El Diego

Speaking of all this Jamie Peters talk, you know what made me feel really dumb/old? During the game the commentator said that Nelson became the second youngest scorer for Canada and I thought to myself "Ah yes, 16 year old Jamie Peters is the youngest ever scorer" and then the commentator said "Of course, Alphonso Davies is the youngest scorer..."

I know our CB depth is poor, and I didn't mind Didic in the CPL this season, but I don't think he should be a real option for us moving forward. I saw about 50-60% of the Iceland game total (not consecutive). I would say he was miscast in this match with us having lots of possession and playing high up the pitch. But even taking that into account, he often didn't win where he was supposed to win i.e. aerial duels and protecting the box. I say this reluctantly because as I mentioned, I did not see the entire match and this is purely based on memory from a couple days ago now.

If I had left Canada when I was a teenager to live in Poland, I would likely be saying right now that I don't feel Canadian. I don't know about 0% Canadian, but yeah. I used to identify as Polish-Canadian, now I would say I am a Canadian with Polish heritage. I don't know what changed this, but I think it was just growing up, generally. Being different was 'cool' when I was young, and while I still feel Polish and not Canadian in certain contexts, I wouldn't ever again call myself a Polish-Canadian. National identity is odd in Canada. People say it's great, but not always. I don't remember ever being bullied or made to feel weird about speaking another language or having a bit of an odd name. In fact, I liked the curiosity. But as I grew up I found people making determinations about me, even if they were subconscious/innocuous. I didn't want my identity to be "that Polish guy" because then it's harder for people to view you as "that smart guy, that generous guy, that funny guy" etc. Many times, despite liking the attention of being different, I just wanted to be viewed as normal.

The only thing about Cavallini saying he's not Canadian that would worry me is if it turns into him not playing full tilt for the NT, and under Herdman I strongly believe that if you are not fully committed he would drop you. Cav has had a checkered past with the NT and his commitment to it, and even if he says it's got nothing to do with Canada and that it was personal reasons, I would be lying if I said I wasn't concerned. That being said, no NT player shows more passion for the game than this guy (except maybe another 'non-Canadian' - Scotty Arfield). I would guess Cavallini and Canada are a marriage of convenience of sorts. I think he likes playing internationally and realizes Canada was/is his only option, and at the same time the only way he knows how to play is 100% commitment so even if he doesn't 'feel' Canadian he can't help but give everything to the cause. Last bit: I do think it's pretty tone deaf to say something like that in a presser for your new Canadian team. You don't have to lie but you also don't have to be so blunt (DISCLAIMER: I have not seen the interview nor do I speak Spanish).

Thanks for starting this thread. I've been banging the drum on this kid ever since his first match in the CPL. This is what I wrote about him after the first match day: "Defended solidly with no obvious mistakes, but most impressive with the ball at his feet. Passed forward well, and confidently stepped forward with the ball and into midfield to give his team another dimension in possession. Both he and Dominick Zator will be key for Cavalry in their outside centre back positions." He's a modern centre back. I don't know how he fits with the NT, but he's the type of player you can play progressive styles with. He can play full back and defensive mid but I really like his skill set at centre back.

This sounds right, but keep in mind the following [FIFA Statues 2015, Article 82(1]): "The Executive Committee shall be responsible for issuing regulations for organising international matches and competitions between representative teams and between Leagues, Club and/or scratch teams. No such match or competition shall take place without the prior permission of FIFA, the Confederations and/or the Members in accordance with the Regulations Governing International Matches." El Salvador and Iceland are members playing on another member's (USA's) territory. I think what Obinna may be asking is something like, can these members make money off of a non-FIFA-sanctioned match? I would think that is really why the above rule is in place, frankly -- so that FIFA can charge levies on its members. Of course, two countries can always do whatever they want -- FIFA isn't going to physically stop them. But FIFA gives itself basically unlimited power to do what it wants so you probably don't want to piss them off. EDIT: Thinking about it a bit more, the above Article may also simply exist to ensure that only FIFA is able to sanction official matches, rather than to stop non-official matches. The story seems to be that El Salvador, Iceland, and the USA signed off on this being a tier 1 (or national 'A', whatever you wanna call it) international match, and that El Salvador wants to renege but it's too late so they are asking FIFA to us its power [Ibid., Article 84(2)] to make this a non official match. I'm speculating a lot, of course, but I find this fun. I don't know what FIFA cares about in this situation. It probably just wants money from this match even if it's not really a money spinning tie. The thing is, the host country is the one that does the final accounting of the match, so the US is a player if money is a factor. Perhaps I'm being too dramatic with my analysis, but it's easy to imagine this type of thing to be pretty cloak & dagger.

It's so hard to tell sometimes Anyway I was just thinking that the substitution amount law isn't actually what is relevant, it's whether the match is an actual national 'A' match in the first place.

I don't know who's being tongue in cheek or what not, but the laws are pretty clear on this one: "In national 'A' team matches, a maximum of twelve substitutes may be named of which a maximum of six may be used. In all other matches, a greater number of substitutes may be used provided that: • the teams reach agreement on a maximum number • the referee is informed before the match If the referee is not informed, or if no agreement is reached before the match, each team is allowed a maximum of six substitutes." There is no 'trick' to throwing on a 7th sub to nullify a match. If one did want to do that it would require a dumb level of collusion.

Surely a declaration must be made before the game.

He's also probably the most technical of the three. If I had to pick one to take to the next level I'd pick him.

This got me interested in how his peers did at that level and boy, a lot of goals get scored in the USSDA. Multiple guys at or over a goal a game. I don't mean to say this to disparage Bair, those are still very good numbers, but I think it must be hard to evaluate guys in that league. There are so many teams that the disparity between teams must be great at times. I can't say if Bair has improved dramatically, steadily, etc. as I never watched him in the USSDA (and frankly, I still haven't seen a lot of him). All I can say is that he's improved from the limited observation I have had. Anyway, I didn't want to turn this into a comparison between Bair and Perruzza. I only mentioned Perruzza because that was my only contemporary barometer when I first watched Bair. In any case, they are completely different attackers that developed in different systems and are different ages, so it is kinda silly to compare them in the first place.

My first time watching this guy was at the CONCACAF U-20 tournament in 2018 and he did not impress me. Jordan Perruzza from that team looked like a much better player. But from the times I have seen him for the Whitecaps he looks like a completely different player. I am not sure if that is due to the fact that he developed, my scouting was off, he had a bad week, or if his game translates better to the pros. Now he is ahead of Perruzza (who I still like). I agree there are virtues to playing him on the wing. If he becomes a versatile attacker that can play a number of positions in a number of styles then that would be great.

I've only seen clips of him, but this profile of player always intrigues me. Hope he can snag some meaningful minutes for the Whitecaps. I'm a TFC fan, but I don't hate the other Canadian teams in the way other supporters do (although a lot about the Impact rubs me the wrong way for some reason). I hope all these Canadians at the Whitecaps are successful. I don't necessarily know if or why they are making Canadian talent a priority, but it's definitely interesting.

I quite liked Owundi, but he's an international probably making a decent wage and can be replaced by Edgar so it makes sense that they'd jettison him.

Under promise, over deliver