Given (Newcastle United), Murphy (West Bromwich Albion), Colgan (Stockport County), O'Shea (Manchester United), Carr (Tottenham Hotspur), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Breen (Sunderland), O'Brien (Newcastle United), Harte (Leeds United), Finnan (Liverpool), Reid (Blackburn Rovers), Healy (Sunderland), Holland (Charlton Athletic), Miller (Celtic), Delap (Southampton), Kavanagh (Cardiff City), McPhail (Nottingham Forest), Kilbane (Everton), Reid (Nottingham Forest), Duff (Chelsea), Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur), Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Morrison (Birmingham City). Well, everyone you'd want to be there is there anyway. Should be interesting to see what XI Kerr starts with.
I'd like to have seen John Thompson and James O'Connor in place of Ian Harte and Stephen McPhail. I think there's more youngsters then just the obvious two who can make a big impact for us. Also given Reid and Duff are in he should have left Kilbane out, imo, but that's a very very minor issue. The big suprise is no Connolly, well he wont like that one bit will he!? I wonder will this spark a war of words with Connolly st the heart of it again.
Somewhere, can't remember which site, on their report said Carsley was out through injury but Connolly was just left out. They could well be wrong though, it definitely seems a strange strange decision.
Yep, he's injured. Too bad Butler and Thornton are as well. Maybe given Connolly's injury Glen Crowe's omission implies that he's out of Kerr's plans altogether, as is Kinsella (although Kerr still insists that Kinsella may be recalled). It's good to see Delap back after all his injuries though - hopefully he'll get a start in midfield.
I'm not too sure about Butler anymore. It's unfortunate, but to be so injury prone and to have missed so much crucial time in his devolopment he may never reach his full potetnail.
I've got my tickets already I'd say quite a few, I'd imagine Liam Miller alone will bring in a load of Celtic heads and all the regular friendly attenders will be at this one, a chance to see two of our most exciting youngsters since the other two will be one I doubt many will want to miss, no matter who the opposition imay be. I'm looking forward to this one more then any ones in recent memory.
The starting 11 for this match is one of the hardest to predict for years I think, pretty much all over the park we've two players who could easily start for every one position. This is the side I'd put out myself. Keane Morrison Duff Delap Miller Reid (Andy) Finnan O'Shea O'Brien Carr Colgan In goals, I fully expect Given to be rested as per usual for friendlys. Murphy imo is a star for the future but isn't ready yet so Colgan, as the number two, is the obvious choice. In defence, Finnan simple has to be left back. We need alternatives in that position and I fully expect this position to be his own by the time we play our opening world cup qualifyer. He could be fantastic there I think, he has all the attributes needed. Everything he has as a right back, the football brain needed to make the switch and a fantastic left foot for a right footer. Right back, with Finnan out of the picture, picks itself. Centre back imo Cunningham should be rested along with Breen. They've got about 100 caps between them and have nothing to prove. O'Shea should be given a chance to pick his Basle nightmare behind him and O'Brien is worthy of another cap. O'Shea will end up longterm as either a central defender or central mid fielder imo, so it makes sense to use him here. Left wing, Duff needs to be in. Some may call for him to be rested, but he's not played alot on the left and I'd like to see him, Keane and Morrison produce the form of that Denmark friendly, also want to see how he links up with Finnan. Right wing and it's Reid of the Andy variety for me. Fully deserving a debut. As a left winger, no matter how good he is, he'll not displace Damien Duff so we should look at him elsewhere. Looking at him on the left he spends alot of time drifting inside, not like Duff, he's more a side mid fielder then a winger and plays alot centrally. It makes sense then that him on the right wont slow him down, in fact with his lethal shooting he could bag alot of goals from here. His 20 footer against West Ham also shows he has the right foot needed to go down the channel if needed. In central mid field it's imperitive Liam Miller gets a full 90 minutes. He's clearly a star for the future and will be a starter come september. He can provide the link from mid field we've so badly lacked recently and really add the creativity. Give him 90 minutes to show what he can do. Beside him, I'm going for Delap. Delap has been in fine form for Southampton again and looking at it, their styles contrast each other so well. I think he could be the physical presence needed beside Miller. Holland will show us nothing we don't know in this one so there's no point including him, Kavanagh and Healy will get their chances in other friendlys. This could well be our mid field come september and I'd love to see what they can do. Up front, Keane and Morrison. The reason I wouldn't rest Keane is I want to see him and Morrison link up. I'd use them both for the full 90 minutes. With the creativity of Duff, Miller and Reid and the understanding they've shown for the brief moments they've been used together they could cause fireworks.
While I fully expect a comfortable Irish win, Canada did beat the Swiss in Switzerland 3-1 18 months ago. We're capable of playing with almost any team in the world on our day. We could also get our arses handed to us. cheers, hobbes
Have you got many big name players? Thye only Canadian player I know is Evertons Radzinski. He's an excellent player, just the type of striker we could do with actually.
No not many huge names, but some decent professionals with plenty of European experience. We won't be at full strength, but I expect the Irish will also experiment. I'm hoping we get a good game out of our midfield. We should be using Aguiar (Benfica), Stalteri (Weder Bremen) and possibly Brennan (Norwich) if healthy. I don't know what's taking Brennan so long to get his health back. If he can't go I expect Jazic (Rapid Vienna) and one of Bircham (QPR), Imhof (St. Gallen, Swiss) or Bent (Plymouth) to go. It looks like our captain Jason DeVos (Wigan's captain as well) should be just getting back to fitness in time. Our under-23s are playing a key home-and-away that same week so most of our good young players are away and we'll be without DeRosario, Radzinski's partner up front and one of our keepers because of the MLS playoffs. cheers, hobbes
hobbes, Does Carlo Corrazin still get a game for you at all? P.S. Do you post on the Tartan Army site?
Canada squad: Hirschfeld (Tottenham Hotspur), Stamatopoulos (Enkopping), Fenwick (Hibernian), Rogers (Wycombe Wanderers), De Vos (Wigan Athletic), Hastings (Maastricht), Jazic (Rapid Vienna), Stalteri (Werder Bremen), McKenna (Hearts), Bernier (Moss), Bircham (QPR), Bent (Plymouth), Imhof (St Gallen), Aguiar (Benfica), Nash (Dallas Sidekicks), Radzinski (Everton), Peschisolido (Sheffield United).
Living here, I've seen Canada play on many occasions. The last time was in a loss to Cuba, and they were far from impressive. Radzinski is clearly the danger man. Pity Brennan isn't there, I've always thought he's the 2nd best they have. I like the look of Fenwick, De Vos and McKenna as well. Stalteri is solid in midfield, and can create chances. I've always liked Bent, too, but he never seems to be quite able to deliver consistantly good performances. Those are just my opinions from the matches I've seen. What do the regular Canadian supporters think of the squad?
Corazzin hasn't gotten a look and since we only called two true strikers for these two matches I can't see him ever getting called again. Yes I do post on the Tartan Army site. I would say regular supporters see Fenwick as the whipping boy of choice and his selection as a sign that Miller isn't fit for the job. Add in the resurection of Dasovic and people aren't really pleased. We're happy Aguiar is in the team and are curious to see Bernier. We're all bitter Reda wasn't called in from Norway, especially ahead of Fenwick and Rogers, neither of whom are playing for their clubs. Though Radzinski is dangerous, Stalteri is our best player. DeVos is also arguably our most important player and it's nice to have him back. We were positively dismal against Cuba, but we were using McKenna and Stalteri up front and I think against Ireland they'll both play in the back four. We were missing a lot of good players in that match. My guess at an XI for Ireland: -----------------Hirschfeld Stalteri---McKenna--DeVos--Hastings ----Bent---Bircham---Aguiar---Jazic --------Peschisolido---Radzinski cheers, hobbes
We're leaving DeRosario and Onstad with San Jose for their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Wizards Saturday rather than fly them in for one of the two matches. I don't think they would be called in no matter what, but Stamatopolous deserves a look in goal and Onstad isn't likely our starter anyway and DeRo may not be fit in any event. cheers, hobbes
Paddy Canuck, if you followed the Canadian team you'd know the answer. It was announced on today's SoccerCentral. It'll be shown live at 2:30 p.m. eastern on Sportsnet. cheers, hobbes
Breen, O'Brien and Finnan are out. Dunne has been called up. That's fair, as Dunne seems to have reclaimed his Man City place, and Keegan has been full of praise for him in the last couple weeks.
alan mahon I hope that Alan Mahon will get a recall when he is back fit again. He was playing great stuff with ipswich(on loan from Blackburn) before he got injured, but never featured in any of kerr's squads.