Canadian Attitude Needs To Change To Take The Next Step

[sting]

Right, but we all agree that what happened in Canada's game vs. Sweden was NOT remotely similar to this, right? Let's not lose the thread here. And yes, I would worry about taking the approach that the Japanese coach has taken if only because what it tells his players is that he does not quite think they are good enough. It is dangerous to inject even a bit of doubt, especially from the coach. I agree, Japan may have sealed their fate here. (And I feel we would have had a better game against the Japanese if we'd played the same formation as we used for the Swedes. Sinclair needs to be an attacking midfielder, and we need to plug up that midfield better. We made it too easy for the Japanese.

But would that not work the same for the Canadians? By holding back after the tie, does it not send the same message from the
Canadian coach to his players that I don't believe you could win the game and we need to protect the tie instead? Seems a lack of
faith in his team as well. That is exactly what I mean by attitude. We should have the attitude we can win this game rather than
let's not mistakes and blow the tie. Success brings success.

[rkomar]

I think the Canadian players are still recovering from the psychic collapse they suffered at the World Cup. Pressing forward against a good counter-attacking team like the Swedes and losing the game at the end would probably have undone their confidence just as it is starting to come back. Better safe than sorry, with convalescents, and I trust Herdman with their care.

[Trillium]

LONDON –

....FIFA will, however, ask the International Olympic Committee to take a close look at the way the soccer events at the Games are arranged. That decision has nothing to do with the Japan incident, but there are already concerns over the amount of travel teams are asked to undertake.

Soccer is normally the only Olympic sport where games are spread across the host nation, often leading to huge travel distances and time spent in transit. Such a scenario is not to the liking of the players' club teams, several of which have voiced fears that the additional travel increases the risk of their stars becoming injured.

Gotta laugh... I Eastern Ontario u13 teams travel 271 Kilometers from Ottawa to Belleville to play league games, down ... at pitch 15 before game then play, jump in car and go back home..

I get Brasil being upset at broken Bus on the side of the road in a first world country, and yes I get they probably think the Brits fixed the bus to breakdown.

But FIFA needs to understand as an athlete at this level of play travel is part of your life, you get used to it .. and you should be able to perform, a four hour plane ride in no different then a four hour bus ride, if you get to the venue a day before it should be enough, or stretch the tournament out ...

[terpfan68]

If the situation were reversed would the Brits have taken it with " a stiff upper lip"?

[socceronly]

If the situation were reversed would the Brits have taken it with " a stiff upper lip"?

Can you imagine if England had to travel to the nether regions of central America and go through all the BS? It would be considered a crime against humanity.

[AlanDouglas]

Curious. I would have expected Canada and Japan's failure to go for the win to have cost them in today's game, while Sweden, who won the group, should have had the winning attitude to take it to the next step and defeat France. Instead, Canada and Japan are through, while Sweden are out.

I'm not sure how to account for this strange turn of events. Could it be possible that professional national team coaches might actually know a little bit more about how to do their jobs than random anonymous posters in a web forum? Nah, couldn't be.

[Sport Shaman]

Curious. I would have expected Canada and Japan's failure to go for the win to have cost them in today's game, while Sweden, who won the group, should have had the winning attitude to take it to the next step and defeat France. Instead, Canada and Japan are through, while Sweden are out.

I'm not sure how to account for this strange turn of events. Could it be possible that professional national team coaches might actually know a little bit more about how to do their jobs than random anonymous posters in a web forum? Nah, couldn't be.

I hope you know that this sounds like "crazy talk'!! I thought that if I got to 1000 posts I would be a lock for the Technical Director job!?! Crushing reality check!

[villus]

Curious. I would have expected Canada and Japan's failure to go for the win to have cost them in today's game, while Sweden, who won the group, should have had the winning attitude to take it to the next step and defeat France. Instead, Canada and Japan are through, while Sweden are out.

I'm not sure how to account for this strange turn of events. Could it be possible that professional national team coaches might actually know a little bit more about how to do their jobs than random anonymous posters in a web forum? Nah, couldn't be.

Lock it up, proof right here. Sample size of 3 games with variables of other teams and tons of other stuff aside clearly this is a winning argument.

[sting]

Curious. I would have expected Canada and Japan's failure to go for the win to have cost them in today's game, while Sweden, who won the group, should have had the winning attitude to take it to the next step and defeat France. Instead, Canada and Japan are through, while Sweden are out.

I'm not sure how to account for this strange turn of events. Could it be possible that professional national team coaches might actually know a little bit more about how to do their jobs than random anonymous posters in a web forum? Nah, couldn't be.

Maybe it has something to do with Sweden only winning one game at the Olympics against South Africa ranked number 61 and only
winning s group because another team threw a game. Did you honestly think Brazil would win when they have been on the decline?
Did you expect Canada to lose to a team that they generally beat.

So the Sweden coach didn't know what they were doing for winning the group. So all teams in that group should stand still and not play and no one wins the group?

You know people pay a lot of money to see Olympians perform to their best. It's a disgrace to the game of soccer for Japan to
throw game against South Africa. I guess the American coach doesn't know the game either when she said they would never do
what Japan did. By the way it's a forum people are allowed to have an opinion. It seems like you do.

[paul-collins]

The more I think of it, the more I am of the mind that the people who were the most embarrassed by the badminton kerfuffle are the badminton administrators, for cocking up the tournament organization.

The teams' goals are to win medals. Whatever it takes to get to the last four is what teams do (and, frankly, what they *should* do). If that means managing results in the intermediate stage, so be it. Hell, the funding formula for Own The Podium is predicated on it. You could say that money rides on Canada managing their results to get to the semis.

Teams manage their results for a given path all the time (think about teams in the NHL going for the first draft pick, or for a particular first round matchup in the playoffs). If you want every game to count, then get rid of the playoff knockout structure and go straight round robin. It's that simple. Makes for less compelling spectacle, though.