Match Thread : CONCACAF League: C.D. Marathón v Forge FC - December 8th, 2020 - Champions League Play-In

[Ansem]

A healthy Cavalry qualifies for CCL. There I said it.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Ansem

[gator]

A heavy defeat would not of surprised me tonight and although Forge were mostly second best they were so close to equalizing, I have said it for the 2 seasons including when Borges was scoring out of the midfield that Forge needed a real quality striker and it showed! Heading in to this tournament I wouldn't have expected a CPL team to do so well so soon, there is a ways to go, these teams like tonight have better ball skills, we are also very naive to the Concacaf tactics and refereeing! I'm sure these players will be glad to return home, I think Forge will look much different by the time the V's Cup Final is played!

[Shway]

Question... is Cisse not on the team anymore? Or is he injured.

 Forge got a lot of building to do in terms of adding pieces. They still need a number 10 that doesn’t force babouli to drop deep so much, they need a winger, and will note need a CB, although Samuel can slide in.

[gator]

1 minute ago, Ansem said:

A healthy Cavalry qualifies for CCL. There I said it

I think they would have won last week but I'm not sure they would have got that far!

[gator]

1 minute ago, Shway said:

Question... is Cisse not on the team anymore? Or is he injured.

 Forge got a lot of building to do in terms of adding pieces. They still need a number 10 that doesn’t force babouli to drop deep so much, they need a winger, and will note need a CB, although Samuel can slide in.

Cisse did not make trip due to personal/family reasons! They could have used him!

[Ansem]

4 minutes ago, Shway said:

Question... is Cisse not on the team anymore? Or is he injured.

 Forge got a lot of building to do in terms of adding pieces. They still need a number 10 that doesn’t force babouli to drop deep so much, they need a winger, and will note need a CB, although Samuel can slide in.

Cisse missed the match for family reasons I think

I know Forge plans to keep most of their team...not good enough - they need to upgrade.

Good on them to go to CONCACAF League next year but will they win CPL for a 3rd time? Doubtful 

They need a keeper to at least make Henry sweat for his spot or beat him for it

They need to replace Edgar

Grant is not good enough 

They never replaced Borges - Sabak ain't it.

You can't "ride" Bekker forever. They need to think of someone else to build around 

They need more punch up front. This is where you start thinking about Garcia and Morelli connection or Diaz - Bustos.

Cavalry with guys like Escalante, Pasquotti and Camargo would have been great to watch...adding Farsi

If they play the status quo card, 2021 will be a long year starting with TFC. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Ansem

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Is it just me or do a number of the forge players look like they've gained weight?  I wouldn't blame them living in hotels for a few months.

[gator]

3 minutes ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Is it just me or do a number of the forge players look like they've gained weight?  I wouldn't blame them living in hotels for a few months.

Henry certainly looks like it!😀

[gator]

4 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Cisse missed the match for family reasons I think

I know Forge plans to keep most of their team...not good enough - they need to upgrade.

Good on them to go to CONCACAF League next year but will they win CPL for a 3rd time? Doubtful 

They need a keeper to at least make Henry sweat for his spot

They need to replace Edgar

Grant is not good enough 

They never replaced Borges - Saban ain't it.

You can't "ride" Bekker forever

They need more puch upfront.

If they play the status quo card, 2021 will be a long year starting with TFC

I agree with all of this although that is a little harsh on Bekker, he wasn't very good tonight or last week but has had a good season overall, I hope he returns but it is time for others to challenge for the Cmid role, maybe Borges will return! As I posted earlier they have missed a top quality striker from day one, this will be an interesting off season!

[Shway]

I’ve always said Bekker hides in the big games, he’s just not a big game player. I’ve always seen that about him. Great quality, player in the regular season though.

[Ansem]

 

[Cheeta]

34 minutes ago, Ansem said:

A healthy Cavalry qualifies for CCL. There I said it.

A healthy Cavalry finished that match with 6 men.

[gator]

5 minutes ago, Ansem said:

 

That's nothing we didn't already know though, nothing will change, it's been like this forever, the referees view the game different and allow all this bullshit to go on because it is like part of their soccer culture! Watching these 4 matches down there was a great example of this, and Forge ended up with the only 2 reds in the 4 matches!

[Ansem]

1 minute ago, Cheeta said:

A healthy Cavalry finished that match with 6 men.

With Escalante giving them their own médecine 

[BearcatSA]

43 minutes ago, gator said:

I agree with all of this although that is a little harsh on Bekker, he wasn't very good tonight or last week but has had a good season overall, I hope he returns but it is time for others to challenge for the Cmid role...

I thought Bekker was going to the Whitecaps?  

[Ansem]

Just now, BearcatSA said:

I thought Bekker was going to the Whitecaps?  

[Kent]

8 hours ago, Trois Reds said:

He also let two Marathon players move 5 feet ahead of his spray line on a Bekker free kick in the first half.  It's pretty bad.

This really bothers me. It is so blatant. What is the point of the spray line if you can just march past it? It should have been a yellow card for each player in my opinion. Bekker should have called it out as well instead of just taking the kick.

[MtlMario]

Bottom line, "you don't score you don't win" in a game they should've never needed to play.

[dyslexic nam]

8 hours ago, gator said:

That's nothing we didn't already know though, nothing will change, it's been like this forever, the referees view the game different and allow all this bullshit to go on because it is like part of their soccer culture! Watching these 4 matches down there was a great example of this, and Forge ended up with the only 2 reds in the 4 matches!

This game should probably be required viewing in a refresher course for the Nats before heading south for any WCQ games.  The bullshit and shenanigans were all too familiar.   

[gator]

A huge part of the problem is the way the matches are reffed, many of these refs from the countries in this region are just not good enough at this level, add to that the way they interpret the game, the different soccer culture, players getting in their ear in a language we generally don't speak or understand and we are up against it! When you have veteran players like Edgar and Bekker falling in to the trap and losing their cool you know it's bad! I'm glad Edgar came out and spoke his mind, sadly it won't change a thing until the governing bodies start acting on what is a big problem! In saying that there was no one decision that cost Forge the match last night just lots of decisions that make life difficult for us, vs the Haitian side they definitely should have had a straight red in the first half but once again Forge were there own worst enemy by not finishing chances and a massive blunder by the keeper!

[Cheeta]

^ To be fair, in defense of both Bekker and Edgar I think by the time they began to lose it they already knew how the match was finishing out.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Cheeta

[gator]

Edgar lets his feelings be known in post match interview:

 

https://forgefc.canpl.ca/video/forges-david-edgar-proud-emotional-in-swan-song-played-till-the-bitter-end

[Kent]

6 hours ago, Cheeta said:

^ To be fair, in defense of both Bekker and Edgar I think by the time they began to lose it they already knew how the match was finishing out.

That would be a horrible attitude on the field. Down 1 goal with 5 minutes left you have to believe you have a chance.

[Cheeta]

^. I'm implying that those veteran players recognized the reality of their situation and concluded that barring some unforseeable bit of magic by a Forge player the night's event was going to conclude exactly as the ref desired/designed.  Again.  

I'll forgive them for expressing the sense of injustice they felt.  They won't be the last.

[An Observer]

2 hours ago, Kent said:

That would be a horrible attitude on the field. Down 1 goal with 5 minutes left you have to believe you have a chance.

I agree with this. If we are going to learn to "win" in these environments, we need to learn how to play there and put up with and minimise their bullshit.  Otherwise, we will continue to lose and the tactics that the Hondurans and others deploy will have been effective and we have no one to blame but ourselves.  

I didn't watch the match but sides need to prepare for the bullshit and to the point that someone made above, if players are 5 yards inside the spray line, stop, take a breath and point it out.  Our Canadian sensibilities of fairness, etc. result is us losing our shit when things don't go our way. They get under our skin with their tactics and we lose because of it.

Its no different than in hockey where we have players like Lemieux and Fleury and now Marchand who just get under the other players skin due to their antics.  We seem to be able to deal with it in hockey and actually our players are generally the purveyors of it but in soccer we get all English and puritan about it.  Deal with it; and losing your cool is the exact opposite of how to deal with it.