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

[rkomar]

It seems to me that other countries just don't like coming to Canada to play a friendly.  It's a long way to come and we probably aren't that generous in what we pay them.  I think it is natural that we can go long stretches between finding suitable opponents who want to participate.

[ahmedou]

4 minutes ago, rkomar said:

It seems to me that other countries just don't like coming to Canada to play a friendly.  It's a long way to come and we probably aren't that generous in what we pay them.  I think it is natural that we can go long stretches between finding suitable opponents who want to participate.

I wanted so bad Canada vs Tunisia. I heard many times that there were talks between Canada Soccer and FTF.

Maybe one day. In a friendly game. Or in the World Cup.

[Metro]

4 hours ago, Kent said:

Someone mentioned the attendance at the game being the highest for a friendly in a long time. I got curious, and looked up the attendance in all of our home friendlies ever. Here are the times we drew over 10000 fans.

Hopefully I didn't miss any. I used Canada Soccer's website and filtered on the word "Friendly". The two games above at the SkyDome didn't show up, presumably because it was a friendly cup rather than just friendlies. Not sure if there are other similar friendly cups not included. I just happened to remember about the SkyDome games so I looked them up specifically.

But yeah, Tuesday's game is the 2nd most attended home friendly for Canada just behind the Brazil game in Edmonton just before the 1994 World Cup. Not bad!

There was the Matthews Cup tournament at Varsity in '86 when Canada played Greece, Chile and Greece again in the "Final".  Pretty sure at least the two matches against Greece had attendances over 10K.

Also, for all you kids out there, the SkyDome friendlies were played on astroturf.  Yummy!

[Sal333]

5 hours ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

Any ideas why those ding dongs at One soccer haven't posted the replay? 

The answer is embedded in your question. Ding Dongs.

[Sal333]

1 hour ago, ahmedou said:

I wanted so bad Canada vs Tunisia. I heard many times that there were talks between Canada Soccer and FTF.

Maybe one day. In a friendly game. Or in the World Cup.

If that happens, I'd hate to be in your shoes. You'd be both crying and laughing at the same time. And it wouldn't matter which team did what to the other.

[Kent]

28 minutes ago, Metro said:

There was the Matthews Cup tournament at Varsity in '86 when Canada played Greece, Chile and Greece again in the "Final".  Pretty sure at least the two matches against Greece had attendances over 10K.

Also, for all you kids out there, the SkyDome friendlies were played on astroturf.  Yummy!

Thanks! The second Greece game had 10531 at the game. The first Greece game was 8763 and the Chile game was 4178.

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, GasPed said:

I believe the argument is that when things boil over, it's generally not because of what the ref did at that moment; it's because of what they did (or didn't do) in the minutes prior.

That said, I personally think Penso did a very creditable job last night.  I like her "handsy" style (I think it calms the boys down a bit), and while it's true she may have kept her whistle in her pocket too much, if she had called more fouls it would've detracted from the game in other ways.

What I'm also saying though is that a ref is always judged in hindsight - the game went quite smoothly, so she did a great job.  If it hadn't (and it was close to not - we're lucky Cornelius and Murillo are OM teammates), there'd be lots of second-guessing today. 

Related to this, I saw David greeted a rival player as he went off, but I am not sure who it was, it seemed they knew each other too. But I can't find any Panamanian who he would have coincided with. 

[Rocket Robin]

Finally! All the audio from the post game press conference after the Oct 15/24 international friendly between Canada and Panama.  Coaches Jesse Marsch (15 min English) and Thomas Christiansen (11 min mostly in Spanish). http://www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com/reports24/24cana03.htm

[Unnamed Trialist]

Now time to be a bit of a party-pooper. 

If that was a group stage match at a World Cup and we had to squeeze by like that late vs. a rival that is not better than us, I'd be worried. 

If we get a rival like that in the WC group stage at home and can't easily get the three points, that's not good.

Or another way to put it: we did not have control for some critical periods, and let a team that was inferior on the pitch catch up to us to draw and even threaten with a disastrous result. That suggests that we have a ways to go, and that as thrilled as many are for the win, there are things still lacking. 

As I posted during the 1st half, we were very rushed and not playing in a way that expressed our superiority. I thought especially the mids were rushed, forced, we were hyper, which for me is a misinterpretation of high intensity. When Staq and Choinière were the ones that had to put a bit of tempo and order into things, they missed the assignment. It is like you get the order to play high pace, but then everything is merely frenetic. By playing like that we did not get that many effective chances, mostly top of the box shots, often rebounds, but not building going forward.

That is something Marsch has to sort out, but I am not sure he's clear about. The pace you defend with to get a ball back is different from the intensity in possession, which still needs proper spacing, positional play, patience to break down a rival block, periods when you are not madly going for goal, a bit of measure. You will break down the rival by keeping it moving, probing, and especially you want your best passers to be in a position to find a run by the best striker: Staq to David, ideally. Something we rarely get to see. 

I don't mind if a comparable team is a challenge, that is not a problem and the reality of world soccer. What I do mind is thinking that was such a great performance. An example, and here I will not be in agreement with others here: Bombito was great defending, no question, but was often on the wrong side of the ball and just recovered well;  and did not contribute going forward in any creative way. I'd temper the praises a bit, he still hasn't proven to be an elite defender.

[blueseeka]

1 hour ago, Metro said:

There was the Matthews Cup tournament at Varsity in '86 when Canada played Greece, Chile and Greece again in the "Final".  Pretty sure at least the two matches against Greece had attendances over 10K.

I was there as a nine year old. My first sports memory. Pretty sure it was the second game since I remember penalties. I have memory of a single Blue Jay game and the Greece soccer game. My dad never ever believed in paying for a sporting event. I have no idea how he brought us

 

I have been trying to get him to join me and my son for a Canada game but he won't. He is a very stubborn 80 year old. "Why pay when, I will have a better view on tv. "  Because of the memories, you will leave your grandson

 

Edited 6 hours ago by blueseeka

[narduch]

51 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Related to this, I saw David greeted a rival player as he went off, but I am not sure who it was, it seemed they knew each other too. But I can't find any Panamanian who he would have coincided with. 

They have a defender that plays for Marseille. He subbed on on Tuesday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Amir_Murillo

[narduch]

13 minutes ago, blueseeka said:

 My dad never ever believed in paying for a sporting event. 

Our dads must be friends

[ahmedou]

2 hours ago, Sal333 said:

If that happens, I'd hate to be in your shoes. You'd be both crying and laughing at the same time. And it wouldn't matter which team did what to the other.

[Joe MacCarthy]

 

[GasPed]

56 minutes ago, ahmedou said:

What I'd be more concerned about is how many jerseys you'd have to take/wear to the game.  

[ahmedou]

1 hour ago, GasPed said:

What I'd be more concerned about is how many jerseys you'd have to take/wear to the game.  

Last game I had 14 jerseys in my bag! 14 jerseys! 

[trc2014]

3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Related to this, I saw David greeted a rival player as he went off, but I am not sure who it was, it seemed they knew each other too. But I can't find any Panamanian who he would have coincided with. 

It was Rodriguez - they played at Gent at the same time. 

[gator]

5 hours ago, Metro said:

There was the Matthews Cup tournament at Varsity in '86 when Canada played Greece, Chile and Greece again in the "Final".  Pretty sure at least the two matches against Greece had attendances over 10K.

Also, for all you kids out there, the SkyDome friendlies were played on astroturf.  Yummy!

We were at the final at Varsity, it was a good crowd and we joined a bit of a pitch invasion and did a victory lap with the team, all caught on TSN, my dad saw it live on tv and thought for sure we would be jailed!😀