It's Time .... Is Canada Going To Do It?

[One American]

Costa Rica: Down. In decline since the WC. Hasn't won a game in more than a year. 

Panama: Down. Golden Generation is over. Not as down as you might expect. But definitely down. 

Honduras: Recent results: Lost to Nicaragua. Home draw to Guatemala. (Or is it the other way around?)

El Salvador: A mirage. 

Jamaica: Decent across the board. Gold Cup success. But Bailey aside, not much in the way of standout players (for now).

The point: The traditional CONCACAF Best of the Rest are in a bad patch. Meanwhile, measuring transfer values, Canada is overwhelmingly #3 - Canada's Best XI is 2 1/2 times the value of Jamaica's Best XI and nearly double for the rest of the players (based on calculations by some dude on BigSoccer adding up Transfermarkt values).  

So Canada has no excuse to not make the World Cup. None. Zero. Canada needs to start acting like a favorite. 

It should happen. 

Will it? 

[Alex]

4 minutes ago, One American said:

Costa Rica: Down. In decline since the WC. Hasn't won a game in more than a year. 

Panama: Down. Golden Generation is over. Not as down as you might expect. But definitely down. 

Honduras: Recent results: Lost to Nicaragua. Home draw to Guatemala. (Or is it the other way around?)

El Salvador: A mirage. 

Jamaica: Decent across the board. Gold Cup success. But Bailey aside, not much in the way of standout players (for now).

The point: The traditional CONCACAF Best of the Rest are in a bad patch. Meanwhile, measuring transfer values, Canada is overwhelmingly #3 - Canada's Best XI is 2 1/2 times the value of Jamaica's Best XI and nearly double for the rest of the players (based on calculations by some dude on BigSoccer adding up Transfermarkt values).  

So Canada has no excuse to not make the World Cup. None. Zero. Canada needs to start acting like a favorite. 

It should happen. 

Will it? 

I bloody hope so. There seems to be a power shift in concacaf. At the top of course you still have Mexico and the USA. Add Trinidad to the teams you mentioned as being in a low spot and then look at curaçao and Canada as teams on the rise. But I’ll believe it when I see it. We haven’t won in Central America since November 2004. 

[SpursFlu]

No excuses.. on paper we're easily the 3rd best team in the region 

There is also no excuse for small crowds in Canada for games anymore 

[Bertuzzi44]

Canada has consistently underperformed for the last 20 years. Didn't we have "the best midfield in CONCACAF" in like 2007 or something?

Honestly, I feel on-field talent hasn't been Canada's issue. Especially considering the region. The issues are playing games, team chemistry, home support, etc. And as of today I still see these as issues and am not confident the CSA and Herdman (who I see as one and the same) will lead Canada to glory. Maybe, but I am not confident.

At some point Canada's on-field talent might just be so overwhelming that we start winning games and qualifying for World Cups. Hopefully that isn't what the CSA/Herdman are just waiting for.

We don't play any fucking games.

[Ivan]

What worries me (besides our inconsistent CBs) is the age of our best players.  Very young, not much experience.  Can Arfield, Osorio, Hutch, Hoillet keep everyone together?

[PiedPilko]

21 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

No excuses.. on paper we're easily the 3rd best team in the region 

There is also no excuse for small crowds in Canada for games anymore 

Are we really better than Jamaica? I think it's very close. Plus, there's the chance they could inject a slew of Championship players into their squad at any time.

[Bertuzzi44]

We are not better than Jamaica.

[Lansdude]

Our team rhythm can't match the likes of the Reggae Boyz yet.

[Dominic94]

1 hour ago, PiedPilko said:

Are we really better than Jamaica? I think it's very close. Plus, there's the chance they could inject a slew of Championship players into their squad at any time.

Who ? 

[wulei]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

 We haven’t won in Central America since November 2004. 

Wait didn't we beat Cuba away in the Nations league last year?

[Nate3322]

8 minutes ago, wulei said:

Wait didn't we beat Cuba away in the Nations league last year?

Cuba is in the Caribbean not in Central America so I don't think it counts

[wulei]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

We haven’t won in Central America since November 2004. 

 

Ok so I actually looked into it and he's right. not including friendlies and neutral venues like the gold cup, we're 0-2-6 in away games vs central american teams since 2004

[Nate3322]

1 minute ago, wulei said:

 

Ok so I actually looked into it and he's right. not including friendlies and neutral venues like the gold cup, we're 0-2-6 in away games vs central american teams since 2004

That's a brutal record, I'm confident we can do better now though.

[VinceA]

We're not going to qualify for anything as long as our federation cries poor at every turn and we don't play any games.

[Obinna]

We should expect to qualify, but I do not see it as a certainty by any stretch of the imagination. Let us get past Haiti before we can dream, and before that we must make sure we do not trip up against Bermuda. I say that to give them credit, not because I am bearish on our chances. This is our best squad.

We have star players on Bayern Munich, Lille, Rangers, Besiktas, and Red Star Belgrade, who have been stronger than average over the last several seasons, of course under the captaincy of Milan Borjan. Atiba the captain of a good Besiktas side, Larin leads the Besiktas side in scoring, David and Davies are key players at Lille and Bayern. Arfield is very important to the best Rangers side in nearly a decade, who just cruised through the Europa League group stage. These guys are not just making up the numbers. Do not forget Eustaquio as well, tied for the lead in Portugal with 4 MOTM honors. These are significant players.

Combine these stars (and yes they are stars) with a growing MLS contingent and the talent is there, but is the mentality? Can we win on the road in hostile environments? Will our home crowds be diminished due to factors outside our control? Or will we simply have bad luck that we do not recover from?

Nothing is guaranteed, which makes it all so exciting, and although you cannot win on paper, I like our chances now more than ever, and I love this team!

LFG!

Edited December 11, 2020 by Obinna

[wulei]

24 minutes ago, wulei said:

 

Ok so I actually looked into it and he's right. not including friendlies and neutral venues like the gold cup, we're 0-2-6 in away games vs central american teams since 2004

for comparison, USA is 4-7-8

[top cheese]

I think that if they stay healthy then they have probably there best chance. They have a good core of players but if Davies or David or hutch go down there going to have a massive hole to fill. Plus as it showed in the gold cup there backline is horrid. And when things get tough in hondorus or vista rica you need some mentally strong guys there 

[wulei]

11 minutes ago, top cheese said:

I think that if they stay healthy then they have probably there best chance. They have a good core of players but if Davies or David or hutch go down there going to have a massive hole to fill. Plus as it showed in the gold cup there backline is horrid. And when things get tough in hondorus or vista rica you need some mentally strong guys there 

Are you sure hutch is still out best option at mid? He’s gonna be 38 by the time the qualifiers start.  What other candidates do we have at his position?

[top cheese]

12 minutes ago, wulei said:

Are you sure hutch is still out best option at mid? He’s gonna be 38 by the time the qualifiers start.  What other candidates do we have at his position?

Well look at how he’s playing now it Europe 

[sebdeserio]

43 minutes ago, wulei said:

Are you sure hutch is still out best option at mid? He’s gonna be 38 by the time the qualifiers start.  What other candidates do we have at his position?

only ones on par with him are Arfield and Eustaquio with Osorio and Kaye a tier under.

[SpursFlu]

7 hours ago, PiedPilko said:

Are we really better than Jamaica? I think it's very close. Plus, there's the chance they could inject a slew of Championship players into their squad at any time.

We're better but yes I think Jamaica are next and a good team

And the likely characters from Central America are gonna be tough

Edited December 12, 2020 by SpursFlu

[Bdog]

6 hours ago, Ivan said:

What worries me (besides our inconsistent CBs) is the age of our best players.  Very young, not much experience.  Can Arfield, Osorio, Hutch, Hoillet keep everyone together?

Seems like the same situation with the States right now.

It helps that Davies has already won the treble at the highest club level while being a legit contributor. David has some decent experience at club level as well, it sucks that he's not scoring as much as we thought he would but he already has over 100 games between Gent and Lille.

Other than them most of our young guys are in their mid 20s, unless guys like Millar/Buchanan, or the MLS kids can break through soon, we won't be too inexperienced.

[Bertuzzi44]

We've played 2 competitive matches against Jamaica in the last five years and lost both of them:

2015 Gold Cup (group stage) 
Jamaica 1
Canada 0

2017 Gold Cup (quarterfinal)
Jamaica 2
Canada 1

Until we start beating Jamaica in competitive matches I'd be weary of claiming we are better than them. How can you say you are better than a team you lose to? 😄

[Obinna]

42 minutes ago, Bdog said:

Seems like the same situation with the States right now.

It helps that Davies has already won the treble at the highest club level while being a legit contributor. David has some decent experience at club level as well, it sucks that he's not scoring as much as we thought he would but he already has over 100 games between Gent and Lille.

Other than them most of our young guys are in their mid 20s, unless guys like Millar/Buchanan, or the MLS kids can break through soon, we won't be too inexperienced.

And to put it in perspective he is 2 years younger than Weston Mckennie, but has played the same number of club games. Or if you want to compare with a forward, David has played double the number of club games as Josh Sargent. They are the same age.

So yes, David has pretty significant experience, and Davies even has about 50 more games than David. Davies also has roughly the same number of club games under his belt as Pulisic, who again is 2 years older. So while the Americans have many more high profile young players at some of the biggest clubs in the world, David and especially Davies are right their in terms of experience for their age.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Obinna

[PiedPilko]

31 minutes ago, Bertuzzi44 said:

We've played 2 competitive matches against Jamaica in the last five years and lost both of them:

2015 Gold Cup (group stage) 
Jamaica 1
Canada 0

2017 Gold Cup (quarterfinal)
Jamaica 2
Canada 1

Until we start beating Jamaica in competitive matches I'd be weary of claiming we are better than them. How can you say you are better than a team you lose to? 😄

Even on paper though... they have some actual CB's in top leagues, Bailey and decent enough depth everywhere else. I don't see the argument that we're miles ahead of them.