COQ | Match Thread: Canada U24 vs Honduras U24 | March 25 @ 10:00pm Eastern 7:00pm Pacific

[Free kick]

26 minutes ago, Floortom said:

I mean go look at the general Olympic thread and read the responses to the roster. I said it was bad but there was a lot of hype here about “proven professionals” like Bair, Brym etc. 

you absolutely right on that!   People like to pump up players from teams or leagues they like. Plus you got the large contingent who shill blindly for the CPL players.    

  I had no expecations about Brym.   None what so ever.  All i need to know is this.  He is a 22 year old attacking player who is still playing in the reserves and hasnt gotten a sniff of senior team club soccer.  That not the profile of a future star.  
 

as for Bair,  never really impressed me when i saw him play for the whitecaps.

As for the CPL player, i will not shy away.  The quality of play is way way too poor in the league for it to provide anything of value to the national teams.

Edited March 26, 2021 by Free kick

[Floortom]

Just now, BrennanFan said:

Could the Men's team really not spare Millar and Corbeanu and Sturing and Johnston? 

We are in for a long 90 mins against Mexico. 

We could have really used Corbeanu. I’m guessing we promised him senior cap when he switched. Maybe Charlton wouldn’t have released Millar for this tourney.

[LeoH037]

5 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Who from this team is likely to improve the senior team in the next few years?

Buchanan for sure. Methinks that as for Dias, after this tournament he will want to have nothing to do with us 🙃

[Bdog]

I had a feeling this was going to be frustrating to watch. I don't get the lack of urgency to try to grab the win at the end, I know the boys were tired but there's a problem when you can hardly keep the ball at the end. Mostly mad at the coaches here.

Hopefully Dias watches the replay of the other game tonight to see how fun the 1st team is now! Because he has the right to be pissed at the lack of playing time/trust with the U23s.

 

[LeoH037]

2 minutes ago, BrennanFan said:

Could the Men's team really not spare Millar and Corbeanu and Sturing and Johnston? 

We are in for a long 90 mins against Mexico. 

long 90? well you're optimistic... I give it 20 tops 🤣

[canadianbacons]

Tajon is only player on this team with star potential, maybe Dias. A couple of the other guys will become useful CMNT role players but overall its not a very impressive side. I think we did as well as should be expected with the players available.

[costarg]

1 minute ago, Aird25 said:

Who from this team is likely to improve the senior team in the next few years?

Cornelius might be as good as anyone on the senior team. 

From what we've seen in this tournament, not one of the mids (Daniels, Metcalfe, Raposo, Baldi) are even good enough for MLS.  Baldisimo was probably my biggest shock and disappointment.  Perhaps cause of the system Biello was trying to play? 

Have Brym and Bair even arrived in Mexico or are they still on the plane? 

At least Godinho put in some good shifts, he redeemed himself for the last Gold Cup.

[gator]

I didn't expect us to be great given we were missing some good pieces to the puzzle from TFC, I was hoping some players would thrive in this tournament given their pro experience, no one really has, Cornelius was ok and Pantemis with major gaff notwithstanding, Dias showed promise but also gave away a dreadful hospital ball that gave them a good chance, I would like to see more of him if he is not too upset with our program! So many meh performances, I hope we can keep the match close with Mexico!

[PiedPilko]

Meh, I went in thinking us getting out of this group would be 50/50, and we did. I think Bielo has been very questionable, starting Bair and benching Dias. (tbf, I think we're exaggerating how good he's been, but we have 0 creative presence at the 10). 

 

I just want us to try something ambitious vs Mexico. I'd like us to fully commit to sneaking up the wings with our pace instead of this slow play up the middle leading to some idiotic longball. 

 

Also... I'm kinda shocked at how Baldi is being used. He should be launching the wingers into attack... right now, he's just basically an excess outlet option in the middle. 

[Dominic94]

3 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Tabla?? Yah I don’t see that 

Tajon, Cornelius, ZBG already has some caps...maybe Dias or Baldisimo although lots to prove there. 

Ballou maybe, Tajon will likely be 3rd at best on the depth chart in 2-3 years. If Rutty and Corbeanu are the real deal I don’t see him getting time. 
 

Baldi and Dias will be players, Pantemis, Cornelius and maybe Bassong have a chance. The reality is that for most of the team their last game with Canada is vs Mexico.

while I did have high standards for us, I think we should have beat Haiti. A draw tonight was more than fair for us. 

[Gian-Luca]

We did the US a favour by taking out one of the best Honduran players on suspension.

Frankly we looked gassed by the time the 2nd half started, the fitness advantage for the Hondurans playing in mid-season form and our boys not being the biggest difference in that half. There wasn't that much to choose from in the first

Difficult to make the Olympics though if you have a striker who doesn't look like he gives much effort (Bair) and another who plays with his head down completely selfishly (Brym), neither of whom have come close to scoring. A shame that so many of our best attacking talent is not at this tourney, starting to think that Jordan Perruzza is the biggest loss from that 9 player TFC over-protective COVID quarantine that deprived us with what could have been half the roster. Failing that, seeing an 18 year old score with his first touch for Canada brought a smile to my face but hard to see that Corbeanu couldn't have been used here first and then brought into the senior team next camp, but I guess what's done is done.

Credit to David Norman Jr. who looked better at CB than many of the dildos the Whitecaps used at CB last year (not counting Godoy or Cornelius in that comment). Hard to see from this how he couldn't get a sniff of playing time for a shite Inter Miami team last year. Also shout out to Metcalfe, intelligent yellow to take, good versatility and nice cross on our goal.

Now the question is how well can Canada bunker with all of our CB's injured? (This question would apply regardless of whether we finished first).

Edited March 26, 2021 by Gian-Luca

[Dominic94]

2 minutes ago, costarg said:

Cornelius might be as good as anyone on the senior team. 

From what we've seen in this tournament, not one of the mids (Daniels, Metcalfe, Raposo, Baldi) are even good enough for MLS.  Baldisimo was probably my biggest shock and disappointment.  Perhaps cause of the system Biello was trying to play? 

Have Brym and Bair even arrived in Mexico or are they still on the plane? 

At least Godinho put in some good shifts, he redeemed himself for the last Gold Cup.

I thought Baldi has been great, but not the team around him. Daniels wasn’t brutal, neither was Metcalfe of Norman, you’re being harsh. 

[lazlo_80]

Who could improve the senior team?

Tajon has a spark. Dias looked really promising in limited time. others are WIP.

But im not sure thats an inditement on this group of U23s compared to other teams of the past, as much as it's a testament to how much better our senior team is now compared to the past.

[Yohan]

8 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Who from this team is likely to improve the senior team in the next few years?

I think Pantemis did well enough to be in the senior team GK pool, especially if he gets club mins

Cornelius is good enough for most teams in MLS, but he's already in the senior pool

Baldisimo is going to have a lot of growing pains, but I think technically he's good for depth for senior team. Needs to work on other aspects of his game though

Metcalfe had better tournament so far than I expected, but then again I had no idea who he was

Buchanan is probably the one most ready to step up to senior team, but that winger position looks to be full for senior team at this time

 

[Shway]

Group stage over/tournament over...tough luck. I’ll be the first to say these guys deserve credit, starting with...

Stock Up:
Norman Jr - I think he found his new position, because he looked very  comfortable back there. Albeit he is slow, his positioning and awareness was good. He wasn’t beat 1v1 all tournament.

Pantemis - 1 mistake in 3 games in which he hesitated to come off his line. Meh, he stood on his head a lot. I was also surprised by his conformity to play out the back.

Metcalfe - When everyone (including myself) was saying wtf he was doing in the team, he surprised everyone

 Played to expectations:

Baldisimo, Buchanan, and Cornelius- don’t need to say more.

Stocked Dropped:

Brym - holy shit he was horrible. Poor decision making, and no real offensive presence for the squad

 Bair - ive been big on him. Even went as far to say he was better than Akinola. But my oh my, he looked big for nothing. 

Great tournament considering who was there. We could’ve been better, but the Haitians put a fork in our road again - this time it leads to Mexico.

[costarg]

2 hours ago, An Observer said:

Uhhh. They don’t play the same position. It’s clear they are setting up to absorb pressure and play on the counter.  And likely bring Dias at the 60 minute or so to run against tired legs 

Only thing that was clear was a poor plan.  Dias needed to start.  Aside from the assist Metcalfe didn't show up and Balidisimo was a maple turnover. 

[El Hombre]

1 minute ago, Shway said:

Group stage over/tournament over...tough luck. I’ll be the first to say these guys deserve credit, starting with...

Stock Up:
Norman Jr - I think he found his new position, because he looked very  comfortable back there. Albeit he is slow, his positioning and awareness was good. He wasn’t beat 1v1 all tournament.

Pantemis - 1 mistake in 3 games in which he hesitated to come off his line. Meh, he stood on his head a lot. I was also surprised by his conformity to play out the back.

Metcalfe - When everyone (including myself) was saying wtf he was doing in the team, he surprised everyone

 Played to expectations:

Baldisimo, Buchanan, and Cornelius- don’t need to say more.

Stocked Dropped:

Brym - holy shit he was horrible. Poor decision making, and no real offensive presence for the squad

 Bair - ive been big on him. Even went as far to say he was better than Akinola. But my oh my, he looked big for nothing. 

Great tournament considering who was there. We could’ve been better, but the Haitians put a fork in our road again - this time it leads to Mexico.

You forgot Godinho.  His stock couldn't have been lower in your eyes prior to the start of this tournament....

[Pottsy3]

Brym hasn't been great, but my god we're going overboard with the criticism. There was very little cohesion in the final third, that was a team issue.

[LeoH037]

Lets be honest, even if we had won this, it was still a long shot that we could have defeated the USA

[Gian-Luca]

Don't really understand all the Baldisimo criticism to be honest. I think he made one gaffe which we weren't punished on, but you could say the same thing about everybody in the tourney. He ran the show for us well in the first half IMO.

The only two players whose stock has gone down for me based on this tourney so far are Bair & Brym. Everybody else has played as well as I expected or in a few cases (such as Norman Jr., Metcalfe) better. I would like to see a little more energy from Ballou but since he's not even going close to 90 minutes and coming off an injury riddled year, I don't think he's fully fit either (well, none of the MLS/CPL guys are).

[lazlo_80]

Just now, LeoH037 said:

Lets be honest, even if we had won this, it was still a long shot that we could have defeated the USA

i think with the US it's a long shot. 

 

With mexico its an impossibility.

[Gian-Luca]

5 minutes ago, Shway said:

Group stage over/tournament over...tough luck. I’ll be the first to say these guys deserve credit, starting with...

Stock Up:
Norman Jr - I think he found his new position, because he looked very  comfortable back there. Albeit he is slow, his positioning and awareness was good. He wasn’t beat 1v1 all tournament.

Pantemis - 1 mistake in 3 games in which he hesitated to come off his line. Meh, he stood on his head a lot. I was also surprised by his conformity to play out the back.

Metcalfe - When everyone (including myself) was saying wtf he was doing in the team, he surprised everyone

 Played to expectations:

Baldisimo, Buchanan, and Cornelius- don’t need to say more.

Stocked Dropped:

Brym - holy shit he was horrible. Poor decision making, and no real offensive presence for the squad

 Bair - ive been big on him. Even went as far to say he was better than Akinola. But my oh my, he looked big for nothing. 

Great tournament considering who was there. We could’ve been better, but the Haitians put a fork in our road again - this time it leads to Mexico.

I was posting my comments on stock up at the same time as yours, I pretty much agree with all this.

[Shway]

2 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

You forgot Godinho.  His stock couldn't have been lower in your eyes prior to the start of this tournament....

i was expecting @Olympique_de_Marseille to say that.

He had a great tournament. But you’ll notice I never mentioned anyone who has senior caps. So although he had a great tournament, and it was surprising even for me - his stock never went up, and would fall in the “played to expectations”(regardless if they weren’t mine).

 

[LeoH037]

12 minutes ago, lazlo_80 said:

Who could improve the senior team?

Tajon has a spark. Dias looked really promising in limited time. others are WIP.

But im not sure thats an inditement on this group of U23s compared to other teams of the past, as much as it's a testament to how much better our senior team is now compared to the past.

Dias is going to be a player, this tournament does not change the fact he will likely break into Sporting's first team in the near future... however something tells me after this tournament we will not be seeing a Maple Leaf on a red kit he dons again...

[Dominic94]

After group play my thoughts:

the great 

James Pantemis, yes he had a gaff but I can’t lie he saved us today and against Haiti, he looks MLS quality and he’s clearly read.

Derek Cornelius , leading by example, bossing the box, some great challenges.

 

The good

Ballou, honestly he’s been our most dangerous player overall this tournament and hasn’t done much wrong minus getting robbed twice, I was impressed and there’s hope for him. 
 

Tajon, he’s been very good, but the double team hasn’t helped, moments where he’s tried too much. 

Godinho, I like him, strong defensively and crafty, he was good at LB and I think he can push for time at RB in the short term, but long term he’s not going to be in the mix, in another era he would have 50 caps.

Norman, thrown to the wolves, no complaints, moves the ball well and works hard. Maybe the next Joel waterman, you can see why Calvary want him at CB.

Baldi: like him a lot, agile, some great tackles and dribbles, passing could be better accuracy wise but he’s been key.

the above average 

Dias, a couple of mistakes, but some dazzling dribbles and almost always creates with the ball. Only reason he’s not in a high bracket is his PT.

Daniels, we were worried about him but he’s filled his role and works hard, maybe a guy who could be a depth piece in MLS.

 

average 

ZBG, not much to say he’s only been solid, not more I can add. Not a bad thing.

Raposo, solid sub, works hard but doesn’t bring much to us. 
 

The below average

Bair, Just a ghost out there, doesn’t add anything to the game. 

 

the brutal

Brym, just awful decision making, effort, I don’t know what he brings to this team. Probaly hurt us more than he helped.

Biello, brutal coaching against Haiti, questionable tactics, poor starting lineup decisions and substitutions. 
 

it’s probably our C team with Dias and Buchanan and Baldi if we’re being real. Not sure who else anyone would field in our actual A u-23 starting XI unanimously, some of these players wouldn’t make the C team.