So with only Group C game 3 action left to go, it looks tight for Canada to make it into the playoff rounds. We need to beat Panama, a draw will not do (unless by some miracle, Guadaloupe beats the US). Given that Panama managed to upset the Yanks, I'm not liking our chances.
I'll restate what I said in the game thread in the Gold Cup forum. Stephen Hart and his staff knew that there would be a very good chance that the game against Panama would be the most important game for Canada out of the known games/opponents so far this year. He has known this possibility since March when the draw took place and the significance of this game is now clear: win and we're in, lose and go home. If we win, obviously the next game would increase in importance but his job is not to worry about that next game. For 3 months, it's been and it should be to do all the homework one can possibly do on the team from Panama. If we come out flat, if any of our players appears to be out there without a plan, if there is any lack of cohesion...there should be no defense for Hart and his staff. Now if one of our starters goes down or if we get jobbed by another CONCACAF ref (we haven't yet - knock on wood) that's out of his control. But what is in his control is to formulate a plan to give our team the best chance to beat Panama and anything less than a full effort from start to finish would be inexcusable.
Excellent summary adrenaline. I'd like to just point out also that Guadeloupe are at first glance minnows, but after you really look at them, you realize that they can draw any player from France who has a loose relationship to their colony. most of their starting eleven play professionally in France, several of them even in Ligue 1. To win against them 1 - 0 is a decent result. A 10 man Guadeloupe held us to a 1 goal scoreline, yes, but a 10-man Guadeloupe also orchestrated a 2 goal near comeback against Panama from 3 - 0 behind. Which of those rings of a stronger performance? If you watch the USA - Panama game you can see that the United States were barely even playing before the second half. They lacked the inspired play that has seen them through the Gold Cup and WCQ over the past several tournaments. Panama have a strong early attack and then fade out. As long as Canada play a balanced game and don't let up on the pressure, we'll be absolutely fine. Canada 3 - 1 Panama.
Thanks. We've only played Panama once in the last 10 years and that game was a neutral site friendly in 2008. The result there was a 2-2 draw.
I didn't see any of the Panama-US game. What happened in that one, did Panama come up big or did the US just underperform?
Basically Panama came out swinging furiously for the first 30 to 40 minutes while the USA underperformed. In the second half, the US was by far the better team but aside from the one goal just couldn't convert their chances.
Interesting. Based on both games so far it looks as though Panama's game plan is to try to grab the early lead and hold it. I'm guessing that Stephen Hart's game plan will be based on keeping them from grabbing the early goal.
Sadly enough Panama grabbed a late goal to knock us out of the competition. Another failure from the Canadian Soccer team.
We probably would have got totalled by Mexico anyway. All attention now on WC 2014 qualification. Hopefully the tournament has at least provided Stephen Hart with some idea of our strengths and weaknesses and how to approach the qualification. And then there's the Hoilett issue...
In hindsight, Group C was clearly the group of death based on the extremely close scorelines. Every game decided by 1 goal or less. No other group comes close to that as all had massive blow-outs. Canada deserved to be knocked-out though. No open play goals, and piss-poor tactics to close out the Panama match which had us progressing. Yes, Mexico would have thrashed us anyway!
Tough luck Canada I think you guys are better then ES and Guatemala but had the misfortune of being in the toughest group.
In order to get better, we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard so let me be frank about last night's result: we failed. Period. Group of death, maybe, but chances are that these are the kinds of groups that we will have to play in during the semi-finals and it won’t just be one game each. There will be a home leg and and away leg. There are those who will say we began to fatigue as the game went on which is why we were unable to press as effectively as we did when the score was tied. Ok, well then why didn't we use all three substitutes? If players are tired, pull them off. The temperature was around 40C I believe...right about what you might expect when you go to countries like Panama for WCQ. The average age of players on the field when Panama scored the equalizer was 27.6! 27.6!!! You'd think that by now they've been through heat of this sort by now, whether it's with their club team or in the last 2 weeks of training! Yes there were some positive things, one being that we were holding possession of the ball well in light of the opponent pressing aggressively. Translating that into goals will take time and maybe some of that was bad luck, we need to play more games and get some wind back on our sails before WCQ starts. There's only one FIFA date left until WCQ starts. That date is Aug. 10th. The following countries have that date open: 7. Uruguay 15. Ghana 20. Australia 21. Ivory Coast 22. Those Americans 28. Those Mexicans 30. Turkey 33. Israel 36. Egypt 38. South Africa 39. Nigeria 41. Algeria 43. Those Hondurans 44. Burkina Faso 49. Cameroon 50. Colombia 54. Peru 55. Those Reggae Boyz 56. Those Costa Ricans 58. Libya 60. New Zealand 61. Tunisia 62. Guinea 69. Botswana 70. Mali 72. Malawi 75. Estonia And those are just teams ranked higher by FIFA. Anyone will do.
you guys are alot better than what you showed at this Gold cup Honestly i think canada are the biggest under achievers in Concacaf. Your team reminds me so much of the US before we became a regional power. Canada needs a bradenton and a project 40 style goal. that was the biggest change we made in the 90's and its been working well even though we have been playing like crap lately. Hell hire Bruce Arena
With TFC, Whitecaps and Impact we have 3 Bradentons....all of them starting at roughly u10.....but they are new and haven't paid off yet. But we are seeing it with Gage, Straith, Teibert, Alderson, and Alemann amongst others (ie, Cordon hopefully). They are all very very young still though.... Agreed we are better than we showed, but still not as good as we could be. Yes, losing De John, Jakovic, Hume (optioned not to play), and Hutch hurt us. BUT, that very same scenario is more than likely in WCQ as well due to potential injuries.... We need more games! I would like to see a North American "B" squad being put together regularly, call it u23 (with some overagers) and get to work.....No reason they can't be playing Caribbean, NASL, USL Pro teams regularly as a group.....
Well I trust Stephen Hart. Even though I'm disapointed that we got knocked out so early, I don't think changing the manager will do much good. Bettermirror is right in a way that we do have three "Bradenton's." We don't have anybody like IMG who would sponsor a big youth developement facility for players across the country, so the big private investments in soccer in this country come from Montreal Vancouver and Toronto. Vancouver has a residency, Montreal's got a training ground with multiple grass fields and Toronto's building one of those as well plus an indoor facility to allow players to train year round. What is encouring to note is that all the national teams from U17 up are playing possession oriented soccer. I'm not sure if Vancouver and Montreal are starting to teach their youth players to do that as well, but Edmonton and Toronto are. That's important because if we want to win, we have to stop playing kick and run and we have to try to dictate the game.
Yes, bringing in Cooper and Tejada and taking over the game was piss-poor tactics . . . for us! Our boys started kicking the ball away because they were dead tired and suddenly found themselves under pressure that wasn't there before, from a Panama team that had clearly changed gears (necessitated by DeRo's goal. Panama needed the draw to win the group). Putting it on Hart by claiming he bunkered by choice is just shying away from the ugly truth - our boys ain't good enough. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. We need to come back next time with better players.
Gold Cup Commentary: Questions still linger for Canada After surprising Gold Cup flop, Canucks have issues to address Despite a veteran-heavy team with loads of CONCACAF experience, Canada crashed out of the Gold Cup on Tuesday night after giving up a late goal to draw Panama 1-1 in the final game of the group stage. The early exit represents Canada’s worst showing at the continental championship since 2005, a stunning outcome for a side full of optimism heading into this year’s tournament. With the Canadians’ lackluster performance in the books, a number of questions come to mind ahead of World Cup qualification, which begins for the Canucks in September of this year. http://www.mlssoccer.com/goldcup/ne...-cup-commentary-questions-still-linger-canada
I donno about you guys but despite leaving early I thought we were pretty damn solid in this GC. I felt like we really held our own against the US and we looked to be just about as good as Panama against them. Also the only reason we didn't crush Guadeloupe was poor finishing...which to finish off my point, is the biggest concern we need to address. Honestly I believe this team is improving and is WAY better than our world ranking says. Our last handful of matches... 2-1 win vs Honduras 2-2 draw @ Ukraine 0-1 loss @ Greece 1-0 win vs Belarus (neutral field) 2-2 draw vs Ecuador 0-2 loss @ USA 1-0 win vs Guadeloupe (neutral field) 1-1 draw vs Panama (neutral field) If you ask me, we're much stronger than people give us credit for. Put us in one of the other 2 groups in this past tournament and we advance...end of story.
Probably right....but our attacking "verve" just was not there and that's concerning. 3 goals against in 3 games isn't bad at all....USA conceded 2, Panama conceded 3 as well. We just weren't scoring. We were in the group of death, clearly. We need to find a way to score more goals, and play with more confidence when leading or are "favoured."
I'm glad you're optimistic but if you think about how the groups are set up, they're probably going to resemble more or less what the Third Round Groups will be in WCQ. You get one team from Pot 1 (USA, Mexico or Honduras) one from Pot 2 (Jamaica, Costa Rica or Cuba) and 1 of the Group winners from the Second Round. In Group A, you've got a Pot 1 team and two Pot 2 teams (yes I understand Cuba sucks) and an El Salvador team that is almost a lock to get to the Third Round. In Group B, you've got a Pot 1 team, a Pot 2 team, a Guatemela team that probably will be in the Third Round and Grenada who probably won't. Now in Group C, you've got a Pot 1 team and you've got Panama who is another lock to get to the Third Round. Then you have Guadelope who won't be in WCQ but if they were a FIFA member and they were able to get together and play games regularly, there's a good chance they're in the Third Round too. Which group is hardest isn't all that important really. But again, we're going to have to play these same teams more or less in the Third Round so by that barometer I'm concerned. Stephen Hart finally gave up on him. Finally!