I’m trying to remember a time in Canadian soccer when we faced so much uncertainty – on so many fronts.
Yes, some huge and recent progress has been made. But from the national teams, to the pro teams, to player development, to the very governance of the game itself, pretty much anything you might care to lean on is largely written in the sand right now.
Howzabout 10 unanswered examples? (Not in order of approximate importance.)
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- Toronto FC: Just when I’m ready to write the “Write off the year; give Aron Winter some time to build a contender” story, here come young, skilled Dutch players. Is the theory that playing in MLS, under Winter, is a legitimate way to build a stronger career at home? How does that translate into an MLS playoff hunt? Maybe the best way to cure DeRo’s sulking is to finally give him some solid, effective wingers? Sure couldn’t hurt – but we … know … nothing.
- Vancouver Whitecaps: Make the playoffs on their first try? Win the Voyageurs Cup? Discover, too late and to their overall dismay, that there was more than Mo Johnston keeping Toronto FC out of contention these past four years? Until live MLS games start popping up in the Whitecap win column, everything’s a question right now. They certainly give the impression of having done more things right on the way in that TFC had done four years ago. Again, though, we don’t know.
- Montreal Impact: Started training camp with a skeletal roster, which seems rather a long way from moving up to MLS a year from now. Owner Joey Saputo always seems to be playing chicken with somebody or something, but not many franchises have ever had to face playing one last lower-level season in a league that came within an eyelash of not even existing. So – play to win this year, or to be ready for next? “Both,” I’m sure the official answer comes, but in this case, they don’t know.
- FC Edmonton: Okay. FCE has been a modest idea, and a very limited reality. Their coaches have departed for Japan, and their one player-related headline involves selling a decent prospect overseas. The late confirmation of their league’s existence can’t be helping, either. All we know for sure is that they are scheduled to appear in one quarter of all NASL-2 games, and they’ve drawn Toronto FC home-and-home in the Voyageurs Cup. At least they haven’t predicted drawing 50,000 fans to Commonwealth Stadium in the past four weeks or so. As the new season dawns, this is Team Question Mark.
- Women’s World Cup: Oh, right! Will Canada win the right to host the 2015 Women’s World Cup? The bid’s in, and there’s only Zimbabwe to squeeze past. Then again, United States only had to pip Qatar to land 2022, and how did that work out? A win here would be hugely positive for the ongoing development of international soccer as something that actually means something to Canadians in general. But, at a time when playing fair and well can put you at a fatal disadvantage in the FIFA boackrooms, who the heck knows?
- Women’s National Team: No sooner had CSA go-to lad Peter Montopoli finished La Grande Schmooze with FIFA, he had to tap-dance down the Italian coast to renegotiate with Canadian women’s national team coach Carolina Morace. Folks, this dispute isn’t about how much money the Canadian women’s team gets. It’s about whether Morace can access the funds she’s been promised. Keeping the coach may not, in the end, even be possible. But can Montopoli clear the decks and keeping the promises? And will the women boycott the Cyprus Cup? And will they show up for their well-earned World Cup shot?
- Men’s National Team: Are they good enough? Will they ever be? They should be the biggest beneficiaries of CSA governance reform – if we could just get past the ongoing delays.
- Second-tier soccer: I refuse to call this league the NASL, but I’m glad it’s got another legislative kick at the can. The USSF’s ardent desire to end instability at the D-2 level just about clear-cut the entire shebang. Now there are only eight teams, some of which are clearly shaky, many of which are owned by the same corporation. Meanwhile, a grand, solid side like Rochester has ducked down to D-3 – seeking stability! This is the mess the Montreal Impact have to negotiate, en route to The Show. Part of me wonders if any Edmonton v Minnesota games will even be played.
- Third-tier soccer: And just like that, the Canadian Soccer League has-washed-its-hands-of / been-dumped-by two-of last year’s three ultra-promising expansion clubs. Hamilton Croatia and Milltown FC swear they’ve got a new league to go to, but who’s in it – and who’s going to sanction it – is about as clear as a typical CSL press release. (Which ain’t ideal.) Milltown exec Dino Rossi used to tell me over dinner how a Canadian league at this level should be run. Now, he’s finally got his chance.
- CSA governance: Turning to the long-term uncertainly forecast, how will the Alberta membership respond to having their pro-governance wishes utterly ignored by their own representatives at the recent CSA SGM? Once the offending “directors” are hoofed, will there be a move to reopen the governance debate, and try to get the original plan passed at the CSA’s upcoming spring AGM? And – as long as we’re dreaming in technicolour – why exactly the heck is Dominic Maestracci still president of the CSA?
It will be raining answers very, very soon.
Onward!