The great big CPL "I've been impressed by... " thread.

[toontownman]

Been meaning to start this thread since the first game of the season and Nimmick impressing. Better late than never?

Just thought it might be neat to have an ongoing spot to mention players or maybe things in general that have been impressing you lately in the CPL. Guess we could have a grinds your gears thread too but this is much more positive at least..in theory 😀

While Nimmick is a no brainer (as I type he blasts the ball in his own net) and you can't help but love Bakare too but I have loved James Cameron at VFC. 

Who or what has been impressing you?

[BearcatSA]

HFX Wanderers, on and off the pitch.

[gator]

I watched Aparicio closely at the Forge match last night, he impresses me all the time, all the positive play seems to go through him, he rarely puts a foot wrong and is a true danger man for Pacific!

[SpursFlu]

This season or in general? In general, Forge. This season, the attendance surge

[davey_twelve]

I've been impressed by Steffan Yeates this season. Spent most of the year just trying to get himself established, picking up a lot of minutes off the bench. He's started the last 5 games now has looked really good doing so - receives the ball well in the middle, or even inside the 18, scored a clever goal and works hard off the ball. If Pacific doesn't have any midfield turnover this offseason I wouldn't mind seeing him replace Toussaint and Young dropping to DM.

[Stoppage Time]

2 hours ago, gator said:

I watched Aparicio closely at the Forge match last night, he impresses me all the time, all the positive play seems to go through him, he rarely puts a foot wrong and is a true danger man for Pacific!

Do you think that Aparicio deserves a Camp Poutine call assuming that we hold one?

[gator]

2 hours ago, Stoppage Time said:

Do you think that Aparicio deserves a Camp Poutine call assuming that we hold one?

To be clear the sample size is small, I watch him closely when I see him live at THF and some Pacific matches I tune into on tv, judging by what I have seen I would absolutely have no problem with him at a camp like that! He is so creative, that pin point pass he played for the early Pacific opener was a thing of beauty that even us Forge fans acknowledged so I don't think he would be out of place! Perhaps Pacific fans on here who watch him more often can comment!

[jonovision]

If we're talking players, I can really only speak to the dreadful team I watch most often. Matteo de Brienne is a guy who seems destined to play at a higher level. As much as I hated Jordan Haynes playing so much late in the season it was good to see what MdB could do playing higher up the pitch.

[Stoppage Time]

Vancouver FC versus VWFC 2 - who wins? Which is the better level? I would bet on VFC. Who on VWFC 2 could/should play for VFC? Wright? Habibullah? There must be some promising youngsters. I like the potential for more discussion of promising young players.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Stoppage Time
Trying to be more on topic.

[SpursFlu]

The amount of money CPL teams have received for transfers

[masster]

The growth of Ottawa off the field had been great to see and gives me hope for other cities...even those in large stadiums.

[Unnamed Trialist]

The overall growth and integration of pro infrastructure across the country, as driven by CPL, including L1 play, admins, core supporter groups, communication and reffing. As for this latter, while I've complained bitterly at times, my overall take is that we've taken giant strides.

[Obinna]

Cavalry winning the league with 2 matches to go. Always felt it would go down to the wire against Pacific, but they've been churning out results like clockwork to make it feel like 2019 all over again.

Also, i've been impressed with Halifax on and off the field, especially the stadium plans. Turf aside, it looks and feels like it'll be the model stadium for teams in the CPL. I hope others like Winnipeg, York, and (definitely) Edmonton can follow suit and get something like that going.

I hope we don't need to wait until 2038 for Davies to retire and re-launch Edmonton as a pet project. 

[Bison44]

I'm happily impressed by the steady stream of youngsters proving themselves in the CPL and going into the shop window for bigger leagues.  

[Aird25]

I quite liked the Didic long range effort, and save by Henry. I do wish it had gone in though

[StillOnFire]

On 9/24/2023 at 7:19 PM, gator said:

I watched Aparicio closely at the Forge match last night, he impresses me all the time, all the positive play seems to go through him, he rarely puts a foot wrong and is a true danger man for Pacific!

Aparicio is a really good player, one of several CanPL players who are high level players in the division, but probably not quite good enough for MLS imo.

[Aird25]

48 minutes ago, StillOnFire said:

Aparicio is a really good player, one of several CanPL players who are high level players in the division, but probably not quite good enough for MLS imo.

He's a great little player. One of my all-time favourite Pacific players, and the most positive on the team now apart from Sellouf (when he's on). If he didn't play a role that MLS teams typically spend big on, I think he'd be a regular in the league. I imagine he'd fit into most teams comfortably, but he may not be the game changer at that level that most teams look for in that position. I'm thrilled to have him on the team though. He always shows up

[shorty]

I have been impressed that there have been some good results when CanPl sides play teams from other leagues (CanChamp, CONCACAF League) -- including away results in Central America.  In fact, even when losing we seem to have been competitive in most cross-league matches.  The only such game I've watched where I really felt we were at a different level was PFC vs Herediano at Starlight, but even that game was kept close (on the score sheet at least).  And not bad to do so considering they had 5-7 CR national team players in the squad.  You could see the difference in first touch clearly.  Maybe also PFC's most recent loss to VWFC, although in that case the injury to Ahmed really sucked the wind out of the team.  Overall, CanPL seems to stack up nicely in regional comps so far.  Credit to the coaches as well as the players for that.

(On a related note, it was similarly impressive to see TSS Rovers come to Starlight and put up a brave fight.  Cup competitions are great and I hope the CanChamp finds (affordable) ways to expand further down the pyramid, because the layers aren't as far apart as one might imagine)

[Aird25]

43 minutes ago, shorty said:

Cup competitions are great and I hope the CanChamp finds (affordable) ways to expand further down the pyramid, because the layers aren't as far apart as one might imagine)

I completely agree, but I think the key word is affordable. I think we'd all like to see the CanChamp expand, but there aren't enough teams that can afford to enter the competition. It's the same with continental play. I'd love to see CPL teams play more Central American and Caribbean teams, but most of them can't afford to come to Canada for a match, and most CPL teams can't afford to travel to south many times in a season. We need more money in these competition, and cheaper travel

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

On 9/24/2023 at 5:41 PM, BearcatSA said:

HFX Wanderers, on and off the pitch.

The off the pitch part in Halifax has been the big success story of CanPL so far. On the pitch not so much. Have been trying to think of something to top that after it was already taken two posts in but haven't been able to do so. The Forge in the CONCACAF Cup gains an honourable mention. 

[An Observer]

2 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

The off the pitch part in Halifax has been the big success story of CanPL so far. On the pitch not so much. Have been trying to think of something to top that after it was already taken two posts in but haven't been able to do so. The Forge in the CONCACAF Cup gains an honourable mention. 

Ozzie, c’mon.  You disappoint. You have to say you have been most impressed with the empty seats

[Unnamed Trialist]

17 minutes ago, An Observer said:

Ozzie, c’mon.  You disappoint. You have to say you have been most impressed with the empty seats

Or by how sharp his eyeballing has been.

[Aird25]

I’ve been impressed by the amount of continued coverage we get for being a smaller league 

[SpursFlu]

I've been impressed by the jerseys 

[Cheeta]

4 hours ago, Aird25 said:

I’ve been impressed by the amount of continued coverage we get for being a smaller league 

I've a looong list of things that have impressed me about CanPL but right up there nearest the top is, believe it or not, Onesoccer.  Because right or wrong I can't seperate CanPL from OneSoccer.  CanPL is the egg baked into the OneSoccer cake.

And before everyone goes off about this or that I'll just pre-empt your strikes by stating OneSoccer 2023 is not Onesoccer 2019.  The product has gotten better and better with every passing year.

Everyone, the fans, the players, officials, hacks in the media sectors, everyone is light years better off in 2023 than they would otherwise have been without CanPL/OneSoccer/Mediapro.

I can just imagine what things would be like today in 2023 in the alternative Canadian soccerverse which doesn't have the CanPL, OneSoccer and all the trimmings that come with it.  Complain all you want, endured 30 years of that world.  Done with it.

(Wrote the suffering and scarred Valour supporter before scrambling into his bunker).