Match Thread: CONCACAF U-17, Group Stage: Canada v USA - Wednesday, February 15, 2023 - 5pm PT/8pm ET

[Gian-Luca]

Abraham has to either catch the ball or punch it way the fuck out of danger, he was adding to the pressure by not doing either

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 2/3/2023 at 12:35 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Keyrol Figueroa, the son of Honduran legend Maynor Figueroa is in the USA U17 squad

On 2/3/2023 at 12:52 PM, El Hombre said:

So you're telling me that the US team is such garbage that they need to steal players from Honduras?  Figures.

1 minute ago, El Hombre said:

Canada - 0
US - 0
Honduran ex-pats - 1

 

Of course.

Of course it would be Honduras! 😭

[El Hombre]

We could be in tough for the last 20 minutes.  Both De Sa and Badwal off and Olivieri doesn't seem inclined to play Biello.  I could see us giving up another one.

[shorty]

To be honest we’re lucky it isn’t more than one, the way we’re giving the ball away deep and getting beat with simple cutbacks.  Not impressed with Chukwu in particular. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Who was the assistant speaking with Olivieri?

[El Hombre]

Just now, shorty said:

To be honest we’re lucky it isn’t more than one, the way we’re giving the ball away deep and getting beat with simple cutbacks.  Not impressed with Chukwu in particular. 

Meh, give the Americans the ball.  They're garbage, they won't know what to do with it.

[shorty]

3 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

Meh, give the Americans the ball.

That does appear to be our strategy…

[shorty]

4-D chess being played by Olivieri. Straight CB for CB swap with 10 minutes to go and needing a goal. 

[El Hombre]

1 minute ago, shorty said:

4-D chess being played by Olivieri. Straight CB for CB swap with 10 minutes to go and needing a goal. 

We're planning on the US playing the Uno reverse card so that we have to change our formation to a 2-4-4.  Fresh legs up front!

[shorty]

Go-deen gets a yellow. Wonder if he’s related to that La-reen guy at Valladolid?

[Gian-Luca]

They took 3 minutes to make one American sub, not sure how they only added 3 min total of stoppage  time

[Shway]

Game number 3 and I’m not impressed by anyone except like I said previously Biello.

So many loose touches, loose passes and that’s just the story.

I haven’t see any personality out there, especially from the wide players who you would expect for them to take guys on. 

[Floortom]

I don’t think there’s much to be upset about here - US is clearly the better side. This would probably a good test for us before the knockouts - we won’t play another team that physical and  talented.

[Vasi]

Biello was on yellow accumulation. He will play next game I assume.

Comparing how we played in the u19 tournament, I'm very happy so far. We have not been embarrassing so far. 😉

[Soccerpro2]

People were surprised at how bad we  were tonight after beating 10 man T&T 3-2 and Barbados 2-0? Really?

The lack of sharp attacking ability was obvious to anyone watching. Useless meaningless possession doesn’t translate well against good teams.

[El Hombre]

8 minutes ago, Shway said:

Game number 3 and I’m not impressed by anyone except like I said previously Biello.

So many loose touches, loose passes and that’s just the story.

I haven’t see any personality out there, especially from the wide players who you would expect for them to take guys on. 

I see a couple more positives: Vojvodic has a nose for goal, I like de Montigny's skill, I think Stefanovic is a leader, Chukwu is decent for an underage players (he could still play in the next U17 two years from now) and could progress into something special.

One thing so far that this tournament has confirmed for me is that I shouldn't get wound up about the dual nationals.  Higazy has not only underperformed in my eyes, but has performed downright poorly.  Same for Fung.  Didn't see anything there worth any hype.  De Sa was okay today.  I know the NF pod guys will keep pushing the hype on these guys but it's gotta be because they're either in Europe or dual nationals and not from anything they've done on the pitch.  They fooled me with Jesse Costa, but not this time!

[An Observer]

7 minutes ago, Shway said:

Game number 3 and I’m not impressed by anyone except like I said previously Biello.

So many loose touches, loose passes and that’s just the story.

I haven’t see any personality out there, especially from the wide players who you would expect for them to take guys on. 

I have also been impressed with Stefanovic.  The first two matches it was difficult to tell as we face no pressure.  This match I thought he defended well and was the only one who played out of the back.  Badwal is the other I have been somewhat impressed with. A solid number 8.  Doesn't do anything spectacular but keeps the ball well and has an eye for a pass.  

The guy who has most disappointed for me is N'diaye as he was highly rated.  He definitely was better in the second half and you could see he has a footballing brain as when he had the ball in space he took his time and usually played a decent ball (cant say that for most).  But under pressure, he lost it a lot as well.  And never did anything to unlock the defense.

I would have liked to see Omeze against the US.  He seems to have potential and all the physical and technical tools but in the first two matches, his decision making was a little lacking.  Hopefully, that can be coached out of him.

The rest seemed meh to me.  Some positives, some negatives and in some cases, many negatives.

It was nice to see the team pressure and attack more in the second half but of course, we lost that half 1-0.  The one thing this team is missing is someone who can take players on like a Davies or Buchanan.  We don't seem to have the athlete that can do that so rarely could we put any side on their backheals which the senior side can do. 

[Ivan]

11 hours ago, An Observer said:

I have also been impressed with Stefanovic.  The first two matches it was difficult to tell as we face no pressure.  This match I thought he defended well and was the only one who played out of the back.  Badwal is the other I have been somewhat impressed with. A solid number 8.  Doesn't do anything spectacular but keeps the ball well and has an eye for a pass.  

The guy who has most disappointed for me is N'diaye as he was highly rated.  He definitely was better in the second half and you could see he has a footballing brain as when he had the ball in space he took his time and usually played a decent ball (cant say that for most).  But under pressure, he lost it a lot as well.  And never did anything to unlock the defense.

I would have liked to see Omeze against the US.  He seems to have potential and all the physical and technical tools but in the first two matches, his decision making was a little lacking.  Hopefully, that can be coached out of him.

The rest seemed meh to me.  Some positives, some negatives and in some cases, many negatives.

It was nice to see the team pressure and attack more in the second half but of course, we lost that half 1-0.  The one thing this team is missing is someone who can take players on like a Davies or Buchanan.  We don't seem to have the athlete that can do that so rarely could we put any side on their backheals which the senior side can do. 

This pretty much sums up my thoughts.

I'll add that I think Stefanovic has been great, and the defence as a whole, not bad.  US had the vast majority of the ball but created very little.  Omeze and Biello could have made a difference in us keeping more possession and creating more chances like Ozimec kinda did when he came on.  Those 4 seem to be the key players for us.

I'm not as hard on De Montigny and Rigopoulous as you are @An Observerbut agree the both often overdribbled into pressure and gave the ball away cheaply. Both are quick and aggressive so hopefully the coaches can work with that.

[CanadaFan123]

15 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

Abraham has to either catch the ball or punch it way the fuck out of danger, he was adding to the pressure by not doing either

That 2nd half performance was hilarious. It honestly seemed like he was trying to make the absolute worst decision any time the ball came near him. I’ve seen outfield players look more comfortable in their box. 
 

Funny that De Rosario decided to tweet about Biello when he’s our best player and his kid seemed to be a token player on our u20 team. That hate in general for Biello sr. is just crazy and out of nowhere. Am I missing something? 
 

Surprised to see praise for De Montigny here. He’s stood out as generally terrible IMO.