Well put. We actually owned a lot more of that game than the score would indicate, but it certainly was not our best. Some tinkering would be good. For example, both Kaye and Eustaquio are great players but they both play the same way (more defensively) and shouldn't both be out there together. Switch in Osorio for one of them and we are much better at generating offence through the centre of the park. But, hey, three points and bring on Mexico!
Congrats on huge win. I'd have loved to see Doneil playing well but pity he was booked and came out early. Folks down to Suwon, Korea, including myself, are happy with his performance and want him to stay here longer.
I have to wonder if that was the plan. That first very quick tackle seemed premeditated. I'm surprised there wasn't a yellow there! He could have had 3 by the time he got his first, and had to start behaving. Shame that Toronto let him go - they've been painfully short of centre-backs of late - even having Bradley play in there at times!
That was simply a well done game. Good offence, good defense, good awareness by Herdman to make changes as needed. It is amazing to see us at the top of the standings eight games in. Now we just need to keep it going. And if someone could beat Panama to open up some space between them and the rest of the top three, that would be nice, too. The next window is away at Honduras, home to the US, and away at El Salvador. After last night, I don't think there is any such thing any more as a game we can't win. I really, really want to see us win in Honduras. Yes for the points but we also need to exorcise the ghost of times past. Then the US which is another huge metre stick game for us. Then El Salvador which, although away, is a game we need to win for the points, especially if Panama doesn't stumble.
You could go undefeated in 20 qualifiers for one World Cup, and I don't think a team has ever done that, albeit most teams can't play that many qualifiers.
I don't want to get the horse too far ahead of the cart. If we still think we need 23 points to qualify, however, a plausible route to picking up the remaining seven points now looks like: beat Jamaica at home, beat El Salvador away, tie Honduras away That still leaves a home game against the US and away games at Costa Rica and Panama to make up for any fumbles or pick up "extra" points. Panama is currently the team to stay ahead of so we could do ourselves a big favour by beating them when we visit. That will really be a six point game. Panama do still have away games in the US and Mexico to offset some easier matches, however, so maybe we can get a little help in opening up a gap.
This article suggests the home game against the US will be in Hamilton: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/spo...world-cup-dream-likely-runs-through-honduras/ Eastern time zone for travel for the games before and after and also on turf instead of Toronto's grass which is more doable in January.
What is the capacity in Hamilton? It looks like Canada made 3 saves in stoppage time while it was 2-1.
You had two records yesterday. Hutchinson broke your caps record, and Larin tied Dwayne De Rosario's record of 22 goals. David has 18 goals and could pass De Rosario next year to make the top two be active. I found out about Larin's record from: It was your first win against Mexico since Gold Cup 2000. You will probably pass Costa Rica for third in Concacaf in the FIFA Rankings that come out next week. You are 48th, and your record is 40th. The FIFA Rankings started after your only World Cup. If you qualify, you will have missed eight consecutive World Cups with qualifications on both sides. The three teams who have had longer gaps are Egypt (1934 to 1990 with their being no World Cup in 1942 or 1946), 10 by Bolivia (1950 to 1994), and 9 by USA (1950 to 1990). In addition, four teams who are alive will have at least as long a gap as you if they qualify. Iraq's only appearance was in 1986 like you, El Salvador's last appearance was in 1982, DR Congo's only appearance was in 1974 when they were Zaire, and Wales's only appearance was in 1958.
So it has taken unusually long but Canada is finally more or less at the level of the US. The US cleaned up their act due to the 94 WC. But it seems like the 2026 WC is not the factor behind Canada's recent success. Rather, I think it is due to a handful of youth academies run by soccer loving immigrants that started or got kicked into full gear after the 21st century. Cause the talent has always been here, it has been many decades that Canada has a large pool of soccer loving immigrants from traditionally strong soccer countries. Growing up in the Canadian soccer system myself, I always thought the problem was a lack of proper management by Canadian coaches, only relying on the fastest and most physical players, neglecting the skillful and high soccer IQ players. But apparently these youth academies are paying off now. Though it seems like this current side is also heavily dependent on fast and athletic players, though some of them are also highly skilled.
Could be 22 games for one team if they go to the inter-confederation play-offs. Rumours now about the US game being at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal using temporary grass. Seems unlikely to me ... someone must have got their wires crossed, as they'd have to truck in grass from South Carolina at this time of year. Perhaps someone is smoking something and thought of a different type of grass ...
The whole narrative that moved us from a soccer also-ran in CONCACAF to our current position is, to my mind, about 15 years long. The starting point was the arrival of MLS in Canada with TFC and the fact that, from day one, the ownership treated TFC as big league. Yes, the team was bad for many years but it was provided with huge resources by MLS standards and run the same way MLSE ran its other professional sports franchises. The fans responded and, for the first time ever, we had a pro soccer team where the news coverage was about the game results and player trades, not about whether the team or league would financially make it to the end of the season. TFC's direct contribution to the national team was negligible at that point but it was a sea change in showing what could be done. TFC's runaway success in the stands is why Vancouver and Montreal (who already had D2 teams) suddenly also jumped up to MLS. Every soccer playing kid in the country now saw Canada soccer players on local (or at least "local") teams at sold out stadiums or being interviewed on TV with the same media crowds as NHL and other professional players. This domestic spotlight had never before shone on the few Canadians who somehow found pro jobs in Europe or wherever. So it wasn't that the Canadian players on these MLS teams were so great and the NT immediately exploded, but for the first time ever, pro soccer was legitimately big league in Canada. Kids could visibly see a path forward in pro soccer. The first trickle of the new talent pool for the NT started. Concurrently, the Canadian Soccer Association finally started to get its act together. It is almost impossible to state how balkanized Canadian soccer was in the early 2000s with the CSA, every provincial federation, and practically every local league and club all going in their own directions. It was like an unending, fifteen-sided civil war. No wonder so few kids ever found their way anywhere useful. Somehow, the CSA finally asserted its dominance and brought everyone else into line. They established a rational, comprehensive system to develop soccer talent all the way from little kids to the pros. And not just a pathway for players but standards and systems for coaches and technical directors and everyone else, too. Now promising youngsters could not only see for themselves viable pro teams they could aspire to, but we finally had a coherent system to start turning those promising kids into far more polished, developed young players. The level of training and development a kid who turns 16 this year has received compared to a kid who turned 16 in, say, 2005 when TFC started, is insane. From there it was mostly a matter of time so that kids entering the new system at the beginning could develop all the way through to the age when they could go pro. And filling in the gaps as the kids were ready for them. So we got the PLSQ and League 1 Ontario in 2012/13. Then the CPL in 2019. And now our best young players look like Jonathan David or Tajon Buchanan instead of Andrea Lombardo. There's still a long way to go. We need D3 in the rest of the country (although BCL1 is on its way). The CPL is still finding its feet, especially off the field. Movement upward from the CPL is not as smooth as it should be. Our MLS teams squander too much young Canadian talent on the benches. But we're now talking about improving a system that already has the NT reaching for the upper end of CONCACAF, not desperately hoping for decent NT players to somehow appear from somewhere.
https://www.fifa.com/news/fifa-coca-cola-world-ranking-november-2021-update is titled "Netherlands and Canada hit heights again." It says "Down in 72nd a year ago, Canada (40, +8) are now up to 40th, a lofty position they have not experienced since December 1996." What it doesn't say is that you tied your best rank ever. Mexico lost the most points, and fell behind USA, who leads Concacaf in 12th. Yes, but you're unlikely to remain undefeated and fall to fourth. Let's say you end undefeated with 2 wins and 4 draws including a draw in Panama. That would be 10 more points to make 26, and a goal differential of at least +10. Panama has 14, so giving them 1 point against you would make them need 11 to make 26. They would probably need 12 to make 27 because they are +2, and if they get 3 wins and 2 draws not against us, the wins would have to be by at least 8 combined goals. 12 points in 5 games means they would have to win 4 times including at USA and/or Mexico.
In not so good news, the CSA has cancelled the January camp and the friendly against Guatemala: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/covid-roundup-jan-6-1.6306196 So, unfortunately, we'll be going in to a rather important WCQ away game in Honduras relatively cold.
https://www.fifa.com/news/belgium-and-canada-take-2021-honours-in-fifa-rankings is titled "Belgium and Canada take 2021 honours in FIFA rankings." It says "This year’s ‘Most Improved Side’ are Canada with a 130.32-point gain." USA gained 103.51. https://www.concacaf.com/world-cup-...tte-recalls-2-0-win-vs-u-s-it-gave-us-belief/ is titled "Piette recalls 2-0 win vs. U.S.: “It gave us belief.” https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...or-january-world-cup-qualifying-training-camp has USA's roster. Because of the possibility of injuries and COVID, USA chose a greater than usual amount of 28. That means each game will have at least 5 players not on that game's roster. Fourth goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina is the only uncapped player. In the most recent qualifier, Zach Steffen (26 caps) retook the starting goalkeeper spot from Matt Turner (13 caps). Steffen is Manchester City's sub. Of the eight players with the most caps, Christian Pulisic might be the only one in the best eleven, but since USA is at you in the middle game, we'll see when USA uses their best players. DeAndre Yedlin's 71 caps are the most on the roster, and Davies got past him when you scored at USA.
The roster for the games against Honduras, the US, and El Salvador: https://canadasoccer.com/news/canad...world-cup-qualifiers-squad-to-start-new-year/ Considering who's healthy and in season, not much in the way of surprises.
Game day. Here we go! Our first game in Central America in this WCQ, a return to Honduras, and a chance to move one step closer to qualifying. A win today would mean a lot more than just three points for the new Canadian soccer reality.
A well earned 2-0 win! The first (own) goal was a bit of a break, although Larin was right there to put it in if the defender had missed. That second goal was just amazing! It goes down with Davies' goal against Panama as our best so far this tournament. And to finally get a win in Central America, and in Honduras specifically, dumps another monkey off our backs. Coupled with Costa Rica beating Panama, we are now five points clear of fourth place Panama with five games to go. We have home games remaining against the US and Jamaica. We have away games against El Salvador, Costa Rica, and - to finish things off - Panama. Panama has home games left against Jamaica, El Salvador, and us. They have away games left at Mexico and the US. I'm hoping we can maintain that five point gap so that our final game of qualifying, away to Panama, is meaningless rather than being for all the marbles. Some extra motivation for the players.
https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/me...er-were-proud-to-be-making-history-for-canada is titled "Miller: We’re proud to be making history for Canada."
Well, that was something! Some players stood out especially (Borjan, Adekugbe) but everyone put in a solid, solid effort. After a 2-0 win against the US, we sit at the top of the table with 22 points. Jamaica wasn't able to do us a favour and beat Panama so we're still "just" five points clear of fourth. Our magic number now sits at 8. Happily for us, Panama still plays away at both Mexico and the US. As Panama is only one point behind both of those teams, we can expect the Mexicans and Americans to bring their best. So quite aside from what we might do ourselves, we are looking good. Now to carry on and clinch officially.
What are the mathematical clinching scenarios for Canada this Wednesday? With Mexico-USA and USA-Panama in the final window, there’s some complexity. This is not necessarily a comprehensive analysis, but Canada win + USA loss + Panama loss + Costa Rica draw or loss leaves the table at: Canada 25 Mexico 21 USA 18 Panama 17 Costa Rica 13-14 Rest fewer Canada could then only be caught by Mexico, and one of the USA or Panama but not both.
^ Thanks for that. I've seen other combinations on other discussion boards. You're right that, with four games still to play and a bunch of interlinked parts, it is still complex. Personally, I want to see Canada take care of business itself, staring with another win in El Salvador on Wednesday. Keeping winning and we don't have to worry about the other teams' results.