Canada - Improving by Leaps and Bounds

[Revolt]

This Canada squad was easily the best I've ever seen. I see some real upside to this squad and can be a real contender for a WC spot. Today's match might have just ignited the begining of a great rivalry with the US. I know I'm not looking forward to having the US face Canada at your new National Stadium.

[Silock]

I agree. Sorry you guys got screwed out of at least going for the win in extra time :(

Hope you guys make it in 2010! Good showing by your squad!

[Kingston]

This is perhaps the thing to take from this tournament. Yes, it is extremely irritating to get screwed by the refs again. However, if we play like this in the upcoming WC qualifiying we will be going to the WC. That, to me, is far more important.

Also, it is impossible to say what would have happened had the ref made the correct call on the "offside". To read many of the posts from my fellow Canadian fans you would think we were robbed of the winning goal rather than simply a tying goal that would have sent things to overtime.

[iowa007]

Congratulations Canucks.

Canada has improved tremendously, and I hope they continue to improve. I am just happy that there is another competitive squad in CONCACAF that will keep the U.S. and Mexico on their toes. and besides, it makes for better matches than watching the CONCACAF soccer minnows get beat by whopping margins.

A rising tide lifts all ships.

Sincerely,

iowa007

[darb]

The tournament results should see us jump up another few spots in the FIFA rankings - maybe crack the top 50!. A win against the US would have been nice, but you can't do anything about the call after the fact.

[CanadaFTW]

This is perhaps the thing to take from this tournament. Yes, it is extremely irritating to get screwed by the refs again. However, if we play like this in the upcoming WC qualifiying we will be going to the WC. That, to me, is far more important.

Also, it is impossible to say what would have happened had the ref made the correct call on the "offside". To read many of the posts from my fellow Canadian fans you would think we were robbed of the winning goal rather than simply a tying goal that would have sent things to overtime.

Yeah, but it would have been an OT period up a man after erasing a 2 goal deficit. A sure win? No, but I would put our chances at least up to 75% to win that match.

[aveslacker]

Agree with the premise of this thread. You guys are a few players away from making Concacaf more competitive and fun to watch.

Also, don't put too much stock in FIFA rankings. They're stupid. When you guys qualify for the WC, you'll know you're there. And if the Canucks and other Concacaf reps at the WC represent the region well, our region will get more respect. Best of luck to you all.

And... you guys got robbed last night.

[ken0sha]

Agree with the premise of this thread. You guys are a few players away from making Concacaf more competitive and fun to watch.

Also, don't put too much stock in FIFA rankings. They're stupid. When you guys qualify for the WC, you'll know you're there. And if the Canucks and other Concacaf reps at the WC represent the region well, our region will get more respect. Best of luck to you all.

And... you guys got robbed last night.

No doubt Canada was the victim of bad officiating. Now that I got that out of the way. I'm glad to see Canada's program showing improvement. If the Canadians can consistently have De Ro, De Guzman and Hutchison on the field, they will be CONCACAF contender. This is good for everyone to have a strong team in Canada. First of all, it will mean that teams like Costa Rica, Honduras and Jamaica will be unlikely to steal points on the road against Canada. It is good for US soccer to have another rival besides Mexico.

[CanuckFan]

This year is the turning point for our men's team for a number of reasons:

1) Julian de Guzman has emerged as the leader of our team and an international star. The old boys are gone, long live the king! (Julian that is). If Mitchell doesn't give him the captain's arm band, he should be committed.
2) The talent pool we have developed over the last 5-6 years finally outweighs the total incompetence of the CSA. Add in a couple of our U20 stars, a few players in Europe who have been sitting on the fence these past few years and we will be able to compete with any team in CONCACAF.
2) BMO field will be a Cdn fortress. The players will be playing the majority of their home games in Toronto. The players will finally be able to enjoy overwhelming home support. Forget Edmonton and Vancouver for now, if we want to make the WC in 2010, play at home in Toronto. A referee would have to have ice water in his veins to make the type of call we saw last night. It would not happen at BMO. The USA and Mexico are not invincible. Add the 12th man at BMO field and we can go into games against either team with a good chance of a result.
4) The success of TFC, the U20 WC and the huge improvement in talent and playing style in our men's team will inevitably attract some major corporate money, something we have been in desperate need of.

The future of our men's team is looking better than at any time since the mid to late 80's.

[Moaca]

Yeah, not bad and I thought our high school coach did a pretty good job as well. :) I get the feeling the Mitchell/Hart combo will do all right. Looks like the players didn't seem to have any problem playing for this guy. I guess he doesn't have any drinking buddies (the proverbial Canadian "fan's" lament).

[that'sthecrewforyou]

Also if this team had Kluckwoski (sp?) and McKenna, their top two CB's and Nsaliwa instead of Nash, Hastings, and Hainault this team could have easily come out on top yesterday.

[CanuckFan]

Yeah, not bad and I thought our high school coach did a pretty good job as well. :) I get the feeling the Mitchell/Hart combo will do all right. Looks like the players didn't seem to have any problem playing for this guy. I guess he doesn't have any drinking buddies (the proverbial Canadian "fan's" lament).
I think Hart did a pretty good job, not great. The talent pool he had was limited of course. I do not think Nash should have started in 3 of the 5 games though (2 of them losses).

[david_silva]

De Rosario and Bernier should be both playing in respectable European leagues alongside De Guzman.

[Captain Canuck]

I think Hart did a pretty good job, not great. The talent pool he had was limited of course. I do not think Nash should have started in 3 of the 5 games though (2 of them losses).

I think that he definitely let Nash stay in too long in the 2nd half. We looked much better in that half once he was out.

It's also too bad he didn't have the option of bringing Friend off the bench.

Having some of the speedsters available for this tourney (Simpson, Peters) would have helped too. I didn't think there was enough team speed, and Nash didn't help.

[Moaca]

De Rosario and Bernier should be both playing in respectable European leagues alongside De Guzman.A promotable team in Bundesliga 2 isn't respectable? Do some reading (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216234).

[gyr0]

Well played Canada. As yet another American fan who felt you were screwed, I look forward (and dread) to facing you in WCQ. I must admit, I had never heard of this Patric Bernier character, but he looks to be quite the player. Where does he currently play? How old is he? Any chance of MLS snaring him as DP?

[Moaca]

Well played Canada. As yet another American fan who felt you were screwed, I look forward (and dread) to facing you in WCQ. I must admit, I had never heard of this Patric Bernier character, but he looks to be quite the player. Where does he currently play? How old is he? Any chance of MLS snaring him as DP?I, too thought he had a pretty good game against the US and seemed to own young Bornstein. For you and the poster above and most of all Gerry and the people at Sportsnet, Patrice has recently signed with Bundesliga 2 side Kaiserslautern from Tromso in Norway.

[david_silva]

Moaca, you gotta be joking me. The bundesliga is a tier 2 european league, and the second division in germany is about the same as a scandanavian league, promotable or not. Common sense ppl, De Rosario and Bernier should be at least in a tier 2 european league (ie. france, holland, germany, portugal).

[schafer]

There are so many positives to take out of this tournament, just to add to what CanuckFan wrote.

-Gerba went a long ways towards adding some serious competition up front. He took his goals well and looked decent against the US. I was very impressed with him, hopefully he continues to improve. With Friend, Hume, Occean, Gerba, Radzinski, and maybe Lombardo coming through in the next WCQ campaign, I think we actually have some pretty good depth up front.
-Just to emphasize De Guzman's 'breakthrough' tournament. He established himself as one of the premier players in CONCACAF during this Gold Cup, IMO. He's matured a lot recently, and he has all the requisite skills to be very, very good for Canada in the future. (Hopefully this tournament might make his brother 'see the light')
-This isn't hit and hope soccer that this team is playing. Canada looked tactically strong and comfortable in possession (with the exception of Nash). Having midfielders like Bernier, De Guz, Hutchinson and DeRo who are strong enough on the ball to ride challenges and maintain possession is huge.
-Issey-Nakajima Farra (sp?) looked like quite the player. This is the first time I've had a chance to see him, and I was very impressed.
-Haineault looked shaky at times, but there's definitely potential. Hopefully he continues to improve, as he could contribute in the future.

[JinJin]

With regards to the other De Guzman situation, I hope he now realizes that we have a legit shot at qualifying for the next WCQ and hopefully makes him want to join us and no matter how talented he is, I just can't see him cracking the Holland team (who seems to have talented CM's come from nowhere) There were already Sneijder and VDV and now you have Schaars, Affelay and Aissatti and the new Edgar Davids clone Drenthe:D

I really am optimistic he will play for Canada.

CanucksFan, and Schafer touched on some good points.

The thing about Canada is there is a lot of talent in this country, maybe the term sleeping dragon is a correct one. You see players like De Guzman, Hutchinson, De Rosario, they are talented but as the generation prior to our current U20's' they didn't have as much exposure to Europe and better developmental environments then our younger generation. Both Hutchinson and DeRo played for the Lynx but clearly they were good enough to be in the reserve systems of top teams in Europe had the opportunity arise. De Guzman is an exception and you could clearly see the difference in technical ability. I'm sure there are more diamonds in the rough here, there are plenty of De Guzman's, De Rosario's and Hutchinsons lying around.

That's why I'm so optimistic about the future, our strike force for the NT looks thin now but within a couple of years we could have some great strikers wreaking havoc in Concacaf, especially when you have a look at the likes of Simeon Jackson, Tousaint Ricketts, Will Johnson, and oh yeh Iain Hume ain't too bad either. I hope we perform well, this tournament provides a spring board for our players, Toronto FC developmental team is ok but Europe should always be the target.

Our talent pool in NCAA ain't bad either, there are tons of Canadians playing Division 1 soccer, it's always an option to look at. BTW, Ricketts has just exploded onto the scene, anyone who scores a hattrick against the US U20 side must be drawing some interest, does anyone know if there is interest in Ricketts getting drafted or is it too early to even mention him?