Copa America: Canada vs Venezuela - Friday, July 5th - 9pm Eastern / 6pm Pacific - Arlington, Texas

[The Ref]

And Venezuela lost on their National holiday today.  We can repeat it on July 9 which is Argentinean National day!

 

[Gian-Luca]

28 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Jeepers, a lot of sour grapes from the ESPN crew.  

That whole segment could have been entitled "Where Canada went wrong, Some More of Canada's Greatest Mistakes and Who is this Canada team anyway?" (with apologies to Douglas Adams). They are acting like Canada making the semi-final of the Copa in their first attempt is something that happens every four years.

I expected bitterness from Moreno, totally understandable, but the only guy who didn't come across as bitter was Gomez and even he bizarrely shits all over Bombito at the end for allegedly having a terrible tournament.

[74 Whitecap]

1 hour ago, ECW said:

On Johnston, I think Charlie O’Connor-Clarke got this about right. Solteldo will always win a few but I don’t think we could have had anyone better against him:

”Alistair Johnston led the way for Canada with five tackles in the first half and eight total defensive actions, winning six out of seven ground duels. The Celtic fullback went head-to-head with the shifty winger Soteldo and largely got the better of him, as the ex-Toronto FC attacker won just one of his eight duels in the first 45 minutes.”

”The Venezuelans had adjusted well in the second half; they swapped Soteldo to play on the right side, trying to get him in behind Alphonso Davies. He still struggled to deliver into the box the way he wanted, but he did seem to find more space with the marking less tight to him on that flank.”

That is right, and well-observed, but omits that Marsch reacted by swapping Schaff and Lareya from side to side, which solved the problem temporarily until he brought on Millar (switching Lareya back to the right) who closed down Soltedo's space until he (Soltedo) was taken off. It was good to see Marsch reacting to what Venezuela was trying, I found that Herdman (who did a fantastic job with the MNT, don't get me wrong) was sometimes just sticking to his own plan and not reacting to what the opposition was doing.

Of course it helped that Machis was out, but we missed Buchanan, so that probably evened out mostly.

[reggietfc]

great win,the ref was a embarrassment 

[clamlinguine]

2 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

Every time Tani has the ball at his feet I feel like something exciting is about to happen. Don’t think Argentina is the right time to start him, but he deserves more minutes. 

I'm done with Larin and JD too if what he is doing is being called a striker.

2 hours ago, YorkRegionFan said:

Overall, I am really happy the way the tournament has played out.  The team has been exposed to crappy refereeing, played before hostile crowds and have kept their composure.  

It is a great learning experience for all the players.  The key for them, is to take time to examine their mistakes, learn from them and try not to make the same mistake twice.  

We have the momentum.  If Argentina comes out flat like they did against Ecuador, we can get past them to the finals.

People who are upset about this bad reffing have bad memories. No red cards and no penaltys, that's a win.

[kacbru]

Just got home, what did I miss? 

[74 Whitecap]

59 minutes ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

 

Just to be clear, my 'ha ha' reaction to your post was not laughing at you - I really appreciate you posting the clip - I was just laughing at how the EPSN panel were all acting like they had 10g's riding on a Venezuela win. Not that the analysis was bad really, just more like what I would have expected from the Venezuela broadcast post-game.

[kungfucious]

On 7/3/2024 at 8:06 AM, Obinna said:

Ale Moreno is the best. Love that guy man. The best pundit on ESPN FC for sure.

never knew his name until now.  just watched his take on what just happened.   credit to him for telling things as they went instead of being the unbiased librarian most are.  absolutely spot on that BOTH were terrible in the PKs and canada were wasteful inside the 90 mins.  even more respect, he is venezuelan himself

[74 Whitecap]

9 minutes ago, kacbru said:

Just got home, what did I miss? 

I guess that depends where you just got home from...

[weathermanfran]

13 hours ago, EJsens1 said:

God what an opportunity this game is tonight..

-winning and advancing being the obvious one

-guaranteeing 2 more games which will allow us to gain so much more experience playing 8 games in just over a month

-another match with the defending World Cup champions and then no matter what happens in that game, barring a huge upset by Panama, playing one of Brazil, Uruguay or Colombia too

-the financial gains which are so desperately needed 

-the world wide recognition this will have and hopefully trickle down effect for better friendlies moving forward

-the confidence gained heading into a home World Cup in ‘26

I’m sure I’m missing a few more but this is just so huge outside of the game itself. Will be a tough game. Starting to feel the stress already

Reposting this because of the importance and bonus of this win.

The momentum and buzz on the team has got to be absolutely massive now. Wonder if the TV ratings on Tuesday challenge or surpass anything from Qatar. Hope TSN sends a crew and Luke & Steven to Metlife for the semifinals like they did with the opening match.

My biggest thing.. this group is moving past "moral victories" and "good performances with no result". We really are breaking through so many glass ceilings this tournament. 📈

Thrilled.

[kacbru]

Had a game and then was on bar duty in the club. There's no coverage of Copa in NZ, but this is the first game I've missed - with all the dodgy streams I've been using, my wife is questioning why there are so many women near me that want to fuck right now. 

If anyone knows of highlights that are not geoblocked, they would be much appreciated. 

[kungfucious]

On 7/3/2024 at 4:24 PM, dyslexic nam said:

It is that relentless swarming that has most impressed me with a few of the SA teams this tournament.  Tactically it is a full court press the whole time - and if you are fit enough to sustain it, it can be a bit terrifying.  Never a moment on the ball, always forced into making quick plays, and inevitably turning it over more than you want.  We don’t really have the high tempo one-touch passing and sophisticated off the ball movement to pass through it consistently so it is pretty effective.  

1000% correct, but u know what the irony is?  everything u said about those Conmembol teams also matches what appears to be JM's coaching philosophy.

 

Edited Saturday at 06:53 AM by kungfucious

[ECW]

I’d like to see Davies closer to goal at times but he ain’t a winger or a striker (as Herdman had him at times) so I’m not going to complain. We’ll see what happens when Marsch has more time with the group but it is pretty great to have a solid back four and young as well, average age about 24….

Certainly though Davies gets forward more when he plays with Millar. It’s unlikely that’s going to happen when Shaf is bombing straight up the pitch. 

 

[kungfucious]

1 minute ago, kacbru said:

Had a game and then was on bar duty in the club. There's no coverage of Copa in NZ, but this is the first game I've missed - with all the dodgy streams I've been using, my wife is questioning why there are so many women near me that want to fuck right now. 

If anyone knows of highlights that are not geoblocked, they would be much appreciated. 

soccercatchfull.com

(ill add more when i look em up, but this is my favourite b/c they DONT show the result)

[Unnamed Trialist]

Read the Argentine press. Clarín says we were totally dominant first half, and that while Argentina is a clear favourite their team is still repeating that they are not taking any rival as easy.

La Nación, another Argentine daily, also said that we were superior overall, praised Shaff and our chances through David, Laryea, and called the Rondón goal the best of the tournament so far. They also say that we had our chances vs. Argentina in the opening match, that they too got past the round in a shoot-out, but that they should be able to beat us.

[JamboAl]

3 hours ago, spitfire said:

booking my flight to NJ now...

Will see you there.

[kungfucious]

ill just ignore what @The Ref wrote at top of pg.31 ....

* - * - *

hey fellas, came across this post match.   my spanish isnt too good.   can anybody translate?   something about #5 julio not playing?   

 

Edited Saturday at 08:17 AM by kungfucious

[kacbru]

Just watched the 25 minute highlights (thanks @74 Whitecap).

We looked dangerous. More dangerous than I've seen us before. Quick one-twos into space, cutbacks, etc. - if we can find some more finishing and/or a bit of luck in the final third, anything is possible. 

I think the CMNT team playing in the semis is better than the team that started the tournament. I don't know if Argentina can say the same. 

[A.D.I.D.A.S.]

Got a chance to pull off something absolutely wild...

 

[scullion44]

Back to playing in the gross humidity tuesday unfortunately

[shortofbrillant]

4 hours ago, clamlinguine said:

People who are upset about this bad reffing have bad memories. No red cards and no penaltys, that's a win.

The absence of penalties and red cards doesn't mean it was a well officiated match. Those mechanisms are in place for a reason. When they aren't used in situations where they should be then its a poor officiated match.

 

That being said, the majority of matches in Conmebol are poorly officiated. The diving and the physicality is just over the top and the refs are left to just try to hold on to control.

[Sal333]

9 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

Fuck this guy.  
 

No, thanks but you can if you want.

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, Sal333 said:

No, thanks but you can if you want.

It is that soul-patch of a hair cut that does it for me.  

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

1 hour ago, shortofbrillant said:

The absence of penalties and red cards doesn't mean it was a well officiated match. Those mechanisms are in place for a reason. When they aren't used in situations where they should be then its a poor officiated match.

 

That being said, the majority of matches in Conmebol are poorly officiated. The diving and the physicality is just over the top and the refs are left to just try to hold on to control.

I guess you could say the credit for some of that goes to us.  They were rarely in positions to get a soft penalty. 

 

Lots of bias from us watching, of course, but it felt like every hard good old English football "coming together" (just my frame of reference) was allowed from them and whistled up on us.  There were notable exceptions,  a Johnston one right at the end of first half on the edge of the box comes to mind. But those were rare and it just generally felt like they were allowed to do things we weren't.

Actually a smart officiating performance in not calling something really big and obvious.  The lack of yellow on the keeper was very obvious but not big.

 

Edited Saturday at 01:00 PM by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[Sal333]

9 hours ago, scullion44 said:

Get Shaf in an icebath asap or whatever because I can’t watch Millar anymore

You must have watched a different game. Liam played well when he came on. He didn't score on his chance but neither did David and Larin.