Gold Cup 2021

Canada has released a list of 60 names for a preliminary camp:

https://mcusercontent.com/78d3589fb...32c7a-5319-fd6c-8648-65e8e1b78706/Group_B.pdf

(The link is actually for all the know participating teams in our pool.)

 

The actual tournament roster will be 23 players so most of the people on this list won't be going to the Gold Cup. There are some interesting notes, however:

No Milan Borjan on the roster. I expect that we'll see both Crepeau and St. Clair in net at different points in the tournament. Hasal seems to have fallen off the club radar this year but with him and Pantemis behind Crepeau and St. Clair who are behind Borjan, we're looking good in goal.

Ayo Akinola has been called in and doesn't appear on the US list. That would seem to indicate he's decided for Canada. He probably won't get to play unless we go with a seven striker formation, but he's definitely in the promising prospect category. Unless TFC spend big on him, I suspect he'll be off to Europe next season when his contract expires which could further bolster his skills.

Luke Singh is back in camp. He was on the T and T roster for the recent WCQ games but never saw the field and so is still uncapped. T and T isn't in the Gold Cup and so I don't think they have any cap-able games for a while. This gives Canada a window to cap Singh if they want to. He's still young, and it shows at times in his play, but he's another promising prospect. Singh wouldn't ordinarily be high enough in the depth chart to make the actual roster but maybe it's worth capping him as defense is our weak spot right now?

There are zero CPL players on this 60 man list which continues what we saw for the recent WCQ games. For the past couple of years before that Herdman had been in the habit of including at least a token CPLer or two but I guess that is over now that we're playing for keeps. I do expect we'll see CPL alumni start showing up on the NT in the next few years as the league develops players and passes them up the global pyramid.

 

USA 1 - Canada 0

We played well, but had no finish. It happens.

I learned today that it was our "A" team vs their "C" team. I learned other things too from the U.S forum, that I am trying to forget.

 

Flash Score says you had 54 percent of of the possession. In the second half you had 57 percent, and outshot USA 9 to 1, with shots on goal 3 to 0. USA didn't have a shot on goal other than the goal 20 seconds in. I heard the name Tajon Buchanan a lot.



Most Americans on the roster play MLS. The best Americans there will be considered for WCQ rosters. Gyasi Zardes has 13 goals, Paul Arriola (who didn't play yesterday due to injury) has 8, and Sebastian Lletget has 7. Acording to Wikipedia, which doesn't count Jozy Altidore is active, Christian Pulisic is the USMNT's active leader with 16 goals, and Zardes is second. Goalkeeper Matt Turner is new. Veteran Brad Guzan didn't play in the Group Stage. Zardes (59 caps), Arriola (36), Kellyn Acosta (33), Lletget (26), and Cristian Roldan (22) are among the the top eleven active players in caps, with Roldan tied for eleventh. Between the 1-0 win over Haiti and 6-1 win over Martinique, American fans said this roster will struggle offensively and needs to be able to win 1-0.

 

Having Davies and David in the line up may have tipped the balance for us but, yes, we should have been able to score and win that game regardless.

I was irritated by the non-penalty call around the 8th minute. That's either a foul or a handball in the box. Either way, it's a penalty. As the Americans are always given home field advantage for every Gold Cup game it'd be nice for once not to have to deal with the refs, too.

But, hey, maybe don't let the Yanks score 20 seconds in and then fail to score at any point ourselves.

I'm really looking forward to the next match. I very much want to see how we stack up against Jamaica or Costa Rica as those are teams we'll be most directly fighting with for World Cup qualification.

 

I'm pleased we are playing Costa Rica, with the chance to then play Mexico/Honduras. This is more preparation that we need against opposition we will soon see.

So far this tournament has shown we are not weak mentally while going down against the USA (Good), but moral victory counts for nothing, we need to grind out a result, and we didnt do that (Bad). If we cant get a result in a match like that in WCQ, it's over for us.

Excuses are like assholes, everyone has one. Score a goal, get a result against opposition that isn't Haiti.

Kamal Miller has improved his stock this tournament. He should start with Kennedy and Johnston in WCQ.

Osorio and MAK have not been good. Piette was great against the USA. Time for Cavallini to show up against Costa Rica.

 

Too bad we couldn't have put one past the Americans and at least tied the game. That would have made for a very attractive bracket for us.

 

Nice 2-0 win over CR.

Mexico ran rampant over Honduras in their match.

It will be important that we don't concede early and play with resolve.

No Cavallini or Larin up top will be difficult. Tesho had some whifs at striker when he came on tonight.

Again, we need to play within our principles and style and seek impose ourselves on Mexico, realizing that it won't be easy.

 

Great to see us pull out a respectable win against Costa Rica. I'm hoping for more of the same when we play them in WCQ.

Mexico is always a difficult match. I'd love to see us win and, if we do - great. If we don't, I won't be too worried about what it says about our team. Especially with so many players now out due to injury or cards. For example, our offence will be playing without any of David, Davies, Larin, Cavallini, or Akinola.