We were lucky enough that Edmonton had a "pay soccer for free program". Had he grew up in the US or anywhere else in Canada for that matter, unlikely that he would be where he is today. That's why I credit Edmonton way more than his time with the Whitecaps. Don't get me wrong, MLS & Vancouver gave him the stage to get eyes on him but he was already "Davies" when he was referred to Vancouver at age 14. Him himself says as much
Let's see if he does that for Canada when it really matters in Gold Cup qualifying or 2022 qualifying
Davies was gonna excell anywhere, regardless. He has the talent. He could be one of those players you get that are one in a generation.
I didn't find it disrespectful with the commentators on Davies or on Canada yesterday because let's be honest here, Canada has not exactly been getting the job done on the international stage. When is the last time Canada qualified for a World Cup? Mexico 1986 right. Most of us either were not born yet or were little kids or teenagers at that time. So let's not act like Canada has been a World Cup perennial because they haven't been. In fact it was a pretty fair assessment. I think it is pretty fair because look at all the talent Canada has. Sure we are coming up on a golden generation of footballers right now but we are nowhere near the level of USA or Mexico right now. 2022 qualifying I guess we'll find out if Canada can live up to the hype and actually qualify. 2026 however as co hosts, Davies as well as Canada will have a much more mature squad by then. But back to Davies, he had a hell of a game yesterday.
We had no leagues until 2019. No one's blind to Canada's lack of results since the 90s but having no league was a huge/massive disadvantage all these years. We have now a starting XI capable of competing in CONCACAF as we saw since the last cycle. The US barely made it out of Group A in Nations League which in the past would have been child's play. We are second to Mexico for attack in my opinion. Our midfield is just as capable as the US and our keeper plays Champions League year after year and blanks the likes of Liverpool. We lack depth and defense. This is where CPL comes in with -Abzi at LB (best LB in the league) The league's brightest young defender - @York9FC's Diyaeddine Abzi is the only defender nominated for a League award #CanPL pic.twitter.com/aZNavtnnCc— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) November 23, 2019 -Didic scored on his debut with the CanMNT while Gasparatto is excelling CB for York. #York9FC Player of the Year fan vote continues!🏆 Does #IronMan Luca Gasparotto have your vote?Vote Now! https://t.co/mcaS7o2GoF pic.twitter.com/r9XXjAEFwu— York United FC (@yorkutdfc) October 29, 2019 (All younger than Henry) -Zator can play RB or CB. Equal to Didic in my opinion. He was the one who helped shutdown Vancouver with Waterman and sealed their fate in the Canadian Championship GOAL. OF. THE. DAY. ⚽"Dominick? Dominant!"It's Dominick Zator of @CPLCavalryFC in today's noteworthy effort for his jaw-dropping header against #VWFC #CanPL | #CanChamp pic.twitter.com/XsAN5k1ED3— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 9, 2020 -Joel Waterman now with Montreal and earning the starting spot so fast proves that CPL is developing quality defenders Fresh off moving from CPL side Cavalry FC, Joel Waterman gets an assist in his first MLS match! Nice header to set up Quioto. pic.twitter.com/6BPSEViXrj— Reds Rising (@reds_rising) February 29, 2020 -Cornelius is a lock for me at CB. -We now have CPL MVP Tristan Borges playing in Belgium who adds more depth at midfield. Tristan Borges - The 1st ever player to score in the #CanPLFinals #CanPL l @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/r7p0Dju94b— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 27, 2019 Give it time, the improvements are undeniable.
Yeah the improvements are undeniable granted but come on really if they were, @Robert Borden then Canada wouldn't be losing games to teams they should be beating like Haiti...but Canada is talented. Yes that is without question but Canada needs to start qualifying for major tournaments in order to be taken more seriously.
I dont know why Haiti is look down like that. They are a very good team who dispatched Costa Rica in the Gold Cup, a team most agree are #3 in the region. Good teams makes the most of any opportunity you give them and they did just that when they took advantage of our smaller and inexperienced fullbacks. Davies back then wasn't Davies today at LB and Godhino was too small and inexperienced at that stage to be given the role of RB...I mean, he sank us in the 2nd half.
@Robert Borden Canada is talented I will give you that but the defense is the real crux of the problem. If Canada gets more depth within those positions generally at the left back and right back positions then Canada can make that transition to the next level of being elite especially when it comes to CONCACAF. 2022 do I have doubts that they can qualify? Yes I do especially when you have teams like Jamaica, Panama, Honduras, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago for that 4th place spot because let's face it Canada won't finish top 3 especially with teams like USA, Mexico and Costa Rica in those top 3 spots most likely to qualify. 2026 though is more of a definite because we are co hosts and well because with it being a 48 team tournament, Canada will be there. 2026 though our team will most likely be more mature by then but being one of the hosts comes all that pressure of performing in big matchups.
It's a team sport. Having two very good players does not compensate for a weak bench, or an unbalanced team. The Central Americans may not have any stars tearing it in Europe, but the drop off after their starting XI is not steep. Qualifiers is a long one, and the B-team matters.
100% agree! That's why Canada's biggest flaw was always depth. The last cycle we had guys who were unattached or on the bench in Europe or MLS. This cycle, the depth went from abysmal to decent. CPL will just improve that depth over time with guys consistently playing 90 minutes. Speaking of B-Team, ours lost to Iceland 1-0 but they held their own. This is another metric not to be underestimated CANADA XI 🍁 pic.twitter.com/AjDW2KdYS8— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) January 15, 2020
It is strange that 15ish years ago, Canada had 4 or 5 guys in major leagues, a 6-time MLS Best XI, a future MLS best XI player, the top keeper in MLS, Atiba, and a bunch of guys with solid careers in the English Championship and CL level teams in smaller Euro leagues ...... and didn't make the Hex.
Yeah but if Canada wants to be taken more seriously as a footballing nation they need to have more friendly matches with European and South American and African countries
Exactly what I'm saying @Ghost Canada does have the depth to qualify for and at least be a perennial team in CONCACAF but have not been able to put it together
Canada has been in MLS since 2007 I think...Vancouver and Montreal 2011 & 2012. Until recently would those MLS guys really had made a difference because they played in MLS back then? Doubtful as I was a huge MLS consumers between 2011 to 2016 and the league wasn't that. The USMNT were heavily relying on dual nationals were they not? Didn't Klinsmann get heat for not wanting to rely on MLS? Why would a few guys in MLS change Canada this drastically? It didn't and that was a major driver for Montagliani to push for CPL because the Canada-MLS model didn't work for what the CSA wanted to accomplish. Sure we had guys in Europe but as Herdman as pointed out...how much were they really playing? Playing time and performance matters more now than in which league you're playing. Also, the CSA is a very different organization since Montagliani reformed it. The old CSA was allowed to operate in complete indifference back then. Atiba, De Rosario, De Guzman couldn't carry the team on their own, especially when the depth was made of guys not playing or unattached. You can't expect guys not playing 90 minutes consistently at a high level to keep up with the 4 or 5 that do and expect them to keep possession, score & defend against Mexico or the US. That was always unrealistic. Montagliani reforms are starting to pay off with CPL being his biggest accomplishment according to him. Since launching their leagues, Austalia, South Korea, Japan never missed a World Cup, same for the US until Russia. We can't compare a nations when 1 of them had no leagues. When Canada & the US both didn't have a league, both countries were almost equal with a slight edge to Canada. Qualifying without a D1 league is very hard to do and no doubt MLS and hosting the 1994 WC had huge long term benefits to the US. Montagliani interview on Canadian Soccer, CONCACAF, FIFA and 2026 World Cup.
Vic is basically part of the reason why Canada won the bid to co host with USA and Mexico but I can only imagine Vic will be in attendance with Sunil and the Mexican Federation president as well as with Infantino especially when games are happening. If games are taking place at BMO Field in Toronto or at Olympic Stadium in Montreal or at Commonwealth in Edmonton I can see Vic being on hand for those games having his own box reserved for him. But back to Canada, with their talent they should at least be 4th in CONCACAF but for some reason they aren't
Canada's future regarding forwards is very solid. According to the tweet below from his father, 20 years old Liam Millar is held in high regards with Liverpool. The club has turned down numerous 7 figures offers for Millar. According to his father, Jurgen Klopp wants to keep him as he has future plans for him. 1264916364491292672 is not a valid tweet id He's from Mississauga,Ontario He trialed with TFC Academy and they told him that he was "too short" to make it in football. Another reason why I downplay Canadian MLS Academies claim that they are the best Lucky for us, he didn't give up and his parents moved him to England and made his way to Liverpool His Mississauga team got the transfer fee once Liverpool acquired him. He excelled with the Liverpool youth team with Steven Gerrard taking him under his wing In his 1st game with the CanMNT, he was the man of the match against New Zealand He impressed with Kilmarnock in Scottish Premiership (3:16) (3:25) Klopp gave him his own number and he's now with the 1st team training with Salah, Firmino and Mane. He started for the 1st team in the FA Cup Of course, TFC incompetent has worked out for the best for Millar but the question is, how many talents gave up due to bad evaluation from those academies? When Cavalry eliminated Vancouver in the Canadian Championship, Dos Santos admitted on behalf of Vancouver that lots of bad evaluation of players were done in the past as ex-Vancouver Academy guys contributed to oust the team from the tournament. Not saying that the Canadian MLS academies have it all wrong, but he CSA will have to start a more inclusive approaches to youth team and not only look at MLS Academies but all the other ones who have been developing players all these years. An unknown academy developed Jonathan David and Sigma developed Cyle Larin. They were just being ignored until now. With CPL associating themselves with the regional academies, the CSA will no longer be able to ignore them for MLS Academies. People in the know are aware that this practice was highly political and had little to do with who's better than who. CPL owners are helping leveling the playing field in terms of influencing the CSA as the 3 MLS teams had no counterbalance all theses years.
But even so if Millar was good enough he would be cracking starting 11 more consistently and in terms of pecking order there will always be stars ahead of him when it comes to starting
Learning from the like of Salah, Firmino and Mane is priceless. His dad is right, he needs to make the most of this opportunity until they are ready to loan him again. Hoping this time he gets loaned to a better league than Scotland
Yeah it is priceless but up to a certain point especially when at Liverpool he is getting lack of opportunities in terms of playing time but it is better to loan him out and wherever he ends up make the loan permanent because at Liverpool he won't factor into their future
His dad just said the opposite, Klopp sees Millar in his long term plans. If he gets loaned in the meantime mixed with training with the 1st team that's great. They had opportunities to sell him for over a million and opted against it.
He's only 20 as of today. He's more than decent if Klopp & Liverpool are keen to keep him around. Steven Gerrard took him upon himself to take him under his wing when he was coaching the Liverpool youth teams before his move to Rangers. I saw him play, he's a lesser version of Davies (speed and dribbling) and lesser David in terms of vision and finishing. Although he's not at their level, the raw potential is there. If you see him play, it's obvious. Gerrard and Klopp saw it. Everyone's develop at different rythm but in his case, patience is worth it.
Shouldn't Millar have scored some goals for somebody by now? His scoring rate looks like Jozy Altidore in the EPL.