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

[footballfreak]

This retrospective sounds like it was recorded in a broom closet.

[SpursFlu]

14 minutes ago, Vasi said:

Other than Senegal and Serbia pot 3 is not that scary.   

Poland has arguably the best player in the world

[footballfreak]

On second viewing, that was absolutely a penalty for David. Defender kicked through the back of his leg.

[SpursFlu]

Iran and Japan are very good teams

[spitfire]

So frustrated.. good night lads!! 430am here…

[gator]

Just now, footballfreak said:

On second viewing, that was absolutely a penalty for David. Defender kicked through the back of his leg.

Where was the VAR on that? Maybe David had to stay down longer like he was shot and the rest of our team surround the ref until he has a look, I don't think he would have, this ref is no friend of ours, he is typical CONCACAF bad!

[gator]

Just now, spitfire said:

So frustrated.. good night lads!! 430am here…

I don't blame you one bit, I am too! Cheers!

[Markus]

30 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Does anyone else think it was a bizarre decision to start Cavallini? I'm not one to question Herdman's decisions much but it's almost like we're giving out loyalty rewards or something. Does anyone think he's good enough to be starting against non-minnows? He's been a total bust at Vancouver. I don't get it.

and no I dont necessarily think he was the difference between winning and losing or anything. Just find it strange. 

100% agree.

I like him, and I know he's got (somewhat) of a leadership role but he hasn't shown anything (club or nt) in literally years imo.

Still time for things to change but as they stand, I don't see how he can be included in the WC roster. 

[lamptern]

If I were Herdman at time of Panama scores at 50th min, I would sub in Larin, Hoilet, Laryea, Ugbo and Millar all at once. That, will be a shock for Panama. And we have a better chance to turn things around.

[metafisical]

11 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Poland has arguably the best player in the world

But that's all Poland has. 

[cornerkick]

13 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Poland has arguably the best player in the world

true... but we have his teammate, it sorta evens out...😏

[Corazon]

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.

[SpursFlu]

2 minutes ago, metafisical said:

But that's all Poland has. 

That's 100% not true 

[TOcanadafan]

1 minute ago, metafisical said:

But that's all Poland has. 

You don’t know Matty Cash?  (Half-joking). Zielinski is damn good.

[The Beaver 2.0]

The guys looked gassed tonight, and I never felt we got settled in midfield. Switching to 442 helped, but neither Kaye nor Kone are at the same level as Eustaquio and Hutch. We struggled to keep the ball, in part because Cava is not as good holding up the ball as Larin.  Not a fan of Hutch at CB. 

Curious to see who from this squad is on the plane (or Russian yachts) to Qatar in November. Who might nick a place over the next few months?  Can Kone have the same meteoric rise as Tajon?  He's going to be playing a lot of football before November.

Don't mind losing, and the performance wasn't terrible, but it would have been nice to end with a nice, tidy, professional game. Let's build from here.  June seems like aeons from now.

 

[Gian-Luca]

The Panamanians were less dispirited after their humiliating elimination than I thought, but I guess their fans never really believed in their team all along so they weren't that disappointed, the sheer bliss they had that they managed to sneak out a victory against the top dog in the region I will take as a compliment.

This was always going to be tough to execute at a top level with all that travel, the humidity and most of all, given that the match was post-party. This wasn't just a team playing immediately after qualifying, but a team playing immediately after officially achieving the impossible dream.

Top of the table, most goals scored, fewest goals conceded - to quote Richie Laryea, that's fucking incredible! I don't give two squiddly shits about which Pot we're in - the boys exceeded my expectations and I was expecting them to qualify all along!

Edited March 31, 2022 by Gian-Luca

[frmr]

7 minutes ago, metafisical said:

But that's all Poland has. 

Poland has players littered all over Europe's top five leagues...

[nolando]

@Corazon  Well analyzed in your player evaluations. Should have been a game to give a few guys a chance to show their stuff. Not a complete refresh, but this match and the demands of 3 matches  in one week clearly required it. Felt like stubborn loyalty from Herdman rather than logic that picked the players tonight.

[maccaliam]

44 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Feel bad for Gutierrez, Cornelius and Millar. All those miles and Herdman didn't feel like giving them any chances.

I’m surprised Millar didn’t get any minutes today and/or this round.

I think at the NL games in June, we will leave a few key pieces out while still keeping some of the core. This could be Millar’s MNT opportunity like last summer’s gold cup was for Tajon. I wonder if it could be the same opportunity for Ugbo to show us what he’s got. I hope so. 

Edited March 31, 2022 by maccaliam

[Cblake]

The Top of the Table Feeling 

 

[The Beaver 2.0]

2 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

The Panamanians were less dispirited after their humiliating elimination than I thought, but I guess their fans never really believed in their team all along so they weren't that disappointed, the sheer bliss they had that they managed to sneak out a victory against the top dog in the region I will take as a compliment.

This was always going to be tough to execute at a top level with all that travel, the humidity and most of all, given that the match was post-party. This wasn't just a team immediately after qualifying, but a team playing immediately after officially achieving the impossible dream.

Top of the table, most goals scored, fewest goals conceded - to quote Richie Laryea, that's fucking incredible! I don't give two squiddly shits about which Pot we're in - the boy exceeded my expectations and I was expecting them to qualify all along!

Nicely put. A bit of perspective is indeed needed here. We've evolved substantially over the course of this--very long--qualifying campaign. We are competitive in EVERY single game we play, even if some games are chippy and we seem a bit disconnected etc.  We are always a threat to score, even in a game like the one tonight. (I still feel the tackle on David in the box was a PK.) I am excited to see how this group continues to evolve over the next many months.

[gator]

3 minutes ago, maccaliam said:

I’m surprised Millar didn’t get any minutes today and/or this round.

I think at the NL games in June, we will leave a few key pieces out while still keeping some of the core. This could be Millar’s MNT opportunity like last summer’s gold cup was for Tajon. 

I think it is ridiculous a player in his form in Europe didn't get a single minute

[Gian-Luca]

3 minutes ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

Nicely put. A bit of perspective is indeed needed here. We've evolved substantially over the course of this--very long--qualifying campaign. We are competitive in EVERY single game we play, even if some games are chippy and we seem a bit disconnected etc.  We are always a threat to score, even in a game like the one tonight. (I still feel the tackle on David in the box was a PK.) I am excited to see how this group continues to evolve over the next many months.

I also missed out on the bit that we did all that with our most talented player & the only one that globally would be considered a superstar missing 50% of our matches....

[maccaliam]

2 minutes ago, gator said:

I think it is ridiculous a player in his form in Europe didn't get a single minute

Yeah I’m surprised too. I hope a few players get significant minutes in NL that missed out on showing this window, like Millar and Ugbo as well. 

[The Beaver 2.0]

Seeing as I am too lazy to do the research myself AND I always find my fellow Vees more knowledgeable than the InterWeb, what the heck even is Nations League?  (Wheels kept mentioning the Gold Cup, too. Are we playing both this summer?)