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

[Floortom]

As terrible as this entire situation is, the $10M lawsuit will go nowhere. They’re going to sue us in an Iranian court? That’s at the bottom of my list of concerns of the fallout from this 

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 minutes ago, Floortom said:

As terrible as this entire situation is, the $10M lawsuit will go nowhere. They’re going to sue us in an Iranian court? That’s at the bottom of my list of concerns of the fallout from this 

Today Iran made a deal to ensure currency exchange and financial transactions with Russia. 

Let them sue us for rubles. 

[Gian-Luca]

15 minutes ago, Mitchryan11 said:

I think being a grammar nazi and using common sense is two different things loser

Apparently so is insulting people & having a sense of humour.....

[Unnamed Trialist]

33 minutes ago, Mitchryan11 said:

Whether it was a response to the negative press or not there was players on the team that didn't feel it was the right decision,ersonally I think there are things that are more important then sports and they should of never entertained the idea in the first place

It's a losing battle @Gian-Luca

[Unnamed Trialist]

22 minutes ago, Mitchryan11 said:

I think being a grammar nazi and using common sense is two different things loser

*are

[El Hombre]

28 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

*are

You could also throw a comma in there before "loser".

[narduch]

The only way CSA can redeem themselves is to find a half decent friendly for this window.

Edited May 27, 2022 by narduch

[blueseeka]

Just now, narduch said:

The only way CSA can redeem themselves is to find a half decent friendly in for this window.

Even a team in the 40-60 range would be a win at this late stage

[Gian-Luca]

The onesoccer panel take (I think recorded before the fuller CSA statement came out, though I could be wrong):

 

[Ally McCoist]

People here saying "they should have seen it coming" literally did not peep a word when this friendly was announced. Literally nobody saw this coming. Even the thought of cancelation everybody was so confident was not going to happen. The negativity surrounding this game started a week after we knew of this match up only when CBC decided to make a big deal out of it.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Ally McCoist

[Cheeta]

20 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

You could also throw a comma in there before "loser".

Would that be an Oxford comma?

[Califax]

3 minutes ago, Cheeta said:

Would that be an Oxford comma?

If this isn’t a “pro Oxford comma” supporters group then I’m getting the hell out. 

[Gian-Luca]

9 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

The onesoccer panel take (I think recorded before the fuller CSA statement came out, though I could be wrong):

 

Just watching now...Platt's comments at 7:42 of the video are worth stressing, if they are true.

[cornerkick]

3 hours ago, reggietfc said:

i know we have a Dr at the CSA,do we have any lawyers ?

Or geopolitical analysts

[JamboAl]

23 minutes ago, Ally McCoist said:

People here saying "they should have seen it coming" literally did not peep a word when this friendly was announced. Literally nobody saw this coming. Even the thought of cancelation everybody was so confident was not going to happen. The negativity surrounding this game started a week after we knew of this match up only when CBC decided to make a big deal out of it.

I would argue that the CBC did their job properly.

[Cheeta]

I basically spent the last hour reading I don't know how many pages of this topic  and will just mention a few things 

1).  Well done everyone.  Great fun.

2).  Will admit surprise.  Was expecting some noise and poo-poohing.  More than one loud protest but not a cancellation.  

3).  Two car funeral > CSA organizational skills.

 

[Califax]

what a national treasure.

[Rougeisthecolour]

Iran was always going to be a controversial opponent in a friendly on home soil when also paying them close to half a million dollar apperance fee and permitting Iran to play other "friendlies" in Canada. There are a number of reasons for this.

On March 30 a discussion began on this board if Iran could or should be removed from the World Cup or sanctioned for not permitting women to attend the WCQ on March 29. It was a gobal story in the football and non-footbal world.

FIFA on Friday faced calls to sanction Iran and even throw its team out of the 2022 World Cup finals over the Islamic republic's renewed failure to allow women to attend an international football match. 

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220401-fifa-urged-to-eject-iran-from-world-cup-over-women-stadium-ban

 

Combine that with Iran's stance on Russia in today's climate and the fact Iran previously shot down a plane that killed innocent Canadians this was a firestorm waiting to ignite from the get go.  

Having a firendly vs. Iran in Canada was always going to create some negative noise. The CSA had blinders on if they could not see that this was going to be controversial from the get go.

I think many people initially believed/hoped that the event would be non-political in nature and simply a football match between two nations but the mountain of controversy simply grew and rightfully so.

Drawing Iran in a tournament is one thing (likely also a big story for all the wrong reasons) , hosting Iran and the team's entourage on Canadian soil and having Iran profit from it both finacially and politically was simply a mountain too big to overcome.

Let's hope the CSA can find an opponent on such short notice. We can all agree that we want to see Canada play a friendly on June 5.

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Today Iran made a deal to ensure currency exchange and financial transactions with Russia. 

Let them sue us for rubles. 

The Canadian dollar has been falling against the rouble since March, by the way.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Obinna

[SoCalTransport]

26 minutes ago, Obinna said:

The Canadian dollar has been falling against the rouble since March, by the way.

They raised interest rates in Russia and they were able stabilize their currency despite all of the sanctions.

[GasPed]

51 minutes ago, JamboAl said:

I would argue that the CBC did their job properly.

There's a first time for everything... ...but I don't think this was it.

[El Hombre]

1 hour ago, Cheeta said:

Would that be an Oxford comma?

Only a halfwit, a moron, or an idiot would use an oxford comma.

[TOcanadafan]

1 hour ago, Califax said:

what a national treasure.

The government should be making the CSA ‘right’ for this.  Just listening to Oliver Platt on the video above, the Canadian government had to give this game its blessing… they could have said ‘no’ at that time.

[El Hombre]

11 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

Only a halfwit, a moron, or an idiot would use an oxford comma.

Not for nothing but this is the greatest post ever made on this blasted website.  I should be carried out on your goddamn shoulders.

[red card]

4 hours ago, Mattd97 said:

Wasn't there just a breakdown of funding from the csa and the government only gave like 10-20% of their income?

Coincidental or not, CSA put out their 2021 financials in the past day or so. They got $4.7 million in 21 and $4.5 million in 20 from government grants. Some of it was covid wage subsidies but much less in 21 (195k).

https://canadasoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-Canadian-Soccer-Association-Incorporated-2021.pdf

For CBC, they did their job - the only one who dug up info. But they didn't include the football perspective till about article 3 which was needed as some of the points they made showed they were clueless about international football. Not much coverage elsewhere and nearly all of it was just opinion. 

I'm surprised CSA caved but given loss of govt monies would have been greater than loss of net matchday revenue, financials overrode sporting considerations.

Good news on 2021 financials is that the CSA had $5.3 million more in revenues than expenses (vs 180k in 20). Cash on hand at the end of 2021 was $7 million.