Friendly match: Canada vs Panama - Tuesday, October 15th - 7:30pm Eastern / 4:30pm Pacific - Toronto

[toontownman]

Delighted Bassong gets rewarded for his recent resurgence. 

Lopez, Poku and JKL getting look-ins is also fantastic. 

There is a large group of youngsters that can build a leadership mentality to take back to the u23 and below group. Wish they could play more often!

[InglewoodJack]

No Afrifa either. Still so perplexed by the Bassong call. Good for him though.

[EJsens1]

Playing in these friendlies does not cap tie a player correct? 

[gigi riva]

I am glad to see Poku called up  and Lopez too

[Fullback]

11 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

No Afrifa either. Still so perplexed by the Bassong call. Good for him though.

Really versatile players are always useful on national teams. Guy has also been having quite the end to the season since getting moved into the midfield

[Obinna]

13 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

No Afrifa either. Still so perplexed by the Bassong call. Good for him though.

We'll see him again. Bassong is a surprise though for sure. Let's see what he can do. 

[Barthez-Battalion]

19 minutes ago, Barthez-Battalion said:

Don't really love the LDF call. He needs to start playing some sort of club minutes somewhere. Would have rather seen some other youngsters who is playing, or someone like Kulenovic.

His name escaped my mind for a sec but I would have much preferred Invanisevic getting a call over LDF. 

Edited Wednesday at 04:31 PM by Barthez-Battalion

[Kadenge]

Does AJ have an injury? He's been very solid for Canada recently and back to his WCQ form. I can't imagine it's to give him a break. The Panama game is crucial for 3rd spot or higher.

[Mihairokov]

Love seeing Lopez, Poku, Knight-Lebel, and Bassong here. 

[Sal333]

2 hours ago, ahmedou said:

I'll be quiet I promise! I'll be on CSN forum with my phone!

I can be inside the car trunk too! I'm an easy passenger!

What about the roof of the car?

[Obinna]

2 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

Does AJ have an injury? He's been very solid for Canada recently and back to his WCQ form. I can't imagine it's to give him a break. The Panama game is crucial for 3rd spot or higher.

I don't know if he does or not, but my impression of the squad is that Marsch is very comfortable the team he selected can beat Panama. Combine that with Johnston perhaps wanting to manage his body, I am thinking. 

Here is a potential starting 11:

----------------David---Larin-----------

Shaffleburg--Choiniere-Eustaquio---Ahmed

Davies-----Cornelius--Bombito---Laryea----------

--------------------Crepeau-------------------------

Without double checking, I am pretty sure that is close to our line-up versus Mexico, so if it's good enough to go toe-to-toe with the Mexicans, it's good enough to fight Panama for those ranking points. 

Then, our bench we have options such as Sigur (proved he's up to it in his short debut), Saliba (has been great in MLS), Osorio (veteran who can control the tempo), Millar (dangerous and direct), Waterman (veteran), Adekugbe (veteran)....

So....we have a lot of weapons to take care of Panama regardless. Johnston is definitely the starter on this team, but his absence shouldn't cost us the result, ditto with dropping Kamal Miller from the squad. That's how I see this, anyway...

[cronaldo7]

It’s clear that Marsch is looking to build depth in the program. He’s has a vision and this amount of turnover in this camp proves it. Let’s give some of these lads a look while keeping the nucleus of the team intact. I like it.

[Corazon]

Very happy with this squad.  There are a couple of amazing couple of additions and it looks like Canada and Marsch are really trying to grow our player pool.  Great to see!

Love seeing the additions Lopez, Poku & Knight-Lebel.  Marsch is including players based on promise but also based on form with an inclusion of Bassong.  One thing about Herdman, is that he was very loyal to his core group.  This is a great mix of including players being rewarded on both form and promise.

Some opportunities for some players to show that they deserve to be on the full first team next month.  Wishing speedy recoveries to Kone, Johnston.  Hopefully both will be available along with Tajon in November.  I'm assuming that JRR is likely in our best 23 at the moment as well (maybe?) but being excluded for a playoff run this month. 

 

 

 

[Sal333]

51 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

ZOHRAN BASSONG

Yeah, I'm surprised. When he played for CF Mtl, he was a very inconsistent player.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

@ahmedou,

I actually had to lie across the lap of three people one time returning from a Canada game. We were 6 people in a 5 person car. Drove like this from Shoeless Joe's ( a restaurant that no longer exists near the stadium) to the Oshawa GO Train station.

---

I think our squad is a good blend of the old and the new. Very happy.

https://canada-soccer-pressroom.prezly.com/canmnt-roster-announced-for-october-friendly-against-panama-in-toronto

---

The Panama squad:

https://www.fepafut.com/blog/2024/10/02/los-convocados-de-panama-mayor-para-los-amistosos-ante-usa-y-canada/

 

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

7 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

What about the roof of the car?

@ahmedou , going to the game like:

[CanadaFan123]

44 minutes ago, Obinna said:

wow that's more turnover than I thought we'd see. Looks like Bair is healthy, which is good. Wonder if he and Tani are still preferred to Ugbo, or perhaps Ugbo is extending his absence on his own accord. Would have liked to see a forward rotated out for Kulenovic. Dissapointed we never called ZBG with Johnston getting a break. Finally, I like rotating Kamal out. He hasn't done anything wrong, but it allows us to look at other options. 

Clearly some animosity between Ugbo and Marsch. Honestly, I don’t think he’s ever going to be a Canada regular or contributor. He’s talented but I think we have players who are just as talented and more committed for Canada. 

[Sal333]

5 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

@ahmedou , going to the game like:

Actually, I was thinking more of a deer or moose strapped to the roof.

Ahmedou, I'm just joking. You can bring your sofa.

Edited Wednesday at 05:05 PM by Sal333

[narduch]

7 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

Clearly some animosity between Ugbo and Marsch. Honestly, I don’t think he’s ever going to be a Canada regular or contributor. He’s talented but I think we have players who are just as talented and more committed for Canada. 

Ugbo isn't exactly tearing it up

[InglewoodJack]

8 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

Yeah, I'm surprised. When he played for CF Mtl, he was a very inconsistent player.

As he was in Romania from what I saw too. He’s put up a string of good performances for KC though.

I do wonder if this means Davies as a winger. We have Adekugbe and Bassong and LBs now. Sam will have to play eventually for us, and Marsch might want a look at Bassong, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Davies plays at least some time up front.

5 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

Clearly some animosity between Ugbo and Marsch. Honestly, I don’t think he’s ever going to be a Canada regular or contributor. He’s talented but I think we have players who are just as talented and more committed for Canada. 

Is it clear? I just don’t think he’s been very good since he committed to Canada. Had a nice little run at Troyes and some nice moments last season, but he’s old enough to be a known quantity but not good enough to take the place of a young guy with room to grow. No goals this year. Has the 4th worst FotMob rating in all of the championship (355 players). The two guys after him? Ethan Horvath and Daniel Jebbison. 
 

Maybe there’s some behind the scenes stuff, but it’s not like we’re leaving goals at home by not calling him. 

[ahmedou]

No Johnston, No Koné, No Afrifa, No JRR 

Welcome Knight-Lebel, Welcome Bassong, Welcome Santiago Lopez, Welcome Kwasi Poku 😃

Edited Wednesday at 05:30 PM by ahmedou

[blueseeka]

12 minutes ago, narduch said:

Ugbo isn't exactly tearing it up

This right here. It is great to see people rewarded for their recent performances like JKL, Poku and Bassong. You include a couple promising young players in Lopez and LDF.

[Corazon]

I agree about Ugbo.  Even though it seems he has rejected a couple of calls for Canada over the years, I believe it is more based on current form.  The same applies for Brym and Hoilett.

I would have liked to have seen Kulenovic.  Hopefully soon.

[Corazon]

6 minutes ago, blueseeka said:

This right here. It is great to see people rewarded for their recent performances like JKL, Poku and Bassong. You include a couple promising young players in Lopez and LDF.

In my opinion, Marsch has done a perfect job of bringing a competitive team when needed and rotating new players into the program when possible as well.  He's bringing in players based on both form and promise.

I fully suspect we will see our best possible team next month with maybe a couple surprise inclusions.

Edited Wednesday at 05:32 PM by Corazon

[narduch]

Wonder if Columbus asked to keep JRR. They have a match on October 12

Edited Wednesday at 05:34 PM by narduch