WCQ: Panama v Canada - Wednesday, March 30, 9pm Eastern / 6pm Pacific - Panama City

[BearcatSA]

18 minutes ago, Corazon said:

Well that was an unfortunate way to end a very good Qualifying campaign.  I don’t want to take away from the stellar campaign overall.  Especially impressive considering our star player Davies missed half the games.  However, losing 2 of the final 3 games does sting and despite what some think on here.  Pot 3 did matter somewhat.  Two of the three players that didn’t play these games are probably in the best form on the team (Millar and Cornelius).  Ugbo has scored more goals for Troyes on Ligue 1 than Cavallini has for Whitecaps in God knows how many games. Disappointed that Gutierrez didn’t get a minute as well.

Crepeau - I didn’t think he looked particularly strong or commanding today.  His distribution play lacked at times and he makes me very nervous on anything in the air coming across his goal.

Atiba - Not a bad performance at CB but he shouldn’t be playing there.  Herdman should have used the CB’s he had.

Johnston - Thought he was solid defensively.  Two incredible tackles.

Miller - Not particularly great this game.

Adekugbe - Had moments but one of his worst games of the campaign.

Tajon - One of the only good players in the first half but faded fast in the second.  Needed to be subbed much sooner.

 Eustaquio - Considering how poor Canada looked, I thought he was once again fantastic.  Had some fantastic long balls and through balls.  The statistics at the end of the OneSoccer show were pretty incredible.

Kaye - Hardly even remember him being out there to be honest.

Kone - Obviously quite poor and perhaps not quite ready.  A warning for those calling him the next Davies after 6 professional games.  For what’s it’s worth.  I think he will be a very good player but a very poor decision to start him imo.  I was hush about the hyping and people calling for him to start.

David - Much like the rest of the window.  Okay but overall he was underwhelming.

Cavallini - Disappointing.  Although I thought he was okay in the first.  He just doesn’t seem to be up to the level recently. Disappointed Ugbo didn’t get the start.

Osorio - Nothing spectacular but I thought he made a difference once he came on.

Larin - Was a huge difference maker once he came on.  Seems to be several levels above Cavallini at this point.  Strange we were debating about who should start between the two of them just 12 months ago.

Hoilett - Continues to amaze me.  He has something that no one else in our team has when attacking.  I’ve watch him at the championship level for years and he’s done well but he seems to always play up at an even higher level for Canada.

Laryea - Good performance off the bench.  In hindsight maybe should have started or come on sooner.

Ugbo - Came on way too late once again.  Herdman has yet to give him a meaningful run out which is disappointing.

I checked "yes" on each one of your assessments here.

[gator]

1 minute ago, BearcatSA said:

I checked "yes" on each one of your assessments here.

Myself as well!

[Gian-Luca]

 

[The Ref]

If Herdman wanted to win this last game he should have started all his heavy hitters.

 

[Yoho]

 

[frmr]

1 minute ago, Yoho said:

 

There's also a thing called fatigue and squad rotation...

[Yoho]

Just now, frmr said:

There's also a thing called fatigue and squad rotation...

Also a thing garbage line up.

[Shway]

4 minutes ago, frmr said:

There's also a thing called fatigue and squad rotation...

 

3 minutes ago, Yoho said:

Also a thing garbage line up.

Both are facts lol.

Atiba at CB was definitely one considering we had two healthy CBS on the bench. 

Atiba will be baby food to any WC team strikers, so we need to stop that right away since it’s not necessary. 

[gator]

I posted before kick off I didn't like Kone, Kaye or Atiba at CB starting, I wasn't proven wrong!

[SpursFlu]

I have a theory.. KJ tweeting earlier about how he thinks pot 4 is tougher than 3 and the overall energy of the broadcast tells me there was a thought that this game was going to be tough because... there is a high probability that the guys tied one on pretty good after the Jamaica game. I don't blame them and I for one am officially focusing on the positive and excited for friday morning 

Edited March 31, 2022 by SpursFlu

[shortofbrillant]

It is really difficult to judge anyones performance tonight. Its hard to play football when half your team doesn't have the legs. There was no width to our game. In retrospect, we should have fully rotated the lineup minus maybe Eustáquio, David and Johnson. Bringing 5 of our best players off the bench for a shorter burst of play would have had a much better impact on the game compared with what we actually did. 

[EJsens1]

I still don’t understand the logic in not giving Ugbo a start. He’s been here for 8 games and gotten spot minutes. To start that stiff Cavallini, who we know what we have there, over Ugbo made no sense to me. Frankly, Cavallini to me is behind Iain Hume on our depth chart and he’s retired for Christ sake. 

[Joe Keeper]

On the night, performance and result wise, I am extremely dissapointed in the team. Our lack of prep was evident. We can't afford to do this from here on out.  We would have been lucky to get the draw. Panama was absolutely there for the taking. We sat back and invited them to control the game. You just cannot ever do this in CONCACAF. It only invites the corruption in this confederation. 

Tonight was as close a sight and feeling for me during this entire campaign as I have been to "old canada" as I am thankful we got, on the pitch and off it, and in the commentary box. 

I can take two positives from this tonight.

One, its that I hope this game reminds all of us, the current team, the CSA, broadcasters and people trying to build our soccer infrastructure and programs, we have done so much but have a VERY long way to go. Dont let up now. 

To hell with the hype and content machines. Dont buy into the marketing BS. This is about football, and we have only started to fix our own past woes and only begun to do what other football nations have been doing for years. We have a lot of work to do unless we are going to be happy with just being at a World Cup once again. 

We want success, not just attendance. We do that by continuing to look critically at ourselves. 

Second, its that we do not have to play another WCQ in this confederation for five to six years. After tonight I feel safe in saying the corruption in concacaf is not endemic, its terminal. They will never change. With us qualifying, and then hosting, that is  something that makes me happy beyond words. 

After 25 years, I can say personaly, I even hope that is our last qualifier in this organization for the big show. By the 2030 cycle I hope FIFA has a new system of qualification in place, or that Canada are in another confederation arrangment. Concacaf needs to be broken up.

That being said, I will always remember and treasure winning the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign after we were not supposed to be in the last round according to CONCACAF (meaning their original format with the US, Mexico, CR, Jamaica, Honduras, and El Salvador being gifted passage to a final phase). 

 Here is to the best being in the years to come if we keep trying to do it the right way. Learning has to be our strength. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Joe Keeper

[reggietfc]

its a dream that we are going to the WC,but we cant sit on your laurels,we still need some adds a starting RCB ,DM and a #10 type,but the question is where  do we get them

 

[shortofbrillant]

2 minutes ago, reggietfc said:

its a dream that we are going to the WC,but we cant sit on your laurels,we still need some adds a starting RCB ,DM and a #10 type,but the question is where  do we get them

 

Its time to start forging documents

[Shway]

6 minutes ago, EJsens1 said:

I still don’t understand the logic in not giving Ugbo a start. He’s been here for 8 games and gotten spot minutes. To start that stiff Cavallini, who we know what we have there, over Ugbo made no sense to me. Frankly, Cavallini to me is behind Iain Hume on our depth chart and he’s retired for Christ sake. 

Agreed.

 Cavallini is a late bang out tire the defenders when we are up.

We needed an outlet, and he can’t ever be that atm.

 Love the guy though.

 Him and Doneil are the bash bros in our mighty ducks story 🤣

[BearcatSA]

FWIW, the Fotmob wasn't kind to our starting mids and forwards tonight.

https://www.fotmob.com/match/3613471/lineup/panama-vs-canada?backTo=matches

[Bertuzzi44]

Herdman should have either gone for the win or gone squad rotation. This kinda-half-this-kinda-half-that lineup did not work.

We didn't get the win, and Ugbo, Gutierrez, Cornelius, etc, didn't get a run out.

[Unnamed Trialist]

So brotherhood, but Herdman actually doesn't believe that. 

Guys coming for a 3 game window not seeing the pitch; must be adopted or step brothers those guys, right John?

He has to buy in too. 

Compare the 2 friendlies played by many European teams these days, everyone called gets minutes, except 3rd keeper and anyone with a knock. 

[BearcatSA]

I just re-watched the Panama winning goal and there was plenty of poor decision making to go around on that one.

[ECW]

2 hours ago, A Different Perspective said:

Agreed … kinda bad karma for the “brotherhood”.   As much as Atiba is a legend, and how much we are love him, Canada is 0 for 2 with him as a CB.   Herdsman got it wrong.  Still World Cup here we come 🎉

I don’t especially like him back there either (though astonished overall at his almost ageless form). So far our best midfield has had him in it much of the time. 

Cavallini was not great but I’m not ready to count him out just yet. He’s had some very good years (if not recently… I always expected him to struggle in Van… it was never a great fit) and I think he can play a role off the bench. Ugbo has done nothing for us yet. Hopefully he gets a better chance to show something more in the Nations League. 

[clamlinguine]

My takeaways from the game are that I give up on Cavalinni, the guys who said be cautious about Kone were correct, And there is a great synergy amongst our starting regulars. It showed with the subs at the end of the iceteca Mexican game and to a lesser extent tonight.

Also, the Davies goal was the top goal for us probably ever, much less this qualifying round. People who disagree (all the tv folk) think too much.☺️

[beachesl]

First of all, I agree with the  majority of assessments here. I hope and trust that Herdman, who I now trust besides initial reservtions,  will come to similiar conclusions, and learn the lesson as we all must in all faucets of life.

Second, I really  tried to schedule the evening free to be able to watch the Panama match, but things conspired, and I was forced to work this past evening from 3 to midnight at the front desk due to an acute staff shortage. To do my job properly, I had to watch only snippets of the match on my cell phone propped under the counter with  the sound off. Perhaps it was a optical illusion. Perhaps it was because I was distracted from  dealing with the public and work...However, it was if I was watching the match in absurd slow-motion on a grainey film of a match  long ago before most of use were born , with all it´s frustrations. It was not a great match for many reasons, I won´t elaborate here as you guys have stated it all.  Nonetheless, it was like dealing with a child of mine making some mistakes, but with so much promise, knowing that they will  come through when it really matters. 

In hindsight, I am glad I missed full participation in fully watching this frustration of a match, and am happy, like watching a child underperfrom due to whatever, but knowing they will come through for me when it matters.

Yes, I  can understand the desire to have a draw like Qatar/Switizerland/UkrWales Scot, but even facing something like Brazil/Germany/Serbia, I am  happy and excited about that because playing teams like these in the world championship is what we fought so hard for the priveledge to do. I am sure Herdman will say the same if we get a tough draw. That´s the experience we want much. Serah. 

 

 

 

[Cblake]

 

[Cblake]