Interesting perspectives. I'm still reserving judgement on the effectiveness of Marsch's tactics, but I will say that when they stick to the script, Canada have thus far been threatening to anyone they've played against. Having players with the confidence to go forward and press against the World Cup winner's back line is definitely a positive.
Some other thoughts:
- Crépeau should have been in Borjan's place at least a couple of years ago. Anyone who can stop Messi on a breakaway deserves more than the cursory glances he got earlier.
- Bombito looks like he belongs there. Makes one wonder why he wasn't seemingly on the radar earlier either.
- A bit of shoddy officiating didn't help Canada either. It would be interesting to see how many cleat marks Schaffelburg still has in his quad from the uncalled cheap shot he got just outside Argentina's box.
- Anyone else notice that Martinez's release point on his punts was consistently about a step and a half outside his box? That gets called even in the bush leagues that I play in.
The best takeaway I have after watching Chile and Peru hack each other up and down the pitch to a scoreless draw is that Canada have good potential to do damage to both of these teams. I'm looking forward to their next game.