Jump to content

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


Recommended Posts

Here's the full Biello presser (or at least what Concacaf is making available of it):

 

In the above video, Biello was asked by Neil Davidson about his thoughts on the 20 man roster size, Tabla and whether it would have made sense to call any players who play with Forge FC. Here is his response:

"If these idiots would have allowed bigger rosters I would have taken both, but with these minuscule roster sizes you will get situations like this where a player like Choiniere is left off."

Edited by Gian-Luca
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, VinceA said:

Costa Rica were very disappointing.

They have 3 MLS players who have started a lot of games and the rest play in the Costa Rican league which is probably the 3rd. best league in our region so some decent players with some good pro experience. I think the US was the better team and on paper if that means anything have the better players , but Costa Rica did pose a bit of a threat. Just remember the majority of these Costa Rican players are all playing in the Costa Rican league which has been in season for awhile now whereas the US with all MLS players have not played any club competitive  games since November. This is the advantage that the Costa Rican team had going into this game but in the end came up short.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So other than the 18 year old who never plays for Lille, are there many Mexican U23 players in Europe who were not taken for this tourney? I realize DR are parking the bus big-time here but on the basis of the first half and will likely tired big-time in the 2nd half I wasn't overly-blown away by the quality on display from the Mexicans given they are also playing at home and there are actual fans in the stands. A few players like Antuna have stood out and I have no idea how solid their defense is on the basis of the first 45 given that it is not even being remotely tested. But I'm wondering if Mexico has been depleted by the same extent that the US and Canada have been with U23 eligible players who were not ever going to be made available for this tourney. The US & Canada are fielding B teams (arguably B minus for Canada, maybe even C+ with the 9 TFC absentees added to the players that will be taken for the senior team or the Euro-based players who didn't get released), I'm curious if anyone knows if this is basically a Mexican A-team for this level, or at least A-.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

So other than the 18 year old who never plays for Lille, are there many Mexican U23 players in Europe who were not taken for this tourney? I realize DR are parking the bus big-time here but on the basis of the first half and will likely tired big-time in the 2nd half I wasn't overly-blown away by the quality on display from the Mexicans given they are also playing at home and there are actual fans in the stands. A few players like Antuna have stood out and I have no idea how solid their defense is on the basis of the first 45 given that it is not even being remotely tested. But I'm wondering if Mexico has been depleted by the same extent that the US and Canada have been with U23 eligible players who were not ever going to be made available for this tourney. The US & Canada are fielding B teams (arguably B minus for Canada, maybe even C+ with the 9 TFC absentees added to the players that will be taken for the senior team or the Euro-based players who didn't get released), I'm curious if anyone knows if this is basically a Mexican A-team for this level, or at least A-.

I was curious about this too.

They are the 1 example in the tournament where they can bring an all domestic side and still be considered the favourites by a wide margin

Edited by narduch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, sebdeserio said:

I think Edson Alvarez at Ajax would be eligible as well as Lainez who's starting to play more often at Betis.

So then this is our C team since Davies, David, Millar, Paton, Nelson, Fraser, Okello, St. Clair, Miller, Guti, Johnston aren't there....

Reality is if your best players are at this tournament. Your senior team ain't sheit - it's bittersweet.
But I can't wait for tomorrow, I'm having a little watch party for 1. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Shway said:

So then this is our C team since Davies, David, Millar, Paton, Nelson, Fraser, Okello, St. Clair, Miller, Guti, Johnston aren't there....

Reality is if your best players are at this tournament. Your senior team ain't sheit - it's bittersweet.
But I can't wait for tomorrow, I'm having a little watch party for 1. 

Crazy that half of those guys are domestic. Not a problem Mexico or the USA have... missing actual domestic guys. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Shway said:

So then this is our C team since Davies, David, Millar, Paton, Nelson, Fraser, Okello, St. Clair, Miller, Guti, Johnston aren't there....

Well, I look at it this way - how many players on this U23 team of ours would be a 1st choice starter if we had access to all of our U23 players? I'm thinking one - Cornelius. Maybe ZBG (if you rank him ahead of Johnston, which presumably Herdman isn't doing at the moment) and maybe Buchanan (if you rank him ahead of Millar as a right winger). Maybe Baldisimo if you rank him ahead of Fraser. On the other hand Cornelius might even be debatable if Herdman picked Miller & was going to pick Kennedy (also eligible for this tourney as he's born in 1997) over him. And you left off Corbeanu from the above list (if he's being "reserved" for the senior team to help replace the likes of David than he's probably ranked ahead of Brym & Bair). And we haven't mentioned injured guys like Hasal & Shome who would probably be 2nd choice after the list above ahead of some of the guys that have been called.

If Canada can pull off this "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"-type qualification for the Olympics or can even look fairly competitive against what is more of a Mexican U23 A team at this level, it would really speak to how much the depth & player talent pool has increased. If we do quality for the Olympics, I could foresee a situation where the entire first choice team from the roster that actually qualifies doesn't get to start in the actual Olympics itself because presumably we'd be able to bring our best for that tourney plus 3 overage players. Which would probably be unfair for the players if they did pull off an unexpected triumph.

The boys tomorrow shouldn't feel any undue pressure or nervousness (and glad to hear Cornelius' response on this - they are excited not petrified), there's no external expectations for a Canadian U23 B-/C+ team to qualify. They should definitely feel proud to answer the call and go through a whole bunch of crap with Covid just to don the jersey tomorrow, and excited for the opportunity. No high expectations, but at the same time they should believe that they can do it because anything can happen in a small tourney like this and if they were watching tonight, nobody really stood out as being insurmountable IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m going to say that Baldisimo, Dias and Buchanan will lead the charge and steal a few wings for a us, these guys can move the ball. We have a deep lying playmaker, a 10 finally who can make those line breaking pass an exciting winger with pace and dribbles. I don’t teams will fancy playing us. RB offensively it gonna be a pain to defend, ZBG can really get forward and bring the ball with him and I for one loved Bassong, I think he’s as good and will surprise many. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/18/2021 at 10:18 PM, Dominic94 said:

I’m going to say that Baldisimo, Dias and Buchanan will lead the charge and steal a few wings for a us, these guys can move the ball. We have a deep lying playmaker, a 10 finally who can make those line breaking pass an exciting winger with pace and dribbles. I don’t teams will fancy playing us. RB offensively it gonna be a pain to defend, ZBG can really get forward and bring the ball with him and I for one loved Bassong, I think he’s as good and will surprise many. 

Would like to see some good things from Ballou, Dias, Bair 😉 

 

Edited by JasonDias
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Gian-Luca

Yes, the only players I missed was Kennedy, and Hasal. Shome wouldn't be in my full strength team, and  I haven't seen Corbeanu play amongst men/he doesn't have any professional games to rate him. 

Interesting enough, if we do pull off the "Miracle in Guadalajara" I would reward some these kids wth a trip to the Gold Cup, and try my best to make the best team possible for the Olympics - that includes all the names mentioned above. 

I think we need eyes, we need investment...and getting to the Olympics would accomplish that. It would also allow us to have pretty much our core at a "major competition" before we "hOsT tHe WoRlD CuP". 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Well, I look at it this way - how many players on this U23 team of ours would be a 1st choice starter if we had access to all of our U23 players? I'm thinking one - Cornelius. Maybe ZBG (if you rank him ahead of Johnston, which presumably Herdman isn't doing at the moment) and maybe Buchanan (if you rank him ahead of Millar as a right winger). Maybe Baldisimo if you rank him ahead of Fraser. On the other hand Cornelius might even be debatable if Herdman picked Miller & was going to pick Kennedy (also eligible for this tourney as he's born in 1997) over him. And you left off Corbeanu from the above list (if he's being "reserved" for the senior team to help replace the likes of David than he's probably ranked ahead of Brym & Bair). And we haven't mentioned injured guys like Hasal & Shome who would probably be 2nd choice after the list above ahead of some of the guys that have been called.

If Canada can pull off this "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"-type qualification for the Olympics or can even look fairly competitive against what is more of a Mexican U23 A team at this level, it would really speak to how much the depth & player talent pool has increased. If we do quality for the Olympics, I could foresee a situation where the entire first choice team from the roster that actually qualifies doesn't get to start in the actual Olympics itself because presumably we'd be able to bring our best for that tourney plus 3 overage players. Which would probably be unfair for the players if they did pull off an unexpected triumph.

The boys tomorrow shouldn't feel any undue pressure or nervousness (and glad to hear Cornelius' response on this - they are excited not petrified), there's no external expectations for a Canadian U23 B-/C+ team to qualify. They should definitely feel proud to answer the call and go through a whole bunch of crap with Covid just to don the jersey tomorrow, and excited for the opportunity. No high expectations, but at the same time they should believe that they can do it because anything can happen in a small tourney like this and if they were watching tonight, nobody really stood out as being insurmountable IMO.

Not taking anything away from these guys that are there but it’s really unfortunate that they are missing all these players . We knew from the start they were not going to get Davies , David and Millar , but to miss everyone that they are missing is really unfortunate,  let’s be honest it will take a miracle for them to make it , I know everything is possible but miracles and  Canadian men’s soccer success very rarely happen . The only positive really for me is that we actually finally have Canadian mens national team soccer to watch in a meaningful tournament.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, JasonDias said:

Look for some good things from Ballou, Dias, Bair 😉 

Also squad will follow Cornelius as captain but it's almost too clear that he feels like he's babysitting the team and would rather be playing later in the month with the ST. Let's see how he responds tomorrow.

Care to elaborate? Cornelius seemed the weakest CB in January so not surprised he’s with the u23s.. seems they used January as a tryout of sorts.

As for people saying it will be a “miracle”. This isn’t Canada gold cup 2000. We have a team of young experienced pros that are arguably better than past MNT teams (2013, 2015 gold cup). It will be unexpected but far from a miracle. This team on paper is better than our past 3 squads that made the semis. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, JasonDias said:

Look for some good things from Ballou, Dias, Bair 😉 

Also squad will follow Cornelius as captain but it's almost too clear that he feels like he's babysitting the team and would rather be playing later in the month with the ST. Let's see how he responds tomorrow.

I had a feeling Ballou and Dias would start.

 

fuck Cornelius and his attitude, he’s gotta earn it and this is a heavily scouted level. Idiotic thinking, he’d be watched more here than against Bermuda. 
 

also my prediction for the squad tmrw, credit to you for the hints however:

Pantemis

Basson-Cornelius-Montgomery-ZBG

Baldisimo-Daniels

Ballou-Dias-Buchanan 

Bair 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

I had a feeling Ballou and Dias would start.

 

fuck Cornelius and his attitude, he’s gotta earn it and this is a heavily scouted level. Idiotic thinking, he’d be watched more here than against Bermuda. 
 

also my prediction for the squad tmrw, credit to you for the hints however:

Pantemis

Basson-Cornelius-Montgomery-ZBG

Baldisimo-Daniels

Ballou-Dias-Buchanan 

Bair 

 

Seems a bit too offensive to me especially against El Salvador I think Daniels would be replaced by Norman Jr. or Metcalfe but I could be wrong . Also Bassong and ZBG and Tabla and buchanan would switch wings. 

Edited by sebdeserio
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, CanadaFan123 said:

Care to elaborate? Cornelius seemed the weakest CB in January so not surprised he’s with the u23s.. seems they used January as a tryout of sorts.

As for people saying it will be a “miracle”. This isn’t Canada gold cup 2000. We have a team of young experienced pros that are arguably better than past MNT teams (2013, 2015 gold cup). It will be unexpected but far from a miracle. This team on paper is better than our past 3 squads that made the semis. 

Lol weakest CB in January how....in practice? training? in the intrasquad games. How did you come up with this analysis from 2 minute clips. Because from the 13 games that I seen him play in the Senior squad, he was more solid than Doneil, and James...I would even say has had a better performance than Miller - but that seems like a coaches option. 

He's right to feel out of place, but if I'm him I want that to be seen as the highlight. 
Especially with what might happen with how the senior squad defence looks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, sebdeserio said:

Seems a bit too offensive to me especially against El Salvador I think Daniels would be replaced by Norman Jr. or Metcalfe but I could be wrong . Also Bassong and ZBG and Tabla and buchanan would switch wings. 

Oh yes I did mess that up didn’t I, someone has to switch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...