Shortdutchcanuck

Clearly he monitors this site and took some motivation out of the dismissiveness of some of the earlier posts. Seriously though, injuries happen, strikers go in and out of form, and David is better as a AM or secondary withdrawn forward. 2 out and out target forwards (Cava and Larin) is not enough depth to be dismissive of any prospect. I don't love Akinola but he has some interesting qualities for a kid of his physical strength.

https://www.transfermarkt.us/gents-thorup-quot-david-has-everything-to-become-a-star-in-world-football-quot-/amp/news/365136?id=365136&__twitter_impression=true Transfermarkt piece linked by Manuel Veth on Twitter. Great article on Gent's Danish head coach Jess Thorup (who once led Midtjylland to a league title). Most of it related to his coaching philosophy (attacking attractive soccer that his players enjoy playing but also a model based very much on relationships built with players), and his thoughts on modern soccer and the Jupiler League (says quality is great and intensity higher than in Denmark) but some good stuff on David: "As his coach I am selfish, I want him to stay for another season," Thorup said. "As a neutral spectator, I have to say the boy belongs in a top league. He has everything to become a star in world football, not just as an athlete but also because of his personality. Some players would flip out after a season like his, but he has stayed with both feed on the ground. He could be arrogant and say I am the king of Gent, but instead, he is pushing his teammates. David never focuses on his success, but the success of his team—to have such a mindset as a 20-year-old earns my respect. " I have to say, having 2 young stars with not only the talent but also the work ethic, attitude, and humility of Davies and David is phenomenal. As they grow into leadership roles that sense of doing whatever is best for the team will rub off on everyone who takes the field with them

6'0" 180 lb CB from Windsor, class of 2002, on loan from Whitecaps to Atletico Ottawa. Didn't see a thread on this young man and figured we will be talking a lot about him in coming years. One of our most important prospects outside of Davies and David, especially given our need for someone to step up at the position. Every comment I have ever seen about him has been overwhelmingly positive. Played every minute of CONCACAF u17s and u17 World Cup. Scored the deciding penalty against Costa Rica to get us to World Cup. Described variously as a tough defender, good on the ball, and very much mature beyond his years.

Dug this exchange up as I remembered a couple weeks ago BC based German and Transfrmarket soccer writer Manuel Veth had tipped Bair (and possibly Campbell) as his pick for a European and possibly even Bundesliga move down the road

https://theprovince.com/sports/soccer/international-soccer/an-untapped-forgotten-market-canada-experiencing-a-gold-rush-on-players-by-foreign-leagues/amp?__twitter_impression=true Some interesting comments on changing attitudes in Europe toward CONCACAF and particularly Canada as a potential untapped source for prospects

I have no idea how Pepple fared in that camp. Maybe he got just outplayed or maybe he got snubbed, who knows. But I don't th think kids in CanPL should always be given precedence over their academy counterparts any more than MLS academy players should be given precedence over CanPL kids. Just keep an open mind, hold more camps, and pick the best players. We've seen young players succeed out of all kinds of backgrounds, and young players fail from all kinds of backgrounds, even big European academies.

Greatest sport on earth does not equal perfect sport. Every sport evolves with time and needs to be tweaked here and there. Classic CONCACAF time-wasting and fake injuries for example can sometimes turn the last 10 to 15 minutes of a game into a farce. In those cases referees need to keep adding time, in fact err on adding more time than the injuries waste. And to call something an imaginary issue when most of the passionate soccer fans I know want diving curtailed takes quite the impressive leap in logic. You seem to imply that those of us who despise diving in the game feel that way because we are worried about casual fans. In fact we are just soccer fans for whom it sometimes takes away significantly from our enjoyment of the sport. The CanPL went overboard on allowing a rougher game, directing their referees in such a way to in many cases ignore clear foul calls. I agree they went too far (though skill players like Borges were still able to flourish, and fans in my area of Tim Hortons Field loved the hard tackling except in those clear cases where fouls were just blatantly ignored). Probably they will reel things back this year to find the right balance of physicality with protection of skill players. The way to cut out diving is not to ignore fouls but to more consistently hand out yellow cards for diving, and to allow retroactive cards where the ref is unable to catch diving in the flow of the game. There will always be players who go down easy to make a point to the ref they are being manhandled. Within reason this can allow skill players more space to display those skills. But players trying to bait referees to get solid defenders sent off should be punished severely.

Ried upset yet again yesterday on top of the Austrian 2. Liga. Another opportunity for Scott Kennedy and SK Austria Klagenfurt to take sole possession of 1st place and promotion spot with a win tomorrow. Facing a tough opponent in 4th place Vorwaerts Steyr thougn.

On the bench for Spezia today in Serie B actoion in a 3-1 win over Chievo Verona. Spezia currently 3rd in Serie B 1 point out of an automatic promotion spot. No starts in Serie B so far for Axel Quote Edit

Keeper Axel Desjardins on the bench for Spezia in Serie B in a 3-1 win over Chievo Verona. Spezia currently 3rd in Serie B 1 point out of an automatic promotion spot

Reyna might be joining Pulisic soon enough. Has gotten some great reviews at Dortmund at 17

When in a developing soccer nation like Canada you have the luck of what will probably become Canada's 2 greatest players born in the same year and breaking out so young it seems almost crazy to ask for another superstar. It would be spectacular but unlikely. Davies' crazy athleticism and work ethic plus David's natural scoring instincts and work ethic make us forget despite CanPL we still don't have great systems in place for developing elite players. Improving in that sense but still a long way to go. Superstar or no superstar though we are in good shape. If Eustaquio as mentioned above can move to a bigger club and provide a tidier, more creative version of Piette as DM. If Kaye can move to Europe and continue to hone his box to box play. If Jayden Nelson can develop into a version of DeGuzman with more offensive talent. If Bair or Ongaro or Perruzza can develop into a slightly more consistent version of Cavallini. If Okello can turn into a bigger stronger version of Hutch. If Facchineri or Yao or Dunn can develop into a physical, comfortable on the ball defender, what we once thought Henry could be, even in the Championship or Bundesliga II or Serie B. If Habibullah can mimic Hoillett with a little more ability to take his man one on one. If Millar finds his way as a starting winger anywhere in the top 5 leagues. If Fraser moves, again, even to a top 2nd tier league, perfecting his combination of physical play with ball-spraying distribution. If Rutty or Nelson or Mitrovic or Raposo or Borges can provide us with a tricky attacking midfielder to play complement David in certain situations in the midfield. If Brault-Guillard can turn into an MLS all-star and ultimately move back to Ligue 1 as another talented wingback. So many ifs, but when you have 2 stars of the quality Davies and David can become, a team of solid highly talented but not superstar players around them in the right roles could still be a hell of a team.

Automatic berths for Curacao and Suriname, Sint Maarten and Aruba play off for the third

In basketball circles they always talk about both the Steve Nash effect and the Vince Carter effect on inspiring our current crop of talent. I guarantee you there are young kids out there who will see the success of Davies and David and either choose soccer over other sports or grow up with the belief they too can become a superstar in a sport that when I was their age I grew up thinking Canadians couldn't compete in

Saying the Americans in the Bundesliga aren't game breakers isn't the same as saying they don't belong. I'll give you BGS (big ginger striker) but Reyna is forcing his way into Dortmund minutes at 17, Adams and McKennie are both solid Bundesliga-level players, and a number of the older Americans like Johnson, Chandler, and Brooks have had very solid careers there. John Brooks was excellent against us in that 4-1 return loss in Florida. Obviously the dual citizens from the military presence there make a huge difference. Our 1 Bundesliga player (possibly soon 2) is obviously a cut above any of theirs, but we need a lot more of our national team playing at this level. I'd agree Americans get more opportunities abroad than Canadians, but hopefully that will change with Davies and David opening eyes in Europe and CanPL rolling. Would also be helpful if Canadian MLS teams were more proactive in selling and loaning young players. There was reportedly solid interest for Okello in Germany, who knows what the details were but TFC refused to bite on the offer.

I don't disagree as a CMNT fan. But as a Forge fan the ideal outcome would have been local kid signs with Forge FC, wins solid PT and shows flashes of brilliance year 1, replaces Borges as focal point of offense in year 2 while leading us to consecutive championships, and then is transferred on for a hefty fee to Serbia or Belgium or Bayern Munich immediately following 😁 Either way happy he is finding early success and hoping he throws his lot in with Canada despite being overlooked here early on

Should have been a Forge signing IMO and as good as Smyrniotis has been this is an example of him being too focused on his Sigma players. Mitrovic is a local Hamilton boy, his talent was known in the area even before the trials, and I mentioned his name to the club when they send out the first poll to fans before signings were even being announced

Trending on Twitter again as he often is now after Bayern games, partly due both to his superhuman speed (some want to see a race between either Davies and Mbappe or Davies and Usain Bolt) and his impact on the game. Arguments among fans of many nationalities about whether he has become the best LB in the world, or just top 5, or possibly still top 10 only due to small sample size.

Langley8 FC it is then.

Fotmob had him listed as injured and day-to-day

Serious question: now that he seems to be on a roll for the Impact is it better for his development to go to Olympic qualifiers or stay with Thierry?

Didn't realize the dude was quite so jacked!

Also when actually seen on players I really like the new Forge jersey. Very distinct look. Wasn't so sure when I just saw the pic of the shirt itself.

Thought I'd throw these into the conversation.

Giving out a 'horrendous' for such an obviously mixed performance is a bit like being a teacher and routinely failing 3/4 of the class. As others have mentioned, he was solid at some points and gave the ball away cheaply under pressure at others, and threw in a few of his signature brilliant tackles. He looked, along with most of the team, to be in preseason form. I agree though that with our depth in the central midfield he can't be considered a surefire starter. He was immense, probably MOTM, in that game in Toronto vs the US, but for many other games either Kaye or Eustaquio might be a better fit at DM (although whether Stephen will regain his pre-injury form remains to be seen).