I caught the highlights, and having played at a level where technical ability actually matters, I can say confidently this is the most skilled Canadian team we’ve had—by far. The difference is obvious. Canada has finally moved away from producing mostly athletes and started producing actual footballers with real technical ability. Better touch, better movement, and better composure on the ball. I think the main reason for this is that some or most of these players were developed outside of Canada. A few World Cups ago I was on this forum saying teams like El Salvador and Honduras would beat Canada, and people laughed. I was right. Most people here massively overrated Canada because they don’t understand the technical side of the game. That said, there’s still one thing I can’t stand seeing. Players throwing their arms up because they didn’t get the pass during an attacking chance. That is amateur-level behavior. It’s mentally weak and highly performative. It feels less about helping the team and more about publicly signaling, “I was open and I would’ve scored.” That’s easy to do when you never actually had to receive the ball, settle it under pressure, and finish. Elite players don’t waste energy performing frustration or assigning blame in real time. They reset immediately and focus on the next action. That mentality needs to be coached out if Canada wants to reach the next level. (You must log in or sign up to post here.) Dual nationals who could suit... Master O replied 4 minutes ago Because DeLa felt like it...... SF19 replied 4 minutes ago Poch in positive talks over new... russ replied 5 minutes ago P/I/P: 2026 World Cup Watch... skydog replied 5 minutes ago USA Round of 32 Game July 1 8PM... gogorath replied 5 minutes ago Rebuilding Madrid, One Pass at... Zidane05 replied 6 minutes ago ForumsWorld Cup 2010: General English Contact Us Help Terms and Rules Privacy Policy © 2019 BigSoccer
Relatively (to itself) speaking yes. But relative to other teams? Not really... Canada still heavily focuses on physicality over technical ability. Do you remember when Canada's first MLS team had tryouts to pick 1 player for the team? They picked a player who was physical but zero technical ability. That player went on to have zero appearances for the team, and the best team they ever played for was 4rth division team in Sweden for a season. Yes, watching the Canadian team now, they can actually put passes together and some players can dribble. But even then, the dribbling seems more like superior physicality rather than sheer technical ability. And even the passes being put together seems more due to physicality/getting quickly into passing positions. Overall, if you look at the squad it still looks more like good athletes than soccer players. But yes, relatively speaking the technical aspect improved: it is decent now, coupled with the strong physicality/athleticism, overall the team is decent now. It is also no wonder that Canada's rise perfectly coincided with the rise of physicality in the sport, which happened in the late 2010s. When the number 10 died, when types like Riquelme stopped having a place, that is when Canada was able to rise. But even now you can see Canada does not play like an experienced team: leaky defence that gives up too many goals, and not clinical in terms of finishing. They often lose when they go up against a similar strengthed opponent. That is also why they were not able to beat Bosnia, and had no chance against Switzerland. As for South Africa, that game could have gone either way, but South Africa is a weak team itself. I think if Canada played teams like Congo, Scotland, South Korea, they would be more likely to lose, at best 50/50 chance of winning.