2022 World Cup Draw

[El Diego]

21 minutes ago, mrstepp817 said:

All eight groups to me appear to be very balanced....I cant find a group of death but I also dont see a group where its like "Yeah I'd love to be in that group" either

I agree with this. I think the two worst Pot 2 teams were the CONCACAF boys, and obviously we couldn't be in those groups. Qatar getting hosed with Netherlands and Senegal really evens things out across the board. The truth is unless we got Group A we'd always be in for a very difficult draw.

Group H to me I guess is the weakest if I had to pick one. I've got Korea as favourites for the second spot there.

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 hours ago, JohnnyFranchise said:

I was a fan of the nations league until herdman mentioned it as a hindrance to getting top-quality friendlies. 

He's right and I argued that a few weeks ago. It works against WC preparation for all teams qualified in Concacaf.

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 hours ago, JohnnyFranchise said:

How many of their players actually play in Belgium, tho?

I think the keeper and a few more on Tajon's Brugge are on the Belgian NT, in fact. 

[El Diego]

Thinking outside the box, what if you took a domestic/B team to Nations League and then had a Euro/A team camp and played some friendlies in Europe? No idea on the availability of other national teams, assuming we even would be able to pony up the cash to do this (HA)

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, Free kick said:

Mingolet will not get any minutes.    Not with Thibault Courtois around.

I think after the Courtois red card taking down Davies out of the box in our match, he may play their next. 

[Cblake]

One correction on Canada's schedule and this will make people happy on both coasts, Canada Belgium is 2 pm ET 11 am PT. The entire schedule is here.

FWC-2022-Match-Schedule.pdf (fifa.com)

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Cblake

[Gian-Luca]

Canada is one of the teams talked about in this BBC article on the draw:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60962193

[DeRo_Is_King]

19 minutes ago, Cblake said:

One correction on Canada's schedule and this will make people happy on both coasts, Canada Belgium is 2 pm ET 11 am PT. The entire schedule is here.

FWC-2022-Match-Schedule.pdf (fifa.com)

 

So, even if we get out of the group, we'll likely face Spain or Germany in the Round of 16. 

[Cblake]

Just now, DeRo_Is_King said:

So, even if we get out of the group, we'll likely face Spain or Germany in the Round of 16. 

Yes that is the case. 

[DeRo_Is_King]

3 minutes ago, Cblake said:

Yes that is the case. 

Like I said, very tough road ahead. We'll need some high-profile friendlies for sure. 

[frmr]

Thankfully Ziyech retired from international football.

...or do we think he'll make a return for the WC?

Edited April 1, 2022 by frmr

[Floortom]

5 minutes ago, frmr said:

Thankfully Ziyech retired from international football.

...or do we think he'll make a return for the WC?

Seems pretty unlikely the relationship doesn’t get repaired for a World Cup 

[Unnamed Trialist]

So here's my assessment of the draw, our prep, our group.

1-Loved that we were last and the only team that knew where it was going before it was drawn. I found the whole draw truly exciting and was thrilled by where we ended up, it was actually quite entertaining. I left home after elated.

2-Nations League is an impediment to our prep and basically means we have to delay it, while the already-qualified Euro teams were already prepping last week. June will not be ideal for friendlies coming off competitive matches and possibly tired, with knocks, short training. Basically, for the last year we have mostly played and trained very little. 

3-Friendlies. We need a Euro rival and a North African rival in September. Then another good challenge to get tone in the immediate lead up. It is not just proximity, but the fact is, players from the Magreb are different from those in Sub-Saharan Africa, as is playing mentality and style. I would also prefer to play teams qualified for the WC, since their intensity will be like ours. I'd be fine with Serbia and Tunisia, for example. Or if not available, Switzerland (always with a lot of Balkans players) and Saudi Arabia, or Emirates, just to start to click into the regional feel. I am also fine with playing all friendly matches away. 

We get a very short learning curve, IMO too short, to make these friendlies as useful as they should be. I suspect we'll go into the 1st match feeling we are a couple of friendlies short of fully ready

4-It's a good group and it would have been hard to get a better one. Mind you, we were dropped into Pot 4 by Tunisia. Would you prefer the Tunisia group, with France, Denmark and the winner of the intercontinentals (say Perú)? Not sure, fairly similar or even a bit worse. Okay draw for Canada.

5-Based on our performances away vs. Mexico and the States, we have to aspire to something similar vs. the Euro teams. I think both are accessible, we are not favoured but not extreme underdogs. No match is a write off, we have to seek points vs. Belgium and go from there. Our greatest asset: we have names especially up front that worry our rivals. Just that, the fact that rivals will feel they need to adjust and be careful, is the one major difference for Canada for this WC. One draw and a win may take us through.

6-Belgium. Great keeper, one of the best in the world. CBs are a bit old and I think we can cause them problems. Some players are off form, like Hazard. More danger in attacking mids and strikers, but not extremely tricky up front either. If you close down De Bruyne and Lukaku, a bit of Carrasco, you can basically reduce their entire level drastically; but you have to try to challenge the midfield so that can't transition into attack. For me, after Lukaku, attacking drops sharply. Balanced serious side, consistent, tight, but as we saw at Euros: not perhaps the strongest team mentally. I personally think they are soft-ish. Coach is one of those Catalans, like the one I married.

7-Croatia. Great legacy players but also aged and on a slight decline. Only came first in group on a late own-goal last fixture vs. Russia. Keeper  not so great, plays for D Zagreb, but they gave up very few goals qualifying vs. Russia, Slovakia, so I may be wrong. Or the Lille keeper, also defective. Vida vice-captain in back line is getting older, seems to be better for Croatia than for Besiktas. Kovacic in the middle supports Modric, still a great player, dangerous playmaker, and having a superb club year--hopefully the next 6 months takes its toll. Luckily no Rakitic, who could still hurt us. Kramaric and Perisic up top, both less dangerous than our strike team. They don't have pure wingers and play through the middle, so need to clog them up; also frees up our outside players. Weaker than Belgium.

8-Morocco. Have seen quite a few play in Spain, a competent balanced team and not erratic, with a good group mentality. Bounou or Bono, keeper, born in Montreal, is on a solid career curve and is solid: not considered amongst the top in Spain though. Often play back three with wingbacks, best CB is Saïss at Wolves, the others are not at a high level. Achraf at PSG was born in Madrid, is young and is dangerous attacking up the right side--Davies match up here will be a good one. Amrabat in the middle has been on a solid curve, now at Fiore, while Fajr seems to be in decline (played vs Spain last WC). Quite a bit of dynamic, quick talent in attack, and diverse, with En Nesyri, Munir, though Tissoudali in Belgium is worse than what we have, then there El Kaabi who is Adekugbe's teammate at Hatayspor, no idea what he is like really. Not necessarily that much worse than the other rivals.

9-Overall: we have a better attacking four (Larin, David, Davies and Tajon, say), than all our rivals. Our outside play, wings, wingbacks, is also stronger than all rivals, we broaden the field and play up the flanks. We may have problems handling the skilled mids of Croatia and Belgium, and may have to be as worried about attacking mid talent as striking talent for all teams. Can't sit back then, we have to meet them in the middle to reduce striking options. Our CBs are clearly below the level of all rivals, on paper; Borjan is as good as Bounou IMO, better than the Croats. We line up rather well. As I suggested above, we do need points vs. the European rivals and could get them. We should try to avoid meeting Morocco with the idea they are ours to beat. They will all fear our speed and finishing up top. 

10-Canada roster. The only likely players to emerge are in MLS. We'll get a few transfers next summer, such as David, which may increase our prestige even more.

The entire group is fine, some areas are strong: attack including finishing, wing play, speed, half our midfield, defensive discipline, our keeping.

But some things cannot be improved through recruiting: attacking in the air, set piece efficiency, defensive experience. Midfield control. Our weakest links, it seems, are defending in the air, and the quality of some mids like Kaye, Piette, who are a step below what a WC team needs. 

I personally do not think anyone will emerge in these final months, so any aspects we see as lacking will not be remedied by roster, only be coaching. 

11-Prediction (wild one): we finish with 4 points, behind Belgium, 9 and ahead of Croatia, 2. No idea if we'll get the tie-breaker in our favour. Chances in a round of 16 vs Spain or Germany are rather low, worse than against our group rivals.

Edited April 2, 2022 by Unnamed Trialist

[johnyb]

1 hour ago, Cblake said:

One correction on Canada's schedule and this will make people happy on both coasts, Canada Belgium is 2 pm ET 11 am PT. The entire schedule is here.

FWC-2022-Match-Schedule.pdf (fifa.com)

 

Is this accurate? Just curious because it shows Qatar vs Ecuador as the 3rd game on Day 1. Can't imagine that would be the case. 

[Cblake]

14 minutes ago, johnyb said:

Is this accurate? Just curious because it shows Qatar vs Ecuador as the 3rd game on Day 1. Can't imagine that would be the case. 

It is directly from FIFA, could be the case of wanting to be in a good time spot locally. 

[xcalibre]

34 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

So here's my assessment of the draw, our prep, our group.

1-Loved that we were last and the only team that knew where it was going before it was drawn. I found the whole draw truly exciting and was thrilled by where we ended up, it was actually quite entertaining. I left home after elated.

Not quite. When there were 2 teams left, the other one knew where they were going too (i.e., not Morocco's group).

I think we were still the first pot 4 team to know exactly, though, as when there were 3 teams left, the other two were African and couldn't get Morocco's group. So keen observers already knew where Canada were going at that point.

Edited April 2, 2022 by xcalibre

[eramosat]

36 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

So here's my assessment of the draw, our prep, our group.

1-Loved that we were last and the only team that knew where it was going before it was drawn. I found the whole draw truly exciting and was thrilled by where we ended up, it was actually quite entertaining. I left home after elated.

2-Nations League is an impediment to our prep and basically means we have to delay it, while the already-qualified Euro teams were already prepping last week. June will not be ideal for friendlies coming off competitive matches and possibly tired, with knocks, short training. Basically, for the last year we have mostly played and trained very little. 

3-Friendlies. We need a Euro rival and a North African rival in September. Then another good challenge to get tone in the immediate lead up. It is not just proximity, but the fact is, players from the Magreb are different from those in Sub-Saharan Africa, as is playing mentality and style. I would also prefer to play teams qualified for the WC, since their intensity will be like ours. I'd be fine with Serbia and Tunisia, for example. Or if not available, Switzerland (always with a lot of Balkans players) and Saudi Arabia, or Emirates, just to start to click into the regional feel. I am also fine with playing all friendly matches away. 

We get a very short learning curve, IMO too short, to make these friendlies as useful as they should be. I suspect we'll go into the 1st match feeling we are a couple of friendlies short of fully ready

4-It's a good group and it would have been hard to get a better one. Mind you, we were dropped into Pot 4 by Tunisia. Would you prefer the Tunisia group, with France, Denmark and the winner of the intercontinentals (say Perú)? Not sure, fairly similar or even a bit worse. Okay draw for Canada.

5-Based on our performances away vs. Mexico and the States, we have to aspire to something similar vs. the Euro teams. I think both are accessible, we are not favoured but not extreme underdogs. No match is a write off, we have to seek points vs. Belgium and go from there. Our greatest asset: we have names especially up front that worry our rivals. Just that, the fact that rivals will feel they need to adjust and be careful, is the one major difference for Canada for this WC. One draw and a win may take us through.

6-Belgium. Great keeper, one of the best in the world. CBs are a bit old and I think we can cause them problems. Some players are off form, like Hazard. More danger in attacking mids and strikers, but not extremely tricky up front either. If you close down De Bruyne and Lukaku, a bit of Carrasco, you can basically reduce their entire level drastically; but you have to try to challenge the midfield so that can't transition into attack. For me, after Lukaku, attacking drops sharply. Balanced serious side, consistent, tight, but as we saw at Euros: not perhaps the strongest team mentally. I personally think they are soft-ish. Coach is one of those Catalans, like the one I married.

7-Croatia. Great legacy players but also aged and on a slight decline. Only came first in group on a late own-goal last fixture vs. Russia. Keeper  not so great, plays for D Zagreb, but they gave up very few goals qualifying vs. Russia, Slovakia, so I may be wrong. Or the Lille keeper, also defective. Vida vice-captain in back line is getting older, seems to be better for Croatia than for Besiktas. Kovacic in the middle supports Modric, still a great player, dangerous playmaker, and having a superb club year--hopefully the next 6 months takes its toll. Luckily no Rakitic, who could still hurt us. Kramaric and Perisic up top, both less dangerous than our strike team. They don't have pure wingers and play through the middle, so need to clog them up; also frees up our outside players. Weaker than Belgium.

8-Morocco. Have seen quite a few play in Spain, a competent balanced team and not erratic, with a good group mentality. Bounou or Bono, keeper, born in Montreal, is on a solid career curve and is solid: not considered amongst the top in Spain though. Often play back three with wingbacks, best CB is Saïss at Wolves, the others are not at a high level. Achraf at PSG was born in Madrid, is young and is dangerous attacking up the right side--Davies match up here will be a good one. Amrabat in the middle has been on a solid curve, now at Fiore, while Fajr seems to be in decline (played vs Spain last WC). Quite a bit of dynamic, quick talent in attack, and diverse, with En Nesyri, Munir, though Tissoudali in Belgium is worse than what we have, then there El Kaabi who is Adekugbe's teammate at Hatayspor, no idea what he is like really. Not necessarily that much worse than the other rivals.

9-Overall: we have a better attacking four (Larin, David, Davies and Tajon, say), than all our rivals. Our outside play, wings, wingbacks, is also stronger than all rivals, we broaden the field and play up the flanks. We may have problems handling the skilled mids of Croatia and Belgium, and may have to be as worried about attacking mid talent as striking talent for all teams. Can't sit back then, we have to meet them in the middle to reduce striking options. Our CBs are clearly below the level of all rivals, on paper; Borjan is as good as Bounou IMO, better than the Croats. We line up rather well. As I suggested above, we do need points vs. the European rivals and could get them. We should try to avoid meeting Morocco with the idea they are ours to beat. They will all fear our speed and finishing up top. 

10-Canada roster. The only likely players to emerge are in MLS. We'll get a few transfers next summer, such as David, which may increase our prestige even more.

The entire group is fine, some areas are strong: attack including finishing, wing play, speed, half our midfield, defensive discipline, our keeping.

But some things cannot be improved through recruiting: attacking in the air, set piece efficiency, defensive experience. Midfield control. Our weakest links, it seems, are defending in the air, and the quality of some mids like Kaye, Piette, who are a step below what a WC team needs. 

I personally do not think anyone will emerge in these final months, so any aspects we see as lacking will not be remedied by roster, only be coaching. 

11-Prediction (wild one): we finish tied for 2nd with Morocco, with 4 points, behind Belgium, 9 and ahead of Croatia, 2. No idea if we'll get the tie-breaker in our favour. Chances in a round of 16 vs Spain or Germany are rather low, worse than against our group rivals.

I like the depth and reasonability of your post, thank you.  Not sure I would give Canada an edge in our attacking 4 over Belgium, who are just as likely to overwhelm our defense as anything.  But it's an awesome first match to show how well Herdman's tactical adjustments and preparations, honed in CONCACAF, apply to the next stage.

I am trying to figure out how your prediction came about...Belgium wins all their matches to earn 9...Croatia draw their remaining 2 for 2...and Canada and Morocco each get a win to tie at 4?  It's wild all right.

P.S.  Does Canada have anyone to help with defending in the air, who could be added/played?  It does seem even to me who is not knowledgeable to be a pretty weak link

Edited April 2, 2022 by eramosat

[Cblake]

Group of the Dead:

Italy
Russia
Egypt
Colombia

[Gian-Luca]

https://www.tsn.ca/Soccer/video/we-fear-nobody-canadas-captain-hutchinson-reacts-to-world-cup-dr~2414241

[mrstepp817]

6 hours ago, JohnnyFranchise said:

I was a fan of the nations league until herdman mentioned it as a hindrance to getting top-quality friendlies. 

This is one reason why the US and Mexico were not super big fans of the Nations League originally

[Blackjack15]

 

 

[SpursFlu]

1 hour ago, Cblake said:

One correction on Canada's schedule and this will make people happy on both coasts, Canada Belgium is 2 pm ET 11 am PT. The entire schedule is here.

FWC-2022-Match-Schedule.pdf (fifa.com)

 

At least I'll be able to watch 1 game in a bar

[red card]

1 hour ago, Floortom said:

Seems pretty unlikely the relationship doesn’t get repaired for a World Cup 

The Moroccan manager Vahid Halihodzic has qualified 4 nations to the World Cup. The first one to do so. He did it with Cote d'Ivoire, Algeria and Japan, and now Morocco.

However, he only managed once at the World Cup as he got fired before it with Cote d'Ivoire and Japan, both times due to falling out with the team/Federation.

He is considered a stubborn man and enforces a strict disciplinary code. Noussair Mazraoui of Ajax & Ziyech have had a falling out with him. As of now, they won't play unless he gets fired before the World Cup again. 

Edited April 2, 2022 by red card

[Approve My Account Pls]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

So here's my assessment of the draw, our prep, our group.

Didn't quote the whole post for length reasons, but I think a very good analysis. Obviously we are the underdogs, but I do think it is a group we can escape from. The key, especially vs Belgium and Crotia, will be our defensive structure, bending and not breaking, and then exploiting them down the outside with our pace. If our boys can remain composed and be smart with picking their moments, I truly believe we have the ability to make some noise in this group

 

On a side note, this group has the potential to be an excellent send-off for Hutch and a great opportunity for Eustaquio to make his claim to play at the highest level especially with back to back match ups of De Bruyne and Modric

[Neil R.]

I still can't believe we didn't get Group E (Spain, Germany) or D (France, Denmark). Knowing the African teams couldn't get D or F, and we couldn't get B or C, it just seemed like D or E was how it was going to end up for us. I kept thinking we were going to be the 2nd ball out and would get D, then the 3rd or 4th ball out and would get E.