I'm not going to be able to see my recording of this match until next weekend but I am so pleased with the performance from what I am reading here. Glad to see that Hastings and the much more maligned Serioux had a strong game.
I don't know that Hastings had that strong of a game, he definitely got caught out on the 2nd Brazil goal and he wasn't marking tight enough on the first one. With Klukowski playing well and Jazic and De Jong as LB options I wonder if we might try Brennan at CB. Brazil should count themselves a bit fortunate. We gifted them with winning goal & we should have scored more, especially in the first half. It's unfortunate that we only dressed one striker in this game, having another one to come off the bench to relieve Friend in a game with unlimited subs might have helped us to get a late equalizer. Funny how the times have changed in Canada. In 1994 we got a 1-1 draw and it was considered something of a miracle that we scored in a game where we were badly outplayed at home, we were so thrilled with a goal against Brazil that some fans felt Berdusco's goal was the Canadian soccer equivalent of Paul Henderson's goal. Today, I don't quite feel satisfied with scoring two & having a lot more chances, I wanted a win!
Like I said, I won't be able to see this match for a while so I have to rely on what you and others tell me, for now. What were your thoughts on Serioux's performance?
I thought he did pretty well. The fact that he's a natural midfielder allowed him to add an extra dimension on the back line and he made some impressive moves that other center backs wouldn't be able to pull off.
It was great to see the Canadians playing the ball out of the back rather than long balling everything as they have in the past. They seemed well organized but took awhile to ajust to the outside backs making runs, Imho Canada has a chance to make it to the WC if this game is any indication. Kudos to to your coach.
Good game by the boys, very encouraging given the little time they've been together. Strengthen our centre backs and we are looking pretty good going into qualifying. You Toronto fans kill me. Sutton gave away the victory last week with a very poor goalkeeping performance against DC United and you are saying he would make the difference? Onstad and Sutton are OK. A healthy Lars is better. They need to sort out Tam's passport issues ASAP.
Cool video here I thought, though I don't watch a whole lot of videos taken from the crowd, this one is step above most, really. Gives a good feel for everything. Can even watch the highlights on the big screen! It's at the end of the game ... I can't seem to figure out how to insert a video... http://youtube.com/watch?v=iB60d1a7mLI
He probably gave Mitchell a heart attack taking on attackers as a last man back, but I'd rather see that than constantly hoofing the ball out of the back. With McKenna injured and Serious in mid-season form I expect he will start with either Hastings or Hainault. To be fair to Hastings, he won't be coming up against this calibre of striker too often in qualifying.
I've heard that Carver was not happy about Sutton being on the bench. I love Pat but Sutton deserved this start. I truly expected to see Greg in the second half.
Yes agreed Pat is a great keeper but come on at 40 he needs to be done with Canada international games. Bring in Sutton, Hirschfield, Begovic, and many others would like to see them who would be factors for the 2010 WC.
i was very proud of the way Canada took it to Brazil last night...it was pretty entertaining and Canada could have easily score 4 goals. I haven't seen Serioux play before...thought he made really nice moves. Whenever I watch Stalteri he doesn't impress me....granted I can't say I've seen him play much, but he seems really slow. Really looking forward to those WC qualifiers....Canada will be in SA in 2010!
Sutton will certainly get all of the Panama game. Frankly, I could care less what Carver thinks on this one. Sutton is competing for a starting job with the Nats and needs to be present for these games and camps. And, If I were Jimmy Brennan, I would start wondering if there was a place for in a 23 man roster. I think he made a mistake sticking with TFC this weekend. Nakijima-Farran, Klukowski and DeJong in more limted minutes all played very well. Throw in DeRo and Jazic and I see a lot of left sided players up for very few spots. Equally, Hastings seems like he is in the mix for one of the 4 Centreback spots up for grabs and can be an emergency left back. Jimmy best ask Carver to get some minutes at centreback methinks if he wants to take a serious run at a national team spot.
Sutton is having a better year than Onstad. No one even mentioned Lars, as he wasn't playing. I was at that DC game and Sutton didn't have a "very poor goalkeeping performance" but rather he had an excellent performance (made 3 or 4 excellent saves and one bad mistake which unfortunately led to a goal). By your logic, Julian De Guzman had a very poor performance against Brazil due to his shockingly ill-advised backpass that led to the Brazil winning goal.
He may very well be wondering that. I actually miscounted on my previous post forgetting that Robbo was away too. TFC was actually short five starters and Jimmy would have made six. As captain of TFC, he had to make a difficult decision (as who wouldn't want to play against Brazil) but imagine TFC having to play without six of their starting 11! Five was ridiculous enough (and then Tebily gets hurt too)! The blame really goes to MLS of course who in their rather isolationist view of the world continue to refuse to adopt the international schedule. It feels like 1939 in a way. That must change.
That's the second friendly he has purposely missed, he is going to skip his way right off the CMNT radar. Maybe that's what happened the last time. Funny how when Brazil scored their third and Mitch started the subbing I figured he gave up any hope of winning/tying the game and wanted to have a look at the subs. I guess that is pretty pragmatic (and a smart decision) considering that we need to get PT for all the guys and see them in action. But the subs picked right up where the starters left off and were very impressive.
I didn't have that feeling. I felt that he was replacing his tired legs with fresh pairs in the hope of coming up with the equalizer. It didn't happen but the subs looked good!
I enjoyed last nights game seems Concacaf teams are stepping up to the big boys but I think in the middle of second half Brasil controlled more of the game
I'm actually strangely contented with the result vs Brasil. Certainly it would have been fantastic to have beaten them and soundly... on a one off friendly. However, given the bigger picture of WCQ and the preparation for WCQ I think a 3-2 loss is just about the perfect result. Scoring 2 goals against Brasil (with several other chances) is a huge confidence booster while conceding 3, each due to a bit of sloppy/loose play is a cautionary reminder. The team should be going into the next friendly vs Panama with a lot to work on and then onto WCQ with the best balance of quiet confidence and caution without any threat of being over-confident and lackadaisical. For me this game against Brasil and its result was the best thing that could have happened at this point in time.
Thought I read in one of the post-match write-ups that Carver said before the game that he wouldn't have a problem if Sutton didn't play against Brazil. And given that TFC could have beaten that LA team with me in goal, never mind Edwards (given the number of difficult shots he was faced), I'd have to agree with him.