Cuba vs Canada (on Grand Cayman island) Tuesday, Sept 10th - 7:15pm EST

[gator]

1 minute ago, Gian-Luca said:

I quite enjoyed the unintentionally hilarious suggestion from Tony Meola that Canada needs to learn from this experience in the future the next time we go down to 10 men and the team that we are beating at the time decides to bunker with a man up and a goal down in the game........that is of course a common occurrence that teams face all the time.

He is brutal! He was awful in the Forge match in Honduras!

[Gian-Luca]

15 minutes ago, The Ref said:

Those of you who watched the game.  What happened to go from a 6-0 win to barely win 1-0?  Was it Herdman's fault again?

We rested more starters so the line-up wasn't as good, we were playing with 10 men for about 40 minutes, we played on a bumpy pitch  and in 29 degree humidity. And perhaps most of all Cuba bunkered the entire game, even when they were down a man. Two clear PK's weren't given which should have been.

It wasn't a great performance, they managed the game well when down to 10 men which was perhaps the most pleasing part. But I'll take this professional performance victory over the losses that Panama & El Salvador just received.

 

[A Different Perspective]

Sometimes ugly wins are good - especially as we head into play the US.  I thinks we have suffered from overconfidence in the Haiti game, and perhaps a strong result would have done the same against the US which will require a complete game.  With Airfield, Holliett and Cavallini back it should be a pretty amazing game against the Yanks - looking forward to the next series.

[Ansem]

1 minute ago, A Different Perspective said:

Sometimes ugly wins are good - especially as we head into play the US.  I thinks we have suffered from overconfidence in the Haiti game, and perhaps a strong result would have done the same against the US which will require a complete game.  With Airfield, Holliett and Cavallini back it should be a pretty amazing game against the Yanks - looking forward to the next series.

Old Canada would have concede, glad they kept it together and grinded this result

[Alex]

Everyone has been so spoiled lately with all the goal scoring and that was nice to see. We won 1-0 against Cuba who isn’t a terrible team historically. It’s okay. Relax. 

[gator]

Having been at the WCQ match in Havana in 2012 I understand how much a factor heat and humidity can play in a match, we just seemed to not play very smart with all of the possession we had!

[BuzzAndSting]

8 minutes ago, grigorio said:

The amount of times we make the arrogant excuse of “the pitch was poor down here in the Caribbean” when what we really mean is “we lack the creativity and decisiveness to make good decisions and plays around the goal”. Smh. Unfortunately Herdman’s inherited that trait full bore with half his press conference dedicated to the pitch excuse. 

He was asked about it multiple times.

[Gian-Luca]

3 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

I think he said that we need to learn to break down a bunkering defense because there's a chance the US might get a man sent off, then pack men behind the ball.

Yeah, but given that we had one less attacker on the field because we, not the opposition, had the man sent off I thought it was a silly comment that wasn't taking the (admittedly unusual and bizarre) game situation into account. In the second half kept complaining that we only had one man in the box when we were crossing the ball in......what was he expecting us to do, go for broke by throwing everyone forward into the box in a desperate attempt get a two goal lead?

[Symp_Res]

Kyle Larin had two great chances in the 1st to score.  One, a cross along the ground from Davies right to Larin's foot 5 yards out from the goal and he missed it high and wide. Two, a great cross to Larin's head at the top of the 6 yard box and instead of putting it on goal, he decided to knock it down to his foot and lost his chance.

There was also his inability to head the ball on goal in the second half...hitting it well over the bar.

Adugkebe (sp?) was around the defence, one on one with the keeper from the corner of the 6 yard box and passed it off.

They need to make much better decisions in front of goal, and they will need to learn how to take the chances they do have.  This game should not have been close.

[dyslexic nam]

Just now, Symp_Res said:

Kyle Larin had two great chances in the 1st to score.  One, a cross along the ground from Davies right to Larin's foot 5 yards out from the goal and he missed it high and wide. Two, a great cross to Larin's head at the top of the 6 yard box and instead of putting it on goal, he decided to knock it down to his foot and lost his chance.

There was also his inability to head the ball on goal in the second half...hitting it well over the bar.

Adugkebe (sp?) was around the defence, one on one with the keeper from the corner of the 6 yard box and passed it off.

They need to make much better decisions in front of goal, and they will need to learn how to take the chances they do have.  This game should not have been close.

Yeah, Larin didn’t do himself any favours in this one.  

[Bison44]

Just now, dyslexic nam said:

Yeah, Larin didn’t do himself any favours in this one.  

To be fair, who did look good tonight?  Borjan??  Miller??  

[Gian-Luca]

9 minutes ago, gator said:

He is brutal! He was awful in the Forge match in Honduras!

Actually I didn't mind him for the most part, other than the bit I mentioned (and the unintentionally hilarious "Cyle Larin played left back" slip of the tongue). It's sometimes interesting to get a "neutral" perspective.

The fact that we are talking about  his commentary so much perhaps indicates how interesting to watch that game was. 82% possession when we were a goal up and a man down......yikes!

[gator]

Larin has never recovered from his horrendous miss vs El Salvador in the Gold Cup a few cycles ago, sometimes these things can haunt you the rest of your career!

[damaaster]

My opinion on the game:

Possession and passes completed was extremely impressive, especially considering we played with 10 men for a third of the game, and against a team that was playing 10 men behind the ball at basically all times.

Frustrating we couldn't find ways to penetrate and make anything happen, and we need more movement off the ball.  That said ,we were missing half our starters and some of our most impactful players (arfield, hoillett, hutch, cav, etc)

 

Borjan - No comment - basically non existent in this one. 

Laryea - Not as impactful as last game, but still looked good out there. 

Vitoria - Pretty much invisible..but thats not a bad thing. 

Henry - Some kids never learn. Not 100% sure what he said, but these kinds of plays always piss me off, and he has to be better than that

Adekugbe - Not sure why he is getting a lot of hate on here. I actually thought he drove a lot of the offence, and looked good out there. 

Johnson - Worked his butt off - nothing too flashy, cleaned up when he had to

Kaye - Last game i thought besides Hoillett he was the best player on the field. Today - not so much. He was fine, but didn't stand out.

David -On the wing, he was non existant. I think he needs to play in the middle.  Seems weird, but It feels odd watching a game where David doesnt score...haha

Davies - First half he was wheelin', taking on guys 1 v 1, drawing lots of fouls. Thought he slowed down a lot in the 2nd half. Overall a better perfomance than game 1....and he scored.  In first half, i'd say he was our most effective player..  

Larin - I've been wanting to like Larin for a long time...but every game I watch it makes it harder...pretty ineffective all around.

Millar -Wish he woulda got more time. Super quick, would have been nice to see him one the right with davies on the left - both of em flying up and down the flanks.

 

Can't wait to see how they lineup with all the boys back for the USA game.

 

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, Bison44 said:

To be fair, who did look good tonight?  Borjan??  Miller??  

For me, guys who showed well were Vitoria, Borjan (though had almost no action), Kaye, Laryea, and Johnson - and Millar when he came on. 

[Ansem]

3 minutes ago, damaaster said:

Adekugbe - Not sure why he is getting a lot of hate on here. I actually thought he drove a lot of the offence, and looked good out there. 

My thought exactly and he would definitely play it safer against the USMNT since we'll have all our offensive tools back.

Against the USA, best to go with a natural LB.

Davies almost cost us with dangerous giveaways in front of the goal. He serves us best as a LW

Kaye is too good to not play midfield with Arfield and Hutchinson.

He's the only one making sense right now at the position. He's a regular starter for his club in Norway at a good level.

[Ansem]

15 minutes ago, damaaster said:

Vitoria - Pretty much invisible..but thats not a bad thing. 

Henry - Some kids never learn. Not 100% sure what he said, but these kinds of plays always piss me off, and he has to be better than that

Sometimes, no news is good news.

Vitoria compensates his lack of speed and athleticism with good positioning, simplifying his game and good passing/decision making.

He just needs to be paired with fast defenders. His height is a valuable asset, not that we saw much set pieces needed to be defended. He blocked a few passes tonight

Henry is too high risk for games against foe where your margin of error are so slim. I'd sit him out both US games

Edited September 11, 2019 by Ansem

[Ansem]

10 minutes ago, damaaster said:

Kaye - Last game i thought besides Hoillett he was the best player on the field. Today - not so much. He was fine, but didn't stand out.

David -On the wing, he was non existant. I think he needs to play in the middle.  Seems weird, but It feels odd watching a game where David doesnt score...haha

Both need to play in the middle...or you're wasting their vision of the game.

11 minutes ago, damaaster said:

Laryea - Not as impactful as last game, but still looked good out there. 

Would have loved to see Cordova but Laryea won me over with Brault-Guillard not far behind.

[costarg]

8 minutes ago, damaaster said:

My opinion on the game:

Possession and passes completed was extremely impressive, especially considering we played with 10 men for a third of the game, and against a team that was playing 10 men behind the ball at basically all times.

Frustrating we couldn't find ways to penetrate and make anything happen, and we need more movement off the ball.  That said ,we were missing half our starters and some of our most impactful players (arfield, hoillett, hutch, cav, etc)

 

Borjan - No comment - basically non existent in this one. 

Laryea - Not as impactful as last game, but still looked good out there. 

Vitoria - Pretty much invisible..but thats not a bad thing. 

Henry - Some kids never learn. Not 100% sure what he said, but these kinds of plays always piss me off, and he has to be better than that

Adekugbe - Not sure why he is getting a lot of hate on here. I actually thought he drove a lot of the offence, and looked good out there. 

Johnson - Worked his butt off - nothing too flashy, cleaned up when he had to

Kaye - Last game i thought besides Hoillett he was the best player on the field. Today - not so much. He was fine, but didn't stand out.

David -On the wing, he was non existant. I think he needs to play in the middle.  Seems weird, but It feels odd watching a game where David doesnt score...haha

Davies - First half he was wheelin', taking on guys 1 v 1, drawing lots of fouls. Thought he slowed down a lot in the 2nd half. Overall a better perfomance than game 1....and he scored.  In first half, i'd say he was our most effective player..  

Larin - I've been wanting to like Larin for a long time...but every game I watch it makes it harder...pretty ineffective all around.

Millar -Wish he woulda got more time. Super quick, would have been nice to see him one the right with davies on the left - both of em flying up and down the flanks.

 

Can't wait to see how they lineup with all the boys back for the USA game.

 

Its funny, seems like everyone forgot Wotherspoon actually played in this match! 

2 things stand out most:

- 15 minutes in we noticed the Cubans made the Canadians afraid to touch the ball for too long or they'd get hacked.  It worked!  

- Wotherspoon, Johnson and Larin were squeaky wheels and unbalanced the whole team.  It was like watching a sports car with a spare tire on.  Johnson got better, but he still doesn't belong.  He works hard, but he's just in the way and going the wrong direction.  He was ok for CANMNT in 2014, but not now.

 

[Scottie]

With Henry suspended for the next game it seems obvious that our CBs will be Vittoria and Cornelius. Probably have James and maybe Zator on the bench?

[DrFitzpatrick]

Is it just me or was Canada's goal scoring today about as impressive as the Canadian Premier League attendance numbers?

[dyslexic nam]

*crickets*

[Ansem]

3 minutes ago, costarg said:

Its funny, seems like everyone forgot Wotherspoon actually played in this match! 

2 things stand out most:

- 15 minutes in we noticed the Cubans made the Canadians afraid to touch the ball for too long or they'd get hacked.  It worked!  

- Wotherspoon, Johnson and Larin were squeaky wheels and unbalanced the whole team.  It was like watching a sports car with a spare tire on.  Johnson got better, but he still doesn't belong.  He works hard, but he's just in the way and going the wrong direction.  He was ok for CANMNT in 2014, but not now.

 

Those 3 are good rotation guys against minnows or meaningless games.

Depth players if needed. A few years back we would have called those 3 our saviours. We can't complain being able to rely on them if needed

[dyslexic nam]

4 minutes ago, costarg said:

Its funny, seems like everyone forgot Wotherspoon actually played in this match! 

2 things stand out most:

- 15 minutes in we noticed the Cubans made the Canadians afraid to touch the ball for too long or they'd get hacked.  It worked!  

- Wotherspoon, Johnson and Larin were squeaky wheels and unbalanced the whole team.  It was like watching a sports car with a spare tire on.  Johnson got better, but he still doesn't belong.  He works hard, but he's just in the way and going the wrong direction.  He was ok for CANMNT in 2014, but not now.

 

I competent forgot Wotherspoon - which I guess says everything about what I thought.  I agree about Larin too but I thought Johnson worked hard.  I don’t know if his presence imbalanced the team - I suspect not - but I do know that he looked like he gave a shit at the end of the game. 

[Ansem]

2 minutes ago, Scottie said:

With Henry suspended for the next game it seems obvious that our CBs will be Vittoria and Cornelius. Probably have James and maybe Zator on the bench?

James isn't playing and haven't made the staring 18 in a while.

Miller will be there on the bench. Time to call Zator in my opinion.