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    Guest
    Today, we'll be joined by Marc Weber of the Province, to talk about the Vancouver Whitecaps signing Jay DeMerit, what they've done to quell the anger over ticket prices and if BC place is on track for next year.
    We'll also get into the response over the Sporting Kansas City re-branding, the Montreal Impact changing up their soccer structure and what's to come of some of the Generation Adidas graduates.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    <embed src="http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/FlowPlayerLight.swf?config={embedded:true,videoFile:%27http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/download/2540/20901/nov19.2010final.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

    Frei, Ibrahim graduate from GA

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    MLS confirmed yesterday that both Stefan Frei and Fuad have been graduated from the Generation adidas class. That means they will both count against the roster limit for TFC next year and their salary will be counted against the cap.
    It poses a couple interesting questions. With Frei it's easy to appreciate the skill and what he brings to the team. The question becomes can you get 90 per cent of Frei's impact as a keeper for less money and would the club be better off using the savings to upgrade elsewhere -- especially when you factor in the potential allocation Toronto could receive if he were moved to Europe in January.
    With Ibby, you have a young player that is in the US youth set-up, but that has struggled to find playing time in MLS. He's still a kid and would benefit from reserve league minutes. The question is what do you pay him? League minimum, I would think, which would be a hard thing for him to adjust to after making six figures as a teenager.
    The rest of the graduation list is after the jump:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Eric Avila (FC Dallas)
    Nico Colaluca (New England Revolution)
    Roger Espinoza (Kansas City)
    Bruno Guarda (FC Dallas)
    Baggio Husidic (Chicago Fire)
    Chance Myers (Kansas City)
    Alex Nimo (Real Salt Lake)
    Ciaran O’Brien (Colorado Rapids)
    Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
    Guest
    MLS fans have snapped. It's hard to understand what it was about Kansas City's decision to re-brand as Sporting Kansas, but it's pretty clear. Somehow this was the one that crossed the line. MLS has jumped the shark on Euro-style names.
    One of the ways that this is different is the way people are reacting to the change. It's not anger. It's not even a ha-ha-aren't-they-stupid smack talk sort of thing. No, it's been completely dismissive. No one is taking Kansas City seriously. On Twitter last night the #futuremlsfranchise hash tag started in reaction to the announcement. In it, fans thought up of absurd euro-style names and attached them to "potential" MLS cities.
    Hearts of Midland, TX, Akron Stanley, Partizan Bel Air, Kentucky Derby County, Aspen Villa and the hilarity goes on and on and on...
    So when Wizards CEO Robb Heineman tries to claim that K.C. is somehow different than Real Salt Lake or FC Dallas (his example), no one can hear him over the laughter.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Heineman argues that the former Wizards are going to actually operate as a sporting club. Thus the name. Like other clubs in the world that have the Sporting Club name attached there will be several other properties. Of course none of those properties are currently involved, but you have to start somewhere, I guess.
    What K.C. isn't, Heineman stresses, is a rival to Benfica. Sporting Lisbon may be the most famous Sporting in the world but K.C. is not naming itself after them.
    Heineman forgot to tell the league itself, as MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche is quoted in the linked article comparing K.C.'s move to other MLS team's decision to "return to traditional soccer names."
    Here's the thing. After reading Heineman's quotes and talking to a K.C. official over several hours last night I believe them. They are sincere in their position. They really don't think they are naming themselves after Sporting Lisbon, nor do they consider the move to be the same as other MLS team's decision to go Euro.
    Of course no one else on earth will see it that way. I guarantee you at least one irrationally angry K.C. season ticket holder of Portuguese heritage has called to cancel his seats today. I know that several so-called Eurosnob fans in the U.S. have snorted milk out of their nose upon reading the news and have made another mental check as to why MLS is a "joke pub league."
    A significant number of MLS fans have yet to wrap their head around the idea of a wildcard team crossing over to the other conference for the playoffs. They aren't going to even remotely understand the nuance at play here.
    K.C. didn't do itself any favours either. They are "Sporting Kansas," not the Sporting Club of Kansas City or Kansas City Sporting Club." Sporting Kansas sounds exactly like a rip off of Sporting Lisbon. That's especially hard to get past when you share a league with the single most ludicrous name in the history of professional sport -- Real Salt Lake. Sometimes people involved in a re-branding exercise get so ingrained in their own think tanks that they fail to see what is bloody obvious to everyone else outside of their organization.
    Sporting Kansas is Real Salt Lake 2.0. As stated, I don't believe that was the organization’s intent, but it's the result. The idea of creating a true sporting club and to fully integrate into a larger body is a good one. I wish K.C. luck. But, I also hope that the re-branding exercise is a total failure and they are back before us with their tail between their legs in a year or so.
    Many people might wonder why I care so much about a name. It's frivolous, they might argue. It's not. It's the first impression that many fans have of your club. The impression Sporting Kansas gives is that MLS is trying too hard to be something it’s not. Names like this hurt the very credibility of the league, especially amongst the type of informed fans that have yet to sample MLS -- the Eurosnob. We can make all kinds of brave proclamations about not needing that type of fan, but it's a lie. We do. For MLS to grow beyond its niche status it needs to be a default destination of all soccer fans in Canada and the United States.
    Sporting Kansas is a set-back in the battle to win those sceptical fans over.
    Guest

    Stickin' it to, well, ourselves

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Officials at TFC seem confident that the MLS Cup is or will soon be sold out. The claim has confused many as Ticketmaster searches are still bringing up plenty of seats. Just moments ago I was able to get eight in a row in section 225. It's hard to understand what benefit TFC would get by claiming that the game was sold out when it wasn't since it would drive fence sitters away from even looking, but there is a disconnect between what I was told yesterday and what Ticketmaster is telling me right now.
    Perhaps there is an agreement in place to move all unsold seats to a single, corporate buyer if they have not been moved by a certain date. So, they have "sold" all the seats, but you can still buy them.
    I've written many times that I have little doubt that MLSE will find a way to get all the tickets into someone's hands. The question, of course, is how many of the "sold" tickets will show up.
    If Craigslist is an indication of anything it there could be a lot of red seats showing through on TV.
    This is where I think Toronto fans have lost the plot. If you have a legitimate reason why you can't go to the game that's understandable. Stuff happens. However if you're not going out of misplaced spite, to stick it to the man, because you think you'll be too cold or just because you can't be bothered then it's pretty hard to defend the plastic label that some have placed on TFC fans.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    It's a championship game. I don't care if we're talking about netball, a championship game is compelling and any sports fan should be excited to attend.
    To say that the gleeful joy some are taking about the possibility of a half full BMO field for the final is misplaced is understated by half. It's downright dumb, actually. All a half empty stadium will do is convince those in the mainstream Toronto sports media that this isn't really a soccer town and that the 20,000 at BMO each week are just there for the beer.
    MLSE was never going to make money off of the MLS Cup. No, really, they weren't. The MLS Cup is not a money maker for the league or the host. What it is intended to be is some icing on the cake for the fans in the host city. The petulant reaction to the "audacity" of MLSE to bring it here is, frankly, self-indulgent.
    There might actually be a time in the future when it would be advantageous on the field for TFC to host the final. Based on the reaction to the game, another final in Toronto seems unlikely. I fail to see how that's a good thing.
    I appreciate I'm not going to change anyone's mind. At this point if you don't want to go, you don't want to go. However, let's be honest with ourselves. Not going isn't a noble sacrifice for the betterment of TFC. It's just a personal choice to stay home.
    And there is nothing interesting or special about that.
    Guest
    The International Federation of Football History and Statistics released a list of the top Concacaf clubs of the decade on Wednesday. Not surprisingly, most of them are Mexican. Thirteen of the top 17 in fact.
    The highest non-Mexican club is Costa Rica's Saprissa at 6th spot, followed by Guatemala's CSD Municipal in 9th and Honduras' CD Olimpia in 10th. The top MLS clubs? DC United in 21st spot. Followed by Houston in 22nd and the LA Galaxy in 24th. Which raises an interesting question. How well would one of these top Central American clubs perform if it were plunked into MLS for a season?
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    As far as I can make out, the IFFHS allocates points for this ranking based on a club's performance both within it's own national competition and within the federation's club competition, in this case the Concacaf Champions League. Oh, and Concacaf clubs' participation in South American competitions is also taken into account. (Which would benefit the Mexican entries.)
    It seems to be a virtuous circle: Mexico has the highest ranked league in the region, so performances within that league are worth more. I think? I'm also assuming that the Central American clubs outperform the MLS ones based on dominating their domestic leagues and doing reasonably well in the Concacaf Champions League.
    (TFC is the top "Canadian" club at 79th spot. Somewhat confusingly, the CSL's York Region Shooters come in at 140th, followed by Toronto Croatia at 144.)
    This all raises a question that fascinates me. How well do the top Central American clubs measure up to clubs in MLS? A league notorious for its parity. The Concacaf Champs League is the only tool for comparison we have at the moment and I'm not sure it's a great one. How well would Saprissa or Olimpia perform if they were plunked into MLS for a season? I'm guessing that they would neither struggle nor dominate.
    Even better, how long before the MLS begins to challenge Mexico's Primera Division for supremacy in the region? Don't scoff, it wasn't that long ago that the idea that the U.S. mens' national team could regularly compete with Mexico would have been greeted with disbelief.
    Guest
    Crédit Photo/Vidéo : The Half Crown
    Hier, j'ai assisté à la conférence de l'Impact dans lequel on a appris que l'organisation allait mettre en place une structure de développement pour les jeunes québécois. Ce projet, mis en place avec la collaboration de la Fédération de Soccer du Québec ainsi que le programme de Sports-Etudes visera donc à transformer l'Impact en véritable organisation de soccer. En plus de l'équipe actuelle U21 (Académie), on assistera à la création de 3 équipes (U14, U15 et U16).
    Voici donc quelques éléments qu'il faut savoir sur cette nouvelle structure
    Avec l'Impact dès l'âge de 12 ans
    Cette nouvelle structure verra le jour en 2011 et devrait compter 70 nouveaux jeunes. Selon le président Joey Saputo, il s'agirait d'une structure jamais vue auparavant en Amérique du Nord. Tel qu'expliqué par le directeur du développement Philippe Eullaffroy, le modèle est en partie inspiré des clubs européens où on a 3 stades de développement : préformation (13-16 ans), formation (16-19 ans) et post-formation (19-21 ans).
    Chez l'Impact, cette nouvelle structure permettra le développement de jeunes joueurs dès l'âge de 12 ans. Ces joueurs seront mis sous contrat avec l'Impact, ce qui signifie qu'ils ne pourront plus évoluer dans leurs clubs respectives. De plus, on a laissé comprendre que ces contrats seraient légiférés par la FIFA. En incluant la première équipe ainsi que le U21, on retrouvera avec plus de 120 joueurs avec l'Impact.
    Au point de vue financier, on a estimé que les coûts d'opération pour les premières années varieraient entre 500 000 et 750 000$.
    La pyramide ci-dessous décrit bien la hiérarchie mise en place du joueur U-14 au joueur pro de la première équipe :

    Pour supporter ces nouvelles équipes, l'Impact a également dû mettre en place une hiérarchie "administrative" qui encadrera ces jeunes futurs espoirs québécois. Les personnes qui rempliront ces postes n'ont pas encore été officiellement annoncés. L'organisation a tout de même tenu à spécifier qu'elle avait commencé à analyser les candidatures de plusieurs entraîneurs qui pourraient faire partie de cette hiérarchie.

    Équipes U14, U15 et U16
    Alors que l'équipe U21 continuera d'évoluer dans la CSL, les trois nouvelles équipes joueront dans les ligues AA et AAA sanctionnées par la FSQ. Selon son président Dino Madonis, la fédération a travaillé très fort auprès des autres clubs afin d'intégrer l'Impact au sein de ces différentes ligues. Bien qu'il risque d'avoir quelques tensions, le projet a été accepté lors du dernier conseil d'administration de la FSQ qui a eu lieu samedi dernier. Il sera intéressant de voir comment les équipes de l'Impact se mesureront face aux différentes organisations de la province.
    Nick De Santis a laissé savoir que l'organisation allait également se tourner vers des tournois nationaux et internationaux. Il n'a pas hésité à parler du Dallas Cup, un tournoi de très haut calibre et auquel il aimerait bien participer.
    Réussite scolaire
    Bien entendu, les jeunes seront soumis à des critères très stricts au point de vue académique et le directeur du programme de développement Philippe Eullaffroy a bien fait de rappeler les priorités des joueurs, dans l'ordre suivant : L'école, le soccer ... et les filles. D'ailleurs, l'un des critères pour être admissible au programme de développement de l'Impact est d'avoir une moyenne générale supérieure à 75%. Sans viser l'élite académique, l'Impact semble montrer qu'elle accordera beaucoup d'importance aux résultats scolaires de ses joueurs.
    Les frais seront payés par l'Impact à partir du 2e cycle du secondaire (Sec 3 à 5). Ceci dit, les jeunes joueurs de secondaire 1 et de secondaire devront débourser 300$ et 150$ respectivement.
    Un sentiment d'appartenance à développer
    Joey Saputo a pris le temps d'expliquer que le club travaillait très fort pour développer ce sentiment d'appartenance. En ayant des joueurs locaux, l'Impact pourrait donc commencer à bâtir ce sentiment et le transmettre aux partisans (futurs et présents). Bien qu'il n'écarte par la possibilité d'avoir des joueurs désignés dans la MLS, il aimerait bien voir quelques-uns de ces jeunes joueurs monter avec les grands de la première équipe.
    "For other clubs, it's important to go out and pay for a designated player. In our case, we will look at that but I think it's important to also develop our young players"


    Camps de détection
    Des camps de détection auront lieu à Montréal et à Québec
    Montréal : 27-28 novembre et 27-28 décembre au Centre d'activités physiques et communautaires de l'Est (près du collège Marie-Victorin)
    Québec : 29 décembre au Stade Chauveau
    Pour plus d'informations, je vous suggère de contacter l'Impact au 514-328-3668 (poste 240) ou de visiter le site de l'Impact .
    Guest
    In light of today's announcement that Kansas City's franchise (formerly known as the Wizards) has been re-branded Sporting Kansas City, Major League Soccer has also announced a re-branding of its conferences, formerly known as the Western and Eastern Conferences.
    The Reserve Squad has learned that the move coincided with the KC announcement so that the two conferences would be balanced.
    For the 2011 season, the team's 18 squads will be divided as follows:
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    [TABLE=class: grid, width: 452]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ridiculous Euro Moniker Conference[/TD]
    [TD]Goofy Regional Nickname Conference[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Sporting Kansas[/TD]
    [TD]Chicago Fire[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Toronto FC[/TD]
    [TD]New England Revolution[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]DC United[/TD]
    [TD]Philadelphia Union[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Real Salt Lake[/TD]
    [TD]Los Angeles Galaxy[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Houston Dynamo[/TD]
    [TD]Colorado Rapids[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]FC Dallas[/TD]
    [TD]San Jose Earthquakes[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Chivas USA[/TD]
    [TD]Portland Timbers[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Vancouver Whitecaps FC*[/TD]
    [TD]New York Red Bulls**[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Seattle Sounders FC*[/TD]
    [TD]Columbus Crew***[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]
    *Included in the REIM Conference by virtue of having added a superfluous "FC" upon MLS entry.
    **Red Bulls name considered "regional" by virtue of reported popularity of Red Bull/vodka combination in Harrison, New Jersey.
    ***Hey, they gotta go somewhere.

    Guest
    L'Impact vient de faire une annonce très importante non seulement pour l'organisation, mais également pour le soccer québecois.
    Joey Saputo a aujourd'hui confirmé que l'Impact allait mettre en place un programme de développement spécifique aux niveaux U-14, U-15 et U-16 qui viendraient s'ajouter à l'Académie (devenant le niveau U-21). Le niveau U-21 continuera donc d'évoluer dans la CSL, alors que les autres (U-14 à U-16) évolueront dans les ligues AA et AAA de la province.
    L'Impact a également réalisé un partenariat de Sports-Etudes avec l'école secondaire Edouard-Montpetit et favorisera la réussite académique avant la réussite sportive. Le programme étudiant sera chapeauté par Philippe Eullaffroy, sous la supervision du directeur technique Nick De Santis.
    Voyez l'annonce de Joey Saputo :


    Nick De Santis explique l'importance d'avoir un tel programme au Québec


    Crédits Photo/Vidéo : The Half Crown
    Guest
    According to Toronto FC business head Paul Beirne the MLS Cup has sold out. He confirmed to Canadian Soccer News this evening that all remaining tickets have been moved.
    However a quick Ticketmaster search at 6:15 p.m. did bring up a few single seats left. Speaking to the Fan 590 tonight CEO Tom Anselmi said that the game was "very close" to selling out.
    Additionally, Beirne indicated that there was "extremely limited season seats remaining" for 2011. Although reluctant to give out a specific number he did indicate that the club expected to have sold out all 18,000 season seats by Friday.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    The success might surprise some. During the height of protests against the pricing structure there were many that predicted that the club would not come close to selling out season seats. The club countered by suggesting that it had a significant waiting list and that the demand was there to not only fill any vacated seats, but to also sell an additional 2,000 seats in the expanded north end o the stadium.
    It's possible that both positions had a point as it's been reported that members of the Red waiting list are being offered season seats. The Red list is only offered seats after the club goes through the entire Gold list, which is made up of those who purchased partial packs last year.
    Guest

    DeMerit to 'Caps

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    As I first reported about two hours ago, the Whitecaps are set to make a major announcement tomorrow. They aren't doing a good job of hiding who it is. The official Twitter feed posted the above photo at about 5:30 p.m. EST.
    It's Jay DeMerit, a centre-back for the US national team. He most recently played for Watford and has been linked to MLS and the 'Caps for several weeks.
    It's unlikely that he's a DP. He should get something in the $200-300,000 range.
    It's a well known sporting cliché that you build from the back out and TFC fans will be the first to tell you that it can be a really long year when you have gaps at the back.
    DeMerit isn't a kid -- he's 30 -- but he is fairly young to be coming back to MLS from Europe. He has a "North American" game and should fit into MLS well. Actually he's about the perfect Teitur Thordarson player.
    It's a good signing. They still need to find a goal scorer, but so does everyone really. The 'Caps continue to look to be on pace for a much better on the field launch than TFC.
    Guest

    Vancouver to announce...something

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    Photo: MLS
    Twitter is such a tease. Just an hour ago the Vancouver Whitecaps official feed let out this little gem:
    "Tomorrow will be a historic day for Whitecaps Stay tuned for more info..."
    That word historic has everyone madly scrambling to figure out what they are talking about. When you consider that the Caps already have their front office set, the shirt sponsor announced and pretty much every other loose end tied up there is only one thing that would warrant the word historic.
    A DP.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    Ok, there might be another -- that Vancouver finally got the NIMBYs to shut-up and are going to build a true soccer specific stadium like they have always wanted. Pele coming out of retirement to lead the ‘Caps is more likely than that.
    That said, it has been pointed out to me that the Whitecaps are a bit prone to hyperbole. Maybe they’ve nailed down the training staff.
    Canadian Soccer News will likely have a reporter at the press conference and will continue to chase this story tonight, but so far information coming out of Vancouver is in short supply. We can only speculate as to what player might be on his way if that’s the case.
    We don’t do that, but you can. The comments section awaits (as an aside ‘Caps CEO Paul Barber is a Spurs man. Take that under advisement when considering players that might be interested in coming to MLS).
    Edit: Whitecaps play-by-play man Pete Schaad has thrown water on my theory. As stated, the Caps are a little excitable at times.
    Edit 2: It seems more and more like the Whitecaps are considering announcing that Terry Dunfield* will get a MLS contract to be historic. *Or Jay Nolly. Or...
    Edit 3: They've finished playing with us. It's a player signing, but not likely a DP. It's also not likely a current player since it's pretty well known who is coming back.
    So...
    Jay DeMerit?
    Guest

    Vancouver Homegrown...

    By Guest, in West Coast Soccer Podcast,

    So it looks like the MLS and Don Garber have finally seen the light on creating a proper development model for youth players.
    In a bold (yet not so unexpected move) the MLS has announced that Rosters will be expanded from 24 to 30 players. Restrictions will no longer be placed on a club as to how many players a club signs from it's youth system, and the league will be relaunching it's reserve league.
    All three of these new rule changes will greatly affect how clubs grow themselves from within. No longer will youth development be left to civic clubs and universities.
    Step 1
    Relieving Restrictions on how many Homegrown Players a club can sign to it's roster.
    A Homegrown Player is defined by the following guidelines.
    All players must reside in a team's "Home Territory" for at least one year prior to being added to the team's Home Grown Player List.
    Players must be added to an MLS team's Home Grown Player List prior to entering a four-year college, but can maintain their Home Grown Player status during college if registered before entering that institution.
    Members of the U17, U20, and U23 U.S. National Teams cannot be added to an MLS team's Home Grown Player List, but a player already on a Home Grown Player List can maintain that status if selected for a U.S. National team at a later date.
    Now Vancouver's territory stretches from Vancouver Island all the way to Manitoba. This rule bodes well for the 'Caps as they have been developing players for sale to bigger European clubs since Greg Kerfoot purchased the club in November of 2002. Most recently we watched Marcus Haber go from lighting up the USL in 2009 to making the move to Scotland and playing with St. Johnstone (on loan from West Brom).
    This new rule adjustment means that we will likely see more 'Caps players from this past season get a chance at the MLS then we had previously expected.
    Step 2
    Expanding club rosters from 24 to 30 players.
    We all saw what happened to TFC this past year as they tried to compete in the Nutralite Cup, Concacaf Champions League, and MLS Regular Season. By the end of the year I could have run faster then Adrain Cann. The expansion means that roster spots 26 through 30 will be reserved for players 24 years old and younger. These 6 spots will not count against the the teams salary cap either.
    Step 3
    Re-Launching the Reserve League.
    After attempting the same thing several years ago to have a reserve league, (which only a few teams really took seriously) the MLS is having another kick at the can. This time, teams that don't comply and take it seriously are supposedly going to face sanctions or fines. Again if we look at TFC's past season we can look at a guy like Ibbi Ibrahim who could have really used some time playing, rather then watching, so that when he finally got into the game he didn't look so out of place. If you look at a player like Chris Wondoloski this past year in San Jose, he spent several years in the reserve league and was able to make a successful leap to playing against grown men.
    The league is supposed to consist of 3 regional divisions. The teams will play 10 regular season games. The top 8 teams will make the playoffs.
    With all the changes taking place, look for clubs like The Whitecaps to be able to take advantage as they already have systems in place that meet this new vision for the league. This new more organic development plan is a going to make the league stronger, and make the national player pools stronger in both the US and Canada.
    Guest
    Today, we're joined by Globe and Mail columnist and The World is a Ball author John Doyle to talk about Toronto and how its reacted in its history to hosting showcase sporting events such as this weekend's MLS Cup and how far the game can grow in Canada.
    We'll talk about the Canadian quota rules, Dwayne DeRosario being named to the best XI, the coming playoff changes and Atiba Hutchinson's accomplishment.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]We'll back tomorrow with another show.
    Follow us on Twitter to learn about the guests ahead of time
    <embed src="http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/FlowPlayerLight.swf?config={embedded:true,videoFile:%27http://itscalledfootball.podhoster.com/download/2540/20892/nov18.2010final.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

    Shhhhh don't tell

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    As Rudi points out today, Atiba Hutchinson has been named the Danish SuperLiga player of the year. That's kind of like a Danish hockey player being named the top player in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. So, not Messi/Sidney Crosby territory, but not bad either. Certainly that would give inspiration to the ice hockey players in that minnow nation.
    You would hope that the Danish sports sections would give their new hockey hero a little attention.
    Here in Canada the reaction to Hutchinson's win has been incredi...wait, what?
    Yeah, nothing. Crickets. Not even a 100 word brief on page S18, right there beside the actual cricket scores. It's the same old story for the sport in this country. Yes, TFC and now the Whitecaps have grabbed some attention and the World Cup is a month of hyperbole before the media returns to debates on the merits of a four-man rotation. But, when you are talking about Canadians playing the game in Europe they might as well be playing hopscotch on the moon.
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    There are a lot of reasons for the lack of attention stories like this get. Some are legitimate. Many soccer fans have an unrealistic expectation of what kind of coverage the sport should get. But some are based on old biases and prejudices. The sports media world is still run by boomers. Soccer was a non-factor in Canada during the Summer of Love (actually the Summer of Love was a bit of a non-factor in much of the Canada that the people runing sports media come from -- there, soccer might have been something those damn hippies did and therefore was a danger to the children of the Dominion).
    It's Called Football big cheese Ben Rycroft often tells a story about an interaction he had with a editor at a major metro daily in this country. Irritation was expressed that TFC had signed Dwayne deRosario because that meant that they would still have to spend resources to cover the team. Forget that there are 20,000 people at the games. Soccer doesn't matter. The editor just knows.
    At least TFC games are covered, although we all wonder when that bubble will burst. When the women won the CONCACAF title it wasn't reported in the country’s largest newspaper. That caused at least one reader to complain about gender unfairness. That's probably somewhat true, but the bias runs a little deeper. If the Canadian women's hockey team won a two team tournament, for instance, it would be S1 material.
    The indifference allows places like this to grow and that's good for us. However, as much as us dirty bloggers like to rally against the evil MSM the fact is it still matters -- a lot. Most people still get their information through traditional media and much of the traditional sport media still does a really crappy job of reporting on the Canada that those of us not living on a prairie ranch with a frozen pond we skate on eight months a year know and understand.
    Guest

    Hutch is Clutch

    By Guest, in Euro File,

    Lost in all the hullabaloo of CSN's launch merging with MLS Cup Week to create a perfect storm of local footy news is the fact that on Monday Atiba Hutchinson received the Danish Superliga Player of the Year award for 2010.
    A freaking Canadian won the player of the year award of an entire European league. For soccer!
    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
    To say this is unprecedented would be like saying Seinfeld was a popular television show. Or that water is wet.
    Sure, there have been other Canadian men's soccer players who have been standouts for European clubs. Some of them even played for Canada.
    But while Julian de Guzman's Player of the Season accolade at Deportivo La Coruna a couple of years back was certainly a sterling achievement, Hutchinson did him one better by winning that award at both his old club FC København and the league FCK competes in.
    The closest comparison would be Alex Bunbury's reign as the Portuguese League's Foreign Player of the Year in the mid-90's. Even then, Bunbury's honour came with the caveat of being limited to "only" foreign players in that league.
    Hutchinson's does not.
    This should be a huge story in the Canadian sports media, and Atiba Hutchinson should have already been a household name as the best player in the nation, and even more so now. But of course, this being Canada, it took a Voyageurs message board thread and a link to a Chinese news site over at BC Soccer Web to bring this story any sort of attention in Hutchinson's homeland.
    Sad (and hardly shocking), but true.
    You can check out a clip of Hutchinson receiving his award at the Danish Football Awards Show here.
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