How Far Are We From A Soccer Nation?

[Borjans Sweatpants]

Went to pick up some food for the game tonight in my suburb (Barrhaven) and had a Canada shirt on. Guy asked me if I was watching the game tonight.

Said he wasn’t much of a fan but that it was a pretty big game so he’d be watching.

It’s not much, but first time that’s happened to me, so was pretty cool to see

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

The guy standing next to me in the check-in line at Pearson last weekend had an Alphonso Davies CMNT jersey on. Changed days from having my sanity questioned when attempting to buy a CMNT jersey in a soccer store in London, Ont in the late 1980s.

Edited July 7 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[gigi riva]

I have seen videos of people in Toronto and Quebec City celebrating Canada,s victory. 

[SthMelbRed]

I'm in a What'sApp group with my brother, a bunch of my male cousins, and a few close family friends. Most of the people in the chat are sports fans...hockey and NFL, mostly. I'd say that I'm the only one in the group that's a serious football fan, as in I watch club and international football regularly. However, everyone in the group was hyped for the Argentina game, and there have been comments, not instigated by me, before and during each match since. This hasn't happened since Qatar. So, on that small sample size, I'm going to say that the Copa has definitely had some resonance in the community at home.

[Aird25]

13 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

The guy standing next to me in the check-in line at Pearson last weekend had an Alfonso Davies CMNT jersey on. Changed days from having my sanity questioned when attempting to buy a CMNT jersey in a soccer store in London, Ont in the late 1980s.

Did they actually learn people's names back then?

[Stryker911]

I have found it funny how many people are shocked that we beat Venezuela. Most people assume that a South American country should dominate us. Not realizing that we actually were a better team on paper then them.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Guess a lot of people also didn't realize that baseball is the main sport in Venezuela, so historically they have tended to be the weakest Comnebol nation.

[TGAA_Star]

I wouldn't say that we are all the way a footballing nation but we are on the rise as far as becoming one. Mainly because the sports that get our main focus in this country are hockey and basketball. But with Copa America and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, football ⚽️ in this country will probably get as big a focus as it has ever had.

[Joe MacCarthy]

Is this AI

[PastPros]

Office Banter Helper (Hockey Analogy)

I have had several discussions with non-footy people of late and the common misconception is about where Canada stands in the soccer world.

Perceptions seem to be either wildly optimistic or overtly negative. To combat this, I have come up with a hockey analogy that seems to translate well. Please feel free to use this method in your working or personal environments. Feedback on the method is appreciated:

In global terms, the Canada MNT is the equivalent of the Latvian men's national hockey team (who are currently ranked 10th in the world by IIHF rankings).

Eliminating the likes of Peru, Chile and Venezuela (in footy) was similar to Latvia beating Germany, Slovakia and Denmark (in hockey).

The upcoming match against Argentina is similar to Latvia facing Canada (in hockey).

Could Latvia beating Canada in hockey? Unlikely - but possible if their goalie stands on their head and they get a lucky goal.

[masster]

This article was on the front page of the Globe and Mail today. Not the sports section...but the actual paper (below the fold mind you). Baby steps.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/article-no-soccer-playing-country-on-earth-is-having-a-better-summer-than/

[CanadianTraveller]

I like your analogy that Canada fans are the best soccer fans in the world. (Latvians are the best hockey fans and it's not even close.)

And Maxime Crépeau is WAY better than Arturs Silovs. (For those who don't follow, Arturs was the MVP of the '23 World Championship, and tried but totally and completely failed to beat the Oilers this spring.)

So...we're going for gold, not like Latvia who were ecstatic for bronze in '23. Also in line: the '23 championship was played next door to Latvia in big, bad Finland... the last-minute replacement host that was expected to do very well but lost extremely early. To Canada actually.

[gigi riva]

6 hours ago, masster said:

This article was on the front page of the Globe and Mail today. Not the sports section...but the actual paper (below the fold mind you). Baby steps.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/article-no-soccer-playing-country-on-earth-is-having-a-better-summer-than/

good article by Cathal Kelly

[InglewoodJack]

I don’t know how far we are but something possessed this woman to paint a portrait of Jacob Shaffelburg using a soccer ball. That’s gotta be something.

 

[kungfucious]

chalk this in the negative column.   words say a 1000 words so ill just post.

 

for reference, this is in vancouver, one of the hosts cities for '26

[JAVIERF]

So Is Comedians' Nation , catching up the world cup fever ?  

[jonovision]

6 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

I don’t know how far we are but something possessed this woman to paint a portrait of Jacob Shaffelburg using a soccer ball. That’s gotta be something.

 

Legends both.

[red card]

Another pathway to becoming a soccer nation is having good coaching/clubs everywhere who value and make money from player development. That's why Spain men won the Euros and women won the World Cup despite the federation lurching from crisis to crisis, sexism by the federation/clubs, financial troubles at clubs and racism issues. 

Based on the Athletic talking to former national-team players and coaches, La Liga club executives and figures closely connected to the men’s and women’s sides, their views are:

The governance within the FA is absolutely lamentable. But the average Spanish person on the street does not really care, and I don’t believe the players do either. They are used to living in a society with very few leaders.

The problems in the RFEF do not really complicate things, because the link between the federation and the talent of its players is little or zero. Talent is forged in the small clubs, in the neighbourhoods, and is then exported to the big clubs, or worked on very early.

Even disgraced leaders cannot really mess up a system that works mainly due to the number and quality of qualified coaches and administrators in a country that truly values developing young footballers as a profession.

Spain has an excellent structure of small clubs, with many excellent coaches, male and female, where boys and girls can learn how to understand the game and grow. And as we are not generally so big and strong, we have to be able to manage the play, understand tactics, and work within collective structures.

The game in Spain has also been open to influences from beyond its borders, with Dutch/Argentine/Italian/Serbian/British coaches, bringing new and important ideas in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Club teams have to keep reinventing themselves as many players are taken away, which means they keep putting in players from their youth systems.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5631965/2024/07/16/how-spain-rule-football-controversy/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983&userId=9634928

Edited July 17 by red card

[red card]

Will Parchman was formerly with TopDrawer Soccer, MLS & the Athletic but went dark in recent years. He's now back with his tweets about his kid in youth soccer. 

While this is in reference to unknowledgeable coaches in Texas, it's a similar situation in most part of the Canadian youth club system. He states that most kids who show up to play in a city league find their coach is a (well-meaning) parent who's never watched a professional 90 before. 

He is also an advocate for parent education about the sport. He contrasts it to USA youth basketball/gridiron where the coaches and parents are well versed on not only the basics but also know the standard tactics to get open for a shot/run a route.

He notes the the German fed subsidizes municipal youth coaching and built free-to-play national youth centers. Kids who came up through free state-run clubs thru U10 and won a World Cup: Muller, Gotze, Draxler, Boateng, Kroos, Neuer, Schweinsteiger.

Podcast interview:

 

Edited August 26 by red card

[Kent]

Just watched the TFC vs Inter Miami highlights on Sportscentre on TSN. Here are the highlights shown.

The Miami team bus.
Messi warming up.
Pitch invader.
Another pitch invader.

No actual gameplay shown, and no mention that the 1-0 loss for TFC (along with other results today) eliminated TFC from the playoffs. That doesn't seem like a nation that takes itself seriously in soccer. 

[narduch]

1 minute ago, Kent said:

Just watched the TFC vs Inter Miami highlights on Sportscentre on TSN. Here are the highlights shown.

The Miami team bus.
Messi warming up.
Pitch invader.
Another pitch invader.

No actual gameplay shown, and no mention that the 1-0 loss for TFC (along with other results today) eliminated TFC from the playoffs. That doesn't seem like a nation that takes itself seriously in soccer. 

Just like the only time I see CPL highlights on Sportsnet is if they end up on their misplays of the month.

[Corazon]

7 minutes ago, Kent said:

Just watched the TFC vs Inter Miami highlights on Sportscentre on TSN. Here are the highlights shown.

The Miami team bus.
Messi warming up.
Pitch invader.
Another pitch invader.

No actual gameplay shown, and no mention that the 1-0 loss for TFC (along with other results today) eliminated TFC from the playoffs. That doesn't seem like a nation that takes itself seriously in soccer. 

And to be fair, aside from the usual abysmal finishing and final ball, TFC thoroughly outplayed Miami for most of the game.  They looked much more like a team than when the Italians are playing.  

Edited 10 hours ago by Corazon

[Kent]

It's just so frustrating. A bunch of fans cheering for the away team after buying tickets for insane prices, and then tomorrow in the same city York United will definitely draw fewer than 3000 fans, and I would guess without having any idea how sales are going that they will likely even get less than 2000 fans. And in less than 2 weeks the national team plays in the same stadium as the TFC vs Miami game, and yet they haven't even opened up the whole stadium for ticket sales because demand is too low.

I mean, we are ahead of where we were when the national team was the de facto away team no matter who we played, but there is still progress to be made.

[BearcatSA]

I was in BC Place tonight and frankly I feel that the punters were more interested in stuffing their pie holes with way overpriced food and drink.  The home team's play was a factor, for sure, but it was as emotionless as Melania getting pumped by Donald.

[gigi riva]

On 7/7/2024 at 11:58 AM, TGAA_Star said:

I wouldn't say that we are all the way a footballing nation but we are on the rise as far as becoming one. Mainly because the sports that get our main focus in this country are hockey and basketball. But with Copa America and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, football ⚽️ in this country will probably get as big a focus as it has ever had.

Baby Steps