dyslexic nam Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 For some reason I was thinking about what our team will look like during the 2026 WC and it made me optimistic that we will represent ourselves pretty well in the tournament (relative to Canadian historical performance). Just for fun, I put together our starting 11 in our home opener. Caveat: I absolutely recognize that lots of unknown players could potentially elevate themselves into this group, and that current players/prospects could stagnate and not warrant inclusion in 7 years, but just going on the current crop of players that are somewhat punching above their weight in relation to their Canadian peers there is enough promise to make me reasonable optimistic. One or two inclusions are admittedly based pretty much entirely on hype. So, using a somewhat arbitrary cutoff of those currently 22 and under, you get the following possible starting squad (with their ages in 2026): David (26) Davies (25) ------- Tabla (27) ------- Millar (26) Okello (26) -- Eustaquio (29) Miller (29) - UNKOWN - Cornelius (28) - ZBG (27)/Godinho (29) Busti?? (26) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Ideally,Tomori (28) would slot into the unknown CB slot, but that seems reasonably unlikely as an England call up becomes increasingly realistic. Also, I had to chuckle that we may still not have RB sorted out... And I have no idea if Busti will develop into this calibre of player - he just seems to be the highest profile candidate based solely on the shallow metric of V-board discussion. Keeping in mind this is just a purely theoretical waste of time, I would be curious who others see as candidates. Gaze into your crystal ball.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertuzzi44 Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 Thinking about 2026 before 2022 is bad luck! Just change the title to "WC 2022 starting 11 predictions" and I'm down lol Olympique_de_Marseille and Shway 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyslexic nam Posted September 17, 2019 Author Share Posted September 17, 2019 10 minutes ago, Bertuzzi44 said: Thinking about 2026 before 2022 is bad luck! Just change the title to "WC 2022 starting 11 predictions" and I'm down lol No can do. Our 2022 roster would be crazy different and wouldn’t look a whole lot different than our current squad. This one is a nod to the youth movement we have alive and well. Plus I don’t think it is too much of a jinx - I am going on the working assumption that we auto qualify for 2026. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympique_de_Marseille Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 2 hours ago, dyslexic nam said: what our team will look like during the 2026 WC and it made me optimistic...Gaze into your crystal ball.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt7-WKXL5vw dyslexic nam and BrennanFan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 9 hours ago, dyslexic nam said: David (26) Davies (25) ------- Tabla (27) ------- Millar (26) Okello (26) -- Eustaquio (29) Miller (29) - UNKOWN - Cornelius (28) - ZBG (27)/Godinho (29) Busti?? (26) ------------------------------------------------------------------ And I have no idea if Busti will develop into this calibre of player - he just seems to be the highest profile candidate based solely on the shallow metric of V-board discussion. Keeping in mind this is just a purely theoretical waste of time, I would be curious who others see as candidates. Gaze into your crystal ball.... Max Crepeau will be 32 years old, goalkeeping prime, in 2026, with 7-8 years as an MLS starter. He's a far safer bet to be our 'keeper at that time than Busti. Also, I'm convinced that, in 2026, a 22 year-old Kamron Habibullah will be a superior player to a 27 year-old Ballou Tabla. dyslexic nam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Observer Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 4 hours ago, SthMelbRed said: Max Crepeau will be 32 years old, goalkeeping prime, in 2026, with 7-8 years as an MLS starter. He's a far safer bet to be our 'keeper at that time than Busti. Also, I'm convinced that, in 2026, a 22 year-old Kamron Habibullah will be a superior player to a 27 year-old Ballou Tabla. Yeah. I am certain that there are 2 or 3 from the current U17 side who will be in the mix and probably starting or close to it; and probably 1 or 2 from the U15 side as well. Remember, we got guys like David and Davies who are starting now and wouldn't even be on the current U15 side if we were projecting ahead to 2026. The concern I have is that when you look at the U20s, U17s, and U15s, there are no defenders that stand out as being exceptional whether CBs or FBs in the way that you see the offensive talent we have in those age groups. That is what I think is the most worrying for 2026 as a backline of Miller, Unknown, Cornelius and one of ZBG/Godinho does not wow me. dyslexic nam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyslexic nam Posted September 18, 2019 Author Share Posted September 18, 2019 1 hour ago, An Observer said: Yeah. I am certain that there are 2 or 3 from the current U17 side who will be in the mix and probably starting or close to it; and probably 1 or 2 from the U15 side as well. Remember, we got guys like David and Davies who are starting now and wouldn't even be on the current U15 side if we were projecting ahead to 2026. That is probably true - but there is at least some comfort in knowing that the calibre of player they are displacing should be fairly high. Even when we moved beyond the Unattached FC years, we still had a number of journeyman type players in the team. With the current age and playing level of the mids and forwards in my pretend starting 11, these guys should be rock solid players by the time this rolls around (assuming some sort of continued progression in most cases). 1 hour ago, An Observer said: The concern I have is that when you look at the U20s, U17s, and U15s, there are no defenders that stand out as being exceptional whether CBs or FBs in the way that you see the offensive talent we have in those age groups. That is what I think is the most worrying for 2026 as a backline of Miller, Unknown, Cornelius and one of ZBG/Godinho does not wow me. That is obviously the thing that jumps out - and no big surprise given our collective hand-wringing about the back line. I am really hoping a couple of kids start to shine on the teams you mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 I have done this sort of a thought experiment before. What I learned from that thought experiment was that I don't feel the need to do it again. Shway, Blackdude and JuicyHam 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyslexic nam Posted September 18, 2019 Author Share Posted September 18, 2019 11 minutes ago, Kent said: I have done this sort of a thought experiment before. What I learned from that thought experiment was that I don't feel the need to do it again. Your contribution to this thread can not be understated. Kent and longlugan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 2 hours ago, dyslexic nam said: Your contribution to this thread can not be understated. Haha Well I don't imagine BBTB will come here to be a buzzkill, so I'll play the debbie downer role this time. dyslexic nam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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