The Road to Qatar.

[Blackjack15]

 

[TGAA_Star]

It would have to be Larin

[king1010]

7 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

It would have to be Larin

David for sure. 

[Shway]

 

 every team now has friendlies scheduled prior to the window. 
Although Jamaica is probably the team with most guys who will be in season.

Healthy, committed, and available is another conversation. 

[OhCanadaOhBaby]

I am high key jealous with everyone getting friendlies with teams from CONMEBOL and such, and we are sitting there with Guatemala. Nothing against Guatemala, but in comparison to our CONCACAF counterparts' friendlies, the level of of Guatemala is not that close to the rest. 

Just feels like we could be doing better, and given the fact that we haven't played a team from outside CONCACAF since Iceland, I think it is time to get more challenging friendlies.

Edited December 14, 2021 by OhCanadaOhBaby
Spelling error

[Club Linesman]

Hey at least we are playing a friendly!  Baby steps with the CSA.

[Metro]

22 minutes ago, OhCanadaOhBaby said:

I am high key jealous with everyone getting friendlies with teams from CONMEBOL and such, and we are sitting there with Guatemala. Nothing against Guatemala, but in comparison to our CONCACAF counterparts' friendlies, the level of of Guatemala is not that close to the rest. 

Just feels like we could be doing better, and given the fact that we haven't played a team from outside CONCACAF since Iceland, I think it is time to get more challenging friendlies.

I don't look it that way.  Guatemala plays a similar game to Honduras and El Salvador. 🙂 

[TGAA_Star]

9 minutes ago, Metro said:

I don't look it that way.  Guatemala plays a similar game to Honduras and El Salvador. 🙂 

Exactly you play opponents who are similar to the opponents who you're gonna face

[ADP10]

Now that we are playing friendlies, people are irritated about the level of competition of those friendlies. You can't please everyone lol

[Dre_03]

59 minutes ago, OhCanadaOhBaby said:

I am high key jealous with everyone getting friendlies with teams from CONMEBOL and such, and we are sitting there with Guatemala. Nothing against Guatemala, but in comparison to our CONCACAF counterparts' friendlies, the level of of Guatemala is not that close to the rest. 

Just feels like we could be doing better, and given the fact that we haven't played a team from outside CONCACAF since Iceland, I think it is time to get more challenging friendlies.

I agree and feel the same way and while I can see the merit in playing a country with similar style of play, I also feel we should be aspiring to consistently play at a higher level. Hopefully if (when?) we qualify, I trust Canada will set up friendlies vs nations of higher grade.  Yes something is better than nothing but we should aim to raise the bar.

[MM3/MM2/MM]

We will be fielding a A-/B+ roster for this game, so not the time to aim higher.

[footballfreak]

Guatemala presents a more useful learning opportunity for this team than Peru or Paraguay. Herdman’s Canada has shown it can punch toe to toe with equal or superior opponents. Where this team sometimes struggles is breaking down weaker sides who sit in a deep/mid block. We saw it at home against Honduras and Costa Rica. We saw is on the road against an undermanned Jamaica (admittedly so were we). Guatemala gives us the perfect opportunity to practice that. 

It’s also worth mentioning that they only crashed out of WCQ because of a 0-0 draw to a very capable Curaçao side (who took Panama to the limit over two matches). With a bit more luck, it could have been Guatemala in the Ocho instead of Panama. They should give our B squad a good test.

Edited December 14, 2021 by footballfreak

[Matro25]

1 hour ago, ADP10 said:

Now that we are playing friendlies, people are irritated about the level of competition of those friendlies. You can't please everyone lol

I'll take a friendly against the Solomon Islands if that means we can get some of these U20 kids some Caps.

 

[Floortom]

Looks like AFCON will be cancelled / postponed indefinitely 

 

[narduch]

24 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Looks like AFCON will be cancelled / postponed indefinitely 

 

Well that's a bad sign.

They may need to cancel the January window too the way things are going.. I guess you could still play that in June if necessary.

[Floortom]

1 minute ago, narduch said:

Well that's a bad sign.

They may need to cancel the January window too the way things are going.. I guess you could still play that in June if necessary.

wouldnt be at all surprised if that ends up happening...I think some major leagues are on the verge of having massive disruptions too with cancellations. The fact that January isnt a UEFA window either will further complicate things.

[Shway]

41 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Looks like AFCON will be cancelled / postponed indefinitely 

 

Fake news.

[TGAA_Star]

May as well play AFCON during the summer

[Califax]

52 minutes ago, narduch said:

Well that's a bad sign.

They may need to cancel the January window too the way things are going.. I guess you could still play that in June if necessary.

Since the: "could you imagine if" theories have started... (which i fully endorse by the way) 

Could you imagine if we play an already qualified USA and already eliminated Honduras and El Salvador for our last three? 

 

[Approve My Account Pls]

Adding to the conversations of hypothetical situations:

In theory, if we were forced to play our match vs the US outside of Canada, what would be the best case scenario? Empty stadium in Florida or Texas/Arizona or something? In theory there could be some benefits to that: significantly reduce travel, potential to have camps/reserve players carry over and hang out following the Camp Poutine/U20 Camp in case of emergency or even just to train with the big boys

[sstackho]

19 minutes ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

In theory, if we were forced to play our match vs the US outside of Canada, what would be the best case scenario? Empty stadium in Florida or Texas/Arizona or something?

Stay in Honduras or El Salvador and make the US come down there to play. 

Slip a bit of money to the local ultras and make it rain on the US players. 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by sstackho

[footballfreak]

5 hours ago, narduch said:

Well that's a bad sign.

They may need to cancel the January window too the way things are going.. I guess you could still play that in June if necessary.

Is there time to play it in June? That’s when the inter-confederation playoff is scheduled for. 

If they do cancel January, I wonder if they would simply push back all matches keeping the current schedule, or leave the March match schedule intact and play the window 4 matches last. The latter scenario would flip our remaining schedule order to:

@ CRC

vs Jamaica

@ Panama

@ Honduras

vs USA

@ El Salvador

I see that scenario as a net negative for us. We would gain a late home game against a potentially qualified USA, but would also have to play Jamaica and Costa Rica while they’re still alive.

[theaub]

5 hours ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

In theory, if we were forced to play our match vs the US outside of Canada, what would be the best case scenario? 

Mexico

[Jedi Ram]

3 hours ago, footballfreak said:

Is there time to play it in June? That’s when the inter-confederation playoff is scheduled for. 

If they do cancel January, I wonder if they would simply push back all matches keeping the current schedule, or leave the March match schedule intact and play the window 4 matches last. The latter scenario would flip our remaining schedule order to:

@ CRC

vs Jamaica

@ Panama

@ Honduras

vs USA

@ El Salvador

I see that scenario as a net negative for us. We would gain a late home game against a potentially qualified USA, but would also have to play Jamaica and Costa Rica while they’re still alive.

I think that is highly unlikely as FIFA cannot afford to postpone any more matches as the international match windows are already tight enough this year.   The more likely scenario would be to play in empty stadiums in January and hope the situation improves for March window.  Don't forget the World Cup Draw is on April 1, 2022.  Thus all qualifying games must be completed by then.

[footballfreak]

6 minutes ago, Jedi Ram said:

I think that is highly unlikely as FIFA cannot afford to postpone any more matches as the international match windows are already tight enough this year.   The more likely scenario would be to play in empty stadiums in January and hope the situation improves for March window.  Don't forget the World Cup Draw is on April 1, 2022.  Thus all qualifying games must be completed by then.

I tend to agree that the remaining games don’t have time to be rescheduled, but empty stadiums won’t do much stop the inevitable team outbreaks. The third games of the January window could end in multiple walkovers or cobbled together C teams of out-of-season domestic players brought in on the red-eye. 

Calling it now before Tos Ricketts scores the winner in El Salvador.