Match Thread: CONCACAF U-20 - Group Stage - Canada v USA - June 20, 2022 - 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

[ag futbol]

6 minutes ago, narduch said:

Tactical Manager is a fucking idiot

These guys are perpetual clowns and the type that instantly move the goal posts in the face of their own bullshit being proven false. American exceptionalism meets mediocre reality and hilarity follows close behind. 

Hope they get smoked in the WC. Would look good on them for getting cocky after playing a couple friendlies at home

Edited June 21, 2022 by ag futbol

[Soccerpro2]

6 minutes ago, Jack1997 said:

I was just watching tactical manager love watch along and near the beggining they were talking about how Canada isn’t missing any players and this is their best team yet the US is missing like 10, i can’t disagree on the US side but we’re not missing anyone????? JMR could be the best player in the tournament, kosi Thompson would be very important to the team, Lucas Dias would be one out best attackers, Luca koleosho would be our best attacker and would be one of the best in the tourney, Owen Goodman would be our #1 goalie and probably top 2/3 in tourney and Jules Anthony Vilisant would be a starting winger. That’s 6 players who would be locked in starters, these guys are supposed to be anaylists who know things not just cocky Americans 

Including a guy like Koleosho as one our potential missing players is bizarre . He’s actually played in U.S youth national team camps, not in ours. He’s much closer to a missing player for them, than us.

We’re missing a few players but so are most teams, it’s par for the course in these tournaments. It’s hard to get upset at hypotheticals in a perfect world.

[reggietfc]

great game for biello s resume...look a 2-2 tie with the usa,i think smith should get a call with the big boys

[Sal333]

5 minutes ago, narduch said:

Tactical Manager is a fucking idiot

You're half right. He is an idiot but I doubt he gets much fucking done.

[TOcanadafan]

Better tonight.  My positive is that all 3 of our CB’s show some promise.  I could see one or two of them having a higher ceiling than what we currently have on the senior team.

[Gian-Luca]

For anyone who is familiar with Assi, what are his attributes supposed to be? And is he a striker or winger? The rest of the players I can see, regardless of how good of a player they are, the kind of player they are but it was honestly difficult to discern that with Assi in that 2nd half.

My other question after the match is why was Wright taken off? He was a handful for the US on any of the few times we actually got him the ball.

While the optimists predicting we would lose by 4 or 5 goals to the US can now go safely stick their heads in a toilet, the rest of us can hope that team continues to improve with more familiarity and games. Tonight showed anything is possible even against the powerhouses (I saw a lot of familiar MLS first team players for the US, while we basically had one in Zouhir that has seen any minutes, while TFC - without any criticism from our media - held on to two more). We ought not to lose to St. Kitts if even Cuba can beat them 6-0, so, not taking anything for granted, let's get a convincing win on our own and work on some cohesion in the process.

[Soccerpro2]

The only take away tonight is the same take away vs Cuba: Justin Smith looks like he’s got the tools to soon play at a higher national team level.

Not a single teammate of his is making the same case. Maybe some will develop later one, but right now they aren’t remotely close.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Soccerpro2

[Kadenge]

It was Cdn boys (sans Smith) vs American men. Our youth teams have always looked tactically naive and why we need more of them playing pro football. Watching the US they did all the little things that you see from players in pro leagues. The same was true with our U17s... and then our coaching

[Soccerpro2]

2 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

It was Cdn boys (sans Smith) vs American men. Our youth teams have always looked tactically naive and why we need more of them playing pro football. Watching the US they did all the little things that you see from players in pro leagues. The same was true with our U17s... and then our coaching

It’s not about playing pro. We have lots of our guys playing pro now. 

It’s the level the pro player is playing at. It was night and day between some MLS starters and our pros. We need players playing at the highest level, not just being attached to a pro team.
 

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Soccerpro2

[PegCityCam]

Kamal keeping it posi👍

 

[Pottsy3]

16 minutes ago, gator said:

Our Forge guy Poku was quite steady again tonight I thought, he didn't do as much as in the 1st half vs Cuba but of course the circumstances are different vs a stronger opponent, I think this bodes well for him to give Morgan some rest with Forge!

And Poku hasn’t even been particularly sharp for Forge. It goes to show the importance of getting game time against men when developing at this age.

The players who have faced pros consistently versus the MLS academy guys, looked so much more equipped for the speed and strength of the game. This match should be a wake up call to any MLS director that is weary over CPL loans.

[Kadenge]

Anyone know why Ferdinand refused a CPL loan and opted to play in the Quebec league?

[toontownman]

4 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

For anyone who is familiar with Assi, what are his attributes supposed to be? And is he a striker or winger? The rest of the players I can see, regardless of how good of a player they are, the kind of player they are but it was honestly difficult to discern that with Assi in that 2nd half.

My other question after the match is why was Wright taken off? He was a handful for the US on any of the few times we actually got him the ball.

While the optimists predicting we would lose by 4 or 5 goals to the US can now go safely stick their heads in a toilet, the rest of us can hope that team continues to improve with more familiarity and games. Tonight showed anything is possible even against the powerhouses (I saw a lot of familiar MLS first team players for the US, while we basically had one in Zouhir that has seen any minutes, while TFC - without any criticism from our media - held on to two more). We ought not to lose to St. Kitts if even Cuba can beat them 6-0, so, not taking anything for granted, let's get a convincing win on our own and work on some cohesion in the process.

I thought he was a winger/wide forward. He has a good frame on him though, similar to Pepple, JMR and Thompson. Almost beyond his years which makes him a standout in comparison to much of the squad and giant in comparison to Catavalo! He has good physical attributes and looks good on the ball for Cavalry so far this year.

Knight-Lebel played better tonight imo. Too much of the squad lacks sharpness and looked slow. Better second half in general.

We grew into the game for sure and hopefully we can keep stepping it up and gelling. There is talent in this squad but we will need it and more to beat Mexico if we make it that far. 

 

[toontownman]

2 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

Anyone know why Ferdinand refused a CPL loan and opted to play in the Quebec league?

Doesn't like better players running at him 😉

It is a shame as he could have been getting solid minutes in a better league. That said maybe they were going to shift him to Edmonton. You can only push so far..

[TOcanadafan]

9 minutes ago, Soccerpro2 said:

It’s not about playing pro. We have lots of our guys playing pro now. 

It’s the level the pro player is playing at. It was night and day between some MLS starters and our pros. We need players playing at the highest level, not just being attached to a pro team.
 

 

It’s also more of a numbers game at youth tournaments… the US population is roughly 9 times ours.  Plus they’ve got a well funded youth program with regular camps.  We may be expecting a bit too much, until the time comes that we can have regular youth camps, friendlies and meaningful games.  

[SpecialK]

We need our best youth players playing for Canada. If the big three were playing.  We would be dominating. We have good pieces on this team but no star talent offensively. 

[Footyeh]

2 hours ago, Jack1997 said:

I was just watching tactical manager love watch along and near the beggining they were talking about how Canada isn’t missing any players and this is their best team yet the US is missing like 10, i can’t disagree on the US side but we’re not missing anyone????? JMR could be the best player in the tournament, kosi Thompson would be very important to the team, Lucas Dias would be one out best attackers, Luca koleosho would be our best attacker and would be one of the best in the tourney, Owen Goodman would be our #1 goalie and probably top 2/3 in tourney and Jules Anthony Vilisant would be a starting winger. That’s 6 players who would be locked in starters, these guys are supposed to be anaylists who know things not just cocky Americans 

JMR wouldn't have changed anything in the Canada performance today.  He's not a game changing player, he's a very effective player in a team that has the confidence to actually play.  All we did today was just bunker and not use any of the talent we actually have in the team.  

No one here has seen Owen play, I'm sure of it so not sure how you can arrive that he would be #1 or the top 2 in the tournament.  No ones see Jules Anthony Vilsant either.  Lets not be naive, the US are multiple levels ahead of us but that doesn't mean that the coaches can't try to actually play some football rather than instructing the dump and chase.

[Scottie]

2 hours ago, toontownman said:

I thought he was a winger/wide forward. He has a good frame on him though, similar to Pepple, JMR and Thompson. Almost beyond his years which makes him a standout in comparison to much of the squad and giant in comparison to Catavalo! He has good physical attributes and looks good on the ball for Cavalry so far this year.

Knight-Lebel played better tonight imo. Too much of the squad lacks sharpness and looked slow. Better second half in general.

We grew into the game for sure and hopefully we can keep stepping it up and gelling. There is talent in this squad but we will need it and more to beat Mexico if we make it that far. 

 

I'll add that from the Cavalry games I've seen him in this year, he has blazing speed when he can get going on the wing. He can dust defenders with pace and smooth dribbling, but final balls and crosses need some work still.

 

I only caught bits of the game tonight but from what I saw of him he wasn't playing wide like he does at Cavalry, and that pitch wasn't exactly conducive to fast dribbling runs.

[Aird25]

Sometimes it feels like expectations for Canada squads now ignore everything in our history outside of WC qualification. Maybe that’s a good thing though 

[SthMelbRed]

1 hour ago, Footyeh said:

JMR wouldn't have changed anything in the Canada performance today.  He's not a game changing player, he's a very effective player in a team that has the confidence to actually play.  All we did today was just bunker and not use any of the talent we actually have in the team.  

No one here has seen Owen play, I'm sure of it so not sure how you can arrive that he would be #1 or the top 2 in the tournament.  No ones see Jules Anthony Vilsant either.  Lets not be naive, the US are multiple levels ahead of us but that doesn't mean that the coaches can't try to actually play some football rather than instructing the dump and chase.

I've seen him play several times, albeit more than 3 years ago.

[Sal333]

9 hours ago, Kadenge said:

It was Cdn boys (sans Smith) vs American men. Our youth teams have always looked tactically naive and why we need more of them playing pro football. Watching the US they did all the little things that you see from players in pro leagues. The same was true with our U17s... and then our coaching

I think the biggest problem I saw last night and against Cuba is this set of players has had no time together. If my theory is correct they should get better as the tournament goes on. There is talent on this team- maybe not as much as the US - but if they can get more games under their belts I feel the offense will start to gel.

[Kadenge]

44 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

I think the biggest problem I saw last night and against Cuba is this set of players has had no time together. If my theory is correct they should get better as the tournament goes on. There is talent on this team- maybe not as much as the US - but if they can get more games under their belts I feel the offense will start to gel.

Let's hope so. They do lack confidence and that's a huge obstacle. Perhaps the tie will inject some of that in the players. The US were clearly the better team. Need to see a boost in their effort/ compete levels.

[YorkRegionFan]

The frustrating part of watching them play is that the team could not string 2 passes together.  They were not running into space so that there were options for the ball carrier to pass to, so when there was a pass, it was always losing possession.

Hopefully as others mention, as they get more familiarity with each other, there can be build up plays the way the Cubans and Americans were doing.

[Kadenge]

9 hours ago, TOcanadafan said:

It’s also more of a numbers game at youth tournaments… the US population is roughly 9 times ours.  Plus they’ve got a well funded youth program with regular camps.  We may be expecting a bit too much, until the time comes that we can have regular youth camps, friendlies and meaningful games.  

But then we should be able to outclass teams like Cuba no?

[dyslexic nam]

10 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

While the optimists predicting we would lose by 4 or 5 goals to the US can now go safely stick their heads in a toilet, the rest of us can hope that team continues to improve with more familiarity and games. Tonight showed anything is possible even against the powerhouses (I saw a lot of familiar MLS first team players for the US, while we basically had one in Zouhir that has seen any minutes, while TFC - without any criticism from our media - held on to two more). We ought not to lose to St. Kitts if even Cuba can beat them 6-0, so, not taking anything for granted, let's get a convincing win on our own and work on some cohesion in the process.

Come on man.  They had like 70% possession, outchanced us by a landslide, and were by far the better team last night.  We got lucky with a strange own goal while they hit the crossbar and just missed like 2 or 3 other goals.  Anyone who was pessimistic going into that game had good reason to be, and the run of play reinforced that.  We should be able to beat SKN and advance but we need to massively improve to compete in this tournament.  
 

EDIT:  I will admit that we did play much better last night than against Cuba.  And hopefully we can continue to build on that with a win over SKN that gets our confidence up.  Teams that don’t have a ton of time together pre-tournament can grow throughout their tourney play just as a function of the increased time together (we do it in international hockey tournaments all the time - start slow and build).  Hopefully that will happen here - because it has to if we have any hope of achieving a result overall.  

Edited June 21, 2022 by dyslexic nam