Subject: [NT] Friendlies

The NT Update thread was intended to be used for just that (news about the roster, other official NT business). I think it serves that purpose better if it's not cluttered by other discussion.

So if there's talk about team Canada matches that don't have their own dedicated thread, let's put it here so we can keep things tidier.

Interesting match vs. Slovenija. Thought Canada could easily have been up 3 after the first half - the finishing was a little off. Our defensive play was pretty ragged in the second half, which let Slovenija keep it close.

There were some things I really liked in this match, and a couple of things I didn't.

I thought the forward positioning was very good. Amado in particular was in better places to make use of his assets.

Thought this was Iginla's best game in ages. He was stellar. Omar also looked good.

I was happy to see Mayard in. He was a player I was really devloping confidence in when I was manager.

Although I love Klukowski, unless his stats have changed dramatically (no evidence of this in today's match), I think that is a very poor place to play him. Ortega Santiago is only marginally better suited to that role.

It was nice to see Neil get a crack (he's been on the radar screen for some time) but I think it's very dangerous to play him centrally given his technique. Probably would have been safer to leave Fichaud in a take Bradshaw off in that situation.

All in all, and entertaining match. :) Amado's red card means he'll get a nice pre-WC rest next week (which he may have gotten anyway).

Wow crazy game.
First of all I made a big mistake by this tactic and that is about defence. I placed them way to deep and there was a big gap between them and DM and so Slovenija took advantage of that but still this was not deadly and maybe one goal come out of that.
Despite defence was deep they looked somehow totally confused which costed us another goal.
I think this tactic need defence a bit forward and Iginla should have been a little bit forward too. Anyway Iginla looked very good in this game.

That's a good observation about defense depth. Some extra long shots were conceded that could have been snuffed. Most times you don't want to concede the top of the 18 yard box until you absolutely have to.

Abbas Musa made a few uncharacteristic mistakes in this one. Didn't help the defensive cause any. :)

Next friendly is booked and it is Ireland.

For this weekend friendly vs Ireland we have 2 players N/A. Amado will sit his red card he got last friendly and Shimon MacIlvora another striker got injured yesterday in his Cup game in Poland, luckily he only got SI.

We have 3 players with 2 yellow cards and all of them are playing this friendly, hopefuly one of them will get his third. Before the WC we still have a couple of friendlies so we can miss them in those and have them available for the WC. They are:
Carl Abbas Musa
Luc O'Hara
Adam Ortega Santiago

Managers of participating players will be notified shortly.

Interesting match against Ireland. :) I've seen a number of their matches this season - usually their strikers are a little more accurate.

Wang muffed a couple nice passes early, but then settled in. It's hard to complain about the shooting percentage, so I think he had a decent day. Iginla got into dangerous spots a number of times, but didn't display the touch he showed last week.

Parker's goal kicks were horrendous today, and I wonder if it relates to the formation (think he was trying to get the ball to O'Hara). Might want to examine that.

Tactic worked quite well.
Iginla if he were like last week we could have been much more dangerous and effective but everyone has a good or bad day well it wasn't his bad day but he could been better.
Defence worked very good and we got our offside trap nicely done.
Parker's goal kicks like last time way off dunno what is happening, newer seen him like that before(I am wathing him since he started to play for Canada NT).
Wang 2 shots 2 goals, can't be better then that.
Manohar, Cochran just not yet for the first team, Giacomi with some better form might be there.

Tactic worked quite well.

To me it's a little bit of a concern that we lost possession and territory by a tangible margin, and were outshot more then 4:1 by a team with inferior personnel.

I'm not trying to be overly critical. :) But I think there is some tweaking that might be considered.

Lost possession and been outshot, agree with that but as you might know how many times we had possession and outshot the opponent but still lost the game. Not saying tactic is perfect I always do some changes if I use same tactic I once used and if you can see in compare last time I used this one, this one is much better.

Adam Ortega Santiago got the card I wanted and is off next match. Will be ready for WC.

Two friendlies have been arranged:

July 14 - Peru U-21
July 21 - Slovensko U-21

Anyone who think he has a U-21 player who can compete on a NT level please SK-mail me his update.
(edited)

Since 3 of our U-21 players are injured and can't play tomorrow I have no choise but to sign 3 or more players even below NT lewel. It is gonna be only for a short period of time, 2 games or so.

Possible players for the game tomorrow, still doing changes!!

Joey Biron
Alvin Broussard
Pierre-Charles Chouinard
Francesco Clayden
Basile Lorenzo
Kip Nesta
Pierre-Charles Ribeiro
Zachary Sebrango
Jesse Tait
Satinder Touchette
Paul-Arnaud Zanardi

bench

Rogelio Lindley
Boris Madden
Georges Placentino

Changed it at the last minute. This is the final, with this squad a tie is a success.

1 Pierre-Charles Chouinard GK

2 Satinder Touchette DEF

3 Francesco Clayden DEF

4 Paul-Arnaud Zanardi DEF

5 Jesse Tait DEF

6 Pierre-Charles Ribeiro MID

7 Kip Nesta DEF

8 Fernando Sandhu MID

9 Rogelio Lindley MID

10 Joey Biron ATT

11 Alvin Broussard ATT


12 Boris Madden GK

13 Zachary Sebrango DEF

14 Basile Lorenzo MID

15 Gaspare Ferranti MID

16 Georges Placentino ATT

Nice result. :) Pretty good tactic. Defense controlled the middle quite well - there were few Peruvian shots I considered dangerous. At the other end the team was able to generate a number of quality opportunities.

Once again, I thought your forward placement was very strong - particularly Broussard. You put him in a good place to use his skills. I thought he was quite dangerous, tho his finishing was a little off today.

I was a little worried about Zanardi - not just the penalty he conceded - he didn't look sharp early on. Did settle in as the match progressed.

Once again, nice job! :)

With an U-21 depth we have this is great success to beat Peru. It could have been even better but a 2-1 win is huge for our young squad.