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    Guest
    You would be hard-pressed to find a single Canadian supporter that doesn’t want Simeon Jackson to be successful and who doesn’t love the passion and commitment that he brings to the national team set-up.
    So, on first glance, it seems unlikely that anyone would critique the decision to bring the Mississauga-native back up for the next two games of the qualifying campaign. If Jackson is health, he’s called is the default thinking.
    But, should it be? I’m not so sure.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Before you throw something at your computer, hear me out. My position has nothing to do with talent, or with Jackson’s long-term position in the program. Rather, it’s an acknowledgment of the struggles that Jackson is having getting on the pitch at Norwich.
    Although the EPL is on a international break, would it still not be beneficial for Jackson to stay back, keep his head down and fight to get more playing time there? Would that not be better for Canada long-term than having him go on a Caribbean adventure in St. Lucia?
    When asked, Stephen Hart didn’t agree with my position, but didn’t dismiss it.
    “This is a case where it might seem like I’m contradicting myself,” Hart said, referencing his oft-repeated position that players that are playing regularly at their clubs should be called up. “But, his team isn’t playing during the games and it is a situation where we wondered whether it’s better to keep showing confidence in him and hope that the club sees that (and gives him more playing time.”
    Hart also indicated that Jackson’s position on the right side of the forward line makes him more valuable to Canada than if he played a more central role.
    Regardless, Jackson has struggled for playing time at the club level before and has always fould a way to force his way back into the mix. With some injury concerns at Norwich now, it’s possible that the debate will be irrelevant by the time the WCQ games kick-off.
    As Canadians, we should hope so.
    Guest

    Young players to get chance under Hart

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Canadian national team coach Stephen Hart made six changes to the roster ahead of next month’s World Cup qualifying games against St. Lucia and Puerto Rico.
    Canada sits atop its four team group in round 2 of CONCACAF qualifying, with the full six points. The Canucks are two points up on St. Kitts and Nevis and could clinch advancement to the third round with two wins in the next set of games, provided that St. Kits and Nevis fails to obtain a point from its two games.
    According to Hart the changes to the roster were out of necessity.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    “We had a few injury concerns so we will take the opportunity to bring some other guys in,” Hart said via teleconference Thursday.
    Hart said that he remains focused on putting the best possible line-up on the pitch and is not taking the minnow opposition for granted.
    “We need to win. That’s the biggest factor (in our line-up decisions),” he said.
    Hart admitted that two players turned down invitations, but did not indicate who the players were.
    Two names in particular stood out. Toronto FC’s Ashtone Morgan, 20, and FC Krylia Sovetov Samara’s Joseph Di Chiara, 19, are both in line to receive their first Canadian cap.
    The case of Di Chiara is particularly interesting as he’s a player that bypassed the typical Canadian development pathways, opting to use connections to obtain a spot in the Russian Premier League.
    Hart said he decided to bring Di Chiara in so he could have a better look at the young player, who has never featured in a Canadian camp at any level before.
    “We’ve been aware of him, got a verbal report and seen some (video),” Hart said. “This will be a good chance to get a good look at him.”
    Hart said he’s been impressed by the limited amount he’s seen from Di Chiara.
    “He’s done well in the bits and pieces I’ve watched. He’s looked composed and is a technical player.”
    Canadian fans will be more familiar with Morgan, who has become a regular fixture for the Reds at left-back this season. The TFC academy graduate is also eligible to play for Jamaica, but Hart said that the call-up was not a cynical attempt to cap tie him, but rather it’s based on merit.
    He said that he would not give Morgan a late run out just to cap tie him.
    “I think he has to earn it,” Hart said. “Ashtone has other international options and it will be up to him to figure out what he wants to do. But Canada has been good to him.
    “If he deserves to play, he’ll play.”
    Guest
    In its brief existence, Toronto FC has seen over a hundred players come through its roster turnstile. Now, about a month before the team's fifth season wraps up, I'm prepared to anoint one individual as the most important player to have ever suited up for the Reds.
    It's not Danny Dichio. It's not Jim Brennan. It's not even the fabulous Rohan Ricketts.
    It's a 20-year-old fullback named Ashtone Morgan.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    This is not to say Morgan will bloom into the best player TFC has ever seen. In fact, this has nothing to do with where his career goes from here. His importance comes from the fact that he is the first graduate of the Toronto FC Academy to be called up to the Canadian men's national team.
    Now, hold on, west coasters, I can already hear you typing your angry responses, so let me say that of course the Whitecaps have had a functioning academy for much longer than Toronto FC has, and yes, one can certainly say that Vancouver has had a much deeper connection to the national team in terms of serving as a talent pipeline.
    But Morgan's ascension to the national-team level represents the culmination of what many of us dreamed possible when Toronto FC first came into being: That a kid born in Toronto could play in Toronto, be scouted by Toronto FC's academy, find their way to the senior side and, if they have the talent, represent Canada on the international stage.
    Not only that, but that a kid with eligibility for other nations would choose to represent Canada without thinking twice -- which is the case with Morgan, as he told Red Nation Online earlier this month.
    Sure, none of this is unique in the world of soccer -- or even within Canada. The difference is that when it comes to giving kids a clear pathway to the national team (community club, pro club academy, pro club, national team), the geographical area we're now talking about is the Golden Horseshoe, with a population of over eight million people and tens of thousands of soccer-playing kids.
    Jonathan de Guzman and David "Junior" Hoilett both grew up in the Toronto area, but scuttled off to Europe as young teenagers in an effort to forward their careers. Though both have brothers still in the Canadian system, most observers are under the assumption that neither will ever play for Canada. Would things have been different if they had stayed at home longer?
    No one knows for sure. Given that Hoilett is a Premier League starter at age 21, it's safe to guess he'd have outgrown MLS years ago. But would having the chance to play with and against other young Canadians, before moving to Europe, have made his thoughts on his international future a little clearer?
    Now, I'm not saying Morgan is bound for Europe. I've got no idea where his club career is headed.
    But many have looked at Hoilett's decision on his international career to be critical not just to the on-field performance of Canada over the next few years, but in setting an example to future generations of kids -- that, in essence, "it's OK to play for Canada."
    Morgan's call-up, though, sends a message of its own: playing for Canada is not just "OK", it's something worthwhile, an achievement. Indeed, head coach Stephen Hart said that Morgan wouldn't get a run-out in either of Canada's next two games simply for the sake of it; he'd have to earn on-field time.
    Here's hoping that he does. Here's hoping that his hard work is rewarded.
    And here's hoping that all across populous, multicultural southern Ontario -- fertile ground for budding, passionate soccer talent -- kids who follow TFC are also keeping their eyes on Morgan and thinking "hey, that could be me -- and I know just how to make it happen."
    .
    Guest
    Stephen Hart released his 18-man roster today for Canada's World Cup qualifying matches against St. Lucia (Oct. 7) and Puerto Rico (Oct. 11).
    Newcomers include TFC Academy grad Ashtone Morgan, as well as teenage central midfielder Joseph Di Chiara, who plays in the Russian Premier League.
    Returning to the national team after a long absence is Kenny Stamatopoulos, who fills in for an injured Milan Borjan. Nik Ledgerwood also returns to the side after missing the first two qualiying matches.
    Full roster after the jump.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    1- GK- Lars Hirschfeld | NOR / Vålerenga Fotball
    2- FB- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / SV Wehen Wiesbaden
    3- FB- Ashtone Morgan | CAN / Toronto FC
    4- CB- Kevin McKenna | GER / FC Köln
    5- CB- Adam Straith | GER / FC Energie Cottbus
    6- M- Julian de Guzman | CAN / Toronto FC
    7- F- Iain Hume | ENG / Preston North End FC
    8- M- Will Johnson | USA / Real Salt Lake
    9- F- Tosaint Ricketts | ROM / FC Politehnica Timişoara
    10- F- Simeon Jackson | ENG / Norwich City FC
    11- M- Josh Simpson | TUR / Manisaspor
    12- M- Joseph Di Chiara | RUS / FC Krylia Sovetov Samara
    13- FB- Ante Jazić | USA / Chivas USA
    14- F- Dwayne De Rosario | USA / DC United
    15- CB- David Edgar | ENG / Burnley FC
    16- F- Olivier Occean | GER / SpVgg Greuther Fürth
    17- M- Terry Dunfield | CAN / Toronto FC
    22- GK- Kenny Stamatopoulos | SWE / AIK

    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
    Today, on a quick ICF, we'll take a look back on Toronto FC's draw against Pumas, debate whether Doneil Henry should replace Andy Iro outright and how set piece defending continues to be Toronto's failing.
    We'll also look at how Tauro defeated Dallas, discuss what that sets up next for TFC and look at how much are flights to the American south.
    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/2540/26176/sept292011final.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>
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    Guest

    Disrespecting the competition

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Facing a tough, but not impossible, road game that could give Colorado the chance to control its destiny during the final matchday of the CONCACAF Champions League, the Rapids did exactly what you would expect...They sent the scrubs and the manager, Gary Smith, is staying home to cut his lawn (or something like that anyway).
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Just when you think that MLS teams have finally got it down when it comes to the CCL, someone lets Colorado in. The Rapids have treated this competition like a burden, rather than an opportunity from the get-go.
    Clearly teams have every right to dress whomever they please, and to prioritize whatever competition they wish, but for a manager to not even bother traveling is shameful.
    As a single entity league, it's also fair for MLS fans of other teams to judge what the Rapids are doing. They are making the whole league look bad. Actually MLS fans have every right to show the Rapids every bit the same amount of contempt that they are showing the competition.
    If you agree, let them know - @RapidsSoccer or RapidsFanMail@dsgpark.com
    Guest
    Although the myth of MLS's singular uniqueness in world soccer is somwhat overstated - there are other leagues with financial restraints, that operate closed and certainly that use a playoff to determine a champion - the leagues that most (Europe focused) fans follow are very different.
    For those without significant ethnic heritage (ie beyond second generation Canadian) often it's those differences that attracted us to the sport in the first place. All our friends were into hockey or the NFL so that was boring. Our sport, however, it was sexy, mysterious and different. The very rules of how it declared a champion weren't the same. How cool was that.
    So cool that many of us started to define ourselves as sports fans based on those differences, while willfully ignoring the sporting culture that we were growing up in.
    It's a fool's game. The truth is we are all products of the culture that we grow up in and that culture affects our understanding of everything around us.
    An analogy:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Imagine for a moment that you and I were out for a walk. During that walk we stumble upon a swimming pool with three bright red beach balls floating in it. At this point I turn to you and ask you to tell me what you see in the pool. Chances are you would answer that there was three bright red beach balls iin the pool.
    You'd be right, of course. There would be three bright red beach balls in the pool and they would without a doubt be what stood out about the pool. However, your answer would be incomplete. The correct, complete answer is that there was a tonne of water in the pool along with those beach balls. The truth being that the water, as unnoticed as it generally would be, is far more important to the pool than the beach balls, no matter how bright and sexy they may be.
    Bluntly, your North American upbringing (the water) far more influences you than your soccer exceptions (the beach ball).
    (As an aside this analogy is also useful when arguing with eighth generation Canadians who tell you that they "feel" more Irish than Canuck and therefore don't support Canada internationally).
    To bring this back to my original point, the water is why MLS will never fully move in line with the European leagues many want it to. Moreover, most fans don't want it to, even if they are absolutely convinced they do. Caps, closed leagues and playoffs are the North American way and that's the way we like it even if we're a bit ashamed of it.
    If you want specific, local evidence look no further than the stands at BMO Field, or Empire Stadium/BC Place. The energy has been sucked out of both largely because the clubs have both been out of the playoff race for sometime. If this was Europe, and we really thought like European fans, the affect would not be as pronounced. Like 98 per cent of teams any chance of true competitive success would have been out of the question about 15 seconds after the season started. There never would have been any chance so we would have gotten down to the business of taking things 90 minutes at a time and supporting our club not for the possibility of reflected glory, but simply because it's our club.
    It's probably the healthier approach. It's just not us.
    Guest
    Author’s note: Jason deVos is a former captain of Canada, ex-English Premier League defender, CBC soccer commentator and a successful product of the Canadian player development system.
    He is also one of the most outspoken – and interesting – Canadian experts on the beautiful game.
    As technical director of Oakville Soccer Club, he is spearheading the hiring of a large squad of new coaches, to implement newer, better approaches to youth soccer in Canada.
    Can love of the game really be more important than winning? Read on, and judge for yourself.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    ---
    CSN: I see a situation in Canadian coaching development where the CSA’s “Wellness to World Cup” might be a decade away from producing any real, tangible results. I see pro teams that don’t really have a vested interest in following along. I’m concerned that we might even have more fragmentation at this point. Where do you see it from where you stand?
    JDV: Things take time. There’s no getting away from that. And not changing because it’s going to take time is no excuse. You have to have a long-term approach. I’ve been asked many times how does Canada qualify for the World Cup? It’s not a quick fix. How do we get better at the international level? It has to be a long-term approach, and that’s a ten- or twenty-year project.
    But it starts with improvements in coaching, improvements in player development, a unification of a player development pathway, so that people who come into the game know the steps required to get to the highest levels – if their child has the ability to play there. We don’t have that right now in Canada.
    I get asked all the time “How did you get to the national team? How did you become a professional?” 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.
    The guys who make it and the girls who make it to that level, they don’t do it because of the system. They do it in spite of the system. And that’s why the system needs to change. I’m encouraged by the changes that are coming. Coaching certification is going to match up with LTPD (long-term player development). Those changes are coming on-line in 2012. I’m looking forward to implementing them here at my club, and trying to get as many coaches as possible out there trained in what’s required to teach kids how to play the game of soccer.
    CSN: So how, exactly, did we get here? It seems to me that a lot of the pitfalls people have pointed to while I’ve been doing this series include the sheer lack of professional clubs in Canada, a bit of a vacuum in leadership from the Canadian Soccer Association and the fact that soccer in Canada has been, a still really is, overwhelmingly a recreational game as opposed to a professional one.
    JDV: Well, just because it’s a recreational game doesn’t mean it can’t have a professional structure. And the reality is soccer is a recreational game around the world. The amount of players that go on and play at a professional level is miniscule compared to the number that play the game for fun and recreation. The notion that we shouldn’t be a professionally run organization, or we shouldn’t have a professional structure because it’s largely recreational, in my opinion, is wrong.
    I think what we need to do is put in place a very clear development pathway for players of both genders, so that they know how to reach the highest levels of the game. Because if you go into any hockey rink anywhere in Canada – in the smallest community – and you ask the parents on the side of the rink watching their sons and daughters play the game how you get to the highest level? They know. They know how to get to the NHL because there’s a pathway there. And we need to create something very similar.
    It’s a unique challenge, because of the diversity of our country and the makeup of our country. The challenges that they have in British Columbia are different from the challenges they have in Saskatoon or New Brunswick. There is no paint-brush approach where we can paint the whole country the same, and put the same program in place in every province. It has to be individualized, but it all has to follow the same principles. And that’s why LTPD and the science behind that are so important.
    CSN: You and I were talking about this at BMO Field last week: that “Wellness to World Cup” is a beginning and a blueprint, but you think there’s still a lot of information and material that has to go into that thing before it’s really going to be useful.
    JDV: The thing about LTPD and the “Wellness to World Cup” document that was published: it’s a veritable encyclopedia of information about what’s wrong with the game in our country. And as I said before, there is no quick fix. I believe that the CSA are taking steps to make things better. The governance change that is coming is very, very important in all of that.
    People like to point the finger of blame at the CSA, saying they don’t do this and they don’t do that. But the truth of the matter is they were never set up for that. They were never set up to make these changes that need to be made. The structure was wrong. The technical minds who understand the game, who have been involved in the game for a long time, who know that these changes need to happen, don’t have the power to make them happen. They have to be approved by people who are not necessarily trained in those areas of expertise. And that has to change.
    So you have to empower people who have been in the game for their whole life, who have a wealth of experience coaching the game, and teaching kids how to play, and playing the game themselves. Just empower people like that to go and make those changes that are necessary. In my time, back in Canada since I retired as a player, I have met so many, so many knowledgeable, knowledgeable people in the game who are so frustrated, because the changes that they know they need to make – that they want to make desperately – they can’t make because they don’t have the authority to make them.
    And what’s happening now, I think, is there’s a real movement starting across the country where the technical folks are kind of getting together and saying, look, we know we need to do this; we know what the right thing to do is; let’s get together and do it. It’s starting to happen. We’re starting to see those changes being made. But until we’re in a position where the decision makers who have the final authority to say yea or nay on these things are in a position where they’re knowledgeable, where they understand the game, or they’re willing to let those who do understand make those decisions, then we’re going to struggle.
    I like to use the analogy of school a lot at the club here. Would you send your child to a school where none of the teachers had any qualifications? Right away, the answer’s “No.” Well, would you send you child to a school where there’s no curriculum? Right away, they say “No.” Well why do we do it in soccer, then? We allow ourselves to be put into a club where there’s no curriculum, there’s no development pathway, there’s no certification of the coaches, there’s no oversight into the teachings that they’re bringing to their players, who are the students of the game.
    We need to professionalize that. And when I say “professionalize,” I don’t mean buying and selling players. I mean putting in place a structure where people with experience and knowledge and training and education in the game are given the opportunity to make an impact. And that’s why I got involved at Oakville, because I wanted to make a difference, and make an impact at the grassroots level, because it has to start there. It can’t start at the highest level and trickle its way down. It doesn’t work that way. It has to start at the grassroots, and then come from the top, and meet in the middle.
    Good leadership at the CSA, the OSA and all the provincial associations across the country, where they empower their technical experts to make decisions. So the technical director of the OSA and the technical staff of the provincial associations are given the authority to make changes that they know they need to make. And then, at the grassroots level, the clubs are hiring technical directors who understand the game, who have played the game, coached the game, have training in how to teach kids to play the game, are given the power to make those changes happen.
    CSN: I’ve heard you use the word “curriculum” on the national level as something that still needs to be drawn up. Whose job is that going to be, and how soon can something like that be accomplished?
    JDV: I don’t think that that’s a quick fix either. I know the United States have released their curriculum, and it’s excellent. It’s a very comprehensive breakdown of what’s required at the various ages and stages of development. We have access to that kind of information here in Canada, but it’s a question of resources. The United States Soccer Federation has infinite resources compared to what we have in Canada.
    At the club level, it would be wonderful if a club of a thousand players or five-hundred players had a technical director who could go on the CSA website and download a curriculum for the players at that club. Then all of our players, across the country, would be trained in the fundamental basics of the game.
    I use that expression all the time, that we don’t do a good enough job in this country of teaching players the fundamental skills required to be successful in the game at the highest level. It’s not about focusing all of our resources on just the very small, few elite players. It’s about giving everyone the basic foundation. It’s like building a house. You don’t build a house on nothing. You build it on a foundation.
    The foundation in soccer is the ability to control the ball – to be comfortable with the ball at your feet, to pass the ball, receive the ball, dribble the ball, shoot a ball, and then relate and interact with your teammates to try and put the ball in the back of the net – and keep it out of your own net. Those are the fundamental core skills required to play the game. If players don’t have that, they’re never going to be successful in the game.
    We have a multitude of problems in Canada. One of the biggest is our focus on winning over all else. We rush to win. We force kids to be what we perceive to be successful too early. We put them in a competitive environment where their future opportunities are determined by the outcome of the game. Not on their ability to execute the fundamentals of the game, which will lead them to success five or ten years down the road, but whether or not they can win a game when they’re ten years old.
    What it ends up doing is fostering a win-before-all-else mentality, and that exists across the board in soccer. And I don’t think it’s just soccer; I think there’s a lot of other sports as well. The research I’ve done and the feedback I’m getting from other sports is that the same mentality persists – that we have to win the game, and that’s how we measure success. We have to change how we measure success. For me, success is not about the outcome of a game when a kid’s eleven years old.
    To me, the measure of success is – first and foremost – can we teach that child to fall in love with the game, and play the game for the rest of their life? If we can do that, wonderful. Second thing is: if we can teach them to fall in love with the game, there’s a very good chance they’re going to put in the hours needed to become successful in the game. The ten-thousand hour rule applies to anything. If you want to be an expert, if you want to be a top-level athlete, if you want to be a concert pianist, if you want to be a musician, if you want to learn multiple languages, you’ve got to be able to put in the hours needed to master those skills. You’re only going to do that if you love what you’re doing.
    So the game has to be fun. If it’s not fun, you’re not going to put the work in to do it. But we’ve also got to be able to say that, if we’re putting that in place, we then have to take our best players and get them to the highest level of the game. We have a huge resource of natural athletic ability in this country, and we’re not harnessing it.
    CSN: Oakville Soccer Club, where you are the technical director, has just made a huge investment in new coaches. The thing I hear people saying already is it’s all right for a big club like Oakville to do that, but how can a smaller club with less than a thousand players do the same thing?
    JDV: It’s a question of how you allocate your resources, and what you want to put them to. We had various meetings over the last year with clubs from around the province about how they structure their club, and who is making the technical decisions? In a club of four- or five-hundred kids, they’ve got a very significant budget, and they have the resources to be able to hire someone. Maybe not on a full-time basis, but they can certainly hire someone part-time to train their coaches and deliver the curriculum for them, and put in place programs for those kids to teach them how to play the game.
    It comes down to this question: why are you there, and who are you there for? If the answer is not “I’m here to make the game better, and I’m here to make the game better for the kids,” then you’re probably there for the wrong reason. And then you go to the secondary question, which is how do I make it better? How do I become a better coach? For me it’s through education.
    In my own personal situation, I want to get as much education as I possibly can about how to teach kids the science behind player development, the stages of long-term player development, and what goes into that – the differences between training male players and female players, and the different stages that they go through. All of that stuff is contained within information that is out there, and available for you. Coaching certification programs, through the CSA, the LTPD program, the long-term athlete development Canadian Sport for Life website – there are phenomenal resources out there.
    If you’re going to become a coach, and you’re going to be teaching and training kids, you have to understand the principles of developing young athletes. If you don’t, it’s going to be very, very difficult to just take a bag of balls and go teach them how to kick a ball and play the game, because there’s so much more that goes into it.
    A small club, without the resources, this is where the certification of their coaches is so important. The vast majority of coaches at their club – probably ninety-nine per cent – are volunteers. We have over nine-hundred coaches at Oakville. So many of them – they love the game, but they get involved because their kids are playing. If they’re going to be going out there facilitating soccer for their kids at the youngest ages – four, five, six, seven -- It’s incumbent on us, as a club, to teach them how to teach the kids, and how to have fun doing that. If we can do that, those kids are going to get a great experience with the game at their initial stages, and hopefully fall in love with it, and then progress through the different stages of their development.
    CSN: Last week, I published a long and actually quite touching interview with Nick Dasovic, and he talked about how he had to leave Canada to establish himself as a player, and now he’s worried he’ll have to do it all over again as a coach. And I look at his passion, his experience, and I can feel just how much he wants to move his career forward – there has to be a way that we can find to not have guys like this having to leave Canada to pursue their coaching careers. Ideally, what would you see as the best situation for how Canada could get the most out of Nick Dasovic?
    JDV: I’ll be honest with you. I was really disappointed that Nick wasn’t given an opportunity. There are some that argue that he doesn’t have top-flight coaching experience, so he shouldn’t get the job of Toronto FC head coach, or he should be considered for the Montreal Impact job. But my argument is, if you don’t have experience, where are you going to get it? If no one’s ever going to give you a chance, how are you ever going to know?
    Someone like Nick, you can argue that he’s got more coaching experience than Aron Winter. He coached Under-23 at the national level. He was an assistant coach for many years before doing an excellent job with the Under-23s. I don’t think people gave Nick enough credit for what he achieved there. They nearly qualified for the Olympics with a skeleton squad, where he didn’t have all his best players.
    And despite all the turmoil that was going on behind the scenes at Toronto FC, I still think he did a very credible job of steadying the ship and trying to keep things moving in the right direction.
    We have to look at what we’re trying to accomplish as a country. If we are serious about player development, and Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal being the top teams in Canada in Major League Soccer, if we’re genuinely committed to Canadian player development, why do they not have a Canadian coach? Someone like Nick Dasovic – and I’m not saying this because I played with Nick, or for any reason other than I think he should get a chance – you look at his background in the game. He has his UEFA-A licence, and is working on his UEFA Pro licence. That is the highest qualification in the world in coaching education.
    If a guy like that’s not going to get a chance, who is? Someone like Colin Miller, who’s the assistant coach out in Vancouver, if he’s not going to get a chance, who is? These guys have played at the highest level, they have experience as coaches. If you’re not going to give them a chance to be a head coach, and bring a philosophy and a style of play to a team like Toronto or Vancouver or Montreal, who else is going to do it?
    I find it really, really frustrating, and I feel for guys like Nick and Colin because, having played alongside both of them, I know how passionate they are about their country, and how proud they are to be Canadian. It pains me to see those guys not getting an opportunity to take that passion to a Canadian MLS team and bring it to the players.
    CSN: You are also, obviously, a man with a great passion for the game. What are your own personal coaching ambitions?
    JDV: Again, for me, it’s all about learning. I learn every day, and I’m really excited about the journey that I’m on right now. It’s a huge challenge being in charge of a club like Oakville. Being the technical director here has been a hugely rewarding experience for me, and every day is different.
    In terms of my coaching, the coaching side of it is the enjoyable part of it for me. Actually getting to go out on the field with the kids and work with the players is the fun part of the job. The administrative side – which carries a huge work-load, especially at a club this size – is the difficult side of it. But trying to put in place a structure at the club here that will allow every player to maximize their potential, whether they’re starting out as a four-year-old in house league, or an eighteen-year-old trying to get a scholarship to a university in Canada or the United States – every single one of those kids, we want to try and give them the chance to fulfill their dreams. And the only way we can do that is if we have a very clear structure in place where everyone at the club is working together.
    I was very fortunate in my playing career to finish at a club that was like that – Ipswich Town. Everyone there, from the day I set foot in the club to the day I left, took me and my family in as one of their own. It was very much a family atmosphere, where everyone was working together to try and bring success on the field. I want the same thing here. I want this club – Oakville – to feel like a family, where all of the coaches work together, and all of the players and all of the families, everyone here, all the staff, everyone works together to maximize the potential of every player.
    People might find this strange, coming from me, but it’s not about the elite athletes. It’s not about taking all of our resources and pooling them together to make the point-zero-one per cent that might get to the national team level and make them the best they can be. If we have a structure in place that serves the benefits of everyone, those kids will benefit. They’re not mutually exclusive; the two go hand-in-hand. And we do that by improving the standard of coaching – by unifying the coaches to work together as a group to develop the players, and to educate each other.
    The coaches that we’re bringing in here, I’m really excited about working with them because we’re all coming here with the same mentality. They want to learn. They want to be in an environment where they’re challenged and pushed. I’ll learn as much from them as they learn from me, and Rafael Carbajal is here as well. It’s a collective learning experience.
    If we can do this, and we can raise the standard of coaching at this club, across the province and across the country, there’s a very good chance that we’re going to develop better and better players – and better and better coaches. And that’s only going to be beneficial to the game in Canada.
    Also in this series:
    - Nick Dasovic interview
    - Ray Clark interview
    - Alex Chiet interview
    - Charlie Cuzzetto interview
    - Frank Yallop interview
    - Ron Davidson interview
    - Rafael Carbajal's vision
    - Some preliminaries
    - Canadian coaching: a new CSN investigation
    Guest
    It all comes down to this.
    While it's true that Toronto FC aren't mathematically eliminated from the MLS playoffs, the scenarios that would have to happen for the Reds to qualify for the post-season are so convoluted that it's pretty damn near an impossibility at this point.
    In fact, Toronto could win on the weekend and still be eliminated by no less than two other clubs.
    In other words, forget about it.
    The CONCACAF Champions League still presents a more favourable possibility for advancement, however it too is a long shot -- one that would be aided hugely by a TFC win over visiting Pumas.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    It's easier said than done, of course. Pumas are the team that laid down in their first two CCL matches only to awaken and put the boots to a shell-shocked Toronto side a couple of weeks back in Mexico City. A surprise injection of a whole slew full of regulars -- enough to be legitimately called an 'A' squad -- ran roughshod over TFC, propelling Pumas back into the thick of things in the CCL and providing an ample confidence boost to help right the ship in the Mexican Apertura.
    In the thirteen days since Pumas dropped the 4-0 bomb on the Reds, the Mexican side have won two more in their league and grabbed a decisive victory in Dallas in the CCL. It goes without saying, but Pumas are suddenly on a roll, and it comes thanks in large part to the stomping they put on Toronto.
    So here we are in the return leg, an undermanned TFC preparing to host the rampaging team from Mexico City under the most urgent of circumstances.
    Yes, Toronto can lose the match and still move on, as long as Dallas tanks it in their remaining two Champions League matches. With the current slide the Texans are on, a couple of losses aren't completely out of the realm of possibility.
    That said, Toronto cannot afford to squander the chance put in front of them on Tuesday night. The Reds simply have to assume that Dallas will take care of business on their end, which means TFC needs to do the same themselves or be eliminated.
    A win or even a draw against Pumas puts Toronto at or near the top of the group with one matchday to go, and if the threat of elimination isn't motivation enough, possibly topping the group should be.
    It'll be tough -- as reported here last week, TFC will be without captain Torsten Frings, Terry Dunfield, and Mikael Yourassowsky due to yellow card accumulation. That leaves a giant hole in the central midfield, but Julian de Guzman -- whose best game of 2010 was when Cruz Azul visited the lakeshore -- youngster Matt Stinson, and possibly even Nathan Sturgis will have to step up and make themselves known.
    Of course, Toronto will also be without cup-tied Eric Avila, whose creativity and willingness to go forward will be missed. Similarly, little sparkplug Joao Plata is still out with a hamstring injury.
    It looks bleak for TFC, especially in light of the unbelievably flat performance that they put on in Los Angeles over the weekend. But if this team, as is, has any heart and any fight left, now is the time for them to show it.
    A less talented Toronto FC stared down Cruz Azul last year and sent them back to Mexico with their collective tails between their legs. If Toronto wants 2011 to count for something less abstract than "improvement," they'll scratch and claw in order to get the same thing done on Tuesday night.
    --
    Notes:
    - Pumas coach Guillermo Vasquez hinted that he may go back to the 'B' squad ahead of the huge league match against Club America on Saturday. Of course, he also said before Toronto's visit a couple of weeks back that he'd keep playing the youngsters, so Winter et al. need to take that bit of information with a huge grain of salt.
    - Toronto may go with Milos Kocic in goal again, even though Stefan Frei has completely healed and played the full 90 minutes at Chivas last weekend.

    Toronto FC v. Pumas UNAM
    Tuesday, September 27, 2011. 8:00pm EDT.
    BMO Field. Toronto, ON.
    Watch: Setanta Sports Canada, CONCACAF TV (requires registration)
    Listen: 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

    OSA approves new D3 league

    By Guest, in It's Called Football,

    Canadian Soccer News has learned that the Ontario Soccer Association has decided to 'provisionally approve' a new division 3 league for Ontario.
    The league, a pursuit originally put forth by the Durham and Peel Halton regions, with the support of Hamilton Croatia and Milltown FC - two teams seeking to create a breakaway league from the Canadian Soccer League - will have until November to meet the 8 team minimum standard and to educate the clubs on the provisions set forth by the OSA.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    The league, yet unnamed, is being designed to build with established community clubs who are seeking a natural extension to their youth setup.
    The OSA, which approved the decision at last week's board of directors meeting, is expected to make an official announcement in the days ahead. Canadian Soccer News will have more details on the league as they emerge.
    You can read the internal OSA report on the decision here.
    Guest
    Today, we're joined by AFTN writer and Metro Vancouver columnist Michael McColl to look back on a year of struggles for the Vancouver Whitecaps, talk about where things went off the rails and what he's looking forward to in this next chapter for the Caps.
    We'll also ignore the fact that Aron Winter started his best 11 for a meaningless game, pretend Toronto will be just fine against the Pumas Tuesday and talk DeRo for MVP, the OSA's new league and the CSA handing over the reigns to Stephen Hart
    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/2540/26103/sept282011final.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 Michael McColl on Twitter
    Guest

    Sober Second Thoughts: Seven Stages

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    The seven stages of grieving are said to be shock, denial, pain, guilt, anger, bargaining and finally acceptance. On Saturday night, TFC fans went through seven stages of their own, as the last fleeting and insane possibility of a playoff berth vanished in a 3-0 loss to Chivas USA.
    However, the stages Reds’ fans went through were a little less “sensitive new age” and a lot more “raging hooligan.”
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    1 - Irritation – “What is with this team?”
    2 – Agitation – “No, really, what the **** is with this club?”
    3 – Dark humour – “Jesus hates this team. That’s the only way it makes sense.”
    4 – Rage – “F***, *u**, **c*, ***k, ****ing, F***.”
    5- Self-hatred – “Why don’t I just cheer for Barcelona? Everything
    would be better.”
    6- Suicidal thoughts – “ I. Just. Can’t. Do. This. Anymore (sobbing).”
    7-Substance abuse – “Your soOoo prer8tty, Srippp er laady. . Can I geeet your bbbbm?>?”
    So, it was a long night and a long year. The year will likely get longer tomorrow when the club could possibly be eliminated in the CONCACAF Champions League as well – a loss and Dallas win against Tauro is all it would take.
    We’re aren’t going to re-open the “should they have rested players” debate again since we’ve debated it to death, but it is worth pointing out that they didn’t really rest anyone. It’s unknown whether a 3-0 loss would feel better with worse players on the pitch, but you know some fans will be pointing fingers if they don’t get the result tomorrow.
    Then again, fingers probably need to pointed anyway. Did the season need to be this bad to build for next year? Although I’ve preached patience all year, one does have moments of weakness and doubt. Youre football club shouldn’t drive you to drink. TFC would send a catholic nun to AA.
    Guest
    The Pan Am Games are massive! Massive, I tells ya! So massive that the largest city in the country would rather worry about them in 2015 than the FIFA Women's World Cup! That big!
    This year's edition is being held in Mexico (Guadalajara, to be somewhat precise) and Canada is going to send a women's soccer team! We're the defending bronze medalists! And this tournament is so crucially important that the Canadian Soccer Association notes that it "will help serve Canada's preparation towards next year's London 2012 Women's Olympic Football Tournament".
    Oh, well, OK. Still, competitive games are competitive games, and the more that Big Red can play (to give new head coach John Herdman an idea of what he's working with), the better. So here are the 17 ladies who'll suit up for Canada next month:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    GK- Karina LeBlanc | USA / magicJack
    GK- Rachelle Beanlands | CAN / Ottawa Fury
    Vanessa Legault-Cordisco | USA / Marquette University
    Melanie Booth | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
    Robyn Gayle | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
    Kaylyn Kyle | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
    Rhian Wilkinson | NOR / Lillestrøm SK Kvinner
    Diana Matheson | NOR / Lillestrøm SK Kvinner
    Candace Chapman | USA / Western New York Flash
    Christina Julien | CAN / Ottawa Fury
    Desiree Scott | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
    Christine Sinclair | USA / Western New York Flash
    Sophie Schmidt | USA / magicJack
    Diamond Simpson | CAN / Hamilton FC
    Kelly Parker | USA / Atlanta Beat
    Lauren Sesselmann | USA / Atlanta Beat
    Brittany Timko | Unattached / sans club
    Captain Canada is back in the fold, as is veteran defender Candace Chapman. A number of teens have cracked the squad (Simpson, Beanlands, Legault-Cordisco) to complement what looks to be a balanced lineup. But I'm getting out of the "predicting how the senior women's team will do" business for now. Got kinda burned in Germany earlier this year -- as did we all.
    So let's -- as Herdman is doing -- see what we've got and hope to build a deep pool of talent ahead of next year's Olympics and, of course, that World Cup we're hosting four years from now.
    Canada's first-round matches at the Pan Am Games are against Costa Rica (Oct. 18), Argentina (Oct. 20) and Brazil (Oct. 22). No broadcast details yet, but we'll share if and when they become available.
    .
    Guest

    Capping off a rough year

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Vancouver Whitecaps fans have put up with a lot this year. From season ticket prices, to policies that, on the surface, seem like they might be designed to limit the influence of the Southsiders (the club denies this), it's been a long year.
    And that's before you factor in the losing, the firing of a popular manager, releasing of popular players (for reasons hard to understand) and... Well you get the idea.
    However, the greatest injustice was likely felt last night when some fans were greeted by this:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

    (Hat tip to Nelson Santos for posting it. Follow him on Twitter at Grandstander1)
    At least it wasn't red.
    To be clear it was a promotion by BMO and not by the club itself. And not all the fans received their 'gift' with TFC branding on it - those given out were a select few misprints. Still, one would hope that someone would have vetted it before it got in the hands of fans.
    It also speaks to an important lesson for sponsors. Although all sports have logos and colours that are important symbols to fans, soccer in many ways takes that a step further. Clearly giving out something with the wrong team's name on it is a major error. Even getting the colour wrong will offend many soccer fans - you still hear Canadian fans complaining about the fact that BMO handed out blue merchandise before Canada played Honduras in Montreal.
    Any goodwill that might have come from the promotion was lost by a basic failure to understand the culture they were operating in.
    Guest
    The Montreal Impact might have given a soccer lesson to the Atlanta Silverbacks last night, it still wasn’t enough to make it to the playoffs. The Minnesota Stars, who were hanging on to the last playoff spot managed to get a surprising win in Cary last night as well, beating the league champion 2-1.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Montreal completely dominated Atlanta, scoring 3 goals in the first half to finally go on and score a fourth in the second. Timbers loanee Ryan Pore bagged a hat-trick while Sounders loanee Miguel Montano netted the other goal.
    The Impact finished the season strong, mainly due to the arrival of players that were probably a little experience for the NASL caliber. The team really picked up (a little too) late in the season, after a dismal start of 2 wins, 4 draws and 8 losses in the first half. They finished the season with a very average record of 9 wins, 8 ties and 11 losses, and were just 1 point short of a playoff spot.
    It may be easy to blame the Railhawks for underperforming against Minnesota yesterday, but it would probably be easier to look back at the games that Montreal dropped during the season. Just looking back at the sequence of 5 home games at the end of July, we can think of 2 games that Montreal should have won. The 3-1 loss the Minnesota as well as the Tampa Bay comeback in the last minute of a 3-3 draw on August 10th are just a few examples.
    Despite all this, things are looking very bright for the club as they are set to join the MLS next season. Despite not being involved this season, the arrival of new coach Jesse Marsch has probably given a motivational boost to the players, who will now be waiting impatiently for a contract renewal, an invitation to the training camp … or just a simple “Goodbye”.
    The team will be landing at Pierre-Elliot Trudeau airport and will be meeting the media for a brief conference this afternoon. Technical director will then board another plane, this time to meet Jesse Marsch, who is currently on a scouting trip in London. Start the Anelka-to-Montreal-rumours (Ok, please don’t).
    The club is set to organize another conference on Wednesday, for an end-of-season review.
    NASL Playoffs Quarterfinals
    (Carolina Railhawks and Puerto Rico Islanders have bye to semifinals)
    FC Tampa Bay - Minnesota Stars
    Fort Lauderdale Strikers - FC Edmonton
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