcentroamerica.com/noticias/Fabian-Coito-entrega-primer-convocatoria-sub-23-de-Honduras--20210114-0004.html

They'll be ready.

Will we?

Edited January 15, 2021 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[CanadaFan123]

6 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

We aren't playing St Kitts this time; we are playing Honduras and El Salvador.

El Salvador are invested in this.

https://www.elsalvador.com/deportes/futbol/seleccion-de-futbol-sub-23-el-salvador-juegos-olimpicos/794676/2021/

They'll be ready.

Honduras too:

https://futbolcentroamerica.com/noticias/Fabian-Coito-entrega-primer-convocatoria-sub-23-de-Honduras--20210114-0004.html

They'll be ready.

Will we?

Well we are currently in camp with twenty one u24 eligible players who should all be available come March. I have no clue about the pedigree of anyone on those lists. 

Safe to assume that we'll also have some European u23s available come March who have been involved in our programs before. It all comes down to preparation .. I'm not worried about our talent level, even if we are missing our top guys.

[Bison44]

Its easier to think of the 2-3 times we have done better than expected or at least done well.  Ummmm 86.....2000 gold cup.....Canada drawing England in U-17WC....Hume in 2003 tournie??

[Dominic94]

It’s a new decade, time for us have high expectations for our shit coaches. More talent than ever. Can’t be happy with surprises, doing well needs to be the norm. 

[SpursFlu]

Are these games at the same time as wcq? The teams that have to play wcq will be weakened(like us) if true. Teams who don't will have an advantage 

[El Hombre]

53 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

Well we are currently in camp with twenty one u24 eligible players who should all be available come March. I have no clue about the pedigree of anyone on those lists.

Guys in the camp that are eligible:

GK- James Pantemis | CAN / CF Montréal
GK- Dayne St. Clair | USA / Minnesota United FC
CB- Derek Cornelius | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
CB- Belal Halbouni | GER / SV Werder Bremen II
CB- Kamal Miller | CAN / CF Montréal
CB- Frank Sturing | NED / FC Den Bosch
FB- Zorhan Bassong | CAN / CF Montréal
FB- Zachary Brault-Guillard | CAN / CF Montréal
FB- Tajon Buchanan | USA / New England Revolution
FB- Cristián Gutierrez | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
FB- Alistair Johnston | USA / Nashville SC
M- Noble Okello | CAN / Toronto FC
M- Ralph Priso | CAN / Toronto FC
M- Jacob Shaffelburg | CAN / Toronto FC
F- Theo Bair | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
F- Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty | CAN / Toronto FC
F- Jayden Nelson | CAN / Toronto FC

I think all the ones bolded will miss the Olympic Qualifiers due to club commitments.

We're going to be in tough.

[MM3/MM2/MM]

11 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

 

I think all the ones bolded will miss the Olympic Qualifiers due to club commitments.

We're going to be in tough.

MLS is usually very accommodating in releasing players for all International competitions, I'm sure a # of Americans will be, so tough not to release Canadians.

Not like the old NASL that released their American players for an international game but not the Canadians.

[MM3/MM2/MM]

1 hour ago, MM3/MM2/MM said:

Duplicate

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by MM3/MM2/MM

[Ansem]

3 hours ago, Bison44 said:

A disapointment like every other cycle, tourney and age group we have been involved in for ummmmm, as long as I can remember?  On paper is damn near worthless talk, until we actually start routinely beating the also rans (everyone not USA or Mexico) we should not be talking about catching up to Mexico.  

Something that we shouldn't forget is that we used to fill those U23 teams with academy & bench players who weren't playing lots of minutes while elsewhere - they had domestic leagues where they could clock lots of minutes.

For me, with USL-1 not playing at all in 2020 while CPL had the Island games, we should be able to get a team on the pitch who actually played good minutes. There's little justification for guys who barely played last year to be on the team just because it says "TFC" next to their names.

I'm hoping this gets taken under consideration for the final U23 squad otherwise, expect more of the same until we stop that bias

 

[dyslexic nam]

I will start acting like we have turned a page and become a force in CONCACAF precisely when our results consistently show that we have turned a page and become a force in CONCACAF.   Any bravado before that happens just isn’t convincing.  

[CanadaFan123]

1 hour ago, El Hombre said:

Guys in the camp that are eligible:

GK- James Pantemis | CAN / CF Montréal
GK- Dayne St. Clair | USA / Minnesota United FC
CB- Derek Cornelius | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
CB- Belal Halbouni | GER / SV Werder Bremen II
CB- Kamal Miller | CAN / CF Montréal
CB- Frank Sturing | NED / FC Den Bosch
FB- Zorhan Bassong | CAN / CF Montréal
FB- Zachary Brault-Guillard | CAN / CF Montréal
FB- Tajon Buchanan | USA / New England Revolution
FB- Cristián Gutierrez | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
FB- Alistair Johnston | USA / Nashville SC
M- Noble Okello | CAN / Toronto FC
M- Ralph Priso | CAN / Toronto FC
M- Jacob Shaffelburg | CAN / Toronto FC
F- Theo Bair | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
F- Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty | CAN / Toronto FC
F- Jayden Nelson | CAN / Toronto FC

I think all the ones bolded will miss the Olympic Qualifiers due to club commitments.

We're going to be in tough.

If those players are missing then every team will be missing their top players as well. 

[RS]

MLS might not even be in season by that point. Between COVID and the CBA negotiations, there’s a good chance the league doesn’t start until April.

[scooterlawrence5]

Assume MLS and CPL will start later than late March so this means we have almost full inventory to select from for Olympic qualifiers.  Question is how strong (or weak) do you make the Olympic team vs the MNT team playing on the same dates?

[toontownman]

11 minutes ago, scooterlawrence5 said:

Assume MLS and CPL will start later than late March so this means we have almost full inventory to select from for Olympic qualifiers.  Question is how strong (or weak) do you make the Olympic team vs the MNT team playing on the same dates?

Depends entirely on who is available. If everyone from Europe/Elsewhere is fit and available I would expect the Olympic team to be pretty strong (Davies/David etc. aside).

If we actually made the olympics it would be interesting to see if we go for it with Davies/David involved. I could see Herdman prioritizing the Olympics over Gold Cup for the U24's given his past relationship with it. He would be right imo. Canada showing well there would be likely more impactful than doing well in the gold cup. All a moot point as it is a tough ask to even get to the Olympics.

[narduch]

Rumours out of Japan are that the Olympics will be canceled. 

This tournament may not happen.

[Shway]

2 hours ago, narduch said:

Rumours out of Japan are that the Olympics will be canceled. 

This tournament may not happen.

Just read this...my selfish addiction wanted it to happen. But there’s no way their government allows it to happen with how things in the world are currently with variants popping up. 

So on that note what about the US hosting the Olympics this year 😃.   

Or have the Summer & Winter Olympics, and the World Cup all in one year. The world will deserve that in 2022.

Edited January 22, 2021 by Shway

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

58 minutes ago, Shway said:

Or have the Summer & Winter Olympics, and the World Cup all in one year. The world will deserve that in 2022.

Or all in one venue? I nominate Qatar. Winter Olympics in Qatar.

It's all rumours at this point. Let's wait for good ol'Dick to Pound away and tell us what is what.

https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/tokyo-olympics-2021-ioc-officials-still-plan-for-summer-games-as-reports-of-possible-cancellation-emerge/

[CanadianSoccerFan]

They held the Winter Olympics two years apart in 92 and 94 so I don't see why they can't have them in 2022 and 2024.  World Cup is in the Winter anyway so it's not like there is a conflict.

[SpursFlu]

They should move the Olympics to China, Saudi Arabia, Russia or Singapore. No major sponsors will get behind a major event happening in a G7 nation at the moment. Especially if the goal is to put people in the crowd and have athletes interacting. The giant sponsors don't wont those optics anytime soon

[narduch]

2 hours ago, Shway said:

Just read this...my selfish addiction wanted it to happen. But there’s no way their government allows it to happen with how things in the world are currently with variants popping up. 

So on that note what about the US hosting the Olympics this year 😃.   

Or have the Summer & Winter Olympics, and the World Cup all in one year. The world will deserve that in 2022.

The Olympics problem is that its so bloated.