Match Thread (for non Canada games)

[Gian-Luca]

Great shot of Ronaldo on the bench looking bitter, jealous and pissed off after the goal. I wonder if he will leave the stadium before the match is over. 

Edited December 6, 2022 by Gian-Luca

[Allez les Rouges]

2 minutes ago, jonovision said:

You're probably right, but it's also not clear at all to me who are the tournament's best teams. Of the remaining teams, only Brazil, France and England have been mostly dominant, although all took a match off.

Good point. After destroying Costa Rica, Spain hasn't won a single game, so even adjusting for opponent quality, I think they're clearly a level below Brazil, France and England.

Also Argentina and the Netherlands seem to have less trouble finishing than Spain, though that may be due to opponent quality. And I don't think things will get easier for Morocco against Portugal or Switzerland (looks like Portugal).

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Great shot of Ronaldo on the bench looking bitter, jealous and pissed off after the goal. I wonder if he will leave the stadium before the match is over. 

Was it confirmed he had insulted his coach, that is why he is sitting? I don't pay attention to all his petulance.

[canuckgbp]

Old man Pepe still can leap 

[dyslexic nam]

Lol.  Pepe scores a huge goal for Portugal.  Ronaldo is part of the crowd celebrating.  And in the immediate aftermath the cameras show not one but two extended shots of Ronaldo in his bench bib (Pepe who?). 

[Allez les Rouges]

I thought Widmer (right back) has been excellent for Switzerland. He's out sick. Wonder how much of a difference it's making.

[Unnamed Trialist]

5 minutes ago, Allez les Rouges said:

Good point. After destroying Costa Rica, Spain hasn't won a single game, so even adjusting for opponent quality, I think they're clearly a level below Brazil, France and England.

Also Argentina and the Netherlands seem to have less trouble finishing than Spain, though that may be due to opponent quality. And I don't think things will get easier for Morocco against Portugal or Switzerland (looks like Portugal).

Since the 2010 win, Spain has won just three matches in total at World Cups, and they were in all of them since then. 

You need a new generation to come in hungry, with a sense of having never won anything. Has to be the end of the line for Busquets and Alba, and probably better. 

[SoccMan]

The only thing that I wonder about that Morocco Canada game , when Morocco had their foot on the pedal in the first half they destroyed us unfortunately. They scored two goals that it looked like men playing boys at one point . In the second half they realized they had this game and let Canada come at them. If Morocco had kept playing the way they did in the first half that game could have gotten ugly. Canada had a great game against Belgium and a great  first 35 minutes more or less against Croatia and that was basically it.  A great learning experience for Canada , and our young players got that experience that hopefully they can learn from and take it into 2026. Hopefully we can develop some good Center backs and discover a few more Eustaquio’s and Buchanans and some other surprises. Moreover, we also need our young players that played in the World Cup to continue to improve, while we need Herdman to learn from his mistakes if he stays and show a better tactical awareness in 2026.

[El Hombre]

11 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

The only thing that I wonder about that Morocco Canada game , when Morocco had their foot on the pedal in the first half they destroyed us unfortunately. They scored two goals that it looked like men playing boys at one point . In the second half they realized they had this game and let Canada come at them. If Morocco had kept playing the way they did in the first half that game could have gotten ugly. Canada had a great game against Belgium and a great  first 35 minutes more or less against Croatia and that was basically it.  A great learning experience for Canada , and our young players got that experience that hopefully they can learn from and take it into 2026. Hopefully we can develop some good Center backs and discover a few more Eustaquio’s and Buchanans and some other surprises. Moreover, we also need our young players that played in the World Cup to continue to improve, while we need Herdman to learn from his mistakes if he stays and show a better tactical awareness in 2026.

If you remove Borjan gifting Morocco the first goal, how is that game so much different than the Belgium game?

[Harambasa]

2 hours ago, Free kick said:

This was what I hate about the WC,  seeing a team thats goes out there and does nothing to try to win in reg time and extra time,  get rewarded by a win in PK’s. 
 

plus,  the rest of the tournament is now fucked up because a weaker team advanced.  Which in turn means that the final 4 wont be a strong as it should be and wont deliver as interesting games. 

Great logic. I am sure you would say that if Canada is in 1/4 finals

[Allez les Rouges]

10 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

If you remove Borjan gifting Morocco the first goal, how is that game so much different than the Belgium game?

Even disregarding Borjan's mistake, the Morocco game was really terrible until the 30-minute mark - I remember muttering to myself around the 26th minute, "Gosh, this is embarrassing." Canada had trouble completing routine passes - almost zero cohesion. Night and day compared to the Belgium game.

Fortunately, the last hour was good, but it's hard to say how much of it was Canada getting its mojo back and how much of it was just less pressure by Morocco. Probably a bit of both.

[A.D.I.D.A.S.]

Gonçalo Ramos, take a bow.

[jonovision]

Lol, 5-1 Portugal. A score from deep in the realm of Voyageurs lore.

[Cicero]

Themes of WC 2022: lopsided elimination games, everyone can do bicycle kicks, no one can take penalties anymore...

[Free kick]

31 minutes ago, Harambasa said:

Great logic. I am sure you would say that if Canada is in 1/4 finals

No i wouldn’t.  But canada is not in the quarter finals.  So i can say that.

[Gian-Luca]

I think Jan Sommer decided to retire just before that 6th goal went in

[Treppy2]

In this tournament, there have been five or more goals scored in 11 matches. That's the most matches with five or more goals in the World Cup since 1982.

And there's still another eight matches left.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Treppy2

[SoCalTransport]

25 minutes ago, Allez les Rouges said:

Even disregarding Borjan's mistake, the Morocco game was really terrible until the 30-minute mark - I remember muttering to myself around the 26th minute, "Gosh, this is embarrassing." Canada had trouble completing routine passes - almost zero cohesion. Night and day compared to the Belgium game.

Fortunately, the last hour was good, but it's hard to say how much of it was Canada getting its mojo back and how much of it was just less pressure by Morocco. Probably a bit of both.

I didn't think Morroco's quality was that great against Canada. Canada came out snake bitten. They believed the hype. Unfit Kaye was the starter of that game. 

I think Canada can beat them.

[dyslexic nam]

That kid was too old to have a soother.  

[Allez les Rouges]

10 minutes ago, SoCalTransport said:

I didn't think Morroco's quality was that great against Canada.

I agree. They dominated Canada mostly because Canada was just really bad in that first 30 minutes - the Moroccan pressure should not have caused that much trouble. But I do think Morocco eased off subsequently.

[74 Whitecap]

I was talking over World Cup pool picks with a friend before the tournament, and my friend was pushing Portugal and my reason for not picking them was that, 'they can't win when they have Ronaldo wandering around like a pylon for 90 minutes'. So now we see Portugal unleashed. Playing with a full 11 instead of their usual 10 is like a man used to living on a planet with heavier gravity suddenly coming to Earth and prancing around, practically bouncing with every step.

Although, on the other hand, I have to say that Switzerland was uncharacteristically awful in defense, maybe because they had some sickness in the team. Even the best teams in the world can lose by a lot to 1 when there is sickness amongst the team members.

[BearcatSA]

5 hours ago, Kadenge said:

You were SPOT on

Lol!

This was one that I felt could be an upset for a variety of reasons but not the least of which was the wake up call Morocco got in that second half vs us.  They are a side which couldn't afford to overrate their abilities and needed total commitmment to win and they did that vs Spain.

[gator]

3 hours ago, SoCalTransport said:

I didn't think Morroco's quality was that great against Canada. Canada came out snake bitten. They believed the hype. Unfit Kaye was the starter of that game. 

I think Canada can beat them.

They also knew that as long as they didn't lose by a bunch of goals to us they were through, I do think we could beat them on the day but we need to be set up properly with everyone available and not make major errors!

[rightback]

21 hours ago, 74 Whitecap said:

Although, on the other hand, I have to say that Switzerland was uncharacteristically awful in defense

They really were...I don't know that I've seen them play so badly. I saw them beat Spain in September and I thought they had a good chance of getting by Portugal. 

[rightback]

On 12/6/2022 at 2:40 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

Since the 2010 win, Spain has won just three matches in total at World Cups, and they were in all of them since then. 

You need a new generation to come in hungry, with a sense of having never won anything. Has to be the end of the line for Busquets and Alba, and probably better. 

Spain, to me, is an enigma. They wait until the end of the game before deciding they might want to take a shot or two and possibly lose their precious possession. On the other hand, they're perfectly willing to take insane risks to play it out of the back 100% of the time. I guess it's nice to have an identity and philosophy of play but sheesh...