News » final World Cup qualifying match in Honduras.

Three hundred-and-sixty-five days. That is how long it has been since Canadas mens national team were humiliated 8-1 in their final World Cup qualifying match in Honduras. Since that embarrassing defeat, the mens team has played 11 competitive games. The stats from those 11 games read as follows: zero wins, eight losses, three draws, one goal scored and sixteen goals conceded. It is impossible to put a positive spin on that. The grim reality is that our fortunes at the international level are not going to improve any time soon. Until we have a larger pool of players getting regular minutes at their respective professional clubs, we will never be able to compete at the international level. We just dont have the depth of talent needed to do so. A case in point: Toronto FC midfielder Kyle Bekker has played more games for Canadas mens national team in 2013 than he has for Toronto FC. In no successful soccer nation in the world does this happen. Yet because we have so few professional players from which to select our national team, we are left with no choice. If new head coach Benito Floro didnt know what he was getting himself into when he took the job, he surely does now. Experimental lineups against Mauritania (twice) and Australia yielded no goals, one draw and two losses. In those three games, he utilized virtually every eligible player at his disposal with a few exceptions (like Montreal Impact midfielder, Patrice Bernier, or Real Salt Lake skipper, Will Johnson.) There isnt a pipeline of young players being churned out by the three Canadian MLS clubs. Young players like Bekker cant even get a game at their club team, so how can Floro rely on them to deliver at the unforgiving international level? Its very simple - he cant. So what option does Floro have? Well, he isnt going to turn our mens team into free-flowing masters of tiki-taka football overnight. In fact, hes never going to have that effect on our team. We are what we are and, if Floro were wise, he will look to the past to see a way to bridge to the future. Canadas mens teams have always been extremely disciplined and well-organized. They have always had strong goalkeepers, resilient and reliable defenders, and hard-working midfielders. The current lack of goal-scoring punch is simply the status quo - we have never developed especially prolific goal scorers - and that isnt going to change. But where Floro can really impact the current group is on the defensive side of the game. The goals that were conceded against Australia were very poor by international standards. Moving forward, it is essential for Floro to spend what little time he has with his players working on their defensive understanding. You simply cannot win games when you concede sloppy goals and Canada must get back to being hard to play against. From there, Canada needs to employ a strategy that utilizes quick transitions - both from defending to attacking and vice-versa. The influence of players like Johnson and Atiba Hutchinson cannot be underestimated in this area; both are vital components of the spine of Floros team. Johnson has blossomed into an all-star in Major League Soccer, leading the Portland Timbers to the top of the Western Conference standings. He is an agitator in midfield, but is also capable of getting his fair share of goals - he has eight this season, a career best. Hutchinson is Canadas best player. Currently playing for Besiktas in Turkey, Hutchinson has grown as a player since moving to Europe in 2003. Now, with 10 years of top flight football under his belt, Hutchinson must play a major role in Floros future plans. These two players should be the central midfield fulcrum around which Floros team is built. At 26 (Johnson) and 30 (Hutchinson,) they are in the prime years of their careers and will thrive in roles of responsibility. At the back, David Edgar should be first choice at central defense and finding him a consistent partner must be a priority. While he still has a ways to go, I have always believed that Adam Straith could one day develop into that player. Doneil Henry is still very raw and making the mistakes at the club level that every 20-year-old makes, so rushing him before he is ready would be a mistake. A solid spine is essential in any well-organized team, and these four positions are crucial to Floros chances of turning things in the right direction. It is by no means the finished article and there are a number of holes that Floro will need to address if the team is to find success during his tenure. But with no wins in eleven games and only one goal over that span, Floro needs to start somewhere. Yeezy Boost Günstig Kaufen . 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Atletico Madrid made it three wins from three thanks to a double from in-form striker Diego Costa in a 3-0 victory at Austria Vienna, leaving the Spanish side on the brink of the last 16 already to continue its brilliant start to the season.Of all people, Michal Handzus scored in double overtime to keep the Chicago Blackhawks alive, with a 5-4 Chicago win in Game Five sending the series back to Los Angeles. Handzus has been maligned through the postseason, even acknowledging his struggles -- as though its his fault that the Blackhawks frequently pin their second-line centre hopes on a 37-year-old centre who last scored more than 30 points in 2009-2010 -- but he still had the wherewithal to handle a pass in his skates, deke to the backhand and lift the puck over Kings G Jonathan Quick for the game-winner. Handzus was set up on the game-winning play by LW Brandon Saad, the Blackhawks 21-year-old man-child who was a force all night, picking up a goal and two assists, finishing with seven shots on goal and 10 shot attempts (Marian Hossa, with 11, and Bryan Bickell, with 10, were other Blackhawks with double-digit shot attempts). Saad now has 13 points in the postseason, two points behind Chicagos team leaders. One of those leaders is Patrick Kane, the talented winger who had managed one assist in the first four games of the series, but delivered a big game for Chicago in Game Five, putting up four assists. The only other player in Blackhawks history to register four assists in a playoff games was Steve Larmer, agsinst St. Louis April 30, 1990. Kane and Saad also had the best possession numbers for the Blackhawks in the game. With Kane on the ice, at 5-on-5, the Blackhawks had 28 shot attempts for and 16 against (63.6%); with Kane off the ice, the Blackhawks had 46.0% of the shot attempts. Over the past four games, Saad has been on for 68 of 103 5-on-5 shot attempts (66.0%). Blackhawks D Johnny Oduya had a goal and an assist, giving him 15 points in 40 playoff games, which ranks 11th among defencemen oveer the past two seasons.dddddddddddd Blackhawks RW Andrew Shaw had quite a game, picking up a couple assists and tying Bryan Bickell for the team lead with eight hits, doing so while playing on a clearly injured right leg after getting tangled up with Kings D Jake Muzzin. For the Kings, captain Dustin Brown is relishing his return to Anze Kopitars wing and scored a goal and an assist, with a team-leading eight hits. Marian Gaborik also had a goal and an assist for the Kings; it was Gaboriks playoff-leading 11th goal. The standout for the Kings was D Drew Doughty, who didnt register a point, but had nine shots on goal and a dozen shot attempts, in a game-high 39:04 of ice time. Both goaltenders, Corey Crawford and Jonathan Quick had ups and downs throughout the game, but each ended up stopping 40 shots in a game that saw the Blackhawks outshoot the Kings 45-44, and out-attempt them 81-76. It was close and competitive, and included a thrilling overtime period as the Blackhawks staved off elimination in front of their home crowd. The kind of game that makes fans yearn for more between these two teams. Now, its to Game Six, back in Los Angeles and Chicago, which seemed to be on its last legs going into Game Five, has some life. They still need to win two more against a Kings team that has been playing tremendous hockey, but weve seen momentum swings in this years playoffs -- teams losing multi-goal leads in games and multi-game leads in series -- that should hearten the Blackhawks. If they can find a way to take Game Six, theyll get Game Seven back in Sweet Home Chicago. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '