Canada Pre-World Cup "friendlies" thread: news, gossip and speculation.

[JamboAl]

1 minute ago, N1ckbr0wn said:

Okay sweet thank you. I don’t have to join any pre sale queues yet I can just wait for the Vs to release their set of tickets? Sorry for the questions.

I don’t think you’ll have a problem buying in the Vs section.

[narduch]

1 minute ago, VinceA said:

Does anyone know what this is about? Seems like there will be a protest at the game.

Probably about that airliner that was shot down.

[Approve My Account Pls]

2 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Does anyone know what this is about? Seems like there will be a protest at the game.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752/AUI752) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Tehran to Kyiv operated by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 operating the route was shot down shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).^[4][5][6] All 176 passengers and crew were killed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_International_Airlines_Flight_752

[N1ckbr0wn]

10 minutes ago, narduch said:

Probably about that airliner that was shot down.

What does that have to do with our mens team playing a friendly v Iran in Vancouver LOL

Edit: wasn’t aware of this happening. My bad

Edited May 12, 2022 by N1ckbr0wn

[narduch]

1 minute ago, N1ckbr0wn said:

What does that have to do with our mens team playing a friendly v Iran in Vancouver LOL

People are stupid.

[SpursFlu]

3 minutes ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752/AUI752) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Tehran to Kyiv operated by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 operating the route was shot down shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).^[4][5][6] All 176 passengers and crew were killed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_International_Airlines_Flight_752

Yah this is an ugly situation that the media has strangely ignored. Not the incident but the fact it was on purpose. I'm not trying to turn this political but I do suspect some protests. A handful of these victims were on their way back home to Vancouver 

[SpursFlu]

5 minutes ago, narduch said:

People are stupid.

People are stupid? Cmon dude. A foreign military shot down a commuter plane filled with innocent Canadians. It's an act of war really

Edited May 12, 2022 by SpursFlu

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

9 minutes ago, N1ckbr0wn said:

What does that have to do with our mens team playing a friendly v Iran in Vancouver LOL

A number of victims were Iranian-Canadian university kids, I knew about through a colleague.  Canada had a report, pretty recently released ,condeming Iran but it was seen as just lip-service.

Edited May 12, 2022 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[N1ckbr0wn]

Just now, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

A number of victims were Iranian-Canadian university kids, I knew about through a colleague.  Canada had a report, pretty recently released ,condeming Iran but it was seen as just lip-service.

My bad, very sad.

[narduch]

10 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

People are stupid? Cmon dude. A foreign military shot down a commuter plane filled with innocent Canadians. It's an act of war really

People should be mad at Trump for that. He started that mini war for no logical reason 

Are you saying that the CSA negotiated this friendly with the Iranian government? Because that is a stupid take.

[SpursFlu]

Just now, narduch said:

People should be mad at Trump for that. He started that mini war for no logical reason 

Are you saying that the CSA negotiated this friendly with the Iranian government? Because that is a stupid take.

I'm not saying anything other than it was a tragic situation that people have a right to be upset about so expect some protest, outrage, anger whatever. That's their right, to express themselves 

[JamboAl]

19 minutes ago, narduch said:

People should be mad at Trump for that. He started that mini war for no logical reason 

Are you saying that the CSA negotiated this friendly with the Iranian government? Because that is a stupid take.

Let's not go there.  We should be all outraged at what happened but again, let's not go down a rabbit hole on this.  

EDIT: I'm much less patient with crap that doesn't belong here and will happily delete as required.

[Sal333]

1 hour ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

Yeah you clearly didn't see the number of flags and jerseys in the Richmond Hill/Markham area over the last two world cups... it was comparable to Italians in Woodbridge during the Euros or Portuguese along St. Clair.

Sure a lot of Iranian/People of Persian origin have understandable issues with government (don't really think we need to get into that on this forum), but from my experiences they're very proud of where they're from and will gladly support their national team.

edit: to add, Toronto/GTA has the most Iranian's, but both Montreal and Vancouver have large populations as well

Vancouver has the 2nd largest Iranian community in Canada - double Montreal's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Canadians

[gigi riva]

For Gods sake can we not go into politics here.

[Ruud]

Pretty clear we could have had a bigger match with Argentina had the conditions been met regarding budget and location !  Surely their first choice was not to go to Australia

[Ally McCoist]

1 hour ago, JamboAl said:

Let's not go there.  We should be all outraged at what happened but again, let's not go down a rabbit hole on this.  

EDIT: I'm much less patient with crap that doesn't belong here and will happily delete as required.

Get the red cards ready.  

Either way, I hope both teams bring their A team and we smash them.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Ally McCoist

[Obinna]

When do V tickets go on sale for the Iran match? Is there any point of signing up for Canada R/W/G at this stage, or am I better off going through the Vs since I am already a member?

Thanks, and sorry if this has been mentioned already.

[JamboAl]

5 minutes ago, Obinna said:

When do V tickets go on sale for the Iran match? Is there any point of signing up for Canada R/W/G at this stage, or am I better off going through the Vs since I am already a member?

Thanks, and sorry if this has been mentioned already.

Hope to start selling tomorrow.  It’s being worked on by Rob and Jamie with Canada Soccer.

[Obinna]

1 minute ago, JamboAl said:

Hope to start selling tomorrow.  It’s being worked on by Rob and Jamie with Canada Soccer.

Thanks. I am sure the lads are hard at work given the short notice. Appreciate the quick response to this.

[CCrTFC]

I'm excited to see this friendly actually, especially to see how our defence deals with the likes of Taremi.  Maybe Eustaquio has the scouting report. 

As for the people protesting, it is people's democratic right, which is what makes this country so great. I think one can be happy with this opponent, condemn a dubious unprovoked attack, and let people express themselves about it. I do not see how those can't all be true or how they are mutual exclusive. 

[CanadianTraveller]

1 hour ago, JamboAl said:

Let's not go there.  We should be all outraged at what happened but again, let's not go down a rabbit hole on this.  

EDIT: I'm much less patient with crap that doesn't belong here and will happily delete as required.

Trying to stay on topic, I would expect a court application Monday for an injunction against the CSA making any payments to the Iranian Football Federation as part of the $107 million default judgement against the Government of Iran and its agencies reached earlier this year. Since the IFF isn't a government agency I suspect the application would be denied, but if it is granted even temporarily the friendly could be in jeopardy. I believe this is the first significant event in Canada involving an Iranian representative since January, so this would be a test case for future visits to Canada by groups representing Iran.

I'd also expect some media coverage around visa applications as part of the protests mentioned above, particularly if any players have even a tenuous link to the IRGC. This isn't the Moscow Ballet coming to Canada during Ukraine hostilities...but it's the next worst thing. You can read about the government's response to the deaths of 55 Canadian citizens and 30 resident students, and discuss...elsewhere.

I would like to assume that CSA's legal counsel reached out to the plaintiffs lawyers and Foreign Affairs before announcing the friendly. But this is the CSA....

[Unnamed Trialist]

28 minutes ago, JamboAl said:

Hope to start selling tomorrow.  It’s being worked on by Rob and Jamie with Canada Soccer.

Aren't you Rob and Jamie 😶?

[RS]

1 hour ago, Ruud said:

Pretty clear we could have had a bigger match with Argentina had the conditions been met regarding budget and location !  Surely their first choice was not to go to Australia

Argentina's playing in London and Israel next month. The first match is the "Finalissima" and isn't a friendly.

[JamboAl]

9 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Aren't you Rob and Jamie 😶?

Ha ha…No!

[red card]

2 hours ago, Sal333 said:

Vancouver has the 2nd largest Iranian community in Canada - double Montreal's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Canadians

LA also has 500-600k of Iranian background. Some will come given it is a rare opportunity to see Team Melli in person.

They'll provide a passionate football atmosphere at similar or higher levels than Mexico.