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    Guest
    On Tuesday evening, a Toronto-based sports franchise saved its absolute best performance for the game that mattered the absolute most, and came away with a resounding, comprehensive and deserved victory against an ostensibly superior opponent.
    While that's probably unprecedented, what's definitely unprecedented is the situation TFC now finds itself in, with a CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final date set for the first half of March against an as-of-this-writing-unknown-opponent.
    And while downtown Toronto is hardly the Canadian hinterland, it gets cold here. And it snows. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes, a hell of a lot. So the question now becomes: Where does TFC play its CCL QF home leg?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    The question looms large for supporters who sit in the three-year-old shadow of the Montreal Impact's appearance in this stage of the competition, when that team was able to pack over 55,000 fans into Olympic Stadium for a showdown with Santos Laguna of Mexico:


    I just know the supporters have been itching for a chance to do the wave at a TFC match!
    Sure, it's widely assumed that many of the tickets were given away for free, or close to it. But does it matter? That 2-0 win for the Impact was a momentous spectacle. It got the team in the press. It energized the soccer fans in the city -- and, to an extent, across the country. (For the purposes of this argument, let's just forget what happened in the second leg, shall we?)
    Positive energy, positive press, positive results... after five heart-wrenching years of declining general interest and relevance in the city, that's exactly what Toronto FC sorely needs, and what a heavily-hyped one-off matchup at a raucous, sold-out Rogers Centre could provide.
    Could the game be played at BMO Field? Conceivably. The quarter-final match could happen as late as March 15, and TFC's first match at BMO Field this season was March 26, so it's not as though these are uncharted waters. The playing surface is heated, and if things really get dicey, fans could be enlisted to help shovel snow off of the pitch, a la Canada's friendly in Estonia a few years ago.
    There's also the supposed home-field advantage that would come from playing in cool conditions, exacerbated as always by the stadium's proximity to the civic waterfront. But it's no guarantee that members of Toronto FC's squad -- emanating from different parts of the world and three months removed from their most recent competitive match -- would necessarily benefit greatly from the "freezing" effect on the competition.
    Moreover, while the bundled-up diehards would surely be in full voice, getting Torontonians (many of whose minds would likely be focused on this year's ultimately-futile Maple Leafs late-season push) enthused about a blustery, frost-bitten game against an opponent they may never have heard of could be a tough sell.
    For my money, the game should be at the Rogers Centre.
    The team desperately needs a civic shot in the arm, an event that could recreate some of the excitement around the team that was on bold display throughout 2007. Ownership should paper the house. Five-dollar seats in the bleachers. Free tickets for community clubs who bring 100 or more kids. Operate the game at a loss, if need be, in order to cram as many existing fans, and potential converts, into that stadium as possible.
    And then just hope and pray that the team puts on a performance just like the one against FC Dallas.
    .
    Guest

    Your CCL FAQ

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    It’s been less than 24-hours since the club nailed down its spot in the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-finals, but victory starved TFC fans are already focused on that distant tie.
    Those late to the CCL game are asking questions about what happens from here. A breakdown of the most important rules:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Who will Toronto play?
    Assuming Tauro doesn’t get a result in Mexico tonight (a Tauro win or draw sees Toronto finish top of the group; Tauro must win by three goals to advance itself at the expense of Pumas), TFC will finish second in the group. That will mean that the Reds will be randomly drawn against one of the first place teams not in their group.
    As it stands at 9 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Monterrey has won group D and Santos Laguna is in a commanding position on top of Group B (Colorado must beat Santos Laguna by three goals tonight in Mexico to take top spot). So, you can assume that the Reds have a 66 per cent chance of drawing a Mexican side, and a 33 per cent chance of following Montreal’s lead by playing Santos Laguna.
    Group A is a little more complicated, but the Galaxy can simplify it by winning tonight against Motagua. If L.A. does that it will capture top spot and ensure a 33 per cent chance that a flood of Canadians will be arriving at LAX next March. If L.A. doesn’t win a trip to Costa Rica is in the mix. Alajuelense would capture the group. The tiebreakers are such that a L.A. win tonight would eliminate Mexican side Morelia. The best the Mexicans can finish in the group is in the runner-up spot.
    So, to summarize – and assuming Pumas does what everyone expects it to do and wins at home against Tauro – Toronto will play one of four teams: Monterrey, Santos Laguna, the Galaxy or Alajuelense.
    When will Toronto play?
    Not in February as many keep insisting...
    The first leg of the quarterfinals (likely TFC’s home date) is March 6-8. The second leg goes March 13-15.
    If TFC were to advance, the semi-finals are March 27-29 (first leg) and April 3-5 (second leg), with the finals going April 17-19 (first leg) and April 24-26 (#MLS4TFC).
    The semi-final and final (for leg order) are random draws, so TFC’s opponent is impossible to predict.
    Can Toronto add to its roster for the quarterfinals?
    Yes. Rule 5.2 states:
    TFC could dress 30 entirely different guys if it was so inclined.
    So does that mean the cup-tie rules don’t apply (i.e. Can Eric Avilla play?)
    Yes they apply; no he can’t play. Rule 5.4:
    So, sorry TFC fans, no Avilla.
    Guest
    With a two-game home winning streak, this was the last thing the Vancouver Whitecaps needed.
    But it’s now looking like Saturday’s match between the Colorado Rapids and the Whitecaps in Vancouver has been put in doubt, as the union representing B.C. Place workers issued a 72-hour strike notice on Tuesday.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]In a letter published on their website addressed to members, the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union stated, “The focus of the bargaining committee has been around job security, which is our key issue. We are concerned about contracting out and reduction of work hours.
    “The union wants to advise the membership it has exercised the strike mandate, and has issued the employer 72 hours strike notice today, October 18, 2011. It is in the legal position to exercise the strike mandate as early Friday afternoon.”
    B.C. Pavilion Corp., which operates B.C. Place, admitted a strike could shut down the ‘Caps home but that it was optimistic the situation could be resolved without that happening.
    “Should the BCGEU commence strike action and withdraw their members, B.C. Place will be unable to operate for upcoming scheduled events,” read a release late on Tuesday.
    “PavCo stresses that it has agreed to numerous union proposals in the past six months, including some new issues introduced late in the process.
    “PavCo remains optimistic that further progress will be made and upcoming events will not be impacted.”
    When asked about the bubbling labor dispute following Vancouver’s 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Oct. 6, Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi told Canadian Soccer News, “We’re hopeful that they’re going to resolve things. All we can do is sit on the side and hope things get resolved.”
    The club has posted a brief note on its website, and it's best for Whitecaps fans to check back here closer to the weekend's game to monitor how this situation develops.
    UPDATE: Saturday's match will go ahead as planned.
    ---
    Martin MacMahon covers the Vancouver Whitecaps for Canadian Soccer News. Follow him on Twitter: @martinmacmahon
    Guest

    Sober Second Thoughts: VICTORY!!!

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Get out your parkas!
    Toronto FC advanced to the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals – and a possible home date as early as March 6 -- tonight with a stunning 3-0 road victory over listless FC Dallas. The loss completed a shocking fall from grace for Dallas, who became the first US-based team to beat a Mexican team in Mexico, but somehow managed to crash out of the group despite the historic win.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    For TFC, it was a desperately needed victory. One does not want to consider how cynical and, well, angry the fan base would have been if the result had gone the other way. Tonight’s game was no less than TFC’s own personal MLS Cup final. The Reds may not have the playoffs to look forward to, but they did have a focus – a singular focus – and that might have been the difference.
    It’s a first-year-of-j-school cliché to suggest that TFC “wanted it more,” but it was clear that the Reds were far more aggressive and far more focused on the game than Dallas was. The team from Texas wanted it enough, but they just lacked the energy needed to compete with Toronto tonight. It was refreshing to see that TFC can turn up and be counted when it’s most needed. The last time Reds’ fans were in that position the night ended in a 5-0 humiliation at the hands of one of the worst teams in MLS history.
    Although the payoff will not come for four and a half months, it’s not overstating things (that much) to suggest that tonight’s result saved the season. Optically, anyway. Sure an argument could have been made that there was progress and something to be hopeful about even if Toronto had lost tonight, but it would have been a tough sell. Now, however, fans can point to the quarterfinal berth as concrete evidence of improvement, rather than trying to argue the abstract.
    The club now has a tool to use to get Torontonians excited about TFC again. The supporter’s groups have something to look forward to – not since the Columbus trips stopped will there be something that will fully focus them – I predict a very large tifo display for that CCL home date.
    Also, don’t count out TFC in the CCL now. It was always a long shot for the Reds to advance through the group, but now that they are in the knock-out stage everything changes. The club will be permitted to re-register its players. Anyone they sign – say a strong centreback or two – can play. The Reds could be a much better team by the time they kick-off again in March.
    There will be lots of time to focus on that though. Tonight, however, is about embracing the moment and celebrating the victory. It feels good, doesn’t it?
    Guest
    Earlier this month, reports surfaced that suggested that uncapped Canadian midfielder Keven Aleman was being tracked by the Costa Rican federation for future inclusion in their U-20 program. The reports seemed to suggest that Aleman had been contacted by Costa Rica and was considering a call up to a tournament in December.
    Aleman's agent, Courtney James, has told Canadian Soccer News there is no truth to either reports.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    "I think, more than anything, that it is speculation on the part of Costa Rica. They see that he could be on his way to Spain and they're saying 'hey, we should look at this kid," James said by phone today. "But where were they when he was playing at the U-17? Keven was happy with the (Canadian) U-17 program - it was top class - and he still has interest in pursuing an international career with Canada."
    Furthermore, James stated they had not been contacted by Costa Rica for any future inclusions.
    "I haven't heard anything or been contacted. For that matter, Keven hasn't heard anything. I think this is simply speculation on the part of their federation and media."
    As for where Keven goes next in his professional career, at this point he is still awaiting on approval from FIFA for a youth transfer to Real Valladolid.
    "We're hoping it will be soon. But these things take time. For now he is still in Spain training."
    Guest
    Today, we're joined by Buzz Carrick, the FC Dallas writer for ESPN's 3rd Degree to talk about the FCD side of the pitch ahead of the Champions League match up, how much truth he places in the Brek Shea transfer rumours and if fixture congestion has caught up to the squad.
    We'll also look at how Toronto's tie with Phlly over the weekend could effect their form on Tuesday, if Vancovuer really is as bad as their record indicates and what it would mean for a major media company to purcahse, say, several sports franchises in one city.
    The archived show is now up
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <embed src="http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/FlowPlayerLight.swf?config={embedded:true,videoFile:%27http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/download/2540/26608/oct182011final.mp3%27,initialScale:%27scale%27,controlBarBackgroundColor:%270x778899%27,autoBuffering:false,loop:false,autoPlay:false}" width="400" height="25" scale="fit" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>
    Follow us on Twitter for updates on guests and shows
    Guest

    Vancouver 5.9 per cent shame

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Each year the blog Out of Touch tracks the “Canadian content” of each professional team in Canada. The blog simply looks at how many minutes were played by Canadian players and determines what club had the highest percentage of Canuck footballers.
    With just a couple games left in the season and two of the four pro teams done, the 2011 numbers look like this:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    EDM: 77.3%; MTL; 21.4%; TOR: 18.7%; VAN: 5.9%
    Clearly, Edmonton wins the battle this season. Going away. Considering the relative success of FCE this year, we all should celebrate that 77.3 per cent. Who says Canadians can’t play this game.
    Montreal and Toronto finished with numbers that have are in line with what has been typical. Hopefully, that 20 per cent will inch up as the academies start to produce players, but all and all it’s not a bad number.
    And then there is Vancouver. The club that spent most of the off-season trying to eliminate the Canadian quota totally – an effort that eventually saw said quota reduced to just three roster spots – put up a pathetic 5.9 per cent. In total, the Caps played 14 games without a single Canadian taking part. Since July 9, Canadian players have only taken part in 34 minutes of action and have not spent a second on the pitch since August 7.
    Those with long memories will recall that there was a time when Vancouver was seen as the most friendly Canadian club to Canadian talent. Indeed, some of the most critical voices to TFC’s lack of Canadian players in 2007-2008 were from B.C.
    So, it’s a bit disheartening to see Vancouver giving such a lack of effort to get Canadians into the line-up – to say the least.
    To be fair, the Whitecaps continue to put a lot of resources into their academy and they will point out that is how they are contributing to the overall Canadian scene. That’s fair – to a point. We need to see some evidence that the Caps will be willing to give those young Canucks a chance. You would think that a season that has clearly been in the toilet for months would have provided them with some opportunity this year. It did in Toronto, and we’ve seen the emergence of an exciting young player in Ashtone Morgan because of it.
    Time will tell if 2011 was an outlier and if the Whitecaps are committed to developing Canadian talent. Let’s hope so because 5.9 per cent should not be acceptable to anyone that truly cares about the overall growth of the game in this country.
    Guest

    The Biggest Game of All-Time (tm)

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    So it all comes down to this then. After 44 games, 31 of which have ended without the Reds getting the full three points, Toronto will play one game with a season on the line.
    Well, sort of. Would a victory in Dallas tomorrow make up for the 3-0 loss to DC United, the 6-2 to Philly or the 5-0 to New York? Would it help TFC fans forget the tepid play or the fact that TFC was eliminated from the playoffs with almost a month to play (Officially. Realistically the plug was pulled long before it was official)?
    If we’re honest with ourselves, probably not. Still, after five years it would be something that will be appreciated by those that appreciate the club the most. However, as I’ve written in this space before, the majority of the crowd at a typical TFC game in MLS play won’t much care – they’ve demonstrated as much by showing up to CCL dressed as red seats.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    That won’t be from a lack of effort by the TFC communications staff. A quick look at the team’s official Web site shows a club entirely focused on the CCL. You’d barely know that the Reds played in MLS from reading Torontofc.ca. The supporter’s boards are the same way. It’s all CCL, all the time.
    In contrast, FC Dallas’ site has yet to write an advance article on the game. The game day thread on the Dallas BigSoccer page has six posts. The obsession is not the same.
    There, FCD fans have a second straight playoff berth to look forward to. As frustrating as that might be to a TFC fan, it might work out for the Reds. Dallas will want to avoid the wildcard game and they need a win against San Jose on Saturday to have a chance of overtaking Salt Lake and getting a bye through the single elimination wildcard round. The club will give mouth service to wanting to advance, but they will likely have an eye on the final weekend when the game kicks off.
    Clearly, Dallas is a much better team than TFC this season. However, in the 3.5 games the two clubs have played against each other so far this year Dallas has hardly owned the pitch – every game has ended (or “ended” in the .5 case) 1-0 for the team from Texas. So, it’s not that absurd that Toronto could win.
    It will be an upset though. And one that TFC fans should prepare themselves for. Off the top of the article I asked whether one win tomorrow would make up for the frustration that has too often been a part of this year. I concluded that it won’t. But, there is another side to it.
    Would a loss tomorrow suddenly eliminate any positives from the year? No, it won’t. There has been an improvement, there are reasons for hope. The simple fact that Toronto scratched themselves to the point where it could advance tomorrow is a good sign. The Reds are no longer pushovers. They are 7-7-6 in all competitions since the start of the transfer window. It improves to 7-7-4 if you eliminate the first two games after the window opened, when the changes were still taking place. The 1.35 points per game pace would give them 45 points over the full season. That’s in the playoffs. The record since the changes were fully made translates to 51 points. That wins the east.
    Statistics, damn statistics and lies and all that, but it’s wrong to suggest that there is nothing positive going on right now.
    And a loss tomorrow won’t change that.
    Guest
    We begin with a simple question:
    Why are there so few Canadians with coaching jobs in the vast world of professional soccer?
    Instantly, come the contrasts.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    We think of Canada as big. It bottoms out at Point Pelee National Park, well out into Lake Erie, and runs all the way to the North Pole. It stretches as far into the icy, choppy Atlantic as Cape Speare, Newfoundland, and doesn’t cede sovereignty until the Yukon-Alaska border. This is a parcel of real estate so vast, its geographic centre is actually north of all the provinces – on the west shore of Hudson Bay in Nunavut.
    And yet, in soccer terms, we are tiny. Four professional teams. The odd and occasional division-three league. One lone appearance in soccer’s greatest spectacle, the FIFA World Cup.
    We also know that Canada is rich. The standard of living here – compared to most of the rest of the world – is luxury. The vast treasure trove of resources – both natural and human – hugely enviable.
    And yet, in soccer terms, we are poor. Youth soccer is a thriving business, certainly, but the Canadian Soccer Association, up until recent times, was stumbling by on along about $13-million per year – most of it raised through fees on amateur players, the vast majority of whom are children.
    Welcome to one of the industrial world’s smallest, poorest pro soccer set-ups. Want to coach? All too often, it's here’s your clipboard, check back in with us at the end of the season and tell us how you did.
    “I get asked all the time: ‘How did you get to the national team? How did you become a professional?’ says CBC commentator and former Canada captain Jason de Vos.
    “And I honestly can’t answer that question, because it was such a winding, pitfall-laden trip up the ladder. For every step forward, I took two steps back – and sidewards steps. I’ve told people countless times, as well, that if I could count the number of times I was told I wasn’t good enough to play at the professional level, I would long ago have run out of fingers.”
    De Vos is offering us lesson one in Canadian coaching development. It’s an after-thought part of player development. This story will often seem to be more about players than coaches. That’s a function of how deep the neglect has been.
    “The guys … and girls who make it to [the pro] level, they don’t do it because of the system,” he adds. “They do it in spite of the system. And that’s why the system needs to change.”
    If the route up the road is this difficult and confusing for a player good enough to captain his nation and a side in the English Championship, what chance does a coach have?
    As head coach of the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS, Frank Yallop is the exception. The exception. The only exception. The lone Canadian bench-boss of a top-flight professional soccer club in any kind of a high-profile league.
    "My big thing is if we want to take this game seriously in Canada, we have to start to do that at the CSA level, at the provincial level and the professional level,” Yallop says.
    “I felt it was more of a pastime for the provinces in the national program. It wasn’t the priority. It was on the back burner the whole time. The men’s program was never really supported by the provincial level, because their job is to run their province, and not to run the national team.”
    Again, the interconnectedness. Just as de Vos points to obstacles hindering players, Yallop goes straight to problems with the national team, which he ran from 2004-06. Whatever coaching development Canada has done, up to now, has been dragged along with a more all-pervading tide.
    “Soccer’s still not a mainstream sport here,” says Nick Dasovic, who was interim head coach of Toronto FC for the closing weeks of the 2010 season, before giving way to Aron Winter.
    “It’s getting there, but with only four professional clubs that can only employ a maximum of ten to twelve coaching staff, that right away limits the opportunities to get jobs."
    Ray Clark has been director of player and coaching development for the Canadian Soccer Association since 1992. He’s been a constant contributor to whatever’s been going on for the past two decades. And right away, he points to resources.
    "Well, when I first came in, one of the biggest problems was we didn’t have any money.” Clark says.
    “When we came into the earlier part of this century – with Holger Osieck [coaching the national team] – things picked up a lot. We had an influx of money, and new ideas from Holger, and that was a great boost for us. We started to actually invest in coaching development, whereby we would subsidize coaches coming to the B-licence courses, for example. Three-quarters of the cost of the course we paid, to make it viable for coaches to come in. And the program took off.”
    Took off, but how far did it fly? Yallop, for what it’s worth, did his coaching certification in England. Dasovic started in Canada, but was urged to start over from scratch when he started taking UEFA courses in Scotland.
    When I started working on this story, several key people quickly told me – off the record – that the Canadian A-licence program isn’t taken seriously in big soccer countries, and that it puts too much emphasis on nutrition and fitness, and not enough on tactics and man-management. Not surprisingly, Clark disagrees.
    “I think whoever says that hasn’t been involved in our program for at least fifteen years,” he counters. “Coaching is very much tactically based now. There has, obviously, to be an emphasis on fitness as well, because if the player’s not fit, he’s not going to be able to get through a game. But it’s nowhere near what it used to be back in that time.”
    A bit of a non-denial denial. The encouraging news is, the entire Canadian A- and B-licence programs are being completely overhauled, and new courses will be rolled out in the next couple of years.
    Charlie Cuzzetto, president of the British Columbia Soccer Association, wishes he’d had stronger coaching in his playing days. Now, looking forward, he’s optimistic that the overall quality of Canadian soccer coaching is on the rise.
    “In the long term, we want to make sure the players can control the ball and move into spaces – have that good soccer sense, and have confidence on the ball,” Cuzzetto notes.
    “We have to adapt our coaching methodologies to do that. All around the world, there are different challenges. But why do other countries produce these kinds of players in a pipeline? We have to be missing something. We’re producing some good players, but what about exceptional players? Ones who are going to make it no matter where they play? We’re not giving our kids an opportunity to progress.”
    It’s interesting to note that all these questions are being asked at a time when new answers are at hand. A significant governance overhaul at the CSA is moving control of the game away from bureaucrats, and into the hands of business and soccer professionals. The future remains unknown, but there’s a major commitment to move away from the past.
    We still have far too few pro-level coaches, but agreement on how to train them may – at last – be about to bear fruit.
    But we’re still dealing with a very strange, kid-heavy soccer pyramid in Canada, and that’s what we’ll examine in Part II.
    Onward!
    Guest

    Sober Second Thoughts: Passionless

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    They played a game in Philadelphia. People, including people from Toronto, watched and then they forgot about it (especially the people in Toronto).
    It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the game – it had a couple nice goals and was a perfectly entertaining distraction for 90 minutes. It was just that it was just another game near the end of a long season that had little meaning for either team (despite what the league and commentators were insisting, Philly had already clinched a playoff spot heading into the game because teams below them are playing each other there was no combination of results that saw the Union out, despite the math seemingly suggesting otherwise).
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    It especially had no meaning for Toronto, other than as a run out to help prepare for the Champions League game in Dallas Tuesday. That’s not to say that the players were giving a half effort, but it is to suggest that the supporters were mailing it in.
    At Toronto’s Duke of Gloucester, the normal away game hang out of U-Sector, the crowd was as subdued as it has ever been. Most of the conversations were focused on what the post game plans were or on who was going to get the phone number of the two women wearing hockey jerseys in the other room (answer: as it turns out, no one).
    When Toronto scored the equalizer there was a brief and half-assed effort to fake some enthusiasm. Game 33 of 34 and another non-playoff season will do that.
    There were some positives though – especially in the second half, where Toronto showed that they have the ability to compete now. Are the Reds a top half team yet? No, but they are a mid-pack team and, so long as they play as they have since August when the season kicks off next year they should be in a playoff race.
    Will it be enough to get a rare road win on in Dallas? The reds better hope so, because that’s something that TFC fans do care about.
    Guest
    Thanks to reader Paul Calixte for passing on this link to the Spanish site Futbol Extremo, which is reporting that the Panama Football Association has released the schedule for the semi-final stage of CONCACAF qualifying.
    According to the report (and provided Canada gets by St. Kitts and Nevis as expected), it will play the next round games on the following dates:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Friday, June 8 @ Cuba
    Tuesday, June 12 vs. Honduras
    Friday, September 7 vs. Panama
    Tuesday, September 11 @ Panama
    Friday, November 12 vs. Cuba
    Tuesday, November 16 @ Honduras
    If this is correct, next September could be the most important month in Canadian soccer in sometime
    .
    Note: As pointed out in the comments, the last two dates are FIFA dates in 2011. The assumption is that they are typos and the 2012 October dates will be when the two fixtures are played.
    Guest
    Now that everyone has had a few days to recover from the men's national team's disappointing draw with Puerto Rico (the reaction to which ranged from mild irritation to apocalyptic furor, depending on who you asked), head coach Stephen Hart faces a conundrum ahead of Canada's next two matches, both against St. Kitts and Nevis.
    His squad needs just one point from the home-and-away pair of matches to clinch a spot in the next round of World Cup qualifying. St. Kitts and Nevis, mind you, has a population of around 50,000 and sits #123 in the latest world rankings. Their most notable player is the Whitecaps' Atiba Harris, but he's been out for months after knee surgery.
    So, what does Hart do? Call a squad that's as close to full strength as possible? Or throw a collection of youngsters out on the field and see what sticks?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    There's merit to both sides of the argument though, for what it's worth, Hart has said that players won't get time on the field simply for the sake of it. Case in point would be 19-year-old Joseph di Chiara, who sat on the bench for both of Canada's last two World Cup qualifiers, much to the consternation of many fans. Considering Canada's recent history of losing talented young players to other nations -- and given that, due to Canada's multicultural makeup, virtually every player eligible for Canada is also eligible for some other country -- such nerviness is understandable.
    So should Hart use these games to quell fears over potential turncoats? Should he grab any promising young kid with ties to Canada and toss them out on the field during a World Cup qualifier, for the cynical purpose of permanently cap-tying them to this nation? Some would say so. But maybe a kid like Keven Aleman or Fraser Aird would see the move for what it was and refuse the call-up out of disgust. And would the youngster that most fans really have their eye on -- Junior Hoilett -- suddenly decide to make up his mind and play of us in a game in St. Kitts? Not likely.
    Of course, there are kids in our U20 player pool likely to have some future role with the senior team who could benefit from the early experience in a World Cup qualifier: the likes of Matt Stinson, Roberto Stillo, Julian Latendresse-Levesque, Jonathan Osorio, Ethan Gage or Jaineil Hoilett could reasonably join Ashtone Morgan in winning their first national-team cap this fall. (Calling Jaineil has the added potential benefit of convincing his brother of the worthiness of playing for Canada... though, come to think of it, that didn't work so well for the de Guzmans.)
    So, do you call one of the kids? A few of them? All of them? After all, it's just St. Kitts, right? Canada just needs one point, right? And Hart has said that, at the end of the day, all that matters is moving on, and even an ugly draw gets the job done (and surely even a collection of kids could get that, right?)
    But then, where does that leave us for next summer? Drawn into a group with Honduras, Panama and Cuba, the task of advancing further isn't easy, but it's certainly doable if the team can come together at the right time. Few, if any, of those kids will feature on the roster when the pressure is really ratcheted up. So shouldn't the emphasis be -- as Hart has said -- on maximizing the "A" team's sense of unity, familiarity and camaraderie ahead of the more difficult challenges ahead?
    There are players who'll likely be on the squad next summer who likely won't in November: Atiba Hutchinson is injured, Patrice Bernier is working back to 100%, and Hart may think twice about calling Will Johnson or Iain Hume, so as to not further anger their clubs after both players picked up knocks this past week while donning the red and white. It's up to Hart to decide whether those open spots get filled by established players currently on the fringes of the national team, or by as-yet-untested youngsters.
    So, if you're in his shoes, how are you looking at these next two games? As a formality? As an opportunity? As an annoyance?
    Or as an effort to save your job... and the entire 2014 qualifying campaign?
    .
    Guest
    Today, we're joined by Jonathan Tannenwald from Philly.com to talk about how Philadelphia re-made their team and rose to the top of the Eastern Conference, Freddy Adu's off and on year and if Sebastian Le Toux deserves to be in the MLS MVP conversation.
    We'll also talk about what Toronto needs out of their game on Saturday, what awaits the Canadian Women's National team at the Pan Ams, Vancouver's push to not be the worst and the latest Jason DeVos' column on how poaching players is hurting our player development.
    The archived show is now up
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    Guest
    Does anyone connected with Toronto FC even care about Saturday's match in Philadelphia?
    Judging from the club's own official website, all the focus is on next week's huge encounter with FC Dallas in the CONCACAF Champions League. At the time of writing, nearly every story or link on torontofc.ca is associated with the do-or-die trip to Texas on Tuesday, with only the "Next 3 Matches" widget at the top right corner of the page even giving a hint to the fact that there's an MLS game to be played this weekend.
    Even the "standings" box -- which since the beginning of the season displayed TFC's place in MLS' Eastern Conference -- has been overcome with CCL fever, instead showing Toronto's positioning in the absurdly tight Group C of the regional club championship.
    You can't blame the Reds' front office for looking past the Philly encounter. It means absolutely zilch to TFC, given that they've been out of the playoff picture since long before their "official" elimination on October 1st. The CCL is the only thing left to play for, so why not hype it up, right?
    Still, the old cliché is that the show must go on, and despite the utter meaninglessness of the match from a Toronto perspective, the MLS match in Pennsylvania will indeed be played.
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    While the club's website and social media people are clearly looking ahead to "TFC's biggest game ever" -- don't forget to book your table at RealSports for the viewing party! -- one has to wonder if Aron Winter feels the same way.
    Anyone who has paid attention to the Reds this year has noticed that Winter isn't one to place a specific game above another; in fact, his oft-repeated M.O. is to regard each and every match with equal importance. It's not just lip service -- just take a look back at the lineups during September's brutal game-every-three-days stretch and it becomes clear that no single game during that glut of matches was approached with heightened importance.
    Largely the same group of players stuck it out for all of those fixtures, with only minor adjustments made to account for injuries or suspensions (or roster ineligibilities). It drove some observers nuts, yet the technical staff brushed it off as necessary due to a lack of depth.
    Now, with a two-week break and only three games left in the season, perhaps the ultimate test of Winter's "every game is important" motto is upon us. The fact is, out of the three matches remaining on Toronto's schedule, one does stand out above the rest. Way, way above.
    Yet there is still the issue of the Union on Saturday. The match deserves respect as it will help determine not only Philly's playoff position, but perhaps the seeding of two or three other clubs.
    Also, the park's said to be sold out, and those 19,000 or so fans expect a professional performance not only by their own team, but by the opposition. It's perhaps the most unique conundrum TFC's rookie coaching staff will have had to face this year: trying to find a way to respect a league fixture while at the same time keeping Toronto primed for the much bigger affair just three days later.
    Perhaps the worst thing that TFC could do is throw all the scrubs out there. Not that I think Winter would ever do that, but given the obvious desire by his employers to finally win a non-Voyageurs Cup game of consequence next week, you can bet that the thought will cross his mind at some point.
    But given that the Reds are coming off a long break, with the inevitable rust that accompanies such layoffs, we should probably expect many, if not all, of the regulars to get at least a run out at PPL Park.
    Joao Plata will need minutes to get his sharpness back after a long injury spell. Stefan Frei -- if he is intended to play against Dallas -- will have to get some time in goal after watching Milos Kocic start the lion's share of games for the past several weeks. Ryan Johnson and Danny Koevermans could benefit from some more opportunities to fill the net and gain more confidence.
    And so on.
    In fact, the only TFC player who could stand not to feature in Saturday's match is Julian de Guzman, as he has logged a ridiculous amount of minutes for both club and country over the past two months and could benefit from a week off. But I wouldn't even expect that to happen, as Winter will likely want to get De Guzman back in sync with his club mates and probably give him at least 45 minutes.
    Usually, these late season "we're already eliminated from playoff contention but need to run out the string" matches would be played for nothing else but pride and the ability to spoil another team's fortunes. But for this year's TFC, the focus for those 90 minutes in Philadelphia should be on regaining sharpness and making sure no one gets hurt.
    Let's hope Aron Winter feels the same way.

    Philadelphia Union vs. Toronto FC
    Saturday, October 15, 2011. 4:00pm EDT.
    PPL Park. Chester, PA.
    Watch: TSN
    Listen: Sportsnet 590: The Fan, FAN590.com
    Rudi Schuller contributes Toronto FC and Canadian national team content to the 24th Minute. He is MLSsoccer.com's beat writer for all things concerning Canada's men's national teams, and has contributed to Goal.com and other soccer media. Follow Rudi on Twitter, @RudiSchuller.
    Guest
    At CSN we don't normally create posts that only direct you to another site. However, we will make an exception today.
    Jason de Vos has written an article that every Canadian involved in or interested in youth soccer needs to read.
    The problem with player poaching in youth soccer.
    As stated, it's a must read.
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