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    Guest
    The Montreal Impact decided that the player first branded as the best acquisition of its early MLS existence was no longer the man of the situation, confirming on Tuesday it traded veteran Jamaican international keeper Donovan Ricketts to the Portland Timbers. In return, Montreal picks up 2006 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Troy Perkins.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Acquired through trade from the LA Galaxy, Ricketts has been by far the biggest disappointment of Year 1 in Montreal.
    The 2010 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, twice Western Conference champion before winning the MLS Cup in 2011 (albeit as a backup following a severe injury) was everything Montreal was hoping for on paper. A veteran with international experience, but mostly a winning record to help the “promoted” club reach its playoff goals on its first attempt.
    With multiple blunders, particularly on high crosses, free kicks or corner kicks into the surface, Ricketts quickly lost his bosses' trust and they started to look at ways to get rid of the Reggae Boy.
    SoccerPlus has learned that the Impact had contacted two Western Conference clubs to offer Ricketts before the All Star Game. Knowing the "buddy-buddy" relationship between Montreal’s management and its former D2 opponents, we believe Seattle or Vancouver to be the other club in talks along with Portland before a deal was struck.
    The Impact was looking for anything else than a starting MLS keeper in exchange for Ricketts. Despite the monster performance of backup Evan Bush in the midweek friendly against Lyon a few weeks ago, Montreal’s coaching staff did not appear willing to give another chance to the young American. As for Greg Sutton, who is still training with the club despite telling relatives and friends a few weeks ago that he was calling it quit, it's been clear since that he’s no longer part of Montreal’s future plans.
    Then comes French keeper Jeremie Janot, who fell out of favour with his coaches at St. Etienne. Janot first spent a few days visiting and training with the Impact earlier this year and was later offered on a free loan from St. Etienne by National Sports Management Agency, who recently acquired his North American rights.
    According to European sources, Janot was ready to come and finish the 2012 season freely in order to make himself a name in North America.
    The Impact preferred to go with another keeper with a MLS track record rather than try its luck with a Euro guy that has no North American experience.
    The one thing left for the Impact was the financial situation, due to Ricketts relatively high salary (the best paid keeper in the league at $ 275 K according to the latest Players’ Union salary list against $ 201,8 K for Perkins) and how that affected Montreal’s standing against the salary cap.
    It is impossible to this day to confirm if a gentlemen's agreement had been reached between Montreal’s sporting director Nick DeSantis and Portland’s Gavin Wilkinson before or after the All-Star Game, but the Impact’s brass was in Philly to meet with league officials in order to find a way for the trade to happen within the salary cap policies.
    All lights apparently turned to green for the trade to go through, but we’ll get back to this later.
    Who is Perkins?
    With Troy Perkins, Jesse Marsch is reunited with a U.S. National Team pool player. Perkins started his MLS career at DC United in 2003 after signing a development player contract having been left behind at the draft. He took over from Nick Rimando and in 2006 he was named the league’s goalkeeper of the year.
    Following tryouts in England with Bolton and Everton, he ended up signing a five-year deal with Norwegian side Valerenga, but only stayed there for two seasons after revealing his wife could not adapt to life in Scandinavia.
    Perkins returned with DC United in 2010 alongside young netminder Bill Hamid, but without much defensive support, he ended the campaign with an atrocious 3-15-4 record and was left unprotected for the following expansion draft marking the arrival of Portland and Vancouver in D1.
    Whereas the Whitecaps turned to Joe Cannon, the Timbers claimed Perkins from Washington. The new Timber was to start all over with a backline anchored by Mamadou Danso and Eric Brunner. Nothing to help on the stats sheet!
    Behind Nesta, Ferrari, Camara and Rivas (when he’s not suspended or injured…), there’s a good chance we will see the Troy Perkins that caught the eye of U.S. coaches and European scouts.
    Only under the age column (Perkins’ four year younger than Ricketts), the new keeper has more value. None of these clubs will be in the playoff picture at the end of this season so this trade was worth the try.
    Many contract-related unanswered questions are raised by this deal, taking us back to that Philadelphia meeting between the Impact and MLS.
    How did the Impact convince Portland to pick up Ricketts’ salary, over 36% higher than Perkins’?
    Should we understand that Montreal promised to pay the balance of Ricketts salary this season? This would explain why has Wilkinson declared the swap was “an opportunity to optimize our budget numbers in 2012 and 2013”?
    Furthermore, if Montreal took on Ricketts' salary, what does this mean for the Impact’s standing against the salary cap?
    Did Montreal spend a huge chunk of its allocation money piled on through the latest series of in-season trades to settle this issue?
    Despite all these questions, at the end of the line, the Impact comes out winning this transaction on the field. Perkins is more trustworthy than Ricketts and the defensive quality he will benefit from is much higher than anything he had since returning to MLS.
    Let’s hope for the Jeld-Wen Field regulars that Ricketts will relaunch his career on the right foot.
    Guest
    FIFA announced today that it was reviewing actions by the Canadian women's players following their loss to the U.S. women.
    Christine Sinclair, Melissa Tancredi and Erin McLeod all sounded off on what they reviewed was biased refereeing to local media following the match.
    The governing body did not indicate what punishments - fines or suspension - could be handed out if the comments are deemed to warrant discipline.
    Update 3:54pm ET - CSA declines comment on which players will be facing a FIFA investigation. Meanwhile, a video of Melissa Tancredi is beginning to make the internet rounds.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3ggsT2HWkc&feature=youtu.be
    Guest

    Breaking down "the call"

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    In the moments following “the call” few have taken the time to see whether it was even correct -- did Erin McLeod hold the ball for more than six seconds – and if it was consistently enforced – was that the only example of an infraction occurring.
    CSN went back and looked
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Since we cannot show Olympic highlights here we will need to describe the action. If you want to watch a full replay of the match you can do so here.
    First, the incident:
    76:36 - McLeod gets hands to ball.
    76:37 – McLeod is fully in control
    76:40 – McLeod stands up and takes a couple quick steps forward
    76:45 – After walking for three strides, McLeod waves her defenders forward to indicate that she was going to kick up field. She dribbles the ball on the ground.
    76:47 – McLeod kicks
    76:48 – Referee blows the whistle to call the free kick.
    So, a liberal interpretation has McLeod with the ball 12 seconds, a more conservative interpretation is 10 seconds. As Daniel Squizzato wrote this morning, by the letter of the law she is guilty of an infraction.
    The spirit is another thing altogether. The only way we can measure that is to look at whether the referee consistently called the play the same way for both teams, throughout the game.
    Picking a random point of the game (the 24th minute) I measured the next three times the goalkeeper had the ball in their hands.
    As chance would have it, McLeod had one punt that also took 12 seconds. Much of her same actions were repeated. She gained possession, quickly looked to move it, then gathered and slowed the play down waiting for her team to get up field. One habit she may wish to break is that in both cases she walked with the ball – and not a purposeful walk, but rather a stroll that gave the indication that she wasn’t in much of a hurry.
    In Solo’s case she did release the ball within six seconds on the first possession when she rolled it to a defender in four seconds. Of note is how quickly that play appears on first observation. It’s noticeably faster than the typical re-start, but yet is just two seconds from the technical limit.
    Her second possession was put back in play after an estimated 10 seconds. You can see it at 28:59. I say estimated because the feed cut to a replay at 29:05, six seconds after Solo gathered the chip, and re-joined the play at 29:10 with the ball coming down from the punt. It was first touched at 29:12. If you assume a three second hang time you come to the 10 second estimate. Regardless, the ball was not in play at the six second mark
    This is not meant as a “gotcha” moment, but rather an illustration of how normative it is for a keeper to take about 10 seconds to put the ball in play. There was nothing exceptional about Solo’s re-start and literally no one world would have been calling for a foul.
    Just as no one in the world should have been calling for McLeod to be called for a foul.
    Guest

    Weekly Commentary & Analysis Show

    By Guest, in SoccerPlus,

    This week we talk women soccer with Sophie Drolet following the epic semi-final match between Canada and the U.S. in Manchester. We also have a live-to-tape segment recorded in downtown Montreal with our visiting guest commentator Jonathan Tannenwald, who came to town to witness his Union's 2-0 loss to the Impact at Saputo Stadium.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Also hear from Italy based French reporter Thierry Cros on the Marco Di Vaio affair before an italian sports tribunal. Special thanks to Sofiane Benzaza for graciously letting us use this interview in this week's show.
    You can hear all this and more by clicking here.
    Guest

    Sober Second Thoughts: Opportunity

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    That could be it.
    Christine Sinclair might play 10 more years and never touch the performance that she put in yesterday.
    You all saw it - three goals, a competitive spirit rarely matched by any Canadian athlete ever and a will that almost damn well lead the Canadian women's national team to a medal all on her own.
    One day later there is really no need to analyze the performance. It was, clearly, the best performance by a Canadian footballer, either gender, ever. It might stand as such for a very long time.
    Words cannot describe it properly.
    What we can do is start to analyze what it might mean, both for Sinclair and the sport itself.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Readers of CSN don’t need to be told about Sinclair’s talent. Her 143 goals stand tied for second all-time in the woman’s game and there are many that think that her very best years may yet to have come. Moving to more of a withdrawn forward role in this tournament and, seemingly, excelling at it, Sinclair will play at least through to Canada 2015, and if she plays that long she might as well stick around for Rio too.
    So, we haven’t seen the last of her. And, she will get better, score more goals and, being three years younger than Abby Wambach, will end her career as the all-time leading scorer.
    As stated, readers of CSN know all this. Now, the rest of country does too. Listening to talk radio yesterday following the game was eye-opening and a reminder of how much of a reach the Olympics has. Sinclair was on everyone’s mind and everyone was reaching to find the biggest and best compliments they could find to describe her.
    On the Prime Time Sports radio program, which is syndicated across the country and is widely listened to, former Toronto Star columnists Dave Perkins (one of the biggest critics of the building of BMO Field and not remotely a soccer fan) said Sinclair was “the early club house leader for the Lou Marsh Award” (Canadian athlete of the year). That’s especially notable since Perkins is one of the voters.
    Appearing on a panel after the game, I listened as Atlanta Beat coach James Galanis agreed with my assertion that Sinclair should be a finalist for the Ballon d'Or. He also suggested that Sinclair would be the “first or second” choice of his if he was starting a professional team.
    Standing in Toronto’s St. George subway station last night, I witnessed a young man of about 20 take a cell phone photo of a 15-foot high poster of Sinclair that is displayed on the stairs connecting the University line with the Bloor/Danforth line (if you’re not familiar with where that is, it’s likely the second busiest transit exchange in the country).
    More importantly, every-day-Canadians were talking about how inspired they were by her play and how their kids – girls and boys – wanted to go out and kick a soccer ball around today because of her.
    She’s a household name this morning.
    The key – and obligation – of the CSA over the next three years will be to maintain that profile. The immediate excitement of her performance will pass – the Leafs will trade for a third liner, the Canucks and Oilers will play a game on a Wednesday in February, Quebec City will get its hockey team back, and with those things Canadians will become distracted. That’s reality.
    But, they can be reminded. The CSA needs to lobby to make sure Perkins stays true to his word, and it should slap the right backs at FIFA to get her Ballon d'Or love (winning might be an ask too far, but that the second all-time scorer has never so much as been a finalist is absurd).
    When the Canadian men play their World Cup qualifiers in September and October they need to get her to Toronto and get her in front of the crowd.
    Actually, they should ideally get the whole team to the stadium and, preferably, playing a game there around the same time. Take advantage of the current buzz to sell tickets, packaging them with tickets to the men’s game too.
    Then get them to as many different parts of the country as possible. Moncton again. Montreal is a given. Vancouver can host them in the winter under the roof. After the snow melts, get them everywhere else in between.
    They always should have been doing that. Now they need to do it.
    In the days ahead there will be time for a sober reflection on the overall performance of the team. And, it would be foolish and irresponsible to think all was perfect about London. They did lose yesterday and three of the four goals can’t be blamed on the referee. They still haven’t beat a higher ranked team at a major event since 2003. They took advantage of an opportunity yesterday to play in a way that gained them many new fans. If they are to take advantage of that they need to be honest with themselves in the post-mortem. Otherwise it will be 2003 all over, when an unexpected result – based on a single game – gave them a false sense of where they stood in the world’s peaking order and arguably held the program back years.
    That reflection must come in the days ahead. However, today, and in the immediate future, they must take advantage of the excitement they’ve created.
    Guest

    Don't Fight The Laws: THE CALL

    By Guest, in Some Canadian Guys,

    I used to do this semi-regular feature, in which I'd answer questions from readers about the Laws of the Game and their application in real-life situations. The questions trailed off a bit, my interest waned a bit, and the feature seemed to have disappeared.
    But there was one call -- THE CALL -- in Monday's Olympic semifinal that absolutely needs clarification, not just because it befuddled 99% of the viewing audience, but because incorrect explanations were subsequently provided by various media sources.
    By way of background, I've been a certified referee for over 12 years, and while I've never gone beyond local competitive and recreational games, suffice to say I've developed a pretty good working relationship with the FIFA Laws of the Game in that time.
    So, without further ado, the question I'll ask myself on behalf of everyone who scratched their heads while watching the game: What, exactly, was the call the ref made when the USA was awarded an indirect free kick inside Canada's penalty area late in the second half? And if an infringement occurred, was the referee correct to award that indirect free kick?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    The Olympics have a funny way of making everyone in the world an expert on the intricacies of sports that they'd never seen or heard of before the Olympics began. Soccer, of course, is no different. Within minutes of Norwegian referee Christina Pedersen's contentious decision, social media erupted with alternate explanations as to how she should have handled the situation. Many explanations bore no resemblance to anything written in the Laws of the Game; but hey, Twitter is no place for fact-checking.
    Now, whatever Pedersen's failings in the game as a whole, whatever poor decisions she may have made (including the penalty kick awarded to the USA immediately following the indirect free kick) and whatever undue influence she may have had over the outcome of the hard-fought contest, one thing must be made clear. And as an unabashedly hyper-partisan Canadian fan, it pains me somewhat to admit this, but in the interest of the facts, it needs to be said.
    By the letter of the law -- certainly not the spirit, and certainly not according to the standard set by nearly every other professional game officiated at any level, including Pedersen herself in that very same game, but by the absolute, black-and-white, as-it's-written letter of the FIFA Laws of the Game -- the call was entirely correct.
    According to Law 12, the goalkeeper must release the ball from their hands within six seconds of taking control of it. Pretty straightforward. The keeper is considered to still be in control of the ball while bouncing it, so the six seconds continue to tick (and an attacker is not permitted to steal the ball away from them) in this case. In the event that the keeper doesn't release the ball within six seconds, the opposing team is awarded an indirect free kick from the spot where the infringement occurred.
    Now, no highlight package I've been able to find includes the entirety of Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod's time handling the ball in this instance. But let's say, for the sake of argument, that after corralling the ball off a USA corner kick and going to ground, she did indeed control it for longer than six seconds. Let's also take as read the fact that the referee -- in an absolutist, by-the-book sense -- was within her right to award the indirect free kick to the USA.
    This is where we tread into dangerous, subjective territory -- the "spirit" of the law, if you will. The six-second rule exists, as you'd imagine, to discourage goalkeepers from wasting time when their team is ahead. After all, if this rule or some variation didn't exist, a goalkeeper could theoretically just hold onto the ball for 40 minutes, with the opponents unable to do much about it, short of drop-kicking them in the chest. So within the "spirit of the law", the referee needs to be under the impression that the keeper is attempting to unfairly waste time by maintaining possession for more than six seconds.
    Is that what McLeod was doing in this case? She didn't think so. Canadian head coach John Herdman didn't think so. But Pedersen did.
    Beyond that, we have other factors that go into any referee's decision (even though, in an absolutist, by-the-book interpretation of the world, they're not supposed to): circumstances and precedent. All sports fans know that what gets called in the first minute of a game isn't the same as what's going to get called in the last minute of a game. Referees, being human, are inexorably influenced by the context of the game, the crowd and any other number of factors. And I don't use the word "influenced" here to suggest any sort of malfeasance; rather, I'm saying that to expect human referees to operate as rule-processing automatons simply isn't realistic.
    In this regard, fans generally expect that officials will, to some extent, "swallow their whistles" late in games, or in games of massive significance. We're often told that no one wants referees to have an impact on the outcome of the game -- this line of thinking is, of course, ridiculous. Referees always have an impact on the outcome of any game; what people mean is that when everything is on the line, they'd rather see the referee not make a call than make one.
    That applies exponentially so in this case, when we consider the issue of precedent. The next time you're watching a game, at any level, count the seconds that either goalkeeper controls the ball with their hands. Chances are, you'll get past six on multiple occasions. But you're not going to see those goalkeepers punished, even if their team is winning. The fact of the matter is, the rule is so rarely enforced that many long-time fans of the game admitted on Monday that they didn't even know it existed.
    But then, ignorance of any law is no defence, ultimately. Which is why, by the way, I'd like to take a moment to dispel a couple of myths that are circulating about the rule:

    Myth: The referee was compelled to warn McLeod about time-wasting before enforcing the six-second rule. Nowhere in the Laws of the Game is it stated that the referee is under any obligation to do this. From a game-management standpoint, it's in their best interest to do so, perhaps, but it is not required.
    Myth: The punishment should have been a yellow card, and McLeod should have retained possession of the ball. If McLeod had been taking a goal kick, and had been wasting time before taking it, the referee would have been within her right to show a yellow card for unsporting behaviour, whereupon McLeod would then still take the goal kick. But this is a different situation, one that's explicitly spelled out in the Laws of the Game.

    None of any of this is any consolation to players and fans still seething at the call, and at Pedersen's performance in general. While human officials have their flaws, one of the ostensible benefits is that they are capable of applying the rules of a sport in such a way that takes into consideration such issues as the spirit of the rule, the circumstances of the game and precedent. Suffice to say, that did not take place in this case.
    If nothing else, this incident proved that it is entirely possible for a referee's decision to simultaneously be technically correct and dead wrong.
    .
    Guest
    Imagine, if you will, that you've spent months -- years, even -- dreaming about a job you've always wanted. Through hard work and determination, you've earned yourself an interview for that job, and you feel ready. You're prepared, you're focused and you're pretty sure you've got everything you need.
    You leave home, with plenty of time to spare. As you've done countless times before, you cut across the road to shave a few seconds off your travel time. Then, you hear a siren. You don't think much about it, until you realize -- it's for you.
    Jaywalking. This bored beat cop is really going to write you up for jaywalking? Who does that? Everybody jaywalks! Sure, everyone knows it's not allowed, technically, but really, has anyone ever been called out on it? Ever?
    You get to the job interview on time. But you just can't get the run-in with that officer out of your head. Maybe you're a bit frazzled. Maybe you aren't able to think on your feet quite as quickly. Interview's done, weeks go by, no word. You don't get the job, even if you felt it was yours for the taking.
    You'll never know whether that bit of jaywalking was the determining factor -- maybe you'd have messed up the interview on your own, maybe they were always going to give the job to someone else anyway -- but you do know that you'll never, ever forgive that cop for taking away something you'd felt you'd earned.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Canada, it would seem, had its dreams of Olympic gold unravel on Monday thanks to the on-field equivalent of jaywalking: A near-incomprehensible decision by the referee to invoke one of the game's more obscure and rarely-enforced rules gave the Americans the perfect opportunity to knot the game with 15 minutes left. In Norwegian referee Christina Pedersen, the women's national team has seemingly found its answer to Benito Archundia, the man in the middle when the men's national team found itself similarly hard done-by in
    . But to shine the spotlight on Pedersen (a sin of which I'm clearly as culpable as anyone else, given the first six paragraphs of this piece) for decisions made and not made over the course of the 120+ minutes would be supremely unfair to the Canadian team that put forth the effort into creating one of the most exciting and inspiring (but ultimately heart-wrenching) games that fans of the sport in this country have ever witnessed.
    Praise for Christine Sinclair seems almost redundant by this point, but is well deserved nonetheless. The truly great athletes are the ones whose supreme skills are on display when it matters the most. A hat trick against the world's #1 team, in an Olympic semifinal, is far more than any Canadian fan could ever expect or demand from Sinclair, or any player. Yet in the game's aftermath, she had the self-effacing audacity to suggest that she and her teammates had somehow let the country down.
    Nothing could possibly be further from the truth on this day.
    For while it was Sinclair whose name appeared on the score sheet thrice, and in the hearts and minds of countless people who'd never known they could care so much about a women's soccer game, the game was made what it was by the sheer concerted willpower of a team that was well aware of its goal, and what would be needed to achieve it.
    In the end, of course, the team came up desperately, agonizingly short of its main goal on the day: Earning a win over the Americans for the first time in 11 years, and guaranteeing themselves an Olympic medal.
    And while the oh-so-close nature of the game -- and the sense of referee-borne injustice which goes hand-in-hand with most Canadian soccer viewing experiences -- has won back many of the fans who may have drifted away following last year's World Cup disaster, perhaps most devastating about the outcome was the missed opportunity to finally change the overarching Canadian soccer narrative, for the women's national team and the national program as a whole.
    This Canadian team would have been full value for a victory over the U.S.A. on this day, and it's not often that that can be written. Indeed, no member of the team should hang their head in shame over this one (since they're likely already hanging them in disappointment) -- and there's still a potential bronze medal to be won, which represents a remarkable overall turnaround since Germany 2011.
    Winning a bronze medal over France, who've been the bane of the Canadian team for the past 12 months, would be wonderfully redemptive, though one has to wonder how much the players could possibly have left following such a physically and psychologically draining clash.
    Even a fourth-place finish, given the expectations some held for this team coming into the tournament -- and given how close they came to an appearance in the final -- could be heralded as a sign of progress three years before Canada hosts the Women's World Cup (even if fourth is often considered the worst spot to finish at the Olympics, for obvious reasons).
    Still, the team's job on the day was to defeat the United States, and with everything that the players were able to do under head coach John Herdman, it's clear it was a job Canada was capable of doing. But the players, and the fans, will forever be plagued by the question that will do none of us any good other than to rile up bitter passions: What if that beat cop could have just turned a blind eye to jaywalking, just like they always do?
    .
    Guest
    By Michael Crampton
    Let’s be clear: Toronto FC has virtually no hope of making the playoffs in 2012. There was a time in MLS when a (league record) nine straight losses to start the season might not have been an insurmountable obstacle but now, with only about half the league making the playoffs instead of 80%, picking up 0 of your first 27 available points has a way of stunting even the most optimistic projections. After last weekend’s home loss to the surging Houston Dynamo TFC have left themselves in a position where, to even have a chance, they need to win more than half their remaining games and can only afford to lose once. That’s not impossible but it’s damn unlikely and, even then, wouldn’t remotely guarantee a first post-season berth for the club.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    If, however, the illusion, the unrealistic and almost certainly vain ambition, is to continue then a victory Saturday night in Chicago over the host Fire is an absolute necessity. The Fire currently occupy the fifth and final playoff position in MLS’s Eastern Conference standings. Due to the 13 point gap between the teams it’s not fair to call this game “a real six pointer” but, with a further match against the Fire left for later in the season, Toronto still has a chance of closing that chasm to something more reasonable. The Reds can’t control the rest of Chicago’s results, or anyone else’s, but allowing the Fire to extend, or even maintain, that gap would truly start turning the unlikely into the impossible.
    From the Fire’s perspective they’re not looking over their shoulder at Toronto. An improving Columbus side, with games in hand, present a far more visible threat to Chicago’s playoff ambitions and that’s a gap that has narrowed considerably. The Fire are a club with justifiable pride in their consistency since joining MLS as an expansion team in 1998 and, for them, two consecutive playoff-less seasons has been a long time in the wilderness. After a bright start upon return from the mid-Spring international break Chicago have cooled off recently and only managed to win one of their last five matches. The need to refresh the squad and push on for the playoffs has seen head coach Frank Klopas make a couple major additions to his roster.
    First up was the designated player signing of Dutch forward Sherjill MacDonald. A surprise to just about everyone outside the club, use of a DP spot to sign a relatively unheralded striker from the Belgian league brings to mind Vancouver’s Mustapha Jarju flop of last season. Yet to start, MacDonald made his first appearance last weekend as a substitute in San Jose and should be in contention to see minutes against Toronto. Whether he adapts to the league and justifies the investment the Fire have made in him remains to be seen.
    More significant was the trade for Uruguayan midfielder Alvaro Fernandez. It’s actually the second time that Chicago have picked up a designated player from Seattle in a mid-season trade and the hope will be that Fernandez is more successful in leading the Fire into the post-season than Freddie Ljungberg was. A player of undoubted ability Fernandez never seemed to completely click with the Sounders always promising more than he managed to deliver. In acquiring him Chicago will hope that he can be an upgrade in the offensive playmaker role originally assigned to Sebastian Grazzini in the first part of the season.
    Grazzini’s fall from favour has lead to Chicago adopting a 4-2-3-1 formation instead of the 4-1-2-1-2 they preferred earlier in the season and, with Fernandez usually more comfortable in a wide rather than central position, it’s likely Frank Klopas will stick with a five man midfield with both Logan Pause and Pavel Pardo providing a stable central base for three more attacking midfielders to push on from. If Paul Mariner decides to play Luis Silva in the central role underneath a lone striker that he’s looked very effective in recently, with Torsten Frings and Terry Dunfield serving as dual holders in the middle, it’s quite possible that both teams could line up in formations that are essentially the same.
    For Toronto, the final question is whether this match will see the debut of their own new designated player acquisition Eric Hassli. Still listed as questionable due to the ankle sprain picked up in Chicago in his last game for Vancouver the French forward’s eye for goal could be a difference maker if Paul Mariner is comfortable with his fitness level. Hassli was on the bench but didn’t see the field against Aguila in midweek Champions League play and it’s not clear whether he was simply being protected for this match or not really ready to return. TFC didn’t need his goals in that game but anyone who witnessed their lack of offensive against a solid Houston team will understand supporters’ desire to see Hassli take to the field in Toronto red.
    Guest
    So, that settles it then. This isn't the same team we saw at last year's World Cup.
    Sure, most of the names are the same. But with a deserved, convincing win over the host Great Britain in the Olympic quarter-finals, these players have finally give the nation a glimpse of what they're truly capable of.
    For months on end, head coach John Herdman talked about the lengths to which he'd gone to ensure his team would be psychologically prepared for what they were going to face at London 2012. After a while, it became easy to presume this was just the latest batch of Kool-Aid that the Canadian soccer public was being expected to drink.
    Well, guess what? That Kool-Aid has ended up tasting mighty good.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Setting foot in a hostile environment, in front of 30,000 fans of the spiritual home of the sport, is a challenge for any athlete. But as in their round-robin game against Sweden, Canada came out strong against Great Britain and, on this occasion, were rewarded by scoring a pair of goals, rather than conceding.
    Now, if Jonelle Filigno tried to put that off-angle half-volley into the top corner 100 more times, how many would she hit? And would Christine Sinclair's free kick have had any chance to find the back of the net if the British wall had held and their keeper wasn't out of position?
    Don't bother answering either of those questions, because as has been said countless times: They don't ask how, they ask how many. And, as it happened, the "how" in both of these cases looked mighty damn good, regardless of what amount of good fortune may have gone into making them possible.
    Canada, thankfully, didn't rest on its good fortune and continued to apply pressure throughout the remainder of the match, snuffing out most British attacks before they could get going. It's sometimes said that 2-0 is the most dangerous lead to have in soccer; that sentiment didn't seem to apply during this match.
    While the British 'keeper may have been caught napping, the game was a redemptive one for Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod, roundly criticized for a number of mistakes that led to goals in Canada's previous matches against Japan and Sweden. Seeing her steadier and more assertive was a sight for sore eyes to Canadian fans.
    And while most of the roster remains the same from Germany 2011, the contributions of a few relative newcomers can't be understated. Lauren Sesselmann, who Herdman introduced to the Canadian program after he took over, has been a massive contributor throughout the Olympic tournament, both at fullback and at the centreback position she was forced to play after a slew of injuries.
    And Desiree Scott, while a veteran of the Canadian program, saw little playing time at Germany 2011 and had yet to fully find and capture her niche until the past 12 months. Her contribution to the team as a bulldozing central midfielder simply can't be understated -- and as she demonstrated in setting up Sinclair's goal against G.B., she can make an impact going forward as well.
    Now, the game wasn't perfect; few are. Canada was very fortunate to not concede a penalty in the 81st minute, when Rhian Wilkinson took down a British striker. And while Canada controlled a large portion of the game, the Brits were able to create a few chances that, with more clinical finishing, could have changed the story completely.
    But the only story that matters now is the one that's been written: The classic cross-border showdown between Canada and the U.S.A. is set for Monday, with a spot in the Olympic gold-medal game on the line. Whatever happens, Canada has, at the minimum, gone farther in the tournament than ever before, and assured itself of a chance to play for a medal, be it gold or bronze.
    Now, let's not kid ourselves about the task at hand here. The Americans are ranked #1 in the world, and have been for the vast majority of time that FIFA has kept women's rankings. In the Olympic qualifying tournament, they thoroughly dismantled Canada 4-0 (though a 2-1 game at Rio Tinto Stadium in June provided some encouragement). For the sake of hyperbole, let's say that Canada's all-time record against the U.S.A. is 3-935-12.
    But then, this is a Canadian team that has bought into a tactical system. It's a team that's been getting stronger, more organized and more confident with each game in this tournament. And it's a team that's been able to put the ghosts of 2011 firmly in the rear-view mirrors.
    This American team, while undoubtedly world-class, has some demons of its own from last summer. Remember, the U.S.A. needed an intercontinental play-off just to reach the Women's World Cup last year, after a shocking loss to Mexico in the semi-finals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament.
    A shocking loss in the semi-finals of an important tournament to a continental rival. Yeah, the Americans don't do it often. But it can be done.
    Can this Canadian team do it? If there were ever a Canadian side capable of it, you'd have to bank on this one, at this moment. They're still massive underdogs, sure -- but given what we've already seen so far, maybe it's time to top up our glasses of Herdman Kool-Aid. We'll know for sure on Monday.
    .
    * Galt F.C. doesn't count.
    Guest

    O'Dear or O'k?

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Based on the initial reaction to Toronto FC's signing of borderline Irish international Darren O'Dea, it's possible that some Reds' fans may boo his first touch. In training.
    O'Dea has the misfortune of not being Olof Mellberg and of following in the tradition of Marco Velez, Nick Garcia, Andy Iro and Ty Harden. No fan is prepared to let themselves get too excited by any signing, let alone one that was clearly plan D, perhaps for both parties.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    And, there is little doubt there are questions. Like the players listed above there are questions about his foot speed and he does seem to be on a downward spiral in his career (although he turned down an offer from Leeds, so one wonders what the full story is.) You can almost hear the Cel-tic Re-ject chants booming out already.
    However, there are things to like about the signing. For one, he's young. At just 25 he fits into the under reported and under appreciated youth strategy of TFC. Finally, the club is looking to establish a young core with (hopefully) an eye to keep them together for a long period of time. It took six years, but it seems TFC has finally learned that it's a bad idea to trade Sam Cronin for allocation money so you can sign 30 plus year olds in futile runs at the playoffs (out of respect for Vancouver and Montreal I won't illustrate that the Impact and Whitecaps seem not to have learned that yet and had better win now).
    So, that's good. What else is? Well, we aren't talking about a guy that came from the Indonesian third division. He was a regular starter in the Championship (a league that shares many of MLS' more frantic elements (speed, hard tackling and parity from top to bottom.) He should have a better understanding of what to expect than, say, Mista did.
    Due to TFC's salary cap situation it's safe to say they got him at a decent price and he still has lots to prove in his career. One of the fears with signing a DP defender is that the position requires a certain level of physical commitment that not every star player will be willing to bring. You need to do your homework and understand where the player's head is at least you end up with a player like, say, Mista (although Mista isn't a defender I'm sure most Toronto fans will be OK with us crapping on him twice in this article). O'Dea would be an idiot to mail it in. His career would be over if he did.
    There is little doubt that this singing is far from a sure thing. It's also pretty clear it's hardly a surefire bust.
    We won't know which way the signing is leaning until we see him on the pitch. Hopefully for TFC fans it's finally the former. History tells us to expect the latter.
    Guest
    Martin Rennie’s squad strengthening continued today when Vancouver Whitecaps announced the signing of 23 year old Brazilian midfielder Tiago Ulisses Aparecido Eugênio Sobral.
    Tiago Ulisses, as he is simply known, comes to Vancouver having previously played his short club career to date solely with Brazilian clubs.
    The Santo Andre native played football as a kid in his hometown before becoming a product of the Corinthians youth system in Sao Paolo from the age of 12. Tiago Ulisses was part of their U17 teams of 2005 and 2006 and signed his first professional contract with their reserve team, Corinthians B, in 2010.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    That same year he also saw time with Auto Esporte Clube.
    More recently he has played in what we would personally class the sixth tier of Brazilian football for Esporte Clube Noroeste in 2011 in the Sao Paulo Serie B and in kind of the fifth tier, Sao Paolo Serie A, for Botafogo in 2012.
    These are the State Championships, which fall outwith the National Championships, so it's not an exact comparison for all teams, but we feel it could be applied for these two sides' seasons. Depending on where teams finish in these State Championship and subsequent quarter finals, could see teams play in Serie A, B, C or D (we think!). See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_football_league_system" target="_blank">HERE</a> for a confusing explanation of the Brazilian footballing pyramid. If there's any Brazilians reading this then please explain!
    As is often the case with South American players, stats are sketchy at best, but from what we can find out, he played 11 games as a starter for Noroeste, scoring one goal, and has made 15 appearances with Botafogo this year without finding the net, eight of those as a starter.
    The last match we can find Tiago Ullises playing in was on April 15th in the 2-1 win against Guarani, but don't quote us on that one!
    Tiago is a box to box player, very much in the mould of Seattle’s Osvaldo Alonso. He has a bit of aggression about him, which the Caps badly miss in the team sometimes, and a lot of pace to go with that dig.
    Perhaps a little worrying is his 10 yellow cards accumulated in 22 of those games (we're missing stats on four of his apps). Potentially not a good mix for MLS on the one hand, but on the other it's the kind of aggressive player I've been crying out for. There are games when the Whitecaps really need to put themselves about a bit in the middle of the park and Tiago looks like he would fill that role very nicely.
    Overall he is rated as a 5 out of 10 on the <a href="http://www.sambafoot.com/en/players/7640_tiago_ulisses.html" target="_blank">SambaFoot</a> website, so make of that what you will.
    The addition of Tiago is most likely to be for depth and injury cover initially. He is listed on some sites as a defensive midfielder, but his highlight reel below certainly shows him playing in more attacking roles.
    The Whitecaps picked him up fairly cheaply salarywise and will spend the rest of the season fully evaluating him in his new surroundings and the games he sees minutes in.
    I wouldn't see it spelling the end of any of the first team regulars like Jun Marques Davidson of Gershon Koffie just yet and he will take his time to settle in and find his feet. At least he has his compatriot Camilo to help him feel a little more at home.
    Martin Rennie certainly seems pleased to have landed him:
    <i>"Tiago is a young and promising holding midfielder. He is strong on the ball and a solid tackler. The addition of Tiago offers us more depth in midfield and a player that we feel will do well in Major League Soccer."</i>
    As we mentioned when we <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?3565-Defensive-lapses-show-need-for-new-depth" target="_blank"><b>revealed the transfer on Saturday</b></a>, the signing of Tiago Ulisses was completed before the MLS international transfer window closed on Friday and was just awaiting all the final paperwork to be authorized by MLS.
    The Whitecaps have until the MLS roster freeze and trade deadline on September 15th to make any more additions, or cuts, to the squad, but they will now only be able to sign free agents.
    Here's Tiago Ulisses in action:
    <center>

    </center><p>
    Guest

    Toronto signs Darren O'Dea

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Toronto made it official this morning and announced the signing of Irish international Darren O'Dea.
    The Irish international, who has played for Celtic and most recently Leeds United, will be available immediately.
    Head coach Paul Mariner said this signing addresses their need for a leader in the back.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Terms of the deal were not released.
    CSN will have more reaction and analysis to the signing later in the day.
    Guest
    Author’s note: Before he jetted off to the Olympics last week, Canadian Soccer Association president Victor Montagliani chatted with Canadian Soccer News on a variety of subjects. This is the fourth – and final – of a short series of stories, based on that chat.
    In the final moments of our chat, I asked Victor how the recent sweeping round of CSA reforms are working out, in terms of the practical, day-to-day operations of the new, streamlined board of directors.
    “First, I think it’s gone well in the sense that the people around the table are very good,” he said. “And at the end of the day, it’s more about the people than the structure. The structure needed to change, and it did change, but I think the people around the table – starting with my fellow board members – are very good.
    “Everybody’s on board. There’s healthy debate.”
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    But Montagliani cautioned that reform is still a work in progress.
    “The Governance Committee chairman, Don Story, probably doesn’t want to hear this from me, but they’ve got a lot of work to do, in terms of finishing off a lot of the housekeeping items, and finding what are some of the issues that we need to tweak.
    “This model’s going to be organic. It used to be reviewed every three or four years. Maybe not like the big pieces that just moved, but there’s always stuff that needs to be looked at.”
    As far as the CSA’s new president is concerned, governance reform is a job that never really ends.
    “I think it’s important that it’s constant, and it’s continuous. That’s one of the problems that happened. It’s not so much putting a finger on one thing or another. We really didn’t pay attention to it for decades. And I don’t care what you do. If you don’t pay attention to something for that long, it’s probably going to need some oil – or a diet.
    “We’ve just got to get the president on a diet now!”
    Next week: My MLSE / TFC series kicks off for real.
    Onward!
    Guest
    Vancouver Whitecaps returned to training today after five days off following their loss to Real Salt Lake last Friday.
    In what will hopefully become at least an annual occurrence, Thursday saw the Caps hold their first open training session for 500 fans at Swangard Stadium.
    Admittedly most of the Whitecaps training sessions are already open to the public if you know where to go, but today's event was a special interactive session sponsored by Sport Chek and MC'd by club ambassador Carl Valentine.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    It was a mix of Southsiders, general fans and a lot of families at the specially ticketed event and those in attendance, including the players and management, marked it down as a huge success, with fans having the chance to train alongside the players at times and take part in a number of festivities to win prizes including scarves, balls and video games.
    One of the first activities of the day were some special relay contests led by team captains Alain Rochat, Jordan Harvey, Paul Ritchie and Jay DeMerit, along with a chosen fan for each team.
    Passing drills were next, first square and then two man crossing drills on each net, with fans cheering on their allocated side's goals scored.
    Then came an 11 v 11 intrasquad game, with one of the biggest cheers of the morning coming when Kenny Miller rounded Joe Cannon to score the only goal of the game. Let's hope we see a few more from the Scotsman next weekend.
    A mini game followed for half the squad, whilst those starting the Reserve game at Chivas on Friday took part in stretching exercises.
    Then it was time for youth to take centre stage as Russell Teibert, Michael Nanchoff and Greg Klazura showed off their ball juggling skills with some fans.
    At the end of training fans were brought on to the pitch and joined the team on a run around the pitch to cool down. That's a phrase I've never understood in my out of shape state!
    Martin Rennie addressed the fans a couple of times over the morning and Rick Celebrini talked about fitness, whilst Carl Valentine kept the festivities moving along at a fine and fun pace, as players mingled and signed autographs.
    I'm used to Club open days back in Scotland, which were always great fun, and the Vancouver Canucks have done open practices for years now.
    Although I'm not a huge Canucks fan, I've gone along most years and enjoyed it, but you never feel as close to the action and the players as with what the Whitecaps put on today.
    It's something we've mentioned before here on AFTN. Football fans in this city are lucky because we get to feel closer to our sporting heroes than fans of the Canucks and Lions and the players respond in kind.
    Let's hope there's a few more of these community events to come from the Caps. Based on the success of today, it seems like the sensible thing to do.
    There's some more photos from the training session below and you can view all of Christopher Vose's photos of the event <a href="
    " target="_blank">HERE</a><center>

    (No one gets the ball off Bazza)

    (Paul Ritchie ponders what Sicknote will injure next)

    (Mr Fitness and Carl Valentine)

    (Let the signings begin)

    (And some more fans go home happy)

    (The players go home happy too and full of peace and love!)
    </center>
    <p>
    Guest

    How much for that goal sir?

    By Guest, in SoccerPlus,

    A little exercise based on the recently published list of salaries of MLS players against the current goal total of these players reveal Montreal has paid the most expensive goal of the season.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    You were one of the 19,411 lucky ones who were at a packed Saputo Stadium to see the Impact defeat the Eastern Conference leading New York Red Bulls on July 28? Then we’ve got another water cooler starter for you. You were treated to the most expensive goal scored since the beginning of the MLS season.
    We have come to this conclusion by taking the recently updated list of MLS players’ salaries and dividing the dollar figures by the amount of goals these guys scored so far this year. The Impact's brass might choke drinking their espresso reading they have by far paid the most for a single goal this year: close to $2 million for the one goal so far this season from the club's first and only DP Marco Di Vaio.
    Ok now, hold on to the hate mail, this is not a very profound story. Just a funny way to play with numbers, nothing more. The best way to look at this would take into account the amounts of minutes played and allow foreign DPs to adapt to this league. Take Thierry Henry's numbers this time of the year in his first season. Much worst that what it is today.
    You won’t be surprised to find out that seven of the 10 most expensive goals in MLS this season were scored by the much trumpeted Designated Players. Only one defender ‘made the cut’, Whitecaps’ captain Jay DeMerit in the 10th spot.
    Missing from the list are four players whose salary is above $350K, but still haven’t scored this year, including Chicago’s most recent acquisition, Dutchman Sherjill MacDonald who has yet to play a game.
    THE MOST EXPENSIVE GOALS IN MLS (August 1, 2012)
    1. Marco Di Vaio (MON) $ 1,937,508.00
    2. Torsten Frings (TOR) $ 1,206,833.33
    3. David Beckham (LA) $ 666,666.66
    4. *Shalrie Joseph (CHV) $ 554,333.33
    5. Thierry Henry (NY) $ 509,090.91
    6. Benny Feilhaber (N.-A.) $ 446,000.00
    7. **Eric Hassli (TOR) $ 395,000.00
    8. Robbie Keane (LA) $ 379,693.64
    9. Danny Mwanga (POR) $ 356,250.00
    10. Jay DeMerit (VAN) $ 350,000.00
    *Recently traded from New England to Chivas
    **Recently traded from Vancouver to Toronto
    MLS Players with salaries over $ 350 K without a goal this season:Rafael Marquez (NY) $ 4,600,000
    Julian DeGuzman (DAL) $ 1,910,746
    David Ferreira (DAL) $ 705,000
    Shirjill MacDonald (CHI) $ 487,125 (has yet to play)
    Pat Bernier on the cheaper side of the ball
    If we apply the same calculation to the current Top 20 goal scorers, we come with a price tag of $17,647 for each of San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski goals, which amounts to close to 110 times less expensive than Di Vaio’s gem.
    The leader of our list is Seattle’s Eddie Johnson ($11,814.81), that Montreal sent to the Sounders for Mike Fucito (since traded back out West) and regular sub Lamar Neagle. Among the Top 10 of our list we also find Canadian international Patrice Bernier whose goals “cost” the Impact $ 24,888.88 a pop so far.
    CHEAPEST TOP 20 GOAL SCORERS (August 1)
    1. Eddie Johnson (SEA) $ 11,814.81
    2. Alan Gordon (SJ) $ 13,333.33
    3. Will Bruin (HOU) $ 13,500.00
    4. Maicon Santos (DC) $ 16,261.90
    5. Sene Saer (N.-A.) $ 16,538.20
    6. Chris Wondolowski (SJ) $ 17,647.00
    7. Chris Pontius (DC) $ 18,472.22
    8. Fabian Espindola (RSL) $ 20,833.33
    9. Patrice Bernier (MON) $ 24,888.88
    10. Kenny Cooper (NY) $ 25,500.00
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