If you were to pick the Canadians top men's world cup team who would be your starting eleven, who would you have on the bench? Any youngsters comin' up?
GK - Hirschfeld D - Stalteri, de Vos, Menezes, Brennan M - Nsaliwa, J de Guzman, Canizales F - DeRosario McKenna, Radzinski Bench GK - Stamatopoulis D - Klukowski, Hastings M - Imhof, Bent F - Peschisolido, Godfrey, Belotte A bit of a 'youth of the nation' lineup here. Our current coach would never use this lineup.
A youth lineup with no Iain Hume? I think your lineup may be a little too "forward thinking", although since the thread is about a 2006 roster, I can see why you did this. I'd replace Canizales with Hume, since I see a better upside in Iain, and I think by 2006 he'll be a regular starter in either a highly ranked Div 1 team or in the Premiership.
Sorry, gonna do this two ways: If WC were to start now... The USA roster will have: Reyna, Pope, Friedel, McBride, etc Then, later I'm going to do a future one, it'll be hard for the Carib's and Latin's
Big OOps Actually I had Hume down on the right forward spot and noticed I had left out Pwamme. Forgot to add Iain back to the 'bench' list. And, I'll agree to disagree on Canizales. I agree with you on Hume but I think Canizales is going to blossom in the next season or two and I like him better in mf.
I thought Hume didn't look ready (or maybe just looked uncomfortable on the right side against Libya). I'd have trouble finding him space on a 18-man roster. I'm a big Hume fan and I hope that will change in the coming years. My starting 11 for today (or rather say the Germany game): Hirschfeld Bent-Menezes-DeVos-Hastings Nsaliwa-Imhof-Stalteri-Brennan Radzinski-DeRosario Bench: McKenna, DeGuzman, Canizalez, Onstad (I've never seen Stamatopolous), Klukowski, Peschisolido and Hutchinson. It depends on the opponent as well. I wouldn't mind seeing Bent try right back and I think the 4-4-2 is the way to go. Hastings has been pretty steady lately and since he and Lars are the only players Holger has started in the last four gams, I think he's likely to stay there awhile. I like Canizalez, but he still has to prove himself to me, I guess I can't shake off his disappearing act in Argentina. I'd rather have Nash at left mid right now if we drop Brennan back. I still think Brennan adds too much to the offence to play him in the back four. P.S. Hutchinson looked really good me to against Libya and earned the last spot based on that. cheers, hobbes
If I was Canada boss, this would be my 23 man Squad; 1 Hirschfeld 2 Bircham 5 Devos (C) 6 McKenna 3 Brennan 7 Stalteri 4 Imhoff 8 De Guzman 11 Nash 9 De Rosario 10 Radzinski Subs: 12 Onstad 23 Fernandes 13 Naswilha 14 Menenses 15 Reda 16 Pozinak 17 Hutchinson 18 Xausa 19 Aristodemo 20 Hume 21 Friend 22 Canizalez
Geez. If Hargreaves hadn't narked out and played for England, you guys would've had a good shot at qualifying for Japorea.
If WC were to start now, from right to left, with club names listed for those people reading who are unfamiliar with our team. Goal: Hirshfeld (Tottenham) Defense: Bent (Plymouth), Menezes (Gansu ?), De Vos (Wigan) Midfield: Canizalez (Werder Bremen, Imhof (St.Gallen), De Guzman (Hannover 96), Stalteri (Werder Bremen), Brennan (Nottingham Forest) Striker: De Rosario (San Jose), Radzinski (Everton) Subs Goal: Franks (Vancouver Whitecaps), Onstad (San Jose) Defense: Pozniak (Orebro), McKenna (Hearts), Hastings (GAK) Midfield: Nsaliwa (Saarbrucken), Klukowski (La Louviere) Hutchison (Oesters), Hume (Tranmere) Striker: Peschisolido (Sheffield United), Friend (Moss), Belotte (Norrkoping) That's a 23 man roster, which I think is what the World Cup allows for. Some may be surprised by the inclusion of Franks on the subs list - I know he hasn't played in over a year due to that broken arm, but he's only 25 & when he was healthy he was ahead of Hirshfeld on the depth chart. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does for the Whitecaps this year, and if he can get back into form. My biggest struggle was for the midfield - too many options nowadays to pick the top 5 easily, that's with putting Bent at right back (where he hasn't played since his MLS days). The only reason why I put Imhof as a starter ahead of Klukowski was due to get a bit more experience in the midfield. In a year or two Mike will have the necessary experience. He also would provide a bit of height to my midfield, so I might say to hell with experience. Friend I've selected over a number of players playing at a higher level because he brings a dimension to the team as a target man that I don't think is really presented anywhere else (Belotte is tall but not as good in the air just yet as Friend). I'll be interested to see how Budalic does in his first year in Europe, as he is playing at a higher level than either of those two, but I can't see him above the other strikers listed & couldn't find room in the squad of 23. I guess my roster shows you what I think of the inclusion of Fenwick & Corazzin for the Estonia squad.
He may have helped, but even he would have been young in the summer of 2000 (which is when we were eliminated), Forrest was injured & didn't play a game, Radzinski wasn't interested at the time & many of the players we have been listing are only just coming of age now (or still aren't there), while others like Hirshfeld, Brennan, Stalteri & Imhof were in their early 20's for qualifying last time & not quite the players they are now (in their mid-20's). Hargreaves would have been a major benefit for qualifying in 2006, but I think we have good shot without him. The biggest concern is how many times players will be tired/injured/unavailable due to crossing the Atlantic to play in 20 qualifiers - with no top-flight pro league & most of our best players in Europe, the expanded qualifying format probably hurts Canada more than any other team (as everybody else has their own domestic league to draw players from).