Jump to content

  • Articles

    Manage articles
    Show all categories
    Guest

    Canada's Gold Cup roster

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Canada's Gold Cup roster after the jump:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]1- GK- Lars Hirschfeld | NOR / Vålerenga Fotball
    2- D/M- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / SV Wehen Wiesbaden
    3- D/M- Mike Klukowski |
    4- CB- Kevin McKenna | GER / FC Köln
    5- CB- André Hainault | USA / Houston Dynamo
    6- M- Julian de Guzman | CAN / Toronto FC
    7- M- Terry Dunfield | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
    8- M- Will Johnson | USA / Real Salt Lake
    9- F- Rob Friend | GER / Hertha BSC
    10- F- Ali Gerba | CAN / Impact Montréal
    11- M- Josh Simpson | TUR / Vestel Manisaspor
    12- M- Pedro Pacheco | POR / CD Santa Clara
    13- M- Atiba Hutchinson | NED / PSV Eindhoven
    14- F- Dwayne De Rosario | USA / New York Red Bulls
    15- D- Dejan Jakovic | USA / DC United
    16- M/F- Tosaint Ricketts | ROM / FC Politehnica Timiþoara
    17- M- Simeon Jackson | ENG / Norwich City FC
    18- GK- Milan Borjan | SRB / FK Rad
    19- M- Marcel de Jong | GER / FC Augsburg
    20- D- Jaime Peters | ENG / Ipswich Town FC
    21- M- Jonathan Beaulieu-Bourgault | GER / SC Preußen Münster
    22- GK- Haidar Al-Shaïbani | FRA / Nîmes Olympique
    23- M- Issey Nakajima-Farran | DEN / AC Horsens
    Guest

    Know thy enemy: Canada v Ecuador

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Ecuador announced its roster for its upcoming friendlies, including June 1 against Canada. You can see it below the jump.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Keepers:
    Marcelo Elizaga (Deportivo Quito)
    Máximo Banguera (Barcelona)
    Alexander Domínguez (Liga de Quito)
    Defenders:
    Juan Carlos Paredes (Deportivo Quito)
    Néicer Reasco (Liga de Quito)
    Giovanni Caicedo (Liga de Quito)
    Diego Calderón (Liga de Quito)
    Jorge Guagua (Liga de Quito)
    Luis Checa (Deportivo Quito)
    Frickson Erazo (El Nacional)
    Walter Ayoví (Monterrey de México)
    Midfielders:
    Segundo Castillo (Deportivo Quito)
    Oswaldo Tilson Minda (Deportivo Quito)
    Luis Fernando Saritama (Deportivo Quito)
    Michael Arroyo (San Luis de México)
    Flavio Caicedo (El Nacional)
    Edison Méndez (Emelec)
    Cristian Noboa (Rubín Kazán de Rusia)
    Luis Antonio Valencia (Manchester United)
    Forwards:
    Jaime Ayoví (Toluca de México)
    Cristian Benítez (Santos de México)
    Felipe Caicedo (Levante de España)
    Joao Plata (Toronto FC)
    Plata jumps out. If they aren't playing in Toronto he doesn't likely get the call, but it's logical for the Ecuadorian staff to have a look at him since they are in town anyway. He will only be with the team in Toronto.
    The game represents a difficult challenge for Canada, but it's exactly the type of side that it will need to get past(in style) if it has any hope of qualifying to Brazil.
    You can still buy tickets through Ticketmaster.
    Guest

    Sober Second Thoughts: Priorities

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    No one will talk about TFC's 0-0 draw with Colorado years from now. It was a mostly forgettable game played days before a night that will end with a trophy presentation at BMO Field. To say that the fans are focused on the Voyageurs Cup final Wednesday is an understatement. There are fans that would have liked to see TFC play its office staff tonight to rest for Wednesday.
    Aron Winter was not one of those people. Anyone that's been paying attention this year would have realized that the coach was going to put out the best line-up he could. He did. And, on the whole, it was good enough to get a rare road point for the Reds.
    There were flashes of something good during the game. For once this wasn't a result underlined by Stefan Frei standing on his head. If anything, Toronto had the best of limited scoring chances. The Reds were positive when appropriate and had enough left in the tank at the end to just hold on.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    A point is a point and it is important. If TFC always played like this on the road they would be in a hell of a lot better position to end that four year playoff drought. Time will tell if they can, but we are just 1/3 of the way through the year. It's a little too early to give up yet (although the lack of home wins is troublesome).
    The debate about Winter's decision to not rest more players will rage in Toronto over the next two days. Those that feel that the club should have will likely not be convinced otherwise. Amongst a certain type of fan the Voyageurs Cup is the be all, end all. Those fans represent a small minority of the stadium though. TFC won the trophy last season and I doubt you could find too many at BMO Field that would have argued that 2010 was a success. The league is the thing and league success is, by far, the most important goal. As much as some don't want to hear it, a 10th place finish will be far more significant in the mind of most TFC supporters than winning the four team Canadian championship will be -- even if TFC went on a CONCACAF run too.
    The CONCACAF Champions League is not the Champions League and, although worthwhile, you cannot think of it in the same terms.
    That's not to say that holding a trophy up in front of the supporters Wednesday isn't worthwhile. Of course it is. It's an important achievement for TFC's most loyal fans, many of which helped pay for the cup a decade ago. And TFC has shown the competition the respect it deserves.
    The club also showed the league the respect it deserved on Sunday. And, that's important too.
    Guest
    There is already a torrent of criticism being directed at Chelsea Football Club in numerous articles and the comment sections below them following Sunday afternoon's decision to sack manager Carlos Ancelotti.
    At first glance the move does seem preposterous. Getting fired in a hallway one hour after the final kick of the season doesn't seem fitting for a man who won the "Double" in his first season in England, and only missed top spot again by a handful of points in his second.
    But then you have to ask yourself what role the manager plays at Chelsea, or at any football club for that matter?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    There's not much point feeling sorry for Ancelotti. He's being very well compensated for his departure and his reputation amongst Chelsea supporters (full disclosure: I am one) and across the wider football world is unlikely to suffer. His record spoke for itself when he arrived at Chelsea and it speaks just as loudly as he leaves.
    He rarely criticized referees or opponents and generally took responsibility for poor performances when he had excuses not to. He was a classy individual that burnished Chelsea's image and for those reasons alone supporters will be sad to see him go.
    His departure is probably the most questionable of all Abramovich's managerial sackings for the simple reason that there are few credible alternatives this time. That is why it's a bad move, not because Ancelotti is Chelsea's sixth manager in the past eight seasons.
    There is a lot of talk about Chelsea's desperate need for "continuity," that it's madness to keep hiring and firing managers and that Abramovich has no class. Excellent knee-jerk reactions, but the club's recent record doesn't really bear that kind of talk out.
    In the eight seasons Abramovich has owned Chelsea the club has won three Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups, reached the semi-finals of the Champions League six times and in 2008 came within a once-in-a-million slip in the Moscow mud of winning the biggest prize in club football. That's an astoundingly successful record which any club in England with the exception of Manchester United would trade for in an instant.
    Man United has achieved its record-breaking feats with Alex Ferguson, but he started out at the club at a different time in football. It was almost a different world. Sticking with Sir Alex through some initially thin years paid off beyond the wildest expectations, but that doesn't mean it's a formula for all situations.
    At Chelsea the gaffer appears to be nothing more than an expendable layer of middle management, a front-line supervisor who is easier to get rid of than the rank-and-file out on the pitch. Canning the manager every two years may be a horrible and degenerate way to run a football club, but Chelsea wins quite often. Could it be that Abramovich has created an organizational structure that doesn't require the same manager in charge for 10 seasons to be successful?
    At clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal it's all about the manager and the power he exercises (although what exactly will happen to United and Arsenal once those two leave is an open and interesting question), while at clubs like AC Milan and Chelsea it's all about the owner. Two different ways of doing things, and neither is particularly suited for the truly long-term.
    Clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona probably do it best. (Because of course, neither one has enough going for it already.) The community/supporter ownership structures and the dominant position each club holds in the sporting culture of Spain are huge advantages of course, but at both clubs it is all about the institution itself. Managers and presidents come and go, but success seems if not constant, always right around the corner. More than just a club indeed.
    Guest
    One day after the Rapture, and Toronto FC have ascended into the sky.
    No, they weren't called into Heaven. Instead, they have travelled to Commerce City, Colorado, to take on the Rapids in a rare Sunday tilt that does nothing but add pressure to an already-packed May schedule.
    Toronto, of course, have eyes for the Voyageurs Cup, which will be decided at BMO Field on Wednesday night in what is sure to be a real "cracker" of a match. But watching Aron Winter talk about it, you get the impression that every game is of equal value, regardless of whether it is a chance at rare silverware or a mundane league away match in a near-unwinnable venue.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Winter has been quick to point out to anyone that'll listen that he takes the old sporting cliché "taking it one game at a time" to heart, refusing to even discuss the Nutrilite Championship finale in the build up to the Colorado match over the past few days.
    And he's not one to simply pay lip service to that philosophy, taking a decidedly middle-of-the-road approach to rotating his players during this ridiculously hectic stretch of games. Winter has clearly identified his preferred core of players and has ridden them out, game in and game out. Don't be surprised if much of that core is on the pitch tonight at Dick's Sporting Good's Park in suburban Denver.
    Of course, injuries and suspensions -- and an unexpected national team call-up -- will force Winter's hand in regards to relying on his core. Julian de Guzman is out due to yellow card accumulation, and fellow midfielders Tony Tchani and Jacob Peterson are serious doubt after falling victim to Empire Field's awful artificial turf in the midweek.
    If all three are unavailable, Winter and company will be faced with picking a side that features none of his preferred midfielders, something that'll severely test the depth of this overhauled Reds squad.
    Who gets the call in their stead?
    Will it be the beleaguered Nathan Sturgis, a player who has only seen spot duty under a new regime that clearly doesn't rate him? Will Matt Gold get a start after a less-than-stellar outing in Vancouver last week? What about Oscar Cordon, the highly-talented Canadian rookie who doesn't seem to be quite ready for the league just yet?
    On top of the midfield dilemma, "Little Greatness" Joao Plata has earned himself a call to the full Ecuadorean national side for a North American tour, potentially pulling the tiny dynamo from Winter's plans for tonight. The training camp -- starting tonight -- inexplicably takes place in Ecuador, even though their matches will be played in Seattle, Toronto and New York and even though a number of players will be coming back from Europe to take part.
    Given that the story on MLS and TFC's site says that Plata would be expected to show up to camp tonight, one would reasonably expect him to miss the match in Colorado. But then, a video of Plata expressing his happiness at the call-up has appeared alongside the story on the TFC site -- ostensibly shot in Colorado, so it's hard to say where he'll be at kickoff time.
    On the other side of the pitch, the Rapids are dealing with their own absences, mostly through a rash of injuries that has hit their attacking players. Omar Cummings, Caleb Folan, Quincy Amarikwa, and Conor Casey have all had health issues of late, with only Casey and Amarikwa expected to be available for selection. Add in Macoumba Kandji's ACL tear from MLS Cup 2010, and Colorado's got a heavily-hobbled crop of forwards.
    Add in veteran midfielder Brian Mullan's lengthy suspension for cutting Steve Zakuani's leg in half, and you've got a Rapids team missing a fair bit of experience.
    Despite all of that that, the Rapids have had a decent start to the season, amassing 15 points from their first ten games (good enough for a fourth-place tie with New York). Colorado will always have an altitude advantage playing at home, and they've wisely augmented that advantage by making the field at DSGP as wide and long as legally possible.
    For a team that loves to play the ball wide have have their full-backs make deep, surging runs all game long, fatigue may hit Toronto more than some of Colorado's other visitors so far this year. That said, the Rapids are not exactly playing like dominant reigning champions, and with a decimated attacking corps they may be ripe for a nicked point.

    Colorado Rapids v. Toronto FC
    Sunday, May 22, 2011. 7:00pm EDT.
    Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Commerce City, CO.
    Watch: GolTV Canada, MLS MatchDay Live
    Listen: FAN 590, FAN590.com
    Guest
    In an effort to provide some attention to Canada’s USL teams, the 24th Minute will be providing a weekly digest of news. If you have a tip or a story you think should be covered, please e-mail me at CSNPress@gmail.com
    The eastern Canadian USL sides are just getting started this week, while the west teams have been up and running for a couple weeks. As always, CSN encourages you to get out and Support Local Soccer if you live near a USL team.
    The digest:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Victoria – The Highlanders will kick-off their 2011 home season today against the Whitecaps reserves. The game is their “Pink on the Pitch” match, which raises money and support for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation of BC and the Yukon. The players will all be playing in Pink Jerseys which are being auctioned off after the match. You can go to the Highlanders Web site to participate in the auction
    Victoria – The Highlanders women headed south for a true test, taking on three California W-League sides, including powerhouse Pali Blues. The schedule/result: LA Strikers (Wednesday @ 7pm, lost 2-0), Pali Blues Friday @ 7pm, lost 2-1), and Santa Clarita Blue Heat (Sunday @ 7pm)
    USL – The host of the 2011 Super-20 finals was announced this week, with Tampa’s Brandon Flames getting the nod. The Super-20 Finals, which feature the top amateur clubs for 17-20 year old in Canada and the USA, will take place July 21-24
    Canadian USL games this week (all times EDT):
    PDL
    Today – 10 p.m. - Vancouver Whitecaps Residency at Victoria Highlanders @ Bear Mountain Stadium
    Tomorrow – 4 p.m. - Forest City London at Toronto Lynx @ OSA Soccer Centre
    Wednesday – 11 a.m. - Hamilton FC Rage at Toronto Lynx @ Centennial Park Stadium
    W-League
    Tomorrow – 1 p.m. - Rochester Ravens at Toronto Lady Lynx @ Ontario Soccer Centre
    Tomorrow – 7 p.m. - Seattle Sounders at Vancouver Whitecaps FC @ Percy Perry Stadium
    Tomorrow – 10 p.m. - Victoria Highlanders at Santa Clarita Blue Heat @ Valencia High School
    Wednesday – 2 p.m. - Hamilton FC Rage at Toronto Lady Lynx @ Centennial Park Stadium
    Friday – 10 p.m. - Colorado Rush at Vancouver Whitecaps FC @ Exhibition Stadium
    Guest

    Hirschfeld on Strike?

    By Guest, in Some Canadian Guys,

    The Norwegian first division is being rocked by a player strike affecting around 100 players from 9 clubs – including Valerenga, backstopped by Canadian maybe-starter Lars Hirschfeld.
    The issue at hand? Well, the players don't like their boots.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Tippelegaen clubs mandate that all boots and keeper's gloves used by players be made by the clubs official kit sponsor – Kappa, in Valerenga's case. Doesn't seem too harsh on the surface – and it's not likely to garner too much sympathy from Joe Lunchbox – but in the world of professional sports the difference between "my favourite boots" and "the boots I'm made to wear" might just be something.
    It's unclear at this time in Hirschfeld himself has opted to strike with his colleagues and teammates, but the question might soon be moot as the league has to decide if the weekend's matches are to be, uhh, "given the boot" pending a resolution.
    To be fair, the players have also taken issue with clubs' ability to terminate player contracts, which is more standard labour-issue fare. As for the boots, the clubs appear unwilling to budge, arguing that financial ruin would come from upsetting the kit sponsors. The players, oddly, have argued health and safety concerns, the idea being, I suppose, that it's dangerous to cram Adidas feet into Umbro boots. Maybe it's just me, but a more reasonable and forthright argument would be "how well the club does and how much money it makes is directly related to how well I kick a ball, so let me wear the shoes I want so I can do that as well as possible."
    But, then, I'm no labour arbitrator.
    It's not a great time, really, for Canada's likely No. 1 to be missing playing time – Lars is slated to join for Les Rouges in the upcoming Gold Cup. Here's hoping the disruptions in the season don't effect Lars' form coming into the tournament.
    The better news, though, is that the player's union has expressly said that the strike does not effect international play, so Lars' freedom to play for Canada is not at risk. And, presumably, Stephen Hart will let Lars wear whatever shoes he wants.
    Guest
    There’s that lovely moment in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, when the local bartender is finally convinced that the world, which is about to end, might actually be about to end.
    “Lucky escape for Arsenal, if it does,” he says.
    Apparently, if you believe in a vain and vengeful universe, and are convinced Saturday is the 7000th anniversary of Noah’s flood, you’re either packing for The Rapture, or bracing for tomorrow’s global earthquake, followed by five months of apocalypse, and the end of everything on October 21.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    All this after those nice ancient Mayans went to all that time and rock-walloping to tell us the ultimate deal actually goes down just shy of Christmas, 2012.
    And what to make of the breaking news that former wrestler and pop-culture icon Randy “Macho Man” Savage (Do the thing! Yeah!) tragically lost his life in a car crash in Florida this morning? If the brilliantly strange and violent Savage is the first one Raptured up, we are dealing a situation no religion or sacred text in history has prepared anybody for.
    October 21, as it turns out, is the day before Toronto FC’s final match of the 2011 regular season, home to the New England Revolution. If the Reds aren’t safely in the MLS playoffs at that point, that might indeed be the end of some folks’ world, in some strange and trivial respect.
    BMO Field – with its graceful views of both land and sea – would be quite a lovely place to watch the world end. If you’re holding tickets for New England, you might want to show up a day early.
    I’m not going to be irresponsible enough to look ahead to Sunday’s TFC match in Colorado and try to flag which players on both teams will be Raptured out of the lineup. But I do have good news for the city of Denver on the predicted global earthquake front.
    If you’ve ever dabbled in the science of plate tectonics, you already know that every mountain range everywhere is the result of slowly moving tectonic plates colliding over millions and millions of years. Earthquake country, in other words.
    Ah, but hold the phone! The old-testament timeline of this particular apocalypse scenario rejects plate tectonics. Its backers claim the world is only a few thousand years old, not nearly long enough for what actually happened. “God made them mountains, not earthquakes.” Therefore, if they’re right, Colorado is not an earthquake zone.
    Which means the non-Raptured players of Toronto FC – fixture-backlogged, jet-lagged and lucky beyond words not to have been beaten by three clear goals in the Voyageurs Cup in Vancouver – will have to find a way to get a result against the MLS champions, who enjoy the snarkiest nature-induced home advantage in the league.
    Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (worst stadium name – ever?) sits a mile up in the thin, chilled air of the Rockies, and of course sports the largest, longest, widest playing field allowed by FIFA rules.
    This mean-minded “advantage” didn’t exactly make the Rapids champions a year ago, as they lost two and drew five of fifteen league home games. But it’s a heck of a thing to run into at the end of a road trip – and The Rapture.
    Assuming he hasn’t been taken up by then (and – again – no judgment in that), young Joao Plata has been really lighting it up for the Torontos, with dashing runs and fine passes on the left side. Problem with that, of course, is that it isn’t enough. Vancouver Whitecaps defender Jonathan Leathers let it be known before the V-Cup game kicked off that he planned to offer the young, diminutive Plata some “special attention.”
    As it turned out, Plata left Vancouver largely unleathered, but one has to assume that the MLS defenders left behind after The Rapture will likely be of the crunch-tackling persuasion. That means Toronto needs to cook something up on the right.
    In Vancouver, that was provided sweetly by a series of darting runs – and a fine late assist – from Nick Soolsma. Only problem? Pretty much everything he did well was built off the same little stutter-step run – something every defender in MLS is being briefed on as we speak. If Soolsma is still upon the planet come kick-off, he needs another way to fool people. The ongoing development of Toronto’s attack could be shut down, if not.
    It certainly doesn’t mean the Reds can’t score. Maicon Santos’s de-flick-tion goal was a lovely little piece of soccer magic – and both Plata and striker Alan Gordon have showed they can find net out of nothing as well. But creating something out of something – consistently – is a far more reliable way to make the playoffs.
    There’s no guarantee that any of these youthful bouts of creativity will help Toronto earn a result in the airless vastness of Colorado. But there are, at least, some signs that things are moving forward – even if the team, overall, is still far too interested in going backwards.
    These things take time, and it’s important to see if TFC is willing – and able – to add useful strings to their long-suffering attacking bow.
    But, either way, it won’t be the end of the world.
    Onward!
    Guest
    Nobody needs to be told the Vancouver Whitecaps are off to a rough start. They have one win this year in the league and one in the Voyageurs Cup; other than that, it's a bunch of draws that were so-called "moral victories" and a bunch of losses that weren't even that. Some impatient fans have already been calling for the scalp of head coach Teitur Thordarson, claiming that the 59-year-old Thordarson is in over his depth at the Major League Soccer level.
    It may not just be the usual fan chatter on an unsuccessful team, though. It might be that the Vancouver Whitecaps organization is losing faith in Thordarson. The Whitecaps seemed half-reluctant to make Thordarson the team coach for MLS in the first place, and now they may be closer to letting him go.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    In early September, the Whitecaps announced that Thordarson, who had managed the second-division Whitecaps since 2007, would lead the team into their first season of Major League Soccer. This was an unusual delay, particularly for an established coach: Portland had announced that John Spencer would be their first MLS head coach back in August. The Philadelphia Union hired Piotr Nowak in May the year before their MLS debut. Only the Seattle Sounders rivaled Vancouver for tardiness among recent expansion teams, replacing Briam Schmetzer with Sigi Schmid in December of 2008, and in that case they had to lure Schmid from the Columbus Crew.
    When Thordarson signed his extension to coach the Whitecaps, he got just a one-year contract with two club options. A one-year contract is a bit unusual for a head coach in a discipline where it's acknowledged that coaches need to be looking to the next season as much as the current one. It tends to lead to coaches just managing to try and keep their job. But between the contract and the delay in signing it, it seems to reflect that even from day one Tom Soehn and the Whitecaps front office were reluctant to keep Thordarson around.
    Then the team signed Denis Hamlett as an assistant coach. Hamlett's last professional experience was as head coach of the Chicago Fire for two seasons. He provides Thordarson with an experienced hand who knows his way around the league, but he also waits in the wings in case the front office thinks Thordarson isn't up to the challenge. Hamlett is just 42 but has been coaching, either as a head coach or an assistant, in MLS since 1998. In a unique league which calls for ingenuity and an agile mind, Thordarson is the third-oldest coach in the league beyind Dallas's Schellas Hyndman and the venerable Bruce Arena. The last time he coached at a Major League Soccer-like level was in 2003, when Thordarson managed the then-Norwegian Premier League side FK Lyn. For all Thordarson's experience, when it comes to a Major League Soccer-like level he is arguably less experienced than Hamlett.
    From the beginning of the year, the Whitecaps have promised great things. So far, the results haven't come. There are many reasons for this and I, personally, would blame the coach almost last of all, but I'm not the one who makes the decisions. One needs just swing by a fan site or a well-read Whitecaps blog to see the vitriol from fans towards Thordarson, criticizing his tactical sense, his formations, his substitute policies. Much more worryingly, influential midfielder Davide Chiumiento <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/sports/soccer/Chiumiento+wants+central+role+Whitecaps+frustration+mounts+Thordarson/4775518/story.html">hit out at Thordarson</a> last week for not using Chiumiento properly. Any time locker room dissension reaches the public eye, that's going to worry the higher-ups.
    If the Whitecaps never had much faith in Thordarson to begin with, they might not need much of an excuse to pull the trigger on a move. With a vocal minority of fans dissenting against Thordarson's management, they may see it as a chance to persuade Vancouver fans that the Whitecaps are serious about winning in the short-term. It would be a massive panic move, to jettison a coach with decades of professional success over injuries and bad luck. But as Toronto FC fans know, MLS teams are not immune to panic moves.
    Guest
    Today, on our last show ever (the world ends tomorrow don't you know?) we're joined by Sounder at Heart's Dave Clark, to talk about the benefits of reserve squads vs academies and which are doing a better job of developing and retaining players in MLS.
    We'll also set up the Toronto v Colorado game with an eye ahead to the second leg of Nutrilite Voyageurs Cup, talk a little bit about some of the strangeness going on within the Montreal Impact organization lately and as it's our last day on Earth we'll confess all our football sins and lament all the things we never saw happen in Canadian soccer.
    The archive is now up. Make sure to confess some of your football sins in the comments
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <embed src="http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/FlowPlayerLight.swf?config={embedded:true,videoFile:%27http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/download/2540/23313/may202011final.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>
    Guest
    A press release that briefly appeared on ESPN Deportes has TFC fans wondering if a big name friendly is planned for BMO Field this year. The relevant part:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    It's worth noting that there have been no TFC games announced as part of the 2011 Herbalife World Football Challenge schedule.
    CSN did receive a tip from a reliable source that there were negotiations to bring a top Italian team into Toronto this year, but those rumours have not been confirmed.
    However, the possibility of a big name friendly this year runs contrary to every other piece of information CSN has received. About a month ago, A source with the club said that there were no current plans to play any friendlies this year. That decision was based partly on feedback received at the town hall meetings last year, but the biggest factor in the choice not to play was the possibility of fixture congestion if TFC goes to the CONCACAF Champions League.
    We were told that Aron Winter requested that the club not be burdened by another game.
    It was suggested to us that there might be a "slight" chance of a game being booked if TFC fails to win the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. However, it would likely be against a lower profile club than those involved in the World Football Challenge.
    Based on the information we've received -- and the fact that the press release was quickly taken down -- it seems likely that it was an error rather than an indication.
    Guest
    An agreement to sell the North American Soccer League's Atlanta Silverbacks to a Winnipeg group which plans to relocate the franchise to the Manitoba capital is done.
    Sources -- who chose to remain anonymous, mostly because they happen to own the outlet in which this story is being reported -- say the team will play its games at the Winnipeg Soccer Complex, former home of the Winnipeg Fury and current home of WSA Winnipeg of the lower-division PDL.
    The announcement garnered some instant reaction from Manitoba soccer fans on Twitter.
    "Terrific news! Shut up haters! When The Reserve Squad reports it, it's good as gold!" tweeted @peterssoccer.
    "finally! this is awesome! Anyone wanna sign up for an NASL pool?" tweeted @o_o_t.
    "Any Brazilians on the team? No? Don't care. Also, people on the bus smell weird" tweeted @RBeilfuss.
    The announcement also generated plenty of debate as to what the team should be called.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    While a small minority have suggested the franchise retain its "Silverbacks" moniker, the idea has been rejected by those noting that gorillas are, in fact, not indigenous to Manitoba.
    Fans sporting old Winnipeg Fury jerseys -- despite being too young to have been cognizant of the team when it actually existed -- dotted the downtown core on Friday morning, suggesting plenty of fealty for the historical name. But the group purchasing the franchise has rejected the notion of "bringing back the Fury".
    "We've spent too much time building the brand of WSA Winnipeg," said one of the main investors. "I don't care if we infuriate every single soccer fan in this city by refusing to do what's obviously right -- we're going to ram this brand down your throat! You got that, peons?"
    The investor then calmly wiped his brow with a 100-yuan note and sipped from a glass of dolphin tears.
    Word of the move garnered some mixed reaction among players.
    "Winnipeg?" asked Silverbacks goalkeeper Felipe Quintero. "It's cold there! And nobody speaks Spanish! I'd rather go back and play in Mexico!"
    "Wow. Really? How old am I?" asked Pat Onstad of D.C. United, a former keeper for the Winnipeg Fury. Onstad bristled when it was suggested that he hold off retirement for one more season so that he could finish his long, storied career in a Winnipeg jersey.
    "As I told you last off-season, I'm retired. No more playing. That's that. Now if you'll excuse me, practice is starting."
    Reports of the relocation have been denied by the Silverbacks' current ownership, the NASL, the PDL and a variety of competing media outlets who certainly have no vested interest whatsoever in attempting to discredit The Reserve Squad.
    But has The Reserve Squad ever led you astray before?
    .
    Guest
    In a terse press release TFC announced that it had parted ways with three academy players. Keven Aleman, Dino Gardiner, and Jonathan Lao all refused to sign a letter of intent with the club and were released.
    Aleman could be the big loss. He was a stand out for Canada at the CONCACAF u-17 qualifiers and has a lot of talent on the ball.
    What does it mean though? It's hard to say. It could be as simple as three players wanting to try their luck in Europe and TFC not wanting to be anyone's second choice. It's unlikely that it has to do with a lack of talent for any of the players as they were all well regarded.
    One thing seems certain. TFC doesn't take well to wafflers at the academy level. You either commit to the club, or you move on -- no matter the talent level.
    It's hard to argue with that logic. You want good players, clearly, but you want players that want to be there (eg. De Rosario, Dwayne).
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Guest
    A couple weeks ago, I wrote an article titled Fire Your Big Guns in the Voyageurs Cup. As the title will no doubt suggest, I wanted Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, and Toronto to take this competition seriously. To come out with their best players and try to snatch the Voyageurs Cup from each others' grasping, desperate hands.
    To my delight, this is more-or-less what's happened. And as a result we have what's shaping up to be a tournament for the ages.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    I realize that for Toronto FC fans, the first round against FC Edmonton was a bit of anticlimax. Taking on the tournament newcomers, the first round for you was full of historical significance but not much excitement and no actual tension. Winning 3-0 on the road in the first leg will do that. The second leg was closer fought but still not exactly close and Toronto FC breezed through with a 4-0 aggregate win. If you weren't enjoying that for the historical significance, you probably weren't enjoying it at all. But even in the second leg, with Toronto's advancement all-but-assured, Aron Winter played it safe and put out quite a strong lineup to entertain the fans at BMO Field. He's taking this tournament as seriously as anybody.
    In the other semi-final, of course, Vancouver and Montreal battled to a classic finish. Old rivals showed their mutual quality, two teams struggling in their respective leagues showed off that they both have all the skill in the world. The first leg was a see-saw affair eventually won 1-0 on a goal by Terry Dunfield, and the second leg was the sort of instant classic that would be replayed on Sportsnet for years to come if Sportsnet was the sort of channel that would rebroadcast an old soccer game. The Whitecaps wound up taking it thanks to Mouloud Akloul goal/act of sublime redemption in extra time, but with just a little more luck the Montreal Impact would have got through. Take that, "MLS teams are inevitably better than NASL teams" crowd.
    Then the first leg of the final last night. As an unflinching partisan of the Whitecaps, I was horrified. I stood and cheered and sang for ninety minutes in front of a surprisingly-strong crowd of 15,000+ then slumped onto my bench as surely as if I'd been shot. I can barely even talk about that game without replaying the frustrations in my mind and wanting to slam my head into the desk. But for a neutral, it must have been great viewing. For a Toronto FC fan, it would be almost as good as a win. And the result leaves both teams with the proverbial "everything to play for" heading into Fortress BMO Field on the 25th, where the trophy will be handed out to one team or another that's clearly going to have to bloody earn it.
    This is a great tournament, and this has been a great year for a great tournament. All because four teams decided to take it seriously. Who among the fans would dare say it should be otherwise?
    Guest
    Sorry for the extended break.
    Obviously, there’s been lots to talk about in the media landscape, what with a barely noticed CSA AGM the other day, save for the ever-intrepid Jason deVos, and a weird, short-lived media battle over the status of Nana Attakora at TFC. Plus there's the hyperbolic and bleak coverage of the Voyageurs Cup, which is apparently the last-stand for Toronto and the Whitecaps, at least as far as the Globe and Mail is concerned.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    I’ll get to that in the coming days, but today I wanted to focus on an interesting and encouraging conversation I had with RedNation Online’s Ian Clarke at the “Support Local Football” event at Toronto’s Football Factory.
    Following and writing about Canadian soccer is often, for most bloggers and journalists anyway, a lonely affair. When I started my first blog A More Splendid Life back in December of 2007, I was aware of only one similar Canadian amateur soccer writer, who went by the pseudonym Antonio Gramsci (his excellent soccer blog, Gramsci’s Kingdom, finally died in 2009). Over the years, more and more Canuck footy writers came to the fore, but it was a long time before I sat down and chit-chatted with any of them in a meaningful way.
    In that time, I did a short series on Canadian soccer history for my own blog in July 2008. I learned a lot about our football legacy that summer, its scholars and the best sources to discover as-yet unknown links in the historical chain dating back to the 1870s. I relied heavily on the work of historian Colin Jose, whose priceless work in this subject cannot be understated. And I discovered that having a library card and an internet connection meant you didn’t really have to leave your home to do any archival research.
    The weird and wonderful thing talking to Ian, whose own interest in the subject is documented over at RedNation, is that, independent of me, he’d gone through the same series of discoveries, read from the same sources, and discovered the same tricks (namely, that prudent searching for archived articles in online databases saves on trips to the microfiche section of the Toronto Reference Library). We’d come upon the same amazing events, and felt the same incredulity that they weren’t better known within the mostly twenty and thirty something Canadian soccer community.
    I couldn’t help think how much more progress we could have made if we had the opportunity to share notes earlier. While the internet offers an incredible means for amateur writers to jump in the soccer writing game and connect with like-minded CanSoc nerds, it isn’t always good at effective human interaction, the kind you get with a boring old community group with regular meetings. This is one reason for example why a collection of independent writers scattered across the country won’t ever be as an effective counter to organizations like the CSA as a traditional activist group.
    There are means of countering the atomization of the blogosphere. Groups like the Voyageurs, events like “Support Local Football” or the Socrates Football Blogger meet-up in the UK are all good ways of fostering a real community, although these events tend to be infrequent and haphazard. It would be of good value in future to organize something a little more regular perhaps. Nothing as tight-laced or networky as a convention, but a way for us to meet together and talk in an organized way to help move soccer forward in this country and not leave it to chance and other organizations with more money, power and regular, in-person AGMs.
×
×
  • Create New...