Canada V. Brazil May 31 Pre/PbP/Post Game Discussion

Never, because the weather and the NFL prevents that from happening. We are hardly the only league that runs against the grain, schedule wise, too.

 

This isn't about de Guzman. It is about who plays in net. Blizzard and other TFC fans are saying that Sutton should have started. I say he is no better than Onstad. Onstad had no chance on the winning goal, might have had a save on the 2nd other than one large striker landing on him as he attempted to keep it out and was 'screeened' on the first. I am not saying Sutton is second choice. Both are very capable at this level. A healthy Lars is better.

On defence, Brennan should get his thumb out as he has lost the starting left back position. Klukowski was superb and deserves to start. Or one other option would be to shift Klukowski over a spot (left sided centre back) to pair with McKenna and let Brennan and Hastings battle it out.

At centre back, we need the presence of McKenna. Serioux was surprisingly good and Hastings alright (caught out on the 2nd goal), but I fear we need 3 or 4 CB's once we get into the semis, as YC accumulation appears most likely to occur at that position. Do we add Klukowski to join the above 3?

At right back, we need cover for Stalteri and I don't see it on the squad right now.

Our midfield is currently the class of CONCACAF. Our starting five today was terrific, kudos to Mitchell. Issey was again very solid. Atiba, Julian, de Rosario and Radzinski were terrific.
And the replacements Nsaliwa, de Jong, Bernier (I was surprised by him as he has had a poor pro season) carried on the strong showing.

Up front, Friend is a beast.

On the down side, there is no room for Peters on this squad. And it is pretty clear there is no one playing USL division 1 who is going to show better than our players from abroad.

I think we can stop the sack Mitchell cries for the time being and get behind his choices. The players lack no confidence and he, smartly, is largely going with the hand he was given (back to Hart's selection circa last year's Gold Cup).

We have depth like no other time in team history. We have star players. We have players who can create on the ground and finish when presented the opportunities. And finally, we have a leader on the field who can elevate the whole team with his play. Bring on the semis!!

 

From the time of de Guzman's goal through to his horrid back pass, we looked absolutely terrific and had Brazil looking very ordinary. The Brazil missing 1 (ONE) starter from its top 11.

 

Whether Sutton is currently better than Onstad remains to be seen. However, after starting to feel a little more confident in Onstad after the last Gold Cup he made me really nervous with this rather poor performance (though to be fair he did make a couple of good saves as well). Even though every goal was due to a big defensive mistake and thus can not be blamed on Onstad, the finishes of each goal were actually quite poor. Had the Brazilian finished better Onstad would have had no chance but yet he could have done better on each of the three goals. The first two were definitely stoppable and on the third he had a chance to hinder Robinho more allowing Serioux more time to get back (though Serioux was also at fault for a poor and slow reaction to DeGuzman's bad back pass and he also could have hindered Robinho more had he read the situation properly). I personally thought the second goal should have been disallowed for keeper interference because when one sees the closeup, Fabiano purposely hindered Onstad from trying to get up to get at the ball before it went in the net. I also favour Lars as our starter but I previously would have favoured Onstad as backup and I think he didn't help himself with this performance. At the moment I think the starting two spots should be between Sutton and Lars and it will take a poor performance by one of them for Onstad to get back in the mix.

 

These are no excuses at all. The NFL doesn't prevent this from happening when the majority of stadiums are soccer specific and soon all of the stadiums should be soccer specific. As far as the weather goes, if summer leagues in much colder countries like Russia and the Scandanavian countries can keep an international schedule there is no excuse for MLS not too.

 

I won't disagree here. The last few times he's played for Canada Sutton has looked no better than mediocre. But on current form alone Sutton should've started instead of Onstad. He has already stopped a couple of shots this year virtually identical to the 2nd goal. I also think his extra length and mobility would've allowed him a decent chance at getting a finger on the ball and hopefully deflecting enough to keep out of the net.

I'm a TFC fan and Jimmy B is our Captain, but I don't see him as our #1 Left-Back. Your list of left-backs has a couple notable exceptions. I think both Ante Jazic and Marcel de Jong are in play for the full NT at Left Back. If he gets any playing time at the start of the new season Jacob Lensky may also come into play at left back if he shows some improvement.

I think what we lack in out-and-out quality, we make up for in depth at Centre Back. In addition to McKenna and Serioux we also have David Edgar and Andre Hainault. I also seem to remember a lad from the Olympic Qualification team that played really well, his name currently escapes me but I remember it being from the Serbo-Croatian language tree. I think Tam Nsaliwa, like Adrian Serioux, can play Centre Back if needed.

Nik Ledgerwood comes immediately to mind. I also think we have a lad currently playing in England that looked half decent as a Right Back recently. I forget if it was at the Olympic Qualifying tournament or last summer's U-20 WC.

QFT

JDG is showing that he may be the best player in CONCACAF and I'm guessing after seeing the performance of Brazil's Defensive Midfielders that Dunga wishes he had Julian.

In addition to the players you mentioned we also still have Iain Hume (who is usually quite effective wide on the right), Josh Simpson (who's broken foot will keep him out until later in the Semi-Final group) and Will Johnson who almost single-handedly dragged a rather unimpressive Canadian squad into the Olympics.

Hard to argue this, although he did seem lost for much of the 2nd half. Hopefully that is just a long season catching up with him and not indicative of a larger conditioning issue. Ali Gerba is still in play IMO after his impressive Gold Cup. Also, whatever happened to Olivier Occean. I remember after he scored that goal in Belfast he looked like a hoss for awhile, but I haven't seen him on a Canadian squad in about 18 months.

Peters had a really tough club season, but I think he needs to develop into a better all-around player as he currently seems to rely too much on pace alone. His crossing and passing has always seemed pedestrian. As for USL players, I agree I don't really see anything on any roster that is terribly impressive. Last time Gab Gervais was given a chance he forced Canada to play a man down for over an hour. Although in the TFC-Montreal game Rocco Placentino looked to be an interesting player with his pace and first touch. Also, if Leo di Lorenzo takes Canadian citizenship I wouldn't mind giving him a shot on the NT. A technically gifted left midfielder could be quite helpful. I was a little surprised to see Martin Nash on the Gold Cup squad, and in truth he did look out of his element.

I'm happy as long as he acts as a team manager and not as a coach. Much like Stephen Hart did last summer he chose 11 players and let them go out and play. That is was Mitchell did Saturday and Canada looked as dangerous as it ever has.

Agreed. There can be no excuses with our talent. It will come down to execution and determination.

 

Great game by Canada.., you guys should 've won the game. Very unfortunate to loose. But you have some very very good players. I have seen most of them, those that play in EU, and DeRosario, but there were 2 new guys which I dont know; Friend, and the other attaking mid beside DeRosario, had a Japanese sounding name ? WHere do these 2 guys play ?
ANyhow, congratulations for the excellent performance,
and I beleive, Canada has the players to be the best team in North and Central America!

 

Rob Friend is, as is often the case with Cdn players, a late bloomer. After a very good NCAA career at the Univ Southern Calif (Santa Barbara), he went to Europe. He was signed last summer from Heerenveen (where he was often sub to the spectacular Alves) he was a surprise signing by Borussia Moenchengladbach (a big money and big history club in Germany) who were attempting to promote to the Bundesliga 1. Friend led the team in scoring (2nd in the league).
Issey is another surprise. Playing ball in the far east and now in Denmark.

 

LOL!
2nd goal should have been stopped??? it was a header just inside the 6yard box.
Sutton lacks quite a bit to be at the level onstad is at. Plus Pat has alot more experience than TFC's starting keeper. Experience in a keeper is very valuable, specially at the international level.

 

lets put things in perspective, i Guarantee you the Canadian Players and the Brazilian players didn't have the same attitude going into this match.

 

no they shouldn't have... whats up with that. I consider a great game winning not losing. However I admit Canada playing a very good game, and could have won if they had played a tad better.

 

couldn't agree with you more. Had Canada been wearing say,... an argentina shirt, the samba boys attitude would have been totally different.
I do give canada alot of credit for going at them and not having the attitude alot of teams have against brazil which is,...lets not loose by alot!

 

You are thinking of Dejan Jakovic. I agree that he's good, but I think he's in his college-ball off-season at the moment. But definitely one to keep an eye on for the future. I think he has one more year of college eligibility left in him.

 

I said the 2nd goal was stoppable not that it should have been stopped. Not every keeper would stop it but it was stoppable by a keeper on his game. It may have been a header inside the 6 yard box but it was headed right at Onstad and was catchable. If it is caught it is not a goal. I would classify the goals like this:

1st one Onstad should have stopped it
2nd one could have been saved although it would have been a good save
3rd one Onstad could have played better and although he slipped it is his job not to slip on such plays

This is not to excuse the defensive errors that led to these chances. Yet in the field player's defence they were playing technically superior players. What bothers me with Onstad's performance is that Brazil finished and shot poorly all evening, much worse than usual. The field players were facing skills at a level much higher than they were used to playing against and rose to the challenge. Onstad did not face particularly and well placed shots (with the exception of one excellent save that he made) and seemed to play under the level of what I would expect from our starting keeper.

 

We'll have to see if Jazic is able to re-establish himself as LA's starting left back over the summer (surely he can beat out Vanney?). I believe Brennan gives us valuable versatility, savvy, and experience, especially for the high pressure away ties: thing I wonder about is whether or not he will make himself available if DM doesn't make him part of his starting XI?

Should Ledgerwood establish himself as a regular with his club side and earn positive reviews, then he will provide depth and competition for the RB spot. Until then, and as long as the citizenship/eligibility is resolved, Nsaliwa the guy (even though he's playing midfield in Greece)

Johnson is a guy who needs a closer look. If he continues his development at club level, he could be one of those young "in form" players that force themselves into the mix. When he puts on an MNT shirt Simpson needs to demonstrate the form he apparently was showing at K-town this past season and not the stuff I saw of him vs South Africa in order to earn my confidence.

Friend does a good job of using his midfield support and I was happy to see him score vs Brazil. I hope Gerba gets the start vs Panama to see how he compares to Friend and to see if he still has the goal scoring touch at international level after spending the first half of his season sitting on the bench of his Scandinavia club and the second half playing in German Div 3 (though now a newly-promoted Div 2 side). Occean tends to be the forgotten man in the mix but I thought he did well in his latter second half appearence vs SA, holding the ball up well and making some good runs, but I think he needs to play in a higher league. I feel Hume plays better when teamed with big man up front in a pure 4-4-2 but from a tactical standpoint he still serves us best as an attacking sub; I never really thought of him as fast but more as being able to use his quickness to get off a cross or a shot from outside the box. In fact, I think our current striker situation needs a player who has the pace to stretch a defence and exploit space: that's why I was interested in the development of Simeon Jackson because it seems like he relies a lot on speed to make things happen.

There is no one on a USL roster I would select: that's where I thought Yallop errored during the last WCQ. The only way a USL guys gets selected is as a North American-based, very last second injury replacement, and that's it. For instance, I don't see how you could select Cann over a healthy McKenna or Edgar, or Placentino over Johnson. Nash really struggled during the GC when the speed of the game was cranked up but the vastly improved quickness of our midfield gives us a big defensive advantage we rarely had in the past as well as adding to our offensive skills.

 

Sticky removed.

 

seems to me that you are quite the expert when it comes to being a goalkeeper. Maybe you should start instead of Onstad or sutton. what gets me about your post is that you say that some Onstad's performance bothered you? You can't judge what he was up against from the stands/couch. what the spectator sees is not even close to the truth of whats happening on the field infront of you.
I'm not trying to be harsh or instigate anything, I just think that alot of people are bias towards Onstad because he doesn't wear the TFC colors.. And they big up Sutton because he does.
If you ask any of the MNT players who they feel more comfortable with as a keeper, then the choice is unanimous: Onstad

 

The result is meaningless and we know and accept that. What we are excited about is that it appears our coach, Dale Mitchell, seems to have dropped his ugly long-ball tactics that he has employed since taking over the Canadian Senior Team and see us fail to get results against Iceland and Estonia. Instead he seems to have finally taken the same approach and Stephen Hart and allowed us to play to our primary strength which is allowing our midfield to run at defenses and create chances.

 

What the hell type of stupid comment is that. I have never played professional or international soccer and doubt that very many if any of the posters here have. I am quite sure things look different on the field and I couldn't have personally have stopped any of the three goals but that is why I am not a member of the Canadian national team. Yet like just every other fan I have eyes and can compare the performances of those players I watch. In comparing Onstad with other keepers facing similar shots I don't find his performance against Brazil very good. In fact, I don't find his performance very good compared to his recent Gold Cup performance. Yet Onstad has a history of playing poorly for Canada and letting in soft goals though the aforementioned Gold Cup was the one exception to this. Maybe this was a one off poor performance but we don't have much time to choose our keeper and none of the three main contenders can affored bad performances like Onstad's. Yes stopping any of those three goals would have required good saves but good saves is precisely what is required from our national team keeper. If you think I was the only one who found that Onstad played poorly look on some of the other Canada forums especially the Voyageurs and you will find many people who mentioned him as playing poorly. If you think he played well and disagree with me than fine that is your opinion but don't be an a.ss about it and post stupid comments about me not understanding his play because I am not an international calibre keeper.

Again since you apparently know me so well, here is a news flash, TFC is not the club I support. If I have any bias against Onstad it has nothing to do with TFC and everything to do with poor national team performances in the past in particular in the last World Cup qualifying. Keeper is possibly our weak spot unless one of the three steps up and plays well. Sutton played well for the Impact and during this time most of his national team performances were pretty solid. He was never spectacular but was solid and not prone to the same gaffs as Onstad. I expected him to improve upon transferring to TFC. Yet last year Sutton played terrible both for TFC and the national team and Onstad improved his play and leapfrogged him in the pecking order. However, it seems like Sutton has his form back this year and he is certainly in the mix for the starting or backup keeper.

I personally prefer Lars Hirschfeld because he has played at a higher level than the other two players and he is the only one who I have seen play for Canada and really excel and provide what I consider international level play. Unfortunately, we haven't seen enough of him lately to really judge his form so the competition is still wide open but Onstad really dropped based on Saturday's performance.

Exactly how many national team players are you in personal contact with who tell you they prefer Onstad as you claim?

 

I wonder if this is really a change in tactics though or a result of having the team together for a longer time. We played the same formation as we did in the other games. Remember Hart's performances in friendlies were pretty dreadful until he had the team together for a longer period in the Gold Cup and then suddenly we started to play attractive attacking soccer. Possibly when the team only has a day or two to familiarize themselves with each other, passes are not on target during the game, attacks are broken up and what could be an offensive style of soccer turns into defending and long ball to get out of trouble. This is really the first time Mitchell has had our A team together for any length of time and the player's familiarity with each other allows the tactics he is employing to work much better, making them look like attractive attacking soccer as opposed to defending and long ball. I would hazard a guess that this is the reason we looked better against Brazil than the other friendlies more than any change in coaching philosophy or tactics on Mitchell's part.

 

Valid points, for sure. I'm not exactly certain of how many days in total this particular squad has spent together prior to this match (the whole week?). The challenge is to apply consistently this type of possession/attacking football knowing that we are going to be on less prep time.