Canadian soccer supporters – at least those who speak English most of the time – seem disproportionately keen on Canadian footballers in England. It's not a huge mystery why: English soccer has always enjoyed more exposure here than other European leagues, making it easy to follow.
Yes, the tribulations of David Hoilett and Canada’s quartet of Championship footballers have caused much hand-wringing. Beyond the obvious will-he-or-won’t-he stuff with Hoilett, there’s Simeon Jackson and what’s left of his once promising season with Norwich, the screeching halt to Jamie Peters’ run at rightback for Ipswich Town since Roy Keane departed as manager, and David Edgar, who can’t catch a break off the pitch, nevermind on it. His January transfer to Swansea was scuttled because of paperwork trouble and he continues to languish on the subs bench or worse with Burnley. Iain Hume has fared better, but he’s out with a pulled groin.
Yes, it’s all tragic stuff for the England lads, but it’s also unfortunate that their stumbles should overshadow a tidy little story unfolding in Germany.
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Earlier this season it looked like all of Rob Friend, Adam Straith and Marcel de Jong could win promotion to the Bundesliga. That pipe dream is squelched somewhat, what with Energie Cottbus slipping to seventh spot and the coaches there deciding Straith isn’t quite ready for prime time anyway. And Friend is used ever more sparingly at Hertha Berlin. The third member of that 2.Bundesliga triumvirate, however, is humming along quite nicely. Marcel de Jong has three goals in 18 appearances for Augsburg this season. That stat is good for two reasons. First, he’s enjoying consistent playing time, and second, two of those goals have come in his last three matches.
Check out his goal on the weekend, which helped Augsburg to a 2-0 victory over 1860 München. With the result Augsburg stays second in 2.Bundesliga behind Hertha. Part of the original worry was that even if their clubs did make it to the German top flight, Straith, de Jong, and even Friend, wouldn’t get playing time.
That’s fair enough, but if the 24-year-old de Jong is playing regularly now, and puts together a nice scoring run as the season climaxes, Long Balls sees no reason why he wouldn’t be right there fighting for a regular spot in the Bundesliga next year.
To those of you out there who know your German football, what do you think?
Other Canadian performances of note.
Josh Simpson played his customary 90 minutes in a 2-1 loss to Trabzonspor on Monday, while Atiba Hutchinson also went 90 in a 4-1 win over NAC Breda on Sunday.
Pedro Miguel Salgadinho Pacheco de Melo played 90 minutes too! He's fully back at it after injury struggles early in the season, setting up the winning goal in a 2-1 victory for Santa Clara against Feirense in the Portuguese 2nd division.
The only action the four Championship footballers mentioned above managed in the five combined games their clubs played on the weekend and mid-week was an 88th minute substitute appearance by Simeon Jackson in a 1-1 draw with Doncaster on Tuesday.