CANCELLED WC Prep Match #1: Canada vs Iran - Sunday, June 5 BC Place, Vancouver

[theaub]

1 minute ago, Gian-Luca said:

I am going by this list from 2021:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43822234

Neither Mali or Ecuador are on the list. I am reluctant to point out that Morocco is lest Justin Trudeau hears about this, declares it a "bad idea" to play them and we are forced to forfeit our 3rd match of the World Cup.

Phillips Bakery CANCELLED

[ag futbol]

Just now, JamboAl said:

HYPOTHETICALLY, what if John Herdman asked for this friendly?  Should his head roll?  (my answer is no)

I would say no because it’s the responsibility of people more senior than John in the CSA to save his bacon. 
 

He can’t understand the political process but someone at the CSA should.

[nfitz]

40 minutes ago, Alex said:

Re read the press release from yesterday…. No mention of playing Iran. Just says “three games”

Interesting - https://canadasoccer.com/news/canada-announces-squad-for-june-international-matches-including-concacaf-nations-league/

Just who do they think the "third nation" is then?

 

34 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

... the controversy only started 5 days after the match was announced and nearly sold out when Trudeau spoke the way he did, that's when the media shit storm started.

Trudeau was responding to media questions after the media had started making noise.

But the whole thing seemed to have died down. If the links between the Iranian soccer team tne the Iranian army hadn't started making news ... and suggestions that the army may have access to the $400,000. I think this story may have been the final straw. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/soccer-canada-iran-1.6461706

At the same time - weren't there links between between the USSR Red Army and the 1973 Soviet hockey team that was invited to play in Canada? (that's a rhetorical question BTW)

 

[El Hombre]

1 minute ago, JamboAl said:

HYPOTHETICALLY, what if John Herdman asked for this friendly?  Should his head roll?  (my answer is no)

I had assumed all along that he had asked for this friendly which is why I'm so confused.  I thought that he and Berhalter had an agreement to play each other's WC opponents to get a detailed scouting report.

I'm more concerned with him throwing in the towel when it comes to trying to work with the CSA.

[Obinna]

23 minutes ago, canuckgbp said:

Gong show seems like the appropriate term. Percent of blame to who? Idk, but this seems to stem from poor communication from both sides. And probably lots of incompetence. 

 

I'll take a stab at it....

Media 50% (this shouldn't need further explanation)

Trudeau 5% (was put on the spot, but the negativity did start with him, after all)

CSA 20% (I mean, they did book the friendly)

Government 25% (seems like they denied visas of soccer players for political reasons they have nothing to do with, all in the name of political optics.)

[canuckgbp]

1 minute ago, JamboAl said:

HYPOTHETICALLY, what if John Herdman asked for this friendly?  Should his head roll?  (my answer is no)

Just need more information on how everything transpired. As far as I can tell CSA was going ahead with this until the gov said no? With some players saying they wouldn't play, who was driving this bus? Was it exclusively Herdman or suits from above? Don't think we have enough information. 

 

[nfitz]

3 minutes ago, canuckgbp said:

Just need more information on how everything transpired. As far as I can tell CSA was going ahead with this until the gov said no? With some players saying they wouldn't play, who was driving this bus? Was it exclusively Herdman or suits from above? Don't think we have enough information. 

Trudeau said CBSA would drive the bus. Which might be enough cover to avoid Canada being sanctioned by FIFA.

Edited May 26, 2022 by nfitz

[El Hombre]

4 minutes ago, canuckgbp said:

Just need more information on how everything transpired. As far as I can tell CSA was going ahead with this until the gov said no? With some players saying they wouldn't play, who was driving this bus? Was it exclusively Herdman or suits from above? Don't think we have enough information. 

 

There are a lot of accusations going around (political pressure, denied visas, player unhappiness etc.).  We'll need a lot more information as to why this was cancelled before blame is laid in my opinion.  I will be very interested to hear the entire timeline.

[Obinna]

6 minutes ago, canuckgbp said:

Well clearly Herdman and/or upper mgmt were thinking one way, and some players were on the opposite end. If it comes to refusing to play, I would say that is brotherhood being strained. Seems like CSA was going ahead regardless and that the gov said Iranian players wouldn't be allowed in. 

I would like to know the timeline in all this. How soon did the gov start telling CSA this would be an issue? Were they internally putting pressure on the CSA and then Trudeau did his press conference? Or was this not a problem until it suddenly became one. 

The tweet says that "players discussed refusing to play".

So the players may have been collectively discussing that as a group. That would be a sign of a strong brotherhood, if anything, not a weak one. 

[BigMo]

1 hour ago, Colonel Green said:

The idea of playing Iran was unpopular with the general public — especially paying them to come and play here.

And yes, the CSA should have anticipated this. Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of international relations would know this would be controversial.

Public opinion on this was shaped by the media fallout and activism rather than vice versa. There was little public reaction when it was initially announced outside of soccer circles, just search Twitter for the dates in question if you dont believe it.

It only started to snowball after the PM was asked to react to the opposition from family of airplane crash victims and proceeded to throw the federation under the bus. Further snowball continued since then with more political expediency across the board raising the pressure. 

[CalgaryKicker]

8 minutes ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

This incident is so rooted in cancel culture and the fragility that Trudeau so perfectly represents. His dad would have invited those Soviets and whooped their ass cause sometimes sport is the only (humane) way you can fight a war.

But these days we are such pussies and can't have two conflicting ideas in your head or you'll explode.

Welcome to 1984!

It wasn't just Trudeau - the Tories also demanded the cancellation of the match:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservatives-demand-canada-soccer-cancel-soccer-game-against-iran-1.6465701

[Corazon]

9 minutes ago, K-Dub said:

Any chance of getting one of Albania, Iceland or Israel? 

That might be best chance, although the game would likely have to be played in Toronto (or Montreal). 

Bit of a Hail Mary at this point

Unfortunately Israel would cause huge backlash.  Less so with the government but with citizens it would be far worse than this Iran situation played out.  Albania would also be a risk at this point given their geopolitical history.

Canada may have sent a precedent with this cancellation.

FWIW, I am a firm believer that sport should bring people together.  Unfortunately you are never going to please everyone.

[InglewoodJack]

Hypothetically could Ukraine fit in a friendly in Vancouver between their game in Scotland (June 1st) and Ireland (June 8)? I know the travel is insane, but at this point, that feels like the only way for CSA/Canada to look good on the world stage.

[Watchmen]

8 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I'll take a stab at it....

Media 50% (this shouldn't need further explanation)

Trudeau 5% (was put on the spot, but the negativity did start with him, after all)

CSA 20% (I mean, they did book the friendly)

Government 25% (seems like they denied visas of soccer players for political reasons they have nothing to do with, all in the name of political optics.)

Might want to carve out some of that percent to Iran for murdering civilians.

[canuckgbp]

1 minute ago, Obinna said:

The tweet says that "players discussed refusing to play".

So the players may have been collectively discussing that as a group. That would be a sign of a strong brotherhood, if anything, not a weak one. 

I guess I am more saying Herdman's relationship within the brotherhood. So true, I may not be calling it the correct term. I would assume he is part of the brotherhood but he does have a different role within it. 

[InglewoodJack]

13 minutes ago, K-Dub said:

Any chance of getting one of Albania, Iceland or Israel? 

That might be best chance, although the game would likely have to be played in Toronto (or Montreal). 

Bit of a Hail Mary at this point

Brother if you think the Iran protests would’ve went crazy, invite Israel and see what happens

[BigMo]

As I said earlier, if you're only willing to play countries with strong human right records that rank high on the Freedom Housing rankings list, you may as well forgo the idea of a World Cup and start the OECD Cup or the EU-North America Cup of Nations.

At some point there was a clearly recognized distinction between the athletes representing their countries and their governments, which has been rapidly erased in recent years. This will be very damaging for international football in the long-run and people are being short sighted if they dont see the precedents being set. 

[Pasha]

LOL at Canada. Justin is such a loser, and there is no doubt he is behind this cancellation. I hope one day the people of Canada wake up and see that all these restrictions put in place by your liberal government is at the expense of your freedoms (I won't get into these restrictions, but you should know exactly what I am talking about you intelligent Canadians), and is overtly hypocritical. Yeah, lets not play Iran because of X, but let us surely play in the WC in Qatar although they also committed Y and Z, both egregious human rights abuses.

The national team of Iran, is the only, THE ONLY, unifying force for my people. Your federation has mixed politics and sport. And please don't give me a whataboutism saying Iran does this and that and those actions are certainly an intermingling of sport and politics etc. CANADA is not Iran LOL--supposedly Canadians live in a free society, my people do not. But the national team is a representation of the people. By denying the people joy, you have created an enemy in me. I boycott Canada, and I hope to see your national team fail. IDC if I sound petty, you entitled Canadians are no better than the Americans. 

And to the Iranians promoting the cancellation; kiram dahanet. 

[K-Dub]

9 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I'll take a stab at it....

Media 50% (this shouldn't need further explanation)

Trudeau 5% (was put on the spot, but the negativity did start with him, after all)

CSA 20% (I mean, they did book the friendly)

Government 25% (seems like they denied visas of soccer players for political reasons they have nothing to do with, all in the name of political optics.)

We can't let Trudeau take all the credit. 

The Conservatives (and others) piled in too

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservatives-demand-canada-soccer-cancel-soccer-game-against-iran-1.6465701

[El Hombre]

1 minute ago, BigMo said:

Public opinion on this was shaped by the media fallout and activism rather than vice versa. There was little public reaction when it was initially announced outside of soccer circles, just search Twitter for the dates in question if you dont believe it.

It only started to snowball after the PM was asked to react to the opposition from family of airplane crash victims and proceeded to throw the federation under the bus. Further snowball continued since then with more political expediency across the board raising the pressure. 

Really, did it though?  Admittedly I've been more pre-occupied with the storm that rolled through Eastern Ontario over the weekend and not having power restored for several days so I'm out of the loop, but I thought it was really just one or two CBC reporters that were banging the same drum.  I was actually going to ask on Tuesday whether the story had all blown over because I wasn't hearing about it.  Was this a bigger issue nationally or in BC?

[theaub]

3 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Hypothetically could Ukraine fit in a friendly in Vancouver between their game in Scotland (June 1st) and Ireland (June 8)? I know the travel is insane, but at this point, that feels like the only way for CSA/Canada to look good on the world stage.

No, espeically since Ukraine will play on June 5 if they beat Scotland.

the fact that this is even a conversation on social media right now is a prime example that is just nothing more than political grandstanding.   Its actually embarrassing. 

[canuckgbp]

4 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

There are a lot of accusations going around (political pressure, denied visas, player unhappiness etc.).  We'll need a lot more information as to why this was cancelled before blame is laid in my opinion.  I will be very interested to hear the entire timeline.

How soon was the CBSA clear that this wouldn't happen? I am not even sure how much if any notice if any the CSA internally has to give to the "feds". Timeline is indeed key. 

[frmr]

2 minutes ago, Pasha said:

LOL at Canada. Justin is such a loser, and there is no doubt he is behind this cancellation. I hope one day the people of Canada wake up and see that all these restrictions put in place by your liberal government is at the expense of your freedoms (I won't get into these restrictions, but you should know exactly what I am talking about you intelligent Canadians), and is overtly hypocritical. Yeah, lets not play Iran because of X, but let us surely play in the WC in Qatar although they also committed Y and Z, both egregious human rights abuses.

The national team of Iran, is the only, THE ONLY, unifying force for my people. Your federation has mixed politics and sport. And please don't give me a whataboutism saying Iran does this and that and those actions are certainly an intermingling of sport and politics etc. CANADA is not Iran LOL--supposedly Canadians live in a free society, my people do not. But the national team is a representation of the people. By denying the people joy, you have created an enemy in me. I boycott Canada, and I hope to see your national team fail. IDC if I sound petty, you entitled Canadians are no better than the Americans. 

And to the Iranians promoting the cancellation; kiram dahanet. 

Uhh, okay.

[youllneverwalkalone]

5 minutes ago, CalgaryKicker said:

It wasn't just Trudeau - the Tories also demanded the cancellation of the match:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservatives-demand-canada-soccer-cancel-soccer-game-against-iran-1.6465701

Hey, this applies to everyone these days. Trudeau is just a perfect spokesperson for this fragile generation.

[InglewoodJack]

1 minute ago, theaub said:

No, espeically since Ukraine will play on June 5 if they beat Scotland.

the fact that this is even a conversation on social media right now is a prime example that is just nothing more than political grandstanding.   Its actually embarrassing. 

Yeah, I realized that right after posting. It’s a conversation because Canada is, or should be, desperate to find a replacement game, so the best choice would be playing the world’s darlings instead of the world’s pariahs.