November friendlies

[Shway]

12 hours ago, Obinna said:

While we stay inactive, Jamaica plays Saudi Arabia. Seems like they are using the opportunity to bring some significant players into their program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Johnson_(footballer)

Has been a Championship regular since 2015 with PNE. 28 y/o attacking midfielder. Have never seen him play but looks good on paper. Very surprised he hasn't earned a cap until now, especially considering he is Jamaican born. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravel_Morrison

Needs no introduction. Obviously did not reach his potential, but his inclusion still belongs in the 'significant' category. Still only 27 y/o and is playing in the Eredivisie. Not exactly the worst level of football. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Leigh

This one is interesting. 26 y/o left back with Aberdeen, who obviously have been making a best-of-the-rest case in Scotland over the past few seasons. They drew Celtic 3-3 a few matchdays ago and sit 3rd currently. They finished 4th last campaign. 

Those are the uncapped players, but there are also some "under-capped" players such as Fulham's Bobby Reid and Leverkusen's Leon Bailey. I am sure all involved appreciate the opportunity to get reps together, assuming it will not be cancelled.

Chey Dunkley (Sheffield Wedneday) is currently injured, and Kemar Roofe (Rangers) is just returning from a Calf injury reason why they both weren't called to this squad. Jamaica was already a strong team, and as they improve and add additional pieces to their holes I foresee them qualifying for the WC22.

So while everyone has played friendlies, brought in and seen new players, etc, etc we will immediately go into WCQ against the lesser Concacaf teams, and hopefully put on a great performance for not playing with each other in 17 months - crazy. My hope is that Concacaf postpones the third round of qualifying to after the Gold Cup(September) so that we don't have to send a B squad. Because if we do, and we a team full of first appearers to the Gold Cup to face USAb, Martinique, and more than likely Haiti (for a third time in less than 2 months). We could potentially come 3rd and complete f#@% our rankings up. 

The part we seem to forget about always is the affect on FIFA rankings of not playing. We don't play games, we won't improve our ranking. We don't improve our ranking, we won't have nations willing to pay for us to play against them. Saudi Arabai who is ranked 67 is paying for everything but first-class flights for the Jamaicans to show up in Riyadh.

[Obinna]

A look at the newcomers the USMNT will debut in the November window:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/11/11/four-new-us-mens-national-team-arrivals-put-your-radar-charles-boehm

[Stoppage Time]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

A look at the newcomers the USMNT will debut in the November window:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/11/11/four-new-us-mens-national-team-arrivals-put-your-radar-charles-boehm

What a contrast! The US has funding, hence more initiative to find and include new players in its player pool.  What might be some realistic ways for the CSA to increase its funding via sponsorship or partnership with the private sector? Do you suppose that participation in the World Cup resonates with business in a Canadian context?

[Obinna]

17 minutes ago, Stoppage Time said:

What a contrast! The US has funding, hence more initiative to find and include new players in its player pool.  What might be some realistic ways for the CSA to increase its funding via sponsorship or partnership with the private sector? Do you suppose that participation in the World Cup resonates with business in a Canadian context?

Well, the CSA is definitely not ran by bureaucrats who put their bureaucracy above all. A lack of funding must explain it, because the lack of initiative couldn't be the consequence of a bloated CSA.

It is relatively easy to find new players and expand the pool in good times, but we are in bad times now. 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Obinna

[Obinna]

 

Interesting takes from Gareth and Oliver.

I generally like Wheeler, but he's a little too apologetic towards the CSA for my liking (no surprise there). I respect his opinion though. Let's see if Canada indeed makes up for it in the January window. 

I'm more in-line with Oliver on this one. Not playing was disappointing, but the financial realities of the Canadian program are what they are. We just have to live with it and support the program as best we can. 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Obinna

[dyslexic nam]

15 hours ago, Obinna said:

A look at the newcomers the USMNT will debut in the November window:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/11/11/four-new-us-mens-national-team-arrivals-put-your-radar-charles-boehm

I may be missing the point a bit but one positive I take from this is that Akinola isn’t there.   With Altidore’s age/health and Akinola’s form lately, I would think he might have been called up if he was interested.   

[Obinna]

15 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

I may be missing the point a bit but one positive I take from this is that Akinola isn’t there.   With Altidore’s age/health and Akinola’s form lately, I would think he might have been called up if he was interested.   

Akinola was never going to be there anyways. It is a European camp. There are no MLS players and only 1 non-European player, Cardoso, who is already a first-team player for Brazil's Internacional at the age of 19. 

One takeaway for me is how the USMNT are taking this opportunity to add even more firepower to their ranks. Hopefully we are able to do the same in January. 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Obinna

[Bison44]

I hope US ties up the Italian L2 kid, make a bigger log jam up front and maybe Akinola will feel more CDN.   

[Gian-Luca]

3 hours ago, Obinna said:

Akinola was never going to be there anyways. It is a European camp. There are no MLS players and only 1 non-European player, Cardoso, who is already a first-team player for Brazil's Internacional at the age of 19. 

One takeaway for me is how the USMNT are taking this opportunity to add even more firepower to their ranks. Hopefully we are able to do the same in January. 

Lletget is there and in fact starting against Wales, but I agree that Akinola was never going to be there. TFC wouldn't have let him go, whereas the Galaxy knew they weren't going anywhere when Lletget was called in to replace Sargent.

Everybody is hoping that the US strikers they call up to really well so that Akinola chooses us, I prefer to hope that he just chooses us regardless and turns out to be a better option than anything they have.

[Gian-Luca]

By the way, I think that onesoccer video should have been discussing "Panama and Jamaica, two teams we need to surpass to qualify for 2022 are back, why isn't Canada?" Because those are the countries which make it very disappointing that they have found a way to play and we can't

[Obinna]

5 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Lletget is there and in fact starting against Wales, but I agree that Akinola was never going to be there. TFC wouldn't have let him go, whereas the Galaxy knew they weren't going anywhere when Lletget was called in to replace Sargent.

Everybody is hoping that the US strikers they call up to really well so that Akinola chooses us, I prefer to hope that he just chooses us regardless and turns out to be a better option than anything they have.

Yeah like you said he was a last-minute replacement for Sargent and of course Berhalter is going to call up a known quantity from a team eliminated from the playoffs. I do not see it as any indication Ayo has inched closer to us.

Funny that Llget is playing as the 9 though. Some Americans are not happy with that. I am guessing it is because he knows what Greg wants from that position, but who tf knows. Seems strange otherwise.

8 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

By the way, I think that onesoccer video should have been discussing "Panama and Jamaica, two teams we need to surpass to qualify for 2022 are back, why isn't Canada?" Because those are the countries which make it very disappointing that they have found a way to play and we can't

Natural we compare ourselves with the states, but I get it. If Jamaica and Panama can play, why can't we? Fair quesion.

[nolando]

My phone news tracker tells me Panama is playing Japan live ATM.

[CanadaFan123]

The more time that passes the less the excuses make sense to me. The whole "Europe is a mess right now" excuse makes no sense ... the players being called would be European based and are playing week in and week out. Not to mention the fact that our players have a better chance of dying in a plane crash on the way to the match than by COVID. 

The money excuse is also laughable. They haven't spent anything all year! They actually got to cancel the Victoria friendlies and avoided playing WCQ. 

Let's call it for what it is. Predictable behaviour. We have an FA that hasn't actively pursued friendlies since the Floro days and we're seeing the same pattern of behaviour. Every other nation is playing but us, it's inexcusable. And now we're going to flunk out of WCQ and it'll be "aw well, we didn't get to play friendlies because of COVID". It's garbage.

[costarg]

I understand the Covid thing and the concern, but no one can defend the decision at this point.  It's bullshit, they lied, there never was a game being planned.  I could be wrong, but they seem to be the first country to come out and say "due to covid, we're cancelling our non-announced friendly with a make believe opponent". 

Did they really expect other countries to follow their lead and not take advantage of the opportunity to cap new players, get some game time, get players to know each other better?  Has the CSA not realized the rest of the world takes soccer puckin seriously and they want to get better, not look for excuses?  

The question needs to be asked, they obviously have "some" money, where is it going if not towards friendlies?  It sucks that no reporter will stick his neck out to ask the question out of fear of not getting a chance for future interviews.  The question needs to be asked and re-asked repeatedly with no space for squirming out of it.  Media, social media, everywhere, until its out in the open. 

Edited November 13, 2020 by costarg

[BigMo]

2 hours ago, CanadaFan123 said:

The more time that passes the less the excuses make sense to me. The whole "Europe is a mess right now" excuse makes no sense ... the players being called would be European based and are playing week in and week out. Not to mention the fact that our players have a better chance of dying in a plane crash on the way to the match than by COVID. 

The money excuse is also laughable. They haven't spent anything all year! They actually got to cancel the Victoria friendlies and avoided playing WCQ. 

Let's call it for what it is. Predictable behaviour. We have an FA that hasn't actively pursued friendlies since the Floro days and we're seeing the same pattern of behaviour. Every other nation is playing but us, it's inexcusable. And now we're going to flunk out of WCQ and it'll be "aw well, we didn't get to play friendlies because of COVID". It's garbage.

It's bush league and embarrassing. This FA hasn't learned a thing. Every single federation in the world has been able to organize friendlies and qualifiers. European-based players competed throughout Africa yesterday, in AFCON qualifiers, yet somehow a country as wealthy as Canada cannot afford any matches?

 

No matter how our players do professionally, we remain managed by people out of their league, with very little ambition.

[SpursFlu]

Relax everyone. My opinion is these friendlies are lame right now anyways. I think it would be beneficial to bring some new players in to the fold between now and qualifiers but there is nothing we can do.

Beat Suriname  beat Haiti and then away we go. There it is and if we can't do that we just need to admit we suck and try again next time. I personally don't believe we suck so I'm not worried about it

Edited November 13, 2020 by SpursFlu

[costarg]

46 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Relax everyone. My opinion is these friendlies are lame right now anyways. I think it would be beneficial to bring some new players in to the fold between now and qualifiers but there is nothing we can do.

Beat Suriname  beat Haiti and then away we go. There it is and if we can't do that we just need to admit we suck and try again next time. I personally don't believe we suck so I'm not worried about it

1 practice is better than 0 practice.  2 practices are better than 1 practice........

The WCQ, Gold Cup, etc.. don't happen on paper.  We don't win cause we have Davies, David, Eustaquio and because it'd be a great swan song for Hutchinson.  We need to get on the field, try different formations and players, otherwise its pointless to show up there and hope for the best.  An 11 doesn't just come together and perform at the peak, regardless of who's in the team.

[VinceA]

Just wanted to note how little games we play. Scott Arfield joined the program in 2016, and has 19 caps. Scott McTominay joined Scotland in 2018 and has 18. That's just sad. It's more prevalent with the US too they have guys who joined in 2018/19 and are almost at 20 caps for their country.

[SpursFlu]

42 minutes ago, costarg said:

1 practice is better than 0 practice.  2 practices are better than 1 practice........

The WCQ, Gold Cup, etc.. don't happen on paper.  We don't win cause we have Davies, David, Eustaquio and because it'd be a great swan song for Hutchinson.  We need to get on the field, try different formations and players, otherwise its pointless to show up there and hope for the best.  An 11 doesn't just come together and perform at the peak, regardless of who's in the team.

Yah and I need to go lay on a beach somewhere 

[Obinna]

2 hours ago, VinceA said:

Just wanted to note how little games we play. Scott Arfield joined the program in 2016, and has 19 caps. Scott McTominay joined Scotland in 2018 and has 18. That's just sad. It's more prevalent with the US too they have guys who joined in 2018/19 and are almost at 20 caps for their country.

Yes exactly and furthermore Arfield has been a key player the entire time, so it's not the case of some fringe player who has trouble picking up caps.

We just don't play enough. Look at the results wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_men's_national_soccer_team_results

Year - total games (friendlies)

2010 - 6 (6) *hart

2011 - 12 (3) *hart

2012 - 9 (3) *hart 

2013 - 13 (10) *interim coach/floro. Did they have powder in the keg because we had an intern for half the year?

2014 - 5 (5) *floro

2015 - 14 (5) *floro

2016 - 10 (6) *floro

2017 - 9 (5) * zambrano

2018 - 4 (1) *zambrano/herdman

2019 - 9 (0) *herdman

2020 - 3 (3) *herdman

Avg 8.5 (4.3)

Edited November 13, 2020 by Obinna

[Obinna]

Jamaica for comparison:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_national_football_team_results

Year - Total (friendlies) * Includes Caribbean cup games 

2010 - 13 (8) *

2011 - 10 (6)

2012 - 17 (8) *

2013 - 12 (2)

2014 - 12 (7) *

2015 - 16 (3)

2016 - 10 (1) *

2017 - 14 (6)

2018 - 10 (7)

2019 - 14 (2)

2020 - 3 (3)

Avg  11.9 (4.8)

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by Obinna

[Bison44]

Remember in one of the threads there was a discussion on who (or anyone) would be breaking the all-time cap record??  Looking at Obinna's list for the last 11 years....if someone played every game in the last 11 years they would just barely beat out DGZ.  Ponder that for awhile....

[Obinna]

A couple of ways to look at this

1) Jamaica averaged 0.5 more friendlies than Canada over the last 10 years, so we cannot say they play THAT many more friendlies than Canada.

2) Jamaica averaged 3.4 more games than Canada over the last 10 years, so there was theoretically less room in the calendar for them to play friendlies, yet they were still able to play more of them than us. 

[RS]

One thing no one seems to be talking about is the insane amount of games players are being asked to play in the second half of 2020 and first half of 2021 (and likely well beyond that). Between domestic leagues trying to cram in as many fixtures as possible, to Champions/Europa League every week other than international breaks, to friendlies/qualifiers... there is a ton of pressure on players to play every 3-4 days or months on end now.

This has less to do with Canada and more to do with the soccer world in general, but even when putting COVID aside we're going to see more and more injured players as time goes on. Top European players will be going non-stop basically until summer 2022, then the World Cup happens in Nov/Dec of that year (hopefully). It's unprecedented and I/m not sure if it's good for the game.

Bringing it back to Canada, the players will definitely be "in season" whenever the next games are (maybe not the North American-based ones if it's in January, but that'll affect the opposition as well). The biggest issue will be lack of chemistry.

[Obinna]

20 minutes ago, RS said:

One thing no one seems to be talking about is the insane amount of games players are being asked to play in the second half of 2020 and first half of 2021 (and likely well beyond that). Between domestic leagues trying to cram in as many fixtures as possible, to Champions/Europa League every week other than international breaks, to friendlies/qualifiers... there is a ton of pressure on players to play every 3-4 days or months on end now.

This has less to do with Canada and more to do with the soccer world in general, but even when putting COVID aside we're going to see more and more injured players as time goes on. Top European players will be going non-stop basically until summer 2022, then the World Cup happens in Nov/Dec of that year (hopefully). It's unprecedented and I/m not sure if it's good for the game.

Bringing it back to Canada, the players will definitely be "in season" whenever the next games are (maybe not the North American-based ones if it's in January, but that'll affect the opposition as well). The biggest issue will be lack of chemistry.

This is why no one seems to be talking about it.