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

[spitfire]

I think is all honesty Liam is a victim of a system 3-5-2 does not account for wingers and Liam is a full winger not a wing back he can play left or right mid in a 442 but the formation doenst suit him or his style. I think he could have score 20 goals in the Swiss league and it wouldn’t matter. Remember he played 90 mins vs Marseille 2 weeks ago!!!🤷🏻‍♂️
 

Just my opinion. Obs he’s disappointed but incredibly happy and proud at any opportunity to play for his Country and feels like he played his part in the WCQ with his appearances… 

He’s looking forward to the nations league and is focused on continuing his great form for Basel. Big game vs Young Boys Sunday!! 

Edited March 31, 2022 by spitfire

[costarg]

2 hours ago, ballerz said:

Atiba deputises at CB for club from time to time. He obviously has better ball playing skills than any of our CB options. If you want to build from the back, he is a good option. He gives up much less in marking and aerial abilities than what is gain with his passing and build up play from the CB spot. Mind you, we do not have any rock solid defenders - the type where you don’t have to cringe when we are under pressure. So who is the player you have in mind that is a clear cut upgrade to Atiba from a defensive perspective?

I understand your point, but filiing in for a CB in the Turkish league doesn't mean you can play CB at the World Cup.

[costarg]

41 minutes ago, spitfire said:

I think is all honesty Liam is a victim of a system 3-5-2 does not account for wingers and Liam is a full winger not a wing back he can play left or right mid in a 442 but the formation doenst suit him or his style. I think he could have score 20 goals in the Swiss league and it wouldn’t matter. Remember he played 90 mins vs Marseille 2 weeks ago!!!🤷🏻‍♂️
 

Just my opinion. Obs he’s disappointed but incredibly happy and proud at any opportunity to play for his Country and feels like he played his part in the WCQ with his appearances… 

He’s looking forward to the nations league and is focused on continuing his great form for Basel. Big game vs Young Boys Sunday!! 

You nailed it.  It's just unfortunate and in no way a dis of Liam's talent.  It really seems like a formation challenge.  

Such a reasonable comment coming from you.  Congratulations!

[Corazon]

1 hour ago, jonovision said:

I'm fine with that being called offside. But on further viewing, David was also absolutely fouled in the box for a penalty. Guy goes through his leg from the back without coming near the ball

I'd have to see the play again but if the ref called a foul on Junior for his clean tackle between the legs of the Panamanian player, I would see no reason as to why the foul on David should have been given.

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I will be brutally honest:  handwringing about three guys not seeing any minutes in this window sounds like rep soccer parent talk on the sidelines.

They're pros.  They need to deal with it.   

What you're saying: Herdman is not a pro. He doesn't deal with it either. 

He does not have to manage a roster, while a pro does. As he has never managed a club team, he has never had to deal with roster management in a real way. In the end we should not complaining about the Brit at Notts Forest denying Laryea, because we have a Brit at Canada working in the same parameter. Ignore some of the basics. 

It is actually worse, since the Notts manager pays no attention to his players on their national team duty, while Herdman pays a lot his players' club play. Cornelius was on a team of the month in Greece recently. Millar has been playing European competitions and is scoring. If you want them to buy in, there has to be a minimum of sensibility and make it meaningful. If you think he is not creating some bad blood in the group, you are wrong.

If you want to get dual nationals to commit, you must be a pro. If you want to break with decades of Canadians being discriminated by their clubs for playing for Canada, you have to support them, like a pro would. Then if his motto is the brotherhood and getting us to Qatar, you can't be the one opening up the contradictions and holes in the principle, you should not be the one exposing it's falsehood. Canada is not a brotherhood, that is BS. It is a national team, nothing more. Fortunately he has time to start fixing some things.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Was on my way to work in the car, listening to the Sports.

First item, Barça women's team record attendance; second, World Cup qualifying: the US and Mexico are in, Costa Rica to the playoff, and, literally "Canada has fallen out of Pot 3 and will be replaced by Tunisia in the draw to take place this Friday". 

So I am pleased to hear us being mentioned, as we are increasingly lately. But the story is that we lost and fell out of a higher Pot into a lower one. No one gives a damn if we won the group, same as no one cares if Portugal is where they are because they had to beat Turkey and Macedonia. 

Canada is a football nation, congratulations--oh, and welcome to the real world, enjoy your group in Qatar.

[gator]

14 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Was on my way to work in the car, listening to the Sports.

First item, Barça women's team record attendance; second, World Cup qualifying: the US and Mexico are in, Costa Rica to the playoff, and, literally "Canada has fallen out of Pot 3 and will be replaced by Tunisia in the draw to take place this Friday". 

So I am pleased to hear us being mentioned, as we are increasingly lately. But the story is that we lost and fell out of a higher Pot into a lower one. No one gives a damn if we won the group, same as no one cares if Portugal is where they are because they had to beat Turkey and Macedonia. 

Canada is a football nation, congratulations--oh, and welcome to the real world, enjoy your group in Qatar.

Got the exact same shit on our local radio after they discussed Blue Jay spring training and Jr Hockey then mentioned Canada's failure last night and how they took a drop in the FIFA rankings, we have a ways to go and all of the feel good promotional videos will only help so much! In saying that I think when we actually start playing matches in the World Cup there will be huge media coverage and general awareness, let's hope the team can play well!

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 minutes ago, gator said:

Got the exact same shit on our local radio after they discussed Blue Jay spring training and Jr Hockey then mentioned Canada's failure last night and how they took a drop in the FIFA rankings, we have a ways to go and all of the feel good promotional videos will only help so much! In saying that I think when we actually start playing matches in the World Cup there will be huge media coverage and general awareness, let's hope the team can play well!

Of course, you are right. I'll get over this slip up soon enough, though today I have been irritated by it.

We get to reset, and maybe the staff get a rest, I am sure it has been intense for all of the CSA. We can enjoy MLS, CPL, end of European club competitions, the players can get their heads out of the NT for a while. 

I think we'll get offers for friendlies going forwards, and we may only get the September window to do them, then right before Qatar. I think we'll play Nations League then 3 friendlies before Qatar. Not much, really. 

However disappointed we may be with tomorrow's draw, we'll get over it quickly, I think. Instead of being overwhelmed, we'll have time to focus on stopping Mbappe or getting through the Germany midfield, we'll warm into it I am sure. 

I personally believe, as we now sit, that getting a goal and a win in Qatar, or say two draws, will be a fair accomplishment. I don't think our chances of getting out of a group are good at all.

[SpursFlu]

My opinion is more people than not are savy football fans now and I think some of the bandwagon coverage might have been a little too optimistic trying to sell this thing. Tomorrow the news will be our group and all will be forgotten. Then we've got all sorts of things that will happen over the next 7 months and hopefully people have realistic expectations. I think getting out of the group is a slightly realistic goal. 1 win would be a realistic goal

[zeelaw]

I had FAN590 on the car radio last Tuesday and they were talking about the world cup, all of a sudden one guy mentioned a North American U23 team and Connor McDavid.

I quickly turned the car into a ditch and now my ghost is writing this post.

[rkomar]

I believe that our system includes a player on the field who signals formation changes on the fly to the rest of the team based on their assessment of the situation.  I know that Osorio, and probably Piette, are some of those trusted to be in that position.  I wouldn't doubt that Hutchinson is also one of those trusted guys.  Maybe playing him at CB last game had more to do with getting one of those special guys on the pitch in some position rather than him being a better CB than some of the other candidates.

[clamlinguine]

7 hours ago, narduch said:

I just wonder if Herdman doesn't think Atiba has the pace to play midfield at the World Cup level.

Play him limited minutes in the midfield I'd think.

[narduch]

16 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Of course, you are right. I'll get over this slip up soon enough, though today I have been irritated by it.

We get to reset, and maybe the staff get a rest, I am sure it has been intense for all of the CSA. We can enjoy MLS, CPL, end of European club competitions, the players can get their heads out of the NT for a while. 

I think we'll get offers for friendlies going forwards, and we may only get the September window to do them, then right before Qatar. I think we'll play Nations League then 3 friendlies before Qatar. Not much, really. 

However disappointed we may be with tomorrow's draw, we'll get over it quickly, I think. Instead of being overwhelmed, we'll have time to focus on stopping Mbappe or getting through the Germany midfield, we'll warm into it I am sure. 

I personally believe, as we now sit, that getting a goal and a win in Qatar, or say two draws, will be a fair accomplishment. I don't think our chances of getting out of a group are good at all.

This window has really been humbling. 

We were flying high with that 6 game win streak and perhaps it got to our heads.

Hopefully they can use the CR and Panama losses as lessons learned.

[Unnamed Trialist]

12 minutes ago, narduch said:

This window has really been humbling. 

We were flying high with that 6 game win streak and perhaps it got to our heads.

Hopefully they can use the CR and Panama losses as lessons learned.

We are much better off going to Qatar with doubts and humility than on a run of wins, which would likely be delusional. 

Which is why it is not bad to face a real quarter-final level rival in the lead up, just to see where we stand. Clearly neither the States nor Mexico are that level, but we got beat by Panama and Costa Rica, who are bottom end Pot 4 level teams.

The Pot business is irritating, but I accept Herdman was caught between a rock and a hard place and was not as sharp as he could have been. Most teams after winning leagues or trophies tend to have slip-ups, we see it in leagues all the time, clinching a title then letting up. I am mostly bothered by Cornelius and Millar not getting minutes, there was no reason for that really. 

I am also encouraged by the losses being tight, marginal, as it shows we were competitive to the last minute and had results in sight in both matches, we never really got lost.

[gator]

16 minutes ago, narduch said:

This window has really been humbling. 

We were flying high with that 6 game win streak and perhaps it got to our heads.

Hopefully they can use the CR and Panama losses as lessons learned.

I have been harsh on Herdman especially after the loss on Wednesday and agree losing both matches in Central America seems like a step backwards as if we haven't progressed, one of JH's strengths is learning from mistakes so hopefully that continues!

[narduch]

17 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

We are much better off going to Qatar with doubts and humility than on a run of wins, which would likely be delusional. 

Which is why it is not bad to face a real quarter-final level rival in the lead up, just to see where we stand. Clearly neither the States nor Mexico are that level, but we got beat by Panama and Costa Rica, who are bottom end Pot 4 level teams.

The Pot business is irritating, but I accept Herdman was caught between a rock and a hard place and was not as sharp as he could have been. Most teams after winning leagues or trophies tend to have slip-ups, we see it in leagues all the time, clinching a title then letting up. I am mostly bothered by Cornelius and Millar not getting minutes, there was no reason for that really. 

I am also encouraged by the losses being tight, marginal, as it shows we were competitive to the last minute and had results in sight in both matches, we never really got lost.

Kind of crazy that Cornelius had as many minutes as Ferreira in our entire campaign 

[vancanman]

22 hours ago, footballfreak said:

Can’t play Costa Rica in the group. Pot 1 teams are USA, Mexico, Canada, and Costa Rica. Full pots should be released when they update the CONCACAF ranking index.

Oh well.  Thank you

EDIT:  Because I'm half asleep

Edited April 1, 2022 by vancanman

[BearcatSA]

3 hours ago, narduch said:

This window has really been humbling. 

We were flying high with that 6 game win streak and perhaps it got to our heads.

Hopefully they can use the CR and Panama losses as lessons learned.

The Ticos were a man to the good for over  half the match with one of the top keepers in the world between their posts and still bunkered for dear life against our side which didn't have it's best player for any of our matches in this window.  We did the business at home in style and the inevitable hangover effect would be a factor in the let down in Panama.  That one match was the humbling one, but not the whole window.

[Club Linesman]

3 hours ago, gator said:

I have been harsh on Herdman especially after the loss on Wednesday and agree losing both matches in Central America seems like a step backwards as if we haven't progressed, one of JH's strengths is learning from mistakes so hopefully that continues!

90+% of Herdman’s calls have been right.  He does learn from his mistakes.  Hopefully he will learn from the second US Nations League game and not allow the players to determine the plan for the games.