It took an accumulation of yellow cards and the resulting one-game suspension to do it, but for the first week in a while Josh Simpson is not the centre around which the universe of Canadian footballers abroad revolves.
It was a varied week, with a Japanese debut here, a Mexican goodbye there and the small matter of this dandy goal by Atiba Hutchinson, which helped earn the Canadian midfielder man-of-the-match honours and a spot in the Eredivise best eleven of the week.
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Thanks to the indefatigable research skills of Canada's most loyal supporters, Long Balls feels confident in proclaiming Matt Lam the first Canadian footballer to play professionally in Japan, as the 21-year-old midfielder started for J2 League's JEF United in a 3-0 win over Giravanz Kitakyushu on the weekend. Now, is 82 minutes in the Japanese second division by a loaned-out FC Edmonton player a reason to jump over the moon? No, but as Asian football improves it can't be a bad thing for a Canadian to secure a tiny beachhead there. Honduras, for example, already has a handful of national team semi-regulars who play club football in China.
Other notable performances:
Ligue Deux outfit Nimes is now sitting in the relegation zone, which poses the question: Would it be worse to have a member of Canada's goalkeeper rotation riding the pine in the French second division or playing in the third? Or would it probably not matter anyway, because Haidar Al-Shaibani would simply ride more pine in the Championnat National?
In better goalkeeping news, Milan Borjan stormed back from his winter break, playing 90 minutes as Rad Belgrade defeated Cukaricki Belgrade 3-0 in the Serb top flight and kept their eyes on the Europa League.
Saturday was derby day for Canadian strikers in the English Championship, assuming the word "derby" can refer to a match between two clubs that share no real rivalry beyond each having a player from the same country, which I'm pretty sure it can't. Predictably, Iain Hume started for Preston North End and played 90 minutes, while Simeon Jackson came on as an 81st minute sub. Neither scored, although Hume played on Tuesday against Leeds and grabbed his sixth goal in 21 appearances.
Tosaint Ricketts roared on as a 70th minute substitution for Timisoara and scored his first goal in Romania to give his club a 2-1 win over Cluj, who -- if their Champions League appearances and position at the top of the table are any indication -- are quite good.
And again, thanks to the Voyageurs, specifically a gentleman with the Internet moniker Nolando, for digging this one up: former Long Balls darling Isidro Sanchez is of Mexican club side Puebla no more. It doesn't particularly sound like the two parties had a sweet goodbye either: Sanchez had money owed to him and this article includes a line about how he and two other players are finally going to get it.
So. Severance package in hand, what's a young, out-of-work Mexican footballer with a Canadian passport to do? I recommend squeezing all the fun he can from what's left of the ski season by working as a chairlift operator in Sunshine Village. Who knows? He could improve his English and perhaps enjoy some friendly female companionship along the way. Then, league rules be damned, show up at an FC Edmonton practice and demand a walk-on tryout.