Obinna

Well said. Unfortunately, I don't think he's even madethe bench since his move, has he?

The thing is, you want the players in Europe to progress in their careers, so they reach their potential. If Dario Zanatta (for example) is on the cusp of finally nailing down a spot at Hearts, it's not wise to interrupt that. Obviously this won't apply to every European based player, but that's the right approach in such situations. We never had this luxury in past cycles, but with so many young players now proving themselves in CPL, players like Dario have less pressure to come play in these type of qualifiers. Now, if he really wants to, then that's his perogative, and great for the U23s, but there are players with similar quality to replace him right here in Canada. Any true stand out player, like David or Davies will be on duty with the senior national team. That probably includes Miller and perhaps Tabla, but some players who have previous senior experience are expendable and can help the U23s. Godinho for example springs to mind. That's the type of European-based player we may see with the Olympic team, I think.

Yeah, with the domestic depth now a days, there's less incentive to pull players away from first team opportunities in Europe.

Beaten again to the updates, well played! As you said, 2-0 final and David did not score. No indication whether he assisted or not.

Beat me to it @Ansem David starts against AZ. Game is at Gent. Not sure where he is lining up today

Game today against Arsenal. Davies is with the team. Hoping he gets a run out and, if so, am very curious to see what position he's put in.

Fair enough on Taider. That's why I have seen him playing there recently then. With injuries, all the more reason to take the chance on a young winger though, no? At the beginning of the season, I questioned them bringing him in, especially at the cost they did, but I never expected him to struggle like this. Like you say, Urruti is working hard and does provide value despite the lack of goals. I am sure you watch the Impact more closely than I, so is it the case of missing chances, not getting chances, or both?

Taider has been playing out wide recently, right? Perhaps this allows for him to move into the middle, where he can have more influence. It could also be seen as insurance in the event Piatti leaves. More quality on the wings could/should generate more chances for Urutti and Jackson-Hamel. Urutti in particular should come good eventually.

This. I'll also add that your point highlights the futility of such calculations to begin with. If we must factor in our past failures over the past 20 years (and I think we should), it's all a little ridiculous, isn't it? Fun as it may be, I wouldn't put much stock in any of these attempts to calculate our odds (though I do appreciate the efforts of those who did attempt these calculations). Either way, FIFA rankings aside, this is a good move for concacaf. Keeps all countries engaged and it's a unique and fresh approach.

I think Langwa (am I spelling that right) has to be up there. Dude has killer speed and is a decent enough footballer. Wasn't he also in the best 11 for Spring season? Can't recall if he plays left back or right back, but either way he's not only a shout out for top young CPL players, but I think needs to be considered for the Olympic team, at least. He's born 1998 iirc.

I think his argument is that Borges could make the bench on merit, which I don't consider unrealistic. Do you want a struggling Ballou Tabla coming off the bench, or an in-form Borges? It's kind of a toss up, perhaps. I'm still on team Tabla, but if Borges continues to crush the CPL come October and Ballou is struggling for game time somewhere in La Liga 2, I don't think I would complain too much if Borges sneaks onto the team ahead of him.

This is my opinion as well. We really need to do all we can to get into the hex, but failing that, we are facing a group stage we should win, then we have 4 two-legged ties, which leaves some margin for error. It's better than single elimanation, like the GC knockouts. At the end of the day, we should be able to beat everybody until the last 3 ties, where we may face a T&T, a Panama, a Haiti, or possibly a Jamaica. All challenging but nothing insurmountable and over two-legs the cream often rises to the top. I am not too fussed about all that work just to win a 0.25 spot. In the old hex, we realistically would be pegged to finish 4th at best. An intercontinental play-off was likely always in the cards. If we make it through the lower seed process, one thing is for sure, we will have vast experience with two-legged ties at that point. Could be an advantage, actually, not only for the intercontinental, but also matching up against hex 4th. Whoever comes out of the lower tournament is arguably better prepared. I want to get into the hex too, but perhaps we should be careful what we wish for....

I hope Borges earns full international caps before he moves on. It would be good optics for the league to have a Canadian prospect turn international. Borges would arguably represent the best chance of that. There's a part of me that wants to see him transfer directly to Europe, rather than MLS. Just in terms of optics, it would be cool to see the probable golden boot winner get scooped up by a Belgian or Dutch team, for example. If he goes to MLS and doesn't tear it up, it's kinda like meh, okay yet another decent Canadian in Major League Soccer, but if he goes to Gent (just for example) and does "just alright", it's more like, hey look CPL exports can hang in a European league. Just holds more clout, rightly or wrongly.

Ricketts and Borjan squaring off today in the second leg of their UCL qualifier. Everything is all square at 0-0 going into the match. Too bad only 1 of these 2 will advance. Edit: Red Star come out on top 2-1, advancing to the next round. Borjan goes 90 and Ricketts plays the final 15 minutes.

It is indeed 97 and both should he in the conversation.