Honduras-Canada Post-Game Thread

[JamboAl]

I like the 24 hr rule. Otherwise I will say something I will regret. I will leave it at two words right now: "spineless" and "depressed".

[ChrisB]

Does the 24 hr rule keep me from saying that I borderline don't care about 2016 right now?

[sKriSh]

Thank you all for all of the research and effort you have put in over the years, but I truly do not care anymore.

[Soccerpro]

Too bad Ricketts couldn't score on easy chances. Too bad Hainault can't defend. Too bad Hart didn't have the guts to call up and put out a more offensive team. Too bad I didn't get to see Randy Edwini Bonsu like I begged for. It's too bad when you see something that's going to happen but are powerless to stop it.

[lobo]

[SilverSamurai]

I am sure we'll get the " at least there's the Gold Cup" comments pretty soon. The ****ing Gold Cup is the Spengler Cup of football, a poor man's tourney. The sad part is that we have to wait until 2016 for another chance at World Cup.

I said this on the RPB board and I'll say it here, if we can't finish in the final 4 consistently (let alone win it) we're not making the World Cup.These are the teams we have to beat to make it through.

[gator]

I respect all of the guys that pulled on our jersey and tried to help us qualify, it was fun while it lasted! There's lots of blame to go around and I will adhere to the "24 hour rule" but we must move on and turn the page with the coach and all but a handful of the players! If there can be a positive in an 8-1 drubbing it will be that major changes need to be made right now! The same thing happened to Canadian hockey years ago after the Russians came in and kicked our ass and it was a major wake up call and instituted sweeping changes all round! It's up to the CSA to act now!

[BearcatSA]

I can't believe I rushed back to see this! What an absolute sh*tshow!!! No mental toughness, just a total collapse...by the whole team...down 4 nil...after about half an hour, featuring back line "marking" that was horrid, no closing down of opponents and silly giveaways in midfield, and no skill and no clue up top. Everybody grades an F here, coaching staff down (no fu*king "24 hour" rule for this one, IMO).

Once we gave up the first goal, our psyche went down the tube. Excruciating to watch, even with the mute button on as I do. Probably should have had the Benny Hill soundtrack going on in the background.

Considering what was at stake, this one goes into the Dr. Heimlich Hall of Fame. Can't polish this turd, sorry.

[Ivan]

^ What type of player do you think we are missing Bearcat?

Disclaimer: Deleted my PVR so did not watch a minute of the horror show and have not read all the way through this thread.

[The Beaver]

I can't believe I rushed back to see this! What an absolute sh*tshow!!! No mental toughness, just a total collapse...by the whole team...down 4 nil...after about half an hour, featuring back line "marking" that was horrid, no closing down of opponents and silly giveaways in midfield, and no skill and no clue up top. Everybody grades an F here, coaching staff down (no fu*king "24 hour" rule for this one, IMO).

Once we gave up the first goal, our psyche went down the tube. Excruciating to watch, even with the mute button on as I do. Probably should have had the Benny Hill soundtrack going on in the background.

Considering what was at stake, this one goes into the Dr. Heimlich Hall of Fame. Can't polish this turd, sorry.

I think you nailed it: Where was the mental toughness? I wonder if Hart has set up as strong and as effective team as Herdman has. Herdman knew that team psyche was the biggest issue to address. The team had to believe in itself. I would hope that Herdman might play a role as a consultant as the men start to rebuild and find another coach. Mind you, he has a lot to do already.

[Joe Keeper]

Does anyone know how I can contact Dobson, Forrest, Nigel Reed and DeVos via email? I cant find contact for them on the network sites and I dont have twitter.

[Soju]

[BuzzAndSting]

Does anyone know how I can contact Dobson, Forrest, Nigel Reed and DeVos via email? I cant find contact for them on the network sites and I dont have twitter.

DeVos here.

[Vancouver Fan]

I think I felt just as disappointed after the home draw to Honduras in June. That was a huge point for them (Honduras) as we let them leave Toronto knowing that a home win in the return match would make the difference in their salvation. I left feeling that we had just missed a huge opportunity and that, looking ahead, we would need some kind of result in Honduras. That made me extremely nervous and I believe the team also realized that they had created a difficult situation for themselves. A 4 point cushion (in hind sight)heading into the last match is what was required and that meant that we could have lost 28 nil today without a worry. Whoever said that you need to win all of your home games to advance was never more right and going forward that will have to be a must because I don't think we have the mental toughness to overcome the obstacles we face in central america. I hope it is a lesson learned for all involved.

Having said all that, knowing that a draw would have been enough today, I am at a loss as to why we couldn't have been more competitive and caused more trouble for them. Possession was actually even at half and might have even been in our favour by the end. 4 clean sheets in the previous 5 matches gave us cause for some optimism at least. Gone are the days where we lived by the long ball. We learned to play the ball on the ground and could actually complete passes. But no finish,defensive lapses,and no self belief lead to our demise once again.

I don't know where we go from here to be honest. We try to start over once again, learn from our mistakes, and hope that the football gods have pity on us.

[ray]

Having more time the think about it, all the fans' concerns (the heat, dirty tricks of keeping our players awake all night, Hondurans faking injuries, poor officiating, not scoring enough goals against Cuba) didn't matter or would not have mattered. Lack of skill did us in again along with a lack of composure. We could not even hold Honduras off the scoresheet in the first ten minutes.

I thought Stephen Hart was a good choice and the only choice for coach for this WC cycle, but only this cycle. Hart's unwillingness to make substitutions to try to shake something up when the score was 2 or 3 to nil showed his limitations. He provided some time for the CSA to get its house (board) in order, look for the financial resources for a new coach and determine where to go next. Well, I hope they did their homework because time's up. They have to begin the search for a new MNT coach sooner that they hoped.

As down as the fans are on the team, as soon as we get a new man in charge the interest and passion will re-awaken. We hate this feeling of continuing failure but we always get past it.

[loyola]

The players destroyed a lot here.

I've said it back in 2008 when players started talking about Mitchell when were still alive, I've always found this group of players to lack character. What we saw yesterday was directly caused by the players mental weakness.

I'm done with this and I really don'tr care anymore.

I enjoyed this board a lot but now I'm taking a pause because the players (and coaching staff) destroyed everything yesterday.

[kj52]

I respect all of the guys that pulled on our jersey and tried to help us qualify, it was fun while it lasted! There's lots of blame to go around and I will adhere to the "24 hour rule" but we must move on and turn the page with the coach and all but a handful of the players! If there can be a positive in an 8-1 drubbing it will be that major changes need to be made right now! The same thing happened to Canadian hockey years ago after the Russians came in and kicked our ass and it was a major wake up call and instituted sweeping changes all round! It's up to the CSA to act now!

You make a good point about the 72 series. However there is one very major difference - people in Canada actually care about hockey. there are about 350 employees where I work and they represent a pretty wide cross section of Canadians. I'm not sure but I think outside of myself, I doubt if there are half a dozen of them that gave this game 2 seconds thought. Also keep in mind that the CSA is no more or less than the Provincial Associations who are the face of the membership - it's up to each one of us bubba. Get involved!

[dyslexic nam]

Hart's unwillingness to make substitutions to try to shake something up when the score was 2 or 3 to nil showed his limitations.

As much as the players bear a huge (and largely unforgiveable) amount of blame for last night's result, the lack of effort by the coach bothered me just as much. Aside from going with the same losing formation that had us well beaten in Panama, and some questionable decisions regarding the starting 11 (no DeJong, Ricketts as a starting striker), Hart was obviously incapable of making any kind of effective substitutions in an attempt to influence the game. We had Cav on the bench, and his effort and work rate validated the positive pre-game views towards him posted by many V's. Yet Hart left him on the bench until the score was 6-0. With 25 minutes to go. Sure he threw on Hume for ledgerwood at half time, but the score was 4-0 after 32 minutes - things obviously needed to change long before the half. In a situation (at that point) where we needed a minimum of 4 goals to get the result, Hart was still waiting for another 15 minutes before changing things up. Do I think it would have made a made a damn bit of difference? Of course not - not with the way the players collectively bent over and took it in the rear. But action obviously needed to be taken if we had any hope of turning things around, and Hart didn't even try.

[nolando]

The players destroyed a lot here.

I've said it back in 2008 when players started talking about Mitchell when were still alive, I've always found this group of players to lack character. What we saw yesterday was directly caused by the players mental weakness.

I'm done with this and I really don'tr care anymore.

I enjoyed this board a lot but now I'm taking a pause because the players (and coaching staff) destroyed everything yesterday.

Golden generation. Tin legacy.

[gator]

The players destroyed a lot here.

I've said it back in 2008 when players started talking about Mitchell when were still alive, I've always found this group of players to lack character. What we saw yesterday was directly caused by the players mental weakness.

I'm done with this and I really don'tr care anymore.

I enjoyed this board a lot but now I'm taking a pause because the players (and coaching staff) destroyed everything yesterday.

I understand your feelings but there will be many things on here to discuss going forward and I hope after a little reflection you will continue to contribute! We're all a little broken today!

[ensco]

The players destroyed a lot here.

I've said it back in 2008 when players started talking about Mitchell when were still alive, I've always found this group of players to lack character. What we saw yesterday was directly caused by the players mental weakness.

I'm done with this and I really don'tr care anymore.

I enjoyed this board a lot but now I'm taking a pause because the players (and coaching staff) destroyed everything yesterday.

It might be a positive, losing 8-1. Better than losing 2-1. You can't just ignore this. IF this can somehow lead to real reform of the CSA (ie like what happened in Oz), you could make the case that this could be a good thing.

Face it, if we had squeezed into the hex, we would have probably finished last there.

[madmonte]

^ This is true in a way. How can you rebuild before you tear something down, I guess, right?

[argh1]

There is no autopsy

We simply aren;t good enuff... we dreamed we wished BUT

Blame who you want

But as a soccer nation we ain't there yet

[BearcatSA]

^ What type of player do you think we are missing Bearcat?

Based on yesterday, your question should be "types" of "players."

Ivan, I (masochistically) rewatched the first 35 minutes of this match when it went to 0 - 4 and when you look over the goals surrendered, in glaring fashion they obviously highlight some pretty ugly play by one or two specific players, but the buildup sequences had daisy chains of errors involving groups of players. That second goal was a killer and a classic Honduran special: midfield turnover, players caught out, swift counterattack, shot, rebound, goal. The cherry on the top of this sh*t sundae was the third, which looked laughably (if I wasn't crying already) awful to concede.

Edited October 18, 2012 by BearcatSA

[BearcatSA]

Everybody grades an F here, coaching staff down (no fu*king "24 hour" rule for this one, IMO).

It's been 72+ hours and I still feel the same way.

At least Hart has fallen on his sword.