CNL Play-In for Copa America: Canada vs Trinidad & Tobago - Saturday, March 23, 2024 - Frisco (greater Dallas), Texas

[Stryker911]

We could also just let both keepers come to camp and let one of them won the job..

[Obinna]

Just for fun while we wait for the match to come....

Who will get more minutes with their EPL club?

Laryea or LDF?

Discuss.

[blueseeka]

Canada's 57-man preliminary roster for our crucial Copa America qualifier against T&T includes: 

 

**Goalkeepers** 

* Milan Borjan (🇸🇰 Slovan Bratislava)

* Maxime Crépeau (🇺🇸 Portland Timbers)

* Tom McGill (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brighton & Hove Albion)

* James Pantemis (🇺🇸 Portland Timbers)

* Jonathan Sirois (🇨🇦 CF Montreal)

* Dayne St. Clair (🇺🇸 Minnesota United) 

 

**Defenders** 

* Diyaeddine Abzi (🇪🇸 Leganes)

* Sam Adekugbe (🇨🇦 Vancouver Whitecaps)

* Ali Ahmed (🇨🇦 Vancouver Whitecaps)

* Zorhan Bassong (🇺🇸 Sporting Kansas City)

* Moïse Bombito (🇺🇸 Colorado Rapids)

* Derek Cornelius (🇸🇪 Malmo)

* Luc de Fougerolles (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Fulham)

* Raheem Edwards (🇨🇦 CF Montreal)

* Kyle Hiebert (🇺🇸 St. Louis City)

* Alistair Johnston (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Celtic)

* Mark-Anthony Kaye (🇺🇸 New England Revolution)

* Scott Kennedy (🇦🇹 Wolfsberger)

* Jamie Knight-Lebel (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bristol City)

* Richie Laryea (🇨🇦 Toronto FC)

* Lukas MacNaughton (🇺🇸 Nashville SC)

* Zac McGraw (🇺🇸 Portland Timbers)

* Kamal Miller (🇺🇸 Portland Timbers)

* Luca Petrasso (🇮🇹 Triestina)

* Lucas Pos (🇨🇭 Stade Lausanne Ouchy)

* Steven Vitória (🇵🇹 Chaves)

* Joel Waterman (🇨🇦 CF Montreal)

* Dominick Zator (🇵🇱 Korona Kielce) 

 

**Midfielders** 

* Mathieu Choinière (🇨🇦 CF Montreal)

* Simon Colyn (🇳🇱 De Graafschap)

* Alphonso Davies (🇩🇪 Bayern Munich)

* Stephen Eustáquio (🇵🇹 Porto)

* Liam Fraser (🇺🇸 FC Dallas)

* Ismaël Koné (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Watford)

* Victor Loturi (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Ross County)

* Liam Millar (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Preston North End)

* Jonathan Osorio (🇨🇦 Toronto FC)

* Harry Paton (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Motherwell)

* Samuel Piette (🇨🇦 CF Montreal)

* Ralph Priso (🇺🇸 Colorado Rapids)

* Ryan Raposo (🇨🇦 Vancouver Whitecaps)

* Nathan Saliba (🇨🇦 CF Montreal)

* Justin Smith (🇫🇷 Avranches) 

 

**Forwards** 

* Stephen Afrifa (🇺🇸 Sporting Kansas City)

* Theo Bair (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Motherwell)

* Charles-Andreas Brym (🇳🇱 Sparta Rotterdam)

* Tajon Buchanan (🇮🇹 Inter Milan)

* Lucas Cavallini (🇲🇽 Puebla)

* Theo Corbeanu (🇪🇸 Granada)

* Jonathan David (🇫🇷 Lille)

* Junior Hoilett (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Aberdeen)

* Deandre Kerr (🇨🇦 Toronto FC)

* Cyle Larin (🇪🇸 Mallorca)

* Jayden Nelson (🇳🇴 Rosenborg)

* Jacen Russell-Rowe (🇺🇸 Columbus Crew)

* Jacob Shaffelburg (🇺🇸 Nashville SC)

* Iké Ugbo (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Sheffield Wednesday)

 

Copied from this post On Reddit

 

Couple interesting names on there and no Jebbison

Edited February 26 by blueseeka

[narduch]

Lucas Pos is on the list

[blueseeka]

Justin Smith is also a surprise. He has been playing as a CB the entire time with Avranches. And yet here he is listed as a midfielder. Bombito #2

[InglewoodJack]

Good to see Abzi here, guess he’s open to playing for us then. No Farsi though, a bit surprised. Cool to see a couple new names here even if this list doesn’t mean too much right now

[Aird25]

I wish Farsi and Alghamdi were included, but hopefully this group gets things done! 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

25 minutes ago, blueseeka said:

Canada's preliminary roster

Thanks for that layout by position. 👍

The direct link is here:

https://www.concacaf.com/nations-league/news/concacaf-nations-league-play-in-preliminary-rosters-announced/

 

Edited February 26 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Kadenge]

11 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

I wish Farsi and Alghamdi were included, but hopefully this group gets things done! 

Not sure if Canada needs the permission of the player for that list, but I assume Farsi did not agree, given that Abzi is there.  He is definitely a stronger player than some of the other FBs listed.

[El Hombre]

Pretty sure you can conclude that, barring injuries, the first 23 names are who will be called as it goes alphabetical at name #24.  That means LDF is being called but so is Brym.  Maybe that won't hold though if Bair and Ugbo keep up their pace.

[Obinna]

29 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

Pretty sure you can conclude that, barring injuries, the first 23 names are who will be called as it goes alphabetical at name #24.  That means LDF is being called but so is Brym.  Maybe that won't hold though if Bair and Ugbo keep up their pace.

Good observation. 

I actually wonder if it's just a case of entering the names as they come to mind. I mean, if any of us were to make a 57 man roster, we're not going to start with Jamie Knight Label, we'd probably start with the most common names and go from there. 

Assuming that you're right and this is the 23 we are bringing, possible last minute changes aside, the first name that stands out is Jacob Schaffleburg. I love what he's done in Nashville, but is there anything recently he's done to suddenly get himself back into the team? Hasn't been called since the Gold Cup, where he was great, but why now? 

Same could be said about Bombito, I think. He wasn't involved last camp and with MLS just kicking off, it's not as if he's played his way into the team since then. All of this applies to Choniere as well.

Brym is a real favorite for the coaching staff and always has been, so that one is not surprising, plus he's been playing regularly for a good team in the Eredivisie since we last assembled.

So looking back at the last roster, the changes would seem to be:

Brym for Russel Rowe

Schaffleburg for Ahmed

Choniere for MAK

Bombito for.......Piette

EDIT - stripped out the comments about 2 keepers, there are 3 in the first 23...Bombito would be replacing Piette...which kind of makes sense.

Also, curious we stopped at 57. Why not just name 60? I don't get that.

 

Edited February 26 by Obinna
Correction

[Obinna]

The more I think about this the more I think @El Hombre is spot on. I mean, the replacements do make sense.

But it's kind of crazy we wouldn't be calling at least one of Bair or Ugbo, given the goals they've been scoring. It's the type of selection that doesn't win Biello support, let's put it that way. If we need a goal late on, are you seriously putting Brym into the game instead of Ugbo or Bair considering their run of goals? 

[blueseeka]

GK* Borjan, Crepeau, St. Clair

D* Miller, Vitoria, LDF, Adekugbe, Cornelius, Johnston, Bombito, Laryea

MF* Kone, Eustáquio, Choinière, Davies, Osorio, Millar

FW* Bryn, Hoilett, David, Larin, Shaffelburg,  Buchanan

 

The first 23 they have posted

[kacbru]

8 minutes ago, Obinna said:

The more I think about this the more I think @El Hombre is spot on. I mean, the replacements do make sense.

But it's kind of crazy we wouldn't be calling at least one of Bair or Ugbo, given the goals they've been scoring. It's the type of selection that doesn't win Biello support, let's put it that way. If we need a goal late on, are you seriously putting Brym into the game instead of Ugbo or Bair considering their run of goals? 

You can add Cavallini to that list as well.  Not saying he should be above Brym, Bair or Ugbo, but that he would have been in that conversation.

[kacbru]

49 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

Pretty sure you can conclude that, barring injuries, the first 23 names are who will be called as it goes alphabetical at name #24.  That means LDF is being called but so is Brym.  Maybe that won't hold though if Bair and Ugbo keep up their pace.

Not exactly alphabetical - Afrifa is before Abizi, Loturi is before Kaye.  Although that could simply be down to CSA incompetence...

[Corazon]

50 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

Pretty sure you can conclude that, barring injuries, the first 23 names are who will be called as it goes alphabetical at name #24.  That means LDF is being called but so is Brym.  Maybe that won't hold though if Bair and Ugbo keep up their pace.

 

14 minutes ago, Obinna said:

The more I think about this the more I think @El Hombre is spot on. I mean, the replacements do make sense.

But it's kind of crazy we wouldn't be calling at least one of Bair or Ugbo, given the goals they've been scoring. It's the type of selection that doesn't win Biello support, let's put it that way. If we need a goal late on, are you seriously putting Brym into the game instead of Ugbo or Bair considering their run of goals? 

Originally, I thought it was maybe the players that were called in for the games against Jamaica but there are differences so maybe there is something there. 

If true, that would mean that Piette, Ahmed, JRR, Cavallini & Kaye would be dropped for Bombito, Choiniere, Brym & Shaffelburg.

Edited February 26 by Corazon

[blueseeka]

1 minute ago, blueseeka said:

GK* Borjan, Crepeau, St. Clair

D* Miller, Vitoria, LDF, Adekugbe, Cornelius, Johnston, Bombito, Laryea

MF* Kone, Eustáquio, Choinière, Davies, Osorio, Millar

FW* Bryn, Hoilett, David, Larin, Shaffelburg,  Buchanan

 

The first 23 they have posted

I think the ones on the fence would be Bombito, Choinière, Shaffelburg and Brym

[InglewoodJack]

58 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

Pretty sure you can conclude that, barring injuries, the first 23 names are who will be called as it goes alphabetical at name #24.  That means LDF is being called but so is Brym.  Maybe that won't hold though if Bair and Ugbo keep up their pace.

I think they list the first 24 players by their last jersey number- DSC is #1, AJ is #2, so on so forth. That said, Piette is listed lower, so you may be right. If you are right, I can’t think of any obvious names in that first 24 that shouldn’t be there. Maybe Brym and Bombito for Bair and Ugbo or something, but I assume those first 24 names are pretty close to who we will call in, if it’s not just straight up that list.

 

edit: I see this has already been considered. Maybe that just is the lineup. Anyone know enough about the other teams to know if those are realistic call up lists?

 

Edit2: JRR’s middle name is Rex? So he’s actually JRRR?

Edited February 26 by InglewoodJack

[Obinna]

Really speculating here, but maybe Biello is re-considering his choice last time to call the vets last time and thus drops Piette and MAK for Bombito and Choniere, thinking we need to get younger.

He wouldn't be wrong, but I hope he doesn't think this would actually be a transition, and I don't want to hear him say it is, because it isn't. 

For starters, Choniere should have always been there before MAK. Plain and simple. He's not even a young player, he is 25 and in his prime. Should have a dozen caps by now.

And Piette is still only 29, not the player we need to be moving away from if that's the name of the game. Not now anyways. He's exactly the kind of destroyer who'd come in handy for a game like this.

I would be very nervous putting Bombito into the match as a DM instead, with Copa America on the line. Bombito has a good ceiling and I don't mind bringing him to the Copa America instead of Piette, but we have to get there first.

 

[Ansem]

no Pos??

[Obinna]

7 minutes ago, Corazon said:

 

Originally, I thought it was maybe the players that were called in for the games against Jamaica but there are differences so maybe there is something there. 

If true, that would mean that Piette, Ahmed, JRR, Cavallini & Kaye would be dropped for Bombito, Choiniere, Brym & Shaffelburg.

Cavallini wasn't part of the last squad but I know what you mean as he was an original call up with JRR his replacement. 

[El Diego]

I dunno, the same thing happened with the Gold Cup preliminary squad -- 23 logical names first and the rest alphabetically, but the 23 names listed first were not the squad. Nine players (Johnston, Kone, Buchanan, Atiba, Kaye, Cornelius, Larin, Davies, and David) listed in the first 23 were not named to the initial squad.

Obviously there's some reasoning for why the prelim list is the way it is, but I don't think we can automatically conclude that the first 23 are the actual call ups. That being said, maybe the first 23 names are the first 23 players invited and the nine I mentioned above rejected the Gold Cup.

[Obinna]

5 minutes ago, Ansem said:

no Pos??

Naw

[Dominic94]

I am pretty sure someone has said that players have to agree to be named to preliminary lists.

[Bigandy]

Top 23 listed 

GK 3 - Borjan DSC Creapue 

DF - Johnston Layrea Adekugbe Davies Miller Vitoria Cornelius LDF 

MF -  Staq Kone Choiniere Oso Bombito 

FW - Millar david larin hoiller shaf Brym buchanan

This points to a 4-4-2 IMO. 

All of these guys are guaranteed call ups minus bombito, choiniere, brym and shaf. 

At CDM we have bombito, fraser, MAK, Piette, Saliba, Smith, priso, loture  all fighting for a spot. Piette and bombito are above the rest. I can see going with bombito to close out a tight game in the dying minutes so can see a strategy there (I wouldnt pick bombito if 

At CM we have choiniere, ali, paton (injured), and the guys above. Its a toss up between choiniere and ali but ali is injured so makes sense to go with choiniere

At winger we have shaf, nelson, corbeanu. shaf is a strange pick but corbeanu isnt playing regularly yet. Nelson is out of season, so based on minutes played, shaf gets the call. He could also be a really good counter attacking option if we start getting pushed deep in the final minutes. 

Brym - the most debatable selection. JRR and kerr are a level below ugbo and bair. At this point its a toss up between form vs level of competition. I personally would go with ugbo but can see brym in the 23 man squad. 

I think el hombre is right the first 23 is the likely squad at this moment.