Canadian Soccer

The atmosphere was electric inside Tim Hortons Field. It's probably one of the best atmospheres I've ever experienced, and that's without a 100% capacity! Even though I live close to BMO Field, I wouldn't mind going back out to Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton; that stadium's great!

On the team, man they make me so proud. That Adekugbe was making a bunch of us cry in the stadium (me included). I couldn't believe a goal would make me that emotional, and I was around for both the Rashford and Giovinco winners!
 
Mazhar, how cold was it? If I was in Canada I would have gone.
The commentator was crazy. :lol:
We need to hold the ball much better in midfield though. Junior Hoilett is still playing? What a dribble.
 
Get in. Great to see Canada finally getting there it looks like. Really likeable group of players as well.
 
Foxbatt said:
Mazhar, how cold was it? If I was in Canada I would have gone.
The commentator was crazy. :lol:
We need to hold the ball much better in midfield though. Junior Hoilett is still playing? What a dribble.
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It wasn't as cold as I expected it to be. I had only one jacket on top of my t-shirt and a scarf. That's it. The mittens helped, but they weren't really necessary.

The midfield really missed Eustáquio, but that's to be expected. Kaye looked really rusty out there, and Osorio's only good as the most advanced midfielder, not as one of the midfield 2. Still, we did a good job in at least keeping some of the ball when needed, and our worst giveaways came from a rusty Kaye. I wasn't surprised when we started maintaining possession better once Fraser came in for Kaye.
 
mazhar13 said:
The atmosphere was electric inside Tim Hortons Field. It's probably one of the best atmospheres I've ever experienced, and that's without a 100% capacity! Even though I live close to BMO Field, I wouldn't mind going back out to Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton; that stadium's great!

On the team, man they make me so proud. That Adekugbe was making a bunch of us cry in the stadium (me included). I couldn't believe a goal would make me that emotional, and I was around for both the Rashford and Giovinco winners!
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The national team is something else. I do understand it. Adekugbe should have scored the earlier one. It could have been the goal of the Qualifiers?
 
Foxbatt said:
The national team is something else. I do understand it. Adekugbe should have scored the earlier one. It could have been the goal of the Qualifiers?
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Especially after Hoilett's dribble. From where I was, I thought he just beat his opponent by cutting inside, but I only learned of it being a nutmeg from the highlights! That would easily have been Canada's goal of the decade.
 
Foxbatt said:
Mazhar, how cold was it? If I was in Canada I would have gone.
The commentator was crazy. :lol:
We need to hold the ball much better in midfield though. Junior Hoilett is still playing? What a dribble.
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Was quite nice in these parts today. I wore a light puffer jacket for my evening walk.
 
Cheimoon said:
Where's the fun in big bundles that cover everything and require no effort?!

(In other words, we're pretty cheap.)
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The fun is in watching the games you want to see without having to search in more than three or four places for them.
 
I'm delighted to see Canada doing so well, especially without Davies during these last couple of games, and now on the verge of qualification. Taking 4 points against both the USA and Mexico is impressive.

The days when they continually used to fail to even reach the Hex, often struggling to handle away games in Central America in-particular, still seem quite fresh in the memory. So what a turnaround.
 
mazhar13 said:
The atmosphere was electric inside Tim Hortons Field. It's probably one of the best atmospheres I've ever experienced, and that's without a 100% capacity! Even though I live close to BMO Field, I wouldn't mind going back out to Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton; that stadium's great!

On the team, man they make me so proud. That Adekugbe was making a bunch of us cry in the stadium (me included). I couldn't believe a goal would make me that emotional, and I was around for both the Rashford and Giovinco winners!
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The best part about the stadium is the location. Most North American stadiums are in the middle of downtown. This one is in a kind of sketchy neighbourhood in the middle of Hamilton. The walk up is like walking up to a stadium in Europe
 
Amazingly, this was probably the worst game we've played with the ball in qualifying yet we win 2-0. Without the ball we were outstanding. USA had the possession but other than the odd chance, they had nothing. The mere fact that their best chance of the game came from a corner kick speaks volume of how well we played defensively. I don't know how long this will last, but it's amazing to see that Canada is (for now anyways) the best team in CONCACAF. We are top of the table by 4 points and in all honesty, after taking 4 points of USA and Mexico, we really should have a bigger lead. The tie with Honduras and Jamaica hurt a little...
 
With our issues upfront, is Jonathan David a player we should be considering? He looked a star in the making at Gent, and seems to be doing pretty well at Lille.
 
SadlerMUFC said:
The best part about the stadium is the location. Most North American stadiums are in the middle of downtown. This one is in a kind of sketchy neighbourhood in the middle of Hamilton. The walk up is like walking up to a stadium in Europe
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Yeah, I took the long walk to the stadium, and it was so good! I wish we had more people take the walk to the stadium, but the majority of people were driving to the stadium, sadly.
 
mazhar13 said:
Yeah, I took the long walk to the stadium, and it was so good! I wish we had more people take the walk to the stadium, but the majority of people were driving to the stadium, sadly.
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that would be pretty cool to have a few thousand people walking together to the stadium. Like something out of Green Street Hooligans
 
Cheimoon said:
I should find a way to watch these matches. Where's this shown in Canada?
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Sportsnet on Rogers, on IPTV boxes if you can get Astro the commentary is much better.
The local commentary is not the greatest.
 
Just scored one of the most bizarre goals I’ve ever seen. 1-0 up against El Salvador.
 
Klopper76 said:
Just scored one of the most bizarre goals I’ve ever seen. 1-0 up against El Salvador.
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Been a frustrating and scrappy game as I anticipated. El Salvador are no slouches at home and they've been dealing with us well. Took a proper shit house goal to break the duck.

We've created the better chances but certainly looking fatigued. Lads can be proud of getting 9 points out 9 if we hold on here.
 
Normandy said:
Been a frustrating and scrappy game as I anticipated. El Salvador are no slouches at home and they've been dealing with us well. Took a proper shit house goal to break the duck.

We've created the better chances but certainly looking fatigued. Lads can be proud of getting 9 points out 9 if we hold on here.
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Pretty safe to assume Canada have qualified if they hold on here. First time since 1986 I think?
 
Crazy last minute. Nearly conceded a wonder goal then David on the counter seals it!

Klopper76 said:
Pretty safe to assume Canada have qualified if they hold on here. First time since 1986 I think?
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Indeed. Getting this win is vital as it avoids the potential squeaky bum time that a defeat against Costa Rica next month would have caused - especially when you consider our last three games are banana skins.
 
Pretty safe to assume Canada will be at the 2022 World Cup. 2-0 FT
 
Not long ago Canada use to be routinely humiliated in Central America (their players couldn’t handle the ‘hostile’ environments). So away wins over Honduras and El Salvador, with the big win against the USA sandwiched in-between and all within a short timeframe, really is a superb effort.

Canada’s rise has been a great storyline in international football.
 
That was such a tense match. The players clearly looked mentally fatigued as they rushed their build-ups at the start before slowing down way too much towards the end of the first half. The second half was pretty much the same until we made our first 3 subs and moved to a 4-4-2. Larin and Buchanan made a huge difference to our team and stretched El Salvador's back line. Larin, especially, was critical to drawing out the defenders and allowing David to roam around.

Overall, I think the the constant fouling, humidity, and hostile crowd got into the players' heads and made them more prone to errors. This was a tough test that they passed, and even though it wasn't pretty, at least we got 9 points out of 9 in this window.
 
GuybrushThreepwood said:
Not long ago Canada use to be routinely humiliated in Central America (their players couldn’t handle the ‘hostile’ environments). So away wins over Honduras and El Salvador, with the big win against the USA sandwiched in-between and all within a short timeframe, really is a superb effort.

Canada’s rise has been a great storyline in international football.
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Yup, In 2018 qualifying I believe we didn't even make it to the final round of qualifying. Now we are very close to stamping our ticket.
 
DannyDee said:
Yup, In 2018 qualifying I believe we didn't even make it to the final round of qualifying. Now we are very close to stamping our ticket.
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I’m delighted for all Canadian fans.

I have family members in Toronto who have been passionate fans of the NT (plus Toronto FC) for a long-time including throughout all the bad times including the 8-1 defeat in Honduras, usually failing to reach the Hex etc., and they are understandably enjoying every minute of this.
 
This feels so surreal. Three wins in 7 days and that without Fonzie.. absolutely incredible.
 
mazhar13 said:
That was such a tense match. The players clearly looked mentally fatigued as they rushed their build-ups at the start before slowing down way too much towards the end of the first half. The second half was pretty much the same until we made our first 3 subs and moved to a 4-4-2. Larin and Buchanan made a huge difference to our team and stretched El Salvador's back line. Larin, especially, was critical to drawing out the defenders and allowing David to roam around.

Overall, I think the the constant fouling, humidity, and hostile crowd got into the players' heads and made them more prone to errors. This was a tough test that they passed, and even though it wasn't pretty, at least we got 9 points out of 9 in this window.
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I agree with every word.
 
Glad to see Ismael Kone in the Canada squad. He's come into the team and been the highlight of the season since. Raw but has a versatile skill set.

In other news, we could very well qualify officially in two days. Where's the excitement, chaps?!
 
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