Long Balls can’t remember the last time we shook ourselves awake on Monday morning so eager to spill tales of the weekend’s Canadians-abroad action to our buddies. A Premier League debut, a Scottish Premier League scoring debut, a brace of braces and even an encouraging tactical headbutt receipt.
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A series of Google searches leads Long Balls to the conclusion that prior to Saturday, the last time a Canadian international started a match in the English Premier League was on May 24, 2009. That day saw David Edgar line up in the Newcastle defence in what became a 1-0 loss to Portsmouth, sealing the latter’s relegation from the English top flight after 16 seasons.
Whether a similar fate awaits Simeon Jackson and Norwich City next spring remains to be seen, but Canada supporters could be forgiven for hoping it won’t take two-and-a-half more years for another Canadian international to debut in the self-billed “best league in the world.”
Jackson played 70 minutes in a 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers, the minor spoiler occurring when his direct substitute, Grant Holt, scored the winner two minutes after entering the match. Although assuming one adopts logic that says any point earned by Norwich is a good because it increases their chances of staying in the Premier League and providing Jackson a platform at the highest level, well, it’s not much of a spoiler at all.
Jackson now sits at 130 minutes with Norwich on six appearances and continues to await his first goal in the English Premier League.
Speaking of David Edgar as Long Balls did in the opening paragraph, the Canadian’s Renaissance continues in the English second division, as he scored the first two goals of Burnley’s fightback from a 2-0 deficit to eventually defeat Hull City 3-2 and move into 14th spot in the 24-team Championship. The Long Balls hype machine spent all weekend deciding on the adjective “spectacular” to describe the two goals by Edgar - a central defender - in one match. Even better for Canada supporters, the Edgar rejuvenation gives national team manager Stephen Hart another solid option at the centre of defence along with Kevin McKenna and Dejan Jakovic. This frees up other ostensible centrebacks like Andre Hainault and Adam Straith to pull duty in the problematic right flank of defence if necessary.
It’s been awhile since he pulled Canada duty, but for a time in 2010 Stephen Hart often employed Issey Nakajima-Farran as a super-sub for the national team. The midfielder/winger is off to a good start in the A-League, with 523 minutes and eight appearances in eight matches for the first-place Brisbane Roar. Nakajima-Farran’s three goals this season include two scored on the weekend in a man-of-the-match performance as the Roar beat Perth Glory 4-0.
Marcus Haber finally notched his first Scottish Premier League goal for St. Johnstone after 13 appearances this season. Who knows? Perhaps if this strike spurs a good run of form for Haber we could see him paired with Jackson up front for Canada in next year’s qualifying series. Considering the failed attempts at using Olivier Occean, Rob Friend and even Ali Gerba in a similar capacity Long Balls feels it’s definitely worth a shot.
And finally, Milan Borjan played 90 minutes on the weekend for Sivasspor in a 2-1 loss to Turkish powerhouse Galatasaray. A shrewd and penetrating account of the match by a person described as Grizzly in one of the online message boards Long Balls lurks silently in said Borjan played an important role in keeping the score reasonable in a match his team did not have the best of. More importantly, however, his reaction to being on the receiving end of a headbutt resulted in a red card for the opposition. The action kicks off at about 3:50 of this video, although we don't quite see Borjan's reaction.
Don’t for a moment be so naive as to think Long Balls would condone cheating or "making a meal" of something on the football pitch. We’re simply speaking about making the best of having another human skull cracked into your own, possibly in an important World Cup qualifier against Central American opposition next summer. In the aftermath of such an event one could: a) stagger around heroically for a few moments in the manner of someone who’s slightly overshot their insulin dose as the ref waves on play; or 
make the quite reasonable decision to fall to the ground immediately, grabbing your forehead and releasing a guttural moan in the process. And if, following option B, a match official happens to decide that the offending player headbutted with less than pure intent and ejects him, well then, that’s hardly Milan Borjan’s problem is it?
Correction: Norwich City beat QPR 2-1. This article originally said the game ended in a 1-1 draw.