Friendly: Japan vs Canada - Friday, October 13th - 6:35am Eastern / 3:35am Pacific - Niigata, Japan

[blueseeka]

53 minutes ago, Free kick said:

I would go further and state that if now isn't the time to audition the goalkeepers of the future, then when is that time?  Goal keeping was one of our weaknesses at the WC.  Perhaps even our number 1 weakness.   If we don't take that opportunity to learn and adjust for 2026, then what is the point of playing friendlies.

Yep, time to move on. Especially, if he only wants to come if he starts. He can't be the starter anymore

[Bison44]

A lot of the guys being brought up here, were tired and wanted the gold cup off.  Give them another camp off, test drive guys who will still be in their prime in 26.  

[Bertuzzi44]

First post-Herdman camp, I think you bring the 'core' in if you can, so everyone can get their bearings and such

[Shway]

2 hours ago, Bison44 said:

A lot of the guys being brought up here, were tired and wanted the gold cup off.  Give them another camp off, test drive guys who will still be in their prime in 26.  

I think this is the most important.

That "test drive" could come at the Copa America. We need more guys to have international experience, especially considering a lot of our guys will be well past their prime in 26. 

56 minutes ago, Bertuzzi44 said:

First post-Herdman camp, I think you bring the 'core' in if you can, so everyone can get their bearings and such

 

I completely understand the thinking behind this, but on the contrary...If Biello is truly trying to win the job he would look at establishing a new core. Hoilett, Borjan, Vitoria, Cavallini shouldn't be considered apart of the core anymore. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Hope we take a small squad. No sense for a short stint and a few training sessions and an official friendly with limited subs to take more. If it were two matches it'd be different.

The only sort of player I'd take extra are those at the fringe or young who'd better accept not playing after going to Japan.

Finally, you don't go on a month of league form to say who deserves to go. You base the call on the core, the ones that really matter, then take off those with physical problems, and remember: best thing for off-form strikers is going to the Nats and scoring. Let's get Larin and David back on track with this game.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[Bertuzzi44]

7 hours ago, Shway said:

I think this is the most important.

That "test drive" could come at the Copa America. We need more guys to have international experience, especially considering a lot of our guys will be well past their prime in 26. 

 

I completely understand the thinking behind this, but on the contrary...If Biello is truly trying to win the job he would look at establishing a new core. Hoilett, Borjan, Vitoria, Cavallini shouldn't be considered apart of the core anymore. 

Yes sorry I meant the core you expect for 2026. I just don't want them to bring an experimental or B squad.

[CanadaFan123]

Our core hasn’t been together since June and this will be our first/last preparation before a crucial November window. 
 

I think we can bring in some deserving new faces such as Choiniere and Sirois but the rest will be previously capped/core players.

[trc2014]

https://twitter.com/J_League_En/status/1709447512875204770

[JAVIERF]

It has to be a small squad to take this problem out,  and the new coach ,  probably a southern southamerican,  will shape the squad.  

There is no need to risk the best just an under 23

[JAVIERF]

A dead rubber of a match tbf

[Obinna]

For those who like to see club attachments:

First off, I am happy to see some of those Celtic boys get in there, just for Allistair's sake. That's going to be fun for him. I believe there are 5 Japanese at Celtic, so 3 is a pretty good haul. Kyogo is the main man at Celtic and has a ridiculous goal ratio there. Maeda is like a hybrid wing/forward. Not as prolific as Kyogo but good player. My wife says he looks like he belongs in the Yakuza. Don't know much anout Ueda at Feyenoord, but obviously must be good being with the Dutch camps. Asano despite playing a lot in B2 (now B1) always brings energy and workrate and pops up with goals. 

Won't give thoughts on the rest of the squad right now. Just wanted to touch on the Celtic guys and then figured I would comment on the forwards in general. Oh and Hatate (Celtic midfielder) is actually someone I cannot really comment on as I haven't really watched him or focused on him ever. 

Edit - Asano played much less in B2 than I thought. It was just a single season and with Stuttgart early in his career. I saw he was with Bochum now and got mixed up, since they've yo-yo'd up and down historically. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Obinna
correction

[InglewoodJack]

1 hour ago, JAVIERF said:

It has to be a small squad to take this problem out,  and the new coach ,  probably a southern southamerican,  will shape the squad.  

There is no need to risk the best just an under 23

… what?

[Obinna]

Just now, InglewoodJack said:

… what?

I think he means a sqaud under 23 bodies, not an U-23 squad. 

[InglewoodJack]

3 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I think he means a sqaud under 23 bodies, not an U-23 squad. 

Fair, but my comment still applies to the rest of the post. 

[Obinna]

2 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Fair, but my comment still applies to the rest of the post. 

Yeah, there's a bit I don't understand too. Like the thing about not needing to risk the best. Not sure what that was about. I think he's basically trying to say that we should bring a small squad as we are playing a single match - then he's injecting his SA coach narrative in there.

[dyslexic nam]

I am viewing this match a bit differently than some here.  This is our last and only chance to tune up and get reacquainted before the key NL games that determine our Copa eligibility.   I don’t see this as a chance to experiment with fringe players.  Sure call them into camp if you want. And definitely need to sort out the keeper situation (I would be good with Max getting the nod as I think that transition is probably underway).  But our top guys need a warm up game before the NL matches - and this is it.  We saw the importance of building chemistry during WCQ.  This is a pretty key opportunity to try and lock things down for the upcoming tests.  

[Obinna]

7 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

I am viewing this match a bit differently than some here.  This is our last and only chance to tune up and get reacquainted before the key NL games that determine our Copa eligibility.   I don’t see this as a chance to experiment with fringe players.  Sure call them into camp if you want. And definitely need to sort out the keeper situation (I would be good with Max getting the nod as I think that transition is probably underway).  But our top guys need a warm up game before the NL matches - and this is it.  We saw the importance of building chemistry during WCQ.  This is a pretty key opportunity to try and lock things down for the upcoming tests.  

I feel like we are going to do just that - bring our top guys with little-to-no experimentation. However, I do expect there to be a couple of changes at the fringes of the roster, which I wouldn't call experimentation per se.

Choniere and Ahmed are two names that jump to mind. Choinere has been in camp before, but is uncapped. Ahmed has 4 caps now, but neither he or Choinere have been with the best selection yet - I expect that to change for at least one of them.

Corbeanu is another change I am expecting or at least hoping for. Again, it'd be a change at the fringe of the roster and not really an experiment. So two or maybe three fresh faces, but not necessarily new or experimental. That's how I see it. We do need to prepare for NL. 

Edit - and since I am the one who brought up the CBs, let me add Bombito and maybe McGraw in the same vein as Choniere/Ahmed/Corbeanu. If we get those 3, plus Bombito and McGraw, then maybe Sirois for Borjan, that's probably the maximum number of changes. Who drops out from our traditional best selection? Borjan, Hoilett, Vitoria, Kaye, Hutchinson, maybe Piette or Osorio.

The core of the team would remain intact. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Obinna

[InglewoodJack]

I think we should bring our best possible squad of course, but I think some "experimentation" is needed to get that best squad. I think guys like Borjan and Hoilett should be cycled out and guys like Choiniere, Ahmed, Sirois, Corbeanu should be brought in, Millar too. I'm not against seeing Saliba come to camp too, and what a story it would be if he has a great game against Japan, but I think winning this game is more important than giving a shot to a new player unless the intention is for that player to immediately become a part of our core team.

[trc2014]

People are really gearing up to be disappointed by this roster.  It will be small (to save costs) and have all of the standard players European based vets (Borjan, Vitoria, etc.).  The big change in my view will be someone like Ugbo over Cav.  Ugbo likely not deserving, but this will satisfy AGR.

[Unnamed Trialist]

28 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

People are really gearing up to be disappointed by this roster.  It will be small (to save costs) and have all of the standard players European based vets (Borjan, Vitoria, etc.).  The big change in my view will be someone like Ugbo over Cav.  Ugbo likely not deserving, but this will satisfy AGR.

The only issue is that in terms of travel, and respecting the international window, Cavallini is easier. That may condition a few of the callups.

[Fullback]

1 hour ago, dyslexic nam said:

I am viewing this match a bit differently than some here.  This is our last and only chance to tune up and get reacquainted before the key NL games that determine our Copa eligibility.   I don’t see this as a chance to experiment with fringe players.  Sure call them into camp if you want. And definitely need to sort out the keeper situation (I would be good with Max getting the nod as I think that transition is probably underway).  But our top guys need a warm up game before the NL matches - and this is it.  We saw the importance of building chemistry during WCQ.  This is a pretty key opportunity to try and lock things down for the upcoming tests.  

Yeah I agree. The time for a bit of a retool is after Copa America. We should be bringing in the best teams we can at the moment.

[El Diego]

Takefusa Kubo has quickly become one of my favourite players to watch, really talented player

[Kadenge]

Anyone else think  the team looked flat in the 2 NL games vs Panama & US?  And I don't think it was just a lack of prep. Does Biello roll out the  same squad & tactics and expect a different outcome? He certainly is very familiar with the current  group of players. He's now interim head coach. Gotta think he tweaks things a bit otherwise it's just the Herdman show on replay?

[Unnamed Trialist]

27 minutes ago, El Diego said:

Takefusa Kubo has quickly become one of my favourite players to watch, really talented player

Great talent. And boy la Real is playing well, really exciting what they could do in Europe this year.

[Obinna]

15 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

Anyone else think  the team looked flat in the 2 NL games vs Panama & US?  And I don't think it was just a lack of prep. Does Biello roll out the  same squad & tactics and expect a different outcome? He certainly is very familiar with the current  group of players. He's now interim head coach. Gotta think he tweaks things a bit otherwise it's just the Herdman show on replay?

I don't know....yes and no I guess.

Against Panama we weren't at our peak, but we got the job done and it was a relatively comfortable 2-0 victory to get to the final and we started our best player from the bench. 

Against the USA we just came up against a team that was more talented and more hungry. They rode the Mexican wave into the final after crushing them 3-0 and were boosted by the committment of Balogun, the so-called missing piece for their program. Yeah I guess we looked flat relatively speaking but when I think about what we were up against I kind of shrug my shoulders. It was just too big a mountain this time around. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Obinna