WCQ: Third Round - Window 3 (November 12-16, 2021)

[Shway]

5 minutes ago, scullion44 said:

I swear if Drake ends up cursing us…

Didn't curse Fury

[Sal333]

4 minutes ago, scullion44 said:

I swear if Drake ends up cursing us…

Well, he didn't curse the Raptors. They won.

As for his text to Fonzie, I'm asking myself, is he sincerely rooting for team Canada, or is he a sports groupie, or did his agent tell him his popularity is waning and he needs to latch his wagon to a team of winners?

[ShaneC06]

Unreal.... My mom just came up to me and asked if she could go to one of the games in Edmonton this November. 

Up until last night... My mom never watched soccer. She wants to see Alphonso Davies. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Will Edmonton fans take to this the way they'd do a CFL playoff game in November? Always wondered why football fans do better than soccer fans in winter. 

Saying this as the cold will bug our guys too, and that makes it harder to dictate a match. Think, in the chill, it's easier to sit back than create something. That's good for us vs Mexico, but means we may not get past CR easily. 

[Sal333]

1 minute ago, ShaneC06 said:

Unreal.... My mom just came up to me and asked if she could go to one of the games in Edmonton this November. 

Up until last night... My mom never watched soccer. She wants to see Alphonso Davies. 

Why is your mom asking for your permission?

And your post is proof of what this kid is gonna do for soccer in this country.

[Sal333]

Just now, Unnamed Trialist said:

Will Edmonton fans take to this the way they'd do a CFL playoff game in November? Always wondered why football fans do better than soccer fans in winter. 

Saying this as the cold will bug our guys too, and that makes it harder to dictate a match. Think, in the chill, it's easier to sit back than create something. That's good for us vs Mexico, but means we may not get past CR easily. 

I agree with you the cold may also hamper our boys but I disagree with the highlighted part. If we have no injuries or absentees, our team creates more than Mexico.

[DeRo_Is_King]

1 minute ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Saying this as the cold will bug our guys too, and that makes it harder to dictate a match.

Thought of this as well, but in the presser yesterday, Herdman mentioned that they chose the conditions for November. Makes me think they have or will have prepared accordingly. 

[ShaneC06]

5 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

Why is your mom asking for your permission?

And your post is proof of what this kid is gonna do for soccer in this country.

She asked for my permission because I'm going with my rowdy friends and she doesn't have anyone else to go with lol. 

[Mattd97]

11 minutes ago, JFL19 said:

Anyone know when the tickets go on sale?  Thinking about flying out west to watch this.

Sorry I have no information about this, but now that Just For Laughs is here, there's a resident of your fair town that needs a laugh up there ⬆️⬆️⬆️

Edited October 14, 2021 by Mattd97

[Sal333]

Just now, ShaneC06 said:

She asked for my permission because I'm going with my rowdy friends and she doesn't have anyone else to go with lol. 

LOL! Or maybe more than Fonzie, she wants to see one of your rowdy friends. (That's a joke - a lame one at that).

[Corazon]

12 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

Well, he didn't curse the Raptors. They won.

As for his text to Fonzie, I'm asking myself, is he sincerely rooting for team Canada, or is he a sports groupie, or did his agent tell him his popularity is waning and he needs to latch his wagon to a team of winners?

I could care less if its genuine.  Regardless of whether he cares that much or not, it is great publicity for our National Program considering his global reach.  Nearly 100,000,000 Instagram followers could see his posts with our CMNT.  Besides, being part of the die hard CMNT fans, we should be welcoming all new fans.  This is the goal.  To continue to grow our fan base.

New fans should be welcomed.  This goes for celebrities as well.  If any Canadian becomes a fan of our CMNT, they are essentially a bandwagon fan.

Edited October 14, 2021 by Corazon

[hulkrogan]

I'm curious how the crowd will be, and how they manage it. Commonwealth is cavernous, and there are far less people in a 3 hour driving radius of Commonwealth than there is in BMO. But it's also a huge novelty for us westerners. This is the first time I will ever see the CNMT live, and I've got a lot of casuals pretty interested in joining me for the trip up.

Hopefully they try pack the lower bowl first before fully opening it up. BC Place did a great job with the curtain things, but not an option in Edmonton.

[Sal333]

2 minutes ago, hulkrogan said:

I'm curious how the crowd will be, and how they manage it. Commonwealth is cavernous, and there are far less people in a 3 hour driving radius of Commonwealth than there is in BMO. But it's also a huge novelty for us westerners. This is the first time I will ever see the CNMT live, and I've got a lot of casuals pretty interested in joining me for the trip up.

Hopefully they try pack the lower bowl first before fully opening it up. BC Place did a great job with the curtain things, but not an option in Edmonton.

Didn't Herdman say they packed 60K for Canada's game at the women's WC?

Edited October 14, 2021 by Sal333

[footballfreak]

Looking beyond this next window, please tell me the CSA and Herdman have plans for an extended Camp Poutine in early/mid January for the MLS guys. They’re half the roster, and will be way out of the season before the Jan-Feb/March windows roll around.

The MLS break could very well bring some more fringe European-based guys into play. Who have we got?

Cornelius, Millar and Wotherspoon probably all did enough to get brought back.

Brym is probably a more attractive option over the fringe MLS forwards if we have injuries. Does anyone know if he’s an aerial threat? The way Cavallini has been trending - injury riddled, sulky, and downright poor - we could really use other options in the air behind Larin.

Miscellaneous: Manjrekar James, Sturing, Paton, Ennin, Jebbison (?) Arfield (?)... Do we dare dream of Marcelo Flores?

Initially I thought Bair might get a look if he gets hot, but it looks like the Norwegian 2nd division ends November 27, so he’s in the same boat as the MLS crew.

Bring in Simeon Jackson you cowards! He’s still playing at King’s Lynn Town (Conference National).

[hulkrogan]

7 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

Didn't Herdman say they packed 60K for Canada's game at the women's WC?

Yes, but I think that was getting a lot more press, and it was not November 😂 

[JamboAl]

8 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

Didn't Herdman say they packed 60K for Canada's game at the women's WC?

Yes, that’s true.  But the audience for a woman’s match is very different than a men’s one.  Even a competitive fixture.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

7 minutes ago, hulkrogan said:

I'm curious how the crowd will be, and how they manage it. Commonwealth is cavernous, and there are far less people in a 3 hour driving radius of Commonwealth than there is in BMO. But it's also a huge novelty for us westerners. This is the first time I will ever see the CNMT live, and I've got a lot of casuals pretty interested in joining me for the trip up.

Hopefully they try pack the lower bowl first before fully opening it up. BC Place did a great job with the curtain things, but not an option in Edmonton.

I have been to a few decently attended games there (going back at least to the U-20 World Cup) but not in November.  Us Albertans are a hearty lot but not necessarily suicidal. Be interesting to see; probably worth praying for some global warming.

[frmr]

I think the Davies factor is going to go a long way. Edmontonians have been wanting to see their Golden Boy come home for a long time now. I'm not from Edmonton and I generally hate everything that has to do with Edmonton sports, but Edmonton is a great sports city. FCE aside.

[Wayverider]

There are multiple theories on what separates this Canadian team from those of the past: the plethora of Canadian depth we now possess, Herdman’s infusion of confidence, grassroots Canadian soccer finally bearing fruit, etc... For my money it’s the very rare attribute of exceptional speed. Speed, speed, speed!!! Davies, Buchanan, Laryea!

On at least a dozen occasions during this round of WC qualifiers (6 games) I can recall the above three players being jockeyed outside by an opponent but blowing by with speed and being able to cut hard towards the net. This in turn forces opposing defenders and even the keeper to have to abandon the space they are defending, leading to high quality scoring opportunities. Davies demonstrates this speed on a level that is crazy insane. Buchanan and Laryea demonstrate it at a world class level (that some of our opponents can’t match). Having a trio of players with this kind of speed is remarkable. 

Speed forces opposing teams to stack-defend specific areas of the field, always attempting to have a first and second defender when Davies for example possesses the ball. But this only opens space for other players and Canada is now knee deep in talent. Furthermore defenders deal with exceptional speed by reading body cues and anticipating passes with an objective of dropping faster in an attempt to negate their opponent’s speed. But this just opens up more space for the speedster to dribble and pass. When you have three players with this kind of threat on one team it can wreak havoc defensively.

Consider, Buchanan and Laryea didn’t play in Jamaica, so it was easier for the Jamaicans to concentrate on Davies and neutralize his skill set (notwithstanding the fact the field was sketchy as well). Consider also there were at least two 6-7 minute segments in the Panama game in which Panama totally dominated possession and appeared to taking over momentum - but unlike us they didn’t have a speedster who could break our shape with either a final pass long ball or short through pass.

I’m loving this team and all of its pieces and dimensions, but for me it’s speed that is consistently separating our play from that of our opponents. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Wayverider

[Kadenge]

Given that the Nov 2 game window will be the first for our supercharged CMNT in Alberta since ??...when was the last time our team played a WCQ there?  The weather will be an issue but....

[footballfreak]

Do we know what’s happening as far as the surface? As much as I love the idea of freezing out Costa Rica and Mexico, the turf is going to sap our legs for the second game. Mexico will only have to do it once.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

15 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

...when was the last time our team played a WCQ there?  The weather will be an issue but....

The previous #CanMNT match in Edmonton was a friendly vs Costa Rica.

May 28th 2013, so 8½ years ago.

 

---

The last WCQ match in Edmonton was the match vs Mexico on October 15th 2008, so 13 years ago.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_CONCACAF_Third_Round

Edited October 14, 2021 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Approve My Account Pls]

1 hour ago, Sal333 said:

Well, he didn't curse the Raptors. They won.

As for his text to Fonzie, I'm asking myself, is he sincerely rooting for team Canada, or is he a sports groupie, or did his agent tell him his popularity is waning and he needs to latch his wagon to a team of winners?

He's definitely a major bandwagoner, however, I'll guarantee you more people globally and in Canada saw Davies jersey on Drake's instagram than any other piece of football based social media combined. So for a forum that talks about not enough eyeballs and CSA being cash strapped quite a lot, there isn't a better source of promotion

[Sal333]

42 minutes ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

He's definitely a major bandwagoner, however, I'll guarantee you more people globally and in Canada saw Davies jersey on Drake's instagram than any other piece of football based social media combined. So for a forum that talks about not enough eyeballs and CSA being cash strapped quite a lot, there isn't a better source of promotion

I agree with you. I was just trying to be funny. Obviously, I failed. I want to thank you for curing me of my delusion

[SpursFlu]

2 hours ago, Shway said:

Didn't curse Fury

Even the Drake curse couldn't penatrate a magic Gypsy spell