Gold Cup: Canada vs USA - Sunday, July 9th 7:30pm Eastern / 4:30pm Pacific - Cincinnati, OH (Match Thread)

[Shway]

Gold Cup, Quarter Final Match #4
Canada vs USA
Sunday, July 9 2023
7:30pm Eastern / 4:30pm Pacific
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Broadcast in Canada:
ONESOCCER (live - online)

Canada's roster:
https://canadasoccer.com/news/canada-announce-squad-for-the-2023-concacaf-gold-cup/
Since the roster was announced, Adekugbe and Eustáquio have been replaced by Fraser and Nelson.
Borjan also left the team for the remainder of the tournament.

 

Canadian players who have played all possible minutes in the previous three matches:
Kamal Millar
Jonathan Osorio

Canadian players who have yet to play a single minute in this Gold Cup:
Tom McGill (GK)

No Canadian players are suspended but the following Canadian player are on a caution:
🟨 Moïse Bombito
🟨 Lucas Cavallini
🟨 Liam Fraser
🟨 Zac McGraw
🟨 Kamal Miller
🟨 Jacob Shaffelburg
🟨 Steven Vitória
🟨 Dominik Zator

Cards will only be wiped after the quarter finals stage.

USA players that will be unavailable:
 Aidan Morris (Forward) Left camp
 

The ref: 
👤 Marco Antonio Ortiz Nava 🇲🇽
🚩 Christian Kiabek Espinosa Zavala 🇲🇽
🚩 Jorge Antonio Sánchez Espinoza 🇲🇽
📺 Oshane Anthony Nation 🇯🇲

He has reffed only 1 game for us against Aruba.  Gave Vitoria a card in early in the game (14' min)

The weather:
Partly cloudy and ~26°C. 18% chance of rainfall.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Shway

[TGAA_Star]

This is the end of the road for Canada

[Obinna]

My brain tells me we lose. My gut tells me we somehow manage to get a shock win, or maybe that's my heart? Either way, going to say we find a way through against all odds.

[Ottawafan]

13 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

This is the end of the road for Canada

Most likely.  Want to see some of the newer players get ample opportunity to get minutes,  

[Fullback]

6 minutes ago, Obinna said:

My brain tells me we lose. My gut tells me we somehow manage to get a shock win, or maybe that's my heart? Either way, going to say we find a way through against all odds.

I think we have a chance to win if we play to our strengths. If we run out both Vitoria and McGraw in a back 5 with Bombito in midfield we lose. If we play a back 4 and get all of our best players on the pitch we absolutely stand a chance

[SpursFlu]

Let's see what some of these guys are made of.. team selection should be very interesting 

[Floortom]

Think we need to generally concede possession, bunker hard and hope for a lucky goal or moment of magic..don’t think we have anywhere near enough quality to play an open match. The US is better but they don’t really have game breakers so if we can play very organized we might frustrate them.

[shorty]

Sadly organization has not yet been our strength this tournament. Many giveaways that stemmed from miscommunication or lack of urgency or both resulted in frequent dangerous transition opportunities (and goals in the case of Osorio on Cuba’s first PK). Watching “new Canada” in the last year you never saw much hesitation in the first two thirds about where the ball was going and who would be there to receive it. In part that’s down to Eustaquio being the general he is but it can’t be all that. Hopefully there is some chemistry building now that there has been time together for the new guys, and hopefully they drill on tactics hard over the next few days. 
 

I’m hopeful, given that if we get past the US our path is easier, but I’m not yet optimistic based on what I’ve seen so far. 

[BearcatSA]

4 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Think we need to generally concede possession, bunker hard and hope for a lucky goal or moment of magic..don’t think we have anywhere near enough quality to play an open match. The US is better but they don’t really have game breakers so if we can play very organized we might frustrate them.

Ferreira is a clever guy with a strong footballing IQ (just like his old man) who can make things happen up top.  I am a little concerned about the midfield battle because Osorio looks to have lost a step and Fraser has never been a big engine guy so that might turn the game if the Americans bring the pressure.  Goalkeeping is a question mark for us:  lack of chemistry with the back line might pose communication break downs.

The back end just looks too question marky at the moment to keep a clean sheet so we'll need some extra goals.  It would be nice to capitalize on some Hoillet set play service on Sunday.

 

 

[Obinna]

Back 4 of Ahmed-Miller-McGraw-Laryea. I would be fine with Vitoria, but it's a wash at this point. Give the experience to the younger player. Kennedy and ZBG on standby. No Bombito or Zator for this one - too green at this level. 

Midfield 4 of Nelson-Oso-Fraser-Hoilett. Keep things tight and don't get stretched. Spoony and Loturi subs if needed.

Duo up front of Millar-Cavallini. Let them run their guts out. When they fade toss JRR and Shaffleburg up there. I don't think Brym helps us in a match like this, but if he comes off the bench then fine. Just don't want him starting. 

[gator]

Having success in the last match playing a back 4 gives Herdman something to think about here, it was vs Cuba and the US will obviously present a more formadible challenge, I'm not sure Ahmed will get forward as he did and maybe he would be better as a LWB in a back 5? This will be a real challenge for JH to sort out given the squad available, if he gets it right and everyone plays well we may have a chance, if not this could be ugly! 

[InglewoodJack]

1 hour ago, TGAA_Star said:

This is the end of the road for Canada

If we win, can you delete your account?

 

[InglewoodJack]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

My brain tells me we lose. My gut tells me we somehow manage to get a shock win, or maybe that's my heart? Either way, going to say we find a way through against all odds.

No point watching if we don’t think we’ll win!

 

2-1 us. It’ll be Osorio early, states tie, and JRR redeems himself late.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

2 hours ago, Shway said:

...who have played all possible minutes in the previous THREE matches:
Kamal Millar
Jonathan Osorio
Milan Borjan (GK)

I'm glad you like my template.

You missed a little edit

- - - -

Also for the USA,

Alan Sonora is possibly still injured.

2 hours ago, Shway said:

Jordan Morris

Aidan Morris is the one who left camp, Jordan Morris is injured.

I'm not sure if Jordan Morris or Alan Sonora are getting replaced.

[Shway]

If it’s not broken don’t fix it @Olympique_de_Marseille

I was waiting for you to start it, why’d you take so long. I ran out of patience.😆

[narduch]

Anybody find the official kick off time?

I'm guessing 8:06 pm ET 

[JamboAl]

15 minutes ago, narduch said:

Anybody find the official kick off time?

I'm guessing 8:06 pm ET 

Depends on when the first game ends

[SoccMan]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

Back 4 of Ahmed-Miller-McGraw-Laryea. I would be fine with Vitoria, but it's a wash at this point. Give the experience to the younger player. Kennedy and ZBG on standby. No Bombito or Zator for this one - too green at this level. 

Midfield 4 of Nelson-Oso-Fraser-Hoilett. Keep things tight and don't get stretched. Spoony and Loturi subs if needed.

Duo up front of Millar-Cavallini. Let them run their guts out. When they fade toss JRR and Shaffleburg up there. I don't think Brym helps us in a match like this, but if he comes off the bench then fine. Just don't want him starting. 

Replace McGraw with Kennedy and we are good , Kennedy has the experience over McGraw for me that counts for something in these situations.

[Stryker911]

First is what i would go with. Second is what I expect Herdman to do. 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Stryker911

[Shway]

11 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

Replace McGraw with Kennedy and we are good , Kennedy has the experience over McGraw for me that counts for something in these situations.

If you’re going based on experience then McGraw has more experience playing against these US players. So he would start for me, just not if Vitoria is playing.

[Shway]

2 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

This is what I would go with.

I like this lineup it could do something. 

[Obinna]

24 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

Replace McGraw with Kennedy and we are good , Kennedy has the experience over McGraw for me that counts for something in these situations.

Good point, but downside would be that without 1 of Vitoria or McGraw we lose arial presence. We saw that in the NL final and a game like this could be decided by a set piece.

[Lurker]

I’m biased but Shaffelburg’s speed could be an annoyance for the US, he also provides good delivery.

I’d be concerned about a defensive mistake though.

He’d be great to have out there on the counter attack.

[Stanley]

Lets just hope we play in a Canadian colours!

[InglewoodJack]

17 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

First is what i would go with. Second is what I expect Herdman to do. 

I like the Shaffelburg start. I feel like his MLS experience is really gonna come in handy- he's probably played every player on the US team before. Also allows Nelson to come off the bench which plays to his strength, I think.

 

I like starting Vitoria too- if we win, we're gonna need at least one fluky goal, and having Vitoria as a set piece aerial threat is probably one of the easier ways we can score.