Having been raised hard-scrabble on the western Canadian tundra, fed nothing but a steady diet of Prairie Oysters and Flapper Pies, Long Balls can be forgiven for occasionally pausing to stare slack-jawed at the cosmopolitan whirl around him and conclude that Toronto is in fact “abroad.”
Add to that the European-sized paycheques certain Canadian national team regulars collect from their North American clubs every two weeks and is it any wonder that we’re forced to ponder whether MLSers could actually be considered Canadians abroad?
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If the point of this column is to provide a weekly rundown of Canadian players eligible for the mens’ national team then yes, they could. It would be silly to ignore Terry Dunfield’s goal this past weekend, or the subsequent wild celebrations as he hurled himself into the Empire Field stands like a teenager diving into a mosh pit. Ditto for Niagara Falls native Russell Teibert’s inspired performance, made even more inspiring by the fact he’s only 18 years old.
Besides, Canadian footballers in Europe can’t be counted on to produce notable performances every weekend. Some weeks, bafflement over how Nana Attakora managed to grow seven feet of hair in the two months since showing up neatly cropped for the CSA’s kit unveiling in Toronto will indeed be the biggest story.
That said, Canadian Soccer News and others do a fantastic job of heaping on the MLS coverage, so as long as the European, Mexican and Japanese leagues are going, Canadians slightly further abroad will remain the focus of this column.
This week, two gentleman who will not feature in Canada’s upcoming friendly against Belarus turned in the two best performances. Iain Hume scored his third goal in three games in the English Championship as soon-to-be-relegated Preston North End beat Coventry City 2-1.
Meanwhile, Marcel de Jong by all accounts (and by “all accounts” I mean one account, a blurb from a German newspaper dug up by someone else) had a great match for Augsburg in a 2-0 victory over Rot-Weiß Oberhausenin in 2.Bundesliga. Check out the Google translation yourself:
I’ve harped on this before, but it would be a big psychological boost for Canadian soccer if -- in a season where some promising club careers have stagnated -- Augsburg stays second, wins promotion and de Jong lands regular minutes next year in the Bundesliga.One of the best games in the Canadian FCA Dress. His standards were always dangerous. So he checked into the 39th Pirson eien minutes with great left-footed shot on the defensive and he was biting and tackling strongly.
The rest of the performances by Canadian footballers were more run-of-the-mill than the city of Peterborough.
Our remaining Championship contingent of Jamie Peters, David Edgar and Simeon Jackson sat on the bench over the weekend... ok, Jackson did come on in the 81st minute of a 1-1 draw with Hull City. Atiba Hutchinson and Josh Simpson turned in their usual reliable performances. Pedro Miguel Salgadinho Pacheco de Melo played another solid match in the Portuguese second division, while keeper Lars Hirschfeld returned to serious action with Vålerenga in a 2-0 victory over stereotypically named Viking in the opening salvo of the Norwegian season.
Edit: Late-breaking news, of a sort, just submitted to me by a reader. Looks like Norwich City have brought in two young strikers on loan for the remainder of the season - links here and here - which can in no way possible bode well for Simeon Jackson's playing opportunities.
And finally, a news item that really doesn't have a lot to do with Canadians abroad.
Back in 1990, about the same time the Rolling Stones were creaking their way around the world on the Steel Wheels Tour, Jack Warner was first elected president of Concacaf. Like that aging group of British rockers that can’t pack in their instruments, Jack and his band of bureaucrats refuse to go quietly. He and a whole whack of Concacaf suits were nominated unopposed for seats on the Concacaf executive committee today. Fans of the band will be thrilled by news their heroes will continue rocking Fifa paperwork for four more years. Between now and 2015 we can expect Warner to fall mysteriously from a coconut tree while visiting colleagues in Fiji, and release memoirs containing detailed accounts of some of the best blowjobs he received while on Fifa-related business.