Heh, even as the biggest supporter of the national team, I don't recommend watching the replay.
Floro was practicing parking the bus for the upcoming September qualifiers as he started 5 CB's (Vitoria, Jakovic, Edgar, Henry, Straith) and Ricketts up top.
1-1 draw with Azerbaijan. Akindele scored a nice goal on a set up from Arfield. Ouimette gave away a penalty to even things up.
Offensively Hoilett, Arfield and Akindele looked good, but not much else to speak of.
I really hope Akindele features more prominently going forward. He appears to play with more confidence and a willingness to take on defenders than most of our other attackers
Canada announced their roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and El Salvador. I wasn't expecting a result in Honduras before and with the Johnson exclusion (coming off a broken leg), I'm now expecting a result even less.
If anyone is interested, we're holding watch parties for both games at Barcelona Tavern.
CANADA
1- GK- Maxime Crépeau | CAN / Impact Montréal
2- FB- Nik Ledgerwood | CAN / FC Edmonton
3- CB- Manjrekar James | HUN / Vasas Budapest
4- CB- Dejan Jaković | JPN / Shimizu S-Pulse
5- CB / M- David Edgar | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
6- M- Jamar Dixon | CAN / Ottawa Fury FC
7- M- Simeon Jackson | ENG / Walsall FC
8- FB- Doneil Henry | ENG / West Ham United
9- F- Marcus Haber | Unattached
10- M- David Junior Hoilett | Unatached
11- M- Tosaint Ricketts | CAN / Toronto FC
12- CB- André Hainault | GER / 1. FC Magdeburg
13- M- Atiba Hutchinson | TUR / Beşiktaş JK
14- M- Samuel Piette | ESP / CD Izarra
15- CB- Adam Straith | NOR / Fredrikstad FK
16- M- Scott Arfield | ENG / Burnley FC
17- FB- Marcel De Jong | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
18- GK- Milan Borjan | BUL / PFK Ludogorets Razgrad
19- CB- Steven Vitória | POL / Lechia Gdansk
20- FB / CB- Karl W. Ouimette | USA / Jacksonville Armada
21- F- Cyle Larin | USA / Orlando City SC
22- GK- Kenny Stamatopoulos | SWE / AIK Fotbol
23- M- Tesho Akindele | USA / FC Dallas
After the... ahem... history in Honduras, I'd be pleased if it isn't a blowout and there are no injuries. I'd be over the moon if they somehow drew, but let's not get carried away.
I just have a funny feeling that this is going to come down to goal difference, with Canada already at a disadvantage in that category. There's so much riding on these last matches. Can Mexico thrash Honduras? Will Honduras thrash Canada? Will Canada be able to beat El Salvador at home? Will it even matter by then? Boy oh boy.
Nice to see Simeon back. As a Norwich City supporter, he'll always be in my heart because of his goal to secure promotion back in 2011:
Sure, it just sort of hit him, but if he sees the pitch and manages something sloppy like that for Canada, we'll all take it! Plus the fan falling into the advertising board is hilarious.
Last edited by Jimmy Stang; 08-25-2016 at 01:29 PM.
Canada shocks everyone and beats Honduras but than absolutely craps the bed and gets blown out in El Salvador while Mexico plays a B squad and loses to Honduras.
Canada shocks everyone and beats Honduras but than absolutely craps the bed and gets blown out in El Salvador while Mexico plays a B squad and loses to Honduras.
That would be impressive, since they're playing El Salvador in Vancouver.
So today is the day. I'm a sucker for being an optimist - always hoping that there will be a surprise, historic result that will put Canada in charge of their own fate.
I'll take a scrappy and crappy 0-0. But keeping Honduras scoreless in San Pedro Sula? Come on now...
Now do I watch the first 75% of the match at work in a little window, and then listen to the last 25% on my drive home? Or record the whole thing and watch later? Decisions, decisions!
Oh god the nerves started when I woke up this morning. And I'm fully predicting a loss. But still.....knees weak palms are sweaty....there's vomit on my sweater already.
If anyone wants to calm the nerves during the game, I'll be at Barcelona Tavern with a bunch of like minded individuals at our watch party.
No Will Johnson is crazy with some of the guys who got called up (not to mention Osorio). I guess Tiba and Arfield are in the engine room with Hoilett and Ricketts outside? Imagine if one of Arfield/Hutch had gotten injured in training, there is literally no cover outside of Piette whose career is doing the slow circle around the toilet the last couple years, that is a major drop off.
Gotta watch because I'm a masochist... happy to be wrong but I feel certain this is going to go badly. Anything better than 2-0 is going to be a victory. The only way I could see a point coming out of this is if they play a 5-4-1 and also get 3 or 4 lucky breaks to keep it scoreless, or Larin pulls some magic out of his hat and they hang on for a 1-1 draw somehow.
A mini recap for those who, like myself, kind of forgot where we're at.
Canada and Honduras are tied with 4 points each with 2 games remaining. Only one team will advance. Canada hosts El Salvador in the final game, while Honduras travels to Mexico.
That means a win today puts us as clear front runners for the coveted second spot in the group.
A draw sets us up nicely with us having a significantly easier game then Honduras in the final game.
A loss and we remain alive, but will require us to overcome a large goal differential deficit, and Honduras has to lose to Mexico.
Yeah exactly Chill, a loss and we need two perfect results in the final round of games next week to get back level on points with Honduras. And even if that happens, goal differential is the tiebreaker and right now we are 3 goals worse than Honduras, so would need to be a 4 goal swing at a minimum assuming a 1-0 loss today (2-0 Canada, 2-0 Mexico would do it).
Other piece is that Mexico has already qualified - most countries would probably use these games to try out new tactics or blood youngsters. So Honduras's last game likely won't be a Mexico side as motivated as we faced. That said they're pretty big rivals so I'd be shocked if Mexico doesn't give them a game. I think a loss today by more than a goal and it's completely over though and a loss by a goal and we're talking 10-1 odds.
A draw and you're basically at the mercy of Mexico. For me it'll be very tough to call what happens next week in that scenario.
Somehow win and I think they are in. They would need to be really unlucky not to make the hex. Considering all I've heard is that Floro is parking the bus today, seems like they are playing with a similar outlook to the game in El Salvador though, survive and get a point.
I'm going to watch what I can until 4:30 at the office. Then I'll decide whether to throw it into "audio only" mode for the drive home, or pause it and resume once I'm on my couch with a beer.
