Stouffvillain

Yes, he transitioned from playing immediately to coaching one of the academy teams.

Forge doesn't make a lot of mistakes like that. Good on HFX for making them pay for it.

Angus on Down the Pub podcast, interesting listen. https://www.downthepub.ca/e/episode-74-return-of-the-mac-angus-mcnab-part-ii/

This is not the first time I've seen this. I don't doubt that Y9 did lose a lot of international talent this season and they were worse off because of it. Based on the 7 games I watched I don't think Uggarizza would've been that much of a difference. The problem in attack this season was creating quality scoring chances. Rivero is a talented player as well but he got almost zero service, his only goal was a fantastic piece of talent. You'd be hard pressed to come up with any more clear cut chances that Uggarizza would've done better than Rivero. The one area Uggarizza could've made a slightly bigger impact would've been due to his height (6 ft vs Rivero at 5'7") but I would also argue that the quality of crosses wasn't good enough this season to say this would've been a big difference maker.

Thanks. Yes, they were more successful in the application but stylistically that is what I see.

It was a very disappointing tournament on many levels for Y9. Despite one of the most talented teams on paper Y9 disappointed on every level. The attack rarely looked dangerous, the midfield allowed the opposition to dictate the game instead of imposing their will, defensively the team lacked focus leading to the majority of the goals against. Five of the seven goals scored against Y9 were conceded in the first or last 5 minutes of a half (Ottawa 2, Pacific 1, Forge 1 and Halifax 1). The second of Forge's was 7 minutes into the 2nd half. Those are moments that speak to a lack of concentration. There was no imagination in attack. Nearly every attack had the same end game in mind and that becomes very easy to defend at any level, never mind against professionals. There are no 1-2 balls, no line breaking runs, too many receive the ball standing still with their back to goal. I didn't want to say it during the season but now that we've been eliminated I'll say it. They continually reminded me of watching Aron Winter's 2011 TFC.

Y9 finally have all hands on deck good timing too. Let's see if their attack can look more threatening.

Barring any kind of sanctioning IF they do not meet the U21 minutes requirement Forge is through, they hold the tiebreaker (head to head results) against both Ottawa and Pacific.

I'm with you on this. For all the offensive talent they have they leave you scratching your head. Without the set pieces they have not looked dangerous in attack at all. Outside of the one play last night where Telfer had a heavy touch alone in the box they never looked like they were going to get a second. They weren't dangerous against Valour, didn't look like they were ever going to get a second against 10 men HFX, or in the Pacific game. The forwards have scored 2 goals in 6 games and one of them was a 16 year old on his debut. Simply put that is not good enough.

I think it is a hamstring injury. I've not seen anything on the extent of Abzi's injury. The lack of injury information throughout the league is a bit annoying. I would put Telfer at LWB then. The thinking on the three CB's is that it would promote the wingbacks to attack more while still having cover at the back. Having two strikers playing centrally would promote more attack through the middle which we've been lacking and FCE hasn't been good at defending.

Call me crazy but I'd like to see something a little different tonight to see if we can have a more threatening attack. Di Chiara is suspended so things will have to change. Assuming Mannella and Petrasso are still out but hoping Ingham and Abzi will be back. ------------------Rivero-------Vasconcelos------------------- --------------------------Altobelli----------------------------------- ---------------Murofushi-----Aparicio----------------------- Abzi--------------------------------------------------------Porter ----------Arnone---Gasparotto---Thompson----------- ---------------------------Ingham----------------------------------

Also on at the drive in theater in Newmarket

Agreed on Ongaro. I was more talking of a striker in his skill set rather than a Rivero who's talents are being wasted with the style of play we've seen this season. I went on a bit of a rant on that whole "upping their game" part in the HFX match thread. I won't re-hash it here except to say that they've had more than enough chances to show they were capable of that this season and failed to do so.

Looking ahead to the FCE match tomorrow night and it looks like the perfect trap game. Paulus' comments after the Valour loss could fire up an inspiring performance from the Eddies and there has been nothing about Y9 this season that tells me that they are capable of imposing their will on a deflated opponent. Easton Ongaro is the kind of striker that Y9 should go after in the offseason. It's nice to have guys like Rivero who are technical players but if all you try to do in attack is throw in high crosses a skilled 5'7" striker isn't really what you need. Keeping possession is great but if all you're doing is working the ball around to the top of the box and then back to your CB's and back around the park you aren't scaring anyone. There isn't a midfielder who we've seen play this season that can pass through the heart of the defense. I'm hoping that Altobelli is that type of player but at 17 years old I'm not putting all the hopes on his shoulders. If I'm the coach going against us I'm telling my team "don't foul in a dangerous area, they can't score without a dead ball". That isn't a speech you give when you are going against a contender.

You aren't wrong on any points here. Not everything needs to be made public though, so teams could've been notified of the consequences for failing to comply with the U21 rule. Forge's plan was obvious, lock up a 2nd round spot and then give minutes to the U21. Smyrniotis is a very smart man and planned that when he put together the squad and teams knew they weren't going to bring in players later on. Knowing that they chose to proceed with signing only the minimum requirement and chose to play the first 4 games with only three minutes for U21 players. If you choose to walk that close to the line sometimes you're going to cross it and you have to suffer the consequences. If the punishment isn't harsh the league would be wronging the 7 other clubs (and their supporters) who played by the rules.