goleafs67

This. Also when both Peru and Chile went down a man they were in must win mode. They adapted their formation to shore up their backline to keep it nil nil so they could create chances off the counter. Eventually they'd have to push more men forward as the clock wound down, but until then they couldn't risk going down a goal. Marsch had the boys playing it safe to minimize turnovers and gifting counter opportunities. Even Argentina had difficulty breaking down bunkering Peru and Chile with 9 or 10 men behind the ball. I expect a much more probing and attacking style in the quarters vs Venezuela... until they do something shocking and go down a man too 😜

According to Neil Davidson only one match at BMO: "While the full schedule has yet to be announced, Canada will play its opening game at Toronto's BMO Field with the next two games in Houston." https://www.timescolonist.com/national-sports/canadian-men-do-well-at-draw-for-this-summers-concacaf-gold-cup-6856696

So sounds like Herdman could have brought in Arfield but chose not to... could look back on that as a huge mistake if Hutch or Staq go down and guys like Fraser have to step in. Really hope it wasn't some ego issue still lingering driving this decision. If Scott was open to being there he should have been, "brotherhood" or not.

This is the type of nuance and fact-based understanding that's been missing from almost all discourse on the topic. People reflexively hate on the CSA and blame them for being incompetent in signing the deal with CSB. In hindsight it may look like a horrible deal, but at the time I'd love to hear what other path could have brought in guaranteed revenue despite what most realists would have predicted would be many more years of mediocre results from the men. That doesn't absolve the CSA from other longstanding organizational and more recent operational issues (ie. lost merchandising revenue), but from the players' open letter it's clear they didn't bother to look deeper and went nuclear. They cost the organization, and by extension themselves, even more money l, and took an unneeded hit to the growing goodwill they've built over the past three plus years of results heading into the most important year of the organization's history. They could benefit from hiring outside counsel to run the negotiation and allow themselves to focus on WC preparations. As seen through the years with other federations, these negotiations take time and (the potential spectre of) legal action. Other national teams rarely resort to the solution the men did Sunday, even after years of protracted negotiations and frustrations. Get together, get it sorted, and move on with what should be the best year ever for Canadian soccer.

The curtain has been pulled back... interesting look into how Campagna got involved as a training player and has stuck around. Some good quotes on the Herdman and the team https://www.whitecapsfc.com/wfc2/news/the-greatest-honour-of-my-life-how-wfc2-defender-cristian-campagna-got-called-up

... is anyone going to score?

I've got one single for sale, front row of E27 right next to the original block of 150 V's seats. Face value, $30. DM if you you want it.

Apparently the Czechs are also out, so a united front. Ball is now in FIFA's court. Can't imagine how they force the game to be played... but it's FIFA, so who knows.

... and Sweden now joins Poland in refusing to play Russia. All the pressure on the Czechs now

... and now the Polish Federation is refusing to play Russia at all. Even a quote from Lewy: "It is the right decision! I can't imagine playing a match with the Russian National Team in a situation when armed aggression in Ukraine continues. Russian footballers and fans are not responsible for this, but we can't pretend that nothing is happening." https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4603139/poland-refuse-to-play-russia-in-2022-world-cup-playoff-game?platform=amp

same here. if anyone needs a single or admins want to start building a pool of additional tickets to offer to others who didn't get any, let us know

FYI finally got it to go through. Was using a Revolut card (virtual bank) and after a bunch of unsuccesful attempts getting a declined error the bank froze the card. Unfroze it and then it worked. The webpage took forever to complete the purchase so don't give up if you see the charge notification come through on your phone.

That's happened to me before... believe what happened is the original five-minute countdown expired so the ticket got released. Their front-end starts a new countdown after rejecting our non-CR Scotia cards but I imagine that's a bug.

Ok thanks for the context. So just to confirm, you don't want us to buy any extras? Just cover our own group?

@Foul Mouthed Admin/ @JamboAl: what's the plan here? or is there even a coordinated plan? Just want to make sure we're all aligned so no one takes a bath. A couple questions: Do we know how many of us are trying to buy extras to get back the 50 the CR federation clawed back? Do we have a sense for how much solid V's demand exists beyond the 200? Should we all be trying for five or will potentially over buy? If we should just fend for ourselves that's fine, just let us know. Thanks again for dealing with all the BS heaped on you from our scared opponents