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


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As usual, Canada faces a tough task to reach the Olympics. We haven't attended in 8 straight tournaments.

However, we have built some of the best depth I have ever seen since following the national team. The trickle down to the olympic team is expected. We can really put together a strong team compared to previous cycles.

Most of our players are further along professionally this go around.

Take Shamit Shome for example, who just won his senior first cap. He has already played close to 40 games with the Montreal Impact, and started many of those games. We had very few players with so much MLS experience. Hell, most of our players didn't even have any senior national team experience. This time around a large portion of our team will have greater experience in both.

Shamit Shome, Liam Fraser, Matthew Chioniere, Clement Bayia, Jacob Schaffleburg, Zachary Brault-Guillard, Theo Bair and Kamal Millar all have more experience MLS first team experience than anyone who was on the 2015 team. Nobody from back then even comes close!

Plus they will all be first team senior players by March. We never had 8 senior internationals back in 2015. We only had 2.

But that's not all folks. We have more players in good European environments too. Byrn and Bassong aren't seeing much time with Belenenses and Cercle Brugges, but to be involved with those first teams is pretty good by Canadian standards. 

And last but not least, we have players in the Canadian Premier League which will likely round out the roster. Tristen Borges, David Chioniere, Terrance Campbell, Diyaeddine Abzi, Chrisnovic N'sa and Malik Hamilton all just played a full season of professional first team minutes to varying levels of success.

That ensures that virtually all the players selected will come with professional first team minutes this year. 

Edited by Obinna
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1 hour ago, ray said:

Settling on a squad and giving them some preparation games will be a key to whether we have a shot at qualification or not.

I imagine having several under 23 players in the senior camp helps them get familiar with one another, but ideally they can get a few games together as an actual team before the tournament kicks off.

Maybe a friendly game against a Liga MX reserve team once they get situated in Mexico?

U-23 eligible players in senior camp at the moment are: Pantemis, Miller, Cornelius, Godinho, Bassong, Okello, Fraser, Shome, Nelsen, Borges, Schaffelburg, Bair and Byrm. Having those 13 training together right now at least builds a foundation to build upon.

Edited by Obinna
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2 hours ago, Obinna said:

U-23 eligible players in senior camp at the moment are: Pantemis, Miller, Cornelius, Godinho, Bassong, Okello, Fraser, Shome, Nelsen, Borges, Schaffelburg, Bair and Byrm. Having those 13 training together right now at least builds a foundation to build upon.

When you say it like that. This is actually a solid core to build off or to even assess a lot of players!

You would think these 13 guys have 1 foot in the team meaning 7 spots available. But there's a list of 20 guys who are worthy to be in the team, so selection will be interesting. 

And too think Tabla, and Millar could be available - I think they'll instantly slot into Biellos lineup. 

Edited by Shway
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Do we even want to call Tabla at this point? I thought I heard he passed on this camp.  He needs to get squared away at whatever club he signs for and hasnt done much of anything for a year or longer.  Not sure if he warrants any potential problems he might bring.  I'd rather see the guys that are fringe MLS right now get a shot.  

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35 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Do we even want to call Tabla at this point? I thought I heard he passed on this camp.  He needs to get squared away at whatever club he signs for and hasnt done much of anything for a year or longer.  Not sure if he warrants any potential problems he might bring.  I'd rather see the guys that are fringe MLS right now get a shot.  

Yes, yes, yes! Just because a kid has a bad season or two, doesn't mean his seasons before are considered flukes. If you've seen what he's done in atleast half of the 70+ pro games he's played at by the age of 20, you'd be crazy to not want him in the team.

So what if he passed, he doesn't have a contract anywhere... Imagine if he got injured? What potential problems? 

Let's not make up things, or try to create a narrative about a kid who's in the infancy of his career. Remember what was said about Cavallini? 

Plain and simple if he doesn't warrant a call up, then the bar is really high and a lot of guys don't deserve it either. 

Edited by Shway
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6 minutes ago, Shway said:

Yes, yes, yes! Just because a kid has a bad season or two his seasons before are considered flukes. If you've seen what he's done in atleast half of the 70+ pro games he's played at by the age of 20, you'd be crazy to not want him in the team.

So what if he passed, he doesn't have a contract anywhere... Imagine if he got injured? What potential problems? 

Let's not make up things, or try to create a narrative about a kid who's in the infancy of his career. Remember what was said about Cavallini? 

Plain and simple if he doesn't warrant a call up, then the bar is really high and a lot of guys don't deserve it either. 

I'd agree if there weren't other players that were also deserving. With the advent of CPL and a lot of younger MLS players getting playing time, the U23 isn't a walk-on team anymore. If there are players playing better currently than him, I don't see why he should be on the team.

Now that we have more options its time that the players earn their spots. But regardless of all that I feel like Biello will take him anyway if he is available

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I'm not making anything up, he had problems last year with Impact.  He has barely played in the last year, and not going to this camp will hurt his chances at the u-23.  If it comes down to him or one of Shafflebourg/Borges/M. Choiniere etc...I dont know if he beats those guys out just based on promise he showed 2-3 years ago.  

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18 minutes ago, Shway said:

Yes, yes, yes! Just because a kid has a bad season or two, doesn't mean his seasons before are considered flukes. If you've seen what he's done in atleast half of the 70+ pro games he's played at by the age of 20, you'd be crazy to not want him in the team.

If only Marcus Godinho could get half as long a leash as some of the others around here...

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It's not that I don't want us to call Tabla, but moreso I have a tough time seeing him accepting a call. 

If he turned down a call for the senior team, for personal reasons (that haven't been disclosed), why would he accept an U23 call?

Circumstances can obviously change and we are not yet sure why he turned the camp poutine invite down. Maybe he doesn't like poutine? We don't know! 

The flip side is that it is hard to reserve judgement and not jump to conclusions when the info is vague and possibly conflicting.

I don't blame the CSA for being vague as they are under no obligation to disclose more, but we know the other unavailable players are dealing with injury, etc. There is nothing out there suggesting he is injured or has a family matter to attend to, birth of a child, etc. 

We are left to speculate, unfortunately. 

 

Edited by Obinna
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I'll give a legitimate reason:

How about he's a 20yo professional without a contract, and probably seeking a good team Ligue 1, Germany, Belgium... somewhere in Europe. Is it worth him risking an injury, which would affect his immediate future contract? High risk, real low reward for him coming. 

We were okay with Larin rejecting the call for his career... Look what that did for him! 

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Shway...would you call him above the others people have mentioned??  Who cares why he missed this golden chance?  What wingers/mids are you calling??  7 midfielders.....here is mine.....Fraser, Shome, M. Choinere, Borges, Shaff, Okello, Nelsen.    

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31 minutes ago, Shway said:

I'll give a legitimate reason:

How about he's a 20yo professional without a contract, and probably seeking a good team Ligue 1, Germany, Belgium... somewhere in Europe. Is it worth him risking an injury, which would affect his immediate future contract? High risk, real low reward for him coming. 

We were okay with Larin rejecting the call for his career... Look what that did for him! 

I am pretty sure Tabla's contract was for 3 years, so it won't expire until 2021.

He also has a buy-out clause of $25 million, though I am sure Barca would happily accept a fraction of that at the moment.

Edited by Obinna
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Heard that Tabla was committed but withdrew From camp poutine because of illness. As a result, another fortunate young player got called and got their first cap the other night it or might get it tonight so there is a silver lining. Maybe Borges was the call up to replace him? Who knows. 
 

Wishing Tabla speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the pitch somewhere soon. 

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16 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Shway...would you call him above the others people have mentioned??  Who cares why he missed this golden chance?  What wingers/mids are you calling??  7 midfielders.....here is mine.....Fraser, Shome, M. Choinere, Borges, Shaff, Okello, Nelsen.    

Let's assume the break down is 2-GK, 8-DF, 12 MF/FW. (Since you put CMDs with Wingers I'll put it all in one bucket.) 

Based on this I'm calling:
*Millar, Bair, Shaffelburg, Brym, Borges, Chonierie, Tabla, Nelson, Shome, Fraser, Okello, Norman Jr. 

*If Millar can't show then Campbell. 

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25 minutes ago, Shway said:

Let's assume the break down is 2-GK, 8-DF, 12 MF/FW. (Since you put CMDs with Wingers I'll put it all in one bucket.) 

Based on this I'm calling:
*Millar, Bair, Shaffelburg, Brym, Borges, Chonierie, Tabla, Nelson, Shome, Fraser, Okello, Norman Jr. 

*If Millar can't show then Campbell. 

Some of the players you are missing (in order of my preference):

Harry Paton
Jordan Perruzza
Dario Zanatta
Tajon Buchanon
Kris Twardek
Stefan Mitrovic
Ryan Raposo
Michael Baldisimo
Simon Colyn
Clement Bayiha
Aidan Daniels
Gabriel Boakye
Calin Calaidjoglu
That kid that played with Twardek

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