Indeed. No disrespect to Callum Wilson but if he's out for more than a couple of games we are ****ed.
"Gareth Southgate will hope Kane's scan results are positive" We've always been ****ed and will continue to be, player, club and country, according to some.
With our first World Cup match since 1986 on the horizon, Canadian expectations: - It's nice to be here. Being here is nicer than not being here, even if not being here is the thing we're familiar with. Generally, we fail approximately four steps short of here, but this is also okay. - A goal would be great. We've never had one of those in a World Cup before. - An actual point? Neat, we would no longer have a loss record of exactly 100%. That's really swell. - A win? Can someone double-check that? It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I don't want to get ahead of myself here. - Advancement? Actual rioting, probable martial law. One of the under-appeciated aspects of Canadian national identity is the thin line between "hey, we did pretty good at sports, isn't that great" and "we did very good at sports, so let's burn the motherf#%!$ing city to the ground". It's probably not going to happen, but I already know which objects in my place can be fashioned into a firebomb.
Today the first day I won't see most matches. Looking forward to seeing what the Canadians are aboot* tonight against Belgium though. They're one of my other picks to surprise people like Qatar so wonder if they'll go the same way or if I'll finally get something right. *Sorry, not sorry for the South Park reference
Good luck! It'll be a fun ride whatever happens. Tough that you have to play Belgium in the first game, and not last, when they'd likely rest players, but you are an unknown entity, relatively speaking, and I think you'll make a good go of it. Can see you getting 4 points from the group (never actually watched Canada; just going on your assessments over the previous year or so). EDIT: Got to add, I think I have more mates these days from Canada than from anywhere else (including UK), so will definitely be cheering for you!
Cheers. See my edit above by the way. I've got a ton of mates in Canada. Can't wait to visit one day. Probs my fave people over the last decade of my life.
Belgium are overrated IMO. Don't think they'll be in a position to rest players for the last group game. Can see Canada getting something tonight.
I think Canada are very dangerous opponents to play. They had an outstanding qualifying, they've obviously got a great team ethic and they've got two star players to top it off.
Belgium have got quality all over. Even if De Bruyne has a bad game, they've got Carrasco, Tielemans, Hazard, Lukaku. Crazy amount of quality. But yeah, whether they gel as team or not is another thing. They've got the 'golden-generation' curse that England had in the noughties.
Lukaku is injured. He's out tonight. Hazard runs for 10 yards then does his hamstring. De Bruyne is, well, De Bruyne but they're not the team they were 4 years ago. Vertonghen and Alderweireld are both well into their 30's now.
They should win. Even with Lukaku injured, there's a lot of talent in that Belgium team. The question mark is that their central defense is ancient, and Canada's big advantage is that their front players are ridiculously fast and talented in open space. If Belgium can keep the ball in Canada's half, they'll likely win. If Canada can hold their own and get The Daves running, Toby's going to need supplementary oxygen at halftime.
Fair enough. Still a sh*t load of talent throughout the squad though. Croatia also looking a bit over the hill.
