General Discussion on CMNT

[Ally McCoist]

2 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Some quick research tells me Edwin Espinal is a dual-national. Born and raised in the Vancouver area but both parents are from Honduras and his father is a big Honduran NT fan.

This reeks of future Marcelo Flores scenario.

[VinceA]

Re-watching Ted Lasso has me wondering, where would Thierry Zoreaux be on our GK depth chart? Starter for a promoted Championship club and probably will be the starter for Richmond in the Premier League. I figure he'd be at worst #2 right?

 

[Colonel Green]

55 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Re-watching Ted Lasso has me wondering, where would Thierry Zoreaux be on our GK depth chart? Starter for a promoted Championship club and probably will be the starter for Richmond in the Premier League. I figure he'd be at worst #2 right?

We don't get much sense of the calibre of his play on the show, but just based on who he plays for, yeah, you'd assume he'd at worst be behind only Borjan.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Colonel Green

[Kadenge]

TSN replayed the 2018 WC  round of 16 Brazil v Mexico match yesterday. Many of the Mexican players from that match squared off against our CMNT in WCQ where we came away with 4 points in 2 matches.  Carlos Salcedo started for Mexico btw. Although Mexico looked much stronger than in Concacaf WCQ Brazil were simply majestic. Its going to be an enormous task to get results in our group 🤞

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Kadenge said:

TSN replayed the 2018 WC  round of 16 Brazil v Mexico match yesterday. Many of the Mexican players from that match squared off against our CMNT in WCQ where we came away with 4 points in 2 matches.  Carlos Salcedo started for Mexico btw. Although Mexico looked much stronger than in Concacaf WCQ Brazil were simply majestic. Its going to be an enormous task to get results in our group 🤞

They also played the Belgium - Japan from the same round, where Japan goes up 2-0 and the Belgians come back. Winning in stoppage time. 

Lesson: if you get chances, take them. Then if you get ahead, be far tougher staying ahead. 

Shithousery comes to mind. Good keeping and defending set plays as well. 

Funny I was watching that imagining the dark blue team was us. 

[narduch]

Miller and St. Clair on the MLS All Star team

 

 

[An Observer]

17 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

They also played the Belgium - Japan from the same round, where Japan goes up 2-0 and the Belgians come back. Winning in stoppage time. 

Lesson: if you get chances, take them. Then if you get ahead, be far tougher staying ahead. 

Shithousery comes to mind. Good keeping and defending set plays as well. 

Funny I was watching that imagining the dark blue team was us. 

I remember that Belgium Japan match well (as my wife is Belgian so they are my second team).  Japan were very naive and still tried to attack them when they were up 2-0. Indeed, even at 2-2, they were attacking late, only to lose the ball in the final third and we’re killed on the counter. They played the exact opposite to how we should play Belgium.  Sit back, soak up the pressure, and kill them on the counter with our speed (Davies, David, Buchanan) against their ageing defence.  I actually think we have a good shot against them for this reason. Croatia actually worries me more these days.

[VinceA]

6 hours ago, An Observer said:

I remember that Belgium Japan match well (as my wife is Belgian so they are my second team).  Japan were very naive and still tried to attack them when they were up 2-0. Indeed, even at 2-2, they were attacking late, only to lose the ball in the final third and we’re killed on the counter. They played the exact opposite to how we should play Belgium.  Sit back, soak up the pressure, and kill them on the counter with our speed (Davies, David, Buchanan) against their ageing defence.  I actually think we have a good shot against them for this reason. Croatia actually worries me more these days.

To add to this Kawashima is a very underwhelming keeper and can never seem to keep Japan in any matches. Don't know why they've relied on him for so long.

[canuckgbp]

[dyslexic nam]

Off topic but just a friendly reminder that the women are another to kickoff their game against Jamaica on OS.  

[GasPed]

On 7/13/2022 at 8:32 AM, VinceA said:

To add to this Kawashima is a very underwhelming keeper and can never seem to keep Japan in any matches. Don't know why they've relied on him for so long.

He's tall and athletic.  In Japan that will make you the starting keeper for the national team for about 15 years.  (I can say that because I'm Japanese 😀 ☹️)

[GasPed]

On 7/12/2022 at 8:35 AM, Unnamed Trialist said:

Shithousery comes to mind. Good keeping and defending set plays as well. 

These are the very three things that Japan is not good at and probably never will be.  ☹️

On 7/13/2022 at 1:50 AM, An Observer said:

I remember that Belgium Japan match well (as my wife is Belgian so they are my second team).  Japan were very naive and still tried to attack them when they were up 2-0. Indeed, even at 2-2, they were attacking late, only to lose the ball in the final third and we’re killed on the counter. They played the exact opposite to how we should play Belgium.  Sit back, soak up the pressure, and kill them on the counter with our speed (Davies, David, Buchanan) against their ageing defence.  I actually think we have a good shot against them for this reason. Croatia actually worries me more these days.

I agree, except that Japan can only play one way - i.e. clever attack-minded football.  We (Japan is my second team) lack the size and physicality to park the bus effectively (when we do it, it's more like parking the minivan or a number of small mopeds), and lack the pace to be dangerous on the counter.  Canada is entirely different of course - and that's why I think we (my first team 😉) have a chance (albeit small) against almost anyone.  That sheer athleticism makes us dangerous.

Edited July 15, 2022 by GasPed

[MtlMario]

On 7/13/2022 at 1:09 PM, canuckgbp said:

Without giving a opinion about Cochrane, who were those 75 other world wide candidates that where not as good as him for this job?😏

[Unnamed Trialist]

45 minutes ago, GasPed said:

These are the very three things that Japan is not good at and probably never will be.  ☹️

I agree, except that Japan can only play one way - i.e. clever attack-minded football.  We (Japan is my second team) lack the size and physicality to park the bus effectively (when we do it, it's more like parking the minivan or a number of small mopeds), and lack the pace to be dangerous on the counter.  Canada is entirely different of course - and that's why I think we (my first team 😉) have a chance (albeit small) against almost anyone.  That sheer athleticism makes us dangerous.

As observed above, the Japan keeping in that match vs Belgium was also suspect. Not bad, because they were coming on strong and he did make a few good stops; but the first goal to get Belgium back in was weekly defended and the keeper should have had it.

So it is clear you need some big keeping moments to get results. We had a few of those with Borjan and also Crepeau over qualifying, just hope the standard holds up in the crunch.

[Free kick]

1 hour ago, MtlMario said:

who were those 75 other world wide candidates that where not as good as him for this job?😏

[Corazon]

Canadians in MLS

Sorry for the delay, I've had some vacation time and some work trips that have delayed posting an update.  We have already had 48 Canadians play in the MLS so far this season.  In comparison for the entirety of 2021 - 45 Canadians, 2020 - 41 Canadians, 2019 - 32 Canadians.  We have already surpassed total minutes played by Canadians in 2019 and the shortened 2020 season and are well on our way to surpassing 2021 minutes as well.

Canadian Player Minutes by Club

Montreal - 7,449 minutes - 9,249 minutes including Goalkeeping

Toronto - 11,180 minutes

Vancouver - 5,334 minutes - 6,359 minutes including Goalkeeping

US MLS Teams - 3,197 minutes - 6,617 minutes including Goalkeeping

Stats provided by MLS.com.

Player	Team	POS	GP	GS	MP	G	A	P%	T	INT	Duel %
Alistair Johnston	Montreal	RB	20	19	1626	1	4	86.2%	16	19	47.5%
Luca Petrasso	Toronto	LB	20	20	1592	0	4	74.2%	13	17	51.0%
Raheem Edwards	Los Angeles	LW	19	18	1560	0	6	79.4%	30	23	50.5%
Joel Waterman	Montreal	CB	17	17	1517	2	1	88.2%	10	16	55.8%
Mark Anthony Kaye	Toronto	CM	19	17	1439	3	1	82.4%	26	23	58.8%
Kamal Miller	Montreal	CB	17	16	1431	1	3	84.1%	7	14	61.2%
Kosi Thompson	Toronto	CM	19	16	1367	1	2	77.9%	14	19	54.0%
Russell Teibert	Vancouver	CM	18	16	1351	0	1	82.5%	15	23	36.2%
Jayden Nelson	Toronto	RW	19	16	1247	1	2	81.8%	18	8	40.0%
Jonathan Osorio	Toronto	CM	16	14	1133	5	6	90.2%	12	13	55.9%
Lucas Cavallini	Vancouver	ST	17	13	1124	6	2	74.2%	9	3	49.8%
Deandre Kerr	Toronto	ST	16	9	1039	3	0	76.3%	9	6	45.5%
Ismael Kone	Montreal	CM	15	11	997	1	3	84.9%	4	7	59.5%
Ryan Raposo	Vancouver	CM	20	11	947	2	3	74.7%	9	17	54.1%
Lukas MacNaughton	Toronto	CB	14	9	890	0	0	81.9%	4	17	52.8%
Marcus Godinho	Vancouver	RB	14	9	716	0	0	81.7%	8	6	65.3%
Ayo Akinola	Toronto	ST	13	7	669	1	0	73.5%	4	2	44.2%
Mathieu Choiniere	Montreal	CM	12	7	664	2	0	84.8%	12	2	56.2%
Cristian Gutierrez	Vancouver	LB	11	6	613	0	1	85.5%	8	7	61.9%
Tyler Pasher	Houston	ST	16	5	591	2	1	82.3%	2	0	40.8%
Samuel Piette	Montreal	CM	13	6	590	0	0	88.4%	14	3	46.9%
Jacob Shaffelburg	Toronto	LW	13	6	578	0	2	69.1%	7	8	42.2%
Kadin Chung	Toronto	CM	8	5	451	0	1	82.5%	10	8	60.4%
Michael Baldisimo	Vancouver	CM	11	3	365	0	0	80.3%	9	2	45.2%
Tesho Akindele	Orlando	ST	16	2	364	0	0	71.6%	2	2	46.9%
Zach Brault-Guillard	Montreal	RB	12	2	345	2	2	82.5%	1	3	30.6%
Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty	Toronto	CM	10	3	342	0	0	90.6%	8	6	66.7%
Ralph Priso-Mbongue	Colorado	CM	11	5	319	1	0	83.3%	10	5	100.0%
Jordan Peruzza	Toronto	ST	13	1	223	0	0	63.6%	0	0	42.1%
Jacen Russell-Rowe	Columbus	ST	5	3	207	0	2	65.5%	3	1	59.1%
Tosaint Ricketts	Vancouver	ST	12	1	193	2	1	66.7%	2	0	46.5%
Zorhan Bassong	Montreal	LB	9	1	169	0	0	83.2%	0	2	35.3%
Noble Okello	Toronto	CM	4	1	156	0	0	75.9%	3	2	79.0%
Doneil Henry	Los Angeles FC	CB	5	2	133	0	0	88.4%	0	1	45.5%
Rida Zouhir	Montreal	CM	4	1	110	0	0	77.6%	0	0	42.9%
Ali Ahmed	Vancouver	CM	1	0	33	0	0	88.9%	0	1	50.0%
Steffen Yeates	Toronto	CM	2	0	31	0	0	76.9%	1	0	50.0%
Mo Farsi	Columbus	RB	2	0	23	0	0	88.9%	0	0	50.0%
Kobe Franklin	Toronto	RB	1	0	13	0	0	100.0%	0	0	50.0%
Themi Antonoglou	Toronto	CM	1	0	10	0	0	100.0%	0	0	100.0%
Emiliano Brienza	Vancouver	ST	1	0	2	0	0	83.3%	0	0	0.0%
Shaan Hundal	Miami	CM
Callum Montgomery	Minnesota	CB
Tani Oluwaseyi	Minnesota	ST
Jean-Aniel Assi	Montreal	ST
Nathan-Dylan Saliba	Montreal	CM
Keesean Ferdinand	Montreal	CB
Karifa Yao	Montreal	CB
Tomas Giraldo	Montreal	CM
Sean Rea	Montreal	CM
Adam Pearlman	Toronto	DF
Mehdi Essoussi	Toronto	CM
Luke Singh	Toronto	CB
Vasco Fry	Vancouver	ST
Matteo Campagna	Vancouver	CM
Simon Colyn	Vancouver	CM
Kamron Habibullah	Vancouver	CM
Derek Cornelious	Vancouver	CB
Damiano Pecile	Vancouver	CM
Player	Team	POS	GP	GS	MP	S	S %	P%	GA	GAA	Wins
Dayne St Clair	Minnesota	GK	19	19	1710	45	71.4%	58.5%	23	1.21	9
Maxime Crepeau	Los Angeles	GK	19	19	1710	39	66.1%	69.8%	20	1.05	13
Sebastian Breza	Montreal (from Bologna)	GK	19	19	1710	41	54.0%	78.6%	35	1.84	9
Thomas Hasal	Vancouver	GK	9	9	790	27	61.4%	54.3%	17	1.94	2
Isaac Boehmer	Vancouver	GK	2	1	135	7	87.5%	50.0%	1	0.67	0
James Pantemis	Montreal	GK	1	1	90	4	100.0%	84.6%	0	0	1
Max Anchor	Vancouver	GK	1	1	90	4	66.7%	58.3%	2	2	0
Greg Ranjitsingh	Toronto	GK
Jonathan Sirois	Montreal	GK
Luka Gavran	Toronto	GK
Ben Alexander	Vancouver	GK
Nikolaos Giantsopoulos	Vancouver	GK

Edited July 18, 2022 by Corazon

[red card]

The way we were....

 

[Jack1997]

I was looking on transfermarkt and it reminded me how little depth we have at CB and how it’s a major concern for the future so here is my ranking of our Top 10, I won’t be including people who can play it but isn’t natural like Hutchinson and Priso but will include people who I see having a future at CB with CANMNT like smith and johnstone

1:Vitoria, will most likely retire after this World Cup.

2:Miller, Will be around for a while hope he can get a move abroad sometime within a few years 

3:Johnston, Only would play in a back 3 but really good when he plays in it also hope he can go to Europe soon too, Will be around for a while aswell

4:Kennedy, I think he’s been amazing when he plays for CANMNT and he’s also fairly young but his lack of PT end of last year and start of this year concerns me, seemed like he was destined for a bundesliga move for a bit last year now he’s fighting for PT.

5:Henry, Most likely his last cycle

6:Cornelius, Solid player but I don’t really see him as a guy I would want to be having on a 2026 World Cup plane

7:Waterman, Really Rate him, see him as a guy who will be a good MLS CB for a while not a bad guy to have as your 7/8 CB

8:Smith, He’s the future of our CB position I hope could definitely see him becoming a sure thing in Europe as early as next season for Nice and we’re gonna need him that’s for sure

9:Mcnaugton, Has had his Ups and downs in the MLS I like him more than others but don’t really see him having a future in the NT and I hope someone his caliber doesn’t have to

10:Yao, I really rate him I think if his parent club wasn’t Montreal who aren’t in need of CB and it was Toronto or Vancouver he would be a sure thing at CB for either of them. But I think having him for CF Montreal will help them want to sell Miller to Europe more.

 

CB is a real problem right now and in the future, If we lose Vitoria and Henry the depth gets very thin. We need more CBs playing in the MLS just for depth and I wouldn’t be suprised to see Yao take the step up next year but for the future we really need guys like Smith, Knight-Lebel, Ferdinand and Yao to work out but also guys like halbouni and others start getting minutes and I know CB is a hard position to predict and sometimes they just pop out of nowhere so we’re gonna need to bank on getting a few pop out of nowhere sometime soon.

 

[PopePouri]

2 hours ago, Jack1997 said:

I was looking on transfermarkt and it reminded me how little depth we have at CB and how it’s a major concern for the future so here is my ranking of our Top 10, I won’t be including people who can play it but isn’t natural like Hutchinson and Priso but will include people who I see having a future at CB with CANMNT like smith and johnstone

1:Vitoria, will most likely retire after this World Cup.

2:Miller, Will be around for a while hope he can get a move abroad sometime within a few years 

3:Johnston, Only would play in a back 3 but really good when he plays in it also hope he can go to Europe soon too, Will be around for a while aswell

4:Kennedy, I think he’s been amazing when he plays for CANMNT and he’s also fairly young but his lack of PT end of last year and start of this year concerns me, seemed like he was destined for a bundesliga move for a bit last year now he’s fighting for PT.

5:Henry, Most likely his last cycle

6:Cornelius, Solid player but I don’t really see him as a guy I would want to be having on a 2026 World Cup plane

7:Waterman, Really Rate him, see him as a guy who will be a good MLS CB for a while not a bad guy to have as your 7/8 CB

8:Smith, He’s the future of our CB position I hope could definitely see him becoming a sure thing in Europe as early as next season for Nice and we’re gonna need him that’s for sure

9:Mcnaugton, Has had his Ups and downs in the MLS I like him more than others but don’t really see him having a future in the NT and I hope someone his caliber doesn’t have to

10:Yao, I really rate him I think if his parent club wasn’t Montreal who aren’t in need of CB and it was Toronto or Vancouver he would be a sure thing at CB for either of them. But I think having him for CF Montreal will help them want to sell Miller to Europe more.

 

CB is a real problem right now and in the future, If we lose Vitoria and Henry the depth gets very thin. We need more CBs playing in the MLS just for depth and I wouldn’t be suprised to see Yao take the step up next year but for the future we really need guys like Smith, Knight-Lebel, Ferdinand and Yao to work out but also guys like halbouni and others start getting minutes and I know CB is a hard position to predict and sometimes they just pop out of nowhere so we’re gonna need to bank on getting a few pop out of nowhere sometime soon.

 

TBH, that's way better than 2019 when we had Vitoria, Henry, Cornelius and random CPL'er/Atiba.

[TOcanadafan]

Is there any hope that one of our MLS Academies or CPL teams will produce a CB good enough for our national team… I mean is there a coach/program who is consistently improving CB’s - a defensive guru?
I’m also asking this because I’d think it’s more likely to be discovered by or trial and stick with a European club at a young age if you play an offensive position.

[An Observer]

2 hours ago, Jack1997 said:

I was looking on transfermarkt and it reminded me how little depth we have at CB and how it’s a major concern for the future so here is my ranking of our Top 10, I won’t be including people who can play it but isn’t natural like Hutchinson and Priso but will include people who I see having a future at CB with CANMNT like smith and johnstone

1:Vitoria, will most likely retire after this World Cup.

2:Miller, Will be around for a while hope he can get a move abroad sometime within a few years 

3:Johnston, Only would play in a back 3 but really good when he plays in it also hope he can go to Europe soon too, Will be around for a while aswell

4:Kennedy, I think he’s been amazing when he plays for CANMNT and he’s also fairly young but his lack of PT end of last year and start of this year concerns me, seemed like he was destined for a bundesliga move for a bit last year now he’s fighting for PT.

5:Henry, Most likely his last cycle

6:Cornelius, Solid player but I don’t really see him as a guy I would want to be having on a 2026 World Cup plane

7:Waterman, Really Rate him, see him as a guy who will be a good MLS CB for a while not a bad guy to have as your 7/8 CB

8:Smith, He’s the future of our CB position I hope could definitely see him becoming a sure thing in Europe as early as next season for Nice and we’re gonna need him that’s for sure

9:Mcnaugton, Has had his Ups and downs in the MLS I like him more than others but don’t really see him having a future in the NT and I hope someone his caliber doesn’t have to

10:Yao, I really rate him I think if his parent club wasn’t Montreal who aren’t in need of CB and it was Toronto or Vancouver he would be a sure thing at CB for either of them. But I think having him for CF Montreal will help them want to sell Miller to Europe more.

 

CB is a real problem right now and in the future, If we lose Vitoria and Henry the depth gets very thin. We need more CBs playing in the MLS just for depth and I wouldn’t be suprised to see Yao take the step up next year but for the future we really need guys like Smith, Knight-Lebel, Ferdinand and Yao to work out but also guys like halbouni and others start getting minutes and I know CB is a hard position to predict and sometimes they just pop out of nowhere so we’re gonna need to bank on getting a few pop out of nowhere sometime soon.

 

I think you missed Halbouni but I would also add Mateeo Campanga, the kid at Fulham whose name I forgot, possibly the guy at Reading, the guy who played for the US at U20 qualifying and Julian Dunn (currently injured) to the list.  We definitely need over the next couple of years a few of the guys you mentioned at 6 to 10 plus my list plus maybe a couple of more out of the CPL, MLS academies or NCAA to emerge (and some to commit) and play at a high level so that going into 2026 we are much improved at that end from where we are now.

[MauditYvon]

CB is not our worst sector. You just named 10 players and you could add Halbouni, James or Sturing. Tom Holmes still might be a possibility.  

For 2023-2030 cycle, we gonna play 4 Gold Cups and (hopefully) 2 World Cups. Assuming it will be 26 men rosters, you basically need 6 CB since we play with 3 CB and you might need to use Johnston's versatility and put him at RB for injury/suspension. So you really want 4 of them to be regulars. 

1-4 : Johnston, Kennedy and Miller are locks and they could play at a higher lever sooner than you think. Then I can't believe that just one of Smith, Halbouni, Campagna, Holmes or Yao won't have a nice career.

5-6 : You want guys like Henry here. Waterman, Cornelius and possibly Sturing/Dunn can fill up that role.

Ceiling is high and floor is also high. I'm pretty satisfied with the pool.

Offensive midfielder is the real concern. Osorio, Hoilett and Wotherspoon are aging. We lost Flores, we will also lose Dias and Mitrovic. I don't see any real good prospects at this position.

Edited July 19, 2022 by MauditYvon

[Kadenge]

So JH has used a 3-5-2, 4-4-2 and a 3-4-3. Although the 3-5-2 seems to be the most popular set up on this board, at the WC do we want to see Davies and Tajon at WB in a 3-5-2 system where they will probably be spending more time defending vs attacking? For me I would rather have Adekugbe and Johnston/Laryea as wide defenders with Tajon and Davies more advanced where they can use their speed and 1v1 skill in attack or simply pressure the opposition to keep their wide defenders/mids back. Playing with 2 strikers seems like a luxury we could afford during WCQ but I think we will get burnt at Qatar.

[VinceA]

3 hours ago, Kadenge said:

So JH has used a 3-5-2, 4-4-2 and a 3-4-3. Although the 3-5-2 seems to be the most popular set up on this board, at the WC do we want to see Davies and Tajon at WB in a 3-5-2 system where they will probably be spending more time defending vs attacking? For me I would rather have Adekugbe and Johnston/Laryea as wide defenders with Tajon and Davies more advanced where they can use their speed and 1v1 skill in attack or simply pressure the opposition to keep their wide defenders/mids back. Playing with 2 strikers seems like a luxury we could afford during WCQ but I think we will get burnt at Qatar.

What I noticed is once Adekugbe emerged, the 3-5-2 went out of style. In that formation, which personally is my favourite, you can't run both Davies and Adekugbe, or you have to put Davies up top but then you remove one of Larin or David, which Herdman doesn't really like doing.

[dyslexic nam]

7 hours ago, MauditYvon said:

Offensive midfielder is the real concern. Osorio, Hoilett and Wotherspoon are aging. We lost Flores, we will also lose Dias and Mitrovic. I don't see any real good prospects at this position.

Not sure I agree.  I know they are currently being used largely on the outside but I think both Nelson and JMR have skillsets that give them potential as attacking mids in the center part of the field.  I also think Kone could ultimately play in a slightly more advanced role than he currently occupies. Even someone like Jacen Russell Rowe seems like he could evolve into an attacking centre mid rather than an out and out striker.  None of them may be outright 10s but as a CAM I think all of them are legit prospects.