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Canada Defeats Jamaica 4-3. Hopes For World Cup Qualification Still Alive
Personal Thoughts - Oct 12, 2016
HA! I was right. We love quick turnarounds, and we apparently also love playing in front of our home fans. I honestly didn't expect this kind of effort and result. Amazing stuff from our side.
We started our second new keeper in as many games, as we had Simon McDonald in the net. While he gave up more goals (3), he looked better. Quicker, more reflexive. He made great decisions with the saves he held onto.
Daniel Johnson replaced Nick Gazzola, with Kurt Harmse in replacing Marc Bucic, who suffered a training injury. He got us on the board early, with his first goal in many months in the 15th minute. They did a good job of neutralizing Andrea Lombardo, which I kind of expected, but perhaps surprisingly, our midfield picked up the slack, scoring our other three goals. Daniel Johnson scored in the 61st, while man of the match Jonathan DeGuzman had two more second half goals, in the 65th and 81st minutes. Their goals came from Craig Williams in the 29th minute, and Darryl Francis in the 64th and 83rd mintutes.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with that one. But that doesn't take away the fact that we have to either win or draw our last match and hope for another Jamaican loss (versus Costa Rica) for us to qualify for phase three. We're currently tied with Jamaica, at 3 wins and two losses apiece.
I'm having a strange feeling as I write this. We don't play again until the 18th of November, but the realization of the potential for finality is starting to hit. If we don't get a positive result in our next match, it may very well spell the end of my career with Team Canada.
Overall, we've had a good run, I'd say. We haven't achieved what I'd set out to, and that obviously has taken some of the shine off of my feelings towards my performance, personally.
I guess I'm looking at other programs like Brazil, and the fact that they seem to go through managers SO often, it's scary that they've done so well and have remained so consistent. They seem to have a new manager before every World Cup qualifying phase, and often times will change managers between the end of the final qualifying phase and the start of The World Cup group stage the following summer.
I've seen this team through two full qualifying periods, with success in both. I came in right in the middle of the third stage in my first year, and managed to take us through to the World Cup at that time, as well. Canada has never seen that many appearances in the World Cup, period, never mind consecutively. I can be proud of that. I can be proud of the fact that I've developed players into successful coaches. I can be proud of the youth program we've started to develop and grow.
Ah damn. I'm getting off track. We still have a very solid chance of making it through to the final qualifying phase. If that happens, I fully expect we'll remain standing at the end of it, not the least of the reasons is that the US won't be a part of the qualifier. They get an automatic "in" as the host nation.
Alright, time to wrap this up. The Dominican Republic awaits. We need a win or a draw. It comes down to one match.
Canada Draws 2-2 With Dominican Republic, Barely Qualifies for Phase 3 of World Cup Qualifying
Personal Thoughts, November 18, 2016
What can I say? We're once again just ten matches away from The World Cup. There were absolutely some tense moments, especially in the second half, but we played hard and perservered and I have to give everyone credit.
Midfielder Nicolas Thompson got us on the board in the seventeenth minute, and that was all the scoring until the second half. I was a little intense with the guys at half time, demanding of them that they keep their level of performance up throughout the second half or risk losing the game and a shot at glory.
Initially, my words seemed to fall on deaf ears. The Dominican Republic scored two goals, in the 63rd (Gez Holgate) and 66th (Luke Blinkhorn) minutes to take a 2-1 lead. It's moments like that when your entire career flashes before your eyes, briefly.
Fortunately, our newly legendary (in my eyes, anyway) striker Marc Bucic sealed a draw with a goal in the 74th minute. From there, we held off the attack, and we escaped.
Normally, advancing to the final round of qualifying would be cause for celebration, but the dressing room was really quiet after the game. I think the guys knew what almost happened. I told them I was pleased that we were through to the next round, but that we absolutely had to work harder if we were going to achieve any level of success at the next stage and into the World Cup itself. I think the guys got it. I saw something different in their eyes as we all filed out.
Now we get to rest while we find out who we're grouped with in the Gold Cup. I need to relax. I'm drained.
As I sit here and look back on the last couple of weeks of play in the North American Gold Cup, in which we finished fifth, I'm having mixed thoughts. We regressed from last year, finishing fifth. On the upside, we played our best game versus the USA in probably five years, losing 2-1. Marc Bucic scored our lone goal in the 17th minute. We lost our keeper Simon McDonald to injury in the 57th minute, and his replacement, Kid Master, was absolutely spectacular to finish out the game. To their credit, their defense was absolutely rock solid, because we truly gave ourselves every opportunity we could to either draw or win that game. We did end up winning one game, 4-1 versus the Bahamas, with Andrea Lombardo chipping in two goals in the 3rd and 41st minutes. Marc Bucic added one in the 7th, and Jonathan DeGuzman adding our final tally in the 68th.
We met Mexico in the Quarter Finals and lost 3-0. For whatever reason, we still can't seem to move above Mexico or the USA in terms of reputation in North America. I'm certain that part of it is a disparity in population base and a smaller talent pool to choose from. It's not an excuse, it's just fact, but it's a regret I'll carry with me when I leave. We couldn't do more to increase the reputation of the sport in our country and attract the same calibre of athlete as some of the more elite nations, and that bothers me, but I suppose we're doing the best we can with what we've got.
On the whole, I'm feeling like we, meaning everyone in the organization, myself, my coaches, the players, our staff, could justifiably be accused of looking ahead to the final phase of World Cup Qualifications. We just didn't play with the kind of spark and focus that I've seen from us in the past. Hopefully we'll be able to put this past us quickly and move on and make a go of getting into our third consecutive World Cup. We play our first match on the 8th of this month, versus Cuba.
I have to say I'm pleased in a way that we're avoiding playing the USA in the Qualifying Phase. We played them tightly in the Gold Cup, but I like that they won't be in our way because of the bye into the tournament that they get as the host nation. The only team that poses a threat is Mexico. In fact, I would suggest that it'll be Mexico and ourselves that finish 1-2 in our group. We're also grouped in with Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala and Honduras.
Each of those opponents, in my eyes, represents a match which we should win. We play everyone twice. an 8-2 run is certainly the worst I would expect us to do. An undefeated run is possible if we play the way we're capable of.
Canada Start Final Phase Of World Cup Qualifying With 5-0 Win Over Cuba
Personal Thoughts, February 8, 2017
I'm absolutely giddy. I couldn't have imagined a better start for us than this. Attiba Hutchinson started the scoring in the 5th minute, Marc Bucic contributed a hat trick with goals in the 14th, 16th and 63rd minutes, and Andrea Lombardo contributed a great goal in the 34th. Kid Master posted the clean sheet for us. He's now our number one goalkeeper. We have a bit of a break between now and our next match on the 25th of March. We play Honduras. This is absolutely a game which we should get a result in. No questions, no excuses.
Canada 2-0 In Final Phase Of World Cup Qualifying - Beat Honduras 3-0
Personal Thoughts, March 25, 2017
Well, the roll continues, in style. Kid Master had his second consecutive clean sheet for us, we got goals from two of our midfielders, our defense played wonderfully well. I find it ironic that in what will almost certainly be my final World Cup, we seem to finally be playing up to what I believe to be our potential.
Andrea Lombardo got the game rolling in the fourth minute with a great goal. Jonathan DeGuzman contributed his usual scoring brilliance from our midfield with a goal in the 26th, and Jacob Lensky, an under-used midfielder, contributed a goal for us in the 55th minute. All in all, a win which I expected, but which we deserved. You could call it stylish, but pedestrian. Next on the list is Mexico. The two games we will play against Mexico will certainly be our most difficult tests of this phase of qualifying, but I look forward to seeing how our guys respond after two great wins. The game is to be played in four days. Confidence is high right now, let's hope it carries over.
Canada Takes Massive Step Backwards, Gets Hammered By Mexico 8-0
Personal Thoughts, March 29, 2017
From the ultimtae highs, to the ultimate low. I didn't even know what to say to the guys at half time, so I didn't say anything. I questioned their desire after the game. I told them that if this is how this team wants to be remembered, then so be it, but I didn't think we deserved to be remembered for losing this badly in a World Cup qualifier. This team is so badly deflated and defeated.
Mexico, to their immense credit, outclassed us in every single way. They were faster, they pressed harder, they defended impeccably. This could be devistating, I really don't know where we're supposed to go, except back to work. That's all we can do. There's no point in going over all the goals, it just doesn't matter.
I have to say, though, that I'm probably more relaxed (only slightly) than I was after the USA debacle a few years ago. We still have seven games left, that's a potential of 21 standings points. This is a marathon event, it's not a sprint. We're not out of anything yet. We're still sitting in second place, firmly in a qualifying position, but if we continue to put on performances like this, our chances are going to evaporate VERY quickly. We have a long while to get over this one, we don't play again until June 3rd, when we take on Guatemala. 8-0 Loss Vs Mexico
This was a good news, bad news game, in an extreme way. The good news is that we bounced back up after the Mexico disaster. As the saying goes, it's not how many times you get knocked down, but how often you get back up. We certainly did that. Jonathan DeGuzman had both of our goals, in the 2nd and 15th minutes, earning man of the match in the process. Jose Cabrera scored for Guatemala in the 51st.
On the down side, we suffered what may be the most siginificant injury of my tenure. Andrea Lombardo collapsed after a hard tackle in the 69th minute, and I knew it was a fairly major injury because he wasn't getting back up, and whenever he tried, he would just collapse again. Our physios went out on the pitch and called for the stretcher. All I could do was sit there and think "okay, Ian, you specialize in finding strikers, we've got adequate cover for whatever this might be", hoping, obviously, that it wasn't too serious. As the match progressed, things deteriorated. Defensive midfielder Daniel Johnson was sent off for a professional foul in the 89th minute. We did manage to hold them off until the final whistle and escaped with the 2-1 win.
Immediately following the game, I headed straight for the trainer's room. Lombardo's leg was wrapped and iced. I talked to our lead Physio Jeff Davis who just shook his head. "It's a torn calf. We think he'll be out 2-4 months." He likely won't be back until Otober 7th, when we play Guatemala for a second time.
We've got to move on from our mistakes and the injury and get ready for our next game. We play Costa Rica on the 7th. Another quick turnaround, I expect another positive result.
Canada Continues World Cup Qualifying Roll With 5-3 Win Over Costa Rica
Personal Thoughts, June 7, 2017
Well, the roll continues. Again, I expected that we would come through on this one, we're known as a resilliant bunch, I think. Costa Rica actually started the scoring in the 3rd minute with a goal by Jorge Cordero. Jonathan DeGuzman got us even in the 12th with his usual solid strike into the top corner. DeGuzman HAS to keep up his form if we're going to have some succss in the World Cup, should we be lucky enough to qualify.
Jose Ortiz gave Costa Rica a lead in the 39th minute, but somehow I didn't find myself worrying the way I usually would at this point. There was just something about the way we were playing that I knew we'd rebound. Jason Kindel got us back on even terms just before the half. Unfortunately his match would end less than 20 minutes later, as he would go down with an injury.
Jacob Lensky gave us a lead in the 65th minute, and Marc Bucic rounded out our scoring with two goals in the 77th and 86th minutes. Again, Bucic is going to have to find a way to stay healthy and maintain his striking touch if we are going to go anywhere in 2018 beyond the Group Stage.
All in all, a good match. The press has been pressuring me about whether or not Andrea Lombardo will be healthy for our next match on September 2nd, and I thought I made it clear that he would not be. And even if he's CLOSE to competing I wouldn't let him. He's too valuable to risk injury again. At the moment, I think we'll be okay without him, as much as we do miss his contribution. I could almost afford to just sit him through the remainder of the qualifiers just to ensure his health for June of next year.
Well, we now have a fairly good stretch of time off. We don't play again until August 16th when we face Cuba again. We deserve the break, but we need to keep our eyes on the prize. We're not that far away.
Canada Now One Win Away From Qualifying For World Cup, Defeats Cuba 3-1
[B]Personal Thoughts, August 16, 2017.
A win is a win, right? Maybe to a fan, but I'm once again becoming frustrated at the way we're starting games. Maybe I'm just nitpicking, but as the manager and coach, that's sort of a major part of my job description, I think.
We don't play again until September 2nd, when we play Honduras. If we win that, we'll be in our third consecutive World Cup, a feat which I couldn't have imagined achieving eight years ago when I got here.
Once again, we were behind early, as Aythame Lasarte opened the scoring for Cuba in the eighth minute. Fortunately, we managed to pull our heads out of our backsides after that and find three goals of our own to take the win, although it could have been closer than 3-1. They missed a penalty in the 28th. Jason Kindel got on the board with two goals, in the 25th and 40th, and Marc Bucic once again contributed with a goal to close the game out in the 90th. He's becoming a legend. He's almost the Wayne Gretzky of Soccer in this country. He's young and can score from almost anywhere on the field. He'd be a huge loss if we ended up losing him for any stretch to injury.
I think I've neglected to mention our Under-20 side, most notably, the change at the top. In early January 2017, after some consideration, I decided to name Michael Klukowski to the post of Under-20 manager. He's got no coaching experience to speak of, which many many people have questioned, but I really feel like he deserves an opportunity. He'll have it as long as he wants it. He works well with Asmir Begovic, too, which I'm pleased about.
Hm. Elvis died 40 years ago today. I think I'll go make a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich in his honour and enjoy this win a bit.
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