GC: Canada vs Costa Rica - Sunday, July 25th, 7pm Eastern / 4pm Pacific - Arlington TX

[PiedPilko]

Very arrogant half from Costa Rica. Did they think we were just gonna let them thread longballs over the top? I know our backline isn't very quick, but we're not some minnow who they can just bowl over... far from over obviously, but they're gonna need to change that up in the second half

[Joe MacCarthy]

For Cavallini and Vitoria:  To paraphrase what Bobby Robson said to Paul Gascoigne, you can't go ahead but you can help the other guys to.

[VinceA]

Bro this is the best half I've ever seen Canada play.

[ESG Shawn]

What a half. Absolutely bossed them, another Octo squad. 

-Buchanan showing he can play on the right without losing a step is absolutely terrifying for the rest of CONCACAF. Davies and Buchanan are going to be a handful

-Eustaquio is quickly becoming my favorite MNT player. Absolutely sublime on the ball.

-Glad to see Kaye pick it up after a rough few matches 

Let's close this out!!!

[Club Linesman]

Here’s a chance for Herdman (out of respect for his recent accomplishments not calling him the Siz) to show some managerial expertise.  Costa Rica will no doubt make some changes, let’s hope Herdman can redeploy our boys to counteract whatever they do and see this out!!

[VinceA]

1 minute ago, PiedPilko said:

Very arrogant half from Costa Rica. Did they think we were just gonna let them thread longballs over the top? I know our backline isn't very quick, but we're not some minnow who they can just bowl over... far from over obviously, but they're gonna need to change that up in the second half

I don't think it's arrogance. This is Suarez' fourth game as coach and this deep the legs on the aging team are starting to show. Canada is content to make this a track meet.

[JohnnyFranchise]

2 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Bro this is the best half I've ever seen Canada play.

💯

You'd have to think real hard to try to come up with a better one. 

[dyslexic nam]

Despite the criticism of Wheeer and Dunfield from some, I really do like Petrillo, Hume and KJ doing doing the deeper analysis.    

Edited July 26, 2021 by dyslexic nam

[Joe MacCarthy]

9 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

As usual, Wheeler and Dunfield acting like the game is already over.

That seems to be a bad habit of Wheeler, I've heard him call games over with 20 minutes left, twice.  Dobbie did it once and learned his lesson, never to repeat it, and chastised others that did so.  I miss Dobbie!

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 minute ago, VinceA said:

I don't think it's arrogance. This is Suarez' fourth game as coach

His previous 8-1 win as coach has to be in his subconscious somewhere.

We shall see.

[The Beaver 2.0]

6 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Collective light bulb folks.. mix in all our player and Costa Rica is not on our level

Only Mexico and US are

Yeah, it might seem premature to make such claims, but it is certainly looking the case. Makes me think Honduras is going to be the tougher foe come Octo time. But we cannot get complacent, not now, not in the fall and beyond. We need to be bloody minded!!

[Markus]

Very impressive. I'm sure we'll see more from Costa Rica in the second half. These are the situations we need our guys to face more often. Excited to see how we play this second half 

[Unnamed Trialist]

I'm surprised by the comments, we played at about 70% potential. Only slightly better than Costa Rica. We did not have possession, did not have rhythm on the ball, were not clicking through the midfield. We only had flashes. We had a chance to force them to chase us, but we really did not do it. 

Then on counters the veterans with a sense of defending a result got carded and are lost for any semi final. 

If Costa Rica picks it up a bit, and we don't we are cooked. We have to do much more on top of the match.

[The Beaver 2.0]

3 minutes ago, VinceA said:

I don't think it's arrogance. This is Suarez' fourth game as coach and this deep the legs on the aging team are starting to show. Canada is content to make this a track meet.

Playing all those athletic Caribbean teams is paying off. And, could it be that we are the better technical squad out there?

[SthMelbRed]

5 minutes ago, JohnnyFranchise said:

This team looks like it has developed some real chemistry, but also like they're playing with joy out there. I can't remember ever seeing our team look like they were just enjoying themselves. It seems that they're really having some fun out there.

Probably the first time they've been able to have fun in a meaningful, non-minnow match since Guatemala in the '07 QFs.

[VinceA]

1 minute ago, dyslexic nam said:

Despite the criticism of Wheeer and Dunfield from some, I really do like Petrillo, Hume and KJ doing doing the deeper analysis.    

My last name is Alvarado and hearing Dunfield for the first 30 call Esteban "Alvardo" drove me up a wall.

[dyslexic nam]

Just now, Markus said:

Very impressive. I'm sure we'll see more from Costa Rica in the second half. These are the situations we need our guys to face more often. Excited to see how we play this second half 

Yeah; they have 45 minutes to save their tournament.  Anyone who thinks they aren’t going to put up a fight is kidding themselves.  I hope Hume was right that their aging players will run out of steam.  Would potentially make things a bit smoother.  

[Joe MacCarthy]

9 minutes ago, Pottsy3 said:

I know we're fragile after so many heartbreaking results, but I much prefer listening to homers who are overconfident in our team than Fox guys who barely know the players' names. 

I've listened to Fox and PremierSports and the commentators are pretty well versed with Canada

[Obinna]

Big test now coming up. Things have felt very comfortable, but let's not forget who Costa Rica are. These guys aren't just going to lay down.

[BearcatSA]

7 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Wouldnt be surprised if Costa Rica throws out a bunch of subs right away...they look lost so far

There woll certainly be so tactical adjustments and maybe a formation tweak.

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I'm surprised by the comments, we played at about 70% potential. Only slightly better than Costa Rica. We did not have possession, did not have rhythm on the ball, were not clicking through the midfield. We only had flashes. We had a chance to force them to chase us, but we really did not do it. 

Then on counters the veterans with a sense of defending a result got carded and are lost for any semi final. 

If Costa Rica picks it up a bit, and we don't we are cooked. We have to do much more on top of the match.

I think there was about 10-15 minutes in the middle where we looked sloppy and a bit disorganized but other than that we played some pretty nice footy.  We moved the ball in a way that we don’t often do against strong opponents. 

[The Beaver 2.0]

Just now, Unnamed Trialist said:

I'm surprised by the comments, we played at about 70% potential. Only slightly better than Costa Rica. We did not have possession, did not have rhythm on the ball, were not clicking through the midfield. We only had flashes. We had a chance to force them to chase us, but we really did not do it. 

Then on counters the veterans with a sense of defending a result got carded and are lost for any semi final. 

If Costa Rica picks it up a bit, and we don't we are cooked. We have to do much more on top of the match.

Agree with much of this, save for "only slightly better than Costa Rica". They've shown nothing. Absolutely diddly-squad, for the most part due to our press.  Yes, we need to do more when in possession, and the game is certainly far from over, but we were the better side this half by a country mile.

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 minutes ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

Yeah, it might seem premature to make such claims, but it is certainly looking the case. Makes me think Honduras is going to be the tougher foe come Octo time. But we cannot get complacent, not now, not in the fall and beyond. We need to be bloody minded!!

Agreed, and Honduras has a good bunch of kids at the Olympics getting prepped. 

I agree that we should be superior to Costa Rica, if we play to our max. But not sure about Honduras, and of course could not evaluate Jamaica. 

We are still outside of the top 3 in Concacaf and are going to have to make a statement to get there.

[AvroArrow]

You guys are all just jelly of wheeler and dunfield's inside access.  😀

10 years ago we'd all be watching on crappy illegal streams and now we are complaining about the commentators on the dedicated Canadian national team broadcaster.  We've become spoiled.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

I'll repeat what I said before about the stupidity of deferred punishments for card accumulation.  It ensures the beneficiary of the punishment differs from the team that was offended against.

It's like robbing a Mcdonald's on Tuesday, robbing a KFC on Wednesday, and then as punishment, you are ordered to pay a fine to Dairy Queen because you were planning to go there on Thursday.