Canada friendlies 2013

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Yeah I see your point hobbes about trying to use what the coach now sees as his best XI against a team of Japan's caliber but I think the long range goal is to groom a team for 2018 qualifying not this Gold Cup and towards that end a player like Morgan should I think receive the opportunity to play with the first teamers and against a team of Japan's ability. This is how he will grow.

[hobbes]

I definitely see what you’re saying and I think we’re at the point where it’s pretty safe to say that Morgan is going to be part of our group moving forward. That being said, I think you need to be mindful of growing the pool and looking to the future, but you have to pick players on merit. We’re not good enough to pass over better players in favour of younger players.

And I know this isn’t what you’re saying, but there are a lot of people advocating for wholesale youth movement. If we had done that four years ago guys like Straith, Attakora and Eddy Sidra would have been given time ahead of players like Jazic and McKenna and that would have been a horrible idea in hindsight.

I just wish we would hire a manager and begin this process in earnest, but we’re getting a lot of guys involved and playing games. I can’t complain about that.

The Gold Cup counts for FIFA rankings and that is used to get players visas abroad and was used to help determine seeding for the last World Cup qualifying. I don't think we can afford to blow off this Gold Cup. Plus, the Gold Cup is the only competitive game we're going to have for a few years.

cheers,
hobbes

[hobbes]

I am firmly in the anti-Qatar 2022 camp and think it's ridiculous that they get to host the World Cup.

That being said, the facilities in Doha look incredible. Will Johnson tweeted a picture and it looked like where the Jetsons would play soccer. I was expecting to see people whizzing past wearing jetpacks. I hope the people there don't try to kill Atiba Hutcinson because he just turned 30...

Ante Jazic is there. I thought he was with Chivas USA? Apparently not. I am assuming he's helping coach, but I'm waiting for more camp news to learn more.

For Japan, I am curious if Kagawa plays centrally and tries to fill Honda's role. I just watched them play twice and they will miss Nagatomo a ton. He really does create a lot of danger down that wing. I wouldn't have relished him going against Edgar all day. They're going to cause us problems, but we should find some space on the flanks to exploit and if we can bottle up the middle we might do all right.

cheers,
hobbes

[hobbes]

Japan 2 Canada 1

I’ve got to say I was pretty pleased with how we played today. Breaking it down player by player and there was a lot to improve upon, but overall we might have been better than the sum of our parts. It was definitely our best performance since WCQ.

A bit of an interesting team with:
--------------------------Borjan
Ledgerwood-----Jakovic---Edgar---------DeJong
--------------DeGuzman-----Johnson
--Edwini-Bonsu------Hutchinson-------Bekker
--------------------------Haber

Much to my surprise, Japan sat back and played for the counter. They do it incredibly well, but we were actually doing a good job of not turning the ball over and holding possession. Unfortunately Hutchinson made a sloppy pass in the Japan half, the Japanese counter sprung and Borjan raced out of his area to clear the through ball (barely), but cleared it straight to Okazaki (bit unlucky really) and he scored before Borjan got back in goal.

From there it was pretty scary at times for us. Jakovic gave away the ball horrifically twice (one was very similar to Kolarov in the Croatia-Serbia game) and Maeda skied a sitter and Insui missed another good chance. Later Endo hit a sensational free kick that hit the post almost at the bar, deflected and hit Borjan on his line and it basically hit him in the chest and went out for a corner.

Much like the Denmark game Jakovic looked horrible. He is arguably having an MLS best-11 start to the season with DC, but was sensationally bad in the first half. At one point a cross looked like it was going to find a Japanese forward at the top of the box, when DeGuzman came out of nowhere and intercepted the pass. He laid a quick pass to Jakovic near the penalty spot and Jakovic had plenty of time to make a play, he took a touch and made a tidy six-yard pass to the Japanese player who had just not received the pass in the first place. I think the Japanese guy was so stunned he mis-hit his shot.

As much as we were lucky to be down 1-0, we were holding lots of possession and Hutchinson and Edwini-Bonsu were giving Japan problems. We tied the game on a corner around 60 when Haber stooped to head home at about knee height.

Not long after the goal Edwini-Bonsu made a 40 yard run and his shot was spilled by Kawashima at full stretch. For the most part Edwini-Bonsu was looking to get wide and whip in crosses, but I was happy to see him have some success when he attacked the channels. We try to get wide and cross way too much - especially since we're not very good in the air.

The Japanese winning goal was pretty disappointing from our perspective. G. Sakai found room on the left flank (Hainault came in for Ledgerwood early and we a little better going forward, but reinforced my opinion that Hainault really isn’t an outside back at this level) and sent in a cross that Jakovic didn’t clear. Mike Havenaar kind of miss-hit his shot, but it still went in on a nearly unmissable chance.

We still forced Kawashima into about five saves in the final 10 minutes. He did very well to stop a good Hutchinson shot. I liked our response and we finished the game pinning Japan into their own end and putting them under a lot of pressure.

Edwini-Bonsu had the best day of the new faces, though he didn’t get a lot of the ball in the first half. Haber was quiet until the goal. He’s better with the ball at his feet than he is with his back to goal. Bekker was quiet again. I thought Edgar was our best defender, though De Jong made a great tackle to possibly save a goal. Hutchinson and De Guzman both played very well. They kept Kagawa very quiet in the middle of the park and did all right against Endo and Hasebe. Which is saying a lot. Borjan didn’t play very well. He looked a little nervous after the first goal.

Ricketts, Cebara, Hainault, Nakajima-Farran and Jackson came in. Cebara looked not bad. He came in for Bekker and looked promising. Hainault played fine in attack and probably helped create the goal with a near-post run. The others didn’t have much time to have an impact.

I’m hoping the back four tightens up a little for Belarus. But a solid outing and I liked the approach and the mentality out of the group.

cheers,
hobbes

[edit] 55.5% possession for us and we completed 83% of our passes and nearly 100 more than Japan did. That doesn't tell the full story, but it tells some.

[hobbes]

Belarus 2 Canada 0

I am pretty disappointed with the result, though it sounds like we out-played them and couldn't score. The match wasn't televised, but we certainly missed some great chances per the highlights I saw. Still we beat these guys about two years ago and they just lost 1-0 to Jordan and were missing three regulars due to injury (at least). We aren't at full strength either, but still...

We started with
----------------------------Chensinski
Edgar-----------Hainault--------Jakovic--------De Jong
--------------------Johnson-----DeGuzman
-----Edwini-Bonsu--------Hutchinson-------Cebara
-----------------------------Ricketts

And finished with:
----------------------------Chensinski
Edgar-----------Hainault--------Jakovic--------Morgan
--------------------Johnson-----Pacheco
----------Ricketts--------Bekker-------Jackson
-----------------------------Haber

Both Belarus goals were simple headers. The first was an a solid cross and poor marking off of a set piece that Rodionov scored. The second came very late and was just an awkward backward header by Kvashchynski that Chencinski probably should have done better with. It was a ball over the top that bounced in the area before being headed home.

In between Jakovic missed a chance, Ricketts couldn't get on the end of a great ball over the top, then Johnson and Ricketts missed glorious chances to head in the equalizer. Jackson and Edwini-Bonsu both sent in some quality balls from wide areas.

At the start of the second half both teams were in position waiting to get going again and the officials were nowhere to be found. Maybe they knew better. There was seven yellows, the Belarus manager was sent off and there was nearly a brawl at the end when Maxim Bardachow for Belarus came in with a two-footed tackle from behind on Jakovic that led to Edgar, Hainault and the Belarus captain all charging into the fray. Out of all of that only a yellow to Bardachow.

Interesting that Cebara got a start. He only went for a half. I'm glad Chencinski got some time as well, though it would have been nice if he had played recently. He made a nice save off of Rodionov after a terrible giveaway by Hainault — who also hasn't played recently.

Piette was injured and other than that I think Straith was the only player that didn't feature (though Issey only got about 5-7 mins).

In other news, Jon DeGuzman started the last two Dutch World Cup qualifiers and is now unable to change back to Canada. So that's over.

cheers,
hobbes

[raconteur]

In other news, Jon DeGuzman started the last two Dutch World Cup qualifiers and is now unable to change back to Canada. So that's over.


You still have the possibility for Junior Hoillett and Steven Vittoria though don't you?

What is the speculation on how many of the squad Canada used in these two friendly defeats will return for the Gold Cup?

[hobbes]

Yeah Vittoria can still switch and Hoilett is still eligible for us.

I would love to see both this summer. There is a worry that if Vittoria transfers to a major Portuguese club (which could happen soon) then we might lose him for good. The downside is that I'm not exactly enamored with taking him back and if there's one position where we have tons of options it's in the centre of defence. Still, we can't turn our noses up at good players no matter where they play.

I am actually leaning more and more to thinking a back three with Jakovic at libero and Hainault and Edgar marking is our best option. DeJong is a natural wingback and Hutchinson playing on the right side is a good compromise to keeping him in a more attack-minded role, while also playing him close to where his club plays him and solving our RB issue.

I think there's no speculation on who we use for the Gold Cup until we name a manager. I'm wondering if we can get a couple of camps together before the actual tournament or if we just play Costa Rica with a lot of MLS guys, name a 23 and get together before the tournament and see what happens...

cheers,
hobbes

[hobbes]

And while we're talking about players who may or may not play for us, Fraser Aird signed a five-year extension with Rangers. The 18-year-old is getting regular playing time this season in the third division.

He said he hasn't made up his mind about his international future. His dad is Scottish and a Rangers fan and really wants him to play for Scotland. Interestingly Colin Miller (who played for Rangers himself) has been talking to people at Rangers about Aird being better off playing for Canada.

He's a left-footed midfielder. He was fairly highly rated when he went to Glasgow years ago. He's played for Scotland as a youth international, but could still switch. I'd given up hope for him, but since Scotland is so dire right now, who knows.

cheers,
hobbes