costarg

It's utterly heart breaking, one of my first reflects when checking Montreal's line-up is to look for Ballou and see if he's in the 18 and the odds that he'll make it on the field. I'm gutted every time he doesn't make it. This guy went to Barca, he had Drogba as a close friend and mentor, was the MOTM vs Roma at like 17? We had glimpses of a man playing vs children when he was a child playing vs men. He just has too much talent to let this happen to him. Ballou and Davies are literal opposites in trajectory, paths and work ethic.

On paper, based on talent and every simulation, we qualify for Qatar. The only obstacles in our way are potato fields, no VAR, brown envelopes/corrupt refs and of course your classic CONCACAF shit (piss bags, spitting, etc....) Every team that is scouting us knows we struggle on bad fields and not letting the game develop a good flow. That's been our main weakness. We can expect the worst for the next games in Central America.

You called it!

The guy was soo tired of getting burned, he wanted to throw is body across so Davies couldn't blow past him and steal the ball like he did a few times prior. The pathetic part is trying to make it look like he was fouled.

Starting to wonder what is really more difficult between playing away to the US and Mexico vs El Salvador, Panama, etc..... I see different challenges. On one hand you're playing vs really solid teams, on the other you're playing scrappy & talented teams with little to lose, at home, with hostile crowds, mediocre refs, sans VAR. Playing in the US is not thaaat intimidating, it's a tough challenge, but the fans won't necessarily be intimidating. If you remove the altitude, playing in Mexico is almost just as hard for El Tri, considering how tough their own fans are on them. Am I the only one not overly confident? We already have a hunch the obvious PK's and reds won't be given. We can beat them at soccer, but CONCACAF is a whole different type of game. I feel I might be less intimidated playing an 18-25 ELO rated team at the WC in fair conditions than some of CONCACAF. Not having VAR helps the 5th to 8th positioned teams, the ones with nothing to lose, I feel this is a massive disadvantage to us. It's in their interest not to install the technology required. Am I making too much of this?

She's a keeper.

Yes. I have been for a little while. He's ambitious, and that's great, but also means he wants bigger challenges. Mind you taking Canada to the semi-finals in Qatar sounds like a pretty amazing challenge, so who knows!

Must've been a Canadian expat, thats what happens when you diss a CANMNT call up.

We like Borjan for his massive saves, but we can't penalize Crepeau for one gaffe. If we're picking our keeper based on the errors they make, Borjan drops to 3 or 4, he's made some huge mistakes for us.

Little over 13 hours later, two of the key points that stand out for me are: we went toe to toe vs the CONCACAF powerhouse in back to back games, and could've won either one or even both with a few different bounces. Everyone from players to coach were all-in, there was no effort to play it safe, they're all on the same wavelength. Some guys didn't play as well as they could have, but they weren't intimidated. 2- the frustration the Mexican players showed. They wanted to beat and intimidate us on the pitch and with the dark arts, but couldn't.

Fair, but we're still going to Jamaica depleted and pretty tired from playing at altitude. It's only two days rest! I'm not counting chickens just yet.

Thing is they had to play deep, they've got great players (and coach), but you just can't press this Canadian team, we're just too quick and dangerous on the counter.

Come on, tired guys out there, bring on Piette, Shaff & Millar. For Kaye, David and Oso.

Thank you Matt, this guy is a real fan.

Confirmed, yes, watching on onesoccer