Match Thread: Gold Cup - Group Stage: Canada vs Guatemala - Saturday July 1, 2023 - 9:30 pm ET/6:30 pm PT

[narduch]

2023 Concacaf Gold Cup - Group Stage - Matchday 2

Canada vs Guatemala

Saturday July 1, 2023 - 9:30 pm ET/6:30 pm PT

Venue: Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, USA

Canada tied Guadeloupe in their opening match 2-2.

Guatemala defeated Cuba 1-0.

Canada Roster:

Guatemala Roster:

Referee:

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by narduch

[ADP10]

We haven’t faced Guatamala in a competitive match since 2007

[TGAA_Star]

Canada I won't be surprised if we lose to Guatemala honestly especially if you can draw with Guadeloupe of all teams. This team just angers the hell out or me.

[narduch]

Match start will probably be after 10pm ET.

I will update the 1st post once I confirm 

[Bigandy]

3 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

Canada I won't be surprised if we lose to Guatemala honestly especially if you can draw with Guadeloupe of all teams. This team just angers the hell out or me.

Guadeloupe is miles better than guatemala on paper. 2 mls guys, one league 1 guy and then pretty much locals. 

guadeloupe had guys playing in top 5 leagues last season.... Thats a massive difference. 

[VinceA]

5 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

Guadeloupe is miles better than guatemala on paper. 2 mls guys, one league 1 guy and then pretty much locals. 

guadeloupe had guys playing in top 5 leagues last season.... Thats a massive difference. 

Don't take the dude you replied to seriously. His takes are either hilariously wrong or the most obvious "Alphonso Davies is good at soccer" stuff.

Edited June 29, 2023 by VinceA

[trc2014]

Reading mixed things about whether Rubin will be able to play Saturday.  Big loss if he is unavailable.

[Alex]

21 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

Canada I won't be surprised if we lose to Guatemala honestly especially if you can draw with Guadeloupe of all teams. This team just angers the hell out or me.

6 guys had their 1st cap! I expected a close game with Guadeloupe. No big deal, we win the next 2.

[Cadeau]

I wonder who’s filling the leadership spots that Doneil (the big brother)and Atiba (father) left behind.

[InglewoodJack]

2 hours ago, Cadeau said:

I wonder who’s filling the leadership spots that Doneil (the big brother)and Atiba (father) left behind.

Phil Neville and ZBG

[Shway]

I expect nothing from this match, but hope we can pull out the W.

Yes Guatemala doesn't have much players playing in top leagues, but they always have a brand a footy that they play. 
And with only maybe Laryea, and Ahmed showing they can break down players, I don't know where our goals will come from. 

2-1 final result. For who, I don't know.

[Bigandy]

1 hour ago, Shway said:

I expect nothing from this match, but hope we can pull out the W.

Yes Guatemala doesn't have much players playing in top leagues, but they always have a brand a footy that they play. 
And with only maybe Laryea, and Ahmed showing they can break down players, I don't know where our goals will come from. 

2-1 final result. For who, I don't know.

Hoillet and millar were creating plenty of opportunities. Millar had several great crossing opportunities but the delivery wasnt quite there. Hoillet was terrific for spells in the game. Surely hes included with laryea and ahmed. 

Oso on current form is a bit of an issue but usually hes good for a few chances. I think against a weaker team, he can contribute. 

I wouldnt sleep on shaff either. If he can find space to run into, he can create chances. 

 

[ADP10]

If the turnout is the same as the last Guatamala game, its basically going to be another away game. I’m betting on another draw

[dyslexic nam]

4 hours ago, ADP10 said:

If the turnout is the same as the last Guatamala game, it’s basically going to be another away game. I’m betting on another draw

Nah.  We got this. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by dyslexic nam

[Stoppage Time]

Absolute must win on Saturday. Herdman has to start his strongest lineup, and he has to make a defensive change. How about:

St. Clair in goal and Bombito at CB to start? One of the two slow CB's, SV or ZM, has to start on the bench.

 

 

 

 

[VinceA]

13 minutes ago, Stoppage Time said:

Absolute must win on Saturday. Herdman has to start his strongest lineup, and he has to make a defensive change. How about:

St. Clair in goal and Bombito at CB to start? One of the two slow CB's, SV or ZM, has to start on the bench.

 

 

 

 

Herdman believes his strongest line up includes Borjan and Vitoria, and playing players out of position.

[Stoppage Time]

2 hours ago, VinceA said:

Herdman believes his strongest line up includes Borjan and Vitoria, and playing players out of position.

And that's the rub.  Hopefully, the experimentation stops for this game. 

[Shway]

15 hours ago, Stoppage Time said:

Absolute must win on Saturday. Herdman has to start his strongest lineup, and he has to make a defensive change. How about:

St. Clair in goal and Bombito at CB to start? One of the two slow CB's, SV or ZM, has to start on the bench.

Spot on with these changes, as much as I still want to see Bombito in the middle again(reminded me of what we expected of Okello to be at least) I also want to see him in the back as his pace and comfortability on the ball could be key. 

I hope we see more of JRR, Zator, and and finally see Loturi.
 

[cornerkick]

Red jerseys please.  July 1st

[Obinna]

On 6/29/2023 at 8:29 AM, VinceA said:

Don't take the dude you replied to seriously. His takes are either hilariously wrong or the most obvious "Alphonso Davies is good at soccer" stuff.

Be that as it may, dropping points would not surprise me now that we've done so against Guadeloupe. I get the top 5 players argument, but this is tournament soccer and anything can happen. We are essentially playing an away game, where the majority will be Guatemalan fans. They are coming off a win and they had less travel. They have had good results in friendlies including beating Costa Rica.

This game is not a guaranteed W.

[Obinna]

18 minutes ago, Shway said:

Spot on with these changes, as much as I still want to see Bombito in the middle again(reminded me of what we expected of Okello to be at least) I also want to see him in the back as his pace and comfortability on the ball could be key. 

I hope we see more of JRR, Zator, and and finally see Loturi.
 

I want to see a back 4 of Laryea-Kennedy-Bombito-ZBG

Fine with McGraw for Bombito though.

Don't need to see Bombito again in midfield. Too much on the line after dropping points. A lot of upside but too raw in an unfamiliar position. Loturi just spent a whole season playing in midfield. Role him out or even Fraser if you don't trust Loturi.

[johnyb]

1 hour ago, cornerkick said:

Red jerseys please.  July 1st

I have a hunch the reason we haven't seen the Red, is because they want the Women to Premier them at the WWC.

[Wasp]

22 hours ago, Obinna said:

I want to see a back 4 of Laryea-Kennedy-Bombito-ZBG

Fine with McGraw for Bombito though.

Don't need to see Bombito again in midfield. Too much on the line after dropping points. A lot of upside but too raw in an unfamiliar position. Loturi just spent a whole season playing in midfield. Role him out or even Fraser if you don't trust Loturi.

Totally agree. We really need to move away from a back-3 IMO as it exposes our biggest weakness more than it adds in the ability to play Larin, David, Davies, and one of Laryea/Buchanan together.

I'd love to see a 4-3-3 today as I still think that's our best formation when at 100%. My picks for tonight would be:

Millar - Cavallini - Hoilett

Ahmed - Loturi - Osorio

Laryea - Kennedy - Bombito - ZBG

St. Clair

 

With the ultimate full strength squad being something like:

Millar/Nelson - David/Larin - Buchanan/Hoilett

Ahmed/Oso - Eustaquio/Loturi - Kone/Choinière

Davies/Adekugbe - Miller/Kennedy - Vitoria/Bombito - Johnston/Laryea

Borjan/St. Clair

SUBS/BUBBLE PLAYERS:

McGill/Sirois, Shaff, Zator, McGraw, Ugbo, Fraser/Spoony (depending on landing spots for both of them at club-level).

 

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Wasp
Correcting error

[Fresh Prince of MTL]

19 hours ago, johnyb said:

I have a hunch the reason we haven't seen the Red, is because they want the Women to Premier them at the WWC.

The Women and Men have different jerseys

[BearcatSA]

20 hours ago, Obinna said:

I want to see a back 4 of Laryea-Kennedy-Bombito-ZBG

Fine with McGraw for Bombito though.

Don't need to see Bombito again in midfield. Too much on the line after dropping points. A lot of upside but too raw in an unfamiliar position. Loturi just spent a whole season playing in midfield. Role him out or even Fraser if you don't trust Loturi.

Too much on the line but you want to see an untried CB partnership, with one of the two really having had very limited pro experience? 

Bombito with Vitoria I could possibly see, even despite the latter's olé on the first goal last game.  I'm not feeling the confidence with Kennedy at the moment and this is definitely a banana peel match.  We need some qb-ing back there, and that was clearly lacking in the CNL final when Vitoria was not starting.