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: Now we can finally put names to faces -- err, uniforms
Though the friendly against the U.S. on Saturday was Canada's "sendoff" match ahead of the Olympics, we've known for months that the women's national team would be playing a few more warmup games in Switzerland before London 2012 gets underway. And now we know (some more of) the details!
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Big Red will take part in the Matchworld Women's Cup -- the most awkwardly-named thing I've written on this website since "Stade Moncton 2012 Stadium" -- a four-team tournament that also includes Brazil, New Zealand and Colombia. Canada faces New Zealand on July 14 and Brazil on July 17 as part of the tournament, and also faces Colombia on July 9. Though that's not part of the tournament. I don't get it either.
The #5-ranked Brazilians always provide a stern test for Canada, though our luck has been good against them in recent years (up to and including a victory in the final of the Pan Am Games last fall -- albeit against a less-than-100% Brazilian side). The game against New Zealand (#23) will see John Herdman go up against his former side for the first time since becoming head coach of Canada (#7).
And Colombia (#28)... um... did you know foreign direct investment in the country hit a record $13 billion last year? Neat for them!
The more warmup the better as Canada prepares for its Olympic showdowns with Japan (July 25), South Africa (July 28) and Sweden (July 31).
The Cheerio: Futsal is actually pretty cool... even if we're not the best at it
Not knowing much about futsal, I can't really provide much of a lowdown on it. But I've watched more of it in the past two days than in all of my days previously. Which is to say, I watched part of one game. Canada played twice in the CONCACAF Championships -- the final stage of qualifying for the 2012 Futsal World Cup this autumn -- and though they looked impressive at times, they dropped their first two matches to host-and-apparent-regional-heavyweight Guatemala (7-3) and the U.S. (3-2).
Their last group-stage match goes tonight (Wednesday night) against Panama, and will be shown live and free on CONCACAF.com. There may still be some wacky way in which Canada could mathematically squeak its way into the next round -- and qualify for Thailand 2012 while they're at it -- but even if not, the game is worth checking out, not just to support the boys in red, but to answer the question you may have been asking yourself for years: "What the hell is futsal, anyway?"
(Though if you can't catch the game, for whatever reason, this oughta give you a decent idea too.)
The Pretzel: Something happened in the FIFA rankings. EVERYBODY PANIC
The latest FIFA rankings have been released, much to the delight of sports editors in need of meaningless copy to fill space. With the FIFA rankings come the customary over-analysis of given team's rankings, hand-wringing about the supposedly flawed methodology (mostly by ELO nerds) and the one glaring example of the list's complete removal from objective reality (in this case, England being ranked #4 in the world).
If you're the sort who cares, which you shouldn't be, Canada is ranked #68, up nine places from the previous ranking. As a courtesy, I'll also fill in the response from the usual gaggle of knuckle-dragging soccer haters: "Herp derp, Canada's lower than Sierra Leone and Uzbekistan, we sure do suck! lolololo"
The Cheese Stick: "Kids, we're going to the happiest place on Earth... Tijuana!"
Canadian men's U20 head coach Nick Dasovic is currently continuing his efforts to persuade his young charges of the merits of Lynyrd Skynyrd and AC/DC as we speak, down in Mexico. Actually, he's probably spending most of the time working on their soccer skills, as the U20 squad continues an eight-day training camp that began on Sunday and wraps up next Monday.
The camp will also include two friendlies against Mexico, on Friday and Sunday. If you're keeping score (which I know you all are), the roster includes six members of the Whitecaps system, five from Toronto FC, one from FC Edmonton and one from the Montreal Impact. Plus, look, Keven Aleman is there! So, y'know, we can probably stop worrying about him.
GK- Ricky Gomes | POR / Vitória FC
GK- Callum Irving | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
CB- Ben McKendry | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
CB- Nikola Paunic | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
CB- Daniel Stanese | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
CB- Skylar Thomas | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
FB- Dino Gardner | CAN / FC Edmonton Reserves
FB- Jordan Murrell | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
D- Tyler Pasher | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
CM- Mauro Eustáquio | POR / Uniao de Leiria
CM- Jonathan Lao | GER / FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt
M- Keven Aleman | ESP / Real Valladolid
M- Shadrack Mmunga | FRA / FC Metz
M/F- Ben Fisk | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
F- Yassin Essa | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
F- Christian Travaglini | ITA / S.S.D. Teramo Calcio
F- Stefan Vukovic | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
M - Bryce Alderson | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
M - Oscar Cordon | CAN / Toronto FC
W / M- Alessandro Riggi
As for why this is in the "cheese stick" category... guess it's just a pleasant surprise to see one of the youth teams running a camp like this, is all.
.