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    Guest
    Last summer when the draw for the third round of Concacaf World Cup qualifying was announced, some of the wild hubris surrounding Canada's chances for advancement centred on the assumption Panama wasn't that good. Honduras would win the group, said conventional thinking, with Canada strolling through in second, likely breaking a sweat in the process.
    However, in the span of two hours on Friday Panama announced to the rest of the region that are actually quite good indeed. So unless Honduras remains surprisingly bad, Canada's chances for moving past this group are much shakier than they were even 24 hours ago.
    At the very least it sets up a massive game for Canada against Honduras on Tuesday at BMO Field.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    I was only able to watch the second half, but Panama impressed in their ability to work the ball quickly and at times attractively through the Honduran midfield. The scoreline finished 2-0 but if not for a missed injury time penalty it would have been even more embarrassing for Honduras.
    It's always a bit silly to prognosticate from just one game, but it appears now we have Panama, Honduras and Canada standing in a circle, each with a gun pressed to the temple of the guy on the left, trying to figure out who gets the top two spots in the group. That's not what Canada supporters signed up for last summer.
    Can Panama keep this up for the remaining five qualifying matches? Who knows. And of course, even if they do, their 'up' is not something Canada can't (at least theoretically) handle. FC Dallas' Blas Perez scored both goals Friday, one of them fairly spectacular, but he's no Lio Messi. He may not even be Dwayne Anthony De Rosario.
    The point is that Panama offered a neutral observer the sense they believed in each other on the pitch and that the result of the game was never truly in doubt. Honduras was crap. No cohesion going forward, nothing in their play that delivered hope. They hit the crossbar from a free kick and a long ball or two in the direction of Carlos Costly came close, but translate the Spanish match reports, anglicize a few names and you may as well be reading about Canada.
    Oh, speaking of the match reports, the Honduran fans are pissed. Completely knee-jerk of course, but a sample entry from the Diez.hn liveblog: SI ESTE TECNICO SIGUE CON NOSOTROS SERIA UN INFARTO PARA MMI (sic). I'll let you run that through Google Translate but the general sentiment is that they want a head.
    So Honduras arrives in Toronto next week humiliated and facing the prospect that by late Tuesday they will be tied with Cuba at the bottom of the group. I know when I'm picking a fight I always look for the guy who's desperate and cornered.
    The life is never easy when it comes to Canadian soccer.
    Photo credit: JorgeBRAZIL Flickr stream
    Guest
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]0[/ATTACH]
    Earl Cochrane, director of team and player operations for Toronto FC, is one of three people appointed today to the board of directors of the Canadian Soccer Association.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Cochrane served as TFC's interim general manager for the close of the 2010 MLS season, following the high-profile dismissal of coach Preki and original GM Mo Johnston.
    Also appointed to the board were two women:
    Karen O'Neill is a former CEO of Commonwealth Games Canada and COO of the Rick Hansen Foundation.
    Dr. Wendy Bedingfield is a Professor at the School of Recreation Management and Kinesiology at Acadia University.
    In addition, sitting board member Steven Reed has been chosen to fill the vice-president slot which came open when last month Victor Montagliani was elected CSA president.
    Nominations Committee chairman Paul Varian has just confirmed to me that Reed's new position opens the door for a fourth appointed director, and that name will be announced shortly.
    More details to follow soon.
    Onward!
    Guest
    Thanks to some technical difficulties, I missed the opportunity on Thursday to ask Canadian head coach Stephen Hart a question I was hoping he would address:
    On the verge of the men's national team's most important game in four years, what do you say or do to help the players relax?
    After the media call was over, though, I realized I had the answer all along. These players are professionals. Sure, they're excited given the game's importance, but they have well-worn rituals and routines to help relieve that stress. After all, they're ultimately in control of the game's outcome. They know that they, at the end of the day, are the ones who can affect the result.
    We, the fans, cannot. We are utterly and painfully helpless. So perhaps the question I should have posed to Hart was: What on earth can you tell me that will help me relax?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Given the way the mind of a Canadian soccer fan works, there's nothing Hart -- or anyone -- could have said, or can say, ahead of Friday's kickoff to ease any of the fears, tensions and outright anguish plaguing us now.
    Game's going to be hot, yep. Field's going to be awful, sure. The normal CONCACAF dodginess -- from facilities, to the refereeing, to allegations of the Cuban contingent spying on Canada during training -- will be in full effect, uh huh. Yeah, alright, OK.
    Frankly, it's all water off a duck's back, at this point. We're not the ones running in the 40-degree heat, or avoiding the on-pitch potholes, or putting our livelihoods at stake in a backwater hellhole of a soccer stadium. But from where I sit, they could be playing in the most pristine facility, under the most ideal conditions, and with none of the continental silliness playing a factor.
    Wouldn't make a damn lick of difference. I'd still feel as though I'd swallowed a Chia pet.
    This is navel-gazing at its worst, of course. But if you'd like a detailed match preview, it's not going to happen. Not here, not anywhere. Even Hart doesn't know who the hell Cuba is fielding. Though if you want a breakdown of how the Canadian team may look (or should look), feel free to click here, here, here and here.
    Of course, most of the focus on this game has gotten swallowed up by the massive marketing push behind the Euro tournament. And that's fine, I suppose. Makes sense, I guess. Financial sense, anyway, for the entities that have a vested interest in drumming up excitement for it. And don't get me wrong, I'm excited for it too, as a disinterested spectator. The quality of play will be top-notch; the storylines, compelling.
    But there is no storyline more compelling to me at this moment than Canada's attempt to get back to the World Cup. Not by a long shot.
    Feelings like this only come along once every four years. The bizarre, indescribable mix of hope, optimism, anxiety, nausea, isolation, fear and constant internal exhaustion... it's why we do this, right?
    It's why we support our national team, despite the ridicule, the ignorance, the indifference... because you know that some weirdo you've never met, in some town you've never been to, is inexplicably feeling the same thing.
    Oh yeah, also because you want to see Canada get to the World Cup.
    But by now, there's nothing more to say. The game is at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Canada. Cuba. Yep.
    Win, lose or draw, that internal battle is about to get a whole lot messier. Get ready, mes amis.
    .
    Guest
    It's not really about the move. Whether firing Aron Winter and promoting Paul Mariner is the right move for TFC is a question that only time will answer, and it's a question very few people in Toronto are much interested in thinking about today.
    Today, is a day for cynicism. Seven head coaches in just six years. Seven men that have each been presented as a new hope, the one that will lead TFC to the promised land. Six disappointing ends. You can forgive fans for not believing the hype of number seven.
    What is wrong with TFC? The question was directed to Tom Anselmi – the man who makes the hiring calls – during the press conference. He had no answer. No one does, but only one man has the power that Anselmi has. Only one man is also in charge of terrible basketball and hockey teams as well. This is not a space that tends to blame MLSE for the team's problems, but it's hard to ignore the commonality.
    At the press conference, Mariner said MLSE gives the club "everything they need to be successful" in MLS. He's not wrong. MLSE has never been cheap. Incompetent on the other hand...
    Regardless, it hardly matters. Anselmi isn't going anywhere and MLSE isn't changing anytime soon. You can't fire the owner and all that. So, you might as well try to evaluate what it is that they have done.
    Was it right to fire Winter? I don't see how you can argue against it. The man had only found seven wins in 44 league games. That's insanely abysmal. It's especially bad in MLS, a league that is designed to encourage parity.
    It's impossible to argue for him to stay and at the same time appear sane. It's not a knee jerk decision. The man was allowed to lose nine straight games. It wasn't working. It wasn't going to work. If Winter should have been fired is only half the question of course. The other half of that question is whether Mariner is the right choice. Had they made the hire instead of Winter 18 months ago it seems likely that most would have applauded it – a well respected assistant that has contacts in Europe and North America, he's long been seen as the next guy in line for a MLS job. There will be some out there that would have rather seen his former boss at New England, Steve Nicol, get the call, but the truth is Mariner is a logical, safe choice.
    This is Toronto, however, where any and all fan goodwill has been lost. Mariner will be granted next to no rope by the fans. The fans are sick of waiting for success. Right or wrong choice, Mariner had better be ready to deliver because no one wants to see an eighth manager in seven years.
    Guest
    Voting for the 2012 MLS All-Star game gets underway tomorrow.
    114 players have been nominated to be on the voting ballot by a panel of media members from across North America. Each of the 19 MLS clubs have six players nominated and the Vancouver Whitecaps on the ballot are: Joe Cannon, Davide Chiumiento, Jay DeMerit, Young-Pyo Lee, Sebastien Le Toux, Camilo Sanvezzo.
    Thinking of voting? I implore you, either don't or use your brain and not your heart.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    The 2012 game will take place on Wednesday July 25th in Philadelphia and comes near the end of a killer month for the Caps.
    July will see Vancouver play seven matches in 24 days, five of them are away from home, including a very difficult and tiring four games on the road to kick the month off.
    The Caps will be playing two vital Western Conference games around the All-Star match.
    San Jose will be at BC Place in a crunch match the Sunday before the game and then the Caps travel to Salt Lake in another key game to our playoff hopes just two days after the All-Star farce.
    Across the world, players and manager bemoan that they play in too many games and that they are tired. Martin Rennie did that after last month's spell with Voyageurs Cup games.
    Why do MLS want to add another game to their top players, especially when many of them will also be about to have extra games in the CONCACAF Champions League?
    As much as it would be nice to see some of our guys get recognition for their efforts, ballots like this don’t even do that. It's just a popularity contest and the big names get the nods, which at least works in the Caps favour.
    I would much rather our players performed out of their shirts for the remainder of the season and get their recognition when they hoist some silverware at the end of it all.
    My biggest concern is that Koreans everywhere will be voting for YP Lee, just because of who he is. He was one of the guys looking tired in May's busy spell.
    To those Koreans, and to every Caps fan, I say save your votes for the good of the team.
    If you feel you must vote, then vote for the six Real Salt Lake guys. They’ll be our opponents just two days later.
    Kyle Beckerman, Nat Borchers, Fabian Espindola, Jamison Olave, Nick Rimando and Alvaro Saborio are the guys that should be getting your votes.
    Make them travel from the west to the east and then back to the west in a short space of time and not our players. They're already getting an extra day to recover between games, as they play on the Saturday and not the Sunday like us.
    Let's hope the Whitecaps themselves use their brains and don't promote the voting too much.
    Vancouver will undoubtedly be given the All Star game in the next year or so. The completed BC Place will clearly be heralded as the ideal showcase for MLS' annual waste of time at some point soon.
    I guess the year we do host it, I’ll have to at least give the game a passing interest, but until then I just can’t.
    What is the point of the All Star game?
    To raise the profile of the league in North America and beyond? Does anyone really care that doesn’t already know about the MLS or that are fans of the team picked for the opposition (in this case, Chelsea)?
    Surely the aim should be to recognise players who have had an exceptional SEASON? Not just four months.
    I could buy into this more if they did it at the end of the year like the NFL do with the Pro Bowl. To have it just past the midway stage seems completely pointless when all the real all-stars in MLS will come into play in the latter stages of the season.
    July is way to early to judge who have been the League’s all-stars. Of course they would struggle to get any decent opposition in December and even less interest and $$$.
    Is MLS really that desperate for acceptance into the mainstream American sporting fraternity that it has to go for this All-Star bullshit? Is this the only way that officials feel that their sporting brethren will accept them as "major league"?
    From reading various fan forums these last few years, few seem to want the all-star game or have any interest in it. It detracts from the schedule and kills the buzz and momentum when the season is in full flow.
    The game is a waste of time, money and resources. All of which would be better spent improving MLS. It's our annual rant.
    Since we're stuck with it for now, it's important that we at least play in our part in making sure that the Whitecaps benefit from the game to the max.
    So say no to our six Caps and #VoteRSL.
    <p>
    Guest

    Winter fired.

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    For the seventh time in just six seasons Toronto FC is making a coaching change.
    A subdued Tom Anselmi made the announcement Thursday in a hastily called press conference at BMO Field. He said that Winter had been offered a job with the organization but that he had turned it down to pursue other opportunities.
    Paul Mariner takes over in what is being described as a permanent move. Mariner was the long time assistant to Steve Nicol in New England and briefly was in charge of doomed English side Plymouth before coming to Toronto.
    Although Mariner was long thought of as being the next sure thing MLS coach, there is no escaping that Toronto has once again hired a manager with less than two years' experience. This was Winter's first head coaching job.
    Mariner claimed that despite Toronto's 1-0-9 record that there need only to be minor adjustments made to the team moving forward. He refused to talk about specific tactics, saying only that the key to success was putting the right players in the right positions.
    However, many of the questions at the announcement focused on why TFC has struggled so much to get things right. Asked pointedly whether he had answer, Anselmi only could say that if he did, (we) wouldn't be here.
    It begs the question of whether he should be.
    Guest

    Euro envy

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    As appetizers go it’s a hell of a good one – hours before Canada starts back up in its World Cup qualifying campaign Euro 2012 starts. Unfortunately the latter will gain most of the media attention that day, especially in major urban areas where there the ex-pat communities will be out in full force.
    Good for them. Honestly. The time for banging our heads against the wall trying to lecture people into caring about the local game over the game in Europe has passed. People have heard the message about supporting local soccer and many of them have done so – even if they’ll be more excited about the Euros than Canada v Cuba.
    Hell, I’m equally excited. The European Championship might be my favourite sporting event in the world. In its current format it’s an orgy of spectacularly good soccer and it’s beyond wide open. This year there might be legitimately eight teams that you could argue to win. And that’s before you consider Denmark and Greece as past champions.
    This is going to be an enjoyable few weeks. I plan to write on it on a blog that I started just for the occasion. You can read Eurosnobs here.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    I hope to provide daily commentary, but am not promising. The reason I’m not is because I realize that this space must take priority and here we need to be focusing on the domestic game. This brings me to my one complaint about the European championships – the way it will be covered and given priority over local games here in Canada.
    It’s one thing for a fan to be focused on the excitement of the event at the exclusion of the domestic game. It’s quite another for the media to.
    News needs to be local. Local sources need to put their resources on covering the local game. If they have the ability to do that and cover the sexy foreign stuff as well, then great. But, let’s be honest here, no one is going to the Globe and Mail for their Euro insight. Not when The Guardian is a click away.
    Any Canadian paper that sends a reporter to Eastern Europe but not to Cuba deserves to be criticized. That paper also deserves to fall into the irrelevancy that is most certainly slipping towards.
    Enjoy the Euros – I will – but always remember that it’s the icing on our already filling domestic soccer cake.
    Guest
    This is the second in a series of posts dedicated to sharing stories from fans of Canadian soccer about how they came to follow their country and/or local club, and what it means to them. We're told soccer is wildly popular in Canada -- but too often, that means people who play but don't watch, or those who exclusively follow foreign clubs or national teams. While that's all well and good, it's not the same as being a Canadian soccer fan.
    To find out how you can be a part of this series and add your voice to the Support Local Soccer movement, see the end of this post. But in this edition, we head all the way out east to find a fan whose passion was born way down south, and whose philosophy should ring true from coast to coast.
    Like most kids in Mexico, Clemente spent vast swathes of his youth playing soccer, whenever or wherever he could: "mostly on the streets or really bad fields -- but it was a lot of fun!"
    But unlike most kids, he had the skills necessary to compete at a youth academy linked to Mexican heavyweight Cruz Azul for several years.
    And rarer still, he now finds himself a proud Canadian hoping to pass along his knowledge and experience to the next generation of young Canadian players -- including his son.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Clemente first came to Canada in 2000 to further his education, and settled in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. After a trip back to Mexico for several years, he returned to St. John's, where he now lives with his wife and son. Upon first arriving, he felt the itch to play competitive soccer once again, after he'd abandoned the sport for several years in favour of volleyball.
    "I am not going to lie," he says. "I thought, 'I am from Mexico, I should kick Canadian ass very easily... and at least in N.L.... it was sort of true.
    "I played intermediate level (which is a level below Challenge Cup) for two years and had a lot of fun. I found the game to be very physical but poor in terms of technique (this was in 2001) and game insight."
    But 2000 was, of course, the year that expectations were turned on their head in the international game -- especially when it comes to Canada and Mexico. Clemente points to that year's Gold Cup as the moment when his eyes were opened to the soccer potential in his new home.
    "Canada beats Mexico in the semifinals and then goes on to beat Colombia to win the Gold Cup," he says, when asked about the moment he became a CanMNT supporter. "Mexico was (and is) a far superior team in terms of technique, but Canada won it by will and that is something that I admire in any team.
    "When I was in Mexico, I kept track of their performance but it turned into something serious when I started coaching, as my dream is that one day one of the kids that I coach would be in red playing for Canada."
    Indeed, upon his return to Canada in 2008 was when Clemente's "coaching adventure" began. He stepped in when his son's U12 house league team needed a coach; but the coaching bug bit hard, and he took on several different coaching assignments in the years to come, with competitive and traveling teams in the region.
    "My goal as a coach is to develop players," he says. "The game here is very physical, so yeah, you gotta be fit to play the game. But my main focus is to develop the players' understanding of the game (what to do without the ball, decision-making at high pace, possession soccer, etc.)
    "My philosophy is that I don't care about the score, I care about how the game is played. For me, you need to respect the ball by keeping it on the ground and moving it towards the goal. My two main influences as a coach are Vince Lombardi (in terms of coaching philosophy) and Marcelo Bielsa (in terms of how I see soccer)."
    While Clemente no longer coaches his son, that doesn't mean the boy has dropped out of the game. Quite the contrary. He's currently practicing at the Regional Training Centre, a level below the National Training Centre, and is set to represent N.L. in the Atlantics this July. Like his dad, the boy began playing at a very young age (three years old, Clemente says) and showed above-average skills once he got involved in the game in an organized way.
    For any young player, surely the dream of a World Cup is in the back of their minds. And Clemente, who still holds a Mexican passport, has put some thought towards that potential possibility for his son.
    "There is a long way to go, sacrifices and a lot of work for him to do in order to reach a level where he could be playing professionally or have the level to play representing Canada," he says.
    "If that moment comes (where he has to make a choice about what country to represent internationally), what I'm telling him is that it is a personal decision -- but playing for Canada will be a great way to say thank you for the opportunities that he has here. I really doubt that he could have developed into the player he is now in Mexico.
    "Representing a country is not about money or who gets the best chance to win the World Cup, it's about representing the values and the people of that country, providing an example and motivation for young generations.
    "All I can do is lead by example and in that case, he sees me working every week in the development of players here in Canada, hopefully that will help when/if he has to make the decision."
    Clemente's son will get a first-hand look at what he could one day be playing for -- his dad is sending him to Toronto for the men's national team's World Cup qualifier against Honduras on Tuesday.
    "This is a good opportunity for him to see the soccer passion in Canada," says Clemente. "And plant the seed to play for the True North if he develops into a national elite player."
    But despite his love for all things Canadian soccer, and his dreams for his son, Clemente is also an example of how, in our multicultural society, you don't need to leave behind where you're from to appreciate where you are.
    "I do follow and support the Mexican team," he says. "Given the money and infrastructure in Mexico (and the U.S.) it is almost a guarantee that they will make it to the World Cup, so I have no worries there, unlike people from Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, etc.... For them, every game is war as there is only one spot left. (But) I want to see Canada as the third team (to qualify out of CONCACAF).
    "I will say that I will support Canada even vs. Mexico, because I know that Mexico will go through even if they lost... (But) in a winner-takes-all game... hmmm, I have no idea!"
    Clemente, like every Canadian fan with multiple allegiances, will have to cross that bridge and if when it comes. But for now, there is plenty of local passion for the game that he can continue to build on.
    "I know a lot of good people working towards the development of the game (in N.L.). We have now one indoor facility (three-quarters of a full-size field) and four turfs that are making a big difference in the development of the kids. I wish there could be more prepared coaches ... the potential in the kids is there, but they need guidance!"
    Guidance, of course, can come from the very top -- that is, the senior national teams. But Clemente knows as well as anyone that the results have rarely been there for Canada in that respect.
    "Following the (men's national) team is frustrating as I can see that most of the guys playing have the old school of physical game first, think maybe later," says Clemente. "The lack of game insight and understanding of the game is really really frustrating and I feel bad when I see it.
    "I want to see Canada do good, as I know that the sport is big in the country. There is talent to compete, we just need to work with it and make it grow! Every time Canada doesn't do well, I just go back to the training board and say, 'What can I do so my kids can develop and make things happen?'
    "If Canada makes it to the World Cup, it will be great! Then we could say, 'They did it, how can we improve that?' It will give the kids an example to follow."
    Do you have a story to share about how you, or a friend, were converted to following the Canadian game, at the club or country level? Send an email to canadiansoccerguys@gmail.com, and you might be included in a future edition of Canadian Converts.
    .
    Guest
    I couldn’t resist sidling up to the bar for another "Nightcap with a Whitecap" but this time I thought, "Why not make the interviewer the interviewee?"
    If you’re a fan of the Whitecaps, and I know you are, you’re most likely a fan of Peter Schaad. He’s the "Voice of the Whitecaps", providing play-by-play commentary and hosting <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEAMRadio-WhitecapsFCDaily" target="_blank"><b>Whitecaps FC Daily</b></a>, Vancouver’s first and only daily soccer show on Team 1410. He is also one of those rare, North American born-and-raised soccer commentators who genuinely eats, sleeps, lives and breathes 'The Beautiful Game'. To see him arrive kitted up in his Aston Villa gear really came as no surprise and the fact that he is one of the nicest, most charismatic people around wasn’t much of a shock either.
    To kick things off we started by getting the most important question out of the way, favourite nightcap?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <i>Scotch. Particularly Scapa. It’s so rare but it’s my favourite. I had to order some in, it cost a fortune, but I sent it to Point Roberts and ran it across the border… legally. I like a nice scotch, that’s something that has developed over time. I used to hate the smell, the taste, everything about scotch, but now, that’s what I like to have at the end of the night.
    … OR, a jagerbomb if you want to keep the night going.
    I realize those are two completely extreme things, but I’m German, so Jagermeister is like mother’s milk. If you have anything wrong with you, insomnia, stomach problems, a cold, whatever, it’s jagermeister.</i>
    (And just like that, Pete Schaad became my new favourite person...)
    <i>A jagerbomb, I don’t care how it makes you feel, but it tastes good. It has to be ice cold, but it’s one of the best drinks going.</i>
    And now onto something that might be a bit more difficult to answer, favourite Whitecap?
    <i>If I’m allowed to go back in time, I would have to say it was Peter Lorimer (1981-1983) because his name is Peter, and he was "Thunderfoot", and he scored some incredible goals. That was my "growing up time" of falling in love with the Whitecaps. It just seemed like he could do whatever he wanted. There was an arrogance to him, he was slightly overweight, I really like Peter Lorimer.
    From the current team, there are a lot of players to like, but because it’s so recent, I’m going to have to say Darren Mattocks.
    When I think of Darren Mattocks’ debut against Seattle, I think of Pavel Bure’s debut against Winnipeg. Every time Mattocks got the ball something happened. The fans got excited, and you cannot buy that. You cannot create that. That is a naturally born, talented, gifted, exciting player. I don’t want to build him up too much because he’s a young man and he needs to stay grounded, but the same thing happened in Portland, the minute he came off the bench you could feel anticipation that something was going to happen and wouldn’t you know it, he goes and ties the game.
    There are a lot of great guys on this team, a lot of talented guys, but there’s nothing that compares to the excitement of a player who can change the game in one second.</i>
    How do you feel about the team this year?
    <i>I feel pretty good about where we’re at.
    The change in EVERYTHING is so stark from this year to where we were last year. From this point on last year it was not fun to be around this team, and now, you always feel that there is a possibility of something good happening.
    I would much rather see the Whitecaps be the first Canadian team to reach the post-season than to see them win the Amway Cup. In this city, in this country, playoffs mean something, and I will not be surprised when and if they do that.</i>
    So you are clearly in favour of what Martin Rennie has brought to the organization this year?
    <i>I don’t want to come out and say that I have a "man crush" on Martin Rennie, but what makes people attractive is intelligence, confidence and vision, and he has all of those things. Rennie realizes what his own limitations are and has brought people with him to fill those areas. So there’s very little ego there. He’s not an egotistical man, he’s a visionary man.</i>
    What would you say are your favourite Whitecaps game-related moments?
    <i>I don’t think anything tops that first game ever against Toronto. It was historic. In your wildest dreams you can’t create that. You can hope for it, but even what you best hoped for was bettered. The weather, everything, it was unbelievable.
    I’m not the only one who has referred to that game as being a memorable, wonderful launching pad. Everything after that was a little dodgy… but then there have been two Eric Hassli goals that, in my lifetime, I will never see again.
    I’m always embarrassed when I listen back and think, "Oh, you are an idiot. You don’t have to get that excited." But how can you not?
    I’m not one of those guys who thinks about what I’m going to say before, I don’t write down little sayings, it just comes out and nine times out of ten I cringe after.</i>
    Do you get home later and think, "I should have said…"?
    <i>I don’t even get that far. I get in the car and I think, "oh man, I fucked that up." It’s agonizing sometimes. That’s the toughest thing about this job, is that there are going to be lots of great moments and you will never get it right, you will never get it perfect, and you will never be satisfied with it – at least I won’t.
    The game has to be the star, no one cares about you. [The listener] needs to visualize what’s happening and, through you, feel what’s going on.</i>
    How do you feel about twitter, social media, podcasts, etc changing the way of life for sportscasters?
    <i>It’s great. It’s an unbelievable way to connect with people, and it’s an incredible source of information. It’s just a different platform for profile, and in our business, profile is important. There are some days when I feel more like being involved, and there are some days when I don’t.</i>
    Do you think that’s changed things with the game itself?
    <i>Definitely. If I could give advice to players on how to use twitter, I’d tell them that "You are a brand, and you have to do everything you can to protect that brand. You have to let us into the world that we generally aren’t allowed to be in." There are a lot of Whitecaps who do that well and the club goes through a process of teaching the players that.
    We’re really lucky here in Vancouver. The players on the Whitecaps get twitter, they understand supporters and how important they are, and they’re generally very good communicators.
    That’s what twitter should do – take us to places we normally wouldn’t be allowed to be. I try to do that whenever I can, taking pictures of the stadium, in the booth, in the locker room…</i>
    I completely agree with you. Twitter is there for you to take pictures of Whitecaps in the locker room and tweet them to me… wait, did I get that wrong? Is that not what you meant?
    Time to get this back on track, when did you know you wanted to be the "Voice of the Whitecaps"?
    <i>It’s funny, and Bobby Lenarduzzi reminds me of this all the time, but back-in-the-day my dad was the Manager of the Sheraton Villa on Canada Way, where the players would go for pre-game meals before heading over to Empire Stadium. My dad started to get to know Bobby, and after they won Soccer Bowl in 1979 I really started to get switched on to the Whitecaps and I was really into it. This was a team that had won a North American Championship and was outdrawing the Canucks, they were the bigger deal in town at the time, so it was easy for a kid of my age to get into it.
    At that time I was also in love with the work of Jim Robson, one of the greatest sports broadcasters in North American history, and I always thought to myself, "If I could do that, that would be a great job."
    When I started to love soccer I thought, "I’d love to do that, but I’d love to do it for those guys." My dad said to Bobby, "My son really likes soccer, but he doesn’t want to play, he wants to be the play-by-play guy for the Whitecaps."
    I went through most of my young life thinking that’s what I wanted to do, but then of course the Whitecaps were gone in 1984 and that was that. Then ironically, as it turned out, years later I got the chance to do an audition and one thing led to another. It was a very surreal thing when MLS kicked off last year – I was almost overcome. On that first day, to have that day and to have that game – that whole day, I will never forget. It was weird. It was a life-long thing to get to that stage.</i>
    So you have wanted this since you were 10 years old? When I was 10 years old I wanted to be a My Little Pony. I guess it doesn’t work out for all of us… I digress.
    Sadly, it’s that time, any closing thoughts for our readers?
    <i>I think we’re in really good times. Not necessarily economically, but in the soccer landscape. There was a time, 20 years ago, when I used to imagine, "What would it take for the game to really thrive here?" and what I thought was, stadiums modeled after what we see overseas, supporters groups modeled after those overseas, and visionary owners who were willing to lose a little bit of money in the short-term for the long-term vision of what would be more than just a niche sport.
    To have what we have here in Vancouver, and all across North America, with these owners who are thinking ten years down the road of what will make this the best possible game? We should all feel very, very lucky.
    What I’m hoping is that ten years from now, you and I will sit down and look back at these humble times and think, "Wow, remember when? How meager those days were back in 2012…" and how it’s going to grow from there. I have extreme gratitude that things have worked out it terms of how the universes have converged in the game and we in North America have teams to support that are going to be around for a while, and that every year it is going to get a little bit better and a little bit better, and that for the owners it will become a better business every year.</i>
    Oh, Mr. Schaad, I would consider it an honour if you and I were to sit down together in a decade and reflect on the soccer landscape. A girl can dream…
    <a href="http://www.teamradio.ca/on-air/whitecaps-fc-daily/" target="_blank"><b>Whitecaps FC Daily</b></a> airs Monday to Friday from 3pm-4pm on the Team 1410. If you can't catch it live, <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEAMRadio-WhitecapsFCDaily" target="_blank"><b>podcasts</b></a> are available daily. You can also listen as Pete provides the play-by-play of every Whitecaps match on Team 1410.
    <p>
    Guest
    On this week's show, we wrap up Tuesday morning's NewEngland vs Montreal MLS Reserve League match, we discuss the Saputo Stadium media visit last week and we head out to Paris to talk Euro 2012.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Our reporter Raphael Larocque-Cyr attended the Impact's 2-1 loss to the Revolution at Claude-Robillard Sports Complex, the Impact's old digs. With Canadian Press reporter and SoccerPlus regular contributor Marc Tougas, we give our impression on the works at Saputo Stadium, talk about Alex Bunbury's younger son and on Quebec Soccer Federation backroom politics following Victor Montagliani's election at the helm of the CSA.
    Finally we cross the Atlantic to talk EURO 2012 with our French correspondend Cedric Ferreira in Paris, also to talk about the recent transfer rumours on the market.
    All this and more on this week's show.
    Click here to listen!
    You can also subscribe to our audio shows on the Canadian iTunes Store and on Stitcher Radio (www.sitcher.com).
    Guest

    TFC v Santos II

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Results of CONCACAF's "random" CCL draw below the jump:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Group 1
    Santos Laguna (MEX)
    Toronto FC (CAN)
    Aguila (SLV)
    Group 2
    Herediano (CRC)
    Real Salt lake (USA)
    Tauro FC (PAN)
    Group 3
    Olimpia (HON)
    Houston Dynamo (USA)
    FAS (SLV)
    Group 4
    Seattle Sounders FC (USA)
    Marathon (HON)
    Caribbean 1
    Group 5
    LA Galaxy (USA)
    Metapan (SLV)
    Caribbean 3
    Group 6
    Tigres UANL (MEX)
    Alajuelense (CRC)
    Real Esteli (NIC)
    Group 7
    Chorillo (PAN)
    Monterrey (MEX)
    Municipal (GUA)
    Group 8
    Xelaju (GUA)
    Chivas de Guadalajara (MEX)
    Caribbean 2
    Guest
    It was a 0-0 draw.
    So, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Canada extended its winless streak against the United States to 3,867 straight games, stretching back 567 years (or something like that) and it failed to put the ball into the net – an old, old problem. There were reasons for concern.
    There were also reasons for optimism. The team competed. They were organized. They seemed to care. At times in the 2010 cycle the latter point was not a certain thing. Canada’s talent level (within a CONCACAF context) is not the biggest issue. Its commitment level has been.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    That wasn’t in evidence Sunday. And, that’s a good thing. A very good thing. If they can play against Panama, Honduras and Cuba with the same conviction they will have every chance to qualify to the hex.
    I’m not convinced they can. I won’t be until I see it in action against a team that plays a style that they don’t match-up as well with, that is flopping around and is CONCACAFing them. It’s one thing to have a “goal” taken away in a friendly against the United States (when Tim Howard stopped playing because he saw the flag) quite another to have the spine to recover from a phantom hand ball in Tegucigalpa.
    Make no mistake that will happen. And, Canada will never qualify to the World Cup until it learns how overcome that sort of adversity. A friendly against the US will not prove that they can.
    Win in the blinding, midday Caribbean heat Friday against a better than given credit for (but still beatable) Cuba and a little more faith will be felt.
    Beat the old nemesis Honduras next week and you can start to dream.
    In many ways that Honduras game will be the most telling of the cycle. Every bit of recent Canadian history suggests that they won’t win that game. The Canadian national team has earned that pessimism.
    But if they can beat Honduras…coming off a win over Cuba…
    Then maybe we saw the beginning of something special Sunday.
    Guest
    This is hardly a question worth asking, is it?
    "Of course Hutchinson starts against Cuba on Friday," you're likely saying. "If he's fit."
    Here's the thing about fitness, though. There's no fitness switch. It's not a binary situation, wherein you're either fit or unfit. Every athlete -- every person -- is, at any given moment, somewhere on the continuum of fitness.
    So while there's a good chance Atiba Hutchinson will be physically capable of taking the field for Canada in World Cup qualifying, the question remains: Should he?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    "Of course he should!" you're continuing to think. "In the biggest games, you need your biggest players."
    It doesn't get much bigger than World Cup qualifying, and Hutchinson is undoubtedly one of Canada's top players. But in the same way that fitness isn't an either-or proposition, lineup selection doesn't take place in a vacuum. It's all about context and circumstances.
    While it's very dangerous to overlook any opponent -- especially one about whom not very much is known -- Cuba is by far the weakest member of this World Cup qualifying group. This is a team, after all, that finished last summer's Gold Cup with three losses and a goal differential of minus-15.
    The weather conditions (a 2 p.m. ET kickoff in Havana will be mighty steamy) and what's sure to be an awful playing surface are not particularly conducive to the recovery process for someone who has aggravated a knee injury. Head coach Stephen Hart insisted that the 103-degree Fahrenheit temperatures during the team's Florida training camp weren't a factor in Hutchinson's latest setback; still, the human body is more susceptible to knocks under such conditions.
    And while the ideal Canadian lineup includes a healthy and motivated Hutchinson, Canada has managed to scrape together decent performances without him in the last 12 months, including this past Sunday's 0-0 draw with the United States. That's not to undermine Hutchinson's value; it's more of a testament to his teammates' ability to compensate for his noticeable absence on the field.
    So the argument could be made that if Hutchinson is less than ready to go, putting him out there against an inferior opponent, in less-than-ideal conditions, would actually be a bad idea. You could say, in fact, that the wiser move would be to leave him out of the lineup until the all-important home game vs. Honduras in a week's time.
    Of course, it's all contingent on Hutchinson's health, and the condition of his knee is what's going to ultimately make the decision about whether or not he plays. But if he declares himself fit to play, it does present an interesting mini-conundrum.
    What do you think? Do we need Hutchinson in the lineup against Cuba badly enough that it makes up for the risk of further injury? Or should he be held out of the starting lineup this Friday, with the expectation that his teammates will be able to pick up the slack down in Havana?
    .
    Guest
    Soccer really is a weird sport sometimes.
    You can hardly imagine a scenario in any other game where a scoreless deadlock would be lauded by the hometown fans as an encouraging sign. Yet the consensus among observers on both sides of the border seems to be that a Canadian victory on Sunday night would have been justifiable and deserved.
    The folks at the CSA were surely keeping their fingers crossed that the "Centennial match" would provide some momentum on and off the field before World Cup qualifying resumes. And lo and behold, it did.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Say what you will about the merits of using a friendly to gauge much of anything, but the Canadian side surely seemed more energetic and motivated than their cross-border rivals. You can chalk that up to the States playing three games in eight days, or just being un/disinterested in this particular tuneup.
    One way or another, after being outplayed for the first 15 minutes, Canada largely controlled the run of play. If you'd told me to expect that, I wouldn't have believed you. But it happened.
    Nik Ledgerwood not only started, he was one of the bright spots for the Canadian side (looking pretty comfortable in midfield, truth be told) and scored the game's only goal (thanks to the unwritten rule that legit Canada goals v.s. the U.S. need to be called off thanks to dubious decisions by linesmen, though, it didn't actually count). Hell of a finish, too.
    Wouldn't have believed you on that one.
    Andre Hainault and David Edgar flipped from their normal positions for their clubs (Hainault was at CB for Canada, with Edgar on the right), but along with Kevin McKenna and Ante Jazic, they solidly held down the fort, snuffing out nearly every forward-moving attempt by the Yanks.
    I'll guarantee you that Jazic looks a hell of a lot better on the field now than I'll look doing anything by the time I'm 36.
    JDG showed up. DeRo showed up. Tosaint Ricketts continued to solidify his standing as a Canadian fan favourite, and Lars Hirschfeld put many Canadian fans' minds at ease with a remarkable save in injury time to preserve the draw.
    If you'd told me Canada would create the bulk of the scoring chances and then concede a dangerous free kick at the end, I'd have said, "of course they're going to get scored on; of course all their hard work will go for naught."
    But this time, it didn't.
    That's not to say it was all positive. Atiba Hutchinson's absence was a worrying sign, as he picked up a minor injury during training. His status for Friday's game in Cuba is unknown.
    Not to continue beating the dead horse that everyone else has thoroughly flogged, but Simeon Jackson's miss on a well-worked build-up from Dwayne DeRosario was disappointing.
    And while it was encouraging to see David "Junior" Hoilett taking in the game from the stands, the Canadian team doesn't need his moral support -- they need his on-field support.
    The crowd was in full voice. Excitement is building about the team (and the Centennial jerseys, which a growing number of fans want to see adopted as a regular Canadian kit) and the players surely got a morale boost from the outcome on Sunday night.
    The eternal Canadian-soccer cynic (which is to say, most long-time Canadian fans) might be tempted to believe that the encouraging result against the U.S. will prove to be the latest example of the team raising our hopes before dashing them to pieces soon after. Maybe that's what to be expected by this point.
    But then, no one really knows what to expect from this team anymore. Sunday night was a fine example of that.
    The perhaps-overly-optimistic chants of "We're going to Brazil!" could be heard before and after the U.S. friendly. It's still a long and difficult road, with the next stop being the midday heat of Havana on Friday.
    After Sunday night, though, we've got a little bit more reason to suspect this team might find a way to reach the end of the Road to Rio.
    .
    Guest
    Well, that was quick. Earlier today, on this site and through social media, the word was being spread that the giant Voyageurs banner had been stolen after the Canada vs. USA game on Sunday night. Turns out that it was all a misunderstanding, and the banner will be returned safe and sound.
    Good to know that there was, apparently, no malice involved in the case. Everyone's done stupid things in the past, so let's count this as water under the bridge and all keep doing what we're doing: Supporting our national teams (with the help of one of our giant banners!)
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    (Update) One of the people involved reached out via email to express his remorse.
    "I would like to apologize to yourselves and all the Voyageurs for being a part of the banner going missing. I was not directly involved (with) the theft but I knew it happened and stood by, which in hindsight is probably worse.
    "We didn't steal it for the thrill or to screw you guys, we just wanted a massive Canada soccer banner. It was not until after we realized that it was the Voyageurs' personal property and not a corporate banner that would probably have gone unnoticed. We understand the importance of the banner to your group and would like to return it."
    All's well that ends well.
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