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    Guest
    Vancouver-- A frenzied and sometimes abrasive crowd cheered the Whitecaps on to victory on Wednesday night. Vancouver needed extra-time to move past the outlandishly kitted Montreal Impact.
    Yesterday in advance of the match I posted a piece where I pointed to the Whitecaps inability to use the wings to move the ball or create scoring opportunities. Once the whistle blew and the game started we saw the same positional irresponsibility that is beginning to become calling card of this seasons Vancouver Whitecaps. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    While my last piece focused on the inability of our right wingers to maintain their positioning it seemed as though Russell Teibert was anxious to get in on the act yesterday. He seemed to find his way into the middle of the pitch for the entirety of the first half. I sat with my colleagues in the press box and tried my hardest not to yell at him but I eventually had to leave at half time to sit in the south end where I would be able to vent my frustrations.
    The game was not lacking on excitement, every time Ali Gerba stormed through the box he seemed to knock a defender flat on their keister. He was like a bull in a China shop. Maybe we can change that expression to a Gerba in a pastry shop? Seriously though; it seemed as though even our bigger bodied defenders like Greg Janicki and Mouloud Akloul we're having trouble dealing with his physical presence.
    It only took 13 minutes for the first bit of blood to be shed as Jonathan Leathers took an elbow to the eyebrow and had to receive medical attention. 14 minutes later Eric Hassli took a studs up raking across the knee from Montreal's Amir Lowery. The tackle resulted in a caution but most in attendance felt it was worthy of an ejection. As tempers flared drama was kicked up to a new level as Vancouver began to apply more and more pressure.
    Vancouver did manage a few chances on goal but nothing of any real significance.
    Now maybe it is just me but it seemed as though for the second straight game (in this series) former Whitecaps FC defender Zurab Tsiskaridze was the driving force for Montreal. We saw him "muckin' it up" in the box with Greg Janicki during free kicks and getting into it with anyone who would give him the time of day.
    Davide Chiumiento probably put in his best performance of the season last night as he seemed to have a much easier time finding space with the ball. We even saw him play a little defence. He covered a lot of ground and seemed to have a bit of fire in his belly. Russell Teibert on the other hand probably had his worst showing of the season. Realistically he is only 18 but someone is going to have to pull him aside and show him some game tape from yesterday. He was repeatedly seen wandering about in the middle of the pitch and was forced to do a lot of ball chasing once Montreal's defence would reverse that ball along the back line and catch him out of position. They were able to maintain possession on both wings when given the chance but watching the normally reliable Teibert "holding hands" with Gershon Koffie was a bit of a surprise.
    Ali Gerba finally slotted a marker in the '83 which drew the tie level on aggregate as the last few minutes ticked off the game clock. His well placed penalty was smashed into the top right corner of Jay Nolly's goal and the game was forced into extra time.
    Chances came and went both ways in dramatic fashion during extra time. Terry Dunfield put a free kick just over the bar, and Greg Janicki headed a ball off Jay Nolly's post. Eventually Mouloud Akloul would put away the game winner during a scramble in front of Bill Gaudette's goal in the 113th minute.
    The 'Caps will play TFC at home in the first leg of the next round on May 18th.
    Guest
    As Twitter continues to change the way the game is dissected and fans interact, we grabbed a snapshot of tweets from last night that tell the story of the Nurtilite Voyageur Cup games and what the media and the supporters are saying about their teams.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    On Toronto FC v FC Edmonton
    @24thminute
    Just walked by Nana Attakora. Was not wearing a Sporting Kansas City strip
    @lord_bob
    I can't get over how badly Edmonton mailed in their starting lineup for this Voyageurs Cup game, while Toronto plays a competitive crew.
    @bgnewf
    Mauricio Navarro reffing match 2ite. In 3 MLS matches TFC's record is 1-1-1. In V-Cup we defeated MTL in 2009.
    @lukewileman
    Plata impressive so far for #TorontoFC. Nice play in build up to Gordon's goal
    @the11ca
    It will take TFC a long time to supplant the Whitecaps as the Impact's major rival.
    @theyorkies1812
    Seriously, hate to beat a dead horse but how does Gargan ever start over By'Eckersley? Neigh.
    @callitfootball
    Ali Gerba trending in Toronto. Pretty sure that never happened when he played here
    @johnmolinaro
    JDG said he came out as a precaution because of his knee. Gordon came out with a groin injury.Amazing what you learn while eating a slice.
    On Vancouver FC v Montreal Impact
    @tylergreen1040
    For all the questions about Jay Nolly, he has come up huge in this with match tonight
    @peteschaad
    Sure hope Adidas makes a pink shirt for Montreal next season #MLS
    @provinceweber
    Dos Santos: "I don't think the best team advanced...I do hope from the bottom of my heart that Teitur and his group goes to CONCACAF."
    @piltdownman7
    montreal away supporter spotted. http://yfrog.com/h4g07ypj
    @mikemartignago
    Ali Gerba nearly rips Jay Nolly's leg off. Gets a yellow.
    @lord_bob
    What a boring half that was. Good god. At least Ali Gerba is still fat. #WhitecapsFC
    @tylergreen1040
    quote of the night, "Marc Dos Santos sit down!" as said by @peteschaad
    Guest
    The game is simple. Spread the ball around. Create Space. Play the wings. Don't use your hands. Put the ball in the opposing net. Keep it out of your goal. In a perfect world there is no war, everyday at Empire is sunny, the other team is as useless as AC St. Louis. We don't live in a perfect world though.
    We certainly have not been fielding a perfect team. Injuries, Suspensions and International duties have made life incredibly difficult for Teitur Thordason and his coaching staff. Everyday issues in the world of soccer and certainly not anything that is unique to the Caps.
    The most difficult thing to watch this season has been the Whitecaps play on the wings, and the teams inability to actually build on the foundations that were set in place during previous season. Last years squad flourished on the wings they created space took the ball deep into the corners and crossed the ball into the middle to undersized strikers or out of position defenders. This years squad has has all the tools to play the style they want to play, but the wingers have to play more a more disciplined game.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    It is incredibly difficult to be critical of a first year squad that are playing with several players who have come up through the lower ranks. It is also incredibly frustrating to watch a team that is not playing to its full potential. We saw flashes of brilliance on the wings from players like Wes Knight and Phil Davies last year. This year we have yet to see the things that made those players worthy of their MLS contracts. Wes Knight fan club put your knives away for a minute.
    For arguments sake we are going to divide the field vertically into 5 segments. Starting from the wings we will separate the field sideline to the 18 yard box. Then from the edge of the 18 to the 6 yard box. The 6 yard box and then repeat the 6 to the 18, and the 18 to the sideline.
    It has been quite apparent that the ball spends a large majority of its time on the left side of the pitch with the 'Caps. Russell Teibert and Nizar Khalfan have both done a reasonable job of maintaining possession of the ball on the left. They have both done a fairly decent job of staying disciplined and keeping between the sideline and the edge of the 6. The left side has clearly been a strength for the Blue and White.
    As the ball bounces about on the left our right wingers whether it be Knight or whoever, tend to drift deeper and deeper into the middle of the pitch. Finding their way out of the two outside zones and into the middle and sometimes even into the opposite 2 quadrants. Knight managed to strike the post against Chivas earlier this year and came close on several more occasions during that match, but one is left to wonder how he would have faired being 6 yards deeper on his wing. His post and the following chance where he sliced his own rebound over the net with the outside of his foot were great displays of his pace and ability to cover ground, but there were several opportunities that went unrewarded due to him being caught too deep in the middle of the pitch. Eric Hassli floated the ball from left to right on several occasions that game and the ball drifted over Knights head and the flow of play was suffocated. Comparing Wes to Antonio Valencia does not seem fair but Valencia's display earlier today against Schalke should be noted as a prime example of how a winger should be positioned. Valencia's wide wing play was used to perfection to slice open their German opponents.
    It was quite apparent during the pre-season that Thordason's plan of attack relied heavily on having the defenders play the ball to their wingers and the wingers crossing the ball to the strikers. In the most recent string of games the Whitecaps have reverted to a very ineffective style of long ball, kick and chase, with the play being forced down the middle of the pitch. At one point during Vancouver's last game we saw Wes chase a ball deep into the left corner and cross it back to his own side to... well one would have to assume himself but lets be realistic he is not THAT fast. Knight has not been the only player who has been routinely caught out of position but his example is the easiest to point out.
    Teitur's 4-4-1-1 works. We've seen it work, as long as everyone plays responsibly it works. We have seen Davide Chiumiento play wherever he wants to play, and Hassli tracking back to his own box.
    Last week we saw Marc Dos Santos' Montreal squad play a 4-5-1 in an attempt to to clog the middle and keep Vancouver off of the scoreboard. Tonights game we should see a different formation from the Impact as they are in desperate need of goals. Hopefully tonight we will see a more disciplined 'Caps squad use the width of the pitch to counter.
    Guest
    Today, in this It's Called Football Post Game Edition, we're joined by Ben Knight, Duane Rollins and Rudi Schuller to help breakdown the Toronto FC 1-0 win over FC Edmonton.
    We discuss whether Aron Winter's decision to go with an 'A' lineup in a series you'd practically won was tactically sound, if the play of Richard Eckersley has earned him a starting role on the team and the creative play of Joao Plata can translate when facing MLS quality opponents.
    We also ask the question - which would you rather do: start the Nutilite Voyageurs Cup final series on the road or at home?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <embed src="http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/FlowPlayerLight.swf?config={embedded:true,videoFile:%27http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/download/2540/22995/may52011final.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
    Football rumours start any which way. A quote taken out of context can lead to speculation a player is planning on leaving their club. The reluctance of a manager to say whether they will sign a long term deal with their club immediately triggers the bookies to lower the odds on his departure.
    Most of the time these rumours turn out to be nothing at all, especially in Major League Soccer, where every week we discover anonymous tips from a guy who knows a guy on some forum about a player “coming over from Europe,” dot dot dot (though to be fair, that sort of thing has calmed down in recent seasons at the league has grown and matured). Even so, it can often take a lot of hysteria and sometimes more than one news cycle to clear everything up.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Canadian soccer being what it is, there is a down home coziness unparalleled in other North American sports that allows these rumours to spring up and die in rapid succession, often within hours, if not minutes. Yesterday, when news emerged via Rogers Sportsnet and on Twitter (where else?) that Nana Attakora was released from Toronto FC, a few local soccer journos simply called him up and simply asked him if it was true. So, Attakora got at least two phone calls (Rycroft and John Molinaro at last glance) that can be paraphrased thus:
    “Did TFC release you Nana?”
    “No.”
    End of story. Attakora left training early along with Dan Gargan due to illness. Somewhere down the line this became “Attakora is leaving TFC.” Irresponsible journalism? Perhaps, but certain not without precedent in 24 digital sports news reporting. And all it took to clear up was a couple of friendly phone calls.
    Still, it is alarming how a bit of news with important consequences initially originated from what most consider to be a fairly legitimate news source, Sportsnet. Even the patented De Rosario Breakdown in Communication with the Powers That Be routine—this time, neglecting to tell New York Red Bulls’ head coach Hans Backe he was planning to play for Canada in the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup tourney—spurned journos to get quotes from Stephen Hart on the matter instead of the source. At least one reporter however called De Rosario and asked him. Paraphrased again:
    “You want to play for Canada in the Gold Cup, Dwayne?”
    “Yeah, if they let me.”
    End of story, again.
    It’s safe to say this kind of flash fire reporting is a recent thing. In the old days, when print news was published once a day, the De Ro and Attakora “stories” would either have never made press, or appeared as truncated “news and notes” bullet forms nestled in the back of the sports section.
    Now, with online media on all the time, what we’re witnessing isn’t up-to-the-minute journalism, but the journalistic process laid out in real time, masquerading as news. Saying Attakora is leaving TFC without confirming it isn’t a “rumour,” it’s a malformed news story. Calling Attakora and asking if he was leaving or not would normally be part of a journalists job, not reason to put out a wire report, or, heaven help us, a Tweet.
    Canadian reporters should be thankful for the access they have to players and managers. But the question remains: why didn’t they use that access yesterday prevent hysterical and patently false rumours from littering the RSS and Twitter feeds in the first place? Why did Stephen Hart’s reaction to the De Ro news supersede Dwayne’s own telling of the matter? The answer is likely because for a competitive sports media industry, any news, even when it’s not news at all, is better than nothing.
    Guest
    There are few ways left to eulogize Canadian striker Simeon Jackson beyond what has been already said and written this week by journalists and fans across the country. So Long Balls will keep it simple. The Norwich City dream-maker is the comeback story of Canadian soccer in this 2010-11 season.
    After a promising gallop out of the gate, Jackson suffered through an awful scoring drought, during which his confidence and playing time slowly dried up and disappeared. Now he's the king of Norwich City, his nine goals in seven matches the primary reason the Canaries will kick off next season in the Barclays Premier League.
    The only question left for giddy Canada supporters is whether Jackson will remain with Norwich next season to enjoy the fruits of these late-term heroics.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Another promising young Canadian in the thick of a promotion battle is midfielder/sometime defender Marcel de Jong. His club, Augsburg, are holding fast to second spot in 2.Bundesliga, which means they will qualify automatically for top flight of German soccer if they can stay there for the remaining two games of the season.
    Again, with de Jong it becomes a question of whether or not he will make the journey along with his club to the Bundesliga. At 24 years of age he has earned positive reviews from fans and reporters this season (at least in the reviews Long Balls has successfully shimmied through Google Translate) and is not likely seen as a drag on the club's wage bill.
    He's scored three times this season for Augsburg in 25 appearances (just under 1800 minutes), proof that he's not just along for the ride. Of course there's always the chance that even if he does stick, he'll spend the entire 2011-2012 Bundesliga season watching eagerly from the substitutes' bench.
    de Jong is a versatile player for Canada, having clocked in various times at leftback and at the centre or left of midfield. Even regular substitute minutes in the Bundesliga would give him tremendous experience and prove to be a great asset for Canada.
    It's interesting how situations change over the course of one football season. If you had told Long Balls back in September that by June 2012 Canada's starting eleven could possibly feature two Premier League players (Simeon Jackson and David Hoilett) and three more from the Bundesliga (Rob Friend, Marcel de Jong and Kevin McKenna) he would have swung at you with the nearest meat cleaver. Fast forward nine months and that idea still seems far-fetched but not beyond the realm of possibility.
    And finally, on the subject of Canadians playing at the absolute top possible level in Europe, we'd be remiss to leave out Atiba Hutchinson at PSV. The club are third in the Dutch top flight, two points back of second spot with one game left in the season.
    If PSV win that game there is a reasonable chance they can leapfrog into second place and earn entry to the final round of Champions League qualifying this summer. Hutchinson missed his chance at Champions League football this season by transferring out of Copenhagen (transferring out and up, it should be added) so I'm sure he's enticed by the prospect of playing in the world's biggest club competition next season. And yes, he will also feature in Canada's starting eleven.
    Guest

    Sliding tackles: a rethink

    By Guest, in Onward Soccer,

    As by now we know, Colorado Rapids defender Brian Mullan destroyed the leg – and quite possibly the career – of Seattle Sounder speedster Steve Zakuani with a horrendous tackle a week and a half ago.
    Mullan bowling-balled himself into Zakuani’s path as the gifted attackman was sprinting down the touchline with the ball. The collision sent the young Congolese import pinwheeling – with a extra joint in his shattered right leg.
    MLS responded with a ten-game suspension.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    By all accounts, Mullan is horrified by what happened. The eleven-year MLS veteran says he’s made that tackle a hundred times. But he also claims he didn’t know the full extent of Zakuani’s injury until after the match. That strains credulity a bit, as the injured Sounder was down on the turf for a long time, and no one would want a leg that looked like his.
    But let’s give the benefit of the doubt for a moment. Whatever Mullan’s intent might have been, it’s pretty clear he had no inkling his rough, rolling challenge was going to have such devastating consequence.
    I’m going to take a different approach on this, though. A deeper look at what the actual purpose of a sliding soccer tackle is – or ought to be.
    We know, of course, that soccer is a contact sport. There are limits, but there’s no shortage of crunching tackles in the world game – many of which are quite brutal, and go uncalled.
    In my very bad and brief high school playing career, I vividly remember being good at only two things – hoofing the ball the hell out of our zone … and winning the ball with a slide tackle.
    The intent was never to hurt anyone. No spike of mine ever touched another player’s leg. The idea was to slide through the ball. In a perfect world, my opponent would fall over, and I would pop up with the ball at my feet, heading the other direction, looking for an open man to pass to. Completing that pass was completely beyond my ability, but I knew how to go to ground, and come up with possession.
    In the professional game, of course, there’s a lot more going on. Zakuani is a dangerous creator in MLS, and opposing teams are going to want to lay some contact on him in hopes of slowing him down or roughing it up.
    But how does this tackle Mullan’s done a hundred times stack up against the slide-tackle ideal? Badly.
    While I don’t believe for a second the man intended major injury, what he clearly intended to do was put a low, dense, insurmountable barrier directly in the path of a sprinting man. This wasn’t a case of getting the ball. Mullan knew there was going to be an impact, and that Steve Zakuani was going to feel it.
    At this point, it’s not a question of one man’s skill against another’s. At this point, it’s a deliberate collision, which Mullan timed, initiated, and was vastly better positioned to protect himself.
    The rest was horrific bad luck. I’ve never seen a body fly quite the way Zakuani’s did. Closest thing that came to mind was a ski-jumper bouncing back up after a very bad landing.
    But while Mullan can reasonably state he got to – and through – the ball with his lead leg, it’s the positioning of the rest of his body that concerns me. I’ve got no objection whatsoever to a ball carrier getting knocked over by a good tackle. But there are degrees, and the way Mullan’s body fell in front of Zakuani didn’t give the Seattle man any chance of escaping a devastating impact.
    I think what’s happened is that the art of the sliding tackle has got buried in the mud. When it’s done right, the defender gets the ball – and instant clearance from a temporarily felled opponent. That creates a brief man advantage, and a lot of transitional options.
    The artless approach is just to clobber someone, and hope you can convince the referee you got to the ball before you got to your opponent. It’s rougher, more cynical – and way too easy.
    The basic methods of winning soccer games are scoring goals – and preventing them. Across the world, it is very, very difficult to score in soccer. It takes vast amounts of skill and creativity to pull it off at all.
    Why shouldn’t tackling be held to the same standard?
    Zakuani’s injury is an extreme case. You can’t have both main bones snap in your lower leg without additional nerve damage and trauma. Even if the leg heals and regains all its strength, there remains a distinct possibility a gifted, entertaining, marquee MLSer will never play another competitive game in his life.
    That would be a horrendous waste. That it was done so routinely, so blandly, with such dreary lack of skill – well, a ten-game suspension seems pretty mild to me.
    I would like to see a rethink of what sliding tackles are, and what they ought to be. If a soccer player has to get badly injured out there, let it at least happen with everyone playing the actual game.
    Onward!
    Guest
    I've been saying for weeks that, as a Vancouver Whitecaps supporter, there's nothing I fear in the Voyageurs Cup more than a Montreal Impact teams that's woken up. There's so much skill on that roster that you won't quite believe it unless you actually go through each of their players and yet they got off to a lousy start, drawing two and losing one in their first three league games against sub-optimal opposition. Even their 1-0 loss to the Whitecaps at Stade Saputo was a bit of a stinker and got Vancouver fans' confidence up. Yet I was still biting my fingernails - please, Montreal, don't figure this out.
    Well, they've figured out something. After weeks of struggling to score the Impact eviscerated FC Edmonton 5-0 at Foote Field a couple nights ago, with Ali Gerba romping through the Eddies defense like one of Hannibal's elephants. Edmonton tried their best but wound up utterly dismembered. It was the most one-sided battle since Cannae.
    And now they're coming into Empire Field to try and do it to us. The Whitecaps hold a one-goal advantage against a team that just tagged a decent Edmonton side for five. It bodes ill.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Don't count on the gap between the NASL and MLS to save us. Even if the gap were that big, which it isn't, the Impact have plenty of experience coping with more illustrious opponents. And if Gerba finds his stride, then he'll be doing so against a Vancouver Whitecaps defense that's having trouble stopping much of anything.
    Really, the best news for Vancouver is that this may have been a one-off. Edmonton didn't look very good (two of their players, including goalkeeper Rein Baart, wound up sent off) and were coming off a shattering 3-0 loss to Toronto FC in their home opener. Meanwhile, it's not likely the Impact went from mediocrity to the Barcelona of the NASL in four days. They were picking up a few chances and half-chances against Vancouver in the first leg; Montreal was clearly the second-best team but there was some promise there. Now the promise has exploded all over unfortunate Edmonton and we're left to hope it was a fluke.
    Still, the Impact are more than capable of overturning a one-goal deficit on paper. Now they've begun doing it on the field too. Am I the only one feeling the familiar palpitations of terror? They'll probably need two goals at Empire Field, at least, but that's been managed by Toronto and Dallas. Sporting Kansas City managed to get three. And none of those guys are the cream of MLS.
    I'm pleased to report that there isn't much first division arrogance in Vancouver at present. There are thousands of fans who saw division two, are seeing division one, and recognize both that the first division is superior but the margin isn't as wide as between most countries' first and second divisions. However, there is some overconfidence. Vancouver didn't have that much trouble taking Montreal behind the woodshed in Montreal; how hard could it be at Empire? But FC Edmonton just gave us a vivid demonstration why you never underestimate the Montreal Impact.
    Guest
    At least no one will blame TFC this time. Earlier it was reported that Dwayne De Rosario would not be reporting to the Gold Cup. The Red Bulls indicated that they expected him to stay there to help the club erase a 15 year trophy drought.
    However today MLSsoccer reported DeRo’s response: “I’d like to go,” basically.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    It’s a classic he said, he said of club versus country. The Red Bulls are putting pressure on him to stay, he’s pushing back, but making sure that people understand that he might end up having to remain in New York.
    Canadian fans have no say. Stephen Hart barely has any more. Welcome to a day in the life of a Canadian soccer supporter.
    The answer to this, of course – beating the dead horse now – is for MLS to actually shut down during its own confederation tournament. Don’t hold your breath as it simply isn’t a priority now. My position that it should be is irrelevant.
    The debate brings up two questions. First, we need to ask ourselves whether De Rosario should be pressured to go. Secondly, we wonder just how important the Gold Cup should be taken with World Cup qualification just around the corner.
    The kneejerk reaction is “Damn right,” and “If we don’t win I’m jumping off the Bloor Viaduct.” Maybe we should dial it back a bit.
    As stated, WCQ starts very soon and Canada needs to play a significant amount of games this time to even get to the semi-final stage. As such, it is imperative for Hart to build depth. During those first round games against Caribbean minnows it’s going to be important to rely on the North American based players. Flying the European-based guys over to play the Cayman Islands is more than a bit pointless.
    So, maybe Hart says to New York “fine, but we’re going to need him this fall.”
    DeRo is an important part of the qualifying process. Although some will argue otherwise, this country simply does not have a player like him. So, Canada needs him. The stark truth is that the country needs him more in WCQ than in the Gold Cup.
    That leads to the second part of the question. The WCQ seeding is set so all the Gold Cup is for is a spot in the Confederations Cup. That’s not nothing, but it’s not all that much either.
    And if you haven’t dived into the Don yet...
    Guest
    It was reported today Toronto FC had released Nana Attakora and while the news came as a shock to TFC supporters the most surprised was Attakora himself.
    “I was sick today. A bunch of us were…we picked up something on the plane ride back from Seattle and Dan (Gargan) and me and a few others didn’t show up to training today,” Attakora told Canadian Soccer News.
    Asked how it felt to learn he had been traded when he had in fact not been sent anywhere, Attakora laughed it off.
    “I’m not surprised. It happens all the time with you guys (the media.)”
    If there was a silver lining to the slip up, it was the news that the injury he had been nursing had healed and he was working on getting back to match fitness.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    “It feels good now. The problem is I haven’t really been able to train for the past two weeks so I need to get my fitness back up.”
    How long?
    “I’d give it a week.”
    So, given the mix-up and that he’s a week away from returning, let’s call it a good news day.
    Guest

    Nana Nana Goodbye?

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    At about 2:30 p.m. EDT Sportsnet reported that Nana Attakora had either left TFC or has been traded or released. No further details were provided. The club did not initially respond to a request to comment.
    At about 3 p.m. Ben Rycroft contacted Attakora. The player said that he was unaware of any change to his status with TFC.
    "I saw the tweet but I haven't been told anything yet," Attakora told Rycroft. "I'm going to make some calls now and see what this is about. But, as of right now, I haven't been told anything by the club."
    CSN will be updating the story after talking to Attakora at 4 p.m, or if the club responds before.
    UPDATE 3:57 pm
    Sportsnet has conceded their error and rescinded their report of Attakora's departure
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Guest
    It appears Mission 2014 is alive and well.
    Staring down a congested summer schedule, in which Canada will launch into World Cup qualifying mere months after the biennial Gold Cup tournament, men's national team head coach Stephen Hart appears set to prioritize the latter over the former.
    "What we can do (at the Gold Cup) is try to use the squad, the entire squad, as much as possible, and get everybody in tune with their roles, responsibilities, etc.," Hart said on Tuesday. "Things like rankings are not going to play any role. ... We've got to use games against CONCACAF competition, albeit all in one country, wisely."
    While Hart expressed "irritation" at CONCACAF's announcement that seeding for World Cup qualifying is already set, meaning the Gold Cup will have no impact in that regard, he does see the continental tournament as a good opportunity to build depth and provide meaningful experience to a good number of players.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    While not tipping his hand as to who the specific invitees to training camp may be, Hart said that as of now, no player that he's contacted has declined an invitation to represent Les Rouges at the Gold Cup. When asked the inevitable, unavoidable question about whether that includes Blackburn's David "Junior" Hoilett, Hart said nothing has changed when it comes to the Canadian-born, maybe-Jamaican, maybe-English striker.
    "There will be a point to move on, of course, when we get close to World Cup qualification. But until we get to that point, I'll keep working on it."
    Mitigating the urgency around Hoilett's plans, however, has been the recent sparkling play of Simeon Jackson, who scored the winning goal on Monday to lift Norwich City into the Premiership for the first time since 2005. Jackson has turned into a certified red-hot goal poacher for the Canaries in recent months, but Hart was unwilling to say whether that would mean a shift in the youngster's role with the national team.
    "We'll keep working on different things with him," said Hart, who has mainly utilized Jackson as a winger, rather than an out-and-out striker. "When the time is right we'll make, I think, the best decision for the team."
    Hart chalked up Jackson's hot form to the fact that he's been given the chance to play consistently as of late, though he ruefully admitted that the same can't be said of some of the player pool's other European-based members. Still, he remained coy when it came to the subject of potential domestic call-ups.
    "Terry (Dunfield), I've seen play at an international level. He's been very consistent for Vancouver," said Hart. "Russell (Teibert) is playing, he's learning, he's developing. ... If he keeps playing, he will grow through the experience of playing in MLS and fighting for a position in the squad. So I'll keep an eye on him as we go along."
    Hart noted he is also keeping an eye on a few NASL-based players as potential Gold Cup callups, but wouldn't go into specifics.
    "You want to go into the Gold Cup with a very balanced squad," he said, noting on several occasions that the coaching staff will be "careful" in its approach to the Gold Cup, in an attempt not to burn players out ahead of World Cup qualifying.
    As for the games themselves, Canada's in a "tricky group" with the U.S., Panama and Guadeloupe, but Hart was quick to brush aside the suggestion that the team is still stinging from a controversial loss to the U.S. in the 2007 Gold Cup semi-finals.
    "It's in the past, it's finished ... This is a new game, a new competition."
    While Hart says the team won't be haunted by the ghosts of Gold Cups past, he does hope that the team can gain some positive psychological momentum from a strong, pro-Canadian crowd at BMO Field for the team's tune-up match against Ecuador on June 1.
    "The crowd makes a huge impact on how a team performs," he said. "Those players are wearing the Canada shirt with pride, they've sacrificed a lot to play for Canada."
    Fans who want to see Canada make the World Cup one day, he says, should do their part and support the squad every chance they get. Mission 2014, after all, isn't just about the players on the field -- it's also about the supporters in the stands.
    Guest
    Here is the raw audio from the Stephen Hart press conference this morning.
    He speaks about Canada at the Gold Cup and the game against Ecuador, the recent success of Simeon Jackson, how long he'll wait for David Hoilett and New York's comments suggesting DeRo would skip this summer's Gold Cup as well as a whole wealth of other things.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Fair warning, Hart was on a cell phone, so he does cut out from time to time. It does get resolved shortly into the call.
    <embed src="http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/FlowPlayerLight.swf?config={embedded:true,videoFile:%27http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/download/2540/22974/stephenhartpresser.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

    "News to me"

    By Guest, in It's Called Football,

    Responding to reports this morning that the New York Red Bulls management were expecting Canadian international Dwayne DeRosario to skip this summer's Gold Cup, Canadian national team head coach Stephen Hart told a teleconference that it 'was news to me."
    "As far as I know, Dwayne is keen to play at the Gold Cup."
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Hart would go on to tell the assembled media that he would be following up with DeRosario in the days ahead and suggested that the comments made by the New York coaching staff were perhaps leading and meant to provoke a reaction.
    "It could just be, you know, the coaching staff throwing something out there."
    At 33, there have been some questions as to what role DeRo would play in the next round of World Cup qualifying but Hart made it clear that he still values DeRosario's contribution.
    "I joke with people and I say that Dwayne is a young 33. I don't really look at numbers, in terms of age. I look at how the player is performing and what he brings to the team and those are my main considerations."
    What do you think? Is there still a role for DeRo on this team? Or would they be better off going with a youth movement?
    Guest
    The second legs of the Champions League semi-final kick off today, with both home sides having won 2-0 away last week to all but put the two series on ice.
    With that in mind, what is left to play for in either match?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    FC Barcelona v. Real Madrid
    (Barcelona leads 2-0)
    Today gives us Round Four of the springtime El Clasico series, with the teams locked at 1-1-1. For all intents and purposes, Barcelona has rendered today's final meeting pretty pointless, barring a tremendous collapse at Camp Nou.
    Given the lackluster nature of the previous games between these two sides (relative to the astronomical hype), it's not surprising that many just want this fixture over and done with. The over-the-top dramatics emanating from Jose Mourinho and company in recent weeks has gone from mildly amusing to outright annoying, and this writer will be glad to be done with it and watch the classier side move on to the final.
    Manchester United v. Schalke 04
    (Manchester United leads 2-0)
    Last week was David finally succumbing to Goliath, as Schalke's great run through the Champions League came to an unceremonious halt by way of 90 minutes of brilliance from Wayne Rooney.
    The scene now shifts to the Theatre of Dreams, where all Schalke can realistically hope for is a creditable performance while United aim to cruise to an incident-free result.
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