The Canadian Men's Soccer Team Thread

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by shermanator

It's still insane to me that we've had a Canadian on one of the top clubs in Europe the last 5 years and they're about to move to probably the biggest club in the world.

An Alberta boy. That's the craziest part. And here I thought Owen Hargreaves wasn't going to be topped.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

If Bayern can get ~35 million Euros for him I think they take it and run. He’s been great but hasn’t really developed in the last two years. Perhaps a move to Real Madrid will be the kick in the pants for Davies and get him back on his development trajectory

[browna]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

If Bayern can get ~35 million Euros for him I think they take it and run. He’s been great but hasn’t really developed in the last two years. Perhaps a move to Real Madrid will be the kick in the pants for Davies and get him back on his development trajectory

Maybe, but Bayern and their program taught him to be a pro more than anywhere else could, same with Owen. Owen doesn't go onto Man U or feature in English WC squads as man of the match if he has his career start/has formative years at somewhere other than the machine that is Bayern.

Davies will have a bigger spotlight on him at Madrid, and that can go one of two ways. Also likely to be thrown a little bit more to the wolves there, some more competition, and expectations will be higher every week...and, if he falls out of favour or form, it will be tougher there to get back in the squad and he will do no good sitting on the bench.

Hope for the best for him.

[Matty81]

He will do great there as long as he stays healthy. strength is his physical capability rather than his technical ability, he'll be a stud as long as he has his legs. for me less than 5 players in world football with his combination of speed quickness and power

Not criticizing anyone i get why it is relevant here but man I hate seeing whoregreaves name in a cmnt thread, not a cmnt player and didn't do a shred of work for our country or our program. Even after all these years.. not many athletes I dislike as much as that guy when I hear his fake weird English accent on tv

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Matty81

Not criticizing anyone i get why it is relevant here but man I hate seeing whoregreaves name in a cmnt thread, not a cmnt player and didn't do a shred of work for our country or our program. Even after all these years.. not many athletes I dislike as much as that guy when I hear his fake weird English accent on tv

He got cut from Canadian teams multiple times. I don't blame him from steering away from the tire fire.

[Matty81]

Your loyalty to your own country is so thin that you get your nose out of joint and go represent daddies country just to spite some dumb youth coach after getting cut from age group teams - that's a weak ass excuse and hurt soccer in this country 100x more than it hurt the CSA sycophant he was upset at. It's different if you are 25 and aren't getting called up after playing senior football for years, but all his decision told me is he didn't really give much of a #### about Canada.

Canada was so bad back then, but a player like him could have had a massive massive impact with how bad concacaf was when look at what a guy like Dwight Yorke did sticking with their own country.

Anyway he's gone now and we don't really need to think about him any more as CMNT fans thank goodness - and he was entitled to his call, just like most CMNT fans are entitled to dislike him.

In actual CMNT news about non d-bags, CSA hired a new CEO and General Secretary today, the former CEO of Golf Canada!? Looks like a really good administrator and businessman, but not a soccer guy. Hard to imagine him punting Biello or getting deeply involved in a new manager hunt with his background. We might be stuck with Mauro for the next cycle.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/can...blue-1.7129426

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Matty81

Your loyalty to your own country is so thin that you get your nose out of joint and go represent daddies country just to spite some dumb youth coach after getting cut from age group teams - that's a weak ass excuse and hurt soccer in this country 100x more than it hurt the CSA sycophant he was upset at. It's different if you are 25 and aren't getting called up after playing senior football for years, but all his decision told me is he didn't really give much of a #### about Canada.

Canada was so bad back then, but a player like him could have had a massive massive impact with how bad concacaf was when look at what a guy like Dwight Yorke did sticking with their own country.

I don't disagree with any of that, but Soccer Canada absolutely did their best to create/enable that whole situation, and should get a very big chunk of the credit for chasing him off.

Junior Holliet doesn't get enough credit for doing the opposite, IMO. Yes it took him forever, but he really was the first of the dominos to fall despite a very legitimate chance to go to the World Cup with Jamaica at the time.

Holliet did it before Herdman when things were still relatively dire, and then we had a string of dual nationals finally commit.

[shermanator]

Tesho Akindele was the real domino to fall. Wouldn't be anywhere near the roster today but getting the rookie of the year in MLS was a real coup at the time.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Tesho Akindele was the real domino to fall. Wouldn't be anywhere near the roster today but getting the rookie of the year in MLS was a real coup at the time.

Ah, good call. I forgot he was first by a few months.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I don't disagree with any of that, but Soccer Canada absolutely did their best to create/enable that whole situation, and should get a very big chunk of the credit for chasing him off.

Junior Holliet doesn't get enough credit for doing the opposite, IMO. Yes it took him forever, but he really was the first of the dominos to fall despite a very legitimate chance to go to the World Cup with Jamaica at the time.

Holliet did it before Herdman when things were still relatively dire, and then we had a string of dual nationals finally commit.

Yep that's fair. Good points on Hoilett and Tesho too. Eustaquio was well after the tide had turned but taking him from portugal felt like the big pivot point for me where we got a guy playing in a top league who still had some prospects with a big nation coming over to the CMNT.

We just had a string of losses for so many years before, losing JDG2 hurt a lot as well at the time as did Begovic.

Only earlier dual national I can think of who committed to us with no other options like a Bircham was Radzinski - easily could have played for Poland too and he didn't get called up for Canada until he was back over in europe playing real well in the top league in belgium.

[shermanator]

Canada are at the point where they have dual nationals that no one was aware of committing at youth levels. At the U-20 qualifiers last week there was a dual national who's played first team with Pumas who scored 3 goals in 3 games for Canada....

Not everything is rosy but we no longer lose the vast majority of dual nationals that are eligible. And players like Fikayo Tomori actually lose out on opportunities at the World Cup by not committing to Canada.

[GirlySports]

Arfield was a big one. Played U21 for Scotland then switched to Canada

[PeteMoss]

Friendly vs Netherlands on June 6th announced out of nowhere.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1765769530834604143

[GirlySports]

cool, Euro 2024 prep for Netherlands, their first game is June 16.

[shermanator]

Best opponent for a friendly we've had in a long time. Great get.

[shermanator]

Jacob Shaffelburg has a brace tonight against Messi

[browna]

Yeah a good opponent, finally, for a friendly. Get another Euro 2024 opponent while over there.

In troubling news, Davies lasts 15 minutes in his first game agyer return after injury, before getting pulled.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by browna

Yeah a good opponent, finally, for a friendly. Get another Euro 2024 opponent while over there.

In troubling news, Davies lasts 15 minutes in his first game agyer return after injury, before getting pulled.

He got kicked in the face so hopefully it was just a precaution. At least it isn't another muscle injury.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Yeah I think Davies will be fine after a bit of dental work

[shermanator]

He'll be fine...

NSFW!