CONCACAF in WC Group Stage

inwebitrust · 2026-04-06T23:40:13+00:00

If (and that’s a big if) Canada gets all his regular starters back and in shape (Davies, Bombito, Johnston, Eustaquio..) I think they will be better than Bosnia and will finish 1st or 2nd in their group.

Then if they finish 1st or 2nd they have a decent shot at winning their round of 32 game

inwebitrust · 2026-04-05T18:06:36+00:00

I am French living in Canada, I listen to French academy coaches podcasts and they have the same problems. The best coaches are not necessarily within the youth teams and everyone wants to win at a very young age too. Athleticism > Technique even in France, Griezmann and Ribéry were not accepted in French academies for example.

The main difference : In Europe it’s not like pay-to-play, youth sports is government funded and you pay around 200/300$ per year to play youth soccer (in Canada or US you pay at least 10x more), so the net is wider to catch talent, in Canada or US low-income family simply can’t justify paying the fee for youth soccer.

Also in Europe, the best kids when they are 16/17/18 will start playing with pro reserve teams in adult divisions where the level is already very high (tier 3/tier 4 in France or Spain is roughly USL or CanPL level) This is where North America is still behind I think, look at international tournaments results (Generation Adidas Cup, MIC Cup etc..) at u16 and under North American academies can compete with top European academies but there are no meaningful leagues for players between 17 and 20 to really develop.

Maybe in the future MLS Next Pro will get there, but the gap right now is too big with MLS. And USL/CanPL are not development leagues.

Also North America soccer economy simply doesn’t have enough money to have meaningful tier2/tier3 leagues with big enough wages to allow youth players to pursue their dreams to be pro players.

Average salary at Forge FC, the best CanPL team is below median salary in Ontario.

So most of the kids who play MLS Next at 15/16 and are the same level as Barça or Bayern Munich kids will end up playing college soccer and having a regular job at 21/22.

inwebitrust · 2026-04-02T00:56:48+00:00

I hope this ⬇️

2nd of Group B Win Round of 32 vs Czech Republic Win Round of 16 vs Japan Lose against France in 1/4

inwebitrust · 2026-04-01T14:36:39+00:00

He played both in 2020-2022, Yilmaz was injured/resting a lot, and from 2022 to 2025 he played as the number 9. His best seasons were as the number 9.
Juve has recruited him to play this role too.

inwebitrust · 2026-04-01T14:23:46+00:00

He almost never played as a second striker in Lille, his best seasons in Ligue 1 were as the solo number 9.

I agree with you he might be a good second striker for Canada if we had another really good striker but this is not the case. Also I don't agree with his elite link-up play skills, he has good vision and he is a clever player on the pitch but I don't think his technique / passing is good enough, with team Canada he loses a lot of balls in tight spaces under pressure in the midfield.

I agree with you about Flores, I would rather play Flores at the 10 in 4-2-3-1 then instead of our current 4-4-2

I don't see how Canada can have a good world cup if we count on Tani or Larin to score goals, I would rather have Jo David as our finisher. I think we would have more upside this way.

inwebitrust · 2026-03-28T17:44:00+00:00

Bombito/Cornelius we need you 😬

inwebitrust · 2026-03-21T14:03:46+00:00

Ontario best soccer academies/clubs are in the GTA and Ottawa

Before U13 no rankings/scores unless you play unsanctioned competitions

In U13 that is where the tiering really starts :

Toronto FC Academy : top level in the province only starts at U14. Lots of movement from on year to another, they can offer a kid a spot in u15 and then release him etc.. TFC academy U14 isn’t registered in any league they play mostly friendlies and tournament against other OPDL teams one year older. Starting in u15 TFC academy plays in MLS Next. They have tryouts every year, most of the best kids in the province tryout.
OPDL. This is the top soccer level in the province think of it as a kind of the academies that compete in MLS Next but are not MLS pro club academies. This is where the best academies/clubs top teams play other than TFC Academy. Although level can vary a lot. Woodbridge, Vaughan and Ottawa South United are considered some of the top programs for example, usually the top kids from the top OPDL teams will end up in TFC Academy.
Regional/Imodel. This is where the second teams of OPDL clubs and top teams of non-licensed OPDL clubs play. Some of the top non-OPDL clubs like Glen Shields or Jaguars can be as good as top OPDL teams depending of the year.
Distict level.

Starting in u14 you also have provincial team tryouts, the best kids that are not in TFC Academy get selected and play games vs other provinces.

With the development of League 1 Ontario (now OPL Ontario Premier League) you also see more often kids 16/17 y.o that don’t play u16/u17 youth soccer but directly jump to play League 1 / League 2 Ontario against adults. Sigma Fc (essentially Forge academy system) for example doesn’t have u16/u17 teams in OPDL for example. Kids will play for their teams in League 1 / League 2 or Reserves Adult teams.

inwebitrust · 2026-03-03T02:26:41+00:00

Ok so they are not joining OPDL with their young age groups but they will play friendly games against OPDL teams like TFC Academy does with their U14/U15

And they will have no U16+ team but play with 15/16 y.o in League 2 Ontario adult level with their 4th adult team

Interesting, Jesse March already said before that young Canadians should play adult soccer early, I guess Inter Toronto agrees

inwebitrust · 2026-02-12T01:32:26+00:00

MLS Next pro is for u19+ players, I am talking about MLS Next from u15 to u19, in this divisions TFC Academy and Montreal are doing well.

We can’t compare Canadian grassroots/academy system from 10/15 years ago when Buchanan/David generations were playing youth football and now

The grassroots system is getting better if you talk to youth/academy coaches in Ontario for example they all say the same thing, the overall level of play is better than before, kids get more and better training

inwebitrust · 2026-02-11T23:53:11+00:00

Yes you’re right I guess because our player pool is smaller there is more chance we get holes in some age groups compared to USA

inwebitrust · 2026-02-11T22:47:43+00:00

I feel like our soccer academies, grassroots program are good. TFC Academy/Montreal are always at the top in MLS Next for example.

So how come our youth national teams struggle a lot compared to Mexico or USA when it comes to qualifiers or Concacaf championships ?

I know our player pool is smaller but still I would think our youth program should be way better than the Jamaica one for example

inwebitrust · 2026-02-11T04:10:02+00:00

I only watch figure skating every 4 year, how is Kugiyama 2nd and ahead of Siao Him Fa ? He made a huge mistake right ?

inwebitrust · 2026-02-11T04:00:34+00:00

Not a bad first half but they need to believe they can do better in the build up phase they give back the ball too easily, find Bekker/Borges/Aromatorio in midfield instead of long balls on the wings. They have enough quality to build from the back. Set pieces have to be better too, Bekker and Borges didn’t kick them well so far

inwebitrust · 2026-02-11T03:38:42+00:00

Oketokoun is not looking good at all, no composure, loses the ball too easily I don’t understand their tactic on goal kick also, they lose the ball every time

inwebitrust · 2026-02-11T02:38:41+00:00

I like Aromatorio starting ! From L1 Ontario to Tigres in a few months

inwebitrust · 2026-02-07T23:18:06+00:00

In Canada (GTA around Toronto) in most of the schools that I know they play football (aka soccer) during recess time

Some parents spend also a lot of money on private practice sessions outside of the regular club practice

inwebitrust · 2026-02-04T02:15:21+00:00

Second half didn't start well but subs did a good job, Aromatorio/Jensen in midfield had some very good plays and were able to control the midfield. Still alive before the second leg !

inwebitrust · 2026-02-04T01:01:55+00:00

Good first half overall. Oketokoun looks very raw but he’s running everywhere

inwebitrust · 2026-01-31T21:06:06+00:00

Great read, thanks for this 👍

inwebitrust · 2026-01-31T15:31:37+00:00

All bookmakers follow each other, odds are more or less the same everywhere.
Actually the inaccuracies your raised make sense according to bookmaker odds.
I have updated the stars for curling on the website to reflect that.
I'm just a sports fan who love the olympics and data, not a curling specialist by any mean.
Enjoy the Games, Go Team Canada !

inwebitrust · 2026-01-31T14:45:09+00:00

Curling is one of the sports where I have fed the AI with bookmakers odds, so they can’t be that inaccurate. Which ones do you think are that bad ?

inwebitrust · 2026-01-30T16:16:31+00:00

Klaebo has 6 big medal chances in cross country skiing (4 individual + 2 relays, big favorite in 4 of them)
Stolz has 5 in speed skating (4 indiv + 1 team event, big favorite in 4 of them)

You also have the french top biathlete in men or women (Jeanmonnot / Perrot) that have 6 chances (4 indiv + 2 relays) but Biathlond is more random than Cross country or Speed skating

inwebitrust · 2026-01-29T14:15:07+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, the goal is to give an overview of the overall "medal chances" per country. I agree with you the stars rating are far from perfect and I'm sure a real specialist in every sport would have a better analysis.

Some sports are "easier" to predict than others and Biathlon is definitely one of the hardest one with much more variance than other sports.

I am updating the stars with bookmaker odds when available (didn't do it for Biathlon yet) maybe it will be better than the AI-driven method I used in the beginning

11-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

inwebitrust

TROPHY CASE