CANCELLED WC Prep Match #1: Canada vs Panama- Sunday, June 5 4pm PT / 7pm ET, BC Place, Vancouver

[Unnamed Trialist]

Canada - Panama BC Place, Vancouver, Sunday 5 June, 4pm PT / 7pm ET

This was meant to be Canada's first official friendly in preparation for the World Cup. The match replaced the previously cancelled Canada - Iran match.

This match was canceled due to the players refusing to play, a few hours before kickoff. 

The squad called up by John Herdman for this match and the Nations League rivals Curaçao and Honduras is here.

Tickets cancelled: all tickets for the Canada-Panama match and all two-match packs for both Iran and Curaçao have been cancelled and all ticket payments will be returned to the original ticket purchaser. 

Canada roster: 

The Canada call-up was released by the CSA on Wednesday 25 May.

Injuries: Jonathan Osorio has been dropped for injury reasons, he has not been replaced. Also: David Wotherspoon (knee), Liam Millar (arm).

Returning after injury affecting previous call-ups: Alphonso Davies, Samuel Piette.

New Canada call-up: Luca Koleosho

Players not involved in World Cup qualification matches: Raheem Edwards

Panama roster: 

Panama, still with coach Thomas Christensen, had called up these players for their Nations League match vs Costa Rica on 2 June. This is the core Panama roster used in World Cup qualifying. Panama flew in to Vancouver and apparently trained. 

Edited June 6, 2022 by Unnamed Trialist

[Shway]

Akinola was called up?

[johnyb]

Just realized this brings Koleosho back in play

[Unnamed Trialist]

6 minutes ago, Shway said:

Akinola was called up?

Sorry, but funny: I copied this from the Iran thread I started which was up for a couple of weeks and no one said a thing! You are right, no Ayo. 

Anything else I have wrong just post and I'll make the changes, I did this in a rush.

[Shway]

4 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Sorry, but funny: I copied this from the Iran thread I started which was up for a couple of weeks and no one said a thing! You are right, no Ayo. 

Anything else I have wrong just post and I'll make the changes, I did this in a rush.

There was other iMpOrTaNt things to debate.

[cornerkick]

will the Canada red and white, and gold members get a chance to buy tickets in advance of the general release?

[Unnamed Trialist]

Just now, cornerkick said:

will the Canada red and white, and gold members get a chance to buy tickets in advance of the general release?

There does not seem to be time for that.

Regardless, it would be incumbent upon the CSA to honour their committment and make tickets available earlier for their Red and White and Gold members. IMO they should be offering rebates if they cannot do this for the Panama match.

[narduch]

Panama squad for their June 2 Nations League game. Assume it will be the same for when they play us.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 minutes ago, narduch said:

Panama squad for their June 2 Nations League game. Assume it will be the same for when they play us.

See what I have added to the first post. That same page you link to from the Panama federation says that they will do a new call-up after their 2 June NL match vs. Costa Rica. So we don't know if that will affect those travelling to Vancouver: 

"Una vez finalizado el partido ante Costa Rica, el entrenador Thomas Christiansen presentará una nueva convocatoria para los juegos ante Martinica del 9 y 12 de junio, la cual podrá contar con nuevos jugadores registrados previamente en la lista de buena fe del torneo."

 

[Admin]

All tickets for Iran will be refunded, packages or not. 

Those refunds come from TM. 

These tickets will be bought separately. 

Our details will be out shortly.

[Admin]

14 minutes ago, cornerkick said:

will the Canada red and white, and gold members get a chance to buy tickets in advance of the general release?

I doubt it, and I doubt it will be necessary. 

[SpursFlu]

12 minutes ago, narduch said:

Panama squad for their June 2 Nations League game. Assume it will be the same for when they play us.

 

Panama just fell in to some money. Good for them

[toontownman]

Good replacement under the circumstances. Reasonably happy with this at this stage. Way better than no friendly.

[Admin]

1 minute ago, toontownman said:

Good replacement under the circumstances. Reasonably happy with this at this stage. Way better than no friendly.

Good to hear, I was dreading the announcement to some degree thinking it would spiral into a dark abyss.

[umpiredice]

Better than nothing.  Keeps the team fit and ticking over.  All we need now is for TicketMaster to get around to refunding the original payments.  Shame about losing a 50K+ crowd;  I doubt we'll even fill the lower bowl on this short notice.

[footballfreak]

Probably the best opposition we could have gotten on short notice, but I have to admit I am a bit bummed not to see a Red vs White intrasquad game. If it was the third game of the window instead of the first I expect that’s what we would have gotten.

Edited May 31, 2022 by footballfreak

[shortofbrillant]

7 minutes ago, footballfreak said:

Probably the best opposition we could have gotten on short notice, but I have to admit I am a bit bummed not to see a Red vs White intrasquad game. If it was the third game of the window instead of the first I expect that’s what we would have gotten.

The only other option may have been Bolivia, but they do not appear to be playing any matches this window. 

The downside of playing Panama is they will probably play a weakened side because the matches against Martinique are fairly important to them in qualifying for the Gold Cup. I doubt they miss the world cup but thet really do need to take care of the matches against the 3rd place team in their group.

 

I wonder if Iran was a bit of a last ditch effort for a friendly so the end result isn't much different then what would have happpened minus the bad publicity.

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, shortofbrillant said:

The only other option may have been Bolivia, but they do not appear to be playing any matches this window. 

The downside of playing Panama is they will probably play a weakened side because the matches against Martinique are fairly important to them in qualifying for the Gold Cup. I doubt they miss the world cup but thet really do need to take care of the matches against the 3rd place team in their group.

 

I wonder if Iran was a bit of a last ditch effort for a friendly so the end result isn't much different then what would have happpened minus the bad publicity.

Above what you say about a weakened side is fairly clearly laid out. 

Panama has specifically said they'd likely weaken their side vs Martinique, unlike what you've suggested. And their u21s are in France. And they have their WC qualifying core called up for this window. So they can either drop players for us or not. I doubt they will, not substantially, because they don't have much leeway. 

You also have to consider contracts for friendlies often require certain players be on the roster to avoid nations sending diluted squads. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by Unnamed Trialist

[shortofbrillant]

19 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

If you read the thread what you say about a weakened side is fairly clearly laid out. 

Panama has specifically said they'd likely weaken their side vs Martinique, unlike what you've suggested. And their u21s are in France. And they have their WC qualifying core called up for this window. So they can either drop players for us or not. I doubt they will, not substantially, because they don't have much leeway. 

You also have to consider contracts for friendlies often require certain players be on the roster to avoid nations sending diluted squads. 

It wouldn't surprise me if they were really aggressive dropping players for our match, but who knows. Either way, its one more friendly we didn't have on the fixture list yesterday

[Obinna]

I doubt FIFA points enter the equation, but they might, no? Panama had to go through the preliminary rounds like us last cycle, wouldn't they want to give themselves the chance to beat a team (Canada) they already beat recently to gain more points? 

[InglewoodJack]

Stoked for the KoleoSHOW. Let the kid start, finish, lead the crowd cheer after the game, whatever. Hope we see some Brym in this game too

[Admin]

[Redpunkfiddle]

4 hours ago, Obinna said:

I doubt FIFA points enter the equation, but they might, no? Panama had to go through the preliminary rounds like us last cycle, wouldn't they want to give themselves the chance to beat a team (Canada) they already beat recently to gain more points? 

Somewhere out there there is a "Rumbo a EEUU/Canadá/México" thread on page 1 that has all the feverish calculations.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Redpunkfiddle

[A_Gagne]

Well, better than an inter-squad or something, but still kind of disappointed we're not playing a non-CONCACAF team.

[gigi riva]

Better than nothing I was kind of hoping for a non CONCACAF team but none the less its a froendly vs decent competion . To me The September window means more than this