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

[Dominic94]

1 minute ago, jordan said:

He has been there for a long while, there before Adonijah Reid went.

Dual ? Has he played for Canada before ?

[dyslexic nam]

Just now, Nate3322 said:

So here are my initial thoughts.

Interesting that ZBG is in the roster but not Johnston.

Lucas Dias is a cool name to see.

I'm a bit surprised Cornelius in the roster.

Akinola isn't in the squad (not too surprising)

Nice to see all those European based players.

Overall looking like a strong team I'm excited to see those games.

I forgot to note Cornelius- he jumped out for me too.  With him and ZBG, we have half of what can be our starting back 4 in a senior match. 

[Dominic94]

1 minute ago, jordan said:

I suspect Stafan Mitrovic will be in Serbia colors soon based on that list. 

He could still eventually join us but win some lose some. Dias is a very big win and I’ll take it.

[jordan]

2 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

Dual ? Has he played for Canada before ?

Dual, played 4 games for the reserves this season. Looks like National 3 is on hold till march. 

[Atlantic]

2 minutes ago, jordan said:

Dual, played 4 games for the reserves this season. Looks like National 3 is on hold till march. 

Looks like he’s featured on the bench for the first team on the 2nd of February as well

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Atlantic

[BrennanFan]

FW:  Corbeanu, Bair, Brym, Ongaro (Perruzza)

AM:  Dias, Buchanan, Tabla, Shaffelberg (Twardek, Nelson, Marshall-Rutty)

CM:  Fraser, Baldisimo, Shome, Paton (Priso, Okello)

FB:  Gutierrez, ZBG, Bassong, Godinho (Farsi)  

CD:  Cornelius, Sturing, Dunn, Montgomery (TMG, Romeo) 

GK:  St. Clair, Hasal, Pantemis (Breza)

 

These would be my 23 (almost made the cut).  Is the final roster 23 players?

Edited February 23, 2021 by BrennanFan

[Dominic94]

Flores not listed with Mexico, Alvarez is apparently cloned now and is on both the lists for USA and Mexico, tbh I don’t know why Aruajo hasn’t left for Mexico as long term he will not get the call for the US.

no Kennedy, Johnston or Halbouni, maybe euro clubs said no ?

Simon Colyn was omitted which is a little strange as he’s doing well at SPAL and is apparently close to being brought into first team training.

 

It will be tough but we can do this, Dias is a big boost to our chances. He legitimately could have played for the Portugal u-23’s one day.

[PiedPilko]

2 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

no Kennedy, Johnston or Halbouni, maybe euro clubs said no ?

 

Maybe Kennedy and Johnston will be on the senior team?

[Floortom]

Not a very strong roster. I think we’ll need to play way over our heads to qualify. 

can someone tell me why Dias is such a big get?

Edited February 23, 2021 by Floortom

[SoccMan]

On 2/17/2021 at 9:10 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Mexico is hosting a prep camp.

Honduras and Costa Rica are holding camps in Costa Rica and will play each other twice on the 23rd and 25th of this month.

El Salvador recently hired a new U23(U24) coach and a new goalkeeper coach too and held a camp earlier this month.

Haiti is looking to play an amateur Mexican side at home in early March as well as possibly a U23 US based team or some Mexican clubs in Mexico right before the tourney starts.

https://haititempo.com/foot-jo-2021-haiti-aux-eliminatoires-ca-se-precise/

Just remember that we may well be the least prepared team of our group.

We always are when it comes to past Olympic qualifying teams , it’s too bad because this time we have so much talent but still need to be better prepared but once again going into another Olympic qualifying hardly prepared.

[Ivan]

I don't see Kamal Miller on the list either.  No surprise about Kennedy and Liam.  A little surprised Halbouni isn't there.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Ivan
spelling

[Ivan]

3 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

We always are when it comes to past Olympic qualifying teams , it’s too bad because this time we have so much talent but still need to be better prepared but once again going into another Olympic qualifying hardly prepared.

I'm hoping we'll play a few exhibition games against MLS and CPL teams in training.

[Nate3322]

8 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

no Kennedy, Johnston or Halbouni, maybe euro clubs said no ?

Johnston apparently made a strong impression on Herdman so I'd figure we see him with the senior team. No way Regensburg would let Kennedy go when he'd miss league games since right now they need him with Nachreiner being injured, I reckon that Kennedy will be with the senior squad too.

[Dominic94]

4 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Not a very strong roster - would really need to play. I think we’ll need to play way over our heads to qualify. 

can someone tell me why Dias is such a big get?

Probably the best roster we’ve had ever.

Dias is a wonder kid.

[Dominic94]

Just now, Nate3322 said:

Johnston apparently made a strong impression on Herdman so I'd figure we see him with the senior team. No way Regensburg would let Kennedy go when he'd miss league games since right now they need him with Nachreiner being injured, I reckon that Kennedy will be with the senior squad too.

Yea I’m thinking the ones we thought would be there but aren’t are going up a level. What’s really nice is we won’t miss them that much, and that’s weird.

[narduch]

50 player roster. Too much for my ADHD to handle. 

Am I crazy but are a bunch of clubs listed wrong? Bassong and Dunn come to mind.

[Floortom]

8 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

Probably the best roster we’ve had ever.

Dias is a wonder kid.

I’m not going to go back and look at all the rosters to compare but I do know that recency bias is a real thing. We haven’t qualified in like 40 years anyways so “strongest roster ever” still doesn’t inspire much confidence.

looking at the US and Mexico rosters is why I think there would need to be one hell of an upset for us to qualify but obviously I’m hopeful.

I really had no idea Dias was considered a “wonder kid” by many people. 

[Mikmacdo]

https://youtu.be/655pyrqAF0U

 

[jordan]

i turned that off after 2 mins, it was hard to watch. 

[Dominic94]

10 minutes ago, Floortom said:

I’m not going to go back and look at all the rosters to compare but I do know that recency bias is a real thing. We haven’t qualified in like 40 years anyways so “strongest roster ever” still doesn’t inspire much confidence.

looking at the US and Mexico rosters is why I think there would need to be one hell of an upset for us to qualify but obviously I’m hopeful.

I really had no idea Dias was considered a “wonder kid” by many people. 

They both have strong teams and obviously the actual USA team would walk through this tourney, but make no mistake we aren’t going to lose because we’re far less talented. It’s literally going to come down to preparation and coaching, the talent gap isn’t very big. I think the USA is the favourite for the tourney and we’ll have to take Mexico on for the other spot. 
 

As for Dias, scroll to the bottom it’s there:

https://petergalindo.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/canadians-abroad-mailbag-standouts-from-mens-camp-new-faces-for-women-and-more/amp/#click=https://t.co/meiCONjWt4

I haven’t seen confirmation that he will play, but I don’t think we just go and name players that we don’t know about. If we did Flores, Mitrovic and Akinola would be there. 
 

id imagine he’s committed and this will help us a ton going forward as we don’t have a 10, this is going to catch Flores’s attention and even Akinola. We might have literaly stolen one of Portugal’s top prospects from them. 
 

my only question is if he’s showing up and if he had to file a switch for us ?

[Obinna]

39 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

Probably the best roster we’ve had ever.

Dias is a wonder kid.

Has he played with Sporting's first team yet? 

[El Hombre]

I wouldn't get hopes up about Lucas Dias.  Considering both the US and Mexico name Alvarez on theirs, inclusion on the 50 man provisional roster means relatively little.

[Dominic94]

9 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Has he played with Sporting's first team yet? 

No but he’s apparently close. 

[Obinna]

I know our roster doesn't seem so strong at first glance, but it's a preliminary roster right? The final roster will have plenty of MLS regulars (Buchanan, Brault-Guillard, Cornelius, St. Clair, etc.) and perhaps a sprinkling of some of the top CanPL players (Farsi, Abzi, etc.). A lot of our depth is weaker compared to the USA and Mexico, but they won't make the final cut, so we should focus on the upper half of the list.

Also, I expect our goal keeping will amongst the best in the tournament with St. Clair and Hasal. Solid goal keeping should not be overlooked.

[Dominic94]

3 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

I wouldn't get hopes up about Lucas Dias.  Considering both the US and Mexico name Alvarez on theirs, inclusion on the 50 man provisional roster means relatively little.

I disagree, Alvarez has showed up for both and if anything it means both are confident he will play for them. If Anything Mexico should be very worried that the US listed him because it means he could have filed a switch. 

also, I’m not sure if Dias had to file for us as he has repped Portugal at the u16 and maybe u18 level ? 
 

but again, Dias is taking a spot here, we aren’t naming him to make a wave, or else again other duals would be present. He clearly has intentions to show up. Also, Dias, Flores, Corbeanu, Nelson, Priso, Rutty, Okello, Dunn, Romeo, Millar etc are all TFC boys or from that area. They all know each other and group up together, 1 props to TFC who said there isn’t talent in Canada and 2 that helps immensely in recruiting because a top dual like Dias and Flores is going to know how good the others are. If Dias doesn’t show up, it’s amateur ish from the CSA’s part.