World Cup Qualifying Third Round Match Day 1: Canada Honduras - Thursday, September 2nd, 2021 - BMO Field, Toronto.

[ag futbol]

1 hour ago, Kadenge said:

 watch the game again minus the emotion and you may come away with a different opinion re scoring chances and why we did not win the game. We generated enough decent chances to win..Larin & David were just not clinical. Got to take your chances when they come. Yes we were outnumbered in midfield but that's not why we tied. Look at the possession stats and then corners won which indicate we generated lots of pressure in the final 3rd.  The majority of our key players underperformed but yet we could & should  have won the game if we finished off just 1 of our many chances. 

This feels very much like a guilt edge, “we had a few chances, should have potted them” take. Not going to get that out of most sides.

Our corners amounted to nothing of quality and our possession was overwhelmingly in our own half. If you look at the xG for the game, we’re pretty much level with Honduras (at least there’s one stat I can sort of agree with).

[Addona]

45 minutes ago, ag futbol said:

This feels very much like a guilt edge, “we had a few chances, should have potted them” take. Not going to get that out of most sides.

Our corners amounted to nothing of quality and our possession was overwhelmingly in our own half. If you look at the xG for the game, we’re pretty much level with Honduras (at least there’s one stat I can sort of agree with).

I haven't seen the xG numbers ... do you have a link?

[Floortom]

This surprises me..I would have thought it would have been much closer

[archer21]

10 minutes ago, Floortom said:

This surprises me..I would have thought it would have been much closer

It’s not like Honduras had wide open point blank chances. They had a few headers that were contested and a decent distance from goal. The fact that they did very well with the headers and forced saves from Borjan doesn’t mean they were great chances to begin with. The great save Borjan made was a really impressive header from just above the penalty spot with Vitoria all over him.

[Floortom]

1 minute ago, archer21 said:

It’s not like Honduras had wide open point blank chances. They had a few headers that were contested and a decent distance from goal. The fact that they did very well with the headers and forced saves from Borjan doesn’t mean they were great chances to begin with. The great save Borjan made was a really impressive header from just above the penalty spot with Vitoria all over him.

Agreed - it was more our 1.6 non penalty XG that surprised me. We didn't really have "big chances" IMO. I think we had a few "ok" chances (David's strike, Larin's header) but hard to see how we get to 1.6.  (disclosure - I was at the match and maybe the chances were better than I thought as I havent watched TV replay yet). 

[The Beaver 2.0]

3 hours ago, VinceA said:

Is it just me or has anyone else just generally been unimpressed by David when he is up against against better competition?

He was pretty invisible for me against Honduras and Larin had to be the more active of the two dropping deep to get the ball. David did more of that in the second half and had a chance he probaably should bury but i was generally let down by his play. This was a similar issue against the US in November 2019. 

He's still very young but he's relied on heavily for our offensive output but doesn't seem to trouble better defenses that much.

I still feel that we got our tactics/formation wrong, and had we played two up front, with 3 CMs, with one of those being Oso or Kaye, David would have been much more involved and more effective. He needs service, but he also needs guys to play off of. He and Oso link really well. Both are smart players with the ball, make smart runs etc. 

[Addona]

10 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Agreed - it was more our 1.6 non penalty XG that surprised me. We didn't really have "big chances" IMO. I think we had a few "ok" chances (David's strike, Larin's header) but hard to see how we get to 1.6.  (disclosure - I was at the match and maybe the chances were better than I thought as I havent watched TV replay yet). 

David’s chance was really an amazing save by their keeper … can’t blame David at all on that one; he got a lot on that shot! This is why I’m not so down on how David played… lack of service and a great save on one of his only chances to score.

Laryea also had a decent chance from in close…

Edit: And maybe Hutch’s chance?

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Addona

[Approve My Account Pls]

11 minutes ago, Addona said:

David’s chance was really an amazing save by their keeper … can’t blame David at all on that one; he got a lot on that shot! This is why I’m not so down on how David played… lack of service and a great save on one of his only chances to score.

Laryea also had a decent chance from in close…

Edit: And maybe Hutch’s chance?

 

Adding to these, David and Larin each had pretty good opportunities blocked as well as Larin's missed header. Maybe they could've factored in the one time Davies put the ball right into the keeper in the first half. Could argue that was a chance at trying to catch him off guard or just a poor cross, I lean towards the second

[frmr]

1 hour ago, Addona said:

David’s chance was really an amazing save by their keeper … can’t blame David at all on that one; he got a lot on that shot! This is why I’m not so down on how David played… lack of service and a great save on one of his only chances to score.

Laryea also had a decent chance from in close…

Edit: And maybe Hutch’s chance?

 

David had another shot blocked when someone headed a ball back across goal and David walloped it, unfortunately into a defender. If it would have gotten through there was no way the keeper was stopping it, unless it was straight at him.

[Addona]

21 minutes ago, frmr said:

David had another shot blocked when someone headed a ball back across goal and David walloped it, unfortunately into a defender. If it would have gotten through there was no way the keeper was stopping it, unless it was straight at him.

Forgot about that one!!!

[An Observer]

Hutch had a good chance that was blocked from just outside the box as well

[rkomar]

And that Honduran had a good shot that just missed the top corner of his own goal.

[Free kick]

Just watched the replay of the game. My second impressions:  

Johnston may have been MOTM.  There were some very key tackles, interventions and clearances from him that saved the result.  

The Hondurans were better than I thought they would be,  especially Andy Najar.  

And finally, regarding the coverage,  the post game on OneSoccer is excellent.  What a complete contrast with the booth 

Edited September 5, 2021 by Free kick

[ag futbol]

17 hours ago, Addona said:

I haven't seen the xG numbers ... do you have a link?

https://footystats.org/international/honduras-national-team-vs-canada-national-team-h2h-stats#1262252

[RS]

46 minutes ago, Free kick said:

The Hondurans were better than I thought they would be,  especially Andy Najar.  

Najar only became effective when he no longer had to cover Davies. Phonzie was beating him like a drum in the opening stages, but Buchanan couldn't replicate that and Najar grew into the game.

[Free kick]

2 hours ago, RS said:

Najar only became effective when he no longer had to cover Davies. Phonzie was beating him like a drum in the opening stages, but Buchanan couldn't replicate that and Najar grew into the game.

I dont disagree with any of that.  You can also look at it in another way,  Honduras would have surely known that one of the keys to the game for them would have been how they deal with Davies.  As he has done in europe, he did beat some players (including Najar) like a drum but in the end they have to be satisfied that they at least contained him as a group.  It was Najar who delivered that ball that resulted in the header that hit the post.   We could have used a few of those balls.

[MtlMario]

On 8/31/2021 at 12:16 PM, Kadenge said:

@MtlMario time to get your crystal ball out

Sorry been out of the loop the last week or so  but I'm back, I see a 4-1 win on Wednesday.

[MtlMario]

Not bad. At least I (crystal ball) got the goal spread right.😆