COQ | Match Thread: Canada U23 vs Haiti U23 | March 22 @ 6:00pm EST

[sebdeserio]

3 minutes ago, JasonDias said:

If we could have a do over from this moment what would you want to see? 

I'd personally like to see a ball back out to Dias and then back out to a wider Ballou for a more direct shot or a shot from the top of the box by Dias. 

Or 

Ballou instead of waiting, pull further out for a better shot. 

 

Backheel to Dias? who takes a touch forward and then crosses to Ballou who (hopefully!!) puts it in and all is well in the world of Canada Soccer.

[cronaldo7]

7 minutes ago, JasonDias said:

If we could have a do over from this moment what would you want to see? 

I'd personally like to see a ball back out to Dias and then back out to a wider Ballou for a more direct shot or a shot from the top of the box by Dias. 

Or 

Ballou instead of waiting, pull further out for a better shot. 

 

I think the clear and obvious ball was played to Ballou. 

[reggietfc]

6 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Long ball strategy to get behind  Haitian defense strategy...did not work

#coaching

 it may of worked if they could of made a decent pass,seem to overhit everything,maybe its the thin air.

[cronaldo7]

That being said, I did really like Dias energy and mentality he brought to the game. He wanted it. He brought urgency. I expect to see him start the next match. 

[Macksam]

3 minutes ago, Footyeh said:

I agree that a coaching change will help.  But a lot of this falls on the quality and ability of our professionals.  Personal opinion, I don't think the number of pros we have matters, we could have 100, but how many of them are actually of the level for this type of competition... which isn't high at all by the standards we should be holding our players to.  

National teams come together for very brief periods (Especially Canada), coaching staff's won't always be able to prepare the team as much as they'd want to.  Some of the onus is on the players to find ways to get results.  What's going to happen if we are lucky to play USA/Mexico in the Semi's and they have us pinned back?  How will the players respond?  Just my opinion..

True, but I wouldn't gauge our overall status as a national team based on the squad at this tournament. We are missing like 10 guys who would be eligible for this tournament but aren't there based on varying reasons. 

I felt the way you did my whole life but....there was one moment that changed for me. It was our opening game against French Guini in the 2017 Gold Cup where the Phonz made his debut with a brace and we won 4-2. I hadn't seen this new team with an exciting young prospect before and I suddenly had new found faith. I know it was only French Guini but still. 

[Dominic94]

1 minute ago, reggietfc said:

 it may of worked if they could of made a decent pass,seem to overhit everything,maybe its the thin air.

We have the quality and players to break them down, and when we tried we were successful. Inexcusable by Biello

[Dominic94]

10 minutes ago, JasonDias said:

If we could have a do over from this moment what would you want to see? 

I'd personally like to see a ball back out to Dias and then back out to a wider Ballou for a more direct shot or a shot from the top of the box by Dias. 

Or 

Ballou instead of waiting, pull further out for a better shot. 

 

The pass to Ballou was right, but he could have backed up a yard or 2 and refilled it. Lack of sharpness, fitness and experience tbh.

[A_Gagne]

3 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

The pass to Ballou was right, but he could have backed up a yard or 2 and refilled it. Lack of sharpness, fitness and experience tbh.

IMO main thing he was lacking was confidence.

[Dominic94]

Just now, A_Gagne said:

IMO main thing he was lacking was confidence.

He looked hesitant a couple of times out there I’ll agree.

[JasonDias]

 

[Dominic94]

we finally get a #10 and don’t use him. I’m concerned, we have some very crafty and technically gifted youth coming up in Rutty, Nelsen and Habibullah, can’t play the long ball with the kids or a Dias.

reality is I’ve yet to see a reason for Dias to want to come back, guy was probably promised the moon and didn’t if get let on the space ship.

[Gian-Luca]

1 minute ago, frmr said:

No I'm pretty sure I can safely say no one cares how old you are. No offense intended of course, just stating a fact. I also wasn't taking what you said seriously, as no one would be so ridiculous as to actually want people to tell their age before posting. I was more just bringing to attention that it was kind of a douchey way to make your point.

What I was referring to you speaking for the entire board by saying that "no-one cares....for your not-so-subtle attempt at gatekeeping" - which nobody can possibly care about since there is and was no attempt at gatekeeping in the first place. You can't care for something which doesn't exist in the first place. That you made the gatekeeping accusation does suggest that you took the post seriously, a post which wasn't at all meant to be taken seriously - I guess I will add in more smilies next time since it is quite apparent that My Dinner with Andre doesn't cut the mustard in these parts.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, TOcanadafan said:

Unfortunately so true... I don’t understand how with each new generation the same lackadaisical mentality and approach...Buchanan seemed to be the only one who wanted it.

Buchanan was awful IMO. 

[HochelagaFC]

Bair and Brym are the biggest disapointments. I don’t know what’s the point in having both Daniels and Raposo. I would’ve let one home and bring in an extra #6 or 8. I don’t know why we have that many fullbacks either (ZBG, Godhino, Bassong, Abzi, Farsi). Especially knowing that Buchanan can play RB too. Poorly constructed roster in my opinion.

[frmr]

2 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

What I was referring to you speaking for the entire board by saying that "no-one cares....for your not-so-subtle attempt at gatekeeping" - which nobody can possibly care about since there is and was no attempt at gatekeeping in the first place. You can't care for something which doesn't exist in the first place. That you made the gatekeeping accusation does suggest that you took the post seriously, a post which wasn't at all meant to be taken seriously - I guess I will add in more smilies next time since it is quite apparent that My Dinner with Andre doesn't cut the mustard in these parts.

 

Yeah, well, I'm probably just grumpy because Canada.

[Gian-Luca]

11 minutes ago, reggietfc said:

 it may of worked if they could of made a decent pass,seem to overhit everything,maybe its the thin air.

Agreed, there was certainly plenty of space to hit those passes and make the runs, just very poor execution. I would have liked to have seen Dias in midfield to make those types of passes if that was the gameplan.

[gator]

The way this is shaping up we have a match to get it together for a one off in the semi final, we should keep the tiebreaker over Haiti regardless of results in the last match barring a heavy loss by us and a big win for Haiti which I guess is possible! That is assuming ES does not win tonight of course!

[Footyeh]

1 minute ago, Macksam said:

True, but I wouldn't gauge our overall status as a national team based on the squad at this tournament. We are missing like 10 guys who would be eligible for this tournament but aren't there based on varying reasons. 

I felt the way you did my whole life but....there was one moment that changed for me. It was our opening game against French Guini in the 2017 Gold Cup where the Phonz made his debut with a brace and we won 4-2. I hadn't seen this new team with an exciting young prospect before and I suddenly had new found faith. I know it was only French Guini but still. 

Our Senior National Team I have a lot of hope for, that's a different story.  There is clear quality outside of Alphonso in the squad to be optimistic about.  It's these teams below it that are supposed to help drive the continuing growth of our senior national team.  Yes, we are missing a lot of quality in this U23 team, but it's not an adequate excuse for drawing with a country like Haiti.  Even our "B" team so to speak should be well equipped to manage a game against a country made up of amateur players.  It says more about our player development than anything.  But lets see how the next game plays out because it's going to be even more difficult than today was!

[BearcatSA]

2 minutes ago, frmr said:

Yeah, well, I'm probably just grumpy because Canada.

That's what I blame it on.  Here's a picture of G-L and me in our younger days on this board:

[Macksam]

16 minutes ago, cronaldo7 said:

For me, a major thing is the mentality. The desire and the will is missing from so many of our guys, at all levels, throughout all these years I've followed the program. 

 

True, Aiden Daniels had that one run where he made a few nice moves and got clear of three guys....only to pass it backwards.

There was one moment where Bair had acres of space to run onto but opted to play a long ball that went no where.

On the flip side,

You had Tajon show that very desire you speak of with that last run in the game before passing it to Ballou's now infamous miss. That is what we never had before in this country. 

You had Dias fight like an animal the 20 or so minutes he played, trying his hardest to be a difference maker.

You had Pantemis showing some fire. 

You had Baldisimo closing people down, getting stuck in... although he did get caught in position by being too cute at times. 

You had Cornelius telling the world he has ice running through his veins by how confident he handled the ball back there.

I obviously don't know how everyone on this squad is going to pan out but I could see a handful of this new breed adding to the existing tools we have in this ever growing shed of ours. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 hour ago, BrennanFan said:

Herdman and his puppet regime once again out coached by Haiti, with no significant plan B offered in the second half. 

Haiti worked their gameplan from whistle to whistle.  

Out-coached? This is a bad take. Some of their players were simply better. Faster. Creative. If they had actually been well coached they would have won this game.

You could see it in the way we played collectively. Our decent-to-good coaching is what gave us the draw and many chances to actually win the match.

[narduch]

5 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Out-coached? This is a bad take. Some of their players were simply better. Faster. Creative. If they had actually been well coached they would have won this game.

You could see it in the way we played collectively. Our decent-to-good coaching is what gave us the draw and many chances to actually win the match.

If they could finish worth shit they would have beat us 3-0.

[CanadaFan123]

The Ballou miss is so overstated. It was a high percentage “safe” shot. People saying “put your laces through it” ... so he can miss the target completely? The keeper made a fantastic save and off a deflection no less. Buchanan put in a great shift and if he gets an assist or goal he’s yet again man of the match. 
 

I remember Dasovic in 2008 saying that this is the last chance for some guys to wear the Canada shirt. I think Biello is probably having the same talk come next match. This team has looked decent and if we bagged a winner everyone’s tone would be different. We’re seeing quite a few guys who could/will be MNT players and that’s huge. Buchanan looks like a star at this level (but then again so did Petrasso in 2015).

[CanadaFan123]

3 minutes ago, narduch said:

If they could finish worth shit they would have beat us 3-0.

And likewise if we could finish it would be 3-0. It was a fair draw.

We were clearly the more talented squad. They created some direct chances but we actually built some chances through skill. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by CanadaFan123

[El Diego]

Our pressing was very disjointed. I think that's because Biello didn't really ask the team to press and so when individuals did there was no support. Problem is that if we don't press, the 4-4-2 can be really flat and it is easy to break the lines. If we're going to sit off we need to be able to deny the important channels, and if we are going to press we need to do it as a team. Overall I was disappointed -- Haiti were actually leaving so many gaps but we had a number of naive passes.