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

[Gian-Luca]

 

[Gian-Luca]

Somebody does ask Biello why he didn't bring in Dias earlier in that video by the way, for all of you who are complaining about it.

[Weng]

1 minute ago, Gian-Luca said:

Somebody does ask Biello why he didn't bring in Dias earlier in that video by the way, for all of you who are complaining about it.

And he didn’t give much of an answer 

[Gian-Luca]

30 minutes ago, harrycoyster said:

I also don't get all the doom and gloom for making the play-in game. Having watched the USA v Mexico game, it's not like Mexico is an unstoppable juggernaut and that we'd be favorites against the Americans. The US had 54% of possession and the only great chance of the game came off of an absolute gift from Soto. The game ended 1.27 to .87 on xG. 

Is Mexico better? Yes...but we are talking about two teams that are far closer to each other in terms of talent than we are to them. Either way it was/is going to take some luck.

 

Yes, we would be heavy underdogs against either team, if Cornelius is out and we have no CB's at all for a game where we're likely going to be bunkering the whole match, that will also increase the odds against us. Our injury riddled 2nd/3rd in some cases 4th choice side against their A- line-up full of guys who are all 23/34 (unlike our team that has a lot of 22 or younger players) who are in mid-season form to boot while we are struggling to be match fit. But it sounds like the boys believe they can do it, and so should we. In one game, anything can happen.

My main criticism of Biello for this last match is not one that I think I have seen anyone else express, which is that after the first half I would have subbed out Buchanan even earlier to rest his legs. I was incorrect when I said at half-time that we were somehow going to have to give up 3 goals and score none in the 2nd half in order to not qualify for the semis - in fact we would have to give up 4 2nd half goals and score none to eliminate ourselves. I had forgotten that once we scored it meant that we matched El Salvador's goal tally so even a 4-1 loss would have qualified us (we would have been even on points, goals scored with 3 and goal differential at -1 but then we'd have won on the head to head tiebreaker). Given how unlikely it was that Honduras would score 4 on us in one half, I would have taken Buchanan off much earlier to rest his legs, because either against the US or Mexico, the most likely way to score is going to be if he is able to pull something off on the counter and I'd rather have fresh legs for that (the other most likely possibility is a set piece goal but our most likely candidate to score off a corner is Cornelius and not sure if he's playing on Sunday or not).

[Free kick]

Yes.  It looks like bunkering tactics are in order.    From what i know of his professional coaching experience,  he is not unfamiliar with creating tactics and getting results when coaching a more unheralded lineup.    
At the end of day,  despite the fact that we have a talent deficit (for a variety of reasons) we can still win.  Thats the nature and beauty of tournament soccer.   And if we get to the olympics, we will have a better squad.   

Edited March 26, 2021 by Free kick

[SirBobsaget]

14 hours ago, Aird25 said:

Ages

I was refreshing all day and staying off this forum to avoid spoilers. Tried popping in to read the senior team thread but the Sunday u24 match title caught my eye. Doesn’t seem I missed out on much by finishing the 2nd half.

but ya 3pm next day and still no replay that’s crazy. Can find torrents of tv shows 1hour after airing.

[BearcatSA]

Obviously, one of the biggest problems we have seen with the North American based guys is match fitness and timing compared to their opponents, so I am not convinced that some of the young TFC guys suggested as being key missing components here would be a significant upgrade.  Those TFC guys who participated in January Poutine would certainly have been in this squad but for Covid protocol ahead of the likes of Metcalfe and Raposo but they may have also struggled with the same issues that we have seen here.  

It's funny to go back to the ES match thread see all these glowing comments about the talent and upside of some of these players and now to see all things negative about the same guys (even from the same posters!).

I think we can poach a goal off of set play service.  With that, I'm not sure I would want Raposo providing that service ahead of someone like Baldisimo, who has  played in some dangerous dead ball service when he started with the Caps.

 

 

[rkomar]

To me, taking on Mexico rather than the USA in the semis is not a disaster, it's just a slightly higher mountain to climb.  The only real disaster would be to lose to Honduras by four goals and not even make the semis.  It looked to me like the coaches had that in mind, as well.

[CanadaFan123]

Have to say Buchanan is a hell of a player. He's a dynamic dribbler and makes things happen for this team. It's going to be interesting to see what he can do for the men's team when he can combine with our best players. 

Canada is going to have some real selection dilemmas with wingers in the coming years. Between Hoilett, Davies, Larin, Buchanan, Millar, Tabla, Corbeanu, JMR, Nelson, Ennin... 

Twardek might have missed his last chance to put on a Canada shirt by missing this tournament. 

[Aird25]

2 hours ago, SirBobsaget said:

I was refreshing all day and staying off this forum to avoid spoilers. Tried popping in to read the senior team thread but the Sunday u24 match title caught my eye. Doesn’t seem I missed out on much by finishing the 2nd half.

but ya 3pm next day and still no replay that’s crazy. Can find torrents of tv shows 1hour after airing.

I don't understand it. Everyone's been calling for this to improve since they launched, and it doesn't seem like they've made much of an effort

[BearcatSA]

Finally saw this match.

Considering the available personnel and that we had two out of position guys doing yeomen work at CB for the final 20+ minutes, I was impressed that we were able to hold on to a draw.  Sure, there were some (very) dodgy moments out there that really should have been punished by the Hondurans but they weren't, so that's that.

They were a tough out in trying circumstances and I applaud their effort in this match:  what a valuable experience for these young men.

  

 

 

[CanMNT Memes]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM96-WYJNIb/