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Posted December 08, 2021 19:54 · last edited December 08, 2021 21:54

Big Pete 65
We all know of John Herdman's connections with NZ.
But I just noticed that the goalkeeping coach for both the Canadian men's and women's national teams is a Kiwi, Simon Eaddy, the former Football Kingz, NZ Knights, Auckland City and Waitakere keeper and NZ Football National Coach Development Manager and Football Ferns / NZ u-20 Women goalkeeper coach:
https://www.canadasoccer.com/staff/
Article & interview:
https://coach.ca/fifa-chat-simon-eaddy
I've only really just caught up with how talented the current Canadian side is.
It must be their best side ever with all that Europe-based talent and top MLS players:
Davies, a key player for Bayern Munich; Jonathan David - key striker in Lille winning Ligue 1 last season and an even better goal ratio this season; Cyle Larin - key striker in Besiktas winning the Turkish title; Atiba Hutchinson, ex-PSV midfielder who was very successful in Holland & now at Besiktas; Lucas Cavallini who played most of his football for top clubs in Uruguay before heading to MLS last year; and they keep adding new discoveries with Canadian ancestry like striker Ugbo playing in the Europa League for Genk. 


I had forgotten that Simon Eaddy was from NZ.

While many of Canada’s top players are becoming better known globally, there are still a lot of players who aren’t as well known. I think Stephen Eustaquio is easily one of our most important players. He was in the team of the season for the Portuguese league last year and was expected to move to one of the big three in Portugal and Lazio was apparently even tracking him, but somehow he surprisingly didn’t move this summer. Tajon Buchanan is the next player I expect to turn some heads. He’s headed to Club Brugge in January and he gave Mexico fits each time we played them. Steven Vitoria can’t play consecutive matches with only 3 or 4 days to recover, so he has only started half of our matches, but he’s playing the soccer of his life. He’s been invaluable for the backline which is definitely our weakness.

It was hard for our players to get a work permit in the UK until recently and now that we meet more of the requirements with the improved FIFA rankings I am wondering if that opens some doors in January. A few of the MLS players have had overseas interest. The fullbacks Laryea and Johnston in particular could move on I think.

It is nice to have gotten some dual-nationals like Ugbo and Ayo Akinola, but we’re still losing plenty. Dominic Yankov decided to play for Bulgaria and Romania (quite cynically in my opinion) cap-tied 15 year old Enes Sali in November. Marcelo Flores, an 18-year-old at Arsenal, should make his senior Mexican debut tonight, but if he’s not lying Flores will come to a Canada camp (covid kept him out of travelling to one last year) – possibly in January – to see both set-ups before deciding his future. Stefan Mitrovic is coming to the January camp before deciding his future as well and Ferdi Kadioglu is going to make an announcement soon, but I would be shocked if he doesn’t play for Turkey (he plays for Fenerbahçe). 

It's been incredible to watch this group grow and not only have some success, play a pretty attractive brand of soccer while doing it. The team spirit and unity is the best I've ever seen it in all of the years I've followed the team and I think that's made a massive difference as well and Herdman deserves a huge amount of credit for that.

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Unknown editor edited December 08, 2021 21:54
Big Pete 65
We all know of John Herdman's connections with NZ.
But I just noticed that the goalkeeping coach for both the Canadian men's and women's national teams is a Kiwi, Simon Eaddy, the former Football Kingz, NZ Knights, Auckland City and Waitakere keeper and NZ Football National Coach Development Manager and Football Ferns / NZ u-20 Women goalkeeper coach:
https://www.canadasoccer.com/staff/
Article & interview:
https://coach.ca/fifa-chat-simon-eaddy
I've only really just caught up with how talented the current Canadian side is.
It must be their best side ever with all that Europe-based talent and top MLS players:
Davies, a key player for Bayern Munich; Jonathan David - key striker in Lille winning Ligue 1 last season and an even better goal ratio this season; Cyle Larin - key striker in Besiktas winning the Turkish title; Atiba Hutchinson, ex-PSV midfielder who was very successful in Holland & now at Besiktas; Lucas Cavallini who played most of his football for top clubs in Uruguay before heading to MLS last year; and they keep adding new discoveries with Canadian ancestry like striker Ugbo playing in the Europa League for Genk. 


I had forgotten that Simon Eaddy has ties to NZ.

While many of Canada’s top players are becoming better known globally, there are still a lot of players who aren’t as well known. I think Stephen Eustaquio is easily one of our most important players. He was in the team of the season for the Portuguese league last year and was expected to move to one of the big three in Portugal and Lazio was apparently even tracking him, but somehow he surprisingly didn’t move this summer. Tajon Buchanan is the next player I expect to turn some heads. He’s headed to Club Brugge in January and he gave Mexico fits each time we played them. Steven Vitoria can’t play consecutive matches with only 3 or 4 days to recover, so he has only started half of our matches, but he’s playing the soccer of his life. He’s been invaluable for the backline which is definitely our weakness.

It was hard for our players to get a work permit in the UK until recently and now that we meet more of the requirements with the improved FIFA rankings I am wondering if that opens some doors in January. A few of the MLS players have had overseas interest. The fullbacks Laryea and Johnston in particular could move on I think.

It is nice to have gotten some dual-nationals like Ugbo and Ayo Akinola, but we’re still losing plenty. Dominic Yankov decided to play for Bulgaria and Romania (quite cynically in my opinion) cap-tied 15 year old Enes Sali in November. Marcelo Flores, an 18-year-old at Arsenal, should make his senior Mexican debut tonight, but if he’s not lying Flores will come to a Canada camp (covid kept him out of travelling to one last year) – possibly in January – to see both set-ups before deciding his future. Stefan Mitrovic is coming to the January camp before deciding his future as well and Ferdi Kadioglu is going to make an announcement soon, but I would be shocked if he doesn’t play for Turkey (he plays for Fenerbahçe). 

It's been incredible to watch this group grow and not only have some success, play a pretty attractive brand of soccer while doing it. The team spirit and unity is the best I've ever seen it in all of the years I've followed the team and I think that's made a massive difference as well and Herdman deserves a huge amount of credit for that.