Lots of discussion on the USA roster. Here is Canada's roster: http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=1791 Some points: 1. DEFENSE IS STILL HURTING - Chapman, Boyd and Nonen are all missing from this roster. Canada's defense pre-WWC was Chapman, Boyd, Nonen and Hermus - with Hermus being arguably the weak link. Pellerud was very happy with that line-up but then everything fell apart. Chapman and Boyd missed the WWC due to injury, Hermus made the trip but was too injured to play and Nonen played injured. Chapman and Boyd are still not ready to play and Nonen's absence is a bit of a mystery. Forwards Hooper and/or Lang may see duty on the back line. 2. LOTS OF U19'S - This roster features five U19 players, so it will be interesting to see how things turn out for them. 3. MINIMAL PREPARATION - Once Canada lost a berth in the Oly's, the Canadian program switched focus to the U19 side. Canada will only have a couple of days to prepare for this match. I can't see how this team with this amount of preparation will put up much of a battle, but one never knows. Of the five U19's, Lang and Timko are old vets but I'm most interested to see how well Zurrer (defense), Maranda (midfield) and Jamani (forward) play. At the recent U19 WWC qualifying, Canada's U19 team demonstrated a fair bit more passing/playmaking than the senior squad has shown in the past. It would be nice to see some of that carried forward into this game.
woohoo, looks like we get to kick canada butt again, except Shannon MacMillan isn't there to score four goals again...Really looking forward to the game; sorry Canada (and Norway, and Shannon) didn't make it to the Olys.
"Well, Blame Canada! It seems that everything's gone wrong since Canada came along Blame Canada! Blame Canada! They're not even a real country anyway. My son could of been a doctor or a lawer, it's a true, Instead he burned up like a piggie on a barbecue! Should we blame the matches? Should we blame the fire, or the doctor who allowed him to expire. Heck no! Blame Canada! Blame Canada! With all their hockey hubaloo and that bitch Anne Murray too. Blame Canada! Shame on Canada"
The last time Canada played the USA in a pre-Olympic friendly [August 20, 2000 Kansas City, MO] the game ended in a 1-1 draw. USWNT fans were stunned as the USA had bested Canada 9-1 and 4-1 in the two prior games. Some observers took it as a sign the USWNT was not playing well enough to win Gold in Sydney. After the 1-1 draw with Canada, the US did fail to win the Olympics and they lost their next 2 matches to Canada. A couple of years later the USWNT found themselves playing Canada for Bronze in the WWC. Maybe everything has gone wrong since Canada came along.