Sure....but have you browsed their forum lately? (Not that that alone means anything, but it seems that the folks and their media back home aren't taking kindly to this and are starting to turn on him....especially with the way he treated LaVolpe in mind....turnabout being fair play and all that.)
In other quarterfinal action, Canada takes a 1-0 on Guatemala in the 16th minute on a goal by Ali Gerba
Anyone feel like providing a little CAN-GUAT pbp? I'm stuck at work on this fine Saturday Thanks in advance!
Well, it's even now. EDIT - never mind, I was wrong. CAN 2-0 GUA. DeRosario starts it. Three unnamed Canadians (whats-his-face, who-what-now, and don't-give-a-crap) finish it.
Nice series of one touch passes going from DeRo-de Guzman-Hutchinson-de Guzman and finally a lay off to Gerba leads to 2-0.
Wow, 3-0 on an autogol from Medina, as he deflects a scuffed shot by de Guzman into the net, while trying to keep it from getting to Gerba at the six.
Yellow to either Stalteri via some acting/goading from Ruiz. Was he carrying one from before, or does the slate get wiped clean from the Group stage? Would obviously help whomever faces them in the semis. HT, 3-0 to the Canucks...probably the best first half they have played in a long time.
Canada has 3 in 45, vs a Guatemala team we have scored upon once i think over the last two games....NOt only that, no clumsy fouling on their own D to boot.....Solid performance all around.... Considering Canada is the only country that has won the GC outside of Mexico and the US, count me as concerned.... That is of curse, if Bradley has studied Arena's shortcomings last GC final vs. Panama and/or also that other recent tie we had vs. them....If we advance, Canada could prove quite a difficult task.....Solid, solid side,,,
I'm not postive, but I think he was on the books of the Miami Fusion in 2001 but didn't play and wasn't claimed when the Fusion went tits-up.
You are correct, sir. But Gerba is a seat warmer for Olivier Occean, if Mitchell keeps using the same 4-5-1 system as he is vs. Guatemala. Hutchinson (FC Copenhagen, rumored to be picked up by some Prem squads), Julian de Guzman (Deportivo de La Coruña, ex-Hannover 96) and Paul Stalteri (Tottenham, ex-Werder) are their best Euro players at the moment. They left Occean in Norway (Lillestrom). Rob Friend (Heerenveen) had played in the opening game. Center-half Kevin McKenna (ex-Energy Cottbus) was allowed a time off as well. Julian's brother, Jonathan de Guzman, a midfield star for Feyenoord, has chosen to represent the Netherlands (but he is not yet a Dutch citizen). As to the game, Canada reminded me of the US back in 1998. They need to move the ball faster and make more runs for each other. And Steve Nash's bro has zero skills.
Still amazed no MLS team never pulled the trigger on this guy, just for the marketing opportunity. Particularly, Dallas back when Steve was with the Mavericks. Yeah, he's not the most skilled but he's be serviceable MLS player and sometimes in MLS, publicity and selling tickets trumps skill.
Martin Nash plays for Vancouver in the USL-1. He's played at that level for several years (also had A-League stints with US teams) and had some time at some 2nd or 3rd tier English teams. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Nash_(soccer)
I'm wondering what kind of "formation" Guatemala put out there. If anyone saw it, I'd be interested. Did they bunker and flop like they did against us, or did they go out and play positively and actually try to score?
Guats didn't bunker. Canada was in 4-5-1. DeRo scored early (really was Gerba's goal) and Guats did crap for the rest of the match. Ruiz tried his "elbow to the face, then provoke a reaction for a PK" type of a thing but the ref did not buy it.
Thanks. This is probably a big reason why Canada won more convincingly than we did. Guat may have had "less respect" for Canada than they did us and they paid accordingly. They're just not good enough to stay with the better teams in the region, especially if they fall behind.