WCQ: Third Round - Window 1 (September 2-8, 2021)

[Shway]

52 minutes ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

 

With the amount he's bulked up, Davies up top is not worst idea for me.  And I  imagine the thought of us going route 1 would strike fear into most defenders. 

But I think we can continue doing what we were doing with Larin and David slightly behind, Buchanan and Davies as wing backs. 

This was my exact thought. Especially if we trot out the 352 we've been using. 
I've said before the guy who misses out in this scenario would be Laryea....however he's a wicked option to bring off the bench if we are closing out a game. 

442 - I would have Laryea over Johnston. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

6 minutes ago, Shway said:

442 - I would have Laryea over Johnston. 

I don't get to see a lot of either but Johnston did seem a little lost if you asked him to function as a full back in back 4 that you wanted to attack a bit and overlap.  Again a limited sample size.   

[theaub]

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/salah-alisson-fabinho-liverpool-breaking-21378199

This won't directly affect us this window but I'd be shocked if some exemption isn't put in place.

[Shway]

22 minutes ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

I don't get to see a lot of either but Johnston did seem a little lost if you asked him to function as a full back in back 4 that you wanted to attack a bit and overlap.  Again a limited sample size.   

He's more of a fullback that can whip in crosses ala Trippier vs a fullback that can take on guys/overlap seemingly like Ricardo Perreira.

But like I said, Laryea is a better fullback or wingback. Johnston has played more at RCB than he has at RB for the national team (IIRC).

[Obinna]

12 minutes ago, theaub said:

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/salah-alisson-fabinho-liverpool-breaking-21378199

This won't directly affect us this window but I'd be shocked if some exemption isn't put in place.

Interesting. The article says the collective agreement is between members of the European Club Association, of which the reds are a member, but it also seems that Bayern, Besiktas, and Lille are member clubs, amongst others. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

51 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Interesting. The article says the collective agreement is between members of the European Club Association, of which the reds are a member, but it also seems that Bayern, Besiktas, and Lille are member clubs, amongst others. 

West Ham is not a member apparently nor are Wolves nor anyone in the lower leagues. So wonder where that leaves people like the Jamaicans in England like Antonio and then Jimenez etc. 

https://www.ecaeurope.com/eca-members/?page=1&country=England

Edited August 23, 2021 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[Obinna]

48 minutes ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

West Ham is not a member apparently nor are Wolves nor anyone in the lower leagues. So wonder where that leaves people like the Jamaicans in England like Antonio and then Jimenez etc. 

https://www.ecaeurope.com/eca-members/?page=1&country=England

Yeah that's a good question. I guess it's anyone's guess, but I get the feeling Antonio will stay and Jimenez would go if push came to shove. Antonio has yet to earn a cap for Jamaica, so a little pressure be the hammers may convince him to stay put, but Jimenez is obviously vital for Mexico and Tata Martino likely has more sway than Whitmore anyways. 

[Shway]

54 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Yeah that's a good question. I guess it's anyone's guess, but I get the feeling Antonio will stay and Jimenez would go if push came to shove. Antonio has yet to earn a cap for Jamaica, so a little pressure be the hammers may convince him to stay put, but Jimenez is obviously vital for Mexico and Tata Martino likely has more sway than Whitmore anyways. 

This might have to do with their pride before anything. It's all going to come down to who forces their hand. Because you better believe that the Brazilians and the Argentinians will have all their guys.

[Obinna]

11 minutes ago, Shway said:

This might have to do with their pride before anything. It's all going to come down to who forces their hand. Because you better believe that the Brazilians and the Argentinians will have all their guys.

I too find it hard to see Brazil and Argentina not being able to get who they want from the non-ECA members, especially if they can't get the guys at clubs like Liverpool.

[Obinna]

Seems on-topic for our speculation  @WestHamCanadianinOxford @Shway

[theaub]

West Ham isn't going to let Antonio leave his house to get on the plane at this rate.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

6 minutes ago, theaub said:

West Ham isn't going to let Antonio leave his house to get on the plane at this rate.

Wrap him in cotton wool, as they say, and don't tell him there's an international break. 

[theaub]

Papers in England reporting that Jamaica will go on the red list in the next update (Aug 26) which certainly won't clear things up.

[Obinna]

2 minutes ago, theaub said:

Papers in England reporting that Jamaica will go on the red list in the next update (Aug 26) which certainly won't clear things up.

This has to go down as the weirdest WCQ cycle of all time. You couldn't have dreamed it up back in the fall of 2018...

[JamboAl]

33 minutes ago, Obinna said:

This has to go down as the weirdest WCQ cycle of all time. You couldn't have dreamed it up back in the fall of 2018...

It may get weirder…when we play away at Mexico and Jamaica in October, these countries may end up in the “red” list in some countries but not in others.  This is where having depth and players in a lot of different countries would be more advantageous than you’d think.

[Kadenge]

4 minutes ago, JamboAl said:

It may get weirder…when we play away at Mexico and Jamaica in October, these countries may end up in the “red” list in some countries but not in others.  This is where having depth and players in a lot of different countries would be more advantageous than you’d think.

This is going to be a battle of attrition and I agree the team's with the most depth including North American based will probably have an edge

[Floortom]

Good news for getting the boys on the big networks. I can imagine more of this to come with our big matches versus US and Mexico if we do well in the early windows and are in contention to qualify in the last few windows 

[davey_twelve]

Would this mean that game won't be on One Soccer? (Don't have TSN).

[narduch]

1 minute ago, davey_twelve said:

Would this mean that game won't be on One Soccer? (Don't have TSN).

Doesn't look like it.

[nazzer]

I thought one soccer paid for the rights to the canmnt?

[EJsens1]

45 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Good news for getting the boys on the big networks. I can imagine more of this to come with our big matches versus US and Mexico if we do well in the early windows and are in contention to qualify in the last few windows 

It’s great to see this is the case.  I hope TSN promotes the crap out of it as this is the last Sunday before the NFL season starts.  Long weekend doesn’t help but this will be better than One Soccer for tv numbers.  Hopefully if it’s a good game (a win or tie obviously) result wise and the viewing numbers are decent, TSN continues picking up the games 

[Floortom]

2 hours ago, theaub said:

Papers in England reporting that Jamaica will go on the red list in the next update (Aug 26) which certainly won't clear things up.

Half of the teams in the Octagonal would be on the Red List at that point (Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Jamaica).  Jamaica would clearly be the hardest hit if they can’t get their England based players - very unfortunate for them.

[king1010]

4 minutes ago, nazzer said:

I thought one soccer paid for the rights to the canmnt?

They did but if TSN is willing to buy the rights to the game off them and they can make a decent profit, all the power to them. 

[narduch]

12 minutes ago, nazzer said:

I thought one soccer paid for the rights to the canmnt?

They only have the rights to Canada's home WCQ. 

They have to negotiate with each other FA for our road games.

One valid complaint against One Soccer is that they have been advertising that they will have all of Canada's matches. That is obviously not the case. Makes you wonder if TSN will swoop in for others.

[jtpc]

With the 3-match windows, we were already thinking squad depth would be vital for success, but when you add the potential layer of travel restrictions on top of the 3-match windows, it's even more important.

If Honduras is still without Elis and Quioto, and Jamaica is unable to get their England-based players, we could be in a really nice position right out of the gate with 2 home wins.