HF Habs: 2022 FIFA World Cup: Argentina World Cup Champs, France runner-up, Croatia 3rd, Morocco 4th

[MarkovsKnee]

Vox made a docu on Fance's soccer program. If I can find it I will post it here.

I don't know if Canada can emulate France's program. They're very centralized. Canada is too big and too fractious to have a centralized system.

EDIT: found it.

Well, there's no reason why we can't have a centralized system. U.S. does it in hockey with their NTDP program, but it's more difficult in Canada for sure because of our larger sized country with low population.

We could have a Western Academy (Vancouver), North/Prairie (Edmonton), Central (Toronto) & Eastern (Montreal) that can oversee players in those regions (Vancouver -> BC/southern Alberta, Edmonton -> north Alberta, north territories, & Saskatchewan, Toronto -> Ontario, Montreal -> Quebec & Maritimes).

Soccer Canada needs to have better training methods for young players as well, such as beach soccer leagues in summer/winter, with various opportunities to train & develop throughout the year.

Good video. Canada has a lot of Immigration too.

 

[JianYang]

I mean, I don't see how it'll make qualifiers less exciting. It's like 2 more teams from each nation. Growing interest in countries who never make it will be huge. The World Cup was huge for Canada's growth of soccer over the past 4 years and that's without getting results. It'll be equally big for other nations.


Golden goal is just very unhealthy unless we start increasing subs, etc.

I wouldn't mind if we increased extra time an extra 5 minutes per half (20 minutes), but that's about it.

A 3 team group is probably going have one high pot team, one low pot team, and a fringe team that never would have it in a 32 team world cup.

It's going to be diluted. They are adding 50% more teams to a 32 team tournament in one shot.... Not a small amount at all.

 

[jaffy27]

Looks like he’s sitting on roast beef lol

 

[Habs Icing]

Well, there's no reason why we can't have a centralized system. U.S. does it in hockey with their NTDP program, but it's more difficult in Canada for sure because of our larger sized country with low population.

We could have a Western Academy (Vancouver), North/Prairie (Edmonton), Central (Toronto) & Eastern (Montreal) that can oversee players in those regions (Vancouver -> BC/southern Alberta, Edmonton -> north Alberta, north territories, & Saskatchewan, Toronto -> Ontario, Montreal -> Quebec & Maritimes).

Soccer Canada needs to have better training methods for young players as well, such as beach soccer leagues in summer/winter, with various opportunities to train & develop throughout the year.

Good video. Canada has a lot of Immigration too.

Yeah when I first saw the docu, I thought the same thing. You look at the roster and the overwhelming number of players are either immigrants or children of immigrants. Piette, Crepeau, Fraser, Waterman, Kennedy and Millar may the only ones that have Canadian heritage that goes back more than two generations.

Also, the epicenter of the Canadian program is Ontario, specifically Brampton. That suburb of half a million contributed 7 of the 26 national team players. I like your idea of regional centers.

The problem with Canadian soccer is the CSA. They're a very inept, sad sack of an organization. They don't have the means to participate in U17s, U20s, or U23s. In those youth tournaments, you find and gel your talented players. You also build loyalty with your dual nationals. Hopefully, the program gets more money to do its job.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Yeah when I first saw the docu, I thought the same thing. You look at the roster and the overwhelming number of players are either immigrants or children of immigrants. Piette, Crepeau, Fraser, Waterman, Kennedy and Millar may the only ones that have Canadian heritage that goes back more than two generations.

Also, the epicenter of the Canadian program is Ontario, specifically Brampton. That suburb of half a million contributed 7 of the 26 national team players. I like your idea of regional centers.

The problem with Canadian soccer is the CSA. They're a very inept, sad sack of an organization. They don't have the means to participate in U17s, U20s, or U23s. In those youth tournaments, you find and gel your talented players. You also build loyalty with your dual nationals. Hopefully, the program gets more money to do its job.

Yeah, there needs to be a reckoning for CSA & a demand for more from them. Soccer is an extremely popular sport here for children, so they have the registration fees, and I absolutely believe they can get the corporate support too (like Tim's with Tim's Hockey).

There definitely needs to be a program of excellence where there are u17s, u20s & u23s programs.

BTW, new Fifa rankings came out after World Cup, and Canada is 40th.

 

[Whitesnake]

I loved that World Cup. Probably the best group stages I remember. The worst games of all the tournament (excepts the few blowouts) were the Semi-Finals. Rest was perfect. Standings weren't done until the very last game for a lot of groups. And that last game that was headed to be dull ended up maybe one of the best ever.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Great ending! Was annoyed when Argentina was up 2-0 and France was getting clamped, happy the french team (mbappe)woke up and entertained us!

 

[Natey]

A 3 team group is probably going have one high pot team, one low pot team, and a fringe team that never would have it in a 32 team world cup.

It's going to be diluted. They are adding 50% more teams to a 32 team tournament in one shot.... Not a small amount at all.

I never said it was small?

However, I still prefer it. Though I would still prefer it. Hell, I'd even be okay with an 64 team single elimination tournament though. I prefer the opportunity for bigger games and more countries having the ability to grow.

I also think you're vastly under evaluating the next group of teams. In CONCACAF, Panama and Jamaica get in. Panama is a quality side and Jamaica has some very, very good players as well.

 

[JunglePete]

I wouldn’t ever count Brazil out, but their two most important players - Neymar and Casemiro - will be 34. Unless Endrick is the second coming of Pele, I don’t see it happening. France’s core is far better at this point. Also Germany have a good chance of changing things around. Stop trying to rely on past players and hand the team over to Muisala, Adeyemi and Moukoko

You just said it. Endrick is Pele reincarnated.


But seriously, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Antony are all very young and not even at their physical prime. You add Richarlison, Lucas Paqueta, Gabriel Jesus, Bremer more experienced, Ancelotti and that's better than 2022.


34 isn't old, Messi is currently 35 and Neymar will have the luxury to have all these young talented players to rely on. You add Endrick, the wonderkid who will be 20 and Ancelotti who will coach which is their missing piece.


Ironically, I said to watch for Gonzalo Montiel and he scored the goal winning penalty, so my next bold prediction is a player who can take Casemiro's place in case he slows down, after Fabinho is Vinicius Souza. I saw a game earlier this season against Real Madrid and he's gonna be a beast. He will play soon for the NT


Musiala is very entertaining but I don't think he has leadership abilities to carry his team like Bale, Vini, Neymar, Messi or Mbappe. Similar to Alphonso Davies. I could be wrong.

IMO Brazil got this 100% in 2026. Its staying in America. Bet whatever you want on it.

 

[le_sean]

You just said it. Endrick is Pele reincarnated.


But seriously, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Antony are all very young and not even at their physical prime. You add Richarlison, Lucas Paqueta, Gabriel Jesus, Bremer more experienced, Ancelotti and that's better than 2022.


34 isn't old, Messi is currently 35 and Neymar will have the luxury to have all these young talented players to rely on. You add Endrick, the wonderkid who will be 20 and Ancelotti who will coach which is their missing piece.


Ironically, I said to watch for Gonzalo Montiel and he scored the goal winning penalty, so my next bold prediction is a player who can take Casemiro's place in case he slows down, after Fabinho is Vinicius Souza. I saw a game earlier this season against Real Madrid and he's gonna be a beast. He will play soon for the NT


Musiala is very entertaining but I don't think he has leadership abilities to carry his team like Bale, Vini, Neymar, Messi or Mbappe. Similar to Alphonso Davies. I could be wrong.

IMO Brazil got this 100% in 2026. Its staying in America. Bet whatever you want on it.

Neymar isn’t Messi though. There’s also too many redundant players where they have the most talent. Martinelli and Antony are behind Vini Jr and Rodrygo. The fullbacks aren’t very good today, not sure who is coming up. Midfield is decent but not great.

But like I said, it’s Brazil. They will have young talented players knocking at the door. I’m just not sure they are on the level of France who have strengths everywhere.

 

[JunglePete]

Neymar isn’t Messi though. There’s also too many redundant players where they have the most talent. Martinelli and Antony are behind Vini Jr and Rodrygo. The fullbacks aren’t very good today, not sure who is coming up. Midfield is decent but not great.

But like I said, it’s Brazil. They will have young talented players knocking at the door. I’m just not sure they are on the level of France who have strengths everywhere.

Neymar is to Brazil what Messi is to Argentina. May not be the same player but incredibly prolific and underrated. Neymar has a better ratio than Messi internationally and is tied with Pele as top scorer. If only he weren’t injury prone. Thankfully he is having a terrific year so far. I agree about Antony being behind Rodrygo and definitely Vini Jr, but 3 years is a lot. I think Antony will reach worldclass status by then but my guess is Vini will be the star of Brazil.

As for the midfield, Bruno Guimaraes, Paqueta are improving drastically every year. In 3 years time, when they hit their prime, they will be damn near Iniesta-Xavi level. You add Fabinho behind and Casemiro if he doesn’t lose a step Or a Tall, destroyer DM like Vinicius Souza.

Not too sure about their fullbacks but I know Renan Lodi is good enough and I know there is a very good one coming up playing for Monaco whose name I forgot.


I think we can all hope for an even better WC in 2026 than the insanity we have witnessed the past 3 weeks. And hopefully Canada plays better.......

 

[JunglePete]

Did he help the growth of the program as a whole? Yes. Did he make the team better ? Yes. Has he reached his ceiling? Yes. Now its time to move and let someone more tactically competent come in and build for 2026.

I'll just leave this here. I hope all the Herdman fanboys are happy with his atrocious performance.


He coached like a manager fighting relegation in the Scottish Premiership with severe substance abuse problems.