vs

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification - CONCACAF: Round 2, Match #4
Tuesday, October 11, 2011. 7:00pm EDT.
BMO Field. Toronto, ON.

TV: Rogers Sportsnet ONE

U-Sector/Voyageurs Pre-Game: Maro (135 Liberty St.), starting at 4:00pm

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Please bring cans of soup for the "Taste the Soup" food drive. Each can of soup gets you a raffle ticket for a chance to win gear from Umbro Canada.

The 700p start time is causing me some grief, not to mention angst.

Yes, you're right, I knew about it when I bought the tickets in August, but I wasn't working then - life is SOOOO much more complicated now. :lol:

Completely random and unrelated. But CSA MUST consider changing the logo. It's ugly, and dated beyond belief.

My preview at MLSsoccer.com: WCQ Preview: Canada expect tough go from Puerto Rico

Good stuff!

I agree 100%.

I will admit that the ugly old thing has grown on me a bit recently but I still find it too late 70's/early 80's for my taste.

Good preview but you failed to note the return of vaunted defender Marco Velez to BMO. Looking forward to it.

:wub:

For those who don't have Rogers Sportsnet ONE

Hopefully this link will do the trick

http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/85452/1...uerto-rico.html

gracias!

de ne-you!

Damn....I was really hoping for a win tonight.

Really annoyed with Puerto Rico's Approach.

They needed a win to keep hope alive, yet they played for a draw??

Even more annoying is that I saw some PR players celebrating after the match?!? WTF for? Your team just got eliminated from WC qualifying, why are you assholes celebrating?

Maybe Carribean pride, like they wanted to give St. Kitts a chance, or maybe St. Kitts is paying them off or some shit (paranoid i know)

But I really dont understand how a team who NEEDS 3 points to stay alive, can play 90 minutes with 10 men behind the ball like that. Really disgraceful. And again disgraceful the way they time wasted to hold on to a meaningless point for them, which they inexplicably celebrated!!

Great all-around effort by #17 Terry Dunfield, my new favourite Canadian player!

Remember that game where Canada showed up at home, completely bossed the game, didn't take "no" for an answer, and annihilated the opposition in front of a rabidly pro-Canadian crowd eager for blood?

:lol:

I'm used to this but the soup tasted off.

Really?

Puerto Rico is a minnow with no chance of qualifying for the World Cup, even before qualifying began. They just took a point off the biggest country they can hope to play for a few years, and on the road. Mission accomplished for them.

Maybe you don't like it, but nothing to do with Caribbean solidarity or CONCACAF fixing. Simply a team getting, for them, a huge result, playing the best style for them. And good on them for doing so. (And shame on us for not being able to break them down.)

^ :campione: Bang on...

No shame in how Puerto Rico approached this game.

Really? Both of you? That was a pathetic display of anti-football, and yes, I was at the TFC-PRI game. Same game, really, except Hirschfeld made the save.

I thought Redgrad nailed it. PUR had to get a result. Canada just eliminated the next best team in the group from competition tonight, a team that never had more than one player in the opponent's half, even after bringing on a second striker. :lol:

A laughable display of awful, cowardly tactics and football. Not that I expected anything else whatsoever from the adopted land of Bill TWC Gaudette, but way to preserve that 145th place ranking. Woo. The ghost of Bruce Arena is partying with the PUR/PRI guys. Fuck yeah!

"Yay, we stopped an EPL player from scoring on us. Maybe it was the 17 guys between the ball and the net!"

I have to agree with Gary, here. What is the point in entering World Cup qualifying if your team is not even going to try to win a must-win-to-stay-alive game?

Bunkering for a point away against a much superior team is actually a good strategy in the early stages of the group. But when the team is facing elimination, why not go balls to the wall and see what happens? If Canada does that at Mexico under similar circumstances if/when we get to the Hex, I'll be fuming with rage.

The worst part is that I saw all the Puerto Rican players in the mixed media zone after the game, and they were all smiles and had a look of satisfaction on their faces. What the fuck??? You guys just got eliminated from contention, you dumbasses!!

Yes, they were rank underdogs to advance, but at least give it a freakin' shot! And to look happy about it afterward - while the Canadians, who still top the group, looked pissed off - just confused the hell out of me.

If that BS performance was good enough to satisfy the Puerto Ricans - and what the hell was with the time wasting when that dude got subbed off with 5 minutes to go? - then they should have just pulled a Bahamas and dropped out of the competition, leaving it to the nations serious about trying to qualify.

Anyway, let me spam my two stories for MLSsoccer.com last night:

WCQ Recap: Puerto Rico hold Canada to scoreless draw
Frustrated Canada can't find answers vs. Puerto Rico

your wrong. They did have a chance. If they had won, they would still have a chance.

I don't care if they are minnows. If you're a pro, and a patriot, you have to go onto the field BELEIVING you can win, otherwise its over before it starts.

That is why the game is played on the field, and not on paper.

My point is simply that it's not for us to decide what Puerto Rico's goals should be or what should satisfy them. They earned a spot in qualification and took that spot and are using it in the way that suits them best. The played the match within the rules (as enforced by CONCACAF) and earned a result that made them very happy. Whether we agree with their goals or tactics is irrelevant.

If we can't slip it by a PR bunkering back four , and they were GOOD , even with Marco in front ,, man , we will get hosed by Honduras .. and even Panama , in front of a proCAnada crowd ? what was it 13-4 shots ? Lars had to make the shit at the end ?

Scary baby ,. very scary!

anyway SK&N tied St L 1-1 , so we got 2 shots of minnows before we hit the big guns .. and I don't want a repeat of Montreal :angry:

Panama nailing Nicaragua in Group C 5-1 Perez with hat trick .. so they will be in group with Cuba and Honduras ..

read Rudi's MLS recap , yup , pretty much agree with it , with a shout out to Dero , always dangerous in the corners and slinking in for a cross , couldn't make the DCU magic happen , another day , different day , Dero always gives it up no matter what the game :)

I don't give a fuck what they consider their goals. Like the South African coach, there are rules and objectives in place that you have to understand when you enter the competition. Is it really that huge an advancement for your program when you had most of your team at the edge of your own area for 70% of the game and "earned" a point that eliminated you from qualifying? I know we should be inured to seeing these horrendous tactics and displays from away sides in MLS games, but in the vast majority of those situations, the point is actually worth something.

It was win or go out for them, and they are hugging the equipment guys like they were going to Brazil after a display which saw them only even attempt to score a half a dozen times. I hope that Saldana continues to be thrilled that he didn't get scored on by a guy who sometimes plays for Norwich, and the bloom doesn't go off the rose when he realizes that his team gave themselves zero chance of advancing to the next round of qualifying (surely a reasonable standard to aim for) *on purpose* by their tactics, then they celebrated being eliminated.

I'm not sorry for thinking that is pathetic. But enjoy the ... failure to do anything, PUR, which you achieved within the rules of the sport and the confederation. :campione:

Look. I'm a sports fan, and we are talking about a sport. When you say that my opinion on the other teams approach is irrelevant, you are basically saying that fans are irrelevant in sports.

I'm allowed to be pissed off at Puerto Rico, because I'm a fan of the game and don't enjoy seeing anti-football...do you??

IMO, fans opinions and emotions are THE MOST IMPORTANT THING about sports, without them, then what is the point? What would sports be if every person who watched the sport felt that their opinion was irrelevant?

So ripe for comment I don't even know where to begin. Instead, I'm gonna go for lunch. Perhaps I can enjoy some 'appropriate' responses to the below with my postprandial coffee.

Yup , You are , but we're watching and judging them (Canada) , and personally I think PR played to the top of their game and Canada ? well maybe an off night .. I'm sure they'll nip St K and N , and reach it , but fuck me , I want it to be heroic like beating Honduras in MTL ...

I liked your piece on CSN as well, Rudi.

It's all about the team-building and the progression to the next round.

I was sitting there thinking, "I would have taken off Dunfield or JDG, and kept Jackson on the pitch (unless he had picked up a knock) except that -- we didn't need to force a win there."

I think expectations may have risen unreasonably with the 7-nil dusting. This may have been a good result after all. It was also a good reminder that Canada fans can be retarded wankers just like TFC fans. :suicide:

Why did Hume come off?

Pulled hamstring.

Maybe someone told Rico team, that they can take home some of soup cans? :lol:

Now THAT is an irrelevant response lol!

I'm not sure how some can criticize Puerto Rico game plan. It almost worked to perfection if that wasn't for the best save of the night from either keeper.

If PR had shown up with a more offensive game plan we would've won easily. They executed a good game plan that was needed considering the difference between the 2 teams.

I would expect Canada to do the same tactic if we were in a WC group and needing a win over Brazil to get out of the group.

It's not because you are bunkering down that you aren't believing you can't win a game. It just mean that you believe your only chance to win is by bunkering and hoping for a counterattack goal.

Perhaps, but that ignores the fact that the Puerto Ricans were genuinely happy to grind out a draw even though they needed nothing less than a win.

(As evidenced by the hugging and smiling going on at the end of this video: http://youtu.be/NK8Lv7P3aAo)

As I said, bunkering is a legitmate tactic against an overwhelmingly better opponent, but only in the early stages of a group. In a do-or-die situation like last night's, it made absolutely zero sense.

On field this result doesn't change anything. We're gonna advance and results are largely meaningless. I could maybe even argue that it's a positive that we've learned early that there's some guys down our depth chart who just really aren't good enough and shouldn't be relied on when it counts.

But off the field that result confirms an already existing narrative that only gets harder and harder to break every time the team gets another result like this. Last night was another in a nearly continuously unbroken string of missed oppurutunities to build some momentum in the Toronto market. Seriously, how many how games has Canada won since BMO opened? One? The fact that there is some momentum in the market is a testament to the hard work of a few dedicated individuals but the team isn't giving them much to sell.

Part of the excitement of having a group stage at this point was that we'd get multiple home games to pile up some goals and entertain a home crowd before the tournament gets real. So far we've got one stuttering victory and a goalless draw. Last night was great weather and a decent crowd 100% behind Canada waiting to be sold on this team. Instead, the general perception was propbably "whatever, I already support TFC..." In the summer the team couldn't score from open play and was eliminated from the Gold Cup at the first hurdle. As I said I'm used to this crap - honestly, I'm not even upset over last night and was entertained by the futility of our attack - but it's still disappointing to see another oppurtunity squandered.

Well, it's still an excellent result for them and their chance of qualifying even with a win were still very slim.

As for your last paragraph, I'll say that bunkering is probably the best tactic in a scenario similar to yesterday even if it's a must win situation. How could PR expected to win if they had opponed up the play? The only way to compete with us yesterday was to keep us to 0 and hope for a freak goal, which they almost got.

Anyways, let's now hope for a more inspired performance against St-Kitt's!

PR keeper had to make a better save. Herzfeld didnt even have to move, dude shot it right into his chest.

If PR were'nt playing for a tactical draw then why were they so happy with their 1 point??

I'm amazed so many of you care about what Puerto Rico's reaction was. :blink:

The highlight of the night was Marco Velez coming on. We gotta talk about something. B-)

Didn't see the match but did Puerto Rico park the proverbial bus, or did Canada just have an off night? Either way we are still looking good for qualifying to the next round, let's be honest. As long as we don't lose to St. Kitts (or if we beat them at least once) then we should qualify.

Damn right I care. Their tactics made the game ugly as fuck and nearly unwatchable.

I could understand if a point meant something to their qualifying chances, but it just seemed like they were trying to spite Canada or something, so ya it pissed me off.