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

[jonovision]

Just now, Mihairokov said:

I want to avoid meltdown mode and know people get frustrated over how teams timewaste at the end of matches but Canada's behaviour from the penalty-onwards was embarrassing. Pearlman berated the ref for 45 minutes and somehow avoided a red. Ciccarelli was subbed on already in a mood and begins hauling players off of the pitch. The bench was not being disciplined and I can only assume were awful to the fourth. The manager showed no interest in keeping the bench cool and the captain (Costa) showed no interest in captaining on the pitch. A complete meltdown from players who quite literally acted like children about a referee that they felt was doing them wrong - whether they are in the right or not it's no excuse to act the way they did for the final 45 minutes of this match.

Pearlman was entirely within his rights and obviously didn't say anything that crosseed a line because this knob of a ref had no issue carding anyone and anything for any reason. 

Panama's players have no self-respect, but we knew that. Maybe senior team vets with a few tours through CONCACAF can keep a level head seeing such shameful behavior but I don't blame teenagers for getting upset. Far too often we've seen our Canadian teams meekly accept that this is how things work in our region and lose quietly and frankly I'd rather see them lose with a little fire.

[vancanman]

1 minute ago, Kent said:

If one of our guys had his planted foot taken out by a sliding player in the attacking box, we would all be screaming for a penalty.

And we wouldn't get one.

[Mihairokov]

1 minute ago, jonovision said:

Pearlman was entirely within his rights and obviously didn't say anything that crosseed a line because this knob of a ref had no issue carding anyone and anything for any reason.

We'll definitely have to disagree on that. He was an embarrassment running his mouth and acting the way he was.

 

1 minute ago, jonovision said:

Maybe senior team vets with a few tours through CONCACAF can keep a level head seeing such shameful behavior but I don't blame teenagers for getting upset.

The manager should be managing them in how to deal with calls that don't go their way.

 

1 minute ago, jonovision said:

Far too often we've seen our Canadian teams meekly accept that this is how things work in our region and lose quietly and frankly I'd rather see them lose with a little fire.

Acting the way they did doesn't solve anything either. They're simply feeding more into the actions showing that they work.

[ballerz]

Seeing corrupt officiating like tonight makes the world ask questions such "is drone spying cheating?" Or maybe, the Canadians have it all wrong all along because if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.

[gator]

A tough loss, even at even strength we were second best for long periods although we did have a good chance in the 1st half, that was a great equalizer and Lopez stood out for me throughout the tournament! Lots of their chances including both their goals  came from us losing challenges or just being in bad positions, lots of subs going in and out in a tournament can do that! It would have been great to qualify for the U20 WC but at least we got these quality games and had a look at some young potential prospects for the senior team, I hope we learned a lot about our region moving forward!

[jonovision]

1 minute ago, Mihairokov said:

Acting the way they did doesn't solve anything either. They're simply feeding more into the actions showing that they work.

Possibly. The usual reaction I've seen when Canada gets CONCACAFed is hanging their heads, resignation, losing, out with a whimper, basically quitting. I think that's worse.

[Mihairokov]

4 minutes ago, jonovision said:

Possibly. The usual reaction I've seen when Canada gets CONCACAFed is hanging their heads, resignation, losing, out with a whimper, basically quitting. I think that's worse.

I think there's a big difference between showing "fight" and showing "petulance". Tonight leaned more towards the latter than the former, at least IMO.

One has to wonder how a player like Lopez feels sitting on the bench as the others kick and scream because things aren't going their way.

Edited July 31 by Mihairokov

[ballerz]

And when will the Canadian general media alert the general population of what it means to be concacafed, how USA cheats and whine, how Mexico cheats and steals, how Central America cheats, whines, and steals instead of deserting our girls and throw Priestman under the bus for doing something that everyone is doing? 

[74 Whitecap]

World Cup would have been nice, mostly for the experience for the boys. But the reality is, a career for CANMNT is mostly spent playing nations league, gold cup and wcq - all in CONCACAF - and what could be better prep for all that than this game

Anyway, they battled hard, best result for us in decades, more CANMNT potential than I saw on the last few U20 outings, so it is almost all to the good.

 

[jonovision]

Did the Panama coach get a card when he threw the water bottle on the pitch?

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 minutes ago, ballerz said:

And when will the Canadian general media alert the general population of what it means to be concacafed, how USA cheats and whine, how Mexico cheats and steals, how Central America cheats, whines, and steals instead of deserting our girls and throw Priestman under the bus for doing something that everyone is doing? 

Peru and Chile felt they'd been Concacaf'd against us.

You have to make your luck and be unapologetic when it falls your way.

[lamptern]

Boys battled to the last second. 
And I hope Oliveri coached his last match for Canada!

[phresh]

It is clear certain players on this team have a complete lack of composure, Pearlman is yapping at the ref the entire half, Ciccarelli coming on ready to fight somebody. The guy was balling his fists in anger, running up to players and screaming at them, raging all over the pitch. And then Cameron almost throwing a punch at the guy who fouled him. What the fuck is that all about? Wasn't able to watch until the pk but I think we had zero shots on target till that point. We complain about this and that, bitching, whining, it is pathetic mentality. We scored after we went down, played admirably and Morgan, really impressive, small but feisty, was winning every header, kept possession when necessary and failed on his trivela but he kept calm. You wonder why every youth side coached by Olivieri looks lost under the bright lights, the guy has no clue what he's doing

Edited July 31 by phresh

[VinceA]

I feel like it's just time to move on from Olivieri. This program needs some new voices.

[jonovision]

10 minutes ago, phresh said:

It is clear certain players on this team have a complete lack of composure, Pearlman is yapping at the ref the entire half, Ciccarelli coming on ready to fight somebody. The guy was balling his fists in anger, running up to players and screaming at them, raging all over the pitch. And then Cameron almost throwing a punch at the guy who fouled him. What the fuck is that all about? Wasn't able to watch until the pk but I think we had zero shots on target till that point. We complain about this and that, bitching, whining, it is pathetic mentality. We scored after we went down, played admirably and Morgan, really impressive, small but feisty, was winning every header, kept possession when necessary and failed on his trivela but he kept calm. You wonder why every youth side coached by Olivieri looks lost under the bright lights, the guy has no clue what he's doing

Cameron was reacting to a pretty vicious foul, which came after a series of lesser fouls by the same player. I think a lot of people here forget what it's like to be 19, in the biggest competitive moment of your life, and dealing with a series of shambolic refereeing decisions from a beer league referee and an opponent whose only goal seems to be to antagonize. I wouldn't expect many to keep a level head. They'll learn.

I have no issue with players who scream at players on the ground who dive or embellish. Ciccarelli's latter yellow was unnecessary, but ultimately meaningless.

[El Diego]

Imagine thinking you're going in to play an actual match of soccer and you have to participate in that for 120 minutes. Does anyone genuinely enjoy this? I'm not sure how to categorize what that was, I certainly wouldn't call it an athletic competition. I'll take 1000 spying drones over Panama's time wasting antics, Canada's petulance, and the referee's inability to get a handle on any of it.

[jonovision]

32 minutes ago, Mihairokov said:

One has to wonder how a player like Lopez feels sitting on the bench as the others kick and scream because things aren't going their way.

I suspect his main feeling was "geez, I'm gassed" because he could barely run the last 10 minutes of regular time.

[jonovision]

Just now, El Diego said:

Imagine thinking you're going in to play an actual match of soccer and you have to participate in that for 120 minutes. Does anyone genuinely enjoy this? I'm not sure how to categorize what that was, I certainly wouldn't call it an athletic competition. I'll take 1000 spying drones over Panama's time wasting antics, Canada's petulance, and the referee's inability to get a handle on any of it.

Add the state of that pitch to whatever that was. Any ball played along the ground would hop a good 3 or 4 times.

[SthMelbRed]

A textbook example of a referee being well out of his depth and absolutely losing control of the match.

[phresh]

15 minutes ago, jonovision said:

Cameron was reacting to a pretty vicious foul, which came after a series of lesser fouls by the same player. I think a lot of people here forget what it's like to be 19, in the biggest competitive moment of your life, and dealing with a series of shambolic refereeing decisions from a beer league referee and an opponent whose only goal seems to be to antagonize. I wouldn't expect many to keep a level head. They'll learn.

I have no issue with players who scream at players on the ground who dive or embellish. Ciccarelli's latter yellow was unnecessary, but ultimately meaningless.

With Cameron, I get it, Panama guy intentionally elbowed him right beneath the neck. What Tavio did was detrimental, he immediately comes on and rages petulantly, he does not achieve anything by attempting to pick the goalkeeper up, it encourages even more time wasting and heightens tension with the ref

[Dominic94]

At a point Olivieri has to go, the talent is there. We should be winning more at this level.

[Fullback]

Can we not do this every time our youth teams lose? These are 17, 18, 19 year old kids, it’s not shocking they were not fully composed the whole game. Let’s take a step back here.

[FC_Hali]

Disappointing as it would have been cool to see us at the u20 World Cup. Another lost opportunity to get more eyeballs watching Canada, which helps grow the game and support from the casual fans. 

Barring a few exceptional moments, this team was mediocre relative to their competition and easily could have been knocked out in the group stage.

[Sal333]

6 hours ago, Mihairokov said:

I want to avoid meltdown mode and know people get frustrated over how teams timewaste at the end of matches but Canada's behaviour from the penalty-onwards was embarrassing. Pearlman berated the ref for 45 minutes and somehow avoided a red. Ciccarelli was subbed on already in a mood and begins hauling players off of the pitch. The bench was not being disciplined and I can only assume were awful to the fourth. The manager showed no interest in keeping the bench cool and the captain (Costa) showed no interest in captaining on the pitch. A complete meltdown from players who quite literally acted like children about a referee that they felt was doing them wrong - whether they are in the right or not it's no excuse to act the way they did for the final 45 minutes of this match.

I only watched up to the 1st 15 minutes then there was lightning in my area and my power went the way of Canada's chances of winning the game. Also, I thought that red card was BS but I do agree with you. Canada became a disgrace, the way they behaved. Olivieri should never be head coach of anything. He should have prepared his team for exactly such a happening. It is CONCACA after all.

[narduch]

It will now be at least 20 years since we attended a FIFA U-20 World Cup.

We haven't been there since 2007.