For a guy that took a lot of shit when he was hired for this job, John Herdman is doing an outstanding job with player commitments and squad selection.
Very interesting post.
I agree that the mass media bombards you with messages on what being Canadian should be - Canadian Tire, Tim's, Minor Hockey on Saturday Morning etc. To me, it feels artificial and forced. Of course in other countries the national culture "just is", but it's like our media overcompensates for the fact that our culture has become so convoluted, as if to say "don't forget, all good Canadians like curling and say 'eh'".
All of that being said, I think this is a side affect of our Multiculturalism policy. If it wasn't for the extreme cultural diversity we have in this country, we wouldn't have this over compensation by the media attempting to iron out some sort of consistent notion of what "Canadian Identify" is.
The other thing is, multiculturalism is pushed hard in the public school system. That is what I meant by my post - that we are encouraged to embrace old world countries first.
I distinctly remember multiculturalism in social studies being described as a Mosaic, where all people are encouraged to hold on to their unique religion, language and culture. The sum total of the parts (in theory), would create a "Canadian Identify". Our diversity should not only be a sense of pride for us, it should be a national value as a Canadian (or so we were taught).
As an adult, I now look at this as nothing more than an indoctrination. There is no critical thinking or analysis about the value of our Multiculturalism policy or even a question about any potential negative impacts. Of course, if you are critical about multiculturalism, you're a racist.
When I was younger, I mostly kept my thoughts about multiculturalism to myself, and considering my Dad is from Nigeria (my mom's a Newfie), I would probably not have been called a racist or anything like that, but even back in elementary I remember thinking this whole multiculturalism thing just basically means that Canada doesn't really have a culture (hence the mass media thing). I remember being envious of the contrasting "Melting pot" model of the USA and I remember this even as a 4th grader of the (when I first remember learning this stuff).
Tying it all back to soccer, I think there is a greater sense of what it means to be American, largely in part to their "Melting Pot" model. So yes they have more resources at the USSF and they are more successful so more duels want to commit to them, but also they have more national pride than we do because they actually have a clear idea of what it means to be an American. Hard to have a clear idea of what it means to be a Canadian we you are taught in school to embrace your old world values. Then, your old world country wants to cap you as an international AND they have a better program than the CSA? Difficult choice right? Lol
