The Canadian Men's Soccer Team Thread

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Well done today boys, well done

[Muta]

Man... El Salvador plays with salt. Edgy, mouthy little spitfires.

[shermanator]

Mexico / Honduras ends scoreless. Canada could have scored 17 goals today and it would not have mattered.

[MillerTime GFG]

Mexico finishes the game with 77% possession lol. Honduras must have just parked the bus from the first whistle.

[Matty81]

Been lots of antics with the central american teams as long as I can remember.

Good effort today. Really with that brutal miss by Larin point blank first half they were inches from 4 and could have had many more.

Ultimately Mexico drop points at home in Azteca their fortress against a not great team so it's irrelevant. Tough result to take.

On to next cycle. Losing Tiba sucks but anybody else who is decent will be back. And hopefully Floro won't.

[Ozy_Flame]

Not an unexpected result in tonight's events in both games, just sucks to see the men continue tradition by failing to qualify. Maybe with De Vos on the development program things may change but I'm not holding my breath.

Really wish there was a Canadian league that gives local players more chance to shine and grow.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

Where was this fight? Where was this never day die attitude in previous matches? I like it. That's the attitude we need to grab hold of going forward!

Im tired of gutless coaches. just tired of it.
Every 4 years Canada gets 6 games to make the hex. Just 6 games. Play attacking aggressive futbol and at least go down with no regrets. We are bigger and stronger. Attack!

4-1-4-1 formation on the road with a young striker who can't hold the ball is absolutely stupid. The timid 0-0 draw in El Salvador was inexcusable.

[FireGilbert]

Not qualifying for the World Cup is one thing but not even getting to the Hex is inexcusable. Oh well, better luck in 2022.

[cam_wmh]

3-5-2
attack attack attack!!

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Im tired of gutless coaches. just tired of it.
Every 4 years Canada gets 6 games to make the hex. Just 6 games. Play attacking aggressive futbol and at least go down with no regrets. We are bigger and stronger. Attack!

4-1-4-1 formation on the road with a young striker who can't hold the ball is absolutely stupid. The timid 0-0 draw in El Salvador was inexcusable.

Agree 100%. 4-1-4-1, with 4 CBs in the starting 11, and brings on another CB to replace an attacker. What are your guys suppose to think when your own manager doesn't even think you can play with your opponent?

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Not an unexpected result in tonight's events in both games, just sucks to see the men continue tradition by failing to qualify. Maybe with De Vos on the development program things may change but I'm not holding my breath.

Really wish there was a Canadian league that gives local players more chance to shine and grow.

I truly believe that is a big reason asides from their population why the USA men's soccer program has evolved. They create a next step for the 18-19 yr old players into the NCAA where they can improve their skills immensly and play at a competitive level. They build a Jr squad that trains together that becomes the next generation. They play an aggressive style and invest in a quality coaching staff.
Canada keeps hiring the same kind of coaches that prefer to play a stale plodding game. One of the things that most annoys me about the Canada men's team is how heavy their long balls are and how poorly they recieve passes in the midfield in general. Really poor touch on the ball. They often lose possession by the way of their own undoing.
The changing of this team has to begin with coaches and committing to brand of soccer where they are committed to pushing forward and not being coached with a mindset to not lose. Huge difference than a mindset let's play to attack and win.
Several times in the these game when Canada battled for a rare corner they often only put 3 in the box. 3 in the box vs 6 defenders on a set piece is absurd. Canada's coaches do not treat these moments as serious goal opportunities. Instead they are of the mindset we have to protect against the transition going the other way.
The USA would look at it as we have to put a quality ball in create chaos and over pressure the defenders and capitalize.

[GirlySports]

ran across this article, about US sensation Christian Pulisic.
http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index...us_soccer.html

It's about as thorough a breakdown of the state of youth soccer in the US as I've ever seen. How does it compare with the Canadian system?

[Addick]

One of the reasons why I'm not sure how much we can benefit from analyzing the system down south is financial investment. While Reaganomics may not have worked for their economy, there is an insane amount of money spent by wealthy Americans that trickles down to the athletes that are lucky enough to participate in high performance athletic programs. It's neither efficient nor effective when it comes to footy but as the States has a massive population, they can get some results even if they are the exception.

To be fair, there are probably some organizations down there that are doing a brilliant job at focusing youth development but as above, exceptions rather than the rule.

[Mr.Coffee]

I don't follow Canadian soccer very much, but I recall a long time ago that part of the problem is that talented Canadians would basically just defect if they could make vague citizenship ties work, in order to try and play for teams that legit have a shot at making the World Cup and or winning the World Cup. Like Hargraeves to England, for example.

Is this still a problem? Was it ever a problem and I misinterpreted?

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

I don't follow Canadian soccer very much, but I recall a long time ago that part of the problem is that talented Canadians would basically just defect if they could make vague citizenship ties work, in order to try and play for teams that legit have a shot at making the World Cup and or winning the World Cup. Like Hargraeves to England, for example.

Is this still a problem? Was it ever a problem and I misinterpreted?

Yes, it was a problem - there are numerous "Canadian" players that chose other countries (Asmir Begovic and Jonathan de Guzman are other examples). Some had better ties to those countries than others.

In the last couple years we've been turning the tide a bit, had players like Junior Hoilett and Steven Vitoria finally commit to us and are actually starting to grab foreign players that have pretty loose ties to us (i.e. Scott Arfield). The Americans have had similar issues are lately have been busy grabbing a bunch of German players that have some American ancestry.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Addick

As other poster's have noted, more kids are kicking footballs than shooting pucks. With its ever increasing financial and time costs, hockey is actually pushing more and more kids to other sports. However, most neighbourhood clubs are not taking advantage. Foothills has never had a professional squad yet they have shown numerous kids that there are possibilities for them if they keep at it and are willing to learn what Foothills can teach.

My purely anecdotal sense of things is that tons of kids are playing soccer from around ages 5-6 as an entry level team sport, but how many continue playing past age 8? My boys both tried it, and gave up on it after a year or two.

The season was short too - only May and June.

[MillerTime GFG]

This is a post from a friend of a friend on Facebook (Orange Julius), who is currently playing 2nd division in England (I believe he played with Fisher, who's currently on Foothills FC):

"The whole structure is a joke. When I played at u17 level I was one of two players picked from the west. It is so politically run. They choose players from the east where most 'coaches' from Canada come from. I left and came to England and they continued to choose the eastern Canadians who were playing in the 4th division in Germany. I was over looked playing at a second division team in England. When we contacted them when I wasn't chosen for the u20 team they said they had never heard of me and they needed to see 5 DVDs of my most recent games. The scouting is horrific. The coaching in Canada is a joke, most so called coaches are parents dads who most likely grew up playing hockey. The next time I was contacted was in April of this year 5 years after my initial approach to them. There excuse was players slip through the scouting network. This is why players choose to play for other nations. Why play for a team ranked 100+ that can't qualify for any major tournaments when I can play for Ireland who more regularly play in top competitions. Or play for Canada who are beat by third world countries. They game isnt important enough in Canada they have other major sports that get all the TV coverage and players receive higher salaries playing in Europe. I could go on but I don't want to bore any of you. Things will never change"

Eastern bias still exists, always has. It's a big country no doubt, but they need to do better.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by troutman

My purely anecdotal sense of things is that tons of kids are playing soccer from around ages 5-6 an an entry level team sport, but how many continue playing past age 8? My boys both tried it, and gave up on it after a year or two.

The season was short too - only May and June.

What you are witnessing is probably the norm. Unlike hockey where most teams can put players on a development path, most soccer clubs are there for the children to just run around with a football twice a week.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

I don't follow Canadian soccer very much, but I recall a long time ago that part of the problem is that talented Canadians would basically just defect if they could make vague citizenship ties work, in order to try and play for teams that legit have a shot at making the World Cup and or winning the World Cup. Like Hargraeves to England, for example.

Is this still a problem? Was it ever a problem and I misinterpreted?

Owen had good reason to go. Canada had their chance.

[polak]

Every Canadian has a good reason to go.

You get one crack at your international soccer dreams. Why would you waste it playing for a country where the chance of being involved in any major tournament is virtually zero.

Unless Canada showed some rejuvenated effort in attracting top talent, why would you do it?