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    Guest
    In a rather interesting turn of events, Vancouver Whitecaps Residency graduate and potential Homegrown signing, Kyle Porter appears to be taking his talents to La Belle Provence. Reports from Bruce Constantineau (The Sun) and Marc Weber (The Province) both have Porter headed to Montreal to join their training camp this week, which will then head to Arizona on Sunday.
    It doesn't look like the Impact and Whitecaps will be sharing a hotel while in Arizona - they're both staying at the Casa Grande, but not during the same time frame. How weird would that be though? I'm thinking Forgetting Sarah Marshall hi jinx ... A of comedy of errors ensues.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Either way, the decision is going to be an interesting one anyway you shake it.
    If Porter signs with the Impact for 2011, he can earn more then he would on a base level salary with the 'Caps. The NASL doesn't have the same salary restrictions in place as MLS — which limits Porter's potential earnings to $42 000. Even if he were to sign with Montreal for this year, Vancouver would still retain his MLS rights as he is a residency program product.
    If I were running Vancouver (...THE WHITECAPS WOULD FINISH IN LAST PLACE) I would let Porter go. If you still retain his rights for the next season, why not? It would basically be as good as a loan deal, Porter gets a little more in game experience and suites up against real men, rather then whatever he would be facing in the Reserve League.
    Then again; if Teitur felt that Porter was going to be an integral part of this year's team or the future, they probably would have signed him already.
    Guest
    For a footballer, the decision to answer the Canada call can't be easy. For starters, you risk an injury that could blow up your club career. The club career that serves up a cheque each month. Secondly, once you don the Canada shirt, nobody beyond a few hundred hardcores huddled in pubs across the country knows or cares who you are. And lastly, Canada rarely gets results.
    But what of the 17 to 18 rotating warm bodies that do show up when Stephen Hart calls? Beyond a simple sense of patriotic duty maybe there are motivating benefits to the Canada gig. Does playing internationally spark an otherwise smouldering club situation? Or does it snuff it out completely? Using a highly unscientific sample of one Canada friendly, let's find out.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Against Greece, Josh Simpson was the only Canadian player whose touch gave the sense that maybe, just perhaps, a goal may occur in the not-so distant future. In Turkey he picked up immediately where he left off with Canada, scoring for Mansisaspor on Sunday as they downed Antalyaspor 4-1. That’s Simpson’s 12th goal in all competitions this season and 10th in the Turkish top flight, good for fifth in the scoring race.
    Olivier Occean ran hither and yonder as target man for the first 45 minutes against Greece. He participated in some useful buildup play, if we apply the most liberal definition possible to the word "useful." At least someone noted on a supporters board that he did knock down and flick on more passes than his replacement Rob Friend did in the second half.
    When a target man gets no chances on goal, it’s generally because he didn’t get any “service.” Well someone serviced him nicely over the weekend in Germany because he returned to Kickers Offenbach and scored his 11th third division goal this season in a 2-0 win over Jahn Regensburg. Although by Tuesday he was red-carded out of a 2-0 loss to Saarbrücken.
    Hee-ya! All-Canadian midfielder Pedro Miguel Salgadinho Pacheco de Melo started for Portuguese second-division outfit Santa Clara on Sunday. By the time the announcers had breathlessly finished pronouncing his full name in the 70th minute, Pacheco had potted the match winner. His first goal of the season and a sign his injury woes are behind him.
    Issey Nakajima-Farran didn't play for Canada against Greece, but he is a solid cog in the revolving cast of nearly 50 players who are occasionally drafted into Canada duty. He scored his third goal in 16 appearances for Denmark's Horsens in a 2-1 loss to Nordsjælland.
    Those were the high notes, now the lows.
    Canada's English Championship contingent took it worst. Jamie Peters sat on the bench for Ipswich Town on the weekend against Barnsley and was a late sub on Tuesday in a 6-0 win over Doncaster. Simeon Jackson sat on the bench for Norwich on Saturday in a 2-1 win over Reading, while David Edgar was an unused sub for Swansea (which makes sense considering an errant period means he isn't actually a Swansea player). Iain Hume, for his part, hasn't played anywhere since the first of February due to a groin pull.
    You wouldn't think that Adam Straith's unsteady Canada showing would endear him to his club manager in Germany, and you'd be right. Young Straith sat on the bench yet again, stuck at four appearances this year.
    Hertha Berlin manager Michael Preetz saw Rob Friend miss a gaping net with a free header as the minutes ticked away against Greece. He swiveled in his chair, looked out the window and thought to himself, "No, this man won't help my team score six goals against Karlsruher on Sunday." His decision proved astute, as Hertha beat Karlsruher 6-2 and Friend watched the entire show from the bench.
    Canada's two target men Occean and Friend may actually provide the perfect answer to Long Balls' original question. Both players turned in equally ineffective performances for Canada mid-week. One manager rewarded his striker with a start and he scored, while another manager sat his Canada striker and watched his team score the most goals they've managed all season.
    So what have we found out? Absolutely nothing.
    Guest

    Riddle me these:

    By Guest, in Onward Soccer,

    I’m trying to remember a time in Canadian soccer when we faced so much uncertainty – on so many fronts.
    Yes, some huge and recent progress has been made. But from the national teams, to the pro teams, to player development, to the very governance of the game itself, pretty much anything you might care to lean on is largely written in the sand right now.
    Howzabout 10 unanswered examples? (Not in order of approximate importance.)
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    - Toronto FC: Just when I’m ready to write the “Write off the year; give Aron Winter some time to build a contender” story, here come young, skilled Dutch players. Is the theory that playing in MLS, under Winter, is a legitimate way to build a stronger career at home? How does that translate into an MLS playoff hunt? Maybe the best way to cure DeRo’s sulking is to finally give him some solid, effective wingers? Sure couldn’t hurt – but we … know … nothing.
    - Vancouver Whitecaps: Make the playoffs on their first try? Win the Voyageurs Cup? Discover, too late and to their overall dismay, that there was more than Mo Johnston keeping Toronto FC out of contention these past four years? Until live MLS games start popping up in the Whitecap win column, everything’s a question right now. They certainly give the impression of having done more things right on the way in that TFC had done four years ago. Again, though, we don’t know.
    - Montreal Impact: Started training camp with a skeletal roster, which seems rather a long way from moving up to MLS a year from now. Owner Joey Saputo always seems to be playing chicken with somebody or something, but not many franchises have ever had to face playing one last lower-level season in a league that came within an eyelash of not even existing. So – play to win this year, or to be ready for next? “Both,” I’m sure the official answer comes, but in this case, they don’t know.
    - FC Edmonton: Okay. FCE has been a modest idea, and a very limited reality. Their coaches have departed for Japan, and their one player-related headline involves selling a decent prospect overseas. The late confirmation of their league’s existence can’t be helping, either. All we know for sure is that they are scheduled to appear in one quarter of all NASL-2 games, and they’ve drawn Toronto FC home-and-home in the Voyageurs Cup. At least they haven’t predicted drawing 50,000 fans to Commonwealth Stadium in the past four weeks or so. As the new season dawns, this is Team Question Mark.
    - Women’s World Cup: Oh, right! Will Canada win the right to host the 2015 Women’s World Cup? The bid’s in, and there’s only Zimbabwe to squeeze past. Then again, United States only had to pip Qatar to land 2022, and how did that work out? A win here would be hugely positive for the ongoing development of international soccer as something that actually means something to Canadians in general. But, at a time when playing fair and well can put you at a fatal disadvantage in the FIFA boackrooms, who the heck knows?
    - Women’s National Team: No sooner had CSA go-to lad Peter Montopoli finished La Grande Schmooze with FIFA, he had to tap-dance down the Italian coast to renegotiate with Canadian women’s national team coach Carolina Morace. Folks, this dispute isn’t about how much money the Canadian women’s team gets. It’s about whether Morace can access the funds she’s been promised. Keeping the coach may not, in the end, even be possible. But can Montopoli clear the decks and keeping the promises? And will the women boycott the Cyprus Cup? And will they show up for their well-earned World Cup shot?
    - Men’s National Team: Are they good enough? Will they ever be? They should be the biggest beneficiaries of CSA governance reform – if we could just get past the ongoing delays.
    - Second-tier soccer: I refuse to call this league the NASL, but I’m glad it’s got another legislative kick at the can. The USSF’s ardent desire to end instability at the D-2 level just about clear-cut the entire shebang. Now there are only eight teams, some of which are clearly shaky, many of which are owned by the same corporation. Meanwhile, a grand, solid side like Rochester has ducked down to D-3 – seeking stability! This is the mess the Montreal Impact have to negotiate, en route to The Show. Part of me wonders if any Edmonton v Minnesota games will even be played.
    - Third-tier soccer: And just like that, the Canadian Soccer League has-washed-its-hands-of / been-dumped-by two-of last year’s three ultra-promising expansion clubs. Hamilton Croatia and Milltown FC swear they’ve got a new league to go to, but who’s in it – and who’s going to sanction it – is about as clear as a typical CSL press release. (Which ain’t ideal.) Milltown exec Dino Rossi used to tell me over dinner how a Canadian league at this level should be run. Now, he’s finally got his chance.
    - CSA governance: Turning to the long-term uncertainly forecast, how will the Alberta membership respond to having their pro-governance wishes utterly ignored by their own representatives at the recent CSA SGM? Once the offending “directors” are hoofed, will there be a move to reopen the governance debate, and try to get the original plan passed at the CSA’s upcoming spring AGM? And – as long as we’re dreaming in technicolour – why exactly the heck is Dominic Maestracci still president of the CSA?
    It will be raining answers very, very soon.
    Onward!
    Guest
    Welcome to this week's edition of Don't Fight The Laws, in which I combine my years of being a referee with my years of being a smartass to provide my answers to your questions about the Laws of the Game, controversial decisions and other odds and ends relating to referees and what they do.
    Got a question? Send it over to canadiansoccerguys@gmail.com. But for this week, we have the following...
    I remember when I played as a kid being called for a high kick a bunch of times, which the ref once described to me as "kicking above the waist". So my question is, what's the difference between a high kick and the kind of play that Rooney pulled off against City? -- Andrew Knowlton
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    If one of the 54 soccer fans worldwide who haven't been exposed to ol' Wayne's bicycle-kick dandy in the weekend's Manchester derby happens to be reading this, here's what we're talking about:
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    Now, Andrew, it's possible that your childhood referee was simply a particularly inflexible and bitter chap, who saw fit to penalize those limber enough to kick above their waist. But I can assure you, there is nothing in the Laws of the Game prohibiting a player from kicking above their waist. If you're particularly tantric, you can scratch the back of your ear with your cleats all day long, should the mood strike you.
    However, the ol' "high foot" -- as I usually describe it to youth players -- contravenes the Laws of the Game when it drifts into the territory of "play(ing) in a dangerous manner", for which the penalty is an indirect free kick awarded to the opposing side. In other words, you can stick your foot as high up as you want if there's no one around, but once it becomes a hazard to another player, it's time for the ref to step in.
    A bicycle kick is allowed "if, in the opinion of the referee, it is not dangerous to an opponent." But a player is to be called for playing in a dangerous manner if they commit "any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone... It is committed with an opponent nearby and prevents the opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury".
    Take a close look at Rooney's strike. It does appear that City defender Vincent Kompany (I think it's him) pulls up ever-so-slightly from attempting to head the ball when he sees Rooney's boot zooming towards it. So by the absolute letter of the law, the referee would have been justified in blowing the play dead and awarding an indirect free kick to City.
    But he'd have also deprived the footie universe of the goal pr0n it subsisted on for a full day and a half. So maybe sometimes it's just to defy an unjust law.
    (For what it's worth, if you actually make contact with an opponent while trying a bicycle kick or some other sort of high boot, they're awarded a direct free kick, as the infringement crosses over from being "playing in a dangerous manner" [iFK] to "kicking, or attempting to kick, an opponent" [DFK]).
    The Stoke City long throws... is the towel-drying at every throw allowed? Would a ref have the ability to deny towels, and why don't Stoke games have significantly more stoppage time because of it? -- Duane Rollins
    Yes, my colleague Duane -- in his unending quest to manufacture ways in which his beloved Manchester City is being victimized by the rest of the league -- evidently went to the trouble of tracking every stoppage in a Stoke game last week, and concluded that the average Stoke throw-in took 27 seconds. By comparison, the opponent took an average of 15 seconds.
    Now, when we talking about time-consuming Stoke throw-ins, we're nearly always referring to the preposterous restarts launched by the gangly-but-talented-in-this-regard Rory Delap:


    There's no specific towel-related rule handed down by FIFA -- I'm guessing if the bigwigs of that organization are more interested in the sorts of towels being handed around at a Silvio Berlusconi pool party than the ones at Brittania Stadium.
    Of course, if the referee feels that a player is engaging in unsporting behaviour by taking an excessively long time to dry down his balls before launching them (what?), a yellow card may be shown.
    But the question of stoppage time becomes tricky, since it never accurately reflects the cumulative total of all the times the ball went out of play. If an average throw-in takes, as Duane says, 15 seconds, then imagine adding up all of those, plus all of the stoppages for goal kicks, corner kicks and free kicks, not to mention substitutions, injuries and other unforeseen events... if you actually took a stopwatch to it, there's a chance every game would have 10 to 15 minutes of stoppage time, per half.
    So the ref guesstimates, and that guesstimation is usually influenced by the "big" stoppages (i.e. injuries, substitutions or other major events) rather than by the routine piddly-shit ones like throw-ins. If the ref notices one team taking especially long on throws, he/she certainly could add more stoppage time to account for it... but that could end up helping the team that was wasting all the time to begin with (say, by giving them a few more minutes to bag an equalizer).
    Ultimately, if one team's time-wasting on restarts is egregious to the point of negatively impacting the flow of the game, the ref should step in early on (with a caution, if necessary) to, ideally, nip it in the bud.
    Besides, if the towels were banned outright, Delap would probably be out of job. And what's the point of soccer, if not giving ugly dudes like Rooney and Delap a chance to be great at something?
    That's it for this week. Send your questions to canadiansoccerguys@gmail.com, and your query may turn up in the next edition of Don't Fight The Laws.
    Guest

    Sincy Tweets

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Christine Sinclair has a Twitter account - @sincy12
    Her teammate Kaylyn Kyle (@KaylynKyle) Tweeted out this morning that it was her goal to get Sinclair to 1,000 followers within 24-hours.
    Kyle herself has 678. She's one of the more active Tweeters on the women's team.
    In many (many, many, many) ways this is a pretty trivial exercise. However, coming at a time when the women are arguing that they deserve more support from the CSA it will act as a sort of measure of just how big their reach is.
    It took me more than a year (and a lot of Tweeting) to get to 1,000 followers. If Sinclair can get to that number within 24-hours it would suggest to me that the women have more fans -- and fans that aren't crossing over with MLS/men's national team fans -- than many suggest.
    So, we'll watch with interest.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Guest
    David Edgar appears to be heading back to Burnley. And there's a decimal point to blame.
    The Canadian defender's last-gasp loan to Swansea last month seemed like the ideal solution to an idling career with Burnley: Edgar was getting little playing time for his club and had enjoyed a successful loan spell with the Swans last year. Maybe this was the beginning of a new day for the 23-year-old Kitchener, Ont., native, a chance to establish himself with a new club and maybe even earn a permanent transfer somewhere where his services are valued.
    But it's not to be. Despite the loan deal being finalized in time, and being given the OK by both the English and Welsh FAs, FIFA has refused to give the transfer international sanction. Edgar, who has been in limbo since the end of the transfer window on Janaury 31st, appears to be headed back to Turf Moor.
    The problem? An errant decimal point in the paperwork.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    "We were told there was one decimal point out of place on Burnley's paperwork, a meaningless decimal point, and it has been extremely frustrating ever since trying to get Fifa to approve the loan deal," Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins said on the Welsh club's website.
    The inflexibility of the decision is due to FIFA's transfer matching system, which is intended to speed up and clean up transfers. But Swansea says it just complicates things – and this is a perfect example.
    "It used to be a fairly simple process between the two associations until Fifa came up with this new online system. It seems to have caused a lot of problems for a number of clubs."
    Why do two clubs in the same country, in the same league, need international clearance for a transfer? Well, that's a very good question.
    "As a football club we feel it's an injustice that when we sign a player from a British club that plays in the same domestic league as us, then only ourselves and Cardiff City have to go through the process of getting international clearance."
    It will be a hard blow for Edgar, who earned his first senior cap against Greece last week, to have to return to a side that has used him so sparingly since he arrived from Newcastle in 2009. Edgar has appeared 12 times for the Clarets. By contrast, he made five appearances for Swansea, scoring one goal, in the two months he spent in Wales last season.
    It's another harsh chapter in the story of a player who just can't seem to make the breakthrough Canadian fans have been expecting for so long.
    "For a decimal point on the paperwork to stop a player playing is incredible," said Swans manager Brendan Rodgers.
    David Edgar photo: courtesy of soccer_canada
    Guest
    Earlier today, former Canadian youth international Teal Bunbury suffered an injury during a pre-season scrimmage against Houston. By coincidence, the injury came in a play involving Canadian international Andrew Hainault.
    A Canadian injuring Bunbury, a player that left the national team set-up for the greener pastures (in his opinion) of the United States, however inadvertently, was a bit too much for some Canadian national team followers to ignore. Words like “karma” were thrown around. Obviously cheering an injury isn’t very nice and today’s happenstance was just that. Still, only the most naive would have not expected it.
    No thinking fan of the game wants to see a player injured (and Bunbury’s injury turned out to be less serious than originally thought), but you cannot take the emotion out of the thing. So, the predictable criticism and moral outrage against those that took joy in Bunbury’s injury is a bit misplaced. It’s wrong to wish harm on him, but it’s not wrong to dislike him.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Bunbury made a decision that affected people. He made a decision to walk away from a program that had invested time, energy and money in him. Making it worse, he lied about his intention multiple times leading up to the final decision. There are consequences to that.
    This is, unfortunately, not a unique situation in Canada, of course. Bunbury is just the most recent example and the only example whose father had 65 caps and 16 goals for Canada (ironically, when you consider his lineage, he’s also likely the most justified in his decision). Each player that leaves/refuses to commit makes the wound in the Canadian fan’s soul just a little rawer (don’t even mention Junior Hoilett’s name to us. He doesn’t exist. He won’t until we see him in red. We’re not hopeful).
    As most know, the original wound is all the fault of one guy. Nothing any other player does will ever come close to matching the betrayal many Canadians feel about Owen Hargreaves. Owen lied, had exceptionally tenuous connections to the country he chose and actually spent a significant amount of time in Canada.
    However, what really makes the Canadian national team fan’s blood boil regarding Hargreaves was the reaction to his decision to play for England by the traditional media and average Canadian sports fan. Not only was it accepted, it was applauded. The idea that national pride should play a role in his decision was laughed away.
    If you’ve decided to keep your loyalties with the home team here in Canada that type of attitude makes you crazy. It’s the epitome of the self-hating, Euro-poseur crap that has held the game back here for generations. Add to that the self-righteous attitude held by many Hargreaves defenders that it’s the critics that are wrong – disliking Hargreaves for choosing England over his own country is not only short-sighted, they say, it’s also un-Canadian, xenophobic.
    No one stands up for Canada. It’s a shame.
    In 2009, I wrote a column on the 24th Minute defending the right to hate Hargreaves. The Bunbury incident makes me think it deserves another read today.
    Here is what I wrote then (with some changes to reflect the time that has passed):
    (Nine) years on and Owen Hargreaves continues to be the most divisive player in Canadian football. The Calgary-born (and mostly raised) midfielder was the first high profile player to shun Canada to play for a larger country. Although there have been others since, none continue to inspire the type of visceral hate, and blind defence, as does Hargreaves.
    Those that support his decision claim that he had no choice. That the CSA was in such a mess that he was all but forced to turn away. When Mother England comes calling, as a footballer, you must respond. It was the reasonable thing to do and it’s been justified by his participation in two World Cups and one Euro.
    Those opposed view the Hargreaves, or “Whoregreaves’,” decision as the ultimate act of betrayal. They point out that he told a reporter that he would play for Canada in the months leading up to his flip and that he had never lived in England prior to playing for it. If he had gone the German route most would still be upset, but the hatred would have been less sharp – he lived in Germany for a significant portion of his youth after all. We could understand if he felt a connection to that country.
    (At the time) Ben Knight re-opened the debate with a column where he defended the decision, suggesting that it allowed him to advance his career in ways that he never would have been able to without playing for the Three Lions.
    Ben also points out that the decision was within his rights and that Canadians would be “up in arms” if the Canadian government tried to impose the same working restrictions on them as they wish upon Hargreaves. I’ll address my issue with this thinking later, but first we need to be absolutely clear about something.
    Hargreaves had every right to make the decision he did. It was within FIFA rules and, from my perspective, very few critics of his decision have ever suggested otherwise.
    However, if Hargreaves had the right to make the decision, Canadian soccer fans also have the right not to respect him for it. One of the biggest problems I have with those that defend Hargreaves (and this is a general comment, rather than one directed at Ben) is that they tend to label anti-Hargreaves opinion as being lowbrow, somehow un-Canadian. Because we are a nation of immigrants – and a progressive, accepting people – that we must quietly stand back and respect decisions like this. Not to do so is, at best, ugly, at worst, xenophobic.
    Hogwash.
    Canadians have every right to feel betrayed by an athlete that turns their back on the country that they were born into and that has provided their family a home throughout their life. Hargreaves first learned the game here. He continues to spend time here. When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in London(in 2009) Hargreaves didn’t turn down the invitation for the photo-op, did he?
    It’s particularly frustrating to hear the “yeah-but-Canada-sucks” arguments in favour of the decision. That’s hardly the point. International football isn’t (or at least shouldn’t) be about maximizing your opportunities to play in a World Cup. Forgive my naivety, but it should be a little purer than that (and before someone jumps into the comments with the question, I’ll answer it. No, I absolutely wouldn’t have chose England if I were in his position. To do so would have been beyond cynical).
    One of the things I don’t like about Canada is the self-hate that occasionally trickles its way into conventional thinking -- this idea that you’re nothing unless you make it elsewhere. To me the Hargreaves debate reeks of that thinking. I’d suggest it’s time we evolved into a more self-confident country.
    There is also an assumption in this debate by those that support his decision that he advanced his career by doing it. Although you cannot argue against the fact that he was able to play in the World Cup and Euros (something Canada didn’t and could not provide), it’s a stretch to attribute his club success to his international play (I also don’t buy, as Ben argues, that he was England’s best player in the 2006 World Cup. He was a solid player for England, but you will have a difficult time finding anyone outside of Canada that would make the argument that he was the best player - Note - At the time this was challenged. Fine. He had a solid tournament. He's is/was hardly a star. He's a holding midfielder).
    Hargreaves was a starting player on Bayern Munich’s Champions League winning side (as a Canadian, it should be noted). He drew the attention of the English national team while there. Although I’m sure playing internationally for England didn’t hurt him, it wasn’t the only reason Manchester United took notice. In short, Hargreaves club career was just fine when he was Canadian and it would have remained just fine if he had stayed.
    It can also be argued that he could have been more if he had remained Canadian. Here, anyway. With the sport growing the way that it is in Canada, I’m sure that the corporate world would have taken notice of a Canuck playing for Man U. He could have become the first home-grown soccer superstar in the Great White North. That’s speculation, but no more than the idea that playing for England led to him playing for United is.
    As for Ben’s argument that Canadians would not stand for employment restrictions being placed on them, I’m not sure Hargreaves has any employment restrictions, seeing that he is playing in England. And Canadians do have employment restrictions placed on them. You can’t just up and get a job in the UK. So, I don’t follow that argument.
    The debate may finally be coming to a close as Hargreaves is rumoured to be done as a player -- his injuries driving him out of Manchester United’s plans. Some Canadians will be upset by that. Others won’t shed a tear (other than for the fact that they never got a chance to express their feelings to him in a game on Canadian soil). Most Canadians (as opposed to Canadian soccer fans) will likely react indifferently to the news. To me that’s the most disappointing thing of all about Hargreaves’ decision.
    He could have been so much here. Instead he’ll be remembered as an average holding midfielder that had moderate success playing for England for a couple of cycles before injuries cut his career short by a couple years.
    It isn’t much of a legacy.
    Guest
    Welcome to The Reserve Squad for February 15, 2011. Here are your news hits!
    Giving one for the team: Canadian head coach Stephen Hart is shrugging aside suggestions that a collision between Andre Hainault and Teal Bunbury -- which sent the Sporting KC striker to hospital -- had anything to do with Bunbury's decision to represent the U.S. in international competition rather than the country of his birth.
    "I think this is just an unfortunate accident," said Hart. "To suggest any sort of intent on Andre's part, or to say this had anything to do with Teal's decision not to play for Canada, well, it's just ridiculous."
    Hart then appeared to wink, but insisted he was merely crying for reasons he chose not to explain. But his claim of a coincidence wasn't an opinion shared by all members of the Canadian system.
    "Sometimes you just gotta wake a fucker up," said defender Adrian Serioux, Hainault's former teammate. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]His sentiments were echoed by another loyal Canadian, playing on the other side of the pond.
    "Playing in the Premiership would be a dream," said Simeon Jackson, whose Norwich City side is currently fighting for promotion. "Most of all, I'd like to get in a game against Stoke. Or just get near their goal. Even in the pre-match handshakes, I think I could get plenty done, y'know."
    If a national program-wide conspiracy does exist, Hainault doesn't appear to be in on it.
    "I hope the kid's OK," he said after Tuesday's incident. "What's his name? Teal something? Well, whoever he is, best of luck to him."
    More voyages in the Voyageurs Cup? In the wake of the exclusion of the five American-based NASL teams from this year's U.S. Open Cup, Canadian Soccer Association officials aren't closing the door on including them in the 2011 Nutrilite Canadian Championship.
    "We're always looking at ways to expand and improve our national competition," a CSA official said via email. "And there's no reason that the same excitement generated by Toronto FC v. Montreal Impact, or the Vancouver Whitecaps v. FC Edmonton can't be replicated by, say, the Atlanta Silverbacks facing FC Tampa."
    The CSA official used the Canadian Football League's expansion into the United States during the 1990s as an example of how a Canadian competition could open its doors to southern teams. The official then sent another email, timestamped 43 seconds later, saying only "Scratch that. I didn't talk to you. Nobody talked to you. I don't exist!"
    Winter wondering-land: Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber, a day after announcing that the league would no longer be looking to switch to a European-style winter schedule, has provided a list of other changes of heart that MLS and the United States Soccer Federation have recently had.
    "We've decided it's no longer prudent, at this point in the league's development, to be sending manila envelopes to the headquarters of numbered companies based in Zurich, Switzerland," said Garber in a release.
    "Perhaps at a future time, such as the 2017-2019 corridor, our league will be sufficiently entrenched that such an activity will again make economic sense for the future of American soccer."
    Garber also announced that the USSF offices will no longer keep a stockpile of Chubby soda and colourful suspenders on hand, which they had been doing for the past several years "just in case a few special somebodies happened to drop by."
    .
    Guest

    What if England were America?

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    MLS fans are pretty much obsessed with comparing the league to other famous leagues in the world -- it’s hard to avoid the question “how good is MLS compared to (fill in league, usually England)."
    Let’s turn the table a little bit on that “debate.” If English teams were MLS (or a select few NASL) sides who would they be?
    Please don’t post your opinion of this. Clearly it’s a hard science:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Everton = Chicago Fire
    Two good teams that never seem quite as big as they feel they should be. The Fire’s success, within the context of MLS, is about as far removed from glory as is Everton’s.
    Stoke City = Columbus Crew
    No one outside of the respective cities can possibly love them. Add a distinct blue collar feel and it’s as clear as match as you’ll find in this exercise.
    Liverpool = D.C. United
    A lot of history; future a little less certain
    Blackpool = Houston Dynamo
    Um, orange...
    Arsenal = New England Revolution
    (Post invincibles)...always just not quite good enough.
    Manchester City = New York Red Bulls
    Rich, but haven’t won anything.
    Wolverhampton Wanderers = Philadelphia Union
    A gritty team from a gritty town that isn’t as good as they appear on a surface look.
    Blackburn Rovers = Sporting Kansas City
    Forgotten clubs from forgotten places that once were really good.
    Newcastle United = Toronto FC
    Both have a large and dedicated fan base that occasionally has a screw loose. Based on all the evidence at hand, they are likely to never win a damn thing. Also, John Carver.
    Fulham = C.D. Chivas USA
    Both play in cities with much more famous teams. Some Mexican-Americans only cheer for Chivas because of Mexican connection; some Americans only cheer for FC USA for similar reasons.
    Leeds United = Colorado Rapids
    Good way back when, then bad for a long stretch. Now (maybe) good again. (note: this one is a stretch. Colorado never fits).
    Bolton Wanderers = FC Dallas
    Both are pretty good teams that are an afterthought even in their own region. However, they will both bite you in the ass if you take them for granted.
    Manchester United = Los Angeles Galaxy
    Smug and entirely hateable by everyone but their own fans. Within context, both are international brands and very successful. And, of course, David freakin’ Beckham.
    Tottenham Hotspur = Portland Timbers
    Passionate and loyal fans combined with a moderate (but not overwhelming) amount of success.
    Aston Villa = Real Salt Lake
    Villa’s form this year aside...the club you are most likely to say ‘wait, they are really good. How did that happen? ’ when they play your team.
    Sunderland = San Jose Earthquakes
    Sort of out of the way and playing anonymously, both are teams that are good, but not great, and if you were asked to name all the teams in the league without looking both would be who you’d forget.
    Chelsea = Seattle Sounders FC
    Born on third, thought they hit a triple. There is a vague sense that it’s trendy and that there are a good amount of people in the stands just to be in the stands. However, they’re good and they’re successful so maybe we’re just all jealous.
    West Ham United = Vancouver Whitecaps FC
    Some really old but impressive history. Like Vancouver, West Ham looks good to be the best of the second tier next year. Like West Ham, Vancouver will probably be the...I’d best stop there least I get myself in trouble with the Whitecaps fans.
    Portsmouth = FC Edmonton
    It’s unclear whether either will be around in 2012
    Cardiff City = Montreal Impact
    Both play in a part of country that’s distinct and both are successful at second tier. Welsh fans have similar chip on shoulder as Quebec fans do too.
    Luton Town = New York Cosmos
    Both clubs have a very good history. Neither side currently exists in a fully professional football league.
    Guest
    Love it or loathe it, Canada’s venerable ESPN-look-alike The Sports Network is now the new official “national” home of Major League Soccer in Canada. While the news is old hat to CSN, it officially broke yesterday with a full schedule of broadcast games released to the public. So we now know that all matches will be broadcast in HD (yay!), that TSN will show both matches of Canada’s newest footballing derby between Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps (double yay!), and that TSN2 will pick up a few of the Whitecaps games (umm). Meanwhile the “local market” matches still have to be sorted out among Gol TV/Sportsnet/CBC whatever.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    So what should we expect from TSN in the years ahead with regard to MLS? There are several schools of thought on this issue. For some, presentation is everything, down to the half-time panelists TSN chooses, the play-by-play analysis, and when in the Sportscentre line-up TSN will choose to show MLS highlight reels. The thinking here is that TSN will have to find the perfect presentational alchemy to convince viewers outside the Vancouver/TFC markets about the quality of MLS, and thereby magically build a solid, loyal viewership among the coveted 18-35 year-old demographic nationwide.
    For others (and I’m in this camp), simply showing the games when they say they will with no pre-emption or interruption is enough. I’ve seen Premier League matches on ESPN, Sky Sports, ITV, BBC, and Fox Soccer Channel; after a while, it doesn’t make a difference who the talking heads are, what the intro music is and how many ad graphics the network feels they can get away with showing. At the end of the day, if I want to see Fulham v. Chelsea, I’m going to see it. And if Joe Blow in Saskatoon doesn’t care a fig about Vancouver Whitecaps versus the Houston Dynamo, no measure of highlight reels or Sportscentre promos is going to change his mind.
    Still, there are some significant “atmospheric” advantages with TSN taking the MLS baton from the CBC. For one, TSN is a dedicated sports network, which accounts for some of the success of the Canadian Football League broadcasts since TSN acquired the rights to show all the games back in 2008. CFL-lovers know they have a friend in TSN because it’s in the network’s best interests to feature as much tertiary information as possible on the league during the lengthy Sportscentre repeats to help build an audience for game-day. Meanwhile Canada’s CFL fence-sitters, exposed to highlights and features alongside NHL and NBA roundups, take the league a little more seriously if only because they’re exposed to it by a kind of “Sportscentre osmosis.”
    You can imagine the same thing happening as TSN decides to comingle its European soccer coverage with MLS news, table info, and upcoming fixtures along with reminders that “you can watch that game live in HD this afternoon, right here on TSN.” As we move into the 2012, 2013, 2014 seasons, with Montreal and Vancouver firmly established in the mix alongside Toronto, TSN’s dedication to MLS will start to give the league a “mainstream” veneer. While MLS-haters won’t ever watch no matter what sort of bells and whistles TSN adds to the games, more middle-ground MLS skeptics, plied with regular updates on TFC’s or TVW’s table position, might decide to stick around for an afternoon game or two. That’s a sustainable model for audience growth, and it seems to have worked once for the CFL.
    Still, some TSN's CFL success might have just come down to the fact they show all CFL games exclusively, an advantage they don't yet have with MLS. And as I wrote last week, TSN still has to play catch-up with regard to its online soccer presence, which is integral in a country where soccer fans heavily rely on the web for much of their information on the Beautiful Game. Success is not guaranteed but, if only by default, MLS’ decision to go with TSN means professional soccer is now firmly entrenched in the sporting landscape in Canada in a way it hasn't been in years, whether you like it or not.
    CSN media columnist Richard Whittall writes A More Splendid Life, one of the Guardian’s 100 blogs to look for in 2011. He’s written for Tom Dunmore’s Pitch Invasion, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, among others, and has appeared on BBC World Service, TSN, and the Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast.
    Guest

    Report: TFC sign three

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    According to a Dutch newspaper, Toronto FC has signed three players after the European training camp.
    Javier Martina, Elbekay Bouchiba and Nick Soolsma are all said to have been offered contracts.
    We will follow this as the day progresses.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Guest

    Return of The Champions League

    By Guest, in Euro File,

    It's been a while, but it's back!
    The UEFA Champions League resumes today and tomorrow with the first half of the first leg of the Round of 16 (try saying that three times fast). Four matches are on tap this week, including a couple of very intriguing games for fans of English clubs.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Tuesday, February 15
    AC Milan v. Tottenham Hotspur - The Italian giants take on the darlings of this year's competition. Spurs have played some fantastic football in their maiden voyage through the Champions League, and now look to continue their Cinderella story with a good showing against the second most successful club in European competition.
    Spurs are actually the seeded team in this pair of fixtures, by virtue of having won their very tough group (while Milan finished second to Real Madrid in Group G). Regardless, I don't see how the London side can sustain their great run against a Milan side that is firing on all cylinders.
    Valencia v. Schalke 04 - Both sides benefitted from relatively weaker groups, although nothing can be taken away by the way either side advanced to this stage. Valencia, especially, showed a killer instinct, demolishing Group C opponents Bursaspor and Rangers in offensive displays that even group winners Manchester United could not come close to matching.
    Schalke are very much a middling side at the moment, while Valencia is the top Spanish club not named Barcelona or Real Madrid. Current form should favour Valencia, but with Schalke being led by former La Liga superstar Raul, things could get interesting.
    Wednesday, February 16
    Arsenal v. Barcelona - Possibly the two best passing sides in the world get together for what is becoming a regular occurrence in the knockout round. Unfortunately for Arsenal, what has also become familiar is Barcelona's domination when these two teams meet, and this year's outlook has more of the same.
    Some say that Arsenal may be the best suited team to face the Catalan club, although the fact remains that for all of the Gunners' superb passing abilities, they still don't boast the Holy Trinity of the current game known as Xavi, Messi and Iniesta. And Barcelona's smooth abilities going forward are matched by a very solid defensive corps, something that Arsenal are sorely lacking.
    Since this match is at the Emirates, it should be a close one. But the return leg at Camp Nou could be a whole other story altogether.
    AS Roma v. Shaktar Donetsk - This'll likely go down as the most overlooked of this week's fixtures, what with Roma having a sub-par season and Shakhtar running away with a Ukrainian league that garners very little attention from observers of the bigger competitions.
    Traditionally, Roma would be considered the favoured side, but given current form in both the domestic leagues and the Champions League (Shakhtar edged out Arsenal to win Group H), one has to give the nod to the Ukrainian side.
    Then again, Serie A is going strong while the Ukrainian Premier League has been on winter hiatus since November, so match fitness should be on Roma's side. Time will tell if it'll be enough.
    Guest
    UPDATE: Congratulations to Panos Kelamis who beat out a flood of responses to win the first Canadian Men's National Team from Umbro. With over 50 responses in the first minute and too many to count (some still trickling in) it would seems support for the National team is alive and well.
    Thank you to all who entered.
    ___
    Today, at 3pm EST, we will post the final question in our CMNT kit giveaway.
    If you missed the first two questions - you can find them at the end of this show and this show.
    The final question will be posted on Twitter. Follow @callitfootball for that question.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    The first person to respond with all three correct answers will win the first national team kit available to the public, courtesy of Umbro Canada. You must send your answers to ben.rycroft@metronews.ca
    We'll announce the winner live on tonight's It's Called Football.
    Allez les Rouges
    Guest

    CSL announces two new entries

    By Guest, in It's Called Football,

    Coming on the heels of the departure of Hamilton Croatia and Milltown FC, the Canadian Soccer League has announced two new entries for the 2011 season.
    Missassauga Eagles FC, linked to the Erin Mills soccer club, and Ottawa, fronted by developer Neil Malhotra (who had previously applied for D2 sanctioning) will join the ranks of CSL and swell the league numbers back to 14.
    Kitchener and Pickering - two communities who had been rumoured to be entering the CSL this season - have delayed their launch until 2012.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    You can read the press release here.
    Guest
    As first reported on CSN last month, TSN has won the national MLS broadcast rights for Canada. They will show 24 games in 2011, including both all-Canadian games.
    Toronto and Vancouver will both feature 12 times. When Montreal joins in 2012 TSN will up its total to 30 games. RDS, the French TSN, has the French language rights for the next six years.
    CSN spoke to TFC director of business Paul Beirne earlier today about the deal. He said that fans should be excited by the possibility of the sport being featured on Canada's biggest sports broadcaster. He pointed out that the deal should see MLS featured in SportsCentre highlights.
    Beirne also had high praise for former national rights holders CBC.
    "The CBC was wonderful for us in those early days," he said. "The amount of exposure they gave us during major properties like the Stanley Cup playoffs was invaluable in legitimizing us."
    He said that TFC will announce its local TV deal in the next week or so and that the CBC could still be in the running for some of those games. Sportsnet and MLSE owned GolTV are thought to be the frontrunners for the local games, however.
    Beirne said that all of TFC's games would be on TV and that all will be produced in HD.
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