Cowtown Kyle

Time for post mortem later. For now, I am just replaying the goal in my head on a permanent loop given that I had been dreaming of seeing Canada score in a World Cup for 40 years 

And that next goal is very bad for GD purposes. God dammit Belgium.

I really hate this Morocco team.

Courtois is killing us on all fronts this World Cup

A bit off-topic, but meanwhile, Denis Shapovalov just won his match, and Canada leads 1-0 in the Davis Cup final.
Could be a historic morning for Canadian sport!

That FK aside, Morocco through two matches have seemed perfectly happy with the thought they might get through 3 matches without scoring a goal as long as they don't concede.

It wasn’t a mistake. Nobody in the media are asking the level of pointed questions about the missed PK or breaking the duck or whatever, that they would otherwise be doing.
Herdman put the spotlight on himself for a very good reason, and the only thing that happened is, the Croatian media went wild so he had to back track a bit. He wasn’t trying to create diplomatic crisis. That's the inexperience bit.
Who seriously thinks Croatian players or management actually give a crap about this?

Absolute ballers out there. Well done boys. So proud.

I’m not nervous 

 

In the past I have watched my cat play with a mouse.  Both the cat and I knew the mouse was going to die.   It was pretty inevitable and somewhat sad.  Only the mouse seemed to not be aware of its tragic plight - probably because it was so terrified of what was happening and just trying desperately to survive.
Just a random thought as I watch Spain versus Costa Rica.  

Belgium v Canada
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
2pm EST / 11am Pacific (10pm local)
Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor, Qatar
Broadcast in Canada:
TSN, CTV, RDS, FOX (main over the air channel).
Canada's roster:

Belgium's roster:

Referee:
Referee: Janny Sikazwe (ZAM) Assistant Referee 1: Jerson Emiliano Dos Santos (ANG) Assistant Referee 2: Arsénio Marengula (MOZ) Fourth Official: Yoshimi Yamashita (JPN)  Reserve Assistant Referee: Neuza Back (BRA)  Video Assistant Referee: Juan Soto (VEN) Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Nicolas Gallo (COL) Offside Video Assistant Referee: Mokrane Gourari (ALG) Support Video Assistant Referee: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA) Standby Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Abdelhak Etchiali (ALG)  Injuries:
Belgium: Lukaku is confirmed out.
Canada: Eustaquio and Borjan are questionable. Davies told TSN he should be ready.
Weather Forecast:
 

This is probably why he looked so beaten around the Panama players strike and some of us - me included - thought he was upset  by the situation at CSA. We forget these guys have a life outside of soccer.

Herdman gets interviewed late night from Bahrain by McCown.
 
 
 
Players in good mood and good shape. Herdman lost his sister after Canada qualified. Holy trinity for Herdman is culture, tactical excellence & team chemistry – built off on John Wooden & Phil Jackson pyramids.
Each coach monitors 6-7 players. Herdman used to do mids but now on forwards. First goal is to enjoy the World Cup. Will allow players to attend other matches.
Confident in qualifying because Herdman had confidence in staff that came over from the women’s side, confidence in himself and then player pool emerged. Though, Herdman’s analysis showed Canada’s talent pool never fell below top 6 in Concacaf/Hex and 1 cycle was top 3. When Herdman took over, Canada’s talent pool was 5th in Concacaf. New talent emerging meant Canada’s pool was now 4th.
Only 3 teams out of past 6 World Cups advanced out of group stage that are on par with Canada. South Korea in 2002 is a model to follow. Key will be to focus on 3-4 things that make Canada favourties rather than underdogs.
Only the tactical architects group gets the 70 page dossiers on opponents and meet virtually. Fear that Canada will be embarrassed is real for the players. So, focus is achieving on small steps – first goal, first draw, first win..
 

Now I see why TSN declined to pick up the CSA documentary. This look really good. Cant wait.
TSN has really invested alot in to this team recently. Let's hope ot continues.

yeah, I think the problem isn't that Davies is too good for the players around him, but that he hasn't yet figured out HOW he can use his strengths in such a context. He does too much sometimes, not necessarily because his teammates are incapable of hanging with him, but because he feels he has to carry this team on his back. He needs to trust his teammates and learn how his skillset can be used to optimize theirs.  Superstars do this all the time. Messi is a great example: he'll take on a couple of players with incredible pace and dexterity, but then lay the ball off to an open player who has a clear shot at net.  Davies was drawing two, sometimes three, players v. Uruguay, but did not use this opportunity to lay the ball off to an open teammate. 
If he did that at Bayern, they'd bench him. Or at least give him a stern German lecture. I'm all for giving Davies room to express himself, but he needs to play smarter for us.  He's not the general of this team, and he need not carry that pressure. Eustaquio is far better suited to play that role, or Hutch. (And, some day, Kone).  That should free Davies up to get forward, get behind the backline, maraud down the flanks etc.

Interesting comments by Herdman on Arfield.  On the 46 man extended roster but it was a just-in-case situation.   I take that to mean that it may have been possible if a Atiba and/or Oso weren’t healthy enough to play.   

Hey Folks.
Abrek has written a song celebrating #CanMNT’s WC qualification and to support their efforts in Qatar. He’s looking for participants for a music video shoot … people who could show up in Canada gear … and reached out to us to see if we could help spread the word. See details attached. 

This was a scrimmage. A chance to watch training.
Oso looking good, check.  
Kone had a great goal, check.
Nobody got hurt, check. Do we really believe guys were giving it all, the way the Bahrainis were? I hope they weren’t - Herdman will have warned them not to take risks on 50/50 balls etc
Japan is the same, before we get too bent if we lose.
 

Wow watching that first Bahrain goal , the amount of mistakes I see , Kaye starts it off, Wateman gets turned and Johnson I think gets beat to the ball . From watching the game up until this point I think Canada was playing well and looked like the much better team. Moreover, would love to see if that Cavallini offside goal was really offside , if that counts you would have expected Canada to maybe go on and score a couple more and continue outplaying that Bahrain team. The Kone goal was very nice and shows why people are very excited about this kid . However, going back to that Bahrain first goal it definitely changed the game and Canada’s game was not the same after a very promising start I thought .

They are the same level as Honduras and El Salvador, would you feel confident our B team would beat either of those 2 teams away?

Really? It reminds me that we a lot of really good players playing in Europe.

You nailed it. 11 for 11.