Long Balls spent enough time slinking around university pubs to know a thing or two about unfulfilled flirtations. So we start with a nod to imposing Canadian target man Olivier Occean, who has developed a habit of starting his European club seasons on a bit of a flier.
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No, Occean didn't score this weekend for his new club Greuther Fürth in the German second division, but he did provide an assist in a 2-1 victory over MSV Duisburg. He has so far banged in five goals in seven 2.Bundesliga matches, a return almost as impressive as his seven goals in his first seven matches of last season's 3.Bundesliga campaign with Kickers Offenbach.
Come in the German lower divisions they may, but numbers like these stir the loins of Canada supporters, much in the same manner as the girls that may or may not have been smiling in Long Ball's direction many years ago. Unfortunately Occean has wrought more disappointment than payoff in a Canada jersey, with only 2 goals from 19 caps. This includes two displays of uninspired lumbering against Ukraine and Greece last winter.
Stephen Hart must now decide whether to include Occean in the Canada squad that plays St. Lucia and Puerto Rico in October. In fairness to Occean, Canada's strike force is filled with players who raise expectations with their clubs only to falter with Canada, such as Rob Friend, Simeon Jackson and to some extent even Josh Simpson.
Case in point. In Turkey, Simpson scored an 88th-minute equalizer for Manisaspor against Trabzonspor on the weekend, after coming on as a second-half sub. That's one appearance, one goal for Simpson this season. Teammate and fellow Canadian Mike Klukowski played 90 minutes at leftback.
One appearance, one goal. Ditto for Rob Friend, who opened his 2.Bundesliga account with Eintracht Frankfurt in a 3-3 draw with Energie Cottbus. The same Energie Cottbus that employs Adam Straith, if you remember him. Straithy, as Long Balls has just chosen to nickname him, came on as a 62nd minute sub in the match for his third appearance of the season.
Simeon Jackson sat on the bench as Norwich fell 1-0 to West Brom. He remains stuck at a lowly six Premier League minutes. However, the Canadian speedster did manage to earn mention in the Guardian under the “Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend” section. One thing we apparently learned was that Norwich lacks pace and that it’s time to let Jackson do his thing. Also, Sky Sport hints (barely) at the fact Paul Lambert will have to rotate his Norwich squad eventually, and Jackson says he is happy to wait his turn.
Marcel de Jong is still feeling the effects of a slight knee "knock" and didn’t play for Augsburg over the weekend.
The really bad news concerns Atiba Hutchinson. Apparently he aggravated a previous knee injury while playing for Canada against St. Lucia earlier this month and will have to undergo surgery. PSV Eindhoven coach Fred Rutten is "...afraid [he'll] lose him for awhile," whatever the heck that means.
It's not disastrous news from a strictly Canada perspective, considering the first round of qualifying is going well already and advancement should be secured easily without Hutchinson. However, Long Balls worries that at 28-years of age, a long-term injury layoff could send Hutchinson spiraling into the same kind of permanent funk that seems to have enveloped his midfield compatriot Julian de Guzman. The next round of World Cup qualifying doesn't begin until June, but Canada will need Hutchinson at his best, not with his best days trailing behind him.
In better news, Canada's sudden new saviour at rightback David Edgar has started three of Burnley's five Championship matches. He was named player of the match for Saturday's 2-0 loss to Middlesbrough by the Clarets Mad supporters group, although as the website notes: such was the performance that the man of the match recorded its lowest number of votes this season, by far... Whatever, it's simply good news that Edgar is back to playing.
And finally. It slipped us by so far, but Canadian keeper Haider Al-Shaibani has finally broken through with Nimes after wallowing on their bench for two seasons. The problem is that Nimes now plays in the French third division. Yes, the 27-year-old Al-Shaibani has six starts in six matches, but unfortunately for him he is no longer playing at the required level to be seriously considered part of the Canadian keeper pool. And that's saying something.