Since it looks like we aren't playing anybody until CNL when we play minnows, the real test will be at the Gold Cup about 16 months from now. I'll reserve judgement until after that tourney is completed.
Canada moved up 10 spots to 80th in the April 2018 FIFA Rankings, which is their best ranking since they were 80th in May 2013.
Canada moved up 1 spot to 79th in the June 2018 FIFA Rankings, which is their best ranking since they were 79th in April 2013.
A very ambitious road map by John Herdman for Canada Canada’s road to 2022 and 2026 World Cups starts with Nations League, Herdman says https://t.co/HN05dzFIGm @Globe_Sports pic.twitter.com/qYHLpXHoAx— The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) July 17, 2018 “We’ve got four years to get ahead of Costa Rica. We have eight to 12 years to get on par with Mexico and the U.S. That four year project of getting ahead of Costa Rica and to get away from Panama and Honduras? That’s realistic.” -John Herdman The road to 2022 starts here The Road to 2022 begins now.#CANMNT v Dominica on 16 October in Toronto 🍁 https://t.co/HeDzN3t07G pic.twitter.com/RIJgd4mfm2— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) July 17, 2018
Soccer: Canada target Costa Rica in CONCACAF race to 2022 https://ca.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idCAKBN1K903B-OCASP “The team we really need to go after in the next four years, and we can close the gap on, is Costa Rica,” said Herdman. “In many areas we have higher quality players than them in the depth of our team, we maybe lack the tier one players but we are not far off two or three players. “We’re right up there and then it comes down to things like sport science, proper management, relationship with clubs, a commitment from the guys to really buy into leaving the shirt in a better place.” Known as a meticulous planner and motivator, Herdman helped turn Canada into a women’s football powerhouse, guiding them to bronze medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. “The thing that have maybe tripped us up (in the past) is the mindset, the culture of the team, the sport science — if we get those things right then there is no excuses.”
Hey everyone, I got my wife to sign off on going to Bradenton for the game with USVI in September! Yeah, the beach helped... Y'all hear any news about tickets, please let me know!
Canada Soccer announces squad for Concacaf Nations League Qualifying 🍁: STORY https://t.co/ne17ftzeNj🇨🇦: PROFILES https://t.co/SICOEQimPr🆚: US Virgin Islands on Sunday 9 September#️⃣: 🇨🇦🇻🇮 #CANMNT #CNLQ2018 pic.twitter.com/lu22RuMSpe— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) August 30, 2018 CANADA SQUAD 1- GK- Maxime Crépeau | CAN / Ottawa Fury FC 2- FB- Zachary Brault-Guillard | FRA / Olympique Lyonnais 3- CB- Manjrekar James | DEN / FC Fredericia 4- CB- Derek Cornelius | SRB / FK Javor Ivanjica 5- CB- Dejan Jaković | USA / Los Angeles FC 6- M- Samuel Piette | CAN / Impact de Montréal 7- M- Russell Teibert | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC 8- M- David Wotherspoon | SCO / St. Johnstone FC 9- F- Cyle Larin | TUR / Beşiktaş JK 10- W- David Junior Hoilett | WAL / Cardiff City FC 11- F- Tosaint Ricketts | CAN / Toronto FC 12- W- Alphonso Davies | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC 13- M- Jay Chapman | CAN / Toronto FC 14- W- Liam Millar | ENG / Liverpool FC U-23 15- CB- Doneil Henry | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC 16- M- Scott Arfield | SCO / Glasgow Rangers FC 17- FB- Marcel de Jong | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC 18- GK- Milan Borjan | SRB / FK Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) 19- F- Lucas Cavallini | MEX / Puebla FC 20- F- Jonathan David | BEL / KAA Gent 21- M- Jonathan Osorio | CAN / Toronto FC 22- GK- Alessandro Busti | ITA / Juventus Primavera 23- W- Tesho Akindele | USA / FC Dallas
Update: so the stupid red tide just killed off my wife's enthusiasm for Bradenton but still interested in ticket info just in case.
Our attack, on paper, looks good (despite Larin always sucking for Canada) Our defence is Swiss cheese.
How good can Busti be? My goodness we need a keeper. Glad to see Brault-Guillard at RB...RB has been an absolute black hole since Stalteri.
A reasonable balance of playing some veterans and bringing in some youth for a game we should win easily.
Here's the official stream for Sunday (4 pm Eastern, 1 pm Pacific) Need to register with just email address to watch. https://www.oz.com/concacafnationsleague/video/e6720312-fd73-4508-b34d-70ac559e73cb
So no network could be bothered picking this up...I've been limited to a few African Cup on nations qualifying games this weekend on BEIN Sports.
#CANMNT 🍁Borjan 39th appearancePiette 39Henry 23Osorio 21Hoilett 18Arfield 13Cavallini 8Davies 7Millar 2Cornelius 1David 1 🇨🇦: https://t.co/SICOEQ0LXT#️⃣: 🇨🇦🇻🇮 #CANMNT #CNL #TheDreamStartsNow— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) September 9, 2018
VICTORY / VICTOIRE! 🇨🇦 8⃣ Osorio, Cavallini (2), David (2), Hoilett, Larin (2)🇻🇮 0⃣🇨🇦🇻🇮 #CANMNT #CNL #TheDreamStartsNow ▶️ https://t.co/EQjp5h0nBP pic.twitter.com/pGLNVPpj2H— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) September 9, 2018
Well that is what I expected and hoped for. A clean sheet and total massacre offensively. We need to do this to the minnows. Sorry but no more playing to the level of our opponents. The formation was a 2-5-3 for offence and looked like a 4-3-3 on defence. Don't take teams for granted, even weak ones, but don't show them any undue respect either. Bury them! 8-0 is a nice start. Double digits next time out!
I wouldn't get my hopes up...based on how the draw for this round worked, the USVI are the easiest opponent Canada are going to face.
Looking at the other results, there were a couple of double digit games, but they all won at home. Nobody else put together such an emphatic victory away. Gives me hope for the future. Each successive team is ranked higher than the last, so the competition is going to ramp up.
Now official! Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla has finally decided to commit to Canada over Ivory Coast. He currently plays with Barcelona B and has trained with the main team while playing with them in the international cup. Canada's midfield just got that much more talented with the 19 years old. Canada's new young core: Alphonso Davies (soon Bayern Munich) Jonathan David (Gent) Ballou Tabla (Barcelona B) Liam Millar (Liverpool U23) Alessandro Busti (Juventus U) Cyle Larin (Besiktas) Lucas Cavallini (Puebla) Zachary Brault-Guillard (Lyon) Marcus Godinho (Hearts) Ballou ✅#CANMNT 🍁 #CNL #TheDreamStartsNow ▶️https://t.co/N7gLYCC2Mc pic.twitter.com/Pti59P5bIL— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) September 25, 2018 Canada's definately back
Oh s--- And they don't have Floro around anymore, so Canada might actually make good use of all that talent! Btw, we now know that a 2020 Copa América will happen. Assuming that it ends up being a collab w/Concacaf like 2016 and we get 6 berths, @Robert Borden you think qualifying for it is a realistic goal for Canada? The berths would likely have to be won in the Nations League...
This is hard to tell... According to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019–20_CONCACAF_Nations_League Canada would have to survive relegation to qualify & having the top 6th best results of League A (All group winners & the 2 best runner ups - 4 groups of 3). It really comes down to who Canada gets in their group. League A so far: Mexico Costa Rica Panama Hondura United States Honduras Haiti Curacao Cuba Canada Dominican Republic French Guiana I think we have the talent to qualify and to cause some upsets this time around. If the qualification is based on the Gold Cup like last time, I have no doubt we will.
^ Canada has been on an upward trajectory for talent for some time already even if the results have not really yet started to reflect that fully. The two questions will be: How well will we use that talent? That is, will we be able to convert it to maximum results? and How high will the wave of talent go? That is, will our talent level plateau high enough where we "always" qualify for the World Cup, etc.
I think that Herdman ability to adapt, adjust and thinking outside the box has served him well. Having Mauro Biello to help him tactically is very good. He's best equip to get the maximum out of our players. He has the best hand in a new young talented core who's completely detached from past CanMNT horrors and unbelievably hungry. The talent development has just be increasing over the years. CPL all but just facilitates that now. Ballou Tabla did his soccer in Quebec in Sport-Études program. Davies in Edmonton, David in Ottawa, Larin in Mississauga, which is where Liam Millar started. There's more where that get from. Now that a viable infrastructure will be put in place, safe to say that we're just getting started. I think we're good enough to make 2022. The post 2026 WCQ formula means that Canada shouldn't be missing World Cup appearances going forward