Like the popular snack mix, I'm going to break down these news hits into the flavoured Shreddie (the best part), the Cheerio (you never see it coming), the pretzel (you've got to acknowledge it, like it or not) and that cheese-stick thing (what the hell is it?).
The Shreddie: Big Red drops the boycott
If a team threatens a boycott, but they never miss a game, does it make a sound? I'd say yes. The women's national team has lifted their threat of a boycott, and will participate in the upcoming Cyprus Cup, as scheduled. Though the outstanding issues between the Canadian Soccer Association and head coach Carolina Morace haven't been fully resolved, apparently there's been sufficient "progress" on the matter to see the team head back out onto the pitch next week.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
We'll never know for sure whether or not the boycott was a bluff, though there are some who believe it was. What we do know is that the timing of the threat was, as Nigel Reed called it on The Soccer Show on Thursday, quite "shrewd". The team leveraged the attention they'd garnered thanks to a successful 2010, and the proximity to the upcoming Cyprus Cup and World Cup, to maximize the amount of attention they'd gain in holding the CSA's feet to the fire.
And it worked. Not only was the story all over the mainstream and quasi-mainstream footie press in this country, it got covered by the bloody New York Times!
Now, with the boycott threat rescinded, and the wider audience forgetting about the issue by the day, it remains unclear as to whether the team will retain its strong bargaining position. What is for sure, though, is that the team will be taking the field in Cyprus, will be taking the field in Germany and will (hopefully) be learning next week that their country will play host to the World Cup in four years' time.
At the end of the day, that's surely what matters most to supporters.
The Cheerio: Canadian soccer is good business?
Speaking of positive coverage in the mainstream press, Report on Business magazine's cover story this week features a rather fascinating profile of Jeff Mallett, co-owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Given that it's ROB, the focus is, to an extent, on the financial/economic side of things, so it's encouraging to read passages such as:
(The ownership group isn't) just a bunch of rich guys chasing childhood dreams, either—they have pedigree.
(Mallett) made his reputation during the Internet boom as a rigorous operator who actually managed to eke a profit out of a dot-com venture; he’s convinced that soccer has significant upside in North America, and he wants the Whitecaps to help drive it.
What possessed (Paul Barber) to leave a club with $200 million in annual revenue for the soccer hinterland? Barber says he was attracted not just by the challenge, but by the favourable dynamics for the game in North America.
The online headline given to the piece is "Has soccer's time come in Canada?"Turning a profit will take time. But Mallett is taking the long view—much like the United States Soccer Federation, which sees the development of soccer in the United States as a 50-year project that started with the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. “We’re not in this to flip,” says Mallett. “We’re believers, and we want to turn this over to our kids.”
It hasn't yet... but if folks like Mallett, Joey Saputo and the Faths are as serious about this game as they appear to be, then we just may be getting there.
The Pretzel: Don't worry, TFC will still find a way to miss them
"The pretzel (you've got to acknowledge it, like it or not)" -- yeah, this pretty much fits the bill. You've likely already heard about the deets of Major League Soccer's new 10-team playoff format for 2011. If not, I'm going to lazily delegate explanation to Jason Davis and his self-described poor attempt at an MLS playoff rant (with helpful illustration!) To steal his line, "this is a minor tweak, not a deathblow to American soccer as we know it".
Yeah, it does seem a bit preposterous that 10 out of 18 teams will qualify for the playoffs, and yeah, the format itself is a bit goofy. But commissioner Don Garber admits -- in an excellent interview with Brian Strauss of FanHouse -- that 2011 is a "transition year" as it relates to the playoff format, and that the league will be cooking up something new for 2012, once Montreal arrives on the scene.
Either way, it does make it more likely that Vancouver and/or Toronto will find themselves in the MLS playoffs which, in a North American sporting environment, instantly lends them more credibility and cache amongst the average fan. Though I shudder to think about what sort of smack talk will be heading from west to east if the 'Caps qualify while TFC shits the bed for the fifth year running...
The Cheese Stick: "Steve Nash is the MVP!"
Evidently NBA superstar Steve Nash was showing off some more of his soccer skills on Friday morning prior to the Suns' game against the Raptors. His love for the game is well-documented (he is, of course, one of the 'Caps other co-owners) and it kinda makes you wonder what may have happened if he'd joined his brother Martin on the men's national team.
One thing it definitely would have meant: The basketball world would have missed out on some neat stuff...
And of course, the grand-daddy of them all...