WCQ: Canada vs USA - Sunday, Jan 30, 3pm EST / noon Pacific - Hamilton

[BearcatSA]

What a great Sunday evening.  With all the other turmoil around the world, I sure enjoy the feeling I get from those happy brain chemicals that get released when I think of our MNT right now.

 

[Macksam]

2 hours ago, jonovision said:

Player ratings:

Borjan 8: Distribution was poor at times but made a huge save when called upon. Emotional leader of the team.

Johnston 7: USA though Pulisic vs Johnston was a matchup they could take advantage of. False.

Vitoria 7: Not his best game in a Canada shirt, but lots of good stuff on display. Yellow card allows him to miss the match where he's least needed.

Miller 7: Did well for a player out of season. Does his best work coming in to support another defender.

Adekugbe 8: Goal was the cherry on top of a poised performance.

Laryea 7: Better in the second half. With Osorio, really helped Johnston to shut down Pulisic.

Osorio 7.5: Was given very little time on the ball in the first half, but defended well. Grew into the game in the second.

Kaye 5: Not quite as poor as some here are saying. Did everything well except for his passing, but that's a big thing to get wrong.

Buchanan 6: USA keyed on him as our main creative threat. Full of running.

David 8: One of the best games I've seen from him in a Canada shirt. Great passing and lots of running

Larin 8: Took his chance, and defended well when called upon.

SUBS

Fraser 7

Hoilett 8

Ugbo 6

The USA did put Tajon offensively in their back pocket. I am glad our boy played well defensively to make up for it though. 

[gwsmith63]

3 minutes ago, Macksam said:

The USA did put Tajon offensively in their back pocket. I am glad our boy played well defensively to make up for it though. 

I was surprised he wasn’t moved to the RW earlier as Dest had him well under wraps. 
 

Good point on his defensive work when needed. 

[rdb9ty]

2 hours ago, longlugan said:

You truly don't know this game. I love MAK but he was horrible today...as in a liability.  I have no doubt he'll bounce back but today was not his day. What game were you watching?

Agree. Surprised to see some talking up his game today of all days. I'm a big fan of Kaye but he was abysmal. Maybe he made some tackles to break things up but he was absolutely shocking with the ball - couldn't play a simple ball to players around him. He gave the ball away too many times in dangerous positions that resulted in the team being more under pressure than it needed to be. He must be rusty af having not played at club level. As soon as he came off our midfield was able to string a few passes together successfully and actually have a bit of sustained possession. 

[Macksam]

3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Thanks. Listening to the highlight of the 2nd goal, have to say Wheeler was very good, exceptional. Enthusiasm, well paced in the commentary, then Terry with his "training" comment about the goal. That is a very high quality clip and the OS guys did very well.

You tell me when you're ready to talk bro. 

[QBCS]

Does anyone have footage from the bus entrance? Putting a little edit together

[cronaldo7]

Was at the game today. Got to see the players close up as they got off the bus. Great turn-out of fans welcoming them into the stadium. Was losing my mind screaming. Even got a smile from Kamal Miller, what a guy.

Stadium had incredible energy from the get-go. True blue-collar, can’t-mess-with-us performance. Felt truly Hamilton. Loved every minute of it.

Been through a lot watching this team religiously for 20+ years (more than half my life) and this all feels very surreal. Gotta pinch myself. Love this team.

[rydermike]

To add insult to injury, with that loss the US dropped below Mexico in the live FIFA rankings 

https://football-ranking.com/fifa_rankings

[Joe Keeper]

I see why many US fans are unhappy with Berhalter's game plans. His match takes/analysis of this loss are really inaccurate. They dominated possession, he is correct. They did not dominate the match outright as they created very little shots on target or real high danger play in the box or final third.

Canada is not just a classic physical, gritty well organized defensive team. We can play that sort of game but we are also a well balanced offensive team that can be explosive, creative and dangerous on the counter attack or we can play possession dominant football with great skill and convert that into goals and high danger chances. Thats fun to watch. 

The US does not seem to be all that creative when looking at their games over the entire campaign. 

Let them think that way and keep expecting to have wins as their divine right. 

Dominating possession while not converting that to shots on target and then goals is a killer for any team. 

We had the lower possession percentage but got almost as many shots on goal as them and more goals off of fewer chanes.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by Joe Keeper

[Bdog]

My first CMNT game was the 2-0 win over the muricans. Today was some great deja vu.

I very much enjoyed the Fuck the USA chant, it was loud on the broadcast but the commentary drowned it out a bit. There's nothing better than beating a "world class team" according to their fans.

Time to read what salty Americans are saying on Reddit which is always a fun time.

[SthMelbRed]

37 minutes ago, Joe Keeper said:

I see why many US fans are unhappy with Berhalter's game plans. His match takes/analysis of this loss are really inaccurate. They dominated possession, he is correct. They did not dominate the match outright as they created very little shots on target or real high danger play in the box or final third.

Canada is not just a classic physical, gritty well organized defensive team. We can play that sort of game but we are also a well balanced offensive team that can be explosive, creative and dangerous on the counter attack or we can play possession dominant football with great skill and convert that into goals and high danger chances. Thats fun to watch. 

The US does not seem to be all that creative when looking at their games over the entire campaign. 

Let them think that way and keep expecting to have wins as their divine right. 

Dominating possession while not converting that to shots on target and then goals is a killer for any team. 

We had the lower possession percentage but got almost as many shots on goal as them and more goals off of fewer chanes.

 

 

The post-match coverage on MLSsoccer.com has some ridiculous stuff from the whole American camp. It's like they're too stupid to realise that we're a counter-attacking team that took the lead in the 7th minute of the match, and that's why we were happy to concede possession for the most part. For all the possession we let them have, they still only had the one proper chance to score. Other than forcing the one big save from Borjan just before half-time, I think they had just one other shot on target, and they seem to be implying that the attempted bicycle kick that went well high and wide was some dead-set scoring opportunity.

[Floortom]

2 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

The post-match coverage on MLSsoccer.com has some ridiculous stuff from the whole American camp. It's like they're too stupid to realise that we're a counter-attacking team that took the lead in the 7th minute of the match, and that's why we were happy to concede possession for the most part. For all the possession we let them have, they still only had the one proper chance to score. Other than forcing the one big save from Borjan just before half-time, I think they had just one other shot on target, and they seem to be implying that the attempted bicycle kick that went well high and wide was some dead-set scoring opportunity.

The bicycle kick would have been called off by VAR - he was way offside 

[Cheeta]

4 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

The post-match coverage on MLSsoccer.com has some ridiculous stuff from the whole American camp. It's like they're too stupid to realise that we're a counter-attacking team that took the lead in the 7th minute of the match, and that's why we were happy to concede possession for the most part. For all the possession we let them have, they still only had the one proper chance to score. Other than forcing the one big save from Borjan just before half-time, I think they had just one other shot on target, and they seem to be implying that the attempted bicycle kick that went well high and wide was some dead-set scoring opportunity.

If THAT is what you do with possession, you can have it.

You can quote me on that. 

[Dag Nasty]

5 hours ago, jonovision said:

Can anyone who was at the game tell us what the USA away support was like? They made no impression on the broadcast.

maybe 10 -15 in our half of the stadium

 

[Free kick]

Lots of posts to catch up since i got home from the game, so i dont know if this has been mentioned or not.  The surface looked great today considering it was artificial.   Maybe thats why they chose Hamilton for the location.   Normally with sythetic surfaces or fieldturf (unless its brand new) you notice the harder surface because the ball bounces higher and the players have trouble controlling the ball.  But i didnt see that today at all, it was as if the surface was brand new. The flip side of this is that it was a game of very little sustained possesion from either side. 

Unlike Edmonton, where anyone could tell (Even on TV) that it was a horrible surface and that it affected the game.

Edited January 31, 2022 by Free kick

[Gian-Luca]

Not that I'm complaining, but that stadium looked on tv at least 80% full, not half empty. Was there a policy decision changed late in the day or just "Whoops" when it came to distribution of tickets?

Edited January 31, 2022 by Gian-Luca

[Free kick]

3 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Not that I'm complaining, but that stadium looked on tv at least 80% full, not half empty. Was there a policy decision changed late in the day or just "Whoops" when it came to distribution of tickets

No i think that it was because everyone was standing.  When everyone stands you cant tell that entire alternate rows were empty.

edit.;  now that i think about it,  every second row in 213 was empty but when i looked down on 113, it didnt seem that way.  So you might have a point.

Edited January 31, 2022 by Free kick

[CanadianSoccerFan]

5 minutes ago, Free kick said:

Lots of posts to catch up since i got home from the game, so i dont know if this has been mentioned or not.  The surface looked great today considering it was artificial.   Maybe that why they chose Hamilton for the location.   Normally with sythetic surfaces or fieldturf (unless its brand new) you notice the harder surface because the ball bounces higher and the players have trouble controlling the ball.  But i didnt see that today at all, it was as if the surface was brand new.

Unlike Edmonton, where anyone could tell (Even on TV) that its it was a horrible surface.  

It was installed last winter.  The previous surface was old and hardpan like Edmonton's.  Age of the surface is a huge factor.    

I remember Bobby Smyrniotis mentioning how the new surface allowed Forge to change the way they play from prior years.

Edited January 31, 2022 by CanadianSoccerFan

[frattinator]

58 minutes ago, Joe Keeper said:

I see why many US fans are unhappy with Berhalter's game plans. His match takes/analysis of this loss are really inaccurate. They dominated possession, he is correct. They did not dominate the match outright as they created very little shots on target or real high danger play in the box or final third.

Canada is not just a classic physical, gritty well organized defensive team. We can play that sort of game but we are also a well balanced offensive team that can be explosive, creative and dangerous on the counter attack or we can play possession dominant football with great skill and convert that into goals and high danger chances. Thats fun to watch. 

The US does not seem to be all that creative when looking at their games over the entire campaign. 

Let them think that way and keep expecting to have wins as their divine right. 

Dominating possession while not converting that to shots on target and then goals is a killer for any team. 

We had the lower possession percentage but got almost as many shots on goal as them and more goals off of fewer chanes.

 

 

I was listening to the the Que Golazo podcast with Jimmy Conrad and Heath Pearce and while both of them though Gregg’s comments were off, they brought up the point that given the mental fragility of the USMNT team, that’s probably the only thing you can say to make sure the team doesn’t implode since you still have a match with Honduras in a few days. So instead you build them up with the hopes that they can still have confidence in a must win at home against an already eliminated Honduras.
 

Now in my mind you can probably praise your players for work rate or something but still acknowledge real shortcomings in your game plan. But then again I don’t get paid the big bucks managing the USMNT.

[MtlMario]

13 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

I hesitate to even put this on the record but I have to admit that I’ve got a bad feeling about this one. We are due for a stumble at some point and the idea of going undefeated against both Mexico and the US in the final stage of WCQ seems almost implausible.  I much prefer @MtlMario’s prediction but I think we may drop this one by a one-goal margin.  

Do not worry,  if you liked my last prediction, you are going to love my (crystal ball) next one! Coming soon to same bat station, same bat time.😁

Edited January 31, 2022 by MtlMario

[Acid-Tone]

13 minutes ago, MtlMario said:

Do not worry,  if you liked my last prediction, you are going to love my (crystal ball) next one! Coming soon to same bat station, same bat time.😁

Omg. That dyslexic man is an idiot!  how how can someone be so wrong? 

[SthMelbRed]

49 minutes ago, frattinator said:

I was listening to the the Que Golazo podcast with Jimmy Conrad and Heath Pearce and while both of them though Gregg’s comments were off, they brought up the point that given the mental fragility of the USMNT team, that’s probably the only thing you can say to make sure the team doesn’t implode since you still have a match with Honduras in a few days. So instead you build them up with the hopes that they can still have confidence in a must win at home against an already eliminated Honduras.
 

Now in my mind you can probably praise your players for work rate or something but still acknowledge real shortcomings in your game plan. But then again I don’t get paid the big bucks managing the USMNT.

Of course not. Your brother is not in charge of hiring the USMNT manager.

[rdb9ty]

1 hour ago, Free kick said:

No i think that it was because everyone was standing.  When everyone stands you cant tell that entire alternate rows were empty.

edit.;  now that i think about it,  every second row in 213 was empty but when i looked down on 113, it didnt seem that way.  So you might have a point.

I think a bunch of voyageurs just congregated in 112/113 and didn't actually sit in their assigned seats (which i'm completely ok with lol). I think that's what gave you two that impression. I was in the V's section across in 109 and it was half empty, or at least it seemed that way. I'm guessing the people in the empty seats were all in 112/113. Heck, I was thinking of going over myself. There were no ushers to be seen inside the stadium to bother implementing anything to be considered social distancing or seating assignments. 

EDIT: And i don't mean half empty like every other row was filled (like it was meant to be). I mean every other row (that was supposed to have folks in it) was each half empty lol

Edited January 31, 2022 by rdb9ty

[Treppy2]

7 hours ago, footballfreak said:

My first Canada WCQ game was a miserable loss to Guatemala on temporary bleachers at Swangard. We filed out in silence. What a long, strange trip it’s been.

I love this team.

Not to relive bad memories, but didn’t Canada actually win that match - but was eliminated on away goals?

But, yes, let’s celebrate this team!

[PegCityCam]

4 hours ago, Infernal said:

Lol peep the salt at 7:00

To be fair these guys are funny af, make some great points, and completely took the piss out of nearly everyone on the American side, especially Berhalter. I think their rant at 7 mins was more of a tongue in cheek kinda thing as later on they fully give props to Herdman saying he's the best coach in CONCACAF. I was entertained...the ignorance they display concerning our entire squad actually makes it all the more entertaining. I mean, they had to Google who Herdman was lol. So ridiculously American 🤣😂🤣