Vanni Sartini: Breaking down Canada vs Bosnia, and how his former players handled the biggest stage
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Four years ago, we just absolutely loved him breaking down everything about the Canadian team at the World Cup in Qatar. We have been privileged to know Vanni Sartini, the former head coach of Vancouver Whitecaps FC, the current head coach of the Halifax Wanderers. Of course, once upon a time, as I mentioned, a guy who coached the coaches for the U.S. Soccer Association as well, and he's joining us now from his home in Halifax having... Where did you watch the game? It sounded like you were at a pretty good party there on the East Coast watching Canada. How are you doing, my friend?
I'm very good, guys. How are you?
Very well. Very well. Tell us about the scene in Halifax. Where were you watching?
There's a place, this place called the Garrison Ground that is downtown. There's a big park and we had like a big screen with a lot of people. It was actually really good atmosphere. It was kind of cold, but it was like perfect. Like the fans, the explosion when Kyle Lowry scored. So it was really nice.
Yeah, and this is happening in big cities and little towns from coast to coast across this country, these public watch parties in central areas on big screens. Okay, first question, Vanny, because you obviously watch it with a far more trained eye than the rest of us. What did you make of the match and the Canadian performance?
Yeah, it's been a little strange match because it was basically a one-way performance. Canada dominated the game. They were always on the front foot. They were always attacking. But then on that set place, they conceded quite early, like after 20 minutes. And for the characteristic of Team Canada, it's very hard then to break, I would say, a team that is very dropping in their line and defending with a lot of players. The way that Canada plays, it's a top team in counter-attack, it's a top team when they can find space in behind the line.
Where was Vanni Sartini watching Canada vs Bosnia and what was the Halifax fan atmosphere like?
So it was hard, but they pushed, pushed, pushed. They had... ton of chances. The one with Richie Larea with the save on the line or the other one, the other. So at the end, deservedly so, at least a tie. They got it. But the risk in this kind of game is always to concede the second goal where you're attacking, attacking, attacking and the other team. And in fact... Bosnia had one chance. And Max to the rescue. Yeah, Max put his foot on that. At least one point to go.
Yeah, Blake was saying towards the end, I guess you have to give man of the match to Kyle Lahren because of the goal. But holy cow, was Richie Larea good today. You coached him briefly in Vancouver with the Whitecaps. Vanny, a word or two about the player you know and his performance today.
Well, yeah, I agree. His performance was fantastic, both offensively and defensively. Even on a lot of recovery runs. Offensively, he did a couple of things that he usually does when he received the ball on the... like on the line and everybody thinks he's crossing and then he turns and, you know, a lot of times he draws penalties like this or he serves assists. And so he had almost the assist at the end when he did that movement. So I think he did really, really, really well. I think it's going to be some kind of, I would say, a positive headache for Jesse Marsh to decide who's going to be fullback when Alphonse is going to be back in that position. And if they want to move Richie on the right or keep Alistair Johnson, that actually did also an OK performance too.
But Richie today was really, really good.
Or you make one of them a winger. The left wing is a bit of a question mark. The wingers are a bit of a question mark. The funny thing is we're sort of in Stanley Cup finals, NBA finals mentality where you want to react to the next match by what you just saw. But of course, you're playing a different team. And Qatar has very different characteristics than Bosnia. We knew Bosnia was going to be great on set pieces, both attacking and defending. We knew they'd hunker back. All of that played out exactly to a T. So going back to a bigger lineup, starting promise and Kyle Lahren getting big defenders in there,
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:03–2:13
2
Where was Vanni Sartini watching Canada vs Bosnia and what was the Halifax fan atmosphere like?
2:13–7:11
3
How did Vanni Sartini evaluate Canada’s overall performance against Bosnia?
7:11–8:51
4
Why did set pieces cost Canada an early goal and could Maxime Crepeau have done more?
8:51–15:20
5
What did Sartini say about Richie Laryea’s attacking and defensive impact?
15:20–15:39
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Sekeres & Price Show
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