Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Seventeen

On this episode of Canadian Terrace Talk Duane Rollins of the 24th Minute makes a quick cameo as we discuss Canada's upcoming friendlies and we rehash the weekend in the Premier League.

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Viva John Terry!

COME ON UNITED!

Canada's Roster for Friendlies

Canada's Roster for Macedonia and Poland:

GK- Lars Hirschfeld | GER / Energie Cottbus
GK- Josh Wagenaar | SCO / Falkirk
D/M- Mike Klukowski | BEL / Club Brugge KV
D- Kevin McKenna | GER / FC Köln
D/M- Paul Stalteri | GER / Borussia Mönchengladbach
D- Richard Hastings | SCO / Hamilton
D- Dejan Jakovic | USA / DC United
M- Julian de Guzman | CAN / Toronto FC
M- Atiba Hutchinson | DEN / F.C. København
M- Patrice Bernier | DEN / FC Nordsjælland
M- Iain Hume | ENG / Barnsley
M- Marcel de Jong | NED / Roda JC
M- Jaime Peters | ENG / Ipswich Town FC
M/F- Josh Simpson | TUR / Manisaspor
F- Simeon Jackson | ENG / Gillingham FC
F- Tomasz Radzinski | BEL / Lierse
F- Rob Friend | GER / Borussia Mönchengladbach

Stephen Hart has announced a seventeen man roster that he will be taking for the two friendlies against Poland and Macedonia. Hart has acknowledged that he may call up in eighteenth after Jacob "the latest traitor" Lensky turned down the call opting for the Czech youth team instead.

So looking at the squad I must admit I'm disappointed. This is the perfect time for Hart to experiment and tinker with the squad before World Cup Qualifying. This would have been the perfect time to call up the likes of Nana Attakora, and possibly even someone like Marcus Haber. The squad Hart has named seems to have some dead weight.

Tomasz Radzinski will not be around for World Cup Qualifying, but I have no problem with this call up since he deserves a chance to play against his home country in what might be his final appearance for the national team. All in all a classy move from Hart to pick Radzinski the call for the Poland match.

Paul Stalteri has been a legend for Canada over the past decade, but his time with the national team is up. He has 77 caps and can look back on a successful international career including a Gold Cup Championship, but he will be thirty-five when 2012 roles around and he should not be Canada's number one option at right back.

Richard Hastings is the worst call up here. I am a big fan of Hastings. He's a gritty Canadian player, scored that massive golden goal against Mexico and made a quality comeback to top form at the 2007 Gold Cup, but his time has also passed. Hastings just does not have the technical ability, the pace or the positional sense to play with this Canadian team.

Looking at the positives of this team, I really like the inclusion of Dejan Jakovic who I thought was Canada's best player at the 2009 Gold Cup. I also like to see the young-English based players in Hume, Peters and Jackson there.

Iain Hume seems to be making a good comeback after his horrific injury. I thought he looked very dangerous coming on against Manchester United in the Carling Cup, and he's already potted a few goals in the league.

Despite a poor season from Ipswich by all accounts Jamie Peters has been performing well. He offers that little bit of creativity and pace which may prove priceless on a Canadian team with next to no flair.

Simeon Jackson has been scoring like crazy for Gillingham in yet another brilliant year for him. Simeon is being linked with Premier League clubs and hopefully he can carry over this club form with Canada.

With the generation of Canadian keepers getting older and older it's nice to see Waagenar given a chance or at least a spot in the squad.

Based on this seventeen man roster my two starting XI's would look like this:

Macedonia:

----------------Hirschfeld----------------
--Stalteri--Jakovic--McKenna--Klukowski--
-----------------Bernier-----------------
--Hume--De Guzman--Hutchinson--Simpson--
-----------------Jackson-----------------

Poland:

----------------Waagenar----------------
--Stalteri--Jakovic--McKenna--Klukowski--
--Peters--De Guzman--Hutchinson--De Jong--
-------------Radzinski---Friend---------

Time to Start Owen?

After a slow start to his Manchester United career Michael Owen has been very good in the past few matches for United. He's scored two, and could have had another had he not given the shot to Obertan who missed drastically. The best aspect of Michael Owen's game over the past few weeks has been his ability to open up the play. His darting runs open up big gaps in the centre of the opposition defensive and this off the ball movement often leads to chances.

Against Chelsea it may finally be time for Michael Owen to be given a starting opportunity in a big match. Against a tight, compact Chelsea defense an "Owen-type" player could be very effective. Chelsea's fullbacks were exposed against Untied in the Community Shield, but they seemed to have tightened up a bit in recent matches with Ivanovic and Ashely Cole both looking good. So getting at Chelsea down the middle is going to be key in order to open up theses wings for the likes of Valencia, Giggs, Nani, Evra and possibly even Obertan. Owen might be the answer.

Playing up front with Rooney, Owen would give Rooney much more space than he is used to against Chelsea. Playing with someone like Berbatov will slow the play down, and force United to find that little bit of creativity which has been lacking in the past few Premier League games and the Chelsea defense is much better than average in the league. Playing a speedy, mobile forward like Michael Owen up front should give Rooney more space to operate in the middle of the park.

Against a quality back four in Liverpool, United had very little joy, because when the counter didn't work Berbatov and Rooney offered little as a partnership in the "change of pace" department. Against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, United may have even fewer opportunities and that change of pace comes much more naturally to Owen than it does to Berbatov.

The key to the match against Chelsea will be for United to open up the Chelsea back line early and take control of the match like they failed to do against Liverpool. If Michael Owen can help do this for even the first forty-five minutes if that's all he's up for than that will be enough. United need to make sure they are creating chances from the off and don't get into a situation where they are chasing the football like they were against Liverpool.

This could be Michael Owen's big chance and I say give him the start.

Manchester United 3:3 CSKA Moscow

United Man of the Match:
After a few months out through injury Darren Fletcher came back and put in a masterclass performance in the second half. He was a little suspect in the first half as CSKA had no difficulty passing through the United midfield, but he was a big part of the United comeback. His tackling was as good as ever he was moving the ball forward at every possible occasion and he spread out the field more effectively than Paul Scholes on the night which is saying something. Especially in the last few minutes when a comeback seemed unlikely Fletcher kept his head and continued with the possession oriented style that had created numerous chances all match, then of course it payed off with two late goals.

Match Notes:
- The football United played in the second half against Moscow was the best United have played going forward since the City, Tottenham and Wolfsburg matches. The interplay and overlapping runs from fullbacks, and wide midfielders was fantastic. United carved out so many chances from creative passing movements and in the end could have had much more than three.

- The back four looked shaky conceding three goals at home, but some of that came from Fabio who won't be playing against Chelsea, and the Brown - Evans partnership certainly has the ability to bit in a better performance than that.

- Wayne Rooney completely changed the match. After not training with the squad all week he was given only a spot on the bench, but coming on he really stepped up the tempo for United and was a big reason for that second half surge.

- After an iffy performance against Blackburn, Gabriel Obertan was very good against Moscow. His stepovers were mesmerizing at times and he provided much more of a threat down that left wing than Nani has all season.

- CSKA Moscow looked a completely different team than the last match against United. Under new head coach, Leonid Slutsky, the one touch football in the middle of the park on display from Moscow was very exciting to watch.

- The yellow card for Fletcher's dive was ridiculous. Stonewall penalty.

-Michael Owen and Kiko Macheda both put in solid matches once again with Owen picking up his fourth goal of the season and Macheda very unlucky not to pick up his first.

- It seems as if the Akinfeev to United rumours are only just starting to heat up.

Final Thoughts:
A brilliant comeback to secure passage through to the knockout stages. Hopefully this will act as a confidence boost before the Chelsea match, because United's liquid football in the second half was exceptional. From a neutral point of view this only finishes runner up to the City match as the best match of football I've seen all season. The football on display from both sides was something else.

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Sixteen

In this episode we're joined by Matt Wooding of The Subs Bench. We go through one of the best Premier League weekends to date and we touch on the Canadian friendly with Poland.

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Happy Birthday!

365 Days later after over 300 posts the Canadian Stretford End has turned One year old. I want to take this time to thank all the readers over the past people and the various blogs who have linked me.

Cheers!