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

[BrennanFan]

I think our weakest players this time around are better than last cycles weakest. 

It's not about the best players, it's the best 'team'. If the group can come together, we have every chance if winning. Someone up front needs to take the reigns and score goals, like Petrasso did last time around, and Gyaki and Hume before him. My money is on Tabla, but Buchanan and Brym have the tools as well. Dias is the wildcard. Can't wait to see what these guys can do. 

[El Hombre]

4 minutes ago, SpecialK said:

               Bair

Ballou  - Dias - Buchanan

Baldisimo - Norman Jr

 Bassong- Montgomery - Cornelius - ZBG.  
 
                  Breza

 

Exactly.  And with Twardek, Brym and Raposo coming off the bench, its a dynamic attacking team.  So if Norman concerns himself with ball recovery and just hands it off to Baldisimo, this is going to be a fun team to watch.

[gator]

I think it is natural to concentrate initially on the players who are missing and wonder what might have been, the more I look at lineups some of you are speculating , the more I think this team could potentially be pretty good, of course we don't know how it will gel or how good the opposition will be! Exciting times to see a Men's roster again and have a tournament to look forward to soon!

[Tyson M]

12 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

Sturing over Cornelius at the senior team doesn’t make sense to me at all.  

Unless Sturing is being called to sit as the 3rd CB whereas they know Cornelius will likely play every minute for Olympic team, but all of this assumes that Herdman is 100% with his CB pairing even though we have no idea.

Same for GK situation. I think St Clair might play the 2nd game though(and Borjan can leave early or whatever), but that's for another thread.

[JasonDias]

On 3/10/2021 at 4:22 PM, Dominic94 said:

Dias’s cousin/uncle in on this forum, perhaps you can confirm this ? @JasonDias

if this is true I think this speak huge volumes of how far we’ve come as a soccer program for him to show up for us over them. The reality is that it would be so easy and fair for him to say I feel Portuguese.

 

Edited March 25, 2021 by JasonDias

[SpursFlu]

8 minutes ago, El Diego said:

From a practical standpoint I don't understand why a guy can't get a test done and if he passes be allowed to go, which from my understanding is basically what happened with the previously mentioned Muller/Bayern incident. Like a couple guys pointed out, not sure who is pulling the strings.

Or how about the fact that none of these guys are 89 years old. Look kidding aside, I've personally stopped trying to make any sense of the senseless. Lets just enjoy these crumbs our overlords have allowed to tumble off the table in to our desperate little hands. Fire up the dodgy streams and prepare for the inevitable disappointing kick to the nuts. Canadian soccer is back baby!

Edited March 10, 2021 by SpursFlu

[BrennanFan]

According to the twitter, Sturing and Farsi made the trip as well for injury cover. Can anyone confirm? 

[PiedPilko]

Big chance for Baldisimo to really take over. He's not gonna have much help, but hopefully he can blast tabla/buchannan into attacking positions. 

 

Most interesting name to me here is Twardek, though. He's started the last few games for Jagiellonia, and he's finally getting some praise for his work rate. I'm surprised he was released.

[SpecialK]

I still wish H.Paton and Corbeanu were there! Oh well they’ll  probably be there for the Olympics if we Qualify

[toontownman]

23 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

Sturing over Cornelius at the senior team doesn’t make sense to me at all.  

Depends on who is in the CMNT. Makes sense to me. We need a natural leader in the U24's and Cornelius is a huge presence. Surely the captain for the team. Sturing is more expendable to go sit as 3rd/4th choice for the WCQ's. 

[SoccMan]

Norman’s last pro game was the 2019 season with Pacific, did not see the field in 2020 for Inter Miami. So basically has not played in almost two years , but many on here have put him in the starting lineup lol, but some have a problem with Godinho who has been actually playing being on the roster. My question is why a guy like Norman is even there? I’m sure there were players of age eligibility in the CPL who actually played last season that could of been picked over a guy who has not played a competitive game since 2019 ?

[Stryker911]

7 hours ago, Shway said:

Well here's the what I hoped for:

 

 

This roster looked like it would probably be alot of people's first choice. 

Not on it. St. Clair, Sturing, Dunn, Gutierrez, Fraser, Okello, Priso, Nelson, Corbeanu

Replaced with. Breza, Montgomery, TMG, Godinho, Metcalfe, Norman, Daniels, Twardek, Raposo.

Actually not a huge disappointment. Goalie is a downgrade, defense is comparable, mid is a bit weaker. Fwd are good bench options, assuming Corbeanu is on the senior team.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Stryker911

[trc2014]

3 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Depends on who is in the CMNT. Makes sense to me. We need a natural leader in the U24's and Cornelius is a huge presence. Surely the captain for the team. Sturing is more expendable to go sit as 3rd/4th choice for the WCQ's. 

This directly goes against Herdman’s point at putting the best team forward for WCQ.

[dyslexic nam]

And not to fixate on it but didn’t TFC announce they weren’t releasing players in advance of the COVID announcement? 

[SpecialK]

4 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

This roster looked like it would probably be alot of people's first choice. 

Not on it. St. Clair, Sturing, Dunn, Gutierrez, Fraser, Okello, Priso, Nelson, Corbeanu

Replaced with. Breza, Montgomery, TMG, Godinho, Metcalfe, Norman, Daniels, Twardek, Raposo.

Actually not a huge disappointment. Goalie us a downgrade, defense is comparable, mid is a bit weaker (but the TFC guys are a promising but still a bit young). Fwd are good bench options, assuming Corbeanu is on the senior team.

I’m sorry Breza was making this team. He’s a huge upgrade over  Pantemis. If St. Clair was called up Pantemis would be fighting for 3rd. 

Edited March 10, 2021 by SpecialK

[trc2014]

11 minutes ago, JasonDias said:

 

- TC is in Mexico with this group and so are a variety of other Canadians 😉. They depart for Florida in a week. If someone asks it didn't come from me!

 

This is great news.  Love the idea that some guys are training together before the WCQ - alleviates some of the concern about the two days of training prior to the Bermuda game.

[BrennanFan]

Not too concerned about losing Priso and Okello or Nelson who has never impressed me. Rutty is a wildcard, would've been nice to see him. The biggest TFC loss is Fraser, he would've been a big presence in the middle, possibly the captain. 

Shome would have made sense to me. 

I guess Gutierrez is with the senior team? 

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, BrennanFan said:

Not too concerned about losing Priso and Okello or Nelson who has never impressed me. Rutty is a wildcard, would've been nice to see him. The biggest TFC loss is Fraser, he would've been a big presence in the middle, possibly the captain. 

Shome would have made sense to me. 

I guess Gutierrez is with the senior team? 

Gotta disagree on Nelson.  In his last couple of TFC outings I thought he did wall.  I think he would have been a big add.  

[Dominic94]

9 minutes ago, JasonDias said:

I can share some intel without getting into too much about what's happening in Mexico right now lol

I can confirm 

- Mauro likes Lucas, but his system is quite different than what Sporting would play.

- Lucas prefers Portugal but Theo edged Lucas to play this tournament. JH is interested in a potential senior cap not too long in the making.

- TC is in Mexico with this group and so are a variety of other Canadians 😉. They depart for Florida in a week. If someone asks it didn't come from me!

Full disclosure, this call up for Lucas is likely to be more about convincing him to play for Canada long term. It is about creating relationships and whether or not he can feel that this group is his family. I do not believe they will pressure him into a role, i.e. ride or die with him regardless of form/comfort. If in 9 days he won't work in Mauro's system then he will likely be on the sidelines and that should be okay. 

Remember he is part of that Sporting academy, half his club teammates play for Portugal that's where his comfort is. He's also 18. He ain't Davies, then again not a lot of people are. 

If he leaves this tournament and can reflect back and say "hey that was a good group of people to play with" then we can safely say CSA is finally trying to properly onboard dual nationals. 

Awesome appreciate the information.

 

thanks again Corbeanu, I had a feeling a few of those guys from the Toronto area knew each other and it would lead to some players showing up that otherwise wouldn’t have.
 

id imagine last minute Corbeanu got called to the senior team.

I figured that a call to the senior team wasn’t far, I’d imagine it will be to a camp first before a decision is made. 
 

I hope and think he will play, reality is we don’t have any 10#’s period. I’m sure this camp will go a long way in showing what we have to offer and shaping his decision, when you get the chance let us know what he thought of the caliber of our players and the opponents, vs what is in Portugal. I’m very curious to see if he’s impressed or blown away etc. More so given were missing real quality.

the reality is that he is Portuguese, I don’t think anyone can debate that. He’s spent how much time there ? Was born there right ? I think we’re all happy that he’s willing to show up and play. Flores could have done so if it didn’t require a stint, this is a great trial chance for him. No one loses here even if he ultimately doesn’t come back.

he’s no Davies that’s true, but I know there’s some pretty big hype to him. Very exited to see him.

agreed with your last point and finally, players are willing to explore the program earlier, there is a time when a youth dual would never have shown up for a camp let alone play for us in a tournament. Part of the recruiting is getting kids there and given that both he and Flores were willing to see what we have, I’m thrilled. 

[Shortdutchcanuck]

I'm actually really disappointed not to see Julian Dunn, thought he would have looked great next to Cornelius at CB

[Dominic94]

13 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

Norman’s last pro game was the 2019 season with Pacific, did not see the field in 2020 for Inter Miami. So basically has not played in almost two years , but many on here have put him in the starting lineup lol, but some have a problem with Godinho who has been actually playing being on the roster. My question is why a guy like Norman is even there? I’m sure there were players of age eligibility in the CPL who actually played last season that could of been picked over a guy who has not played a competitive game since 2019 ?

Being us based right now has so many advantages, travel, training, form, ability to stay in shape, quarantine rules etc. 

[BrennanFan]

Just now, dyslexic nam said:

Gotta disagree on Nelson.  In his last couple of TFC outings I thought he did wall.  I think he would have been a big add.  

Agree to disagree. I like Shaffelburgs straightforward game over Nelson's 'try to do too much' thing he does. 

Tabla and Buchanan were always my favoured starting wingers regardless. 

[PiedPilko]

5 minutes ago, SpecialK said:

I’m sorry Breza was making this team. He’s a huge upgrade over  Pantemis. If St. Clair was called up Pantemis would be fighting for 3rd. 

Really though? There's a good chance Breza never plays for Bologna. He's their 4th GK. No one was really following this, but they had a situation a few months ago where there first 2 GK's were out, and their third was on a yellow card, and Breza still didn't play. He hasn't played outside of Serie C.

 

Pantemis was adequate when he got his chance, Breza might not appear in a professional match for the next 3 years for all we know.

[Ivan]

24 minutes ago, BrennanFan said:

According to the twitter, Sturing and Farsi made the trip as well for injury cover. Can anyone confirm? 

Feels like @JasonDias did in an earlier post.

[Shortdutchcanuck]

10 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

 

the reality is that he is Portuguese, I don’t think anyone can debate that. He’s spent how much time there ? Was born in Portugal right ? I think we’re all happy that he’s willing to show up and play. Flores could have done so if it didn’t require a stint, this is a great trial chance for him. No one loses here even if he ultimately doesn’t come back.

 

 

Born in Toronto, joined a Sporting academy they started in Toronto, went to Sporting in Portugal at 11.

https://sportingfctoronto.com/alumni/lucas-dias/

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Shortdutchcanuck