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

[VinceA]

The discourse on Social Media is becoming to USMNT-Y. Too many delusional takes from fans who don't actually know the realities of Canadian Soccer.

[costarg]

1 hour ago, Ruud said:

Hoilett off too soon.  Managing the game was shite.  What the hell were they doing losing the ball so easily.  Osorio was gassed but Hoilett gets subbed ?

Takes off Hoilett who was the biggest threat, Millar who looked like he could go another 90 and was working his ass off.  Vitoria had nothing left after the first 15, yet he takes off Bombito instead of sliding him back to replace Vitoria.  Seriously WTF?

[jonovision]

Just now, The Beaver 2.0 said:

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

If this year's tournament was something the national team program valued, you'd expect the most prominent NT players to face some pressure to show up. Clearly they don't so we have a B team. Not the worst thing, I suppose, but we have maybe 4 years left of the prime years of the careers of our best guys overlapping with each other, and opportunities to lift a trophy are rare enough.

[Floortom]

2 minutes ago, VinceA said:

The discourse on Social Media is becoming to USMNT-Y. Too many delusional takes from fans who don't actually know the realities of Canadian Soccer.

Do they still think we’re the “Kings of Concacaf”?

[costarg]

1 hour ago, ADP10 said:

I didn’t think Osorio was that bad

Well he was no where near regular Osorio, and he was definitely not sharp or good.  He spent a lot of time on the ground.  We can agree he might have been average if we're feeling generous.

[ADP10]

Even with our lack of depth for substitutions, this result was flat out embarrassing given the quality in our starting XI and that we were playing at home

Edited June 28, 2023 by ADP10

[grigorio]

4 minutes ago, ADP10 said:

Even with our lack of depth for substitutions, this result was flat out embarrassing given the quality in our starting XI and that we were playing at home

I keep seeing these takes but what quality in our starting 11 are you referring to? 

We have serviceable guys who play in MLS or in mid-level European leagues in our starting 11. In our subs we have guys in low-level European leagues or guys out of contract/struggling for playing time. 

You take the game breakers out of this roster (who stayed home) and it's not so different from Canada 6 years ago where drawing or losing to Guadeloupe or Martinique wasn't that far-fetched. 

[MauditYvon]

11 minutes ago, ADP10 said:

Even with our lack of depth for substitutions, this result was flat out embarrassing given the quality in our starting XI and that we were playing at home

Where is that quality in our starting XI? Borjan and Vitoria are 71 yo combined, and played football for 11 months in a row.

Bombito, McGraw and Ahmed all getting first caps.

Osorio coming back from injury.

Miller playing for Inter Miami. At least they have a winning mentality.

Edited June 28, 2023 by MauditYvon

[ADP10]

The XI has quality enough to be up by atleast two goals before we make subs. Its base level MLS. Us losing to this Guadeloupe team is like an MLS team losing to a Canpl team

 

Edit- I take it back not Canpl, but still a lesser league

Edited June 28, 2023 by ADP10

[DoyleG]

2 minutes ago, ADP10 said:

The XI has quality enough to be up by atleast two goals before we make subs. Its base level MLS. Us losing to this Guadeloupe team is like an MLS team losing to a Canpl team

Oh FFS.

[grigorio]

1 minute ago, ADP10 said:

The XI has quality enough to be up by atleast two goals before we make subs. Its base level MLS. Us losing to this Guadeloupe team is like an MLS team losing to a Canpl team

If a CanPL team had Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 players and a Serie A guy. 

[ADP10]

4 minutes ago, grigorio said:

If a CanPL team had Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 players and a Serie A guy. 

what ligue 1 guy? This “Serie A” quality player doesn’t even have a single cap in the league. Without the Ligue 2 guys (you can have your own debate whether Ligue 2 is equivilant to MLS), they started 4 mediocre guys

Edited June 28, 2023 by ADP10

[jonovision]

6 minutes ago, ADP10 said:

The XI has quality enough to be up by atleast two goals before we make subs. Its base level MLS. Us losing to this Guadeloupe team is like an MLS team losing to a Canpl team

This Guadeloupe team would destroy any CanPL team. 

[VinceA]

1 minute ago, ADP10 said:

what ligue 1 guy? This “Serie A” quality player doesn’t even have a single cap in the league. Without the Ligue 2 guys (you can have your own debate whether Ligue 2 is equivilant to MLS), they started 4 mediocre

Saying Avinel and Alphonse are Ligue 2 guys is a bit egregious as Ajaccio was in Ligue 1 this past season.

[Corazon]

It can be difficult to fully see the game at ground level on the south side of the stadium so there were parts of the game that I likely missed.  So my ratings may not entirely reflect accurately.

I will say that the crowd was larger than I expected considering it was not great weather on a Tuesday night against Guadeloupe with all our stars out.  I believe they said attendance was over 15,000.

Tough late draw.  Heartbreaking to watch live right in front of us.  Wasn’t a great game by any means but there are some positives to take from this.

Borjan - Unfortunate slip on the 1st goal but Laryea and Vitoria really left him out to hang, particularly the latter.  Made a couple world class saves.

Vitoria - Very poor game by him.  Turned inside out multiple times including that first goal.  Terrible back pass late.  Did what he had to do on that yellow card.  Right decision and hindsight is 20/20 but still lack of speed hurt him there.

McGraw - Didn’t look great either as he looked slow and got turned a couple times as well.  Liked his distribution.  Not a great first cap but I’m willing to give him some time as I’ve liked what I’ve seen in MLS.

Miller - Again not a great game.  Gave the ball away too many times once again.

Laryea - Aside from getting beat on the first goal I thought he was one of our better players on the night.  Always dangerous going forward and overall solid defensively.

Millar - Perhaps could have had some better crosses but worked his ass off and thought he generated some dangerous attacks.

Bombito - Mixed thoughts on his performance.  Looked a little bit slow and gave the ball away easily a couple times but showed some promise and playing in an unfamiliar position.

Osorio - I didn’t think he was as bad as some thought on here but I didn’t think he was great today either. 

Ahmed - Was the bright spot of the game.  I thought he did very well and didn’t miss a beat.  He absolutely was player of the game for us.

Hoilett - I too am a little perplexed by his early substitution because he was generating the most and best opportunities for us.  If not for Ahmed, he’s probably my man of the match.

Cavallini - Works hard but just not quite up to the level.  Showed his strikers instincts on that back post run for his goal.  He was MIA for large parts of the game but also not his fault as we attack so much out wide.

Fraser - Thought he started off well once on the field but didn’t think he was great late on in the game.

Shaffelburg - Thought he was okay.  Nothing special.  Apparently at fault for the late giveaway that led to the late goal.

Brym - I thought he was okay.  Had a couple chances and nice skill.

Russell-Rowe - Wasn’t able to contribute much late on and unfortunate to get an own goal on his debut.

Zator - Very little to go off aside from not doing particularly well on that late goal against.

Again it was tough to see parts of the game from the lower stands on the south end.  Missed Borjan’s slip on the goal.  Missed Laryea being the player for us on our goal.  Missed the late giveaway in the northwest corner.  Obviously disappointing result and I’m sure I’d be more disappointed if I watched the game from the tv perspective.  But I’m happy to see some players introduced to the program and we winning the group is still very much in our hands.  It will be interesting to see who gets the start on Saturday.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Corazon

[VinceA]

I'm thankful for everything Vitoria has done, but it's time to move on. His legs are gone.

[Kadenge]

When you have a B squad with A team regulars, A team subs, A team bench players and then newbies/rookies, you have to look at the performances of the players in that order.  If your A players and vets are having poor performances then that's where the criticism should go and I think very few of our vets played well today. That applies to the coaching staff as well.

[Soccerpro2]

Just now, VinceA said:

I'm thankful for everything Vitoria has done, but it's time to move on. His legs are gone.

It’s interesting that we all hoped Bombito would be the answer to our CB problems but Herdman sees him as a 6.

[grigorio]

4 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Saying Avinel and Alphonse are Ligue 2 guys is a bit egregious as Ajaccio was in Ligue 1 this past season.

Gravillon with Torino but played plenty with Reims Ligue 1 last 2 seasons. Ambrose in Belgian Pro League scoring at a good rate. There's probably at least 4-5 Guadeloupe guys who'd be starting for Canada in this same match if not even for Canada's A team. 

[VinceA]

3 minutes ago, Soccerpro2 said:

It’s interesting that we all hoped Bombito would be the answer to our CB problems but Herdman sees him as a 6.

I'm slowly losing faith in his decision making.

[nolando]

2 minutes ago, grigorio said:

Gravillon with Torino but played plenty with Reims Ligue 1 last 2 seasons. Ambrose in Belgian Pro League scoring at a good rate. There's probably at least 4-5 Guadeloupe guys who'd be starting for Canada in this same match if not even for Canada's A team. 

There was some real attacking flair from them. Could have easily scored a couple of more, and one or two of them would have been highlight reel worthy, as well.

[ADP10]

15 minutes ago, grigorio said:

Gravillon with Torino but played plenty with Reims Ligue 1 last 2 seasons. Ambrose in Belgian Pro League scoring at a good rate. There's probably at least 4-5 Guadeloupe guys who'd be starting for Canada in this same match if not even for Canada's A team. 

I agree to disagree

[SpursFlu]

Roster decisions, squad decisions, in game decisions all seem a bit questionable 

Millar, Hoilett coming off so early was crazy. Why do we have a guy who's played 3 MLS games at CB for the biggest bargain bin team in the league starting in our midfield?

Does Herdman still want to be here?

Edited June 28, 2023 by SpursFlu

[Stoppage Time]

59 minutes ago, VinceA said:

I'm thankful for everything Vitoria has done, but it's time to move on. His legs are gone.

Agreed. He has been awesome over time, but, yes, he has slowed down a lot. We need to choose a couple of replacement options and play them regularly in tournaments like the GC, and in friendlies. Oh, wait . . .

[The Beaver 2.0]

22 hours ago, jonovision said:

If this year's tournament was something the national team program valued, you'd expect the most prominent NT players to face some pressure to show up. Clearly they don't so we have a B team. Not the worst thing, I suppose, but we have maybe 4 years left of the prime years of the careers of our best guys overlapping with each other, and opportunities to lift a trophy are rare enough.

I hear you, but it might be wiser for the long term to let those guys get the rest they need rather than coerce them into playing this tournament.  We're still building, and we've still got at least 4yrs of prime footballing in most of those guys IF we don't run them into the ground in the short term

Edited June 29, 2023 by The Beaver 2.0