PBP: Canucks & Yanks: Canada v US U-23, 3/24 7pm est

About to leave Chattanooga to drive over to Nashville. Any bars in Nashville people are going to be at before the game? Also, if we go to the first game can we leave the stadium and come back in, or are we stuck in if we go to the Cuba-Sallie match.

I agree almost all of this, except I'd start Villafaña instead of Valentin. Wasn't really impressed by him last game.

You'll probably be stuck inside. Generally, they don't allow re-entry at these types of events.

I am pretty sure that Bunbury gets the start in this one. He played well vs Cuba. He does need to put the ball in the net.

Are you serious? He looked Ok, but honestly any MLS forward would have looked at least OK vs Cuba. Agudelo was miles better. The reason he came on at half time was because the game was already sealed up and Porter wanted to give his 3rd string forward a chance. He definitely didn't do anything to warrant a start over Boyd though.

http://www.noshortcorners.com/2012/03/gatt-zilla-returns.html

Well Gatt apparently scored today for Molde in Norway. Good for him.

If they hadn't used him, I would have been a tad pissed.

I'd be pretty disappointed if Teal started. He didn't look very sharp to me, so I can't agree with you on his Cuba performance. His touch is really poor. Canada is going to pack in tight, and Bunbury doesn't offer enough on the ball to break them down. Even when he is playing well, his strength is making sharp runs to get behind the defense, and that will be tough to do against a side that will likely sit extremely deep.

Based on Boyd's reviews, I'd imagine his ability to win balls in the air and hold up play would make him better suited for this match.

Any word on what happened with Agudelo's knee last game?

Meanwhile, Alfredo Morales didn't even make Hertha's 18 today.

S. Wiliams should get a shot on this one. I am confident that he can do as good a job as Sarkodie if not better.

well that's annoying...

tbh i would like to see bunbury get a goal during this tournament just for his psyche, but i think at this point he's the #3 forward on this roster. If the game becomes out of reach again like the last one, i wouldn't mind inserting him to see if we can get him to score and regain some confidence. I wouldn't mind inserting gyau somewhere in this match, even if it means having adu come off the bench (obviously nothing against freddy, i just think gyau's speed could cause a lot of problems for this canadian defense)

That usually happens when you cause 2 penalties in a game right?

Its 3 games in in 5 days so Porter needs to utilized as many players as possible. So they can be prepare for the Semis.

On Fowards for this game he can probably start Boyd then sub in Agudelo.
Next game agaist El Salvador Start Bunbury ans Sub in Boyd. Then Agudelo will be fresh for the Semis.

There's four full days off between the group stage and the semifinal. Rest won't be an issue for Agudelo, health will be. Frankly, if he is going to be Porter's go-to forward for the most important game, I wouldn't want him to go seven days without any game action.

You saying Agudelo is injured?

He sat out practice yesterday with an apparent injury, some have speculated it's his knee.

In that case start Boyd sub in Bunbury and rest Agudelo for El Salvador.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqVZdMGeTY8"]Studio 90: U-23 MNT Set for Canada at CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying - YouTube[/ame]

It's a real shame about Agudelo's injury. He might out for the rest of the tournament. He is a tremendous talent that's needed on this squad. That said, I think Bunbury do a good job of stepping-in.

Re: Bunbury's touch, we have to agree to disagree. Bunbury is a 1 touch passer and he is very good at it. If you are looking for a player with flair (see Agudelo). What Bunbury needs right now is a lay-up. Pardon the basketball reference.

He has a real chance tonight. He did well the last game and I think he will start tonight in place of Juan.

I love BS, you never know which direction things can go.

If Agudelo can play against El Salvador, there is no way I'd sit him. Give him at least a half. That would be 8 days without any game action coming off an injury. But he may be out for the tournament.

Nice video above. Hope Teal scores against Canada. (And hope Juan's OK.)

And you bench the Captain based on what exactly?

to be honest, here's what i see are canada's two big issues: 1) lack of chemistry, mainly due to the fact that they waited until the week before the tournament to organize their roster, and 2) their technique on their shots is awful.

Everytime they had a good opportunity they hit the ball 500 feet above goal. I think defensively they seem to be solid, and i think if they had a few months to prepare they would've looked much more organized, but their shot taking needs to improve. Hopefully they wait until after our game to work on that though

based on playing a full game.