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

[CanadaFan123]

9 hours ago, Borjans Sweatpants said:

Amen. Some players at this level you can tell are a step above. I'd love to see him included

Justin Smith was a level above last cycle and it clearly would have been a mistake to call him. Lopez should not be getting called until he breaks through for Pumas. If this was 2021 it would be a different story but there are at least 10 players ahead of him.

[blueseeka]

What a fun game. Canada definitely played better as the game went on. Tough first 30 mins or so

Swiderski - very impressive. Quick reflexes.  Team struggled playing out from the back early. He had a bad giveaway for a great DR chance. In the 2nd half, it seemed like they changed game plans to just hammering the ball forward, which helped

Rigopoulos - quieter in this game than the first. Definitely has good timing on his over laping runs

Pearlman - looks slow but very solid positionally. Seems like a fundamental player that struggles with passing. Better passing in this game but always seems to be a step late seeing the open passing lanes

Brown - solid and unspectacular. Had a great header for our best chance in the first half

Greco - fiesty player, always noticeable

Dumitru - tough first 15 minutes of the game. Seemed like he could of easily had two quick yellows. Definitely settled down as the game progressed. Better on the ball than I thought

Badwal - quieter game from him and Biello in the midfield. I do like his game though. Always progressing forward

Biello - has been my surprise of the tournament. Always in the right spot defensively and just shows great patience with the ball

Stewart - i was so excited for his arrival. Has already carved out a bench role with Colorado. So impressive for a kid his age. But he struggled mightly in the first half. DM had no issue defending his pace or ball skills. He just looked tired and jet lagged. In the 2nd half, he definitely played better and showed a couple of flashes of real ball skills.

Morgan - pretty quiet in this game. But he does a great job and finding gaps for runs

Lopez - so much praise for him in this thread and i thought he looked very tired. Expectations need to be dropped a little. I know we are hoping for a top notch young striker and he maybe is it. But he isnt ready for the big squad. He needs a conditioning program.

All that being said, he was by far the most dangerous player again. He is so crafty with the ball. Had his best passing game. Every goal they have score, he has been a part of it. Very impressive

Costa - he just hasn't impressed in this tournament so far. Had a very nice defensive play. His passes are like rockets. Just blasts the ball

Cameron - nice pace and size. Just seems to be in the right spots

Bunbury - better game. Showed some speed off the bench

Ciccarelli - always in the right scoring spots. So happy to see the ball go in. Seems to have a little fire in him

Diallo - barely saw anytime on the field

Fun game and they looked solid defensively.  Much better job holding a lead

[DigzTFC]

Great review of the game.  I thought the triple substitution was aggressive by Olivieri and it worked out.  Credit to him.  I still don't like the Diallo sub for Lopez.  Olivieri must view it as a defensive move.  Lopez provided the assist on Tavio's goal so again he's been one of our best.

Watching the highlights with El Salvador vs. Hondurus, we need to win a lot of set pieces and tower over them in the box.  They struggle mightily with height.  We may want to drop Lopez back and let Diallo lead the line.  Play Morgan as a winger.  I would also start Cameron who has outplayed Rigopoulos.

Some trivia, Tavio Ciccarelli (current player), Schilte-Brown and KSB all spent time with Halifax Wanderers.

Edited July 24 by DigzTFC

[narduch]

13 minutes ago, DigzTFC said:

 

Some trivia, Tavio Ciccarelli (current player), Schilte-Brown and KSB all spent time with Halifax Wanderers.

It's an interesting bit of travia but as far as I can tell none of the 3 have played a single minute in the CPL.

Although Ciccarelli should get a decent shot once he's back from the U20 tournament as Wanderers desperately need U21 minutes 

[Kent]

14 hours ago, rkomar said:

Now I remember this commentator.  During the last window, he kept repeating over and over that one of our goals should have been called back on offside.  He couldn't let it go, even two games later.

Wasn't it something like a Canadian player collided with the opposing goalkeeper and no foul was called. The keeper put the ball down as if there was a foul and our player went up to take the ball and put it in the net? The commentator was flabbergasted that we were just allowed to take away their free kick, never questioning if there was actually a free kick called.

[blueseeka]

18 minutes ago, Kent said:

Wasn't it something like a Canadian player collided with the opposing goalkeeper and no foul was called. The keeper put the ball down as if there was a foul and our player went up to take the ball and put it in the net? The commentator was flabbergasted that we were just allowed to take away their free kick, never questioning if there was actually a free kick called.

It was Lopez that was behind the goalie. Goalie put the ball down and Lopez took it and score. Such a clever play

[InglewoodJack]

12 hours ago, Borjans Sweatpants said:

Amen. Some players at this level you can tell are a step above. I'd love to see him included

Would love to see him included in training like we did with Pearlman. We probably don’t need another forward in training camp, but hopefully we do what we can to keep him close. 

[solsous]

1 hour ago, DigzTFC said:

Great review of the game.  I thought the triple substitution was aggressive by Olivieri and it worked out.  Credit to him.  I still don't like the Diallo sub for Lopez.  Olivieri must view it as a defensive move.  Lopez provided the assist on Tavio's goal so again he's been one of our best.

Watching the highlights with El Salvador vs. Hondurus, we need to win a lot of set pieces and tower over them in the box.  They struggle mightily with height.  We may want to drop Lopez back and let Diallo lead the line.  Play Morgan as a winger.  I would also start Cameron who has outplayed Rigopoulos.

Some trivia, Tavio Ciccarelli (current player), Schilte-Brown and KSB all spent time with Halifax Wanderers.

We ought to tap the breaks on the substitutions.  It felt like that it was more in the line of desperation than strategic.  How does to a coaching staff go from naming a player (Costa) captain, to using him as a late sub the following game?  The Dumitru sub was only made because of an injury to him, and it was Bunbury (his replacement) that was part of the winning goal.

[El Diego]

1 minute ago, solsous said:

We ought to tap the breaks on the substitutions.  It felt like that it was more in the line of desperation than strategic.  How does to a coaching staff go from naming a player (Costa) captain, to using him as a late sub the following game?  The Dumitru sub was only made because of an injury to him, and it was Bunbury (his replacement) that was part of the winning goal.

I think fitness is playing a big part in those decisions

[Obinna]

4 hours ago, Sal333 said:

Who is this Peter you speak of? I thought Andrew was the gaffer. (Do we have our apostles mixed up?)

[CanSoccfan11]

12 hours ago, PegCityCam said:

17 year old Winnipeg kid. Nice!

 

This kid already seems to score a lot of goals for the U20 and only 17.  One to keep an eye out for.

[Kent]

1 hour ago, blueseeka said:

It was Lopez that was behind the goalie. Goalie put the ball down and Lopez took it and score. Such a clever play

You are right that it was Lopez, but he wasn't behind the goalie. He was right in front. Looks like the goalie was putting it down for a defender to take a free kick that was never awarded. Terrible clip of it here (doesn't show a wide angle or the play that happened that caused the confusion).
 

 

[Dominic94]

A few people on here have said Costa is overrated, so maybe they’re not so surprised that he isn’t dominating.

[Kadenge]

Success at youth level does not always translate to success for future senior teams, but when Nations like DR are producing players that outplayed our squad for good portions of the game and with some exceptions, looked more technical and tactical, you have to ask questions about our scouting, development and  coaching. For more evidence take a look at the DR Olympic team that played today. It's loaded with players at top Euro B/youth teams, including Real Madrid, Leganes, Osasuna, Getafe, Girona etc. I'm glad that Marsch seems to be on it and  makes positive changes that will pay dividends going forwards.

[Mihairokov]

57 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

For more evidence take a look at the DR Olympic team that played today. It's loaded with players at top Euro B/youth teams, including Real Madrid, Leganes, Osasuna, Getafe, Girona etc.

I hope someday we're able to move on from the assumption that being in Europe automatically makes a team or players better. Honduras crushed ES last night and that Honduras team is entirely domestic. There's no reason to assume Girona or Getafe having better programs or are better for players simply because of their mailing address. All players are different. 

[Ottawafan]

13 minutes ago, Mihairokov said:

I hope someday we're able to move on from the assumption that being in Europe automatically makes a team or players better. Honduras crushed ES last night and that Honduras team is entirely domestic. There's no reason to assume Girona or Getafe having better programs or are better for players simply because of their mailing address. All players are different. 

Coaches in Europe aren't concerned about developing players for the youth level.  They understand it is part of the process.  They are focused on what is needed to compete at the highest level when they turn pro.  So yes getting players into a higher level of training and under higher level coaching is the preferred route.  

Are European kids knocking down the door to have the opportunity to leave their clubs to train in the Honduran system?

[AnonymousInsider]

15 hours ago, PegCityCam said:

17 year old Winnipeg kid. Nice!

 

Happy 18th birthday to our super sub

[Mihairokov]

40 minutes ago, Ottawafan said:

Are European kids knocking down the door to have the opportunity to leave their clubs to train in the Honduran system?

Irrelevant. The question is whether our development here can develop top talent comparable to Europe. CMNT right now is predominantly made up of players who developed and played their youth and U20 soccer in Canada/the US. Millar and Eustaquio are two of the only players to go to Europe before their mid-teens, along with Cornelius. 

The automatic assumption that we need to send players to Europe in their teens in order to develop them properly is misguided, IMO, and players going over at 18/19 (David/Davies) are already developed enough domestically and are simply going to play at higher levels.

[El Diego]

Without Santiago Lopez, a player developed wholly outside the Canadian system, we'd likely be sitting on 1 point. Hard not to be pessimistic about it all. Then again, maybe we need to start getting worried about the Dominican Republic as a rival. Their u23 team qualified for the Olympics and just drew Egypt there.

[archer21]

6 minutes ago, El Diego said:

Without Santiago Lopez, a player developed wholly outside the Canadian system, we'd likely be sitting on 1 point. Hard not to be pessimistic about it all. Then again, maybe we need to start getting worried about the Dominican Republic as a rival. Their u23 team qualified for the Olympics and just drew Egypt there.

He lived in Canada from 2009 to 2015 so approximately 4 to 10 years old. So he wasn't technically developed wholly outside of Canada. Most of the higher level training was obviously done in Mexico though. 

On an unrelated note, I just noticed that Honduras and DR play after our match, which is pretty amateur. They really should be playing at the same time at the other stadium.

[El Diego]

Just now, archer21 said:

He lived in Canada from 2009 to 2015 so approximately 4 to 10 years old. So he wasn't technically developed wholly outside of Canada. Most of the higher level training was obviously done in Mexico though. 

On an unrelated note, I just noticed that Honduras and DR play after our match, which is pretty amateur. They really should be playing at the same time at the other stadium.

Very fair, I misremembered and thought he left earlier than that.

[Borjans Sweatpants]

 

17 hours ago, archer21 said:

I'd be fine with bringing him in but I think we need to temper expectations a bit. Remember how good Justin Smith was for our youth team? It doesn't always translate to future success. Obviously Lopez is very promising though.

 

9 hours ago, CanadaFan123 said:

Justin Smith was a level above last cycle and it clearly would have been a mistake to call him. Lopez should not be getting called until he breaks through for Pumas. If this was 2021 it would be a different story but there are at least 10 players ahead of him.

Ya as soon as I sent that message I started to realize the flaw in my judgement. But while that was similar, I think Lopez is showing a lot more for me personally. Maybe not for the September window (though I wouldnt be unhappy based on what he's shown), but if we have some sort of Camp Poutine type deal for players in North America, he should be there.

[Kadenge]

17 hours ago, Mihairokov said:

Irrelevant. The question is whether our development here can develop top talent comparable to Europe. CMNT right now is predominantly made up of players who developed and played their youth and U20 soccer in Canada/the US. Millar and Eustaquio are two of the only players to go to Europe before their mid-teens, along with Cornelius. 

The automatic assumption that we need to send players to Europe in their teens in order to develop them properly is misguided, IMO, and players going over at 18/19 (David/Davies) are already developed enough domestically and are simply going to play at higher levels.

If we are going to push higher and get into the top 30/20 FIFA rankings, we need more from our young players than simply making the National team. We need to develop players that can push higher levels than some of our best palyers. The fact that more of our National players  were from NCAA vs Cdn pro academies should sound alarm bells about scouting. The bottom line is we need our most talented players getting into the best environments for their development as early as possible. When Davies joined Bayern he admitted that his technical skills were not good enough and even today you can see that in his game. Others like Millar have talked about the intensity and competition at Liverpool. Do you think a Cdn player in their teens would turn down an offer from a top 5 league club's academy/B team to stay with one of our Cdn pro teams? 

Edited July 25 by Kadenge

[Ivan]

1 hour ago, El Diego said:

Without Santiago Lopez, a player developed wholly outside the Canadian system, we'd likely be sitting on 1 point. Hard not to be pessimistic about it all. Then again, maybe we need to start getting worried about the Dominican Republic as a rival. Their u23 team qualified for the Olympics and just drew Egypt there.

Are these players actually from DR or are they recruiting Spaniards with some DR heritage ? You know, kinda like the farcical Jamaican NT?

It is impressive if they are actually from DR though. 

[Borjans Sweatpants]

42 minutes ago, Ivan said:

Are these players actually from DR or are they recruiting Spaniards with some DR heritage ? You know, kinda like the farcical Jamaican NT?

It is impressive if they are actually from DR though. 

Assuming this is correct from TransferMarkt: