CONCACAF U20 qualifying (for the cycle ending in 2025) + preparation & news

[CanadaFan123]

We should be in the running to host these types of tournaments. Play between Tim Hortons field, BMO and York lions stadium. 

[narduch]

32 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

We should be in the running to host these types of tournaments. Play between Tim Hortons field, BMO and York lions stadium. 

I've been thinking about this too. It's been years since we hosted these youth events. 

[An Observer]

48 minutes ago, narduch said:

I've been thinking about this too. It's been years since we hosted these youth events. 

The last one I can remember was in BC (Victoria?) when Julian De Guzman was playing for our U20s.

[Aird25]

14 hours ago, An Observer said:

The last one I can remember was in BC (Victoria?) when Julian De Guzman was playing for our U20s.

I remember climbing the trees outside RAP to watch 

[DigzTFC]

There was a lot of positives from the match:

- Santiago Lopez was the star until he picked up a knock on his knee

- Swiderski was excellent and looks like pro in the making

- Biello looked like a pro already

- Morgan and Badwall were good

- CGT stood out but had some lapses going too far forward.

- We tried to manage the game by slowing it down and maintaining possession

- Cameron looked decent but taking it to the corner at minute 83 seems silly to me.

- Overall on a different pitch we might be able to assess the team style and I think this could be great learning opportunity players.

 

The negatives:

- Pearlman is a liability passing under pressure.

- The pitch was atrocious from the jump and the ball holding up suited Hondurus style better.

- I'm not a Olivieri fan because every team has enough quality to qualify but he doesn't make a team better

- Moreover, the team had 5 yellow cards midway through the game and he chose to substitute 1 of the those players. He got away with it but it was a disaster waiting to happen.

- Given the context of the pitch it was a red card waiting to happen instead he subbed, I think, 1 player with a yellow with Pearlman struggling.  All of subs were wingers and forwards.

- The coach didn't adjust to the game IMO.  Outside of Lopez injury, the other subs seemed planned to get tournament minutes rather that close out the game.

[BrennanFan]

15 hours ago, An Observer said:

The last one I can remember was in BC (Victoria?) when Julian De Guzman was playing for our U20s.

Julian played forward in qualifying I believe.  That was the year Dunfield was parachuted in for the actual world cup and was immediately made captain, and the great Wynne Belotte was our secret weapon.   

[shorty]

Agree with all Digz’ comments. Pearlman especially. I worried every time the ball came near him, and he got turned a couple of times like he wasn’t there. 
 

That, and Olivieri. But we’ve plumbed those depths many times already on these boards. Nothing surprising or new there. 

Edited July 22 by shorty

[VinceA]

Stewart Baynes played for Colorado this past weekend. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

46 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Stewart Baynes played for Colorado this past weekend. 

I reposted the NoContextCanMNT post about that on the previous page:

On 7/21/2024 at 1:16 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

 

 

 

[VinceA]

48 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

I reposted the NoContextCanMNT post about that on the previous page:

 

I'm seeing from Burgundy wave that he might just be joining the team late.

[74 Whitecap]

11 minutes ago, VinceA said:

I'm seeing from Burgundy wave that he might just be joining the team late.

Having a fresh pair of legs coming in could be a big help, especially with the tournament being played at altitude - the team looked pretty tired by the end of the game vs. Honduras.

[Mihairokov]

On 7/21/2024 at 7:22 PM, CanadaFan123 said:

We should be in the running to host these types of tournaments. Play between Tim Hortons field, BMO and York lions stadium. 

Tough sledding to pry BMO away from TFC and Argos for three weeks in the summer, i'd imagine. Ditto for Tim Hortons Field for the Tiger-Cats and Forge. Some of these Concacaf tournaments are the only chance that smaller countries, including Caribbean ones, have a chance at realistically hosting, so i'm not sure how realistic it might be to expect us to host, but I agree that we should be hosting more of them more frequently. I'm still begging for a Canada-only Gold Cup hosting.

For background:

1987 U-17 FIFA World Cup: Varsity Stadium (Toronto), King George V Park (St. John's), Claude-Robillard (Montreal), Canada Games Stadium (Saint John)

2002 U19 FIFA Women's World Cup: Swangard Stadium (Burnaby), Centennial Stadium (Victoria), Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton)

2001 Concacaf U20: Canada's Group: Centennial Stadium (Toronto)

2007 U20 FIFA World Cup: Olympic Stadium (Montreal), Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton), Lansdowne Stadium (Ottawa), BMO Field (Toronto), Royal Athletic Park (Victoria), Swangard Stadium (Burnaby)

2014 U20 FIFA Women's World Cup: Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton), Moncton Stadium, Olympic Stadium (Montreal), BMO Field (Toronto)

I imagine if we ever hosted this specific event again it would be a similar type of venue. York Lions, Varsity, Ontario Soccer Centre...maybe a good excuse to add some more bleachers to some L1 stadiums, or end up in some of its larger venues (Guelph, etc.). Something like Ottawa/Kingston/Montreal might work.

[Atlantic]

Per Instagram KSB is now with the squad 

[narduch]

1 hour ago, Mihairokov said:

Tough sledding to pry BMO away from TFC and Argos for three weeks in the summer, i'd imagine. Ditto for Tim Hortons Field for the Tiger-Cats and Forge. Some of these Concacaf tournaments are the only chance that smaller countries, including Caribbean ones, have a chance at realistically hosting, so i'm not sure how realistic it might be to expect us to host, but I agree that we should be hosting more of them more frequently. I'm still begging for a Canada-only Gold Cup hosting.

For background:

1987 U-17 FIFA World Cup: Varsity Stadium (Toronto), King George V Park (St. John's), Claude-Robillard (Montreal), Canada Games Stadium (Saint John)

2002 U19 FIFA Women's World Cup: Swangard Stadium (Burnaby), Centennial Stadium (Victoria), Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton)

2001 Concacaf U20: Canada's Group: Centennial Stadium (Toronto)

2007 U20 FIFA World Cup: Olympic Stadium (Montreal), Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton), Lansdowne Stadium (Ottawa), BMO Field (Toronto), Royal Athletic Park (Victoria), Swangard Stadium (Burnaby)

2014 U20 FIFA Women's World Cup: Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton), Moncton Stadium, Olympic Stadium (Montreal), BMO Field (Toronto)

I imagine if we ever hosted this specific event again it would be a similar type of venue. York Lions, Varsity, Ontario Soccer Centre...maybe a good excuse to add some more bleachers to some L1 stadiums, or end up in some of its larger venues (Guelph, etc.). Something like Ottawa/Kingston/Montreal might work.

I don't think it is about spreading them around.

Feels like only USA, Mexico, Honduras and Dominican Republic host these youth tournaments 

[Mihairokov]

16 minutes ago, narduch said:

I don't think it is about spreading them around.

Feels like only USA, Mexico, Honduras and Dominican Republic host these youth tournaments 

Previous Concacaf U20 hosts: Mexico, Honduras, Honduras, USA, Costa Rica, Jamaica
Previous Concacaf U17 hosts: Guatemala, USA, Panama, Honduras, Panama, Jamaica
Previous Concacaf U15 hosts: Curacao/Dominican Republic, USA, USA, Cayman Islands

Seems like the U20s should rotate around the top five, U17s around 6-10th, and U15s anyone below that.

[solsous]

After such a devastating end to the last game, what/who are folks looking for in tonight's game?  Personally, I am looking for composure on the ball.  There should be no excuses for these young men not to be tidy on the ball.

[Aird25]

11 hours ago, Atlantic said:

Per Instagram KSB is now with the squad 

Sorry, who is KSB?

[narduch]

5 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Sorry, who is KSB?

Kimani Stewart-Baynes. Teammate of Bombito.

Was listed on Canada's U20 roster but played on the weekend for the Rapids in MLS. Hilarously was also listed on Canada's bench on Saturday.

Funny that in a roundabout way this is an admission from Colorado that the Leagues Cup isn't to be taken seriously.

Edited July 23 by narduch

[Atlantic]

5 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Sorry, who is KSB?

Kimani Stewart-Baynes

[P-O]

Bordeaux relegated to D3.

Is it the chance Gregoire needed to become a starter that young? Or he should still move?

[Borjans Sweatpants]

53 minutes ago, solsous said:

After such a devastating end to the last game, what/who are folks looking for in tonight's game?  Personally, I am looking for composure on the ball.  There should be no excuses for these young men not to be tidy on the ball.

I'd say thats pretty dependent on the pitch. Last one was horrendous. 

Hope Lopez is feeling up to it tonight and his taking off wasn't anything serious. Will be interesting to see if there's any squad rotation with all the yellows.

I hope KSB gets on for us too. Was a difference maker if I remember back to earlier this year. 

[solsous]

1 hour ago, Borjans Sweatpants said:

I'd say thats pretty dependent on the pitch. Last one was horrendous. 

Hope Lopez is feeling up to it tonight and his taking off wasn't anything serious. Will be interesting to see if there's any squad rotation with all the yellows.

I hope KSB gets on for us too. Was a difference maker if I remember back to earlier this year. 

What I would love to see is the team/players stats.  Does anyone know where I can find that info?

[A Different Perspective]

On 7/21/2024 at 7:22 PM, CanadaFan123 said:

We should be in the running to host these types of tournaments. Play between Tim Hortons field, BMO and York lions stadium. 

Yes - excellent opportunity to help build our youth programs in terms of infrastructure and exposure  - however I would see if could use the opportunity to build future CPL2 smaller venues in one part of the country.  Then replicate in another part of country in future.  So perhaps Southern Ontario would get four modest stadiums built say 3-5 K seating which has 1-2 K proper covered seating and bleachers for remainder  and because these are “international events” - funding can come from three levels of government.   
 

in your scenario Semis could be played in Hamilton and final at BMO.

Again could be Quebec, The Maritimes, the Prairies and West - would use the opportunity to leverage a future grassroots movement   

 

[narduch]

This tournament is only using 2 stadiums.

[Mihairokov]

If people think a Concacaf U20 tournament is going to be at BMO they need to think a little harder on it. Venues are always better if they're too small, not too big. This week in Mexico should be a good indicator of that.