The Head Coach of the Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team, John Herdman, recently announced that Alphonso Davies will not participate in the 2022 World Cup Qualifying Games. This announcement came after the parent club of the player, FC Bayern Munchen, revealed that Davies has signs of mild myocarditis.
Suffice to mention that he developed this health condition after contracting the coronavirus. The absence of the player was indeed a sensational topic on live TV soccer and ESPNFC. It is worth mentioning that Davies is a top defender in his club and by extension in his home team.
He is the only Men’s National Team player with the capacity to single-handedly change the course of a game without any external interference. With Alphonso Davies out of the game for the 2022 World Cup Qualifying games, how will the Canada team adjust for their pivotal matches? Will the team measure up to Italy Serie A’s prowess?
What are the Current Realities of the CanMNT CONCACAF Champions League?
Without Davies, the Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team is undoubtedly blessed with many attacking talents that the team can leverage during the 2022 World Cup Qualifying games. It is worth noting that many of the CONCACAF nations in soccer matches today do not possess the forward depth that the Canada team has.
John Herdman has the wherewithal to invite players that have participated in top-flight European leagues, Italy Serie A, and who have featured majorly on soccerstreams. These players include Tajon Buchanan, Liam Millar, Jonathan David, Junior Hoilett, Ike Ugbo, and Cyle Larin. Apart from these six, Herdman also has access to other talents that he could call in the absence of Davies.
These Reddit soccerstreams sensational players include Daniel Jebbison, Theo Corbeau, and Jacob Shaffelburg. Of course, there are also promising attacking talents, such as Stefan Mitrovic and Marcelo Flores that Herdman can call on. While the team boasts of many talents that can replace Davies, the truth is that there is none like him.
Without a doubt, John Herdman knows this and he must be tactical about his choices to ensure that the absence of this top ESPNFC player is not felt. So, what are the possible strategies that John Herdman can employ to improve his team’s performance in Davies’ absence?
Focusing on Complete Soccer Team and Sophisticated Passing Combinations
The team’s performance will fare well when all team members play their part just like in Italy Serie A. Usually, during Davies games, most of the attacks from Canada are often tilted to his side of the field because of his capability.
Although Davies provides consistent threats to opponents and can make the magic happen, the game plan is often more predictable during his play when the team cannot build attacks. During the last match with El Salvador when Davies was absent, the team had a 3:0 win against El Salvador.
The tactics used in this game could function as the blueprint for John Herdman during Davies’ absence. In the game against El Salvador, Canada was a bit predictable with the use of long and short passes while building attacks across the field.
One major feature of the attack was Hoilett, Osorio, and Davies who manages the space judiciously and interchanged positions fluidly to create sophisticated passing combinations to crack the midblock established by El Salvador soccer. These three have a unique understanding of how to create a space in a seemingly overcrowded attacking half.
They also have the technical passing ability to intrinsically locate one another when picking the ball. With these combinations, the CONCACAF Champions League players can get more involved in the attack to make their games more unpredictable.
More Focus on Playing Fast Passes to Leverage own Pace
Speed and power are two notable features of the Men’s National Team in recent times and these are some of the highlights on eFootball PES 2022. Thankfully, the absence of Davies has not affected this in any way. The team is still as fast, strong, and marauding as ever with the likes of Adekugbe and Laryea as well as Buchanan, Millar, and Hoilett.
To leverage the power and speed, John Herdman needs to consistently maintain unpredictable attacks and play fast long passes and over-the-top games. With players like Eustaquio, Hutchinson, Johnson, and Vitoria who are capable of achieving long passes from the back, the team must remain consistent in putting the speed and power into each game without faltering.
The Power of Number in Zone 14 and Use of Interchangeable Hinges
In the tactical world of soccer today, the traditional pitch has been fragmented into six using three grids to build 18 zones. Meanwhile, zone 14 is the mid area of the pitch, which is above the 18-yard box of the opposition. This zone is referred to as the most significant to help ESPNFC players achieve goals.
Possessing numerical superiority in this pitch area means that the team has more players than the opponent in that zone. In other words, the power of number in zone 14 would likely mean more passes within and into the zone and more forward passes to other surrounding zones.
It would also mean more regained possession of the ball within the zone, and more goal attempts from dangerous areas of the pitch. In Italy Serie A matches as in other traditional matches, teams possess only one attacking hinge that is usually situated behind the striker. This pivot serves s the inventor of the team’s attacks.
He directs traffic in the final third. The Canada team’s strategic versatility means many ESPNFC players can fulfill the pivot role. Players like Osorio, Davies, David, and Hoilett have all fulfilled this role in different capacities, including in their clubs and at some point in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers campaign.
As it is prominent in Italy Serie A, defensive game planning is targeted at preventing space and time for a specific player. Since Davies is not on the ground to participate in these defining ESPNFC matches for Canada, the team must become unpredictable in attacks.
They also need to increase the movement among attacking players that drift through zone 14. The team also needs to rotate and disguise its pivots in the game.
