Canada Pre-World Cup "friendlies" thread: news, gossip and speculation.

[JAVIERF]

9 hours ago, RS said:

Those are all fair criticisms/gripes. I was just wondering if something other than the Canada Red + Gold thing happened today based on the wording of the post I responded to. No biggie.

I still expect a June friendly or two, and I still think Argentina could be in play for September. We'll see.

Playing Argentina or Uruguay wise sense is like playing any european national team.  You can't tell if it is Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Uruguay or Argentina even  Romania and Turkey, those teams are very very similar.

 

[Califax]

15 hours ago, RS said:

Those are all fair criticisms/gripes. I was just wondering if something other than the Canada Red + Gold thing happened today based on the wording of the post I responded to. No biggie.

I still expect a June friendly or two, and I still think Argentina could be in play for September. We'll see.

Yeah I could’ve worded it better.
 

I think my point is you’re asking us for money while giving us literally no news on anything that was mentioned, all while other countries are announcing friendlies around the clock and dance cards are filling up. 
 

I don’t know if it was a botched negotiation? Or they’re trying to get more money rather than just break even with a marquee opponent. We could speculate for days. 
 

Christ I would love to know where Canada is playing Curacao so I could at least book flights while they’re cheap. 
 

 

[Alex]

I think many of us are getting very spoiled. A month out is a long time for the CSA to announce a friendly 😃 

[scullion44]

Any chance of any friendlies being played in Europe before the World Cup starts? I'd love to go to one of those.

Edited April 22, 2022 by scullion44

[SoccMan]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

I think many of us are getting very spoiled. A month out is a long time for the CSA to announce a friendly 😃 

It is when two of our CONCACAF rivals have waisted no time in announcing friendlies . 

[Unnamed Trialist]

8 hours ago, JAVIERF said:

Playing Argentina or Uruguay wise sense is like playing any european national team.  You can't tell if it is Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Uruguay or Argentina even  Romania and Turkey, those teams are very very similar.

 

Actually, not at all. Spain is totally different than Argentina or Uruguay. They all are in fact. 

Playing a S American team for Canada is not optimal prep. 

Every time it comes back to the CSA to make a decision not forced on them by Concacaf or Fifa, they drag their butts and show incompetence. Happens over and over again, and has been occuring for decades. 

Just remember that it was Concacaf under Montagliani that bailed us out after not making the HEX, in what was us benefitting from confederation favouritism. And that was partically because the CSA could not do the numbers to give us the friendlies to help raise our ranking.

[RS]

15 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Actually, not at all. Spain is totally different than Argentina or Uruguay. They all are in fact. 

Playing a S American team for Canada is not optimal prep. 

Every time it comes back to the CSA to make a decision not forced on them by Concacaf or Fifa, they drag their butts and show incompetence. Happens over and over again, and has been occuring for decades. 

Just remember that it was Concacaf under Montagliani that bailed us out after not making the HEX, in what was us benefitting from confederation favouritism. And that was partically because the CSA could not do the numbers to give us the friendlies to help raise our ranking.

COVID “bailed” Canada out more than anything.

No amount of friendlies was going to allow El Salvador to be caught. The Salvadorans benefitted from way more official matches that artificially boosted their rankings.

[Watchmen]

In the lead up to the World Cup, the CSA could:

1) Schedule games against similar teams they'll be playing at the World Cup.

2) Schedule games to take advantage of their current status as WC participants (and an entertaining young team) to maximize revenue, either with some top home friendlies or away to highly ranked teams where they get paid. And let's face it the CSA still needs money.

I think we'd all understand either decision, but doing neither legitimately requires some hard questions to the CSA by reporters.

[Cblake]

US Soccer announced Austin as the site for their home Nation's League match in June vs. Grenada. 

[JAVIERF]

11 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Actually, not at all. Spain is totally different than Argentina or Uruguay. They all are in fact. 

Playing a S American team for Canada is not optimal prep. 

Every time it comes back to the CSA to make a decision not forced on them by Concacaf or Fifa, they drag their butts and show incompetence. Happens over and over again, and has been occuring for decades. 

Just remember that it was Concacaf under Montagliani that bailed us out after not making the HEX, in what was us benefitting from confederation favouritism. And that was partically because the CSA could not do the numbers to give us the friendlies to help raise our ranking.

You dont know anything about football at all, pal,  those teams are very similar!!  You seem those kind of people who think that the last wc was won by France and the Charles De Gaulle concept, when in truth the damned thing was won through and through by Africa.  As Trevor Noah declared which I agreed

Edited April 23, 2022 by JAVIERF

[Razcal]

How in the holy hell has there not been any announcements or rumors yet about June friendlies?

USA/Mexico had this sorted out awhile ago.

 

[Bison44]

22 minutes ago, JAVIERF said:

You dont know anything about football at all, pal,  those teams are very similar!!  You seem those kind of people who think that the last wc was won by France and the Charles De Gaulle concept, when in truth the damned thing was won through and through by Africa.  As Trevor Noah declared which I agreed

[ted]

On 4/21/2022 at 10:59 AM, Ally McCoist said:

What mind boggles me is one of the vice-presidents of FIFA is a goddamn Canadian. Use that leverage will ya Montagliani? 

It's also possible that we have benefited from that leverage and got way more than we would have otherwise.

Wish I had thought to ask him when I saw him at the PFC game the day before the CNT game out here.

[Sal333]

8 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Aside from the popcorn, I hope you brought your Kevlar vest.

[TGAA_Star]

Canada if they were to even remotely have any friendly matches then ideal matchups:

 

Netherlands (similar to Belgium)

Egypt even though they did not make Qatar, Egypt play similar style to Morocco 

Italy even though they did not make Qatar, Italy play a similar style somewhat to that of Croatia

[Unnamed Trialist]

On 4/22/2022 at 5:53 PM, RS said:

COVID “bailed” Canada out more than anything.

No amount of friendlies was going to allow El Salvador to be caught. The Salvadorans benefitted from way more official matches that artificially boosted their rankings.

Not Covid at all, makes no sense. Twas the pretext.

In the middle of a pandemic, why do 8 teams, with more matches, more windows, more national regulations? Illogical, its medically unsound and raises risk factors amidst a health crisis. 

There was no reason to undo the Hex, apart from Montagliani seeing a way to get us back in. 

[eramosat]

even fairweather fans like me are starting to hear it from friends about these complaints.  #1 jerseys!  my friends, and their kids want to be able to buy jerseys.  #2.  no information about who canada plays next, or where or when.  they cannot understand it.

 

overall good complaints to have.  but not so good they cannot be addressed.

[Gian-Luca]

18 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Not Covid at all, makes no sense. Twas the pretext.

In the middle of a pandemic, why do 8 teams, with more matches, more windows, more national regulations? Illogical, its medically unsound and raises risk factors amidst a health crisis. 

There was no reason to undo the Hex, apart from Montagliani seeing a way to get us back in. 

While I think this is true, it was such an patently absurd qualifying system to begin with (and given Honduras going winless in 14 games with a bye to the final round, remained absurd, even if less so) that I can’t say I feel the slightest bit guilty about this. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

While I think this is true, it was such an patently absurd qualifying system to begin with (and given Honduras going winless in 14 games with a bye to the final round, remained absurd, even if less so) that I can’t say I feel the slightest bit guilty about this. 

Neither do I. Nor do I feel badly about any lucky call we got in any game. We played in crazy weather, lost our best player, got nutty goals and odd breaks. I'll take it all, it's all part of our story. 

Having friends in high places is actually a legit aspect of football success. 

[RS]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Not Covid at all, makes no sense. Twas the pretext.

In the middle of a pandemic, why do 8 teams, with more matches, more windows, more national regulations? Illogical, its medically unsound and raises risk factors amidst a health crisis. 

There was no reason to undo the Hex, apart from Montagliani seeing a way to get us back in. 

Are you talking about the same Montagliani who oversaw the original qualification scheme?

The absurd rankings-based Hex heavily favoured certain teams and shut a whole lot more out (including Canada). And until COVID hit, that was what Concacaf was going with.

The pandemic forced Concacaf to change things up because 30 lower-seeded nations still needed to be involved in some capacity. 

Remember that the first round of qualifying was originally planned as a round robin group stage, with winners advancing to a knockout stage (complete with a quarterfinal, semi and final, each consisting of two-legged home-and-away ties). What we ended up with instead was a first round consisting of groups of five teams each playing four games total (not home and away), followed by a two-legged second round to qualify for the round robin Octagonal, so the excess matches you speak of were sacrificed in the earlier rounds in favour of a slightly bigger final round.

Was Montagliani giving Canada some help in this COVID-enforced revamp? Perhaps, but it’s not nearly as overt as you imply, and  he was far more motivated by getting the entire region involved. 

[reggietfc]

has canadians we should all apologize for winning the group and we should give our spot to ELS😁

[Unnamed Trialist]

7 hours ago, RS said:

Are you talking about the same Montagliani who oversaw the original qualification scheme?

The absurd rankings-based Hex heavily favoured certain teams and shut a whole lot more out (including Canada). And until COVID hit, that was what Concacaf was going with.

The pandemic forced Concacaf to change things up because 30 lower-seeded nations still needed to be involved in some capacity. 

Remember that the first round of qualifying was originally planned as a round robin group stage, with winners advancing to a knockout stage (complete with a quarterfinal, semi and final, each consisting of two-legged home-and-away ties). What we ended up with instead was a first round consisting of groups of five teams each playing four games total (not home and away), followed by a two-legged second round to qualify for the round robin Octagonal, so the excess matches you speak of were sacrificed in the earlier rounds in favour of a slightly bigger final round.

Was Montagliani giving Canada some help in this COVID-enforced revamp? Perhaps, but it’s not nearly as overt as you imply, and  he was far more motivated by getting the entire region involved. 

That sounds fair, and you're more precise on the details than I.

It was still changing a system mid stream, and as I recall a few teams complained. As they complained about calls and other favors towards Canada (mostly ES I guess). 

[RS]

5 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

That sounds fair, and you're more precise on the details than I.

It was still changing a system mid stream, and as I recall a few teams complained. As they complained about calls and other favors towards Canada (mostly ES I guess). 

The Salvadorans were just mad they actually had to prove their worth on the field and ended up coming woefully short.

[Gian-Luca]

14 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Neither do I. Nor do I feel badly about any lucky call we got in any game. We played in crazy weather, lost our best player, got nutty goals and odd breaks. I'll take it all, it's all part of our story. 

Having friends in high places is actually a legit aspect of football success. 

 

Only in Concacaf could you have a qualifying result where a team that gets a bye into the final round of qualifying goes winless in 14 games while other teams were eliminated in the first round going undefeated, winning 75% of their games with the joint-best goal differential in the group while not giving up a goal.  Which is exactly what happened as the latter stats belong to Guatemala.

The change in format didn't screw any team, but it still left certain teams screwed. El Salvadoran fans have nothing to complain about, if they truly think that "allowing teams better than we are to compete for the World Cup" is an example of them getting screwed.

Could you imagine if Europe did a tiered qualification system where only the top FIFA-ranked nations got to the final round of 8,  and then one of those teams (let's say Wales) won 0 of 14 games, but another team (say Austria) was eliminated in an earlier with a record of 3 wins, 1 draw 14 goals scored & 0 conceded or not even given a chance to play for an automatic spot? The format would be lambasted vociferously right across Europe, with even the South Americans joining in on the lambasting just to ridicule what Europe was doing. I remember a bit of mild grumbling on onesoccer and some harsher criticism from Shaka Hislop (who notably is from one of the countries that was to be screwed by the original format) who pointed out the qualifying system was designed to favour the "big" teams in Concacaf, but otherwise it was pretty mild criticism in this region.

[TOcanadafan]

29 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Could you imagine if Europe did a tiered qualification system where only the top FIFA-ranked nations got to the final round of 8

Italians are drawing up such a system now. 🤪

A tiered system does make some sense, in Europe too, as long as there’s some semblance of opportunity.  The original Hex plan was pure CONCACAF crookery.