Group F Opponent Watch (Belgium, Croatia, Morocco)

[narduch]

Belgium about to take on Egypt

[Pottsy3]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

Belgium about to take on Egypt

Belgium currently down 1-0 to Egypt at half

[spitfire]

2-0 now…

[spitfire]

Could have been three…defender does look very slow…

[SpursFlu]

Is Hazard still fat?

[Lansdude]

Lack of speed, concentration, and chemistry from Belgium. They'll be mentally sharper next game but this still bodes well for us.

[trc2014]

Let’s not forget Egypt is a very good team.

[spitfire]

2-1 Egypt playing too open now need to tighten up… lessons for Canada to learn from this game. And yes Egypt are a very good team too 

Edited November 18, 2022 by spitfire

[Alex]

36 minutes ago, spitfire said:

Could have been three…defender does look very slow…

Which defender? Alderweireld? 

[narduch]

21 minutes ago, Alex said:

Which defender? Alderweireld? 

This was their starting line up

 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by narduch

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

51 minutes ago, Alex said:

Which defender? Alderweireld? 

I was busy and not able to see it but DeBast is the one they have been trying to put with Alderweireld and Vertonghen recently.  From the last round of the Nations League and seeing him against West Ham with Anderlect, I was not impressed though he is quicker. 

My only recent memory of Theate was him being all over the place with the goal that Fonte scored after David put Mandanda under pressure and he spilled.  That was Lille v Renne a couple weeks ago. 

Surprised they didn't give Faes a run out.  After a shaky start he has looked pretty good recently for Leicester. 

 

Definitely an area of hope for us. 

[PegCityCam]

Always enjoy hearing what Forest has to say.

 

[Free kick]

On 11/17/2022 at 2:49 PM, red card said:

A couple more Group F podcast previews. One from the flagship Football Weekly from the Guardian.

Then we have from Athletic UK's Totally Football Show where they'll cover the "hipster clásico of Canada v Belgium, the best midfield in the tournament and the best full-back pairing in the tournament."

 

 

Just finished listening up to the 40th minute of the first podcast, when they just covered Canada.  They have covered so far ESP, GER, CRC, JPN, BEL, and Can.  My takeaway from this (and several other similar overseas reports I have listening to this week) is that they don't really know anything about Canada and Concacaf.  And it's because they likely pay absolutely no attention whatsoever and have no interest in the game or the games on this side of the ocean.    They try their hardest to cover this by filling in time (when talking about Canada), by throwing out random, disjointed and unrelated facts about soccer in Canada (i.e.: like the reference to the San Diego Sockers & the Edmonton Brickmen).  Its patronizing in a subtle way because when you contrast that with what they have to say about Spain, Germany and Belgium, they're actually providing analysis and unique insight for those teams/players and some tactical observations.   You can only provide good analysis if you have seen the players, their tendencies and what they're capable of.  Hence, you actually get good analysis from those teams, whereas for Canada, they just threw out 15 minutes of clippings and other stuff they got from the fifa media guide or (worst) from google just before the show.  

Edited November 19, 2022 by Free kick

[TGAA_Star]

Apparently certain players on our team are going to be listed as questionable for our Opener against Belgium and they are:

- Stephen Eustaquio 

- Milan Borjan 

- Alphonso Davies 

[Gian-Luca]

https://www.tsn.ca/fifa-world-cup/video/boudeweel-thinks-belgium-will-be-lucky-to-get-out-of-the-group-stage~2567040

[SoCalTransport]

On 11/18/2022 at 11:40 AM, spitfire said:

2-1 Egypt playing too open now need to tighten up… lessons for Canada to learn from this game. And yes Egypt are a very good team too 

I'm more confident with Canada's chances after watching this game. Canada just has to keep the pressure on, because Belgium coughs up the ball a lot.

[PegCityCam]

 

[Shway]

Lukaku is officially out for Belgiums first two games. 

[TGAA_Star]

7 hours ago, Shway said:

Lukaku is officially out for Belgiums first two games. 

They still have Trossard, Doku and Batshuayi

[Kent]

Croatia and Morocco tie 0-0, so top of the group is there for the taking today. Maybe this isn't the right thread for this but let's go get it!

[SpursFlu]

Has anyone thought about that if we win our next 2 games we could still win the group and we would likely play Japan in the the rd of 16

[Copes]

6 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

Has anyone thought about that if we win our next 2 games we could still win the group and we would likely play Japan in the the rd of 16

Definitely still possible. Sunday is gonna be an exciting day!

[Kent]

16 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

Has anyone thought about that if we win our next 2 games we could still win the group and we would likely play Japan in the the rd of 16

I'm not sure how likely or unlikely that would result in us winning the group, but it has definitely occurred to me that winning both games would guarantee we make it out of the group. Our fate is still in our hands!

[SpursFlu]

3 hours ago, Kent said:

I'm not sure how likely or unlikely that would result in us winning the group, but it has definitely occurred to me that winning both games would guarantee we make it out of the group. Our fate is still in our hands!

I'm not getting a head of myself or predicting anything 

From what I've seen i just believe 6 pts from us can definitely win the group

[Kent]

OK, here are the chances of us advancing or finishing first based on today's Belgium/Morocco result, assuming all results are equally likely. I should have done this before the game started, but, here we are at halftime.

Belgium vs Morocco draw
Canada advance - 30.2%
Canada 1st - 8.6%

Belgium beats Morocco
Canada advance - 30.9%
Canada 1st - 1.9%

Morocco beats Belgium
Canada advance - 24%
Canada 1st - 12.9%

So there isn't a clear best result. I will add though, if Canada beats Croatia today, our chances of advancing are 64.4%!