COQ | Match Thread: Canada U23 vs El Salvador U23 | March 19 @ 6:00pm EST

[gator]

A very nice win, sloppy at times but overall we were fairly dominant and should have scored one more, we have learned some of the dark arts of Concacaf, as much as I hate that shit it is unfortunately necessary!

[Trois Reds]

A good win.  I'll happily take it. The guys did well overall.

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, cronaldo7 said:

I think he’s actually looked pretty calm and didn’t seem panicked with the ball at his feet. Yes a couple moments but wasn’t overly concerning. 

I think the point is that there were a couple of times where a bit more urgency would have been welcome.  
 

But overall great game.  

[Yohan]

So this is vs El Salvador U24 and the team is most definitely not match fit. 

I'm not going to comment on individual performances because of that, but I'll take the win.

Don't choke vs Haiti. And who knows, El Salvador vs Honduras tends to be a war and ES might even do Canada a few favours. 

Onwards to Monday

[PiedPilko]

Yeah, not much else to say. There were stretches where we had trouble making passes out of the back, but I'd say we had the best 4 chances in the match overall. 

 

Hope Baldi's okay.

[ADP10]

I’m really happy we had a relatively comfortable win against an opponent we’d usually struggle with

[Shway]

Great win, perfect result for Canada. With all the uncertainty around the squad, this was the best way to settle the nerves and answer the critics.

Man of the Match: Tajon Buchanan

Rose the occasion as the go to man. Got the two goals, and was a constant problem all game.

Honourable Mention: James Pantemis

Surprise Performance: Patrick Metcalfe  

Holy shit, was he commanding, showed great composure,  won several balls in the middle. He was frowned upon by many (me) but was he perfect today.

Honourable Mention: Godinho (he too was solid all game)

Underperformed: Charles Andreas-Brym

I expected a lot more from him, probably just suffering from sharpness.

Coaching Highlight: 

When he subbed Montgommery off for Norman Jr at half. At first I was like Wtf, but it was tactical greatness in the sense to get him minutes considering he’s not a natural CB.  
 

[Corazon]

Big result.  We have a lot of individual talent.  Buchanan market value almost 3 times the entire ES squad and it showed.

We are definitely going to need to control more of the games going forward.  Pleasantly surprised with how well some of the central midfielders did but we definitely lacked control and creativity in the middle of the park.  

Edited March 20, 2021 by Corazon

[JuicyHam]

A little tighter at the back and that is the perfect win. Absolutely no complaints though 

[Shortdutchcanuck]

Buchanan fantastic on one wing, Tabla very good on the other, how good would this attack look with Akinola up the middle?

[El Diego]

I really liked what I saw from Metcalfe. Did a lot of things right in the middle, then did well in a holding role after Baldisimo went off.

Also thought that Derek "The Babysitter" Cornelius had a good match (and, upon further review, "The Babysitter" is a great nick name for a defender so I am gonna go with it).

[SoccMan]

Godinho and Buchanan two best players on the field today. Baird at 6”4” don’t think won one header in the air against much smaller guys needs to improve that . Need to keep better possession and players need to move better off the ball . Moreover, how is this Buchanan’s first ever game for any age group national team, no U17 no U20 how is a guy like this missed? Good thing for MLS eh ?

[An Observer]

I was pleasantly surprised by Norman at the back in the half he played.  Quite composed on the ball. Definitely helped in retaining possession out of the back in the second half. 

[Dominic94]

I liked Norman’s performance, he looked like a capable CB.

our lack of CM depth will hurt, we could have used an extra one here. 
 

I seriously am very happy with the result, but how will the boys play with Dias going forward now ? He’s confident and it shows, he needs the ball at his feet, but will they oblige ? With him in the middle we really are a threat in the final 3rd. He and Baldisimo could dominate games in the center.

I think games 2 and 3 will be easier as we shake off the rust, there was a clear talent gap, and I think we lacked the legs to run them off the pitch. As the tourney goes on, we’ll get sharper and I think it’s pretty clear that Buchanan is getting sold.

[Dominic94]

3 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

Godinho and Buchanan two best players on the field today. Baird at 6”4” don’t think won one header in the air against much smaller guys needs to improve that . Need to keep better possession and players need to move better off the ball . Moreover, how is this Buchanan’s first ever game for any age group national team, no U17 no U20 how is a guy like this missed? Good thing for MLS eh ?

Wasn’t in an MLS academy, full credit to League 1 for exposing him to the NCAA.

[PiedPilko]

I guess I am a little worried about the striker situation. Brym looked much better when he moved to the wing, but he had a lot of trouble holding onto the ball.

 

Not sure what Bair was doing half the time either... he didn't get anywhere near the box, but still tried to outrun guys 10 inches shorter than him. 

[Free kick]

That ball

22 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

Godinho and Buchanan two best players on the field today. Baird at 6”4” don’t think won one header in the air against much smaller guys needs to improve that . Need to keep better possession and players need to move better off the ball . Moreover, how is this Buchanan’s first ever game for any age group national team, no U17 no U20 how is a guy like this missed? Good thing for MLS eh ?

As far as plays or highlights of the game, Buchanan’s ball to setup Tabla (which he unfortunately missed converting) was right up there with his goals 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Free kick

[dyslexic nam]

So we waited 400+ days.  Good to be back into it.  Great way to open.  Gotta do the job against Haiti and go all in vs Honduras.   Would be nice it ES could do us a favour but really it is always going to be about what we do vs the pissbaggers.  
 

We can worry about the playoff game if and when we do the job in the group.  
 

The trick now will be to make sure that we use the days to come to maximize familiarity with each other and with the overall game plan. 

[One American]

Who is going to play wing in the qualifiers instead of Buchanan? Did they just decide to strengthen the Olympic team? 

Edited March 20, 2021 by One American

[SpursFlu]

Only watched the 2nd half but 2 standouts were Godinho and Tajon. Very impressed with Tajon

[gator]

I know many soured on Godinho after his errors vs Haiti, I said it back then, that was on Herdman for playing him when he was totally not match fit and coming back from injuries, I saw lots of him at Hearts and he was mostly useful on either side playing FB, let's hope his good play continues!

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

4 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:

Brym looked much better when he moved to the wing, but he had a lot of trouble holding onto the ball.

Brym is a good player and a good dribbler who plays like he thinks he is Messi himself.  He starts great things that tend to fizzle out. I still have hope that he will finally amaze us.

[SoccMan]

7 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

Wasn’t in an MLS academy, full credit to League 1 for exposing him to the NCAA.

No but it was the MLS that drafted him and ends up making the most when he came on for New England.

[costarg]

48 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

New age Canadian soccer 

Whats impressive about this is the fact its the young ones pulling it off like they're the most experienced players out there, where as a few years ago we had 32-33 year olds getting out smarted and out played by this.

[toontownman]

That was a good game, pleasantly surprised. Typical pre-season match. I hope that sharpness comes, some of the thinking and moving on the ball was immense, the end product not so much. 

Echo lots of the other thoughts on standouts, it was a positive game and the team was well coached. Level one complete, lets beat level two on Monday.