GDT: Canadian Soccer | Canada at the Copa America - July 9 vs Argentina in the SF

[Zenos]

Nah, there was actually a time when Canada was the powerhouse in Concacaf.

When was that again?

For those keeping track at home: since the founding of CONCACAF, Canada has won 2 confederation championships, and qualified for the World Cup once.
In the same timespan, Mexico has 12 World Cup appearances and 11 Gold Cups.

 

[Drivesaitl]

When was that again?

For those keeping track at home: since the founding of CONCACAF, Canada has won 2 confederation championships, and qualified for the World Cup once.
In the same timespan, Mexico has 12 World Cup appearances and 11 Gold Cups.

Well lets remember our history.


Canada men's national soccer team - Wikipedia

Could be said that Canada was a Concacaf power a century ago.

 

[oilers'72]

Looking back at the Honduras/US game, I'm thinking that Honduras has the same problem as El Salvador. Not enough depth to play 3 games in 7 nights. No other reason a team playing at home, and leading at the half, loses to a team that had only won once in 40 games after trailing after 45'.

 

[Zenos]

Well lets remember our history.


Canada men's national soccer team - Wikipedia

Could be said that Canada was a Concacaf power a century ago.

CONCACAF didn't exist 100 years ago

Either way, I'm not looking for an argument or to disrespect the CMNT. I just found the original statement funny, that's all.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

I think it’s going to come down to us beating out Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras.

Yeah we'll see how teams look in the next block of games in October, but Jamaica has been underwhelming since the Gold Cup and El Salvador doesn't look like they have it in them to create enough goals to win the number of games necessary to qualify.

Canada's games in October are:
@ Mexico - Thursday, October 7th - 7:40pm MT
@ Jamaica - Sunday, October 10th - 4:00pm MT
vs Panama - Wednesday, October 13th - 5:30pm MT

If they can pick up wins against Jamaica and Panama that would be huge. A draw against Mexico at Estadio Azteca would be a good result too. The nice thing about the Canadian team now though is they're confident and playing to win every game even against the US and Mexico, and against the US for example were still trying to create a winning goal in the late stages of the game.

After not connecting off the wing at the end of the US game, it was nice to see Tajon Buchanan putting that nice ball in for David to head into the net for the second goal and then get a goal of his own. That yellow card was a joke, and that no cards were handed out to El Salvador was ridiculous when he both got stepped on and kneed in the head while down.

 

[AM]

When was that again?

For those keeping track at home: since the founding of CONCACAF, Canada has won 2 confederation championships, and qualified for the World Cup once.
In the same timespan, Mexico has 12 World Cup appearances and 11 Gold Cups.

So you identified three spans?(they just dont let you win these things you know)

Mostly I was comparing to the us(don’t have much buy into the fifa jurisdiction name) and of course the pathetic run over the last 20years. And powerhouse meaning we expected to win/ be competitive in every game.

 

[Magnum23]

Don't know anything about Soccer but does Canada have a legit shot at making the WC?

 

[AM]

Don't know anything about Soccer but does Canada have a legit shot at making the WC?

yes

 

[dsi]

They have a bunch of players who don’t get much exposure because they play in lower tier leagues. Laryea is a gem and probably the most underrated player on the roster.

I think they’re aiming to try and peak in 2026 on home soil though.

Yeah Laryea is great and plays with an edge. There are several players on the team that are legit good and deserve to play on top tier European leagues. However, I think their most underrated player is Alistair Johnston on D. Without him the Canadian backline is in trouble. Just watch him, he's a wall out there. In the Honduras game he prevented four critical chances in the first half alone and has been solid in the last 2 games.

 

[dsi]

Don't know anything about Soccer but does Canada have a legit shot at making the WC?

Yes, and they are a fun team to watch. No more 0-0 and 0-1 games and praying for just 1 goal every 3 games. They have a very good offence led by Alphonso Davies who is the arguably the best player in the federation, as well as Jonathan David, Cyle Larin, Tajon Buchanan, and a very solid midfield led by Stephen Eustaquio and Atiba Hutchinson, and the goaltender Milan Borjan. Plus a decent supporting cast. These are not exclusively MLS calibre players anymore, they play important roles in their respective international clubs.

 

[Magnum23]

Yes, and they are a fun team to watch. No more 0-0 and 0-1 games and praying for just 1 goal every 3 games. They have a very good offence led by Alphonso Davies who is the arguably the best player in the federation, as well as Jonathan David, Cyle Larin, Tajon Buchanan, and a very solid midfield led by Stephen Eustquio and Atiba Hutchinson, and the goaltender Milan Borjan. Plus a decent supporting cast. These are not exclusively MLS calibre players anymore, they play important roles in their respective international clubs.

Wow nice, never knew Canadian soccer has come such a long way, I'm interested to start following it now.

I know there are a lot of leagues in football but how does Davies rank against some of the best in the world (Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar) is he still far off? Or closer than I think?

 

[Forgot About Drai]

Wow nice, never knew Canadian soccer has come such a long way, I'm interested to start following it now.

I know there are a lot of leagues in football but how does Davies rank against some of the best in the world (Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar) is he still far off? Or closer than I think?

He may not be up there with with Ronaldo/Messi, those are the greatest players of our generation but he is considered one of if not the best left back in the world

He plays and starts for Bayern Munich which is a powerhouse club and is consistently in the champions league.

He is very, very good.

 

[AM]

I think this is a World Cup quality roster, doesn't mean that they'll make it but the talent level up front especially is quality. Watching them in the Gold Cup and now the World Cup qualifiers, this is a legit team. I've never followed Canadian soccer much because, well, they've never been relevant in my lifetime but they must be doing something right with the development program because this team can compete at a pretty high level.

There is another aspect. Canada is hosting the next world cup. You automatically get in. So players that can play for Canada are signing up so they have a chance to play in that world cup at the least.

Having a chance to get in is nice. Being 100% in is a much better draw.

 

[Cloned]

Yeah we'll see how teams look in the next block of games in October, but Jamaica has been underwhelming since the Gold Cup and El Salvador doesn't look like they have it in them to create enough goals to win the number of games necessary to qualify.

Canada's games in October are:
@ Mexico - Thursday, October 7th - 7:40pm MT
@ Jamaica - Sunday, October 10th - 4:00pm MT
vs Panama - Wednesday, October 13th - 5:30pm MT

If they can pick up wins against Jamaica and Panama that would be huge. A draw against Mexico at Estadio Azteca would be a good result too. The nice thing about the Canadian team now though is they're confident and playing to win every game even against the US and Mexico, and against the US for example were still trying to create a winning goal in the late stages of the game.

After not connecting off the wing at the end of the US game, it was nice to see Tajon Buchanan putting that nice ball in for David to head into the net for the second goal and then get a goal of his own. That yellow card was a joke, and that no cards were handed out to El Salvador was ridiculous when he both got stepped on and kneed in the head while down.

I feel like we play better as a team without Davies in the lineup. The trick is to maintain that level of fluidity with him. Don’t always defer to him because he’ll get double marked and not even the best players can consistently beat that kind of defending.

 

[Cloned]

There is another aspect. Canada is hosting the next world cup. You automatically get in. So players that can play for Canada are signing up so they have a chance to play in that world cup at the least.

Having a chance to get in is nice. Being 100% in is a much better draw.

I hope Tomori changes back to Canada. There’s an exception in the capping rules which allows for it.

 

[AM]

Wow nice, never knew Canadian soccer has come such a long way, I'm interested to start following it now.

I know there are a lot of leagues in football but how does Davies rank against some of the best in the world (Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar) is he still far off? Or closer than I think?

He is one of the top 50 players in the world quite comfortably.

 

[AM]

I hope Tomori changes back to Canada. There’s an exception in the capping rules which allows for it.

Would be nice depth.

 

[Cloned]

Would be nice depth.

He’d easily be our best defender. He's a legit starting CB in top tier European leagues.

 

[AM]

He’d easily be our best defender. He's a legit starting CB in top tier European leagues.

Maybe in 4 years. Vitoria's time is now. Pushing Miller down the depth chart would help us right now though.

 

[dsi]

He is one of the top 50 players in the world quite comfortably.

He was even ranked #20 in goal.com’s 2020 ranking. That’s outstanding.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

I feel like we play better as a team without Davies in the lineup. The trick is to maintain that level of fluidity with him. Don’t always defer to him because he’ll get double marked and not even the best players can consistently beat that kind of defending.

I agree. I hope they have the confidence after the El Salvador game that they can just play their own game, not always look for Davies, and try to create more without him. If teams are double marking Davies they need to exploit that, and they have enough talent to do that. I think in possession as they enter the attacking half they could try something like having Davies make a run towards the middle of the pitch hopefully bringing two defenders with him and then try a dummy pass through Davies to the wing Davies just vacated which should be open and allow for a good rush down the wing and crossing opportunity. If you can do that early in the game and create a good chance then maybe it also makes the opposing defenders more uncertain in their marking of Davies.

 

[AM]

He was even ranked #20 in goal.com’s 2020 ranking. That’s outstanding.

Player worth can only be evaluated with respect for a particular game plan. A team with dual dangers down the wing playing a 5-3-2 and a run and gun style. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the starting 11 all world team.
Getting Buchanan comfortable on the other side and a better presence at forward would make Davies look a lot better than in the first two games. And he looked pretty good to my eye.

 

[Cloned]

Maybe in 4 years. Vitoria's time is now. Pushing Miller down the depth chart would help us right now though.

He’s better than Vitoria by a significant margin. But you still need to start 2 CBs and Vitoria-Tomori would be pretty strong. Tomori is fast enough to play outside CB in a 3 at the back formation too.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Wow nice, never knew Canadian soccer has come such a long way, I'm interested to start following it now.

I know there are a lot of leagues in football but how does Davies rank against some of the best in the world (Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar) is he still far off? Or closer than I think?

As mentioned Davies plays for Bayern, one of the best club teams in the world, and is a star on that club. He's not a superstar, few ever are, but he's that nature of player that can't be contained, that will make some plays every game he's in, and that can beat people with speed, deft movement, and dribbling. He's impossible not to notice on a pitch. As a challenge watch a game without knowing his number and turn volume off. By end of game you will know who Davies is. He's a worth the price of admission player all on his own. The best player, any nation, in Concacaf.

 

[Drivesaitl]

He was even ranked #20 in goal.com’s 2020 ranking. That’s outstanding.

Especially considering how many people play high level professional soccer in the worlds game. In Soccer I always tell people that a dozen Gretzky's exist and 50 players as good as Messier, at anytime. To kind of put it into perspective in terms of numbers. People new to the game tend to hear most about Messi or Ronaldo but so many star players, even superstar players exist.