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

[toontownman]

5 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

Tbh it’s not like the full CMNT is needed for the qualifiers.

I agree, but.. that is probably the thinking to have the strongest line up and priority there or at least where has been intimated if not said. I am pretty high on Johnston if that is the case though. I think he is solid. Might also come down to the trust and knowledge of the style of play and program. Putting ZBG there makes sense because he is fully integrated and would be a leader.

I love this stuff though. We are starting to have some real quality depth!

[CanadaFan123]

10 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Not sure that ZBG will be there. Who backs up laryea? Think they will want the best two RB in the full CMNT. Could be Cordova but he seems out of favour.

If ZBG is with the senior squad we still have Johnston and Godinho for the u23s.

I’d of course prefer Cordova join the senior squad as backup. If he’s eligible..

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

I like that the MLS guys only need to miss pre-season and not regular season games. Hopefully the MLS teams play nice.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2021/01/25/major-league-soccer-announces-2021-season-and-preseason-start-dates

[toontownman]

How do our players stack up to other nations in term of fitness at this point of the year?

The North American players should be returning back to pre-season soon. Will other opponents be in the same boat?

[Shway]

I’m going to go with expectation that nothing will drastically change in the next 30 days for restrictions to substantially alter the outcomes of these rosters. Meaning, I’ll assume that no UK, or European guys will be called up for either the Senior or U24 squad. With that in mind here’s what I think we could see what these rosters could look like. Given that the WCQ and OQ are taking place during the same time, who attended the recent  French Fries camp(can't call it a Poutine), and who was listed on the initial on the 2020 Olympic provisional roster ( I understand this is subjective considering there will be a new list released soon).

Here’s who I got for the U24s: 

Goal Keepers
St. Clair, Pantemis, Hasal

Defenders:
Dunn, Halbouini, Sturring, Montgomerry, Bassong, Gutierrez, Johnston

Midfielders: 
Fraser, Okello, Baldisimo, Priso, Shome,

Forwards:
Bair, Shaffelburg, Marshall-Rutty, Johnson, Peruzza

On the Cusp: D. Choinere, Campbell, NS’a, Farsi, Abzi

Here’s who  I have with the 1st Team:

Goal Keepers:
Crepeau, Carducci, Henry

Defenders:
Waterman, Miller, Corneilius, Didic, Adekugbe, Laryea, Brault-Guillard 

Midfielders:
Osorio, Kaye, Piette, Bustos, Edwards, Teibert, Chapman

Forwards: 
Akindele, Cavalini, Akinola*, Ricketts, Nelson, Buchanan

* Akindele starts against Bermuda. 

I'm going to strongly guess, that we won't see much rotation between the two games against Bermuda or the Cayman islands. Reason why I have the U24 squad with better backups at positions vs the senior guys. I think the extra game warrants it, as rotation in those style tournaments are inevitable, so  why not have solid backups without jeopardizing the senior squad. 

Edited February 7, 2021 by Shway

[toontownman]

Aren't Sturring, Halbouni and Adekugbe European based? 

I am hopeful they will be able to get some european players over. They did for the January camp. Whether Clubs will let them go who knows.

[N1ckbr0wn]

26 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Aren't Sturring, Halbouni and Adekugbe European based? 

I am hopeful they will be able to get some european players over. They did for the January camp. Whether Clubs will let them go who knows.

The CANWNT seemed to have called their Europe based players, maybe this is a good sign for the Men? 

[Shway]

40 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Aren't Sturring, Halbouni and Adekugbe European based? 

I am hopeful they will be able to get some european players over. They did for the January camp. Whether Clubs will let them go who knows.

I went based on their ability to attend the January camp. However they are many variables for each. 
Halbouni - 4th division is still on pause in Germany.
Sturring - is pretty much a free agent with a potential move to a CPL squad.
Adekugbe - his team take a break during the window. (last game March 19th, return game is April 5th. 

If we do have Europe based players, these squad could look completely different.

[Shway]

17 minutes ago, N1ckbr0wn said:

The CANWNT seemed to have called their Europe based players, maybe this is a good sign for the Men? 

National team soccer is the pinnacle for Womens soccer.With news that clubs will be allowed to hold back players, this will be interesting with our bigger players who are challenging for titles/promotion (Davies, David, Arfield, Larin, Hutchinson and Liam...Eustaqiuo at Pacos are in a Europe hunt). Will they stay or will they come. 

[CanadaFan123]

7 hours ago, Shway said:

National team soccer is the pinnacle for Womens soccer.With news that clubs will be allowed to hold back players, this will be interesting with our bigger players who are challenging for titles/promotion (Davies, David, Arfield, Larin, Hutchinson and Liam...Eustaqiuo at Pacos are in a Europe hunt). Will they stay or will they come. 

The women are playing in a friendly tournament whereas this is WCQ. If the best players can’t be called it’s a farce to the biggest men’s competition. 
 

As I said before, expect there to be “A” rosters or cancellations. They’re already looking at neutral sites to avoid the latter.

[Ivan]

8 hours ago, Shway said:

I went based on their ability to attend the January camp. However they are many variables for each. 
Halbouni - 4th division is still on pause in Germany.
Sturring - is pretty much a free agent with a potential move to a CPL squad.
Adekugbe - his team take a break during the window. (last game March 19th, return game is April 5th. 

If we do have Europe based players, these squad could look completely different.

I thought I read somewhere that Sturing re-signed with Den Bosch?

[archer21]

I’d think they’ll just do a neutral site if they have to. Didn’t they already announce a different group was doing that? Seems like a better solution than hosting in Canada without our European players.

[narduch]

19 minutes ago, archer21 said:

I’d think they’ll just do a neutral site if they have to. Didn’t they already announce a different group was doing that? Seems like a better solution than hosting in Canada without our European players.

Even if we do that the big question will be which Euro based players will skip out.

Unless things change we may not be able to get any or our German based players.

[archer21]

7 minutes ago, narduch said:

Even if we do that the big question will be which Euro based players will skip out.

Unless things change we may not be able to get any or our German based players.

I’m unfamiliar with the exact restrictions right now. Are they restricted to go to Canada? How about the USA? There has to be a location that everyone would be able to travel to.

[narduch]

9 minutes ago, archer21 said:

I’m unfamiliar with the exact restrictions right now. Are they restricted to go to Canada? How about the USA? There has to be a location that everyone would be able to travel to.

I might be a bit off.

Germany is currently not allowing people in from countries with major variant issues. So perhaps it may be ok for Davies to travel to say, Dominican Republic or Florida.

Currently they aren't allowing Liverpool to travel to Leipzig for Champions League.

Edited February 7, 2021 by narduch

[nfitz]

4 hours ago, narduch said:

I might be a bit off.

Germany is currently not allowing people in from countries with major variant issues. So perhaps it may be ok for Davies to travel to say, Dominican Republic or Florida.

Currently they aren't allowing Liverpool to travel to Leipzig for Champions League.

I really don't see how this March WCQ games all over the place are going to work.

Perhaps the best thing to happen to us, is if they simply delay them, or rejig the WCQ again, and then we can send Davies and several others to the Olympic qualifiers

[red card]

Davies isn't coming to any Olympic qualifiers.

Besides the covid issues and Euro clubs not rating Olympic qualifiers for any first team players, Bayern is playing in the Champions League on Mar 17th and then have a league match on the weekend.

[Dominic94]

The U-24 team is very capable and let’s not forget the US and Mexico likely aren’t getting anyone from Europe.

 

also quite frankly our domestic guys should handle the senior qualifiers with ease.

[trc2014]

35 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

The U-24 team is very capable and let’s not forget the US and Mexico likely aren’t getting anyone from Europe.

 

also quite frankly our domestic guys should handle the senior qualifiers with ease.

Sorry if I’m being a bit of a broken record, but the attitude on this Bermuda game has shifted big time on this board.  I think it’s really being overlooked.  Let’s remember that this game is now most likely outside of Canada.

[Shway]

51 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

Sorry if I’m being a bit of a broken record, but the attitude on this Bermuda game has shifted big time on this board.  I think it’s really being overlooked.  Let’s remember that this game is now most likely outside of Canada.

It has shifted because of circumstances. If it affect us, it’ll definitely affect Bermuda. 

Im confident our domestic pool would get the job done against their domestic pool. 

 

[Shway]

However like I said, it will be interesting to see who is released for what. The reality is, a lot of our u23 guys are substantial players to their teams...Millar, Paton and Kennedy. 

I can’t see those teams allowing those guys to be released for Olympic tournament, but for WCQ...I guess they have too.

I ultimately hope our coaches are strategic with the roster building for both teams.  Like if Millar isn’t available for U23 but is for WCQ - they send Nelson to the U23s.

I want the next generation/depth which is this  squad to be a strong as possible without the obvious guys being there.

[Alex]

4 hours ago, nfitz said:

I really don't see how this March WCQ games all over the place are going to work.

Perhaps the best thing to happen to us, is if they simply delay them, or rejig the WCQ again, and then we can send Davies and several others to the Olympic qualifiers

Imagine a fully stacked Olympic team? 

[CanadaFan123]

any idea when this photo was from? I don’t remember this mix of players ever being together.

edit: nvm it was January 2018 u23 camp. Crazy to see where the guys are now. Cornelius I didn’t believe was involved at that point. Also odd that David wasn’t there.

Edited February 8, 2021 by CanadaFan123

[Ansem]

 

[dyslexic nam]

25 minutes ago, Ansem said:

 

Damn that is good news.  The more I get out of that OS subscription the better.