Canadian Soccer History (and Where Are They Now) Thread

[VinceA]

5 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Friend and Occean had pretty solid pro careers by concacaf standards. They gave us a solid one-two punch at the 9 position, while Gerba would come in and out of the team and outperform them both (despite playing at a much lower club level).

There really isn't a good answer to this question, just our own theories I guess.

I think what happened was that Gerba was the best out of the 3, but he was a bit of a nomad and could have/should have gone further in his club career. Perhaps fitness prevented him from sticking around at any one club for a long time. I recall him being chronically injured and once you gain that reputation it's hard to shake, I think.

Friend should have scored more for Canada. Maybe part of it was the players around him for the national team. He probably would have scored buckets of goals with Davies, Hoilett and Buchanan providing service.

Occean's goal ratio was reasonable for Canada in relation to his club career. At times it felt he should have been playing more for Canada, but again there was competition from Friend and Gerba (plus wasn't there some issue with him being out of the picture - I can't recall if he walked away or was frozen out, but something happened).

He finished with 28 caps and 6 goals, but was only active for 8 years with Canada. 

He played like 17 club seasons - in fact it looks like he's still playing as a player-coach in the lower leagues of Norway. 

I believe he got suspended in like 2012 and was out for a long time and when he was ready to return Floro even said he was monitoring Occean but never called him up.

[Obinna]

Just now, VinceA said:

I believe he got suspended in like 2012 and was out for a long time and when he was ready to return Floro even said he was monitoring Occean but never called him up.

Yeah wasn't that for picking the ball out of the net in WCQ after we scored and wrestling with the other team or something? 

[johnyb]

Just now, Obinna said:

Yeah wasn't that for picking the ball out of the net in WCQ after we scored and wrestling with the other team or something? 

Yes, shoved the opposing team's keeper when he wouldn't release the ball.

[Joe MacCarthy]

1 hour ago, RS said:

What a shit hole that stadium was.

It's a lot nicer now

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Joe MacCarthy

[Obinna]

2 minutes ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

It's a lot nicer now

 

Would make a decent CPL stadium if not for the gridiron lines....

[Ed_S]

Gerba's goal in Edmonton last home game in semi-final round of 2010 WC qualifying put Mexico in danger of missing the hex. His goal and Radzinski's later 2-1 goal were one of the few good moments for us fans in that round.

 

[Joe MacCarthy]

During the great Herdman debate I posted lamenting we had less top tier players than we had around the time of the posted list.  Even though this was before David, Larin etc, I wonder if it still is true.  But at that time, unlike recent years we had very few in MLS.

[trc2014]

31 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Yeah wasn't that for picking the ball out of the net in WCQ after we scored and wrestling with the other team or something? 

 

30 minutes ago, johnyb said:

Yes, shoved the opposing team's keeper when he wouldn't release the ball.

Maybe I’m ignorant, but I never understood why that shove warranted a 4 game suspension.

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

During the great Herdman debate I posted lamenting we had less top tier players than we had around the time of the posted list.  Even though this was before David, Larin etc, I wonder if it still is true.  But at that time, unlike recent years we had very few in MLS.

If we are talking Strikers, I would say (based on club resume) that Friend and Occean were somewhere between Akindele and Cavallini.

Both scored a ton of goals in the 2. Bundesliga. Friend had 18 goals in 33 games the season Monchengladbach promoted. He then followed that up with 7 in 24 and then 3 in 26 the season after (both in the Bundesliga). That promotion season was his peak though, for sure. 

Similarly, Occeans best season (arguably) also came in the 2.Bundesliga, scoring 17 goals in 33 games as Greuther Furth won promotion. Unlike Friend though, he left the club for fellow promotee, Eintracht Frankfurt. Didn't really make an impact with them however, scoring just a single goal in 18 games. Funny enough, that promotion season was his peak as well. He was never able to match those goal totals back in the 2.Bundesliga and eventually returned to Norway. 

Having two number 9s who were mid-to-strong level 2.Bundesliga players felt sufficient to at least make the Hex. Throw in Simeon Jackson, who at the time was a weak EPL / strong championship forward, and there should have been enough firepower. 

Looking back, what was probably missing was an elite forward to win us matches. Throw David in that generation and we probably make it, because the baseline depth up front was pretty decent. 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Obinna

[Joe MacCarthy]

I think, looking back, we were missing a coach who had the ability and resources to have us "punch above our weight" rather than underachieving.

[BrennanFan]

10 minutes ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

I think, looking back, we were missing a coach who had the ability and resources to have us "punch above our weight" rather than underachieving.

Lack of an excellent coach + lack of preparation and game time were always the main problems in my view.

The 2008 team, in particular, had no business not qualifying for the Hex.   Depth was there.  We had Hume, Gerba, Johnson, Simpson McKenna, DeJong, Brennan on the bench.  Should've been enough.  

[aloyol]

4 minutes ago, BrennanFan said:

Lack of an excellent coach + lack of preparation and game time were always the main problems in my view.

The 2008 team, in particular, had no business not qualifying for the Hex.   Depth was there.  We had Hume, Gerba, Johnson, Simpson McKenna, DeJong, Brennan on the bench.  Should've been enough.  

To be fair, I think the format wasn't helping us at all. That 2008 group (Mexico, Honduras, Canada and Jamaica) was brutal. We didn't have room for mistake. It was almost over as soon as we draw with Jamaica in the first game. Even today, it would be difficult to finish top 2 in such a group.

The other 2 groups in that stage were a joke (USA, TT, Guatemala and Cuba/ CR, El Salvador, Haiti and Suriname).

[rkomar]

4 hours ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

It's a lot nicer now

 

Huh!   I didn't know we were talking about Kingston, Ontario.  I figured we were talking about some Caribbean park when it was described as a shithole.  I went to Queen's in the 80's and early 90's, and I wouldn't have described Richardson stadium as a being that bad.  But to be fair, I was usually pretty wasted when I was there, so maybe my aesthetic senses weren't at their highest.

[Joe MacCarthy]

Going back and reading the thread, I'm still not sure if we are talking about Richardson Stadium, a stadium in Belize, or even Kingston Jamaica as a long shot

Originally I didn't think it meant Richardson either as I didn't think it was that bad (but I wasn't there)

I'll leave it to the OPs to clarify

Edited October 19, 2021 by Joe MacCarthy

[RS]

15 minutes ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

I'll leave it to the OPs to clarify

I was definitely talking about Richardson Stadium when I called it a shithole. It had actual shrubbery growing in the stands.

It looks nice now, though.

[Jith12]

6 hours ago, VinceA said:

I believe he got suspended in like 2012 and was out for a long time and when he was ready to return Floro even said he was monitoring Occean but never called him up.

That home WCQ match against Cuba in 2012 where Occean was sent off and the Cubans played with no subs because a bunch of their players defected was my first time watching a CANMNT match. It's fair to say that was a good introduction to CONCACAF football! 😅

[CanadianSoccerFan]

10 hours ago, BrennanFan said:

Yes, the infamous 2004 WCQ campaign.  

I think Yallop only had 1 friendly to prep before WCQ started.  He couldn't test any new guys out so he had to go with who he knew.  Playing Watson at the back over Nsaliwa was controversial, and deRo at left wing over Brennan led to Brennan opting out of WCQ.  I recall Aguiar was still at Benfica at this time and never got a sniff.  But without our captain and defensive lynchpin deVos, and without Brennan and Radzinski, we really didnt have much to offer in the first game against Guatemala.  I think a 17 year old Jamie Peters saw the field in that game.

Then, in the next game against Honduras, we got screwed epically by the ref, twice, which led to the infamous Stalteri bottle throw at the ref incident, which is really the only positive from that campaign. 

Mark Watson was good buddies with Yallop.  He was 36 years old at the time, playing for Charleston Battery.  I remember everyone on the board at the time was asking "what is this guy doing on the team?"  Carlos Ruiz took full advantage.

[El Diego]

Is there a specific reason Fernando Aguiar got so few caps?

[Shway]

Looking at our squad now, and the guys in our current national team pool/pipeline. And then looking at that list of past names.... how do you say it has a completely different look? Guys who were good before just didn't get discovered or have the opportunities as others due to where they came from. (i.e. not having European connections)

Our "identity" has completely changed, and it's due to tapping into a market of a style of players/ be given opportunities. 

[archer21]

6 hours ago, trc2014 said:

 

Maybe I’m ignorant, but I never understood why that shove warranted a 4 game suspension.

Around the 1:40 mark is the incident. Will Johnson fights for the ball with the keeper and the keeper pushes Johnson away so Occean gives the keeper a little shove then gets hammered by a Cuba player. I looked it up and it was apparently a 6 game suspension for “several acts of unsporting behaviour and using offensive language toward match officials”. 
 

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.1317026

[El Hombre]

39 minutes ago, El Diego said:

Is there a specific reason Fernando Aguiar got so few caps?

Sometime in late 2004/early 2005 (I think) he came on here and explained it all.  That was a fun day.

[nolando]

4 hours ago, El Hombre said:

Sometime in late 2004/early 2005 (I think) he came on here and explained it all.  That was a fun day.

[nolando]

For the uninitiated, yes this is the same Jarrek from the legendary banner. RIP.

[An Observer]

The thing i find most interesting about this list is not the Friend's, Occean's, or Gerba's but guys who were in good youth set ups or even senior sides that we were once high on but didn't pan out like Shepherd, Binstock, Ramalho, Canizalez. And who I have completely forgotten about existed.

[narduch]

1 hour ago, An Observer said:

The thing i find most interesting about this list is not the Friend's, Occean's, or Gerba's but guys who were in good youth set ups or even senior sides that we were once high on but didn't pan out like Shepherd, Binstock, Ramalho, Canizalez. And who I have completely forgotten about existed.

Canizalez scored the goal to end TFC's epic season 1 scoring drought