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Canada vs Japan - Thursday, November 17th - 8:40am EST / 5:40am Pacific - Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, The United Arab Emirates

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Unnamed Trialist
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Imo most criticizing Cava for the Panenka are mistaken. The team thought it was hilarious, David was making "crazy" signals. I bet they were still riding the high and laughing about it hours after. It

BearcatSA
BearcatSA

Nice to see the old Laryea back drawing penalties with his craftiness.

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BearcatSA Grand Master

BearcatSA

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The last I checked, the US isn't in our group so the only teams I care about right now are Belgium, Croatia, Morocco, and then either Germany or Spain.  How we deal with them is all that should matter right now.  I'll think about the US again if/when we face them in 2023.

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vancanman Mentor

vancanman

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9 minutes ago, PastPros said:

I believe Herdman was yelling for David to take the penalty. When they were setting up, he was clearly screaming "Johnny! Johnny!"

Which is why Pantemis, Atiba and Johnston were teasing him after it went in.

Thank you.  I was wondering what that was all about.

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apbsmith Experienced

apbsmith

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Excellent result and excellent confidence builder. 

Some things to work on and more importantly, very important lesson learned today... If you switch off for even 1/2 second against higher quality opponents you will get punished. 

Very fortunate not 2-1 Japan in the 90th min after we switched off for 1/2 sec and gave up a break way that Japan banged off the post. 

We looked very impressive for significant portions of this game, I can't wait until next week! 

 

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Sal333 Grand Master

Sal333

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6 minutes ago, Corazon said:

Very strong performance from our boys today and a great way to head into the World Cup.  On top of the great team performance, there were many very good individual performances as well.

Borjan - Didn't have to do too much but he looked confident on the ball.  I was a lot more assured when he had the ball at his feet than St Clair but the pitch today also helped that.

Vitoria - I thought he was fantastic today, but he did look tired for the final 20 minutes which worries me because we're going to need him every game.

Johnston - Fantastic performance.  Leaves me a lot more confident going to Qatar after his previous couple friendlies for us.

Miller - Obviously struggled at times today and is likely our weakest link in our lineup but he has come up big for us in the past 18 months, so I am hopeful he's up for the challenge.

Adekugbe - I thought he had a bit of a slow start with some missed passes but continued to grow into the game to have a solid performance.

Hoilett - Man of the match.  Great skills and great set pieces.  Incredible performance.  Enough said.

Buchanan - Looked very dangerous and caused Japan all sorts of problems.  Wish he could be a bit more lethal in front of goal.

Hutchinson - Felt like he rewound the clocks today.  Doesn't look like a player that has played once this season before today.  Very positive performance.

Piette - Struggled at times on the ball.  I think his role with Canada is to close up games and that's about it.

Larin - Not really involved in the play much in the first half.  Love that he's done so well for us over the years, but I'd rather see us utilize a 3-man midfield in Qatar, especially against teams like Belgium and Croatia.

David - Thought he was fantastic today.  Great work rate off the ball and clever skills.  Unfortunately, never got too many good chances in front of goal.  Having players like Davies and Eustaquio will definitely help us get better scoring chances.

Kone - At this point, I think he's done enough to warrant starting in these games over Piette.  Still has the occasional mental lapses like his pass out of bounds for a corner and being caught on the play where Vitoria should have been carded.  But too good not to play.

Laryea - A performance of the old Laryea.  Was excellent for the entire 30 minutes and caused problems for Japan.  Gotta be happy with him coming off the bench and creating havoc like he did today.

Osorio - A good performance but nothing spectacular.  His tight passing in small spaces is something that we lack in the midfield and he's one of the only ones that can do it.

Kaye - Very, very strong performance.  I know he's been quite poor lately but late in a game, I would use him as a sub for a midfield replacement.

Waterman - Looked much more composed out there today.  Happy he was able to get in and build confidence.  We are an injury/suspension or two away from needing him.

Cavallini - I've been on Cavallini for recent performances but today I thought he was quite good.  Made some great runs.  He doesn't have a great penalty record and I wouldn't be giving him penalty duties in Qatar (at least not with David and Vitoria on the field).  But I'm happy for him, nonetheless.

Except for Miller's play, this game was all good news. Hoilett's quality is showing.  Technically, he is our most gifted player. Atiba played with no pain. Oso looks to be in form. Laryea looks to be on his game again and even Kaye looked decent. To top it off they tweeted Davies is coming into camp tomorrow and The Stache wasn given a rest.

The only thing that can happen to make it better is that Kennedy, Crepeau and Henry each went to a shaman and are good to go on Wednesday.

 

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BearcatSA Grand Master

BearcatSA

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9 minutes ago, mpg_29 said:

Does it make sense to play two forwards? Canada doesn't generate a lot of chances against strong opponents so I'm not sure Larin is really being utilized unless you think he is going to convert on a set piece...

 

This is THE big question after this match.  Hoillet really, really impressed me today in so many facets of the match and if Davies is good to go, then I think we go with the David-Davies-Hoillet attack grouping supported by Buchanan and Adekugbe on the flanks.

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sebdeserio Mentor

sebdeserio

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2 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

This is THE big question after this match.  Hoillet really, really impressed me today in so many facets of the match and if Davies is good to go, then I think we go with the David-Davies-Hoillet attack grouping supported by Buchanan and Adekugbe on the flanks.

IMO we play Davies-David-Buchanan up top and play Hoilett as a roaming attacking mid in front of Eustaquio and Atiba.

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dyslexic nam Grand Master

dyslexic nam

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Just finished watching the game on PVR.  Some thoughts:

- I hate that style of Pk.  I hope Cav just removed himself from consideration as someone who doesn’t take a PK at the WC.  

- this really showed the importance of maintaining 100% focus for the entire game.  Kamal shut off once and it was a goal.  Kaye shut off and they hit the post.  These teams will punish us in ways we aren’t used to.  

- I love how hugs elevate their game for Canada.  Laryea for the Nats looks like the player that earned a move to the championship.  

- This was without Staq and Davies which is really encouraging.   

- I think this shows how absolutely crucial it is that Vitoria stays healthy.   I know some would say Davies or Staq but to me Vitoria may be the most important player because he is such a step up from his peers.  

- also on Vitoria, I do worry about him in our final game if he accumulates yellows in the first two.   

Overall though, job done and a very positive result against a respectable opponent.

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