Group F Opponent Watch (Belgium, Croatia, Morocco)

[kacbru]

8 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

To think Canada has to face this team in our 2nd group game at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar right after our opening game against Belgium...we will be lucky to get results against Belgium or even Croatia for that matter

And then we play Morocco in our 3rd game and it remains to be seen how that will go.

[Blondo]

Almost forgot, Belgium's squad for the first 4 NL group games. Martinez called up 32 players. He intends to rotate quite a few players over the span of those 4 games and the NL is viewed as a training camp of sorts. Openda and Onana received their first call-ups while Doku was left out because of injury/better to allow him to prepare for next season with his club. Openda is a very fast and agile striker; he's young (22yo) but already finished 2nd in the Eredivisie's top scorer ranking this season. 

[Mitchryan11]

im not to worried about de bruyne, doneil will take his knee cap out

[PegCityCam]

Really starting to enjoy our newfound swagger, however misguided lol

[red card]

De Bruyne had his best ever goal scoring season in the Prem. He also exceeded xG the most. If he keeps this form into next season, he'll score against Canada no matter how well we defend him.

 

[TGAA_Star]

On 5/20/2022 at 9:52 PM, PegCityCam said:

Really starting to enjoy our newfound swagger, however misguided lol

Talkin about how we are going to beat Belgium man stop this LMAOOOOO HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA we ain't beating no Belgium

[Unnamed Trialist]

I don't get how people are so extremely worried about De Bruyne when in 3 of four matches he did not score. And that is his best goal-scoring season ever. 

Then, part of the reason he scores so much for City is that they don't have a classic striker, which means mids and wings have to pick up the slack. 

Next season, when he has Haaland in front of him, it is likely his tally will drop.

 

[PegCityCam]

3 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

Talkin about how we are going to beat Belgium man stop this LMAOOOOO HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA we ain't beating no Belgium

Talk is talk. One thing for sure though is that this quote will be fun to bring back if we do win lol. Also, I said I like the "swaggar". It's like, why not? In a few years I hope we'll have moved passed it and will hear/see much more talk about tactics and matchups and the like. Or perhaps you'd like to add to an actual conversation about such topics? Either way, it's a fun ride for now isnt it? You should enjoy it my friend👍😉

[PiedPilko]

I don't get why we're so keen to write ourselves off. We've seen soooo many upsets these last 2 years. I'm not saying we're likely to win, but it's nowhere near 0%

[InglewoodJack]

Who cares if we’re underdogs. If Belgium is gonna wash Canada, then just catch the highlights on sportscentre the next day. Sure, we’ll beat Belgium and ultimately advance to the knockout round. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t bother watching the games.

[red card]

Morocco releases their squad list for US friendly & 2 AFCON qualifiers.

Ziyech remains excluded but Mazraoui is back. Majority of players born outside of Morocco with many from France, Belgium & Spain and one from Montreal.

 

[narduch]

Thinking of making separate threads for each group opponent.

[Unnamed Trialist]

45 minutes ago, narduch said:

Thinking of making separate threads for each group opponent.

Logical thing to do as we get closer. Basically a preview for each match and rival.

The only problem I see sometimes on the board is that if you get too far ahead the thread doesn't get touched for a week or two, and it settles down into page 3. 

You'll have to be the one charged with watering whatever thread you plant

 

[GasPed]

On 5/25/2022 at 4:05 PM, red card said:

Morocco releases their squad list for US friendly & 2 AFCON qualifiers.

Ziyech remains excluded but Mazraoui is back. Majority of players born outside of Morocco with many from France, Belgium & Spain and one from Montreal.

No Ziyech. 👍    Mazraoui in though. ☹️  At least Phonzie will have lots of experience playing against him in practice...

[A.D.I.D.A.S.]

Thibaut Courtois has been a steel wall in this CL final 😣

[Ally McCoist]

This was a sneak preview of our first world cup match. Courtois is unstoppable.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Ally McCoist

[Unnamed Trialist]

J H note to myself:

Courtois not going to win Ballon d'Or on our watch. 

[PegCityCam]

"We will die for these squares" Quote from, Croatia: Defining a Nation, a free documentary on FIFA.com. Highly recommend. 

https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/watch/movie/74v2TCBHGqFB6l22chV7cb

[narduch]

June window schedule for our 3 opponents. All times ET:

June 1 - USA v Morocco - Friendly - 7:30 pm

June 3 - Croatia v Austria - UEFA NL - 2:45 pm

June 3 - Belgium v Netherlands - UEFA NL - 2:45 pm

June 6 - Croatia v France - UEFA NL - 2:45 pm

June 8 - Belgium v Poland - UEFA NL - 2:45 pm

June 9 - Morocco v South Africa - Afcon Qualifying - 3 pm

June 10 - Denmark v Croatia - UEFA NL - 2:45 pm

June 11 - Wales v Belgium - UEFA NL - 2:45 pm

June 13 - France v Croatia - UEFA NL - 2:45 pm

June 13 - Liberia v Morocco - Afcon Qualifying - 3 pm

June 14 - Poland v Belgium - UEFA NL - 2:45 pm

DAZN has picked up UEFA Nations League so the Croata and Belgium matches should be available. Not sure about Afcon. No Canadian broadcaster has the USA v Morocco friendly but it will be on ESPN2 and TUDN in the US.

Edited June 1, 2022 by narduch

[Unnamed Trialist]

Perisic signs for Spurs.

Sevilla seems to be looking at Croatia CB Caleta-Car, currently at Marseille.

Lukaku looking to return to Italy (and Chelsea looks to be redoing half its core). 

[Kadenge]

Do we have the luxury to start 2 strikers vs Belgium and Croatia? Perhaps we see a change in our set up/formation with an extra mid or perhaps a back 4 vs 3? 

[narduch]

Stream for USA v Morocco:

http://www.hesgoal.com/news/104637/USA_vs_Morocco_----_HD.html

Line Up:

[Sal333]

If this is the Moroccan team that shows up in Qatar, we can beat them. They have been unimpressive in the first half against the US.

[Gian-Luca]

61 minutes in and this Moroccan performance has been anemic- are they playing possum as they know they are being scouted? They can’t be this bad

[umpiredice]

Wish I'd seen this post an hour and a half ago! Just tuned in at minute 75 and Morocco look terrible. The US aren't much better, for all that they're up 3-0. Morocco had Taarabt and Hakimi in the starting line-up, supposedly two of their best players. Is the rest of the team also their best? If so, we should beat them easily.