GC: Canada vs The USA - Sunday, July 18th, 5pm Eastern / 2pm Pacific - Kansas City

[El Hombre]

1 minute ago, SoccMan said:

Osorio should have started period , Osorio with Piette ..

You're not paying attention to the lineup or the system though.  If you want Osorio in there, you have to take off one of Buchanon, Larin, Hoilett or Akinola.  Not Piette or Fraser.  They all have a role.  That's why Osorio came on for Akinola and and MAK came on for Piette.

[VinceA]

The extratime radio guys are very complimentary to the Canadian team.

Charlie Davies obviously hyping up Buchanon huge.

[Club Linesman]

Someone mentioned they had seen enough of Bobby waxing poetic on One Soccer but I would watch that every break if it meant Phonzie screaming like a maniac because Drake followed him never comes on the airways again.  

[ag futbol]

1 minute ago, El Hombre said:

You're not paying attention to the lineup or the system though.  If you want Osorio in there, you have to take off one of Buchanon, Larin, Hoilett or Akinola.  Not Piette or Fraser.  They all have a role.  That's why Osorio came on for Akinola and and MAK came on for Piette.

Osorio has played the DM role for TFC. Looked pretty good I’m that position too. Coaches honestly just shoe-horn this guy into so many different roles and it goes under appreciated 

[PiedPilko]

Don't understand the hate for Piette. We needed a pure ball-winner to throw at them, and he did his job well. Fraser is Fraser... I don't think he should be here, but he was fine.

 

It's a shame we couldn't break down their bus, but it's a good sign they had to resort to that. For almost 70 minutes, the US looked completely overwhelmed. I think the rest of the team should've followed Johnston's lead and sent in a bunch of crosses, cause we just didn't have the precision to break their lines in the final third. We spent too much time trying to sneak through, and that was never going to work.

 

And to be clear, this is very much our B-team. No Davies, David, Eustaquio, Atiba, Arfield, Borjan, Kennedy or Adekugbe and no Larin for much of it either. Lot of positives to take from this performance imo - we were much less wasteful with the ball even if we didn't convert in the end.

Edited July 18, 2021 by PiedPilko

[Gian-Luca]

It's a funny old world, played our best game in a while and yet it's the first one we lost in a while. I thought the only passenger we had was Crepeau which is a testament to how ineffective the US were. I hope the injuries to the strikers aren't serious. That Akinola initially felt that he could carry on hopefully means that it's not long term.

I lost track of the number of PKs we should have had, the fact that at least three of them didn't even go to VAR indicates we were never going to be allowed to win this game. An undeserved US win, but this is the Gold Cup after all.

[Metro]

2 minutes ago, Club Linesman said:

Someone mentioned they had seen enough of Bobby waxing poetic on One Soccer but I would watch that every break if it meant Phonzie screaming like a maniac because Drake followed him never comes on the airways again.  

And I thought I was the only one who thought this!

Phonzie, you won Champions League.  Drake should be screaming like a groupie after you followed him! 😅

[SpursFlu]

I think before he got hurt, Larin was our best player

I can't really complain about any player of ours. Pwople are hating Piette? I thought he was great and I think from 30mins on we eat them alive every time they tried to work thru our midfield 

I liked Hoilett in the middle.. he held possession and made some great turns in tight space

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by SpursFlu

[SoccMan]

2 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

You're not paying attention to the lineup or the system though.  If you want Osorio in there, you have to take off one of Buchanon, Larin, Hoilett or Akinola.  Not Piette or Fraser.  They all have a role.  That's why Osorio came on for Akinola and and MAK came on for Piette.

Well game changed for the better once Osorio came on , maybe in a game like this a guy like Osorio needs a system of play where he is on the field , with no Kay or Osorio on didn’t look like were creating much , yes I know Kay had the yellow card problem but things changed for the better creativity wise and possession wise once Osorio came on the field even the Fox guy noticed.

[gator]

The injuries are obviously going to dictate who starts the QF but at least Herdman got a good look at different players in different positions and a slight alteration of formations, we shouldn't be fearing anyone in this tournament, that's not to say we can't take a beating in our next match or matches!

[The Beaver 2.0]

Just now, SpursFlu said:

I think before he got hurt, Larin was our best player

I can't really complain about any players of ours

I liked Hoilett in the middle.. he held possession and made some great turns in tight space

 

We were damned good receiving the ball with backs to goal, turning really well, laying off to the wings etc.  Larin and Hoilett were especially good in this regard, but they were not alone. Oso and Fraser and Piette were winning balls in midfield all game long. A very smart performance from this team. These tournies are all about growing, and we saw this team--missing at least 7 top notch starters--control much of this game. Yup, we've got to clean up our slow starts, but this was a full step forward. Our guys will continue to grow in confidence, just in time for the Ocho.

[Club Linesman]

Hoilett coming off was a shame. He was class on the ball and losing his possession and experience had a negative impact on us in the middle and scoring end of the pitch.  

[Club Linesman]

1 minute ago, gator said:

The injuries are obviously going to dictate who starts the QF but at least Herdman got a good look at different players in different positions and a slight alteration of formations, we shouldn't be fearing anyone in this tournament, that's not to say we can't take a beating in our next match or matches!

Normally I am in full agreement with you Gator but I needed to remove my like when I saw the last part of the sentence.  This team will NOT take a beating in our next 15-17 matches!

[The Beaver 2.0]

We've got a week to recover from injuries. Crossing my fingers that Larin just have some tightness in the groin and that Ayo's knee is not screwed. 

[VinceA]

Herdman saying that Larin should be ok but Akinola could be more "problematic" 

[N1ckbr0wn]

Good game just needed finish. Probably the best way to lose

 

[ag futbol]

7 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:And to be clear, this is very much our B-team. No Davies, David, Eustaquio, Atiba, Arfield, Borjan, Kennedy or Adekugbe and no Larin for much of it either. Lot of positives to take from this performance imo - we were much less wasteful with the ball even if we didn't convert in the end.

I will probably be alone here but I’ll take Crepeau over Borjan. Better communication and less odd-ball decisions. 
 

waaaay calmer with the distribution too which makes a huge difference with this back line.

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, VinceA said:

Herdman saying that Larin should be ok but Akinola could be more "problematic" 

That is what I figured just based on the look of how they went down.  

[BearcatSA]

Just now, SoccMan said:

Well game changed for the better once Osorio came on , maybe in a game like this a guy like Osorio needs a system of play where he is on the field , with no Kay or Osorio on didn’t look like were creating much , yes I know Kay had the yellow card problem but things changed for the better creativity wise and possession wise once Osorio came on the field even the Fox guy noticed.

To me, Osorio is a valuable midfielder to have starting in road legs.  Finds space and and keeps the possession rolling when you need to starve the home team's mo and puts in a good shift defensively, too.  He made a significant difference when he came on.

Fraser improved in the second half because the guys around and in front of him picked up their games significantly:  that tide raised his boat.  Piette was running out of juice and needed a sub, otherwise he did pretty well in his role.

[JohnnyFranchise]

7 minutes ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

We were damned good receiving the ball with backs to goal, turning really well, laying off to the wings etc.  Larin and Hoilett were especially good in this regard, but they were not alone. Oso and Fraser and Piette were winning balls in midfield all game long. A very smart performance from this team. These tournies are all about growing, and we saw this team--missing at least 7 top notch starters--control much of this game. Yup, we've got to clean up our slow starts, but this was a full step forward. Our guys will continue to grow in confidence, just in time for the Ocho.

i thought cav also did a great job when he was dropping to pick up a ball from the back like that, then distributing to the wings

[Chad_Impact]

I was really hoping we could win or draw and avoid Mexico, but it is what it is. We'll have to beat these teams if we want to qualify for the world cup. 

Man is Concacaf embarrassing though. How do they expect football in this region to grow when you have sketchy decisions like those. One was undoubtedly a penalty, the other could be debated, yet neither went to VAR. It just makes absolutely 0 sense. Almost like they don't want their two money makers to meet outside of the final...

 

[The Beaver 2.0]

3 minutes ago, ag futbol said:

I will probably be alone here but I’ll take Crepeau over Borjan. Better communication and less odd-ball decisions. 
 

waaaay calmer with the distribution too which makes a huge difference with this back line.

Not sure I disagree. Borjan seems to always have at least one brain-fart a game. Crepeau is a smarter keeper, I feel.

[AvroArrow]

Any chance that it did not go to var because they believed the foul started outside the box?

[ag futbol]

9 minutes ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

We were damned good receiving the ball with backs to goal, turning really well, laying off to the wings etc.  Larin and Hoilett were especially good in this regard, but they were not alone. Oso and Fraser and Piette were winning balls in midfield all game long. A very smart performance from this team. These tournies are all about growing, and we saw this team--missing at least 7 top notch starters--control much of this game. Yup, we've got to clean up our slow starts, but this was a full step forward. Our guys will continue to grow in confidence, just in time for the Ocho.

Agreed. I think our midfield should include one of Kaye or Osorio but not necessarily both. I find together they sort of get in each other’s way.

[BearcatSA]

1 minute ago, ag futbol said:

Agreed. I think our midfield should include one of Kaye or Osorio but not necessarily both. I find together they sort of get in each other’s way.

Osorio as the road warrior, Kaye the home guy