Subject: »[NT] Update

Caron had a notable improvement with the form update. No other significant moves that I noticed. Amado's continued erosion is a bit of a concern.

RE hall of fame
It is a good idea. Most of the Canadian community dont have a 'stake' in it because their teams havent been around for that long to actually have a nt player retire. This history of nt Canada would, however, be very interesting for everyone. Is there anyone who would qualify yet?

Great idea, Maybe Amado and some players from Apocalypse would be first candidates :)

I think players should be retired before they are considered.

Barry, Moreau and Diplacido came immediately to mind. Garvey and Gusberti also possibilities.

hehe I know I was kidding about Amado, well since I haven't been around for that long, better for some of you "oldtimers" to debate about that :D

Gotcha. :)

If we want to try it, I think we should come up with a "mechanism". Baseball puts players that meet a minimum criteria (10 years of playing) on a list. Voters can vote for up to 10 players. Anyone who gets 75% is in. Anyone with less then 5% gets dropped from the ballot, otherwise they are placed back on the ballot potentially another 4 tries.

I think that is more elaborate then what we could do. :) Probably the easiest thing would be to have a yes-no poll for individual players that meet some minimum criteria (30 caps ... or something like that), and require a certain % (70%?) for acceptance.

A more complex approach would be some sort of run-off ballot where all retiring players meeting the criteria are listed together. But since we can only cast one vote per poll, this might not work as well.

You are right in saying that it's more for "old-timers", but I think that newer managers could look at a players achievements and make a decision about their impact.

NT Milestones - Norway

Clayton Houston
- 1st cap
- 1st assist

Maxime Fluet
- 1st assist

Joey Biron
- 1 goal of his hattrick was his 20th for Team Canada

Yves Castillo Lara
- 2nd clean sheet

A potentially interesting player on the TL - one I knew nothing of. He'd need a little more pace, and a fair bit of work on PM & passing. Perhaps a midfield trainer might take him on as a project. May not be worth the effort given his age. I know nothing of his talent.

End of bidding: 13.02.2008 13:02
Stuart Barnes, age: 25
value: 1 083 200 C$, wage: 14 120 C$
club: Red Marauders, country: Canada
formidable form, outstanding tactical discipline

formidable stamina, tragic keeper
outstanding pace, unearthly defender
excellent technique, poor playmaker
weak passing, unsatisfactory striker

he's from cambridge strikers, that's my team before i took over

Watched Barnes go. Went a bid or two cheaper then I expected. Looks like he may get some pace training.

Have filed him under "In Case of Emergency ..." :)

After a very long, long, long wait, Apocalypse has been replaced, and the Horsemen have been set free.

I am dropping them from the NT shortly to avoid confusion. Have a look if you are interested in a piece of Sokker Canadiana ... and some still reasonably sharp strikers. :)

A mixed week of form. Dehere made a nice recovery, and Caron took some big strides. Renda completed his recovery reaching divine (there's hope for everyone! :D).

Omar lost a fair bit of form last week.

Big update tonight - as the groups should be drawn for the World Cup.

Though there are desirable options in both the 1st and 3rd baskets, the key to any kind of success for Canada in the WC will be who we get out of the 2nd basket.

The draw of the groups has been made, and all things considered, we did alright. The key (in my mind) was to avoid Poland or Italy as the #2 team, which we did.

Group B
1. Suomi
2. Schweiz
3. Deutschland
4. Canada

Its still going to be difficult group imo. But I'm sure the sokker gods will be smiling on Canada this go around :)

Heehee. It's a group where any team could beat any other, and it wouldn't be a monstrous upset. The skill level of the players is close enough that tactics and luck will matter - that's really all you can ask for, especially out of the 4th basket.