November 18, 2022 • 40 mins
In the first episode of ST Magazine,
Professional Sports Statistician Kevin Laramée previews the 2022 FIFA World Cup from a Canadian perspective.
Stats, Predictions, Projections, Starting XI, Roster Breakdown, Betting Tips, Favorites to Win, Favorites for the Golden Boot, and More!
Follow kevin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KevLaramee
Professional Sports Statistician Kevin Laramée previews the 2022 FIFA World Cup from a Canadian perspective.
Stats, Predictions, Projections, Starting XI, Roster Breakdown, Betting Tips, Favorites to Win, Favorites for the Golden Boot, and More!
Follow kevin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KevLaramee
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Good day, good night. Welcometo Soccer Today magazine, the debut edition
of this brand new weekly show coveringthe beautiful game from a unique perspective,
bringing you during the World Cup,a unique coverage of the beautiful game from
a Canadian perspective, as we willtoday breakdown Canada's Group three of you,
(00:31):
Canada's lineup, look at the roster, look at what's to come for the
beautiful Canadian national team as heading forthe second time only in his history to
the World Cup, a first sincenineteen eighty six. But first of all,
if you don't know me, I'mkeV Laram, a sports statistician and
soccer expert. I've been covering thebeautiful game for over a decade now,
(00:52):
and with my expertise, I willbring you a unique perspective when yes,
influenced by numbers, influenced by friends, situations, and also pure beautiful game
knowledge. On today's show, wewill be looking at Canada's roster, very
deep perspective of Canada's roster. Wewill also be looking at who's the favorite
(01:14):
to win the whole World Cup theGolden Boot. We will also pay a
tribute today in homage to Jim Fleming, who passed away in the hours before
the recording of this show. Butfirst we're talking about the World Cup.
We're talking about this beautiful thing thatstarts. It's gonna last a month and
it is a first for Canada sincenineteen eighty six. So let's look at
(01:38):
what Canada qualified four. As welook at the details of the twenty twenty
two World Cup, it isn't Qatartwenty two teams, thirty two teams the
twenty second edition of the World Cup. It is, of course a controversial
World Cup. You can look andof course understand how it was given the
whole host prater situation and the treatmentof migrant workers over the last decade in
(02:01):
the country. It is the twentysecond edition of the World Cup and France
are the defending champions. November twentiethto December eighteenth, in eight stadiums,
five cities in Qatar, and itwill be an interesting World Cup when it
comes to temperature, it comes toperformance, and to the amount of goal
scored. Trust me, you willwant to keep an eye on the yonders
(02:23):
for most of the first halfs inthe first few games in Qatar. It
will be very hot and it willstart on Sunday, December Sunday in November
twentieth, Qatar will be starting againstEcuador, and that it's a good game
to start your tournament with and toget a little better. I guess a
(02:44):
handicap on Qatar. Qatar has notnecessarily been playing their full strength lineup in
any of the friendlies they've been playingover the last year, and I believe
Katar will be a bit better thansome people anticipate. Heck, they could
surprise a lot of folks, especiallyEcuadorian players on Sunday. But Canada qualified
(03:06):
for the first time since nineteen eightysix for a World Cup, a thirty
two team World Cup. It's funto see Canada qualify for a format of
the beautiful game that we know most. Next World Cup in twenty twenty six
will be hosted partly by Canada withMexico and the United States, and it
will be the first forty eight teamsWorld Cup. But Canada got its ticket
(03:30):
for Qatar by finishing first of theOcto the Conquer Calf World Cup qualifiers and
they finished first with twenty twenty eightpoints, ahead of Mexico USA and Costa
Rica finished fourth. Costa Rica wasthen sent to a playoffs against New Zealand.
They beat New Zealand and Costa Ricais also taking part of the World
(03:52):
Cup representing Conca calf. Canada finishedfirst due to its great run at the
beginning of the World Cup qualifying processthirteen goals for Kyle Lauren and qualifying.
He will be a big part ofthe Kennigan men's national team and we will
talk about him later when we breakdown Canada's roster by position from goalkeepers,
(04:14):
defenders, midshield and attackers. Wewill look at all the selection of John
Herdman and we will break down threesurprises. One is a surprise because of
a very terrible injury to Maxim Cipo. We will talk about why James Pantamis
was chosen and why Joel Waterman andhe smiled kone made the cut and it
will be numbers backed. Yes,statistically it is a good choice by Joel
(04:36):
Waterman, smiled kone and James Pantamis. We will look why they were the
chosen one to take part in thisWorld Cup. This World Cup thirty two
teams, eight groups of four.Here we go, that's what it's looking
like heading into this tournament. Thatstarts on Sunday. Group A Qatar,
(05:00):
Ecuador, Senegal and Netherlands. Interesting. Louis van Hall believe it's team has
a shot to winning the whole thing. He is a manager of the Netherlands.
We'll see if that's possible. Englen, Iran, USA and Wales.
That is quite a fascinating group.Can USA finished second? Heck? Can
they finish first? What about Englandand USA? That's a great matchup.
(05:25):
It's going to be a great Derbytype matchup Wales Wales. Will Gareth Bell
replicate his exploits from ML's Cup finals, scoring an important goal and giving his
team an opportunity to win during thepenalties, which they did. Groups see
Argentina maybe the darling of this tournament. Everybody's favorite choice. It's easy to
(05:50):
say Brazil, but a lot ofpeople are predicting Argentina as the winner of
this tournament. Saudi Arabia, Mexicoand Poland are your team's Group C of
the World Cup. Moving to GroupDE France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia.
Interesting group here, France defending champions. Australia could be touted to be
(06:11):
high in this group, but let'snot forget about Denmark. Denmark was one
of the surprises in the euro Theydo have their talisman Henrickson back, in
form and healthy and available for thistournament. Group E Spain, Costa Rica,
Germany in Japan. That is anunderrated group. Costa Rica, yes,
(06:33):
it's not a good version. They'renot in a good cycle. They
could finish last in this game.Japan also not in their favorite cycle.
Japan just lost to Canada to onein a friendly. We will break down
that game statistically and the starting elevenof that game in just a few minutes.
But Spain is a favorite in groupwith Germany Germany dark horse, maybe
(06:57):
even favored in this competition. GroupF Canada's group, the group that we
will keep a very close eye on, if not both our eyes, our
feet, our legs, toes andeverything we have geared to that group.
Belgium the foes on the member twentythird, then Croatia the next foes,
and Morocco. We can look atCanada's schedule, because Canada's schedule is a
(07:23):
very interesting one. It all startson November twenty three against Belgium, one
of the best teams in the world. With yes Lukaku has been chosen by
Roberto Martinez, the selectioner, theselectioner, the sporting director of the Belgium
national team and the manager of theBelgium national team, Roberto Martinez. That
(07:44):
game will take place at the AlRyan Stadium. It is the opening game
for Canada in this tournament, afirst game in the World Cup since nineteen
eighty six, and it wasn't necessarilya success in nineteen eighty six, if
we're quite honest with each other.They have had three losses, five goals
against, no goal scored in nineteeneighty six when they were eliminated twenty fourth
(08:07):
of twenty four in the group stageof the nineteen eighty six World Cup in
Mexico. So this time we expectCanadas and score goals, and we expect
Canada to give teams like Belgium sometrouble. Depending on the choices for the
starting eleven of John Herdman, Canada'slineup could give some trouble to Belgium on
the flanks and we'll look at thatlater when I give you Kevin's eleven.
(08:30):
Croatia November twenty seventh at the KaliphaInternational Stadium, eleven am Eastern by the
way, if you were in Canada, you will be able to drink beer
during these games. If you aregoing to be in Qatar for these games,
I'm sorry to tell you, atthe time of the recording of this
show, it was made a publicthat at the end of the day you
will not be able to order alcoholicbeer or beverages in stadiums. So good
(08:54):
luck to all the voyagers who havetraveled to Qatar, Morocco. Last group
game for Canada on December first atthe Al Tumana Stadium at ten am Eastern,
and that is Canada's World Cup schedulein Group ATH. Let's quickly finish
our overview of all the groups beforewe move on to looking at the favorites
(09:16):
for this World Cup. Group GBrazil, Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon.
Brazil overall favorite to win the WorldCup according to the bookmakers, and we'll
have the details in just a fewminutes. And group at the last group
here it says Group B, butit's a ABCDEFG. Group H is Portugal,
(09:41):
Ganna, Uruguay and South Korea.Portugal Maybe a good choice, maybe
not. What type of Christiano Ronaldoworld show up for this tournament that is
the big question we're all asking,is well Christiano Ronaldo be Christian Ronaldo or
just a player heading into this WorldCup. Because if we look at the
(10:05):
favorites, according to the bookmakers,Portugal is not necessarily the favorite, but
it is amongst the favorite to winthe World Cup. Brazil the overall favorite
at four point ninety. Those areCanadian and Decimo odds. And there are
those are the consensus odds across acouple of different sports book Legal sports book
(10:26):
in Canada. Argentina second in Iguess the favorites. The odds on favorite
according to the bookmakers forty not badFrance, Will they repeat? Will Le
Blur beat the Blues of the comebackafter winning it? France third according to
(10:50):
the bookmakers to win the tournament sevenforty Spain, England. Germany follows in
decent odds. But if I haveto go with my gut or what my
research and numbers are saying, there'sa couple of teams with value to win,
of course I put USA Canada.It will be fine if USA Canada
win it and we can all havea glorious party together, get all naked
(11:13):
and run around fountains, you know, that would be great, but I
do not shovel clouds, and Iam realistic. If USA or Canada wins
the World Cup, I will tattooa big either maple leaf or a big
USA crest on my back forever.I'm not necessarily a fan of tattoos.
I love tattoos, I just don'thave any, and that would be a
big commitment. But that's how muchI don't necessarily believe USAir Canada will win
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it. To me, it's abattle of three teams. Three teams have
what it takes, in my opinion, to win this tournament, and some
of them will surprise you. Youneed luck, you need youth, you
need surprises, and you need thingsto go your way heading into the knockout
(11:56):
stage and the brackets. So untilwe're on the knockout stage and I can
show you the bracket and I canactually extrapolate to the path to the World
Cup final, those are my teamsthat I'm favoring right now as of the
recording of the show, which isbefore the first game of the World Cup,
Argentina is in my top three teams. Brazil is not. I do
not believe in Richardi Son. Ido not believe in Nymar. I do
(12:22):
not believe in players that say thiscould be my last World Cup. I
do not believe they have the willthe sacrifice in them. Yes, if
they were Avengers, they would nothave done the ultimate sacrifice like iron Man.
Okay, Brazil is overrated and overappreciated. They are not in my favorites
(12:46):
to win the World Cup. Anyway, you don't even have value. If
you've been on Brazil Argentina, youget your good return for your money.
Argentina is in my top three.I still see a difficult path for them
to win the whole thing with ofcourse my age, but you know,
if there ever was a shot,and if you can get chance from maybe
my Golden boot favorite we'll talk aboutin a second. I can see Argentina
(13:09):
being in the confetti on December eighteenth. My other top three team is I
almost went with France for the backto back, but no form does not
indicate that France will be in there. Attitude does not indicate that France will
(13:30):
be replicating their success from Russia twentyeighteen, and Bope is not in the
same form and he will not necessarilybe as hungry as he was four years
ago, and that could be saidfor the entire France national team. You
don't have the same Gizu, youdon't have the same type of team.
To me, a team that ishungry, youthful and can really do a
(13:52):
lot of damage depending of their pathin the knockout stage is Spain. Spain
is my second team of my topthree team, and then we're moving to
my third team and the third teamis Germany. Sorry, England, it's
not coming home. It's not cominghome this time around. And no,
don't start the music. I don'twant to have it queued up in my
(14:13):
mind for the next month. Butit's not coming home unfortunately. And this
will be Gara Southgate's last tournament asmanager, mark my words. It's going
maybe to Germany. Germany might beback a tournament that managers will have a
higher influence on the result than youthink. It will be very hot thirty
(14:35):
eight degrees on average in most stadiumswhen it comes kickoff times in most days.
This will favor team that are wellcoached, that are well disciplined.
And is there a better disciplined teamthan a Anci Flick coach team We saw
by all Munich and the rise ofthe last few years. He was a
mastermind of Alfonso Davis's rise in theBundesliga, and he will teach that team
(14:56):
new tricks. That team has becomesstale under Yakumla from the mid part of
the last decade. Now they're movinginto a new era, a new type
of foosball and a type of foosballthat's played on the wings, on the
flanks, and a more realistic typeof football that is I would say,
(15:16):
a coherent with what is successful intoday's club game. What we see from
the German national team coming in thisWorld Cup will blow you away. Players
that you don't expect a whole lotfrom will emerge. That's what you need
to be successful in a World Cup. Luck veteran, but there's always a
youngster that pushed through and help oneteam be better than we expect and changes
(15:39):
the outcome of the results of games. Of course, I just did a
big oxy moron and the outcome ofresults, but you know that makes a
big difference, and I think Germanycould be that team. So if you
go back to the odds board,here my favorite to win the World Cup
Kevin's Town three Argentina six forty youbetter dollar you get six forty back Spain
eighty out of value in Germany eleventen to one for Germany to win the
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World Cup. Mark my words,this could be a very good bet to
bet on Germany when it comes timeto play a World Cup. That's my
odds on favorite to win the tournament. But I think it's a very amazing
too. Is my odds on favoriteto win the Golden Boot, another trophy
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that is going to be given inthis one. I'm not sure who's going
to be in the confetti here becausethat does influence who wins the Golden Boot.
All Right. The more games youplay, the more percentages you have
those scoring goals, right, themore chances you have. Harry Kane is
(16:48):
the odds on favorite to win theWorld to win to win the Golden Boot.
Maybe he's gonna put a couple passagainst the US. Who knows Iran,
but I don't think it's going tobe him. I always look at
the Golden Boot and the odds towin it as a way to parlay your
handicap of the entire tournament if youthink one team is going to go far.
Like example, I have Argentina inmy top three team. We just
(17:11):
talked about this, So I willhave Lionel Messi and Martinez in my portfolio
to win the Golden Boot. IfI believe Argentina's gonna win, that is
a way to add some value toyour choice of who wins the World Cup,
because if Argentina wins, by theway, it's because Messi was prolific
during this tournament. Again, ifyou think France is going to have success
(17:37):
and win the second World Cup ina row thirty unit the history, then
and Bope and Benzema both in yourportfolio will make sense to win the World
Cup nine twenty because that's eight toone and then thirteen to one as great
odds for Embope and Benzema. Ifyou think Portugal is gonna win and you
think it's about Ronaldo, go forit. If you think Lucaco's going to
(17:57):
be fit and score goals, whileyou can vote for him too with your
money, But to me, thechoices that make a whole lot of sense
or Martinez Ar, Lionel Messi andour name are even though I'm not a
big fan of Namar in Brazil,there is a path to success for Brazil
in the World Cup and a pathto goals for Nymar depending on Richardson and
(18:18):
Richarleson thirty two one, could heget a few goals? Four or five
goals could be enough to win theWorld Cup, depending of the amount of
goal scored. Of course, theheat will lower the scores across the board,
So four goals could be enough towin the World Cup. And with
four goals, maybe a choice likeMartinez Lukaku makes a whole lot of sense
(18:44):
that is possible. Well, takea short break, I will catch my
breath and have a little sugar coffee. When we come back, we will
be breaking down Canada's results against Japan. We will also look at the lineup,
what Canada had in their last fewfriendlies and my predictions, yes,
my projected lineup for Canada's eleven againstBelgium, and of course my favorite starting
(19:10):
eleven from the roster that we willalso break down. After this short break,
we'll be right back right here onSTI Magazine. And we're back on
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STI Magazine, time to talk aboutCanada our World Cup preview from a Kenadian
perspective. First time since nineteen eightysix that Canada will take part in the
World Up. We talked about itearlier. Here's Canada's schedule as we now
transition into the Canadian World Cup anddeep dive into Kanada's lineup and the projected
roster and the projected eleven and whyJohn Herdman chose a few players over others
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for this roster. First game ison November twenty three against Belgium. But
Canada did play over the last coupleof days against Japan, the last two
and up game before the World Cup, and Canada got a win, a
big win against the Blue Samurai,as Canada scored a goal from the penalty
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spot late in the extra time.Lucas Cavellini the tank himself without a club
by the way, he was justwhile his options was not grabbed by Vancouver.
He will now be a free agentin MLS and who knows if he's
going to come back in MLS.But Lucas Cavellini made it two one with
(20:53):
a goal late in the extra timefrom the penalty spot. Stephen Vittoria scored
equalizer at a twenty first minute becauseUK Soma scored the opening goal at a
nine minute of this last tuneup gamefor Canada. A big result against a
decent team Japan heading into the WorldCup. Shots were seven against seventeen advantage
(21:15):
to Canada. Three shots on targetfor La Rouge, fifty five percent possession,
eighty seven percent passing accuracy, eightthousand and eight corners. They did
dominate that. And of course,if you've been a long time follower of
myself, stats and are a bigpart of my job. I would work
for TV SPA as a sports statistician, not just soccer, other sports two,
but in soccer, corners are tomeet one of the indicators of pressure
(21:40):
given pressure applied by the team bythe opposing team, and Canada eight versus
Japan's two does give you a littlebit of that story. The game took
place on November seventeen at Al MaktoumStadium, and looking at the lineup of
Canada for this one, this wasnot just the official lineup for Canada.
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There was a couple of players onthe bench that are not in the roster
for the World Cup. McNaughton wasthere and he's of course they're in training
until the beginning of the World Cupto help with the amount of center back
for the team, so that AtibaHutchinson doesn't have to play there in a
couple But this was Canada's formation againstJapan, a four for two, and
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that's where I want to move thisconversation. It's fun. We have the
roster and we'll break down the roster. But four four two I was surprised.
I was expecting something more. Andafter we're done breaking down the roster,
we will look at my preferred startingeleven and my preferred formation. I
will explain why I want theformation forCanada. It is back by statistic it
is the second most used formation ofCanada in the last thirteen games. So
(22:48):
we will get there. But fourfour two is very used by Canada.
Will it be the choice later onon the show? That's a good question.
Well, let's look at Canada's rosterbecause to me, Kenda's roster it
was announced a couple of days agoand it was big news and big controversy.
But we have interesting choices goalkeepers,of course, unfortunate injury to Maximilis
(23:14):
during the MLS Cup final. Hewas injured late in the game, left
with a fractured fractured ankle, andhe was replaced and they eventually won MLS
Cup penalty. Big shout out toJohn McCarthy, not the mixed martial artificial,
but John McCarthy, the goalkeeper ofLAFC. Because an injury, Maxim
Kippo will miss the World Cup andJames penn Temis have been chosen to take
(23:37):
his spot. James pen Temis goalkeepernumber three from my handicapping of this roster
in the World Cup for Canada.The second goalkeeper for Canada Dane Saint Clair.
He has retaking the spot this yearwith Minnesota. He started the year
as a backup goalkeeper with the Loonsand after injuries, took over with a
couple of very spectacular performance is duringlate Fox games on Sunday night with the
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Loons and he got the attention ofthe league and the attention of his manager
and was the starter since then.And of course captain of this Canada men's
national team, goalkeeper extraordinaire and heartand soul of this team. Milan Boyan
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is your starting goalkeeper. He willbe starting every single game. This is
the pinnacle of his career. GraceSweatpants himself Milan Boyan between the sticks for
Canada during the World Cup. Quitehappy for him. It was time and
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he will be impressive now. Acouple of surprises were, of course announced
in the defenders. Joel Waterman surprisinglywas chosen by John Herdman, no Daniel
Henry. Daniel Henry was a bigmainstay and was called upon a few times
during qualification to help reassure Canada's backlinewhen there was some injuries, but at
(25:07):
the end of the day he wasnot chosen by John Herdman. Joel Waterman,
who was called for the first timewith the group in the last international
window, did farewell and he didreally good enough at least to convince John
Herdman of his inclusion and is forthe future. Samuel Adikoobey, Joel Waterman,
Alistair Johnston, Richie Larreya, KamalMiller, Stephen Vittoria and Direct Cornelius
(25:33):
were chosen. I don't think it'sa coincidence there is three defenders from CF
Montreal. I do think the chemistrybetween those players Joe Waterman, Alister Johnson,
especially Kamal Miller, and between Johnsonand Miller they're used to playing with
each other. There will be twoof the three starting center back in my
preferred formation, and that is notnecessarily a coincidence. If they're chosen altogether,
(25:56):
they are very good and as evensay that their chemistry makes them all
better. And the familiarity between thetwo will two and three if you add
Joe Waterman will help Canada moving forward. I wouldn't be surprised to see maybe
Joe Waterman play a couple of minutesagainst Morocco depending of the results of the
(26:17):
first two games in this World Cup. We can continue now by looking at
the midfielders, because there's come moremore surprises in the midfield department if we
look at who has been chosen rightnow, Ismail Kni has been chosen by
(26:38):
John Herdman, and after I'm donebreaking down the roster, I will explain
from my perspective why those three werechosen. Why Pantemis, why kne and
why also we had the young Watermanchosen or this World Cup. Liam Fraser,
(26:59):
Ismail Cone, Mark Anthony Kay,David Wootherspoon, Jonathan Oserio, Atiba
Hutchinson, Stefan Stakio, who wasjust named Player of the Month midfield of
the Month in the Portuguese at firstDivision, and of course Samuel piet who
has been playing for the national teamsince he's seventeen and he will be playing
in Qatar. Congratulations to all themidfielders who made the team. It is
(27:26):
quite interesting to see the mix ofyouth, veteran like presence of Hutchinson,
Astachio Piat and the youth of aKone. To me, he's the wild
card I talked earlier to win theWorld Cup. I'm not saying Caro was
gonna win, okay, but theycould have success. To get success,
(27:48):
you need luck and you needed ayoungster that just defies the odds. Kone
defied the odds from and DG fromwhere this show always recorded ESPN Studios formerly
known as the ESPN Studios. Thishere it's NDG born and bred. Then
(28:10):
SLA finished the trail development, thenthe academy of CF Moyale helped him to
MLS. But least man Koni couldbe the key here for Canada. As
we now look at the forwards forCanada in this World Cup, most known
Canadian soccer player in history, aFonso Davies is going to shepherd this attack.
(28:33):
Of course, he's going to besupported by Jonathan David maybe in a
few years time, the best goalscorer ever to where the Maple leaf,
and of course you have players likeCal Lauren who scored thirteen goals already in
qualifying and is the all time goalscoring leader for now in the history of
the kename As national team. Andthose decisions that we're taking by John Herdman
(28:57):
are not necessarily difficult. That's notwhere the choices were hard. But when
we look at the surprises from JohnHudman, they are from the midfield.
So those are the surprises to me. Players that were on the bubble but
made the cut. Joel Waterman forCF Montreal as mak and A CF Montreal
and James Pantamis. We talked aboutJames Pantemis. It is because of the
injury of Maxim Kimpo, but witha season and playoff record of eight wins,
(29:22):
three draws and two losses, fourclean sheet and in average of one
point on nine goals against per game, James Pantemis got his ticket for Qatar.
Joel Waterman as a center back threegoals, four assists, not too
shabby to me. What has beenimpressive is the following statistic. He is
(29:44):
number one for CF Montreal. I'lljust behind Samuel piaz Samiel piet overtook him
late in the season, but theywere one and two all throughout the season
in the passing accuracy department, topof the team eighty nine percent passing accuracy,
just behind SEMy pet who was behindJoe Waterman for most of the season.
Joe Waterman had an amazing season.He can control the ball and does
(30:06):
help going forward. And we'll gomore into details in a few minutes.
Two goals, five assents, racemailkone impressive and to me, there's an
underlying statistic here that is not shownyet and that gives you a true idea
of his influence on games. Eightysix percent passing accuracy here for Ismail kone.
(30:29):
So let's dive deep into Joe Watermanto start, because to me,
Joe Waterman is one of my discoveriesover the last couple of years. One
of the biggest growth as a defenderwillis to Johnson in the Kinnean pool two
hundred and twelve recoveries for the Kinneyandefender this year twenty nine tackles five goal
creating action and that is important.But fifty eight point three percent shots on
(30:51):
target third in CF Montreal as adefender, and that statistic does show that
he can help the attack. Hecan put the ball in a space where
a goal will be created. Hedid that five times, so if he
does it once, a goal createdby him could help a lot. In
Qatar, fifty eight point three shotson target. When he gets a chance,
he put it in. He putsit on target, and that's what
(31:12):
you want. You want your oneor two chances that you might have in
the entire tournament to actually pay off. And that is why, in my
opinion, he's been chosen. Hecan recover the ball, he can tackle,
he can put the ball on target, and when he does, he
can score. He did three goalsfour assists in MLS this year, and
also can help create in shot andgoal creating actions, which he did five
(31:37):
times this year. So those aremy arguments why Joe Waterman was chosen by
John Herdman to be his last defenderon the bubble, and to me it
is a fantastic way to see theevolution of him in his play and the
growth of a Joel Waterman. Wecan now move on to he smiled kone
(32:00):
and why he smiled Cone was chosen. To me, it's his influence on
the results of game, team points, per match is a good way to
identify overall when the sample size ofthe data is big enough to identify the
true influence of a player overall,and it's not just him, there's other
players that help him a lot.But a team points per match of two
(32:21):
point zero four, which means anaverage on average. This year, when
he Smiled Knee played for the Seaof Montreal team, they got two points.
That's not necessarily a coincidence why theyfinished high in the Eastern Conference,
standing second, that is because ofthat at two PK one, ten goal
creating action, forty two shot creatingaction, and sixty one percent of his
(32:45):
dribbles were one a sixty one percentdribble success rate. To me, those
numbers are really telling a great storythat he is a game changer in the
making. Is not there yet,but those numbers can maybe lead to a
couple of goals during the World Cupas a super sub late in the game
when he can implement his wild cardaspect, and that could be very interesting
(33:09):
moving into late in games when you'replaying against an old legged Croatia, he
spied kone comes on the side andgets a goal and changes the dynamic and
the dichotomy of that game. Thatcould be a good reason why he was
chosen by John Herdman. And thelast surprise of this World Cup by John
Herman to me was James Pantemis.Yes, he has been chosen because of
(33:31):
the injury of Maxim Keppo, butnot too shabby this year for James Pantemis.
Twelve goals against and one point onlinegoals against, average clean sheet percentage
of thirty six point four, soa little higher than a third of the
time when he played. This year, he got a clean sheet and a
seventy point three percent safe percentage forJames Pantemis, which leads me to believe
(33:54):
that Canada has what it takes tomaybe even get out of the group.
That's my prediction here. That's atweet, as we would say. I'm
not saying Canada's winning the World Cup, but I'm saying Canada finishes second in
the group. Belgium first, Canadasecond, Croatia out of it. Talked
about it last year. I'm doublingdown. Croatia. You're gonna miss the
(34:16):
knockout stage after finishing second in theWorld Cup. Yes, you heard it
right, Canada will eliminate Croatia atleast, maybe not directly because Canada is
gonna win yet second, but itmight take the third result of the group
to eliminate Croatia. But that ismy surprise and why will they do that?
(34:38):
Because Canada has speed. Canada hasan adjustable tactical range, and that
is when I want to talk about. To finish this preview show here,
by the way, you can followme on Twitter at keV Laramie in this
show at Soccer TODAYESPN. Also,if you're looking for a way to reach
me, you can also email meand contact me at Sports Podcasting Network at
(35:02):
gmail dot com. If you likehow this show is produced. Of course,
this is produced by my production company, Spin Media. There's those solutions
and you can contact me here ifyou need help, if you want to
help with the design of your show, or just if you want to contact
me to have this show broadcasted onyour airwaves. This is a way you
can contact me or my production teamand get in touch and maybe we can
(35:23):
do business together. As we lookat Canada's tactical accuracy or acumen way over
the last few games. Over thelast thirteen games, Canada has used six
different formation three four three was usedtwice in the last three games, not
(35:45):
count not dependent. It was usingthe other two so Qatar and behind three
four two one was used once.Three four three was used three times before
that. We also have the fourtwo three one used twice. The famous
four four two was used five times, including the Japan game four three three
and then the four three one two. We've seen the four three three against
(36:07):
good teams, but lately we seethe three four three or the four four
two, the three four three.We see them against teams that are vulnerable
on the flanks. And that iswhy Kevin's eleven, my preferred lineup for
this World Cup, looks a littlebit like this. I don't know why
(36:31):
I put some country music. Well, let's roll with it. Let's go
our country country song. Here Kevin'seleven for the World Cup, with the
roster available to me. Those arethe best eleven players available in the best
formation possible. Men Lamboyan in thatKamal Miller, Steven Victoria and Alister Johnston
(36:55):
in a three man backline. Amidfield posed of Addi Kube as your left
midfielder, but the corridor player onthat side of the field. A midfield
of Stevenostacio Aniditiba Chinsen. I don'tknow why I said at Tiba, but
at Tiba or better known as TitiAtiba Hutchinson will be starting eleven material if
(37:21):
he's spit in time. Dejan Buchananwill be the other winster. I will
call him the Winsters because you needthat speed Addie Kube and Dejan Buchannon.
Then why Addie Kube and Miller.Miller is really good to give the ball
in the last third of the pitchand that's where Alfonso Davies will be.
The left side of Canada could bethe most lethal side of Canada. Kamal
(37:44):
Miller was in the top ten ofMLS for the past in the final third
last year. Same for Joel Waterman, so look for Joel Waterman to be
Kamal Miller's replacement on that side.But Kamal Miller can put the ball on
Alfonso Davies's foot and that it couldbe dangerous or anybody that plays against Canada.
And that is why that left sidelooks like that. And then of
(38:05):
course to John Buchanan has that speedwith Jonathan David. Jonathan David with cal
Laron two goal scorers that can overlapand find themselves in great goal scoring opportunity.
This three four three would be lethalfor the dangerous aspect of the flanks
with balls into cal Laren who's dangerouswith his head. Alfonso Davis's speed cuts
back in and finds an opportunity ongoal. Overlaps Miller finds another player in
(38:30):
the final third, you get anotheropportunity on goal. That is what I'm
for seeing for Canada. This isKevin's eleven. I hope you enjoyed this
(38:54):
World Cup preview show from a Keynadianperspective. Until next time. He can
follow me on Twitter at Kevlaramy.You can email me at Sports Podcasting Network
at gmail dot com. And ifyou like this show, take a second
share the show. Like the show, like our YouTube page. That is
how we can actually get better.With your help is triggered the algorithm.
(39:16):
Click the subscribe button, click thenotification bell, and let us know what
you like about this show. We'llbe back in about a week's time,
breaking down Canada's first game in theWorld Cup. Breaking down a couple of
results that I would have peaked bycuriosity. But as always, until next
time, I hope you enjoyed thisshow and as always have a great soccer
Good day, good night. Welcometo Soccer Today magazine, the debut edition
of this brand new weekly show coveringthe beautiful game from a unique perspective,
bringing you during the World Cup,a unique coverage of the beautiful game from
a Canadian perspective, as we willtoday breakdown Canada's Group three of you,
(00:31):
Canada's lineup, look at the roster, look at what's to come for the
beautiful Canadian national team as heading forthe second time only in his history to
the World Cup, a first sincenineteen eighty six. But first of all,
if you don't know me, I'mkeV Laram, a sports statistician and
soccer expert. I've been covering thebeautiful game for over a decade now,
(00:52):
and with my expertise, I willbring you a unique perspective when yes,
influenced by numbers, influenced by friends, situations, and also pure beautiful game
knowledge. On today's show, wewill be looking at Canada's roster, very
deep perspective of Canada's roster. Wewill also be looking at who's the favorite
(01:14):
to win the whole World Cup theGolden Boot. We will also pay a
tribute today in homage to Jim Fleming, who passed away in the hours before
the recording of this show. Butfirst we're talking about the World Cup.
We're talking about this beautiful thing thatstarts. It's gonna last a month and
it is a first for Canada sincenineteen eighty six. So let's look at
(01:38):
what Canada qualified four. As welook at the details of the twenty twenty
two World Cup, it isn't Qatartwenty two teams, thirty two teams the
twenty second edition of the World Cup. It is, of course a controversial
World Cup. You can look andof course understand how it was given the
whole host prater situation and the treatmentof migrant workers over the last decade in
(02:01):
the country. It is the twentysecond edition of the World Cup and France
are the defending champions. November twentiethto December eighteenth, in eight stadiums,
five cities in Qatar, and itwill be an interesting World Cup when it
comes to temperature, it comes toperformance, and to the amount of goal
scored. Trust me, you willwant to keep an eye on the yonders
(02:23):
for most of the first halfs inthe first few games in Qatar. It
will be very hot and it willstart on Sunday, December Sunday in November
twentieth, Qatar will be starting againstEcuador, and that it's a good game
to start your tournament with and toget a little better. I guess a
(02:44):
handicap on Qatar. Qatar has notnecessarily been playing their full strength lineup in
any of the friendlies they've been playingover the last year, and I believe
Katar will be a bit better thansome people anticipate. Heck, they could
surprise a lot of folks, especiallyEcuadorian players on Sunday. But Canada qualified
(03:06):
for the first time since nineteen eightysix for a World Cup, a thirty
two team World Cup. It's funto see Canada qualify for a format of
the beautiful game that we know most. Next World Cup in twenty twenty six
will be hosted partly by Canada withMexico and the United States, and it
will be the first forty eight teamsWorld Cup. But Canada got its ticket
(03:30):
for Qatar by finishing first of theOcto the Conquer Calf World Cup qualifiers and
they finished first with twenty twenty eightpoints, ahead of Mexico USA and Costa
Rica finished fourth. Costa Rica wasthen sent to a playoffs against New Zealand.
They beat New Zealand and Costa Ricais also taking part of the World
(03:52):
Cup representing Conca calf. Canada finishedfirst due to its great run at the
beginning of the World Cup qualifying processthirteen goals for Kyle Lauren and qualifying.
He will be a big part ofthe Kennigan men's national team and we will
talk about him later when we breakdown Canada's roster by position from goalkeepers,
(04:14):
defenders, midshield and attackers. Wewill look at all the selection of John
Herdman and we will break down threesurprises. One is a surprise because of
a very terrible injury to Maxim Cipo. We will talk about why James Pantamis
was chosen and why Joel Waterman andhe smiled kone made the cut and it
will be numbers backed. Yes,statistically it is a good choice by Joel
(04:36):
Waterman, smiled kone and James Pantamis. We will look why they were the
chosen one to take part in thisWorld Cup. This World Cup thirty two
teams, eight groups of four.Here we go, that's what it's looking
like heading into this tournament. Thatstarts on Sunday. Group A Qatar,
(05:00):
Ecuador, Senegal and Netherlands. Interesting. Louis van Hall believe it's team has
a shot to winning the whole thing. He is a manager of the Netherlands.
We'll see if that's possible. Englen, Iran, USA and Wales.
That is quite a fascinating group.Can USA finished second? Heck? Can
they finish first? What about Englandand USA? That's a great matchup.
(05:25):
It's going to be a great Derbytype matchup Wales Wales. Will Gareth Bell
replicate his exploits from ML's Cup finals, scoring an important goal and giving his
team an opportunity to win during thepenalties, which they did. Groups see
Argentina maybe the darling of this tournament. Everybody's favorite choice. It's easy to
(05:50):
say Brazil, but a lot ofpeople are predicting Argentina as the winner of
this tournament. Saudi Arabia, Mexicoand Poland are your team's Group C of
the World Cup. Moving to GroupDE France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia.
Interesting group here, France defending champions. Australia could be touted to be
(06:11):
high in this group, but let'snot forget about Denmark. Denmark was one
of the surprises in the euro Theydo have their talisman Henrickson back, in
form and healthy and available for thistournament. Group E Spain, Costa Rica,
Germany in Japan. That is anunderrated group. Costa Rica, yes,
(06:33):
it's not a good version. They'renot in a good cycle. They
could finish last in this game.Japan also not in their favorite cycle.
Japan just lost to Canada to onein a friendly. We will break down
that game statistically and the starting elevenof that game in just a few minutes.
But Spain is a favorite in groupwith Germany Germany dark horse, maybe
(06:57):
even favored in this competition. GroupF Canada's group, the group that we
will keep a very close eye on, if not both our eyes, our
feet, our legs, toes andeverything we have geared to that group.
Belgium the foes on the member twentythird, then Croatia the next foes,
and Morocco. We can look atCanada's schedule, because Canada's schedule is a
(07:23):
very interesting one. It all startson November twenty three against Belgium, one
of the best teams in the world. With yes Lukaku has been chosen by
Roberto Martinez, the selectioner, theselectioner, the sporting director of the Belgium
national team and the manager of theBelgium national team, Roberto Martinez. That
(07:44):
game will take place at the AlRyan Stadium. It is the opening game
for Canada in this tournament, afirst game in the World Cup since nineteen
eighty six, and it wasn't necessarilya success in nineteen eighty six, if
we're quite honest with each other.They have had three losses, five goals
against, no goal scored in nineteeneighty six when they were eliminated twenty fourth
(08:07):
of twenty four in the group stageof the nineteen eighty six World Cup in
Mexico. So this time we expectCanadas and score goals, and we expect
Canada to give teams like Belgium sometrouble. Depending on the choices for the
starting eleven of John Herdman, Canada'slineup could give some trouble to Belgium on
the flanks and we'll look at thatlater when I give you Kevin's eleven.
(08:30):
Croatia November twenty seventh at the KaliphaInternational Stadium, eleven am Eastern by the
way, if you were in Canada, you will be able to drink beer
during these games. If you aregoing to be in Qatar for these games,
I'm sorry to tell you, atthe time of the recording of this
show, it was made a publicthat at the end of the day you
will not be able to order alcoholicbeer or beverages in stadiums. So good
(08:54):
luck to all the voyagers who havetraveled to Qatar, Morocco. Last group
game for Canada on December first atthe Al Tumana Stadium at ten am Eastern,
and that is Canada's World Cup schedulein Group ATH. Let's quickly finish
our overview of all the groups beforewe move on to looking at the favorites
(09:16):
for this World Cup. Group GBrazil, Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon.
Brazil overall favorite to win the WorldCup according to the bookmakers, and we'll
have the details in just a fewminutes. And group at the last group
here it says Group B, butit's a ABCDEFG. Group H is Portugal,
(09:41):
Ganna, Uruguay and South Korea.Portugal Maybe a good choice, maybe
not. What type of Christiano Ronaldoworld show up for this tournament that is
the big question we're all asking,is well Christiano Ronaldo be Christian Ronaldo or
just a player heading into this WorldCup. Because if we look at the
(10:05):
favorites, according to the bookmakers,Portugal is not necessarily the favorite, but
it is amongst the favorite to winthe World Cup. Brazil the overall favorite
at four point ninety. Those areCanadian and Decimo odds. And there are
those are the consensus odds across acouple of different sports book Legal sports book
(10:26):
in Canada. Argentina second in Iguess the favorites. The odds on favorite
according to the bookmakers forty not badFrance, Will they repeat? Will Le
Blur beat the Blues of the comebackafter winning it? France third according to
(10:50):
the bookmakers to win the tournament sevenforty Spain, England. Germany follows in
decent odds. But if I haveto go with my gut or what my
research and numbers are saying, there'sa couple of teams with value to win,
of course I put USA Canada.It will be fine if USA Canada
win it and we can all havea glorious party together, get all naked
(11:13):
and run around fountains, you know, that would be great, but I
do not shovel clouds, and Iam realistic. If USA or Canada wins
the World Cup, I will tattooa big either maple leaf or a big
USA crest on my back forever.I'm not necessarily a fan of tattoos.
I love tattoos, I just don'thave any, and that would be a
big commitment. But that's how muchI don't necessarily believe USAir Canada will win
(11:35):
it. To me, it's abattle of three teams. Three teams have
what it takes, in my opinion, to win this tournament, and some
of them will surprise you. Youneed luck, you need youth, you
need surprises, and you need thingsto go your way heading into the knockout
(11:56):
stage and the brackets. So untilwe're on the knockout stage and I can
show you the bracket and I canactually extrapolate to the path to the World
Cup final, those are my teamsthat I'm favoring right now as of the
recording of the show, which isbefore the first game of the World Cup,
Argentina is in my top three teams. Brazil is not. I do
not believe in Richardi Son. Ido not believe in Nymar. I do
(12:22):
not believe in players that say thiscould be my last World Cup. I
do not believe they have the willthe sacrifice in them. Yes, if
they were Avengers, they would nothave done the ultimate sacrifice like iron Man.
Okay, Brazil is overrated and overappreciated. They are not in my favorites
(12:46):
to win the World Cup. Anyway, you don't even have value. If
you've been on Brazil Argentina, youget your good return for your money.
Argentina is in my top three.I still see a difficult path for them
to win the whole thing with ofcourse my age, but you know,
if there ever was a shot,and if you can get chance from maybe
my Golden boot favorite we'll talk aboutin a second. I can see Argentina
(13:09):
being in the confetti on December eighteenth. My other top three team is I
almost went with France for the backto back, but no form does not
indicate that France will be in there. Attitude does not indicate that France will
(13:30):
be replicating their success from Russia twentyeighteen, and Bope is not in the
same form and he will not necessarilybe as hungry as he was four years
ago, and that could be saidfor the entire France national team. You
don't have the same Gizu, youdon't have the same type of team.
To me, a team that ishungry, youthful and can really do a
(13:52):
lot of damage depending of their pathin the knockout stage is Spain. Spain
is my second team of my topthree team, and then we're moving to
my third team and the third teamis Germany. Sorry, England, it's
not coming home. It's not cominghome this time around. And no,
don't start the music. I don'twant to have it queued up in my
(14:13):
mind for the next month. Butit's not coming home unfortunately. And this
will be Gara Southgate's last tournament asmanager, mark my words. It's going
maybe to Germany. Germany might beback a tournament that managers will have a
higher influence on the result than youthink. It will be very hot thirty
(14:35):
eight degrees on average in most stadiumswhen it comes kickoff times in most days.
This will favor team that are wellcoached, that are well disciplined.
And is there a better disciplined teamthan a Anci Flick coach team We saw
by all Munich and the rise ofthe last few years. He was a
mastermind of Alfonso Davis's rise in theBundesliga, and he will teach that team
(14:56):
new tricks. That team has becomesstale under Yakumla from the mid part of
the last decade. Now they're movinginto a new era, a new type
of foosball and a type of foosballthat's played on the wings, on the
flanks, and a more realistic typeof football that is I would say,
(15:16):
a coherent with what is successful intoday's club game. What we see from
the German national team coming in thisWorld Cup will blow you away. Players
that you don't expect a whole lotfrom will emerge. That's what you need
to be successful in a World Cup. Luck veteran, but there's always a
youngster that pushed through and help oneteam be better than we expect and changes
(15:39):
the outcome of the results of games. Of course, I just did a
big oxy moron and the outcome ofresults, but you know that makes a
big difference, and I think Germanycould be that team. So if you
go back to the odds board,here my favorite to win the World Cup
Kevin's Town three Argentina six forty youbetter dollar you get six forty back Spain
eighty out of value in Germany eleventen to one for Germany to win the
(16:03):
World Cup. Mark my words,this could be a very good bet to
bet on Germany when it comes timeto play a World Cup. That's my
odds on favorite to win the tournament. But I think it's a very amazing
too. Is my odds on favoriteto win the Golden Boot, another trophy
(16:26):
that is going to be given inthis one. I'm not sure who's going
to be in the confetti here becausethat does influence who wins the Golden Boot.
All Right. The more games youplay, the more percentages you have
those scoring goals, right, themore chances you have. Harry Kane is
(16:48):
the odds on favorite to win theWorld to win to win the Golden Boot.
Maybe he's gonna put a couple passagainst the US. Who knows Iran,
but I don't think it's going tobe him. I always look at
the Golden Boot and the odds towin it as a way to parlay your
handicap of the entire tournament if youthink one team is going to go far.
Like example, I have Argentina inmy top three team. We just
(17:11):
talked about this, So I willhave Lionel Messi and Martinez in my portfolio
to win the Golden Boot. IfI believe Argentina's gonna win, that is
a way to add some value toyour choice of who wins the World Cup,
because if Argentina wins, by theway, it's because Messi was prolific
during this tournament. Again, ifyou think France is going to have success
(17:37):
and win the second World Cup ina row thirty unit the history, then
and Bope and Benzema both in yourportfolio will make sense to win the World
Cup nine twenty because that's eight toone and then thirteen to one as great
odds for Embope and Benzema. Ifyou think Portugal is gonna win and you
think it's about Ronaldo, go forit. If you think Lucaco's going to
(17:57):
be fit and score goals, whileyou can vote for him too with your
money, But to me, thechoices that make a whole lot of sense
or Martinez Ar, Lionel Messi andour name are even though I'm not a
big fan of Namar in Brazil,there is a path to success for Brazil
in the World Cup and a pathto goals for Nymar depending on Richardson and
(18:18):
Richarleson thirty two one, could heget a few goals? Four or five
goals could be enough to win theWorld Cup, depending of the amount of
goal scored. Of course, theheat will lower the scores across the board,
So four goals could be enough towin the World Cup. And with
four goals, maybe a choice likeMartinez Lukaku makes a whole lot of sense
(18:44):
that is possible. Well, takea short break, I will catch my
breath and have a little sugar coffee. When we come back, we will
be breaking down Canada's results against Japan. We will also look at the lineup,
what Canada had in their last fewfriendlies and my predictions, yes,
my projected lineup for Canada's eleven againstBelgium, and of course my favorite starting
(19:10):
eleven from the roster that we willalso break down. After this short break,
we'll be right back right here onSTI Magazine. And we're back on
(19:48):
STI Magazine, time to talk aboutCanada our World Cup preview from a Kenadian
perspective. First time since nineteen eightysix that Canada will take part in the
World Up. We talked about itearlier. Here's Canada's schedule as we now
transition into the Canadian World Cup anddeep dive into Kanada's lineup and the projected
roster and the projected eleven and whyJohn Herdman chose a few players over others
(20:12):
for this roster. First game ison November twenty three against Belgium. But
Canada did play over the last coupleof days against Japan, the last two
and up game before the World Cup, and Canada got a win, a
big win against the Blue Samurai,as Canada scored a goal from the penalty
(20:32):
spot late in the extra time.Lucas Cavellini the tank himself without a club
by the way, he was justwhile his options was not grabbed by Vancouver.
He will now be a free agentin MLS and who knows if he's
going to come back in MLS.But Lucas Cavellini made it two one with
(20:53):
a goal late in the extra timefrom the penalty spot. Stephen Vittoria scored
equalizer at a twenty first minute becauseUK Soma scored the opening goal at a
nine minute of this last tuneup gamefor Canada. A big result against a
decent team Japan heading into the WorldCup. Shots were seven against seventeen advantage
(21:15):
to Canada. Three shots on targetfor La Rouge, fifty five percent possession,
eighty seven percent passing accuracy, eightthousand and eight corners. They did
dominate that. And of course,if you've been a long time follower of
myself, stats and are a bigpart of my job. I would work
for TV SPA as a sports statistician, not just soccer, other sports two,
but in soccer, corners are tomeet one of the indicators of pressure
(21:40):
given pressure applied by the team bythe opposing team, and Canada eight versus
Japan's two does give you a littlebit of that story. The game took
place on November seventeen at Al MaktoumStadium, and looking at the lineup of
Canada for this one, this wasnot just the official lineup for Canada.
(22:03):
There was a couple of players onthe bench that are not in the roster
for the World Cup. McNaughton wasthere and he's of course they're in training
until the beginning of the World Cupto help with the amount of center back
for the team, so that AtibaHutchinson doesn't have to play there in a
couple But this was Canada's formation againstJapan, a four for two, and
(22:26):
that's where I want to move thisconversation. It's fun. We have the
roster and we'll break down the roster. But four four two I was surprised.
I was expecting something more. Andafter we're done breaking down the roster,
we will look at my preferred startingeleven and my preferred formation. I
will explain why I want theformation forCanada. It is back by statistic it
is the second most used formation ofCanada in the last thirteen games. So
(22:48):
we will get there. But fourfour two is very used by Canada.
Will it be the choice later onon the show? That's a good question.
Well, let's look at Canada's rosterbecause to me, Kenda's roster it
was announced a couple of days agoand it was big news and big controversy.
But we have interesting choices goalkeepers,of course, unfortunate injury to Maximilis
(23:14):
during the MLS Cup final. Hewas injured late in the game, left
with a fractured fractured ankle, andhe was replaced and they eventually won MLS
Cup penalty. Big shout out toJohn McCarthy, not the mixed martial artificial,
but John McCarthy, the goalkeeper ofLAFC. Because an injury, Maxim
Kippo will miss the World Cup andJames penn Temis have been chosen to take
(23:37):
his spot. James pen Temis goalkeepernumber three from my handicapping of this roster
in the World Cup for Canada.The second goalkeeper for Canada Dane Saint Clair.
He has retaking the spot this yearwith Minnesota. He started the year
as a backup goalkeeper with the Loonsand after injuries, took over with a
couple of very spectacular performance is duringlate Fox games on Sunday night with the
(24:03):
Loons and he got the attention ofthe league and the attention of his manager
and was the starter since then.And of course captain of this Canada men's
national team, goalkeeper extraordinaire and heartand soul of this team. Milan Boyan
(24:25):
is your starting goalkeeper. He willbe starting every single game. This is
the pinnacle of his career. GraceSweatpants himself Milan Boyan between the sticks for
Canada during the World Cup. Quitehappy for him. It was time and
(24:45):
he will be impressive now. Acouple of surprises were, of course announced
in the defenders. Joel Waterman surprisinglywas chosen by John Herdman, no Daniel
Henry. Daniel Henry was a bigmainstay and was called upon a few times
during qualification to help reassure Canada's backlinewhen there was some injuries, but at
(25:07):
the end of the day he wasnot chosen by John Herdman. Joel Waterman,
who was called for the first timewith the group in the last international
window, did farewell and he didreally good enough at least to convince John
Herdman of his inclusion and is forthe future. Samuel Adikoobey, Joel Waterman,
Alistair Johnston, Richie Larreya, KamalMiller, Stephen Vittoria and Direct Cornelius
(25:33):
were chosen. I don't think it'sa coincidence there is three defenders from CF
Montreal. I do think the chemistrybetween those players Joe Waterman, Alister Johnson,
especially Kamal Miller, and between Johnsonand Miller they're used to playing with
each other. There will be twoof the three starting center back in my
preferred formation, and that is notnecessarily a coincidence. If they're chosen altogether,
(25:56):
they are very good and as evensay that their chemistry makes them all
better. And the familiarity between thetwo will two and three if you add
Joe Waterman will help Canada moving forward. I wouldn't be surprised to see maybe
Joe Waterman play a couple of minutesagainst Morocco depending of the results of the
(26:17):
first two games in this World Cup. We can continue now by looking at
the midfielders, because there's come moremore surprises in the midfield department if we
look at who has been chosen rightnow, Ismail Kni has been chosen by
(26:38):
John Herdman, and after I'm donebreaking down the roster, I will explain
from my perspective why those three werechosen. Why Pantemis, why kne and
why also we had the young Watermanchosen or this World Cup. Liam Fraser,
(26:59):
Ismail Cone, Mark Anthony Kay,David Wootherspoon, Jonathan Oserio, Atiba
Hutchinson, Stefan Stakio, who wasjust named Player of the Month midfield of
the Month in the Portuguese at firstDivision, and of course Samuel piet who
has been playing for the national teamsince he's seventeen and he will be playing
in Qatar. Congratulations to all themidfielders who made the team. It is
(27:26):
quite interesting to see the mix ofyouth, veteran like presence of Hutchinson,
Astachio Piat and the youth of aKone. To me, he's the wild
card I talked earlier to win theWorld Cup. I'm not saying Caro was
gonna win, okay, but theycould have success. To get success,
(27:48):
you need luck and you needed ayoungster that just defies the odds. Kone
defied the odds from and DG fromwhere this show always recorded ESPN Studios formerly
known as the ESPN Studios. Thishere it's NDG born and bred. Then
(28:10):
SLA finished the trail development, thenthe academy of CF Moyale helped him to
MLS. But least man Koni couldbe the key here for Canada. As
we now look at the forwards forCanada in this World Cup, most known
Canadian soccer player in history, aFonso Davies is going to shepherd this attack.
(28:33):
Of course, he's going to besupported by Jonathan David maybe in a
few years time, the best goalscorer ever to where the Maple leaf,
and of course you have players likeCal Lauren who scored thirteen goals already in
qualifying and is the all time goalscoring leader for now in the history of
the kename As national team. Andthose decisions that we're taking by John Herdman
(28:57):
are not necessarily difficult. That's notwhere the choices were hard. But when
we look at the surprises from JohnHudman, they are from the midfield.
So those are the surprises to me. Players that were on the bubble but
made the cut. Joel Waterman forCF Montreal as mak and A CF Montreal
and James Pantamis. We talked aboutJames Pantemis. It is because of the
injury of Maxim Kimpo, but witha season and playoff record of eight wins,
(29:22):
three draws and two losses, fourclean sheet and in average of one
point on nine goals against per game, James Pantemis got his ticket for Qatar.
Joel Waterman as a center back threegoals, four assists, not too
shabby to me. What has beenimpressive is the following statistic. He is
(29:44):
number one for CF Montreal. I'lljust behind Samuel piaz Samiel piet overtook him
late in the season, but theywere one and two all throughout the season
in the passing accuracy department, topof the team eighty nine percent passing accuracy,
just behind SEMy pet who was behindJoe Waterman for most of the season.
Joe Waterman had an amazing season.He can control the ball and does
(30:06):
help going forward. And we'll gomore into details in a few minutes.
Two goals, five assents, racemailkone impressive and to me, there's an
underlying statistic here that is not shownyet and that gives you a true idea
of his influence on games. Eightysix percent passing accuracy here for Ismail kone.
(30:29):
So let's dive deep into Joe Watermanto start, because to me,
Joe Waterman is one of my discoveriesover the last couple of years. One
of the biggest growth as a defenderwillis to Johnson in the Kinnean pool two
hundred and twelve recoveries for the Kinneyandefender this year twenty nine tackles five goal
creating action and that is important.But fifty eight point three percent shots on
(30:51):
target third in CF Montreal as adefender, and that statistic does show that
he can help the attack. Hecan put the ball in a space where
a goal will be created. Hedid that five times, so if he
does it once, a goal createdby him could help a lot. In
Qatar, fifty eight point three shotson target. When he gets a chance,
he put it in. He putsit on target, and that's what
(31:12):
you want. You want your oneor two chances that you might have in
the entire tournament to actually pay off. And that is why, in my
opinion, he's been chosen. Hecan recover the ball, he can tackle,
he can put the ball on target, and when he does, he
can score. He did three goalsfour assists in MLS this year, and
also can help create in shot andgoal creating actions, which he did five
(31:37):
times this year. So those aremy arguments why Joe Waterman was chosen by
John Herdman to be his last defenderon the bubble, and to me it
is a fantastic way to see theevolution of him in his play and the
growth of a Joel Waterman. Wecan now move on to he smiled kone
(32:00):
and why he smiled Cone was chosen. To me, it's his influence on
the results of game, team points, per match is a good way to
identify overall when the sample size ofthe data is big enough to identify the
true influence of a player overall,and it's not just him, there's other
players that help him a lot.But a team points per match of two
(32:21):
point zero four, which means anaverage on average. This year, when
he Smiled Knee played for the Seaof Montreal team, they got two points.
That's not necessarily a coincidence why theyfinished high in the Eastern Conference,
standing second, that is because ofthat at two PK one, ten goal
creating action, forty two shot creatingaction, and sixty one percent of his
(32:45):
dribbles were one a sixty one percentdribble success rate. To me, those
numbers are really telling a great storythat he is a game changer in the
making. Is not there yet,but those numbers can maybe lead to a
couple of goals during the World Cupas a super sub late in the game
when he can implement his wild cardaspect, and that could be very interesting
(33:09):
moving into late in games when you'replaying against an old legged Croatia, he
spied kone comes on the side andgets a goal and changes the dynamic and
the dichotomy of that game. Thatcould be a good reason why he was
chosen by John Herdman. And thelast surprise of this World Cup by John
Herman to me was James Pantemis.Yes, he has been chosen because of
(33:31):
the injury of Maxim Keppo, butnot too shabby this year for James Pantemis.
Twelve goals against and one point onlinegoals against, average clean sheet percentage
of thirty six point four, soa little higher than a third of the
time when he played. This year, he got a clean sheet and a
seventy point three percent safe percentage forJames Pantemis, which leads me to believe
(33:54):
that Canada has what it takes tomaybe even get out of the group.
That's my prediction here. That's atweet, as we would say. I'm
not saying Canada's winning the World Cup, but I'm saying Canada finishes second in
the group. Belgium first, Canadasecond, Croatia out of it. Talked
about it last year. I'm doublingdown. Croatia. You're gonna miss the
(34:16):
knockout stage after finishing second in theWorld Cup. Yes, you heard it
right, Canada will eliminate Croatia atleast, maybe not directly because Canada is
gonna win yet second, but itmight take the third result of the group
to eliminate Croatia. But that ismy surprise and why will they do that?
(34:38):
Because Canada has speed. Canada hasan adjustable tactical range, and that
is when I want to talk about. To finish this preview show here,
by the way, you can followme on Twitter at keV Laramie in this
show at Soccer TODAYESPN. Also,if you're looking for a way to reach
me, you can also email meand contact me at Sports Podcasting Network at
(35:02):
gmail dot com. If you likehow this show is produced. Of course,
this is produced by my production company, Spin Media. There's those solutions
and you can contact me here ifyou need help, if you want to
help with the design of your show, or just if you want to contact
me to have this show broadcasted onyour airwaves. This is a way you
can contact me or my production teamand get in touch and maybe we can
(35:23):
do business together. As we lookat Canada's tactical accuracy or acumen way over
the last few games. Over thelast thirteen games, Canada has used six
different formation three four three was usedtwice in the last three games, not
(35:45):
count not dependent. It was usingthe other two so Qatar and behind three
four two one was used once.Three four three was used three times before
that. We also have the fourtwo three one used twice. The famous
four four two was used five times, including the Japan game four three three
and then the four three one two. We've seen the four three three against
(36:07):
good teams, but lately we seethe three four three or the four four
two, the three four three.We see them against teams that are vulnerable
on the flanks. And that iswhy Kevin's eleven, my preferred lineup for
this World Cup, looks a littlebit like this. I don't know why
(36:31):
I put some country music. Well, let's roll with it. Let's go
our country country song. Here Kevin'seleven for the World Cup, with the
roster available to me. Those arethe best eleven players available in the best
formation possible. Men Lamboyan in thatKamal Miller, Steven Victoria and Alister Johnston
(36:55):
in a three man backline. Amidfield posed of Addi Kube as your left
midfielder, but the corridor player onthat side of the field. A midfield
of Stevenostacio Aniditiba Chinsen. I don'tknow why I said at Tiba, but
at Tiba or better known as TitiAtiba Hutchinson will be starting eleven material if
(37:21):
he's spit in time. Dejan Buchananwill be the other winster. I will
call him the Winsters because you needthat speed Addie Kube and Dejan Buchannon.
Then why Addie Kube and Miller.Miller is really good to give the ball
in the last third of the pitchand that's where Alfonso Davies will be.
The left side of Canada could bethe most lethal side of Canada. Kamal
(37:44):
Miller was in the top ten ofMLS for the past in the final third
last year. Same for Joel Waterman, so look for Joel Waterman to be
Kamal Miller's replacement on that side.But Kamal Miller can put the ball on
Alfonso Davies's foot and that it couldbe dangerous or anybody that plays against Canada.
And that is why that left sidelooks like that. And then of
(38:05):
course to John Buchanan has that speedwith Jonathan David. Jonathan David with cal
Laron two goal scorers that can overlapand find themselves in great goal scoring opportunity.
This three four three would be lethalfor the dangerous aspect of the flanks
with balls into cal Laren who's dangerouswith his head. Alfonso Davis's speed cuts
back in and finds an opportunity ongoal. Overlaps Miller finds another player in
(38:30):
the final third, you get anotheropportunity on goal. That is what I'm
for seeing for Canada. This isKevin's eleven. I hope you enjoyed this
(38:54):
World Cup preview show from a Keynadianperspective. Until next time. He can
follow me on Twitter at Kevlaramy.You can email me at Sports Podcasting Network
at gmail dot com. And ifyou like this show, take a second
share the show. Like the show, like our YouTube page. That is
how we can actually get better.With your help is triggered the algorithm.
(39:16):
Click the subscribe button, click thenotification bell, and let us know what
you like about this show. We'llbe back in about a week's time,
breaking down Canada's first game in theWorld Cup. Breaking down a couple of
results that I would have peaked bycuriosity. But as always, until next
time, I hope you enjoyed thisshow and as always have a great soccer
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