Match Thread: Gold Cup - Group Stage: Canada vs Guadeloupe - Tuesday, June 27, 2023 - 7 pm ET/4 pm PT

[TGAA_Star]

Really just what are we doing? What are we doing? 

[Club Linesman]

Just now, Floortom said:

Just got back from the game. My thoughts 

1. The crowd was actually quite good. Was bigger and more energetic than I expected. And they were rewarded with a pretty embarrassing performance.

2. Surprised to read many of these thoughts here. We drew at home to Guadeloupe and apparently most of our players were good according to reviews here.

3. Only positive surprise for me was Ahmed - who I have watched very little of this year in Vancouver. In person you can see how quick he is and his ability in tight spaces. Will be interesting to see how he develops in the next two years.

4. Osorio was terrible - consecutive horrendous performances in a Canadian shirt. I get he’s just coming back from injury but he’s nowhere near good enough right now.

5.  I had seen a bit of McGraw with Portland and was pretty impressed with his defensive ability. Seeing him in person was pretty surprising - just terribly slow. Doesnt mean he can’t have a place in our squad but you have to imagine his upside and utility are limited.

Agree with everything except Ali being that great. It is obvious we don’t have the depth of tier 1 nations. Ali is intriguing but there was so much shit in that game it is hard to take.

[gwsmith63]

2 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Just got back from the game. My thoughts 

1. The crowd was actually quite good. Was bigger and more energetic than I expected. And they were rewarded with a pretty embarrassing performance.

2. Surprised to read many of these thoughts here. We drew at home to Guadeloupe and apparently most of our players were good according to reviews here.

3. Only positive surprise for me was Ahmed - who I have watched very little of this year in Vancouver. In person you can see how quick he is and his ability in tight spaces. Will be interesting to see how he develops in the next two years.

4. Osorio was terrible - consecutive horrendous performances in a Canadian shirt. I get he’s just coming back from injury but he’s nowhere near good enough right now.

5.  I had seen a bit of McGraw with Portland and was pretty impressed with his defensive ability. Seeing him in person was pretty surprising - just terribly slow. Doesnt mean he can’t have a place in our squad but you have to imagine his upside and utility are limited.

Was there actually booing? Apparently one soccer was reporting that but others are saying that didn’t happen.

Just curious. 

[DeRo_Is_King]

11 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

This f****** team just frustrates the shit out of me like seriously? Seriously? This is a team that we should be putting away especially given our talent, given our quality. Like we shouldn't be going behind to start the game and then barely drawing with a team like Guadeloupe like this is embarrassing.

I feel your pain, but on paper, you have Gravillon who plays in Serie A, Ambrose scoring for Oostende in Belgium, a few Ligue 2 and Swiss Super League players, and the team coming off of some great qualifying results.

To my knowledge, odds were 20 to 1 pre-match for a Guadeloupe win, but there actually isn't that big of a drop from our Gold Cup squad to the visitors tonight. 

[trc2014]

Just now, gwsmith63 said:

Was there actually booing? Apparently one soccer was reporting that but others are saying that didn’t happen.

Just curious. 

I honestly got the sense they were booing the quick whistle by the ref the end the game while the ball was in Guadeloupe’s half. 

[gwsmith63]

1 minute ago, trc2014 said:

I honestly got the sense they were booing the quick whistle by the ref the end the game while the ball was in Guadeloupe’s half. 

Cheers. 

[ADP10]

I left right at the whistle but people I think some people on the train said they were booing Herdman

[Markoaleks]

two highlights of the evening 

errr 3

1. nice night out with my lad and my spouse

2. 5 cap ties - would have taken 6 with a McGill match but 5 is good - all of them added value at various levels 

3.  Gold medal - @gator met this lad ! 

 

[gwsmith63]

2 minutes ago, ADP10 said:

I left right at the whistle but people I think some people on the train said they were booing Herdman

Thanks

[Shway]

10 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Just got back from the game. My thoughts 

1. The crowd was actually quite good. Was bigger and more energetic than I expected. And they were rewarded with a pretty embarrassing performance.

2. Surprised to read many of these thoughts here. We drew at home to Guadeloupe and apparently most of our players were good according to reviews here.

3. Only positive surprise for me was Ahmed - who I have watched very little of this year in Vancouver. In person you can see how quick he is and his ability in tight spaces. Will be interesting to see how he develops in the next two years.

4. Osorio was terrible - consecutive horrendous performances in a Canadian shirt. I get he’s just coming back from injury but he’s nowhere near good enough right now.

5.  I had seen a bit of McGraw with Portland and was pretty impressed with his defensive ability. Seeing him in person was pretty surprising - just terribly slow. Doesnt mean he can’t have a place in our squad but you have to imagine his upside and utility are limited.

Spot on. I too was at the game, and share the same thoughts plus more.

I give some guys blighs on their debut…But for the one who this is there 10+ …naw.

I want to see Nelson next game, and ZBG.

 It’s great how Cavallini got that goal, but he’s a super sub at this point in his career. His strength is usually a key point but it was non existent tonight.

[eramosat]

23 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

This f****** team just frustrates the shit out of me like seriously? Seriously? This is a team that we should be putting away especially given our talent, given our quality. Like we shouldn't be going behind to start the game and then barely drawing with a team like Guadeloupe like this is embarrassing.

🎶Two steps forward.. 🎵 and one step back... 🎶

Results like this is why the association shouldn't pay the men's (or women's) national team members very much money, for anything. It's mostly a privilege and honor to play, and not a windfall by any stretch.  The $$ needs to go elsewhere, for a long time.

[Gian-Luca]

14 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

I honestly got the sense they were booing the quick whistle by the ref the end the game while the ball was in Guadeloupe’s half. 

Yeah, that was my sense too. I think KJ was full of garbanzo beans on that one.

[YorkRegionFan]

Since Guadelope is a non FIFA nation, does this game cap tie Ahmed/Bambito/McGraw/Zator/Russell-Rowe?

[youllneverwalkalone]

One of the things you learn as a long time Voyageur is that at least 60% of the stages of grief are useless. Forget the anger, bargaining and depression. Start at denial if you must, but move on to acceptance as soon as you can.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 minute ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

One of the things you learn as a long time Voyageur is that at least 60% of the stages of grief are useless. Forget the anger, bargaining and depression. Start at denial if you must, but move on to acceptance as soon as you can.

I woke up as 4am to read the entire thread. Got to this, going back to bed.

[eramosat]

3 minutes ago, YorkRegionFan said:

Since Guadelope is a non FIFA nation, does this game cap tie Ahmed/Bambito/McGraw/Zator/Russell-Rowe?

You can become the lead authority on this question, simply by looking up the related and convoluted FIFA rules!  Gold Cup is definitely a senior men's competition with e ability to cap tie players.  Playing against a non-FIFA nation is a rare occurrence, especially in such a competition.

If you made me bet? I would not bet much money....this stuff always is tied up in rule interpretations.

[trc2014]

The good thing is, can’t see this stopping them from moving on and placing first or second is kind of irrelevant as US and Jamaica are essentially equal strength.

[The Beaver 2.0]

37 minutes ago, MauditYvon said:

We have players from Belgium D2, Holland D2, Poland D1, Germany D2, unattached, only played pro football in England D5, etc

Not really the big dog

Yeah, once you get past our starting 11, things fall off pretty darn quick.  But this is the perfect tournament to blood new guys, to see who might grow and become a useful contributor going forward, and to see who just doesn't cut the mustard.

 

[costarg]

2 hours ago, narduch said:

Any changes or are we waiting for 60?

You nailed it.  And I'm 100% certain his changes were planned ahead of time regardless of the score or situation.

[The Beaver 2.0]

Useful for the squad and for the entire program to get such a mediocre performance, if only to remind everyone how far we've yet to go.  Good to be humbled every so often.  If we can grow from this over the next couple of games and into the knockouts, then we'll build resilience, self-belief, and (hopefully) some chemistry and cohesion.  And not that Devos needs more pressure, but perhaps this will expedite the CSA's evolution.  (Mind you, one should not rush such things. Grasping for gimmicky reengineering solutions is not a smart or effective strategy.)

[Gian-Luca]

1 minute ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

Yeah, once you get past our starting 11, things fall off pretty darn quick.  But this is the perfect tournament to blood new guys, to see who might grow and become a useful contributor going forward, and to see who just doesn't cut the mustard.

 

There is a fall-off in talent yes; but it is exacerbated significantly by a fall-off in experience and teammate familiarity in this particular case. I'm not sure what the modern-day record is for a national handing out 1st caps in, not just a meaningful match, but one that is technically a continental champsionship - or rather, what it was, because I think we must have broken it tonight with 5. I think this is why I am perhaps not as down as some, because frankly I don't know what expectations to have for this tourney - usually when the Gold Cup is a B-team tourney for the big teams, we aren't one of the big team and we're sending an A-minus team to compete. Not this time - this is the most decidedly B team I think we have sent to the Gold Cup in a very long time, if ever. I think we should expect to get out of the group and hope that performances improve as this particular B team gains some familiarity & experience to close some of the massive gap from the fall-off, but after that...

[jonovision]

Just now, Gian-Luca said:

There is a fall-off in talent yes; but it is exacerbated significantly by a fall-off in experience and teammate familiarity in this particular case. I'm not sure what the modern-day record is for a national handing out 1st caps in, not just a meaningful match, but one that is technically a continental champsionship - or rather, what it was, because I think we must have broken it tonight with 5. I think this is why I am perhaps not as down as some, because frankly I don't know what expectations to have for this tourney - usually when the Gold Cup is a B-team tourney for the big teams, we aren't one of the big team and we're sending an A-minus team to compete. Not this time - this is the most decidedly B team I think we have sent to the Gold Cup in a very long time, if ever. I think we should expect to get out of the group and hope that performances improve as this particular B team gains some familiarity & experience to close some of the massive gap from the fall-off, but after that...

Correct. This was not a roster put together with an eye to actually winning a trophy. Some will be fine with this. I am not.

[The Beaver 2.0]

Just now, Gian-Luca said:

There is a fall-off in talent yes; but it is exacerbated significantly by a fall-off in experience and teammate familiarity in this particular case. I'm not sure what the modern-day record is for a national handing out 1st caps in, not just a meaningful match, but one that is technically a continental champsionship - or rather, what it was, because I think we must have broken it tonight with 5. I think this is why I am perhaps not as down as some, because frankly I don't know what expectations to have for this tourney - usually when the Gold Cup is a B-team tourney for the big teams, we aren't one of the big team and we're sending an A-minus team to compete. Not this time - this is the most decidedly B team I think we have sent to the Gold Cup in a very long time, if ever. I think we should expect to get out of the group and hope that performances improve as this particular B team gains some familiarity & experience to close some of the massive gap from the fall-off, but after that...

Totally agree. And all of this is exacerbated by key experienced players like Vittoria and Oso having mostly poor performances.  If we don't grow in terms of cohesion, organizational play, chemistry, and resolve over the next couple of games, then I think it is fair to criticize coach and players.  But this is a highly experimental and green group at the moment. Makes Ahmed's performance all the more encouraging, to be frank.

[Mattd97]

Personally I'm just very surprised canada got burned by lack of clinical finishing off a multitude of chances working outside in, and a lack of speed in the backline on counters. Only thing more surprising was giving up a goal on a set piece

 

 

Wait...

 

I'm also starting to wonder if maybe Vitoria wouldn't have beaten the States after all...

Edited June 28, 2023 by Mattd97

[The Beaver 2.0]

3 minutes ago, jonovision said:

Correct. This was not a roster put together with an eye to actually winning a trophy. Some will be fine with this. I am not.

Yes, but who else could Herdman have selected that would have made a profound positive difference?