Three players likely to figure up front for Canada against Greece in two weeks - Atiba Hutchinson, Josh Simpson and Olivier Occean - scored over the weekend. Like Long Balls reminiscing over its spotty dating record during university, it's difficult to recall a weekend with this much scoring action by Canadians abroad.
Hell, if you add in Canada-maybe David Hoilett's zinger against West Brom, Tomasz Radzinski's mid-week marker in the Belgian Cup, Daniel Imhof's goal in a friendly against LASK Linz and Hutchinson's converted spot kick in a penalties-loss to Twente in the Dutch Cup you're one short of Andriy Shevchenko's tally for his entire last season with Chelsea, and his transfer fee was almost three times the CSA's annual budget.
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But back to those first three names. How does Occean as the target between Simpson and, say, Will Johnson, supported by Hutchinson in an attacking midfield role sound? Of course there's a real possibility none of those players will score in the two weekends leading up to the February 9 friendly in Greece, but forwards who are playing and scoring should come as welcome news for Canadian manager Stephen Hart.
Simpson now has 11 goals in all competitions with Manisaspor in the Turkish top flight, while Occean has 10 goals for Kickers Offenbach in the German 3rd flight.
Of those other scorers mentioned, most intriguing is whether we'll see Tomasz Radzinski for the Greece game. Yes, he's 37 years old, and yes, everyone thinks he has retired internationally, but Stephen Hart told the CBC this week that he'll continue to pick players if he thinks they can contribute. I'd say eight goals in all competitions this season with a first division Belgian club signals an ability to contribute.
It's extremely unlikely we'll see Daniel Imhof and we definitely won't see Junior Hoilett. On the subject of Junior Hoilett, Some Canadian Guys noted his cracker of a goal as it happened this weekend, and took some flak in the comments section for focusing on a player who has yet to commit to Canada over other players who have. If it makes those readers feel better, Long Balls has decided that that Hoilett's marker was actually fairly run-of-the-mill, goal-of-the-week variety, and that it won't feature in anyone's goals-of-the-season list.
In other Concacaf goings ons, a Long Balls suggestion for aforementioned Tomasz Radzinski. If he intend to further refine his reputation as a budding training ground brawler, who better to size up next than newly minted teammate, Honduran international “Muma” Bernárdez. Muma was loaned to Lierse this week after failing to catch on with Anderlecht.
And speaking of Hondurans, a bit of unsettling news. MirrorFootball has reported that Man United have lined up Celtic wingback and Honduran international Emilio Izaguirre as a possible replacement for Patrice Evra should he leave this summer. Yes, Canada could battle for a 2014 World Cup berth with a Honduran side featuring four Premier League regulars (Wilson Palacios, Hendry Thomas and Maynor Figueroa too). Wouldn't everyone just love that?
Edit: This article originally said PSV beat Twente in the Dutch Cup. They in fact lost.