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

[Unnamed Trialist]

8 hours ago, Shway said:

I’ve suggested this:

- An expanded squad to 30 guys 🤭
- First team plays the friendly (1-16)
- Fringe first and new players play the Curaçao game (16-30)
- First team and standouts return for Honduras 

Honest to God I read "cringe first"

 

...and it made sense...

[johnyb]

1 hour ago, Bison44 said:

So you could say that, Federation wise we are brothers???  I fell your pain Lazygru.  

 

And yet both finished top of their Qualifying group.

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 hours ago, Ally McCoist said:

I think that has been confirmed by the Daguestan press agency as well.

Seriously, we have to be thankful that at least Iran has serious journalists.

[ensco]

Herdman previously said no friendlies in November. You can find it in the early pages of this thread.

It’s frustrating to us but this delay in announcements isn’t incompetence. I see it as risk-taking. They are probably (obviously?) holding out for something splashy (ie that Argentina in Vancouver idea). The US confirmed Morocco, well, it's not that hard to get that game.

If Canada don’t get the big name opponent, the CMNT will play Algeria or whomever is available and is willing fly over for less. So be it. This game can’t be that important to Herdman as prep. In fact, based on how he rolled in qualifying, Herdman will want to surprise Belgium and Croatia with whatever he winds up doing there. The purpose of the camp will be more around team building, not in publicly revealing his strategic thinking around lineup, formations etc.

Iran in September could make sense in Germany btw.  Lots of Persians in Germany. Could be London too, for same reason. Or Qatar itself of course, if we put the September camp there, and play a mini tournament like the one in Korea in June. Which strikes me as a good idea.

Edited May 5, 2022 by ensco

[Jedi Ram]

21 hours ago, kacbru said:

Did no one see that the CSA was fined by FIFA for fan behaviour in WCQ?  I think it was 50k swiss francs?  You can't expect to pay that and have friendlies...

Maybe that's what Canada+Gold is for ?  To pay for the fines ?

[Watchmen]

2 hours ago, ensco said:

Herdman previously said no friendlies in November. You can find it in the early pages of this thread.

It’s frustrating to us but this delay in announcements isn’t incompetence. I see it as risk-taking. They are probably (obviously?) holding out for something splashy (ie that Argentina in Vancouver idea). The US confirmed Morocco, well, it's not that hard to get that game.

If Canada don’t get the big name opponent, the CMNT will play Algeria or whomever is available and is willing fly over for less. So be it. This game can’t be that important to Herdman as prep. In fact, based on how he rolled in qualifying, Herdman will want to surprise Belgium and Croatia with whatever he winds up doing there. The purpose of the camp will be more around team building, not in publicly revealing his strategic thinking around lineup, formations etc.

Iran in September could make sense in Germany btw.  Lots of Persians in Germany. Could be London too, for same reason. Or Qatar itself of course, if we put the September camp there, and play a mini tournament like the one in Korea in June. Which strikes me as a good idea.

A friendly isn't just about prep for the players though. There's actual national hype behind the team right now, and the CSA needs to be capitalizing on that, be it with a home friendly or taking the money to play overseas against an opponent who might not normally be available to Canada but is more interested now. To do nothing is a squandered opportunity from any perspective. 

[ensco]

13 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

A friendly isn't just about prep for the players though. There's actual national hype behind the team right now, and the CSA needs to be capitalizing on that, be it with a home friendly or taking the money to play overseas against an opponent who might not normally be available to Canada but is more interested now. To do nothing is a squandered opportunity from any perspective. 

I don’t disagree. I do think they had fewer reality-based exciting options than we might have been led to believe.

[Shway]

6 hours ago, ensco said:

I don’t disagree. I do think they had fewer reality-based exciting options than we might have been led to believe.

And what we do have is two very great salesman like talkers in Bontis and Herdman. However the latter has sold us into a great, reliable deal, that everyone could now trust. The former is saying too much too early (I.e both NFP interviews)

[youllneverwalkalone]

I do wonder if there's some strategy at play? If the men played the same friendlies as the women you could hardly complain. Or is it reverse sexism 😁

 

[Califax]

 

 

As my friend @djcuse pointed out, there HAS to be something here, right?

Edited May 5, 2022 by Califax

[narduch]

Maybe Nigeria on June 5?

We did just play their women's team so there should already be a relationship at the FA level 

[Cblake]

Well it is official, the Argos Ticats pre-season game on June 3rd will be played at the University of Guelph's Alumni Stadium. This opens things up for Canada.

 

[Ally McCoist]

1 hour ago, Cblake said:

Well it is official, the Argos Ticats pre-season game on June 3rd will be played at the University of Guelph's Alumni Stadium. This opens things up for Canada.

 

Is this a hint that June 3 will be a friendly at BMO?

[Approve My Account Pls]

30 minutes ago, Ally McCoist said:

Is this a hint that June 3 will be a friendly at BMO?

I think it was mentioned in the thread yesterday that the Argos typically play pre-season games in other venues, so I wouldn't take it as a certainty for a friendly at BMO, but it means it would be available for one

[Cblake]

44 minutes ago, Ally McCoist said:

Is this a hint that June 3 will be a friendly at BMO?

Or somewhere around that time, do not think you would want to have been playing within a day or so of a CFL game, the field could be a concern.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

16 minutes ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

the Argos typically play pre-season games in other venues...

I don't follow the Argos but this hasn't always been the case and it seems like the decision was made more last-minute this year.

Thanks @Cblake for the updates.

[Kadenge]

1 hour ago, Cblake said:

Well it is official, the Argos Ticats pre-season game on June 3rd will be played at the University of Guelph's Alumni Stadium. This opens things up for Canada.

 

Looks like a great permanent location for the Argos...just saying 😊

[mrstepp817]

1 hour ago, Kadenge said:

Looks like a great permanent location for the Argos...just saying 😊

Poor Argos getting banished to what amounts to a high school stadium...lol 

[Razcal]

7 hours ago, Califax said:

 

 

As my friend @djcuse pointed out, there HAS to be something here, right?

They are also playing Mexico on the 5th.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

16 minutes ago, Razcal said:

They are also playing Mexico on the 5th.

Ecuador are indeed playing Mexico on the 5th, but what are Nigeria and Mali doing?

For some reason I thought Nigeria had a game on the 5th already but I seem to have mistaken their match with someone else's.

---

For now, it looks like the front runners for June are Nigeria, Mali and El Salvador (who were looking for a friendly in early June @ Uruguay but didn't get it).

Edited May 5, 2022 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Cblake]

5 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Ecuador are indeed playing Mexico on the 5th, but what are Nigeria and Mali doing?

For some reason I thought Nigeria had a game on the 5th already but I seem to have mistaken their match with someone else's.

---

For now, it looks like the front runners for June are Nigeria, Mali and El Salvador (who were looking for a friendly in early June @ Uruguay but didn't get it).

With Russia being kicked out of Nation's League, Iceland, Israel and Albania also have an opening. Would be interesting to see one of them play Canada. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

19 minutes ago, Cblake said:

With Russia being kicked out of Nation's League, Iceland, Israel and Albania also have an opening. Would be interesting to see one of them play Canada. 

For June, Israel has already confirmed that they will use their free slot to play Argentina in Haifa.

I'm not sure about Albania...

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Venezuela is heading to Europe and Paraguay is headed to East Asia. We can rule out those teams.

Edited May 6, 2022 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Shway]

We’ll play Latvia, Ethiopia, or the Philippines.

[SpecialK]

Wasn’t there a rumour/talk about something big planned for BC place. ???