Match Thread: World Cup Group F - Matchday 2 - Croatia v Canada - November 27, 2022 - 7pm local time / 11am ET / 8am PT

[Rougeisthecolour]

My crew is ready! 

[Bison44]

Ahhh, wood paneling and drop down white tile ceiling......thats more canadian than the flags!!  

[SoCalTransport]

Remember in the 2014 World Cup Mexico handled Croatia pretty easily.

I think this game can go either way, we just have to score early.

[rdb9ty]

Over the last 1.5 years our best performance imo was vs Mexico in Edmonton. I would start the exact same XI except Vitoria in for Henry for obvious reasons. I think David needs to be dropped for Larin. Larin just fits into how we line up better than David does. He's a better target man. This allows our wide players to still be in the lineup as well. There's no way that Laryea should be dropped and we need Adekugbe in for his defensive ability at LB with Davies up ahead of him in attack. 

 

[SoCalTransport]

22 minutes ago, rdb9ty said:

Over the last 1.5 years our best performance imo was vs Mexico in Edmonton. I would start the exact same XI except Vitoria in for Henry for obvious reasons. I think David needs to be dropped for Larin. Larin just fits into how we line up better than David does. He's a better target man. This allows our wide players to still be in the lineup as well. There's no way that Laryea should be dropped and we need Adekugbe in for his defensive ability at LB with Davies up ahead of him in attack. 

 

I don't think this game was a fair assessment of Canada's style of play.

Remember the pitch was frozen and it wasn't even real grass. The ball was bouncing around like a basketball.

I thought Canada actually played better in Mexico City, because they could show they were fast and had more skill than the Mexican team.

I like this lineup, but you have to stick with David. Larin does nothing defensively, if he's not going for goal, he is near invisible out there. 

I wish Cavallini was higher on the depth chart, he looked amazing against Bahrain & Japan.

[frmr]

16 minutes ago, SoCalTransport said:

I don't think this game was a fair assessment of Canada's style of play.

Remember the pitch was frozen and it wasn't even real grass. The ball was bouncing around like a basketball.

I thought Canada actually played better in Mexico City, because they could show they were fast and had more skill than the Mexican team.

I like this lineup, but you have to stick with David. Larin does nothing defensively, if he's not going for goal, he is near invisible out there. 

I wish Cavallini was higher on the depth chart, he looked amazing against Bahrain & Japan.

You have a pretty loose definition of "amazing".

I think we need a three man midfield. I like Caldwell's starting XI of

                   David    Larin

           Kone    Eustaquio   Hutch

Davies  Miller  Vitoria  Johnston   Buchanan

                         Borjan

[Big_M]

just watched the first game again..herdman needs to put aside the giving too much into hype and beautiful stories which led to mistakes such as davies taking the penalty and heavy minutes for hutchinson..hutchinson was good on the ball but off the ball was almost always late and too slow which led to him fouling or being beaten or the opponent getting the ball and having open space..if we go by that he unfortunately cannot keep up for long periods and shouldnt be starting

if croatia goes with a 433 we are probably also going with 3 in central midfield as only two including hutchinson against their three could be big trouble..if we go with a 343 against that formation we would need a cb to step up often and wingers to help out defensively a lot and the wingbacks extremely focused..a matching 433 or even 442 seems more likely

[Unnamed Trialist]

Lying in bed this morning I got my lovely Catalan wife of 25 years to say "fuck Croatia".

I doubt it will help us in the game but it's going to do wonders for our marriage.

[Ally McCoist]

I think Kone starting this game would be an absolute game changer. The guy can clearly hold his own. And he fortifies our midfield against a team who we NEED to match their midfield. 

[scullion44]

I know there’s not much logic in this line of thinking but if Morocco struggle with Belgium I will feel much more comfortable for our match.

[Nick P]

Croatia is a good team

[BigMo]

Stadium for the day is one of the rare old grounds in this tournament.

[Sal333]

3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Lying in bed this morning I got my lovely Catalan wife of 25 years to say "fuck Croatia".

 

Mine just tells me she has a headache.

[maplebanana]

Hat tip to @CanadianTraveller for finding me poutine for gameday here in Doha. Lord of the Wings at the Pearl, in case anyone else is interested.

A game day tradition restored! 

[TGAA_Star]

Morocco vs Belgium is up next and hoping for Belgium to do the job and beat Morocco because then if Canada beats Croatia then Canada goes on 3 points while Morocco and Croatia would each have 1 point heading into matchday 3. Then that is where things get interesting because Canada would have to beat Morocco to get 6 points to get into the Round of 16 and Croatia even if they beat Belgium, they would get eliminated. But even with a draw against Morocco, it would give Canada 4 points on matchday 3 but then if Croatia beats Belgium they get 4 points too and it comes down to goal difference to determine who goes through.

[Sal333]

5 hours ago, frmr said:

You have a pretty loose definition of "amazing".

I think we need a three man midfield. I like Caldwell's starting XI of

                   David    Larin

           Kone    Eustaquio   Hutch

Davies  Miller  Vitoria  Johnston   Buchanan

                         Borjan

Adekugbe has to start. Who comes out for him is the million dollar question. We definitely need a 3 man midfield so I would use David as #10. If memory serves me he played that position against the USA in Hamilton and played it perfectly.

                                                        Larin

                                                        David

               Davies              Eustaquio          Hutch              Buchanan

               Adekugbe          Miller                Vitoria              Johnston

                                                       Borjan

                                                   

[gwsmith63]

4 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

Morocco vs Belgium is up next and hoping for Belgium to do the job and beat Morocco because then if Canada beats Croatia then Canada goes on 3 points while Morocco and Croatia would each have 1 point heading into matchday 3. Then that is where things get interesting because Canada would have to beat Morocco to get 6 points to get into the Round of 16 and Croatia even if they beat Belgium, they would get eliminated. But even with a draw against Morocco, it would give Canada 4 points on matchday 3 but then if Croatia beats Belgium they get 4 points too and it comes down to goal difference to determine who goes through.

I think I knew all of that already but reading this has brought my pre-game headache on sooner than normal. 🤕

Edited November 27, 2022 by gwsmith63

[Sal333]

3 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

Morocco vs Belgium is up next and hoping for Belgium to do the job and beat Morocco because then if Canada beats Croatia then Canada goes on 3 points while Morocco and Croatia would each have 1 point heading into matchday 3. Then that is where things get interesting because Canada would have to beat Morocco to get 6 points to get into the Round of 16 and Croatia even if they beat Belgium, they would get eliminated. But even with a draw against Morocco, it would give Canada 4 points on matchday 3 but then if Croatia beats Belgium they get 4 points too and it comes down to goal difference to determine who goes through.

Belgium beating Morocco is not good for us. They need to get a draw, If Belgium beats Morocco, they're definitely in the round of 16 and guess what? They won't give a hoot about the Croatia game. That means Canada would have to get two wins. A win and draw will not be enough.

[Stryker911]

3 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

Belgium beating Morocco is not good for us. They need to get a draw, If Belgium beats Morocco, they're definitely in the round of 16 and guess what? They won't give a hoot about the Croatia game. That means Canada would have to get two wins. A win and draw will not be enough.

Belgium will still want a result in their last game. The winner of our group gets the second place team from group E which at this point could be Japan or Costa Rica. 

[Ally McCoist]

4 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

Belgium will still want a result in their last game. The winner of our group gets the second place team from group E which at this point could be Japan or Costa Rica. 

With Costa Rica it's probably neither at this point. Germany should beat Costa Rica and Spain probably at least gets a draw against Japan. I still think Belgium still tries to play for first place. Spain are looking like favourites to make a deep run.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Ally McCoist

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

What I want to see is the boys not be afraid of taking shots from distance if they have to.

How many goals have been scored so far from a shot just inside or outside the edge of the penalty area?

Just rip one at the Croatian goal with power because sooner or later he'll meet a shot he can't deal with. Either he reacts too late or rebounds it back in for a lurking JD/Larin/whoever.

Edited November 27, 2022 by A.D.I.D.A.S.

[A Different Perspective]

13 minutes ago, A.D.I.D.A.S. said:

What I want to see is the boys not be afraid of taking shots from distance if they have to.

How many goals have been scored so far from a shot just inside or outside the edge of the penalty area?

Just rip one at the Croatian goal with power because sooner or later he'll meet a shot he can't deal with. Either he reacts too late or rebounds it back in for a lurking JD/Larin/whoever.

Agree 100 percent.  Surprised as Canadians we don’t pick up on this hockey strategy where you shoot low, lard far side for the sole purposes of a rebound giving advantage to the oncoming offensive players facing the net vs the defensive player who has their back to the goal and needs to turn and get oriented.  

[Alex]

Well that de Guzman rant just got me fired up! 

[JamboAl]

13 minutes ago, Alex said:

Well that de Guzman rant just got me fired up! 

What did he say?  

[Ally McCoist]

Belgium playing like shit vs Morocco. It hurts even more to not have gotten a result from that match.