The Netherlands vs Canada - Thursday, June 6th - 2:45pm Eastern / 11:45am Pacific - Rotterdam

[narduch]

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

You rightly respond because you're one of those biased dinosaurs we have to send back to the fossil pit to make the next step forward as a footballing nation.

Pellistri his teammate at Granada scored twice in 1200 minutes while Theo scored once in 200. Then Pellistri scored and assisted for Uruguay the other night in a rout of Mexico. That we have absolute scrub on the squad but a Liga player isn't in the 27, that is Canada being stupid the way certain fans want us to be stupid.

Corbeanu played more club minutes than Buchanan in 2024 by the way.

It's funny how different the perspectives are on both players

[Unnamed Trialist]

10 minutes ago, narduch said:

Corbeanu played more club minutes than Buchanan in 2024 by the way.

It's funny how different the perspectives are on both players

All national teams have these blind spots and all managers have doubtful callups and omissions. But One Soccer harping about Ahmed being the big snub, all worried about Ahmed, and saying nothing about Corbeanu--that is just ignorance and endemic in Canadian football

Let me be clear, I have no problem with any of the guys there being called up, it's a group of 27, but don't try to tell me that Shaffelburg is an equivalence to Millar or Brym to Tajon, those are huge fall-offs. Give me guys who can walk in and don't look out of place, like Hoillet, Piette, even Choinière.

Shaff and Brym and Zator--they are not even the first or likely sub in either case. The only reason Shaff gets to look good is because he flashes fast down the wing, to the detriment of other fundamentals, but if he'd do his damn job in the press and helping to defend down his wing we might have avoided the goals Davies was over-extended on. 

Marsch will probably make a similar statement with some odd subs on Sunday, which is too bad, because we are not going to train a real game situation, he is getting his friendly look at guys and then we hit Argentina.

[Sal333]

3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

You rightly respond because you're one of those biased dinosaurs we have to send back to the fossil pit to make the next step forward as a footballing nation.

Pellistri his teammate at Granada scored twice in 1200 minutes while Theo scored once in 200. Then Pellistri scored and assisted for Uruguay the other night in a rout of Mexico. That we have absolute scrub on the squad but a Liga player isn't in the 27, that is Canada being stupid the way certain fans want us to be stupid.

I haven't kept tabs on Theo of late so I don't know if you're on or off with your assessment but I have to tell you that is one of the better put-down lines I've heard in a while. 

If you're correct about Corbeanu maybe it's a good thing he wasn't called up. In two years he won't have a bad smell to wash off.

[Sal333]

6 hours ago, Bigandy said:

Fair… good is meant within perspective.  We had moments where we were on top of the match and were structurally more sound in the first half. Losing millar hurt our shape.  
im not advocating for the 442 by any means.  Larin for choiniere or even oso would’ve been my choice. 

I promised myself to give Marsch until the Mexico game in September before I started criticizing his inane tactics but posts like yours make it impossible. Larin is our top scorer and you want to sit him so you can implement an unsuitable game strategy for our players. Even with Millar on the pitch, in the latter part of the first half we were in over our heads and Marsch made no adjustments in the break. In the 2nd half our forwards were out of the game. Spent and useless. When you can make David look like he could barely play in the CPL, there's something wrong with your system. Our players are square pegs and Marsch's gameboard has only round holes. It only ever had round holes.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

5 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

You rightly respond because you're one of those biased dinosaurs we have to send back to the fossil pit to make the next step forward as a footballing nation.

Pellistri his teammate at Granada scored twice in 1200 minutes while Theo scored once in 200. Then Pellistri scored and assisted for Uruguay the other night in a rout of Mexico. That we have absolute scrub on the squad but a Liga player isn't in the 27, that is Canada being stupid the way certain fans want us to be stupid.

You can immaturely name call and insult again when people disagree with you all you want.

Or cite the same anecdotal piece of irrelevance about another country's team again.

It doesn't change the fact whether Corbeanu is playing in Switzerland, England or Spain, he hasn't played enough or well enough to get regular calls. 

This from someone who has watched him and cheered him on for years. 

The "cultural" thing is just so silly for a rational adult.

Edited June 7 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[InglewoodJack]

6 hours ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

Ha. Complete and utter tosh.

Corbeanu has been in a bunch of leagues, in number of countries, and not been picked, for Canada, and by his own managers.

He has a number of things to improve on in his overall game. We could argue about those compared to others.

But don't make it more than it is.

 

I do wonder what the fundamental issue with TC is though. We have a player pool full of imperfect players that have fatal flaws to their game that need work, but he’s the one that always gets snubbed. He didn’t play much this year in Spain, no, but we don’t have many players in our pool that play like he does. He does have 1G/5A in like ~30 games this year. Shaffelburg’s numbers are better, but when you consider league strength and strength of opponent. I don’t think he’s particularly ahead, though I think he’s considered a lock for call ups at this point. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

2 hours ago, narduch said:

Corbeanu played more club minutes than Buchanan in 2024 by the way.

It's funny how different the perspectives are on both players

One has an extended history of contributing to club and country, one is working to get to that level.

In 2024, one struggled to get into a title winning side in a top 5 league, one struggled to get in a regulation side in the same.

Respectfully, is it not fair to have a different perspective on each player?

Edited June 7 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[InglewoodJack]

54 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

I promised myself to give Marsch until the Mexico game in September before I started criticizing his inane tactics but posts like yours make it impossible. Larin is our top scorer and you want to sit him so you can implement an unsuitable game strategy for our players. Even with Millar on the pitch, in the latter part of the first half we were in over our heads and Marsch made no adjustments in the break. In the 2nd half our forwards were out of the game. Spent and useless. When you can make David look like he could barely play in the CPL, there's something wrong with your system. Our players are square pegs and Marsch's gameboard has only round holes. It only ever had round holes.

Wait, between Larin and David you think *David* is the guy that looked like he couldn’t play in the CPL? I hate the “our striker didn’t score or take a shot but did the little things well- great game” thing as much as anyone, but Larin spent all game doing cardio. He has 1 goal in the last two years for Canada. *Jacob Shaffelburg* has been a bigger scoring threat for us since the last World Cup than Larin has. He has a lot of rope with Canada given the resume but we can’t keep putting him out there and playing a man down.

[gator]

7 hours ago, gigi riva said:

Our first game with a new regime , i neve4r expect much in friendlies I am glad we are playing top nations  . that is how you can evaluate where you stand , you cannot learn from playing the likes of Honduras or T&t , nothing against then nations  In future friendlies I want C anada to play the likes of a Italy, Denmark , Croatia, etc . 

Is anyone else concerned that if we take another shit kicking on Sunday we may become a less desirable opponent for the top nations? Unless these countries are just looking to experiment and give different players a run out this becomes the same situation for them that we allude to with us beating up on minnows!

[costarg]

9 hours ago, Shway said:

However, Marsch is already talking in code because he indicated that he doesn't see Davies as a LB...but sure enough he put him there. Davies doesn't want to play LB anymore unless he's at Real Madrid. I know this for a fact. And I believe he shouldn't be at LB for us either, however for today's personnel- with no Laryea (or Adekugbe) I understand seeing him there in this formation.

Issue is Adekugbe and Laryea aren't 100%, so there was no one else in form enough for LB.  Please don't say Miller or Hiebert, if you think Davies got burned, I would hate for you to have seen that.

Hopefully and maybe we see Laryea there vs France and Copa?

Also need to consider that back 4 was brand new out of factory, it's 100% normal there are some niggles to work out.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

21 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

I do wonder what the fundamental issue with TC is though. We have a player pool full of imperfect players that have fatal flaws to their game that need work, but he’s the one that always gets snubbed. He didn’t play much this year in Spain, no, but we don’t have many players in our pool that play like he does. He does have 1G/5A in like ~30 games this year. Shaffelburg’s numbers are better, but when you consider league strength and strength of opponent. I don’t think he’s particularly ahead, though I think he’s considered a lock for call ups at this point. 

I hate this.  To make a rational point, I feel like I am running down a player I have been a fan of for years. 

That said - The 5 assists (you should credit him with another goal as well) did not come in a league/against opposition that's superior to Shaffellburg's MLS. I have watched the Swiss league.

Shaffellburg's 2 goals have come in more important situations for Canada, but I don't think he should be a lock.  I don't believe his sub on was made with the result in mind, and that said, it was a poor decision - with the result in mind.

To get belatedly to your first point. I guess do we know he - back to Theo- wants to be considered at this point? It's been two years.  Maybe he wants to deal with whatever his club issues are first and it's not come yet.

[FreddyCanuck]

20 minutes ago, gator said:

Is anyone else concerned that if we take another shit kicking on Sunday we may become a less desirable opponent for the top nations? Unless these countries are just looking to experiment and give different players a run out this becomes the same situation for them that we allude to with us beating up on minnows!

Especially when (I'm assuming) this pre-Copa camp hasn't been cheap for whoever has ponied up the cash.

Will opposing federations/donors/the Canadian MLS clubs/whoever be willing to pay when they've seen us lose 4-0 to Japan and the Dutch in our last two marquee friendlies?

[youllneverwalkalone]

34 minutes ago, gator said:

Is anyone else concerned that if we take another shit kicking on Sunday we may become a less desirable opponent for the top nations? Unless these countries are just looking to experiment and give different players a run out this becomes the same situation for them that we allude to with us beating up on minnows!

Yes, but I do think being World Cup co-hosts buys us some time to be shit kicked and still get matches with good sides. The real challenge will be to get top 10 teams to come to Canada, pay their fee, and make money at the gate. It would be nice if we could attempt this before the 2026 goodwill is gone. 

[Mihairokov]

The reality is that it's always going to be tough to get top teams to travel to North America based on geography and cost. It's difficult to think of reasons for why UEFA or AFC teams would travel here to play us/USA/MEX when they could likely go elsewhere for far less and IMO better games. Do we think Uruguay were impressed by Mexico's antics this week?

WC26 is going to be one of the few times where we will actually be able to host top teams in our stadiums prior to the event - the first since 1994 when we played Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, Germany, and Morocco in friendlies in Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto. I doubt we will be as adventurous in 26 but we have the opportunity to do the equivalent or close to it. 

I'm not really worried about losing too badly. We never normally play these countries and it gives us a good opportunity to look inwardly on our program for places to improve. This time two years ago we were arguing over friendlies versus Iran and Panama. This time three years ago we were playing Aruba and Caymans in Florida, in Haiti in front of the military, and now we're playing the best teams in the world. Things change fast. Teams will want to play us if we're good. 

I think it would be fascinating to see us playing the middling UEFA countries a bit more just to get an idea of where we are but it's not feasible for us or them, really. 

Edited June 7 by Mihairokov

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

You can immaturely name call and insult again when people disagree with you all you want.

Or cite the same anecdotal piece of irrelevance about another country's team again.

It doesn't change the fact whether Corbeanu is playing in Switzerland, England or Spain, he hasn't played enough or well enough to get regular calls. 

This from someone who has watched him and cheered him on for years. 

The "cultural" thing is just so silly for a rational adult.

You only believe that because time and time again you seem to get irrationally threatened about certain things and certain players. I am just saying with the same numbers since January at Luton Town or Burnley he'd be a lock and folks would go hysterical if he wasn't called in.

Because there is 100% cultural bias and general football stupidity in Canada about these things. 

I'll be working beside the West Ham stadium in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in two weeks time and I'll be sure to check in on the paleontological digs you've got there. 

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

26 minutes ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

Yes, but I do think being World Cup co-hosts buys us some time to be shit kicked and still get matches with good sides. The real challenge will be to get top 10 teams to come to Canada, pay their fee, and make money at the gate. It would be nice if we could attempt this before the 2026 goodwill is gone. 

We were set to sell out or near sell out BC Place for Iran, even with their fee and costs we would have made money. Panama, even their visit would have made us some revenue (I thought I heard we were going to pay them 400 thousand). I am not entirely sure, but I guess even the women made money with these last 2 friendlies vs Mexico. 

Sell 30,000 tickets at 50 dollars average each that's a million and a half, plus what you sell in tv rights, ads, merchandising, you pay flights and hotels and training for the rival plus a fee of half a million, and you still come out ahead. Then factor in who owns the stadium, our travel, all that. 

In the end FIFA will probably force us to play friendlies in each WC venue to get local organising structures up to par with FIFA World Cup standards and protocols, so we won't even have a choice. 

 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

16 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

You only believe that because time and time again you seem to get irrationally threatened about certain things and certain players. I am just saying with the same numbers since January at Luton Town or Burnley he'd be a lock and folks would go hysterical if he wasn't called in.

Because there is 100% cultural bias and general football stupidity in Canada about these things. 

I'll be working beside the West Ham stadium in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in two weeks time and I'll be sure to check in on the paleontological digs you've got there. 

Rubbish again.

Do you even consider the facts in your biased rants?

He was playing on English teams putting up better numbers and didn't get calls.  You weren't calling cultural bias then. 

Just because he got a transfer to  La Liga, doesn't mean he should automatically get a pick.

Just like when he was at Wolves, he didn't deserve an automatic pick.

 

If he was new and we were trying to lock in his potential, maybe it's the smart move but he needs to sort his club form first now.

Edited June 7 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[costarg]

5 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

You rightly respond because you're one of those biased dinosaurs we have to send back to the fossil pit to make the next step forward as a footballing nation.

Pellistri his teammate at Granada scored twice in 1200 minutes while Theo scored once in 200. Then Pellistri scored and assisted for Uruguay the other night in a rout of Mexico. That we have absolute scrub on the squad but a Liga player isn't in the 27, that is Canada being stupid the way certain fans want us to be stupid.

It's hard not to getted pulled into the Brym vs Corbeanu selection discussion.  Even harder when you consider we had other guys with the same profile on the bench and Brym still gets picked.  

The way I see it, Marsch only had a few weeks, he obviously knows the big names, but the fringe guys like Brym, Corbeanu, etc... are probably pretty unfamiliar to him.  So he looks at their stats and records, sees Brym has like 13 matches for CANMNT, and I can imagine Marsch had 18 vmails and missed calls, 6 emails and 3 faxes from Herdman along with Biello repeatedly doing the "cough Brym cough" in his ear, so he puts him out there to see him.  I'm confident that experiment ends here and Brym is sent back to produce at club before seeing more call-ups.  JRR, Tani, Bair are all ahead of him on recent stats and form. 

We need to give Marsch a little slack, he needs to see these guys, he hasn't had enough time to watch them all.

[costarg]

56 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Wait, between Larin and David you think *David* is the guy that looked like he couldn’t play in the CPL? I hate the “our striker didn’t score or take a shot but did the little things well- great game” thing as much as anyone, but Larin spent all game doing cardio. He has 1 goal in the last two years for Canada. *Jacob Shaffelburg* has been a bigger scoring threat for us since the last World Cup than Larin has. He has a lot of rope with Canada given the resume but we can’t keep putting him out there and playing a man down.

I'm telling you man, some guys here just wanna role with the 2021 WCQ 11 for eternity.

I love Larin as much as the next guy, maybe more.  But 2 things: he and David were never a good fit.  2- he does not fit Marsch's style.  This game was just Marsch getting to know the guys, I don't think we see that again unless playing vs minnows.  

[SoccMan]

5 hours ago, P-O said:

This game shower our level. That is where we stand and we have lots of work ahead. We need more legs in the middle.

 

Kudos to the Dutch, they treated us like kings in their main stand & the beer was halfprice compared to the BMO.

 

Wishing a great time to those going to Bordeaux.

That’s a joke hearing that the beer prices were half the price we pay at BMO , this is why when attending any event here in Canada I pay for the event and that’s it , I’m not paying the crazy  prices for food and drinks we pay here at sporting events in Canada , what a joke !

[Unnamed Trialist]

Just now, costarg said:

It's hard not to getted pulled into the Brym vs Corbeanu selection discussion.  Even harder when you consider we had other guys with the same profile on the bench and Brym still gets picked.  

The way I see it, Marsch only had a few weeks, he obviously knows the big names, but the fringe guys like Brym, Corbeanu, etc... are probably pretty unfamiliar to him.  So he looks at their stats and records, sees Brym has like 13 matches for CANMNT, and I can imagine Marsch had 18 vmails and missed calls, 6 emails and 3 faxes from Herdman along with Biello repeatedly doing the "cough Brym cough" in his ear, so he puts him out there to see him.  I'm confident that experiment ends here and Brym is sent back to produce at club before seeing more call-ups.  JRR, Tani, Bair are all ahead of him on recent stats and form. 

We need to give Marsch a little slack, he needs to see these guys, he hasn't had enough time to watch them all.

This is one of the reasons I posted about a week ago that it would be better not to have Biello there.

Marsch has to see it and do it on his own terms, not in function of what happens to be the worst aspect of our men's programme: old boys inertias. Both coaches and mid-level bureaucrats at the CSA, and the way our provincial associations work as well. Thanks Mauro, you are great guy and thanks for looking over my shoulder but we don't need you now.

This is why I'd prefer to see Olivieri out as well, all the guys who's job security is more important than the national programme and who just don't feel required to respond to the demands of performance. And gals, I'd say the same about our women's youth as I think the coaching is poor and well below the standard of the senior women.

I even respect that Marsch is not sweating it yet, as he shouldn't, that he is convinced he needs to see a few things and work on a few things now, because it is the only chance he really has. So trying to restrain the frustration with the result. But I don't like the discourse about the scoreline not reflecting the play, it is not the type of excuses I prefer. Fortunately, he knows he'll be judged, and severely, by early July if we bomb out of the Copa, so at least I feel he's motivated.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

2 minutes ago, costarg said:

It's hard not to getted pulled into the Brym vs Corbeanu selection discussion.  Even harder when you consider we had other guys with the same profile on the bench and Brym still gets picked.  

The way I see it, Marsch only had a few weeks, he obviously knows the big names, but the fringe guys like Brym, Corbeanu, etc... are probably pretty unfamiliar to him.  So he looks at their stats and records, sees Brym has like 13 matches for CANMNT, and I can imagine Marsch had 18 vmails and missed calls, 6 emails and 3 faxes from Herdman along with Biello repeatedly doing the "cough Brym cough" in his ear, so he puts him out there to see him.  I'm confident that experiment ends here and Brym is sent back to produce at club before seeing more call-ups.  JRR, Tani, Bair are all ahead of him on recent stats and form. 

We need to give Marsch a little slack, he needs to see these guys, he hasn't had enough time to watch them all.

I would hope for TFC fans Herdman has better things to do.

I guess the only serious - if a bit devil's advocate-  I would add is that Brym could be seen as more versatile ie. Has been used on the wing, like Marsch has said he wanted - than the 3 you mention.

[shorty]

In this particular case, Brym makes sense for his home location, in the same way Swiderski makes sense in France to join the training camp. 

In a general sense, I prefer Oluwaseyi and Corbeanu and JRR to Brym, certainly to see what they could do in comparison to Brym, but just comparing Brym to Brym I actually was more impressed with his limited minutes yesterday than with past appearances. 

[costarg]

1 minute ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

I would hope for TFC fans Herdman has better things to do.

Touché!

5 minutes ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

I guess the only serious - if a bit devil's advocate-  I would add is that Brym could be seen as more versatile ie. 

Versatility requires at least some efficacy.  In his defense though, I will say he did have a few recoveries of loose balls.  I don't get it, he's quick, but doesn't use it much.  He looks like a marathon runner, seems to ooze confidence, but just walks around like he's a 36 year old Messi.  I feel he does have potential, there are some nice movements but he's almost 26.  Maybe he needs the right coach to inspire and bring it out of him or he's just really good at training and doesn't translate as well to match day.  Either way, I do hope we get to see what Herdman and Biello expected from him.

5 minutes ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

Has been used on the wing, like Marsch has said he wanted - than the 3 you mention.

This is the weird part, we used all our wingers and only 2 strikers, why bring 5-6 strikers then?  I assume the plan was to go with a back 3 and 2 wingbacks and it changed along the way.

[ballerz]

I give Jesse Marsch a free pass for the night. But the real test is how reacts against France. We now have a clear answer to a couple of things from both the Herdman and Biello era, as well as the Dutch game. We can’t high press against quality opponents, we can’t play a two men midfield against good teams, and we can’t play from the back. I don’t care about the score in Bordeaux, please show us something different, show us a team that can fight for a result, show us adaptability.