Jamaica turned out to be a cakewalk today, but who cares, they did it! Add Davies to this squad and it's even better. A healthy Canada next winter is a tough Pot 3/4 team.
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Canadian Soccer
- Thread starter RedDevilCanuck
- Start date
Destroyed jamaica. Should have been 6-0.
I watched at a family party so couldn't watch closely but we dominated a poor side that were freezing cold!
Buchanan terrorized them.
Atiba deserves this.
Best atmosphere at Bmo field I've heard. Rocking for 90 mins. Fans staying on a freezing Sunday to watch the celebration was amazing.
Totally deserved and a long time coming.
I watched at a family party so couldn't watch closely but we dominated a poor side that were freezing cold!
Buchanan terrorized them.
Atiba deserves this.
Best atmosphere at Bmo field I've heard. Rocking for 90 mins. Fans staying on a freezing Sunday to watch the celebration was amazing.
Totally deserved and a long time coming.
Nice. 
Unfortunately, the ballots have already occurred, and there was also a general sale that was also completed. I don't think there are any more tickets remaining unless you want to purchase the group-stage tickets in the accessibility sections.
Congratulations. I did follow the score on this one. I have a soft spot for you guys and look forward to see what you can do
Congrats guys, how far do you guys think you can go in Qatar?
I have never wished for a foreign team as much as Canada's outside of Spain.
It will interesting to see how thd do in Qatar. The Canadian flank players terrorized the opposition in CONCACAF, even in the five matches without Alphonso Davies.
BMO Field was insane yesterday. That was probably the best atmosphere we ever had. So many tears were shed yesterday. Even when I think about it, now, I start to tear up a bit. We're back in the World Cup!
I can't help but respect most of the Pot 3 and 4 teams around us. I think we'll be in a tight battle to get out of the group stages. If we do, I'll be extremely happy. Realistically, depending on the draw, I can see us finishing either 3rd in the group stage or getting knocked out int he Round of 16.
I can't help but respect most of the Pot 3 and 4 teams around us. I think we'll be in a tight battle to get out of the group stages. If we do, I'll be extremely happy. Realistically, depending on the draw, I can see us finishing either 3rd in the group stage or getting knocked out int he Round of 16.
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It's an odd one because i've wondered about people from countries who haven't been in a world cup in decades or even ever as to what expectations should be. Because i'd imagine this is a lot of Canadians first time watching a world cup with your country in it so is there a part of you that would still be proud even if you came bottom of the group?
I hope that didn't come across as condescending as it wasn't intended that way as i think if you get a good group you can certainly get to the knockouts. But surely irregardless of how you get on in Qatar the experience of your first world cup in so long combined with the talent in the squad gives you a lot of hope for the future. And even if you don't get to the knockouts this time you'll go into the next one with more experience plus players like Davies being 4 years older puts you in good stead to go further next time.
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It's an odd one because i've wondered about people from countries who haven't been in a world cup in decades or even ever as to what expectations should be. Because i'd imagine this is a lot of Canadians first time watching a world cup with your country in it so is there a part of you that would still be proud even if you came bottom of the group?
I hope that didn't come across as condescending as it wasn't intended that way as i think if you get a good group you can certainly get to the knockouts. But surely irregardless of how you get on in Qatar the experience of your first world cup in so long combined with the talent in the squad gives you a lot of hope for the future. And even if you don't get to the knockouts this time you'll go into the next one with more experience plus players like Davies being 4 years older puts you in good stead to go further next time.
Great result. They have some gifted player on this team. Will be interested in the draw on Friday. Its funny because Canada's could be part of the reason their group could be considered the group of death. Canada will be a tough out.
It's an odd one because i've wondered about people from countries who haven't been in a world cup in decades or even ever as to what expectations should be. Because i'd imagine this is a lot of Canadians first time watching a world cup with your country in it so is there a part of you that would still be proud even if you came bottom of the group?
I hope that didn't come across as condescending as it wasn't intended that way as i think if you get a good group you can certainly get to the knockouts. But surely irregardless of how you get on in Qatar the experience of your first world cup in so long combined with the talent in the squad gives you a lot of hope for the future. And even if you don't get to the knockouts this time you'll go into the next one with more experience plus players like Davies being 4 years older puts you in good stead to go further next time.
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Personally, I'm just ecstatic that we're back in a World Cup after 36 years. The inexperience is going to be telling for us especially against teams from the other continents. I think the majority of Canadians will be happy that we're in the World Cup, but more expectations will be set depending on our draw.
Personally, I'm just ecstatic that we're back in a World Cup after 36 years. The inexperience is going to be telling for us especially against teams from the other continents. I think the majority of Canadians will be happy that we're in the World Cup, but more expectations will be set depending on our draw.
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Speaking from Bosnia's experience in 2014, I'd say it's similar tbh! Bosnia at the time we had a good team but a tough group (Argentina, Nigeria, Iran) but one if we performed we knew we could get through. As it was, we were unlucky against Nigeria and got knocked out in the 2nd match before having the chance to get a win. Made the 3rd game vs Iran irrelevant even though we won it. Its the sort of game which is appreciated later on but not in the moment because you are still disappointed at going out, but it was our first win so later on you appreciate it more.
With Canada, I feel like we're a similar level to like what Bosnia was then. It all depends on group and a bit of luck. Definitely have the quality to go through, but inexperience/nerves/luck might not pan out as we'd like. We should be competitive at the very least and not fodder, so that makes it more exciting!
With a fully healthy team alongside Alphonso, I think we can finish third in a group. With massive luck and getting Qatar's group, second can happen. We have a legit European-proven striker in David and one of the best left backs in the world along with a pretty solid defence. Borjan has been amazing in net during qualifying too. Ultimately, this is a foundational team that should help set the stage for exponential growth in Canada though; I don't think we will be waiting another 30+ years for the next trip. I live in one of the smallest populated provinces that produces the most NHL hockey players per capita as a province and soccer (sorry) is overtaking hockey as the most played sport by kids here. We are building great indoor facilities for the long winters and the sport is just so much more accessible financially than hockey. The future looks bright!
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As ever with a decent Pot 3 side, it will depend on the quality of your Pot 2 side. If you draw a high-mid one it'll be a struggle, get a mid-low one you've got a chance. Additionally, anyone getting Qatar as their Pot 1 team also has a great chance, barring dodgy reffering.
It sucks that we aren't getting Pot 3, but even then, this was going to be a tough World Cup for us. Honestly, I'm just glad that we've qualified for the 2022 World Cup. Even if we got Pot 3, we'd have had a tough time.
We're basically Wales 2016. Davies is our Bale, David our Ramsey, Eustaqio our Joe Allen and then the rest of the squad ranges from good Championship/lower Prem level players (Adekugbe, Vitoria, Buchanan, Larin) to meh ones (the other CBs and CMs, Hoilett). We probably have a better manager and more pace overall throughout the lineup. So, realistic best rcase scenario is a wild run like that to the quarters (euros smaller tourney) and worst case is we perform okay but don't get through the group with some bad luck.
Being in pot 4 might make things more difficult but love the optimism, get a good group and there's no reason why you can't make it to the knockouts.
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I don't mind Group F. It's tough, but there's a slight chance that we can go through.
I don't mind Group F. It's tough, but there's a slight chance that we can go through.
Belgium obviously will probably walk the group but I can honestly see an upset against Croatia. Morocco have their own threats with Hakim and can probably do the same, but Croatia really just don't have the same quality that they had in 2018 and I think we have the perfect shot at making an upset to finish 2nd. Its not an impossible or deluded scenario IMO, though admittedly Croatia is favourites. But there's enough to have hope.
Round of 16 max though, it would be Germany or Spain in the next round... So yeah.
My initial feeling was that it could have been worse! A lot will depend on whether the key players for Canada and Croatia are healthy come tournament time. I'd be ecstatic with four points from the group stage.
Davies played the full 90 minutes and looked quite sharp for the whole match. I was thinking that he looked pretty good, overall. This, however, scares me:
Hopefully it's just some extra fatigue and not anything worse.
EDIT: Apparently he got a knock on the head towards the end of the match. That might explain his condition.
Hopefully it's just some extra fatigue and not anything worse.
EDIT: Apparently he got a knock on the head towards the end of the match. That might explain his condition.
Our squad for the upcoming window just dropped.
Notable exclusions:
I really like this squad. I wasn't expecting it to be this strong, but I'm looking forward to seeing how they'll handle themselves against Iran and in the Nations League.
The Luca Koleosho call-up is great, too. He's a 17-year-old Canadian-American dual national who's been in the fringes of the Espanyol squad. He's a winger who started off at La Masia before just starting to establish himself in Espanyol's first-team squad. I'm happy to see Brym get called up, too. He's been playing well for FC Eindhoven in the Dutch second division.
Notable exclusions:
- Richlord Ennin (forward for Nizhy Novgorod)
- Derek Cornelius (defender for Vancouver Whitecaps on loan to Panetolikos in Greece)
- Liam Fraser (midfielder for Deinze)
I really like this squad. I wasn't expecting it to be this strong, but I'm looking forward to seeing how they'll handle themselves against Iran and in the Nations League.
The Luca Koleosho call-up is great, too. He's a 17-year-old Canadian-American dual national who's been in the fringes of the Espanyol squad. He's a winger who started off at La Masia before just starting to establish himself in Espanyol's first-team squad. I'm happy to see Brym get called up, too. He's been playing well for FC Eindhoven in the Dutch second division.
I want to see Adekugbe in a back 3 on the left, as I think on paper our strongest starting lineup is probably this:
----------------David---------Larin/Ugbo------
------------------------Osorio----------------------
Davies----Eustaqio---CM-----Buchanan
-----Adekugbe-Vitoria-Johnston---------
-----------------------Borjan------------------------
and obviously Eustaqio's partner is a massive question mark as always, but 3 at the back might help Hutchison. And long-term, David as the 10 over Osorio and playing 2 forwards in this formation might be the best use of our squad considering how top heavy it is.
Why is Kone not in the squad?
----------------David---------Larin/Ugbo------
------------------------Osorio----------------------
Davies----Eustaqio---CM-----Buchanan
-----Adekugbe-Vitoria-Johnston---------
-----------------------Borjan------------------------
and obviously Eustaqio's partner is a massive question mark as always, but 3 at the back might help Hutchison. And long-term, David as the 10 over Osorio and playing 2 forwards in this formation might be the best use of our squad considering how top heavy it is.
Why is Kone not in the squad?
He's not injured, so I presume that Herdman wasn't keen enough on him this time around. I think he's a good fit in this national team, but I think our midfield would still be fine without him.
As much as I like Adekugbe's defending, I don't know how good he'll be at defending crosses into the box. That's been our biggest weakness especially when we have Kamal Miller in as the left centre back. Scott Kennedy has to play at LCB as I find him to be our best defender in this squad based on his recent national team performances.
Yeah, we could play Adekugbe at LWB and use Davies further up the field. Probably likely against Croatia and Belgium since they'll have more of the ball.
But long-term, feels like the path for us forward will be Davies and Buchanan as scary wingbacks and a Conte at Inter style team where the central players are tasked with defending and there's an extra one of them in defence, Eustaqio as the Brozovic type and David creating alongside a more traditional forward.
Haven't seen mucho of Kennedy, but he looked good last time around. Good to see us having 2 okay left-sided CBs with 5 or 6 prime years left in him and Miller since presumably the odds of a right-footed CB developing out of nowhere.
It's hard to find information about guys like Justin Smith at Nice. Guess the under 20 tournament in 3 weeks will be what I base everything on.
We're so short at RCB and CM that I'm more excited about players at those spots. I feel great to very good about Davies, David, , Buchanan, Eustaqio, Larin/Ugbo and Adekugbe for this WC and the next cycle, and we know guys like Osorio, Johnston, Miller/Kennedy and Laryea should be okay, and apparently St. Clair has been fantastic in the MLS this year, but those 2 holes really stand out to me, as I've never been convinced by Kaye and Vitoria is just so old. Kills me to watch Cristante and Tomori play elsewhere when they'd walk into our XI and it would look really strong everywhere but maybe LCB, RB and #10, and we do have players who can do a job in those areas as mentioned above.
It's unfortunate that this happened so late, but after much external pressure, I guess this was to be expected. Hopefully the CSA can find a new team to play a friendly against soon though I doubt we'd find a decent opponent.
For those of you who aren't aware, Canada cancelled the June 5 friendly again, this time against Panama, because they're protesting against the CSA over recent negotiations on the World Cup money distribution.
The players' statement:
In response to this, Nick Bontis (CSA president) and Earl Cochrane (CSA Deputy General Secretary) held an explosive press conference where they highlighted that they wouldn't be able to afford the men's terms (even if every other soccer program ceased to exist besides the men's and women's senior teams), and that he'll ensure that the women are paid the same as the men.
Overall, this situation looks bad. As of now, there hasn't been any progress, and the CONCACAF Nations League match against Curaçao is now at risk.
The players' statement:
In response to this, Nick Bontis (CSA president) and Earl Cochrane (CSA Deputy General Secretary) held an explosive press conference where they highlighted that they wouldn't be able to afford the men's terms (even if every other soccer program ceased to exist besides the men's and women's senior teams), and that he'll ensure that the women are paid the same as the men.
Overall, this situation looks bad. As of now, there hasn't been any progress, and the CONCACAF Nations League match against Curaçao is now at risk.
It's official!
Edmonton was one of final candidates, but they didn't get picked in the end. I wish Edmonton got picked, too, especially since they hosted past FIFA events (like the Women's World Cup), but I'm excited about Toronto hosting the World Cup for the first time.
Edmonton was one of final candidates, but they didn't get picked in the end. I wish Edmonton got picked, too, especially since they hosted past FIFA events (like the Women's World Cup), but I'm excited about Toronto hosting the World Cup for the first time.
Toronto seems like a good place to watch some football.
Living fairly close to Edmonton, I’m bummed that it wasn’t selected, but if it’s a response by FIFA to the clown Jason Kenney, then I’m happy.
After what happened in the recent international window, this is quite exciting! I think it's most likely going to be Uruguay assuming that the European nations will be playing out their Nations League fixtures.
It's official. We got a couple of solid opponents for the next international window!
Wonder what tickets will be like for these or if they'll just play them behind closed doors. I'll probably pop over to Vienna for them if its open to fans.
We Canadians can be found everywhere. It would be madness to play behind closed doors.
The men's national team players have finally formed their own union!
Hopefully this moves them forward to a new CBA that'll satisfy the World Cup payments issue + addresses their concerns with Canada Soccer's finances and structure.
Hopefully this moves them forward to a new CBA that'll satisfy the World Cup payments issue + addresses their concerns with Canada Soccer's finances and structure.
Nice!
To be honest, to draw this into a wider context (sorry) - I'm actually not too concerned about the football players (and then more the women than the men). But there is a pretty wide-spread anti-union attitude in North America, and I think that's a great pity and a loss to especially non-office workers. It's turning around a bit currently, and I'm hoping this sort of highly visible unionization work will help with that change.
Although some people might also say it's a selfish move by entitled people that were rich enough already, but anyway!
If they say that, then they need to see the salaries of a bunch of our lower-end Canadian players, most of whom make less than a tenth of their high-level teammates.Nice!
To be honest, to draw this into a wider context (sorry) - I'm actually not too concerned about the football players (and then more the women than the men). But there is a pretty wide-spread anti-union attitude in North America, and I think that's a great pity and a loss to especially non-office workers. It's turning around a bit currently, and I'm hoping this sort of highly visible unionization work will help with that change.
Although some people might also say it's a selfish move by entitled people that were rich enough already, but anyway!