Canada vs Qatar - Friday, September 23rd - 1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific

[dyslexic nam]

8 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

That was their best XI. The only player not playing who could arguably be a starter is Al Haydos who came off the bench anyhow. 
 

This Qatar team is going to get murdered at the World Cup. 

Yeah, if it is true that this is roughly the team they will field in November, they better be damn worried.  We may all be impressed with our team.  And some of us may even be justified in thinking that we will give the better teams in our  group a real challenge.but the reality is that we are one of the lowest ranked teams that will be at the WC and we could have beaten them 4 or 5 to nil today if we were decently clinical.   The home crowd can only carry them so far against top teams.  

[The Beaver 2.0]

Good tune up for the game against Uruguay. Not sure we learned a lot, but there were a few things that cropped up"

1. Davies struggled in the middle of the park. He tried to do too much, to start, but he was also easily contained in the middle of the pitch. I think he needs to play out wide--go figure--and skin defenders down the line and put in deadly crosses.  That, and getting in behind the D on balls over the top from the backline. I think this holds true for opponents such as Qatar as much as it does for those like Uruguay.

2. Hoillet was good, but will he be a defensive liability against better opponents?

3. Does Kone have the intensity required to be Eustaquio's partner in the middle? He looked pretty good.

4. Were we good or was Qatar terrible? We were sloppy here and there, but Qatar really did not create much of anything. Looking forward to Uruguay to see how the guys will respond to a top international side. Huge chance for the guys--and Herdman--to learn a lot about this side and take a few steps forward in their growth.

[CanadianTraveller]

9 hours ago, vancanman said:

Am I really hearing Canada supporters singing in Europe in a World Cup tune up...and we're up 2 - 0?  We've come a long way.

Edmonton/Winnipeg/KW/Toronto/Quebec. Not that far...none from Yukon or NWT. That'd be a long way. 🙂 

The French/Irish Viennese guy wanted to know why all the chants were stolen. Is there an answer? He was kind enough to lead "...go marching in"

[CanadianTraveller]

9 hours ago, Markoaleks said:

Pitch comments?  seems so-so to me.  If this was being played at BMO- would the Argos dissing dominate this chat? 

Prior to the match - lower-end of BMO quality. Not impressive. But not dangerous or destructive.

[CanadianTraveller]

9 hours ago, vancanman said:

I remember playing a World Cup Qualifier at Swangard against some Central American team in blue and white with extra-tight 70's shorts, and I think they brought along the 12-inch disco mix of their anthem.  It seemed to go on for about 15 minutes.  

Was that the '97 match? My recollection was that Jamaica was longer, but maybe I had less patience by then? That Honduras match was more notable for the fans in the stands than the anthem...but I do remember a very drawn out anthem. Perhaps a different match than yours?

[Gian-Luca]

I just watched highlights from the Iran vs. Uruguay match...lot of nasty, cheap dirty fouls by Uruguay that could and probably did produce a bunch of injuries for Iran. I hope the boys remember to wear their shin pads, and might want to consider wearing some elbow pads and bullet-proof vests.

[nolando]

8 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

I just watched highlights from the Iran vs. Uruguay match...lot of nasty, cheap dirty fouls by Uruguay that could and probably did produce a bunch of injuries for Iran. I hope the boys remember to wear their shin pads, and might want to consider wearing some elbow pads and bullet-proof vests.

A little worried, not gonna lie. We are pencil thin at most positions atm.

[PegCityCam]

2 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

Yeah, if it is true that this is roughly the team they will field in November, they better be damn worried.  We may all be impressed with our team.  And some of us may even be justified in thinking that we will give the better teams in our  group a real challenge.but the reality is that we are one of the lowest ranked teams that will be at the WC and we could have beaten them 4 or 5 to nil today if we were decently clinical.   The home crowd can only carry them so far against top teams.  

The Guardian would like a word...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/15/world-cup-2022-power-rankings-final-32-qatar

[CanadaFan123]

Did anyone notice what we were trying with Davies and Sam down the left? A few times they were in what I would describe as a “stalled overlap” where Sam was just holding his position at the shoulder of the RB as they were trying to pull Qatar further back so that Davies could receive the ball deeper and run at them. Didn’t work out but I thought it was interesting.

[P-O]

That doesn't work versus a team that doesn't close you down and is happy to lose the game by a 2 goals margin.

Won't happen at the World Cup, unless we are badly losing and teams will park the bus on us.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

11 hours ago, CanadaFan123 said:

That was their best XI. The only player not playing who could arguably be a starter is Al Haydos who came off the bench anyhow. 
 

This Qatar team is going to get murdered at the World Cup. 

If not their best 11 (no idea honestly), those players have played a whole bunch for their national side.  You have a couple younger players on 18 and 25 caps, a couple 24 year olds in the 50s, and the rest of that starting 11 has over 75 caps, toping off with Hassan (120 caps at 29).   Al Haydos does have 160 caps but is 31.  

One game of football is never a great indicatator and this is not a completely awful team.  They participated in the Asia qualifiers 2nd (group) stage because it was also the qualifier for the Asia Cup.  They won their group without losing a game, so it would have been tough but not outside the realm of possibilty that they qualified for the World Cup on merit. Oman who was just behind them in their group was just behind Austrailia in the next round.  The Socceroos then won a couple playoffs to qualify.  

A warm up for sure, but we don't need to completely dismiss what we saw from Canada.

[Watchmen]

10 hours ago, CanadianTraveller said:

Edmonton/Winnipeg/KW/Toronto/Quebec. Not that far...none from Yukon or NWT. That'd be a long way. 🙂 

I'm at a remote work camp this week in the Yukon, and the news on the tv in the dining hall did show the Canada highlights, if that makes you feel any better.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Watchmen

[narduch]

Skimming through Qatar's recent results and it does look  like we faced their A team yesterday. 

[MauditYvon]

I remember they were pretty solid last Gold Cup, and won AFC Cup in 2019. Looked pretty weak yesterday, tho.

[narduch]

14 minutes ago, MauditYvon said:

I remember they were pretty solid last Gold Cup, and won AFC Cup in 2019. Looked pretty weak yesterday, tho.

The Gold Cup is a weird tournament and a bit of a mirage.

These are their results from October 2021. I would say this is more telling of what is going to happen to them at the World Cup.

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by narduch

[Unnamed Trialist]

19 hours ago, JAVIERF said:

You just don't get the southamerican football mindset.  "Shit can happen" then be prepare.  As Roy Keane said just before WC 2002 "fail to prepare, prepare to fail" 

In a recent poll in Argentina in the radio for football connoisseurs,  Canada is "the dark horse" of WC

No, he's just being a parochial jerk because his dad probably taught him to be that way.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

If not their best 11 (no idea honestly), those players have played a whole bunch for their national side.  You have a couple younger players on 18 and 25 caps, a couple 24 year olds in the 50s, and the rest of that starting 11 has over 75 caps, toping off with Hassan (120 caps at 29).   Al Haydos does have 160 caps but is 31.  

One game of football is never a great indicatator and this is not a completely awful team.  They participated in the Asia qualifiers 2nd (group) stage because it was also the qualifier for the Asia Cup.  They won their group without losing a game, so it would have been tough but not outside the realm of possibilty that they qualified for the World Cup on merit. Oman who was just behind them in their group was just behind Austrailia in the next round.  The Socceroos then won a couple playoffs to qualify.  

A warm up for sure, but we don't need to completely dismiss what we saw from Canada.

Thanks.

I just assume they are playing so much that not all their matches are being played with high intensity. Imagine doing dozens of friendlies, must be hard to keep up the tension.

If they hadn't gone down so quickly it could have been different. But boy were they playing with poor body language from early in, they seemed really deflated after our goals. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

I'm at a remote work camp this week in the Yukon, and the news on the tv in the dining hall did show the Canada highlights, if that makes you feel any better.

Where in the Yukon may we ask?

I've also worked up there.

[Watchmen]

16 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Where in the Yukon may we ask?

I've also worked up there.

Close to Mayo.  That's the nearest town.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Watchmen

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

30 minutes ago, narduch said:

The Gold Cup is a weird tournament and a bit of a mirage.

These are their results from October 2021. I would say this is more telling of what is going to happen to them at the World Cup.

 

I think that's a decent indication, decent to good European sides can destroy them. (Though they did draw with Ireland that same year, while winning series with Azerbaijan and Luxembourg.)

So you would say they would be an above average, below the elite,  CONCACAF (or Asian) side or  a quite low European side. (The third CONCACAF side has been destroyed at the World Cup a few times)

We dominated them but did not destroy them, which gives me a qualified modicum of optimism.

[Unnamed Trialist]

18 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

Close to Mayo.  That's the nearest town.

Getting late in the season up there.

I was snowed on in the mountains east of Ross River in August, years ago.

[mpg_29]

13 hours ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

Good tune up for the game against Uruguay. Not sure we learned a lot, but there were a few things that cropped up"

1. Davies struggled in the middle of the park. He tried to do too much, to start, but he was also easily contained in the middle of the pitch. I think he needs to play out wide--go figure--and skin defenders down the line and put in deadly crosses.  That, and getting in behind the D on balls over the top from the backline. I think this holds true for opponents such as Qatar as much as it does for those like Uruguay.

My theory with Davies is that his strengths are amplified the more space he can exploit and are neutralized in congested areas. This is why I don't just automatically agree with putting him up front.

There is reason Bayern plays him as a wingback and it's because he can exploit the most amount of space(in both directions by the way). Most of Davies dangerous plays are when he beats players before or around the halfline and then has a lot of space to run into.

The exception imo would be against a very strong opponent that is dominating possession where the backline is completely overwhelmed and pinned back for a lot of the game. In that scenario all congestion is near the backline and Davies is neutralized as counterattacking threat. In this scenario having playing him as a forward(loitering up near the halfline) keeps him out of the congestion and he remains a counter attacking threat even if we have minimal possession.

Edited September 24, 2022 by mpg_29

[Watchmen]

9 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Getting late in the season up there.

I was snowed on in the mountains east of Ross River in August, years ago.

Yup. Dusting of snow on the peaks this week.

[BearcatSA]

I liked the hesgoal.com feed I had of what I watched and heard (no pbp, only could watch for 20 minutes).  Whenever I hear Herdman yell, I am reminded of the speaking portion of Pink Floyd's song "The Wall" ("If you don't have your meat, how can you have any pudding!").

[Ally McCoist]

2 hours ago, narduch said:

The Gold Cup is a weird tournament and a bit of a mirage.

These are their results from October 2021. I would say this is more telling of what is going to happen to them at the World Cup.

 

It's these results why I kept telling people that Qatar are overrated - and to be quite frank, why I was never a fan of this friendly match up to begin with. Bookies thought the same thing and as a result, I was able to make a killing profit off the game yesterday (and to whoever followed me) - and note, I rarely sports bet anyway I think it's a loser's game but I saw this value and had to take advantage.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Ally McCoist