September and October 2023 friendly matches (plans, speculation, rumours etc.)

[Bigandy]

This may be the first roster selection that has incredible competition in every spot. 

ST: Ugbo, brym, cav, david, larin, kerr, JRR, jebbo? 
Winger: Millar, corbeanu, hoillet, shaf, buchanan, nelson
CM: oso, staq, kone, ali, choiniere, saliba, loturi, MAK, piette, fraser
LB: Davies, adekugbe, ali, edwards
RB: Johnston, laryea, ZBG, franklin
CB: vitoria, miller, kennedy, cornelius, heibert, mcnaughton, bombito, ZMG, zator, waterman
GK: creapue, borjan, sirios, DSC, Mcgill 

Not to mention potential duals. 

The only players I dont really see having a realistic chance from the list is Kerr and franklin.

This roster selection could be wild. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Bigandy

[Obinna]

15 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

This may be the first roster selection that has incredible competition in every spot. 

ST: Ugbo, brym, cav, david, larin, kerr, JRR, jebbo? 
Winger: Millar, corbeanu, hoillet, shaf, buchanan, nelson
CM: oso, staq, kone, ali, choiniere, saliba, loturi, MAK, piette, fraser
LB: Davies, adekugbe, ali, edwards
RB: Johnston, laryea, franklin
CB: vitoria, miller, kennedy, cornelius, heibert, mcnaughton, bombito, ZMG, zator, waterman
GK: creapue, borjan, sirios, DSC, Mcgill 

Not to mention potential duals. 

The only players I dont really see having a realistic chance from the list is Kerr and franklin.

This roster selection could be wild. 

Is Franklin ahead of ZBG now? 

Regardless, I bolded my 23. Thanks for laying them out this way. 

[Bigandy]

59 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Is Franklin ahead of ZBG now? 

Regardless, I bolded my 23. Thanks for laying them out this way. 

No but good catch.  I edited ZBG on the list. 

I really like your line up. I would maybe only consider a few switches for mine but I could go either way on them as well. 

Maybe mcgill for DSC - strictly because hes dual and has an EPL contract (bad reasons, I know).
Maybe bombito for mcnaughton - mostly due to potential and adding a CB with pace
Maybe hoilett for shaf - hoiletts just such a baller even if hes not on form, is getting older etc. Shaf may be/become more effective but he doesnt have the ballerness of hoilett.  

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, Bigandy said:

No but good catch.  I edited ZBG on the list. 

I really like your line up. I would maybe only consider a few switches for mine but I could go either way on them as well. 

Maybe mcgill for DSC - strictly because hes dual and has an EPL contract (bad reasons, I know).
Maybe bombito for mcnaughton - mostly due to potential and adding a CB with pace
Maybe hoilett for shaf - hoiletts just such a baller even if hes not on form, is getting older etc. Shaf may be/become more effective but he doesnt have the ballerness of hoilett.  

Yeah I would be fine with those switches. I think Hoilett is still a better player today than Shaf, and a different profile now a days. Bombito has upside on McNaughton and although Lucas has established himself on a pretty good Nashville side, his lack of speed could be exposed against a side like Japan. Conversely though it's a chance to see if he's intelligent enough to deal with it. He's also been out of the picture for a while, whereas Bombito we've seen recently. That's kind of my case for Corbeanu over Nelson too. I went back and forth on that one quite a bit and even considered Brym too. He's settling into a role player with Sparta Rotterdam side sitting 5th. Tempting to bring him in, but he's recently had a run out with Canada. 

The only one I don't really get is McGill. I want to cap him because you never know, but I think it's time to spread the love to Sirois and getting DSC more camps is a good thing because he will be part of the future, whether it's no. 1, 3 or 3. Crepeau needs to come back in and I think it's time to move on from Borjan....maybe for good. 

But yeah, wouldn't die on the GK hill though. 

[Stoppage Time]

My 22 just for fun.

Goal: Crepeau, Sirois, St. Clair

Defenders: McGraw, Miller, Cornelius, Johnson, Adekugbe, Raposo

Midfield: Buchanan, Eustaqiou, Kone, Laryea, Kaye, Saliba, Choiniere, Nelson, Ahmed

Forward: David, Davies, Millar, Larin

Add two spots for dual invitees, hopefully.

I am certain that some of you will have suggestions and comments. Cheers.

[CanadaFan123]

2 minutes ago, Stoppage Time said:

My 22 just for fun.

Goal: Crepeau, Sirois, St. Clair

Defenders: McGraw, Miller, Cornelius, Johnson, Adekugbe, Raposo

Midfield: Buchanan, Eustaqiou, Kone, Laryea, Kaye, Saliba, Choiniere, Nelson, Ahmed

Forward: David, Davies, Millar, Larin

Add two spots for dual invitees, hopefully.

I am certain that some of you will have suggestions and comments. Cheers.

Corbeanu has to be in there ahead of Nelson but I like it otherwise. 

[Shway]

16 minutes ago, Stoppage Time said:

My 22 just for fun.

Goal: Crepeau, Sirois, St. Clair

Defenders: McGraw, Miller, Cornelius, Johnson, Adekugbe, Raposo

Midfield: Buchanan, Eustaqiou, Kone, Laryea, Kaye, Saliba, Choiniere, Nelson, Ahmed

Forward: David, Davies, Millar, Larin

Add two spots for dual invitees, hopefully.

I am certain that some of you will have suggestions and comments. Cheers.

I mean you could've added one more guy to make it the standard 23 lol.

But I like this list, I would only make a few changes.
 
- I'll add Brym to this list 
- Adekugbe is out for me at this time, I'll swap him for Bombito. I liked his versatility and what we saw at the GC
-  I like Nelson a lot, but I'll swap him for  Corbeanu who I like more. 
- Millar for Ugbo. Let Millar continue to gel with his club. And also we haven't seen Ugbo in awhile. 
- I want to somehow out Fraser in, but it just won't work. 

Starting XI looks like.

-------------Crepeau--------
Johnston--Corneilius----Miller
Buchanan---Kone-Staq----Davies
-------------Choniere------------
----------David----Ugbo-------

For the 4 in the back lovers...

----------------Crepeau------------
Johnston--Corneilius-(c)Miller--Laryea
----------Eustaqiuo--Kone----------
Buchanan------David--------Davies
---------------Ugbo----------------

Squad needs to get younger, and the younger squad needs experience.

[Aird25]

Sharman said tonight that the funds were available to play Saudi Arabia in the September window, but they couldn’t organize it in time so Costa Rica ended up with the game. We really need to rebuild the CSA fast

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

4 hours ago, Aird25 said:

Sharman said tonight that the funds were available to play Saudi Arabia in the September window, but they couldn’t organize it in time

Probably only after we got that 5 million dollar loan from FIFA.

[Obinna]

3 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Probably only after we got that 5 million dollar loan from FIFA.

Yeah that makes sense. I am kind of over it now though, it is what it is. Would have been a great test obviously, but it's not even a team ranked ahead of us. I much prefer we played 1 game than 0, but the September window is in the rear view mirror for me now. 18 days until a massive test against Japan in Japan. Wish I could be there to see it myself. Pumped to see what sort of roster we bring. Win, lose, or draw it's the kind of test we need and the first chance the main group is together since the NL final loss. I have a gut feeling we'll put out a good account of ourselves regardless the result. 

[trc2014]

Wonder if Mauro will stick with the JH approach of roster release as late as possible.

[Obinna]

20 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

Wonder if Mauro will stick with the JH approach of roster release as late as possible.

That's more of a CSA thing. 

[trc2014]

15 minutes ago, Obinna said:

That's more of a CSA thing. 

How do you know that?  I don’t remember the roster releases being that late pre-Herdman.

[Obinna]

22 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

How do you know that?  I don’t remember the roster releases being that late pre-Herdman.

Mild sarcasm there.... since I hate how late CSA roster releases are in general.

I guess there were late under Herdman even by CSA standards.

[dyslexic nam]

1 hour ago, trc2014 said:

How do you know that?  I don’t remember the roster releases being that late pre-Herdman.

I thought we were always late - but I suppose recent years probably skew that thinking. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

That's more of a CSA thing. 

I think so.

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

I guess there were late under Herdman even by CSA standards.

I think that was a result of pandemic uncertainties and the CSA being even more short-staffed.

[VinceA]

44 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

I thought we were always late - but I suppose recent years probably skew that thinking. 

My favourite late roster drop was when the US faced Bosnia and Herzegovina in a friendly in 2013 and announced the roster the day before the game.

[Bigandy]

9 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Probably only after we got that 5 million dollar loan from FIFA.

I dont think thats the case. 

CSA still has cash reserves and could leverage other operating lines of credit. I dont think there was a question of if CSA could stump up the cash. The bigger concern is if the CSA viewed these friendlies as good value for what little resources they have. 

[Obinna]

16 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

I dont think thats the case. 

CSA still has cash reserves and could leverage other operating lines of credit. I dont think there was a question of if CSA could stump up the cash. The bigger concern is if the CSA viewed these friendlies as good value for what little resources they have. 

James Sharman said Saudi Arabia was waiting on us and couldn't wait any longer so Costa Rica stepped up. That would mean we saw it as good value because clearly we were planning on playing the game initially. The hold up appeared to be the finances, the organization to pull it off, or possibly both. 

[vancanman]

On 9/26/2023 at 12:27 AM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

They still list matches on FIFA's website?

Where?

The JFA lists it as 7:35pm local time.

So 6:35am Eastern / 3:35am Pacific would be correct.

Another #CanMNT breakfast match on a lucky Friday the 13th.

I can confirm it is definitely at 7:35 local time.

[Ottawafan]

On 9/26/2023 at 3:32 PM, Obinna said:

James Sharman said Saudi Arabia was waiting on us and couldn't wait any longer so Costa Rica stepped up. That would mean we saw it as good value because clearly we were planning on playing the game initially. The hold up appeared to be the finances, the organization to pull it off, or possibly both. 

Too bad Saudi Arabia is going thru a financial downturn otherwise they could have fronted the dough.

[Kadenge]

10 minutes ago, Ottawafan said:

Too bad Saudi Arabia is going thru a financial downturn otherwise they could have fronted the dough.

The Saudis were paying us $5OOK for the game per JDV

[Obinna]

44 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

The Saudis were paying us $5OOK for the game per JDV

Hey Saudi, got any more of them friendlies?

[Stoppage Time]

5 hours ago, Ottawafan said:

Too bad Saudi Arabia is going thru a financial downturn otherwise they could have fronted the dough.

If so, would that $500,000 have covered our camp and travel costs? One would think so, but you never know.

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, Stoppage Time said:

If so, would that $500,000 have covered our camp and travel costs? One would think so, but you never know.

The initial proposal was a game against Saudi Arabia for $500k, a game against South Korea, and a bit of a camp, and the out lay by the CSA would have been $200k.  How that all breaks down, I don't know.