scooterlawrence5

https://forgefc.canpl.ca/article/forge-fc-sign-three-players-to-short-term-contracts JANUARY 31, 2024 Dino Bontis, Amadou Kone, and Kevaughn Tavernier Signed to Concacaf Roster Forge FC announced Tuesday the club has signed goalkeeper Dino Bontis, attacker Amadou Kone, and attacker Kevaughn Tavernier to short-term contracts. The three players will be on the club’s 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup roster. Bontis, 19, is part of the Canadian youth national team (U20) pool, having previously represented Canada at the U15 age group in 2019 making four appearances in the U15 Concacaf Championships securing two clean sheets and at the 2022 Concacaf Men’s Under-20 Championship recording 1 clean sheet. Bontis previously signed a development contract with Forge FC in 2022. Kone, 18, is Forge FC’s second-round selection from the 2024 CPL-USports Draft. The native of Ottawa, Ontario, made 12 appearances recording one goal in his rookie season at Carleton University in 2023. Tavernier, 18, comes from Sigma FC. The native of Brampton, Ontario, signed a development contract with Forge FC on June 25, 2023, going on to make his first appearance with the club on September 9, 2023, against Cavalry FC and his first professional start on September 17, 2023, versus Valour FC. The youth prospect represented Canada at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup

New General Secretary announced. https://canada-soccer-pressroom.prezly.com/alyson-walker-named-canada-soccer-general-secretary

It's Maeve Glass. She came out of retirement with the WNT when Herdman brought her to Qatar with the MNT.

Goes to show you how much player turnover will still occur between now and 2026. The MNT turnover rate is a fraction of the WNT turnover rate (which barely has any at all).

Let's not forget, if we equate the Nations League equal to the Gold Cup (yes, I know, big assumption) ... then taking home the Nations League is way easier (only 2 games to win). The MNT need to bring home one of those trophies this summer at least to lay claim to any "top of Concacaf" messaging.

Footy Prime would be wise to do two things in a fuure podcast that require journalistic integrity, research and insight ... and frankly not a single media outlet in Canada has any of these when it comes to futbol coverage. Two simple questions that would address everyone's frustration: 1. Ask a player rep from the MNT and a player rep from the WNT, why have you not acknowledged, counter-offered, or even signed the deal that was presented to you in June 2022 making both teams among the best paid in their peer group world-wide? 2. How many of the three announced clubs that have signed-on for Project 8 have already paid the $1 million league fee that was required? No one wants to know the answer to both questions. That's because the answer to both questions is really ugly.

Bigandy is correct.

From a pure mathematical perspective, Nations League is way easier to win than the Gold Cup and should be a priority if a choice needs to be made.

Cool trivia fact, Juan Pablo Sanchez (TFC academy) and Matteo de Brienne (Ottawa South United) played against each other in the OPDL a few years ago.

An insightful and accurate post. Well done Bigandy. Let me add to your commentary: 1. The MNT technically "boycotted" the Panama match with no notice (CSA reported that they learned of the boycott from the same tweet we all saw 45 minutes before kick off). Un-effing-believable! MNT technically did NOT strike as they were NOT registered as a players association as of yet. So, the MNT financially hurt (egregiously on purpose) the association (and by extension themselves) to the tune of about $3+ million in costs (lost revenues and operational costs) from that match alone. And the soccer community gives them a pass? No way! In any other respected federation, the B team would have played the rest of the summer. That money could have easily paid for the current negotiation gap and WNT's desire for a chef, etc. Legally, the MNT could be sued for conspiracy, and would lose in court. I'm in full agreement with Bigandy 100%. The MNT were so naive! Negotiating by themselves for after tax dollars in shady suitcases on the back of napkins. They had no concept of equal pay with the WNT, and probably still don't care today because this issue is only about greed! The MNT and WNT alliance regarding joint negotiations is 100% fake! So, is the MNT's apology to the fans who the players have no problem in shafting for their selfish greed, Herdman included. By boycotting the Panama match with no notice, the MNT players wounded themselves, with the same magnitude as a CSB annual payment. How ironic! 2. The WNT had an equal pay offer from the start. The detailed offer was made public a couple of months ago by the CSA and both WNT and MNT have had it since June 2022. The offer is more than generous. Every player (all 26 on MNT and all 26 on WNT) will earn $136,000 each in world cup prize money even if the WNT lays three goose eggs in Australia like the MNT did in Qatar. $136,000 per player! Makes both the WNT and MNT among highest paid in all of FIFA, which based on field performance we all know neither of them deserve. Once again, the CSA gave them transparency (what they've been asking for) and shared these numbers with the whole world and the players didn't like it. That is the most hypocritical element to this whole thing and makes the players look so disingenuous. I guess transparency only counts for some things and not others. 3. The WNT originally had no problem with the June 2022 offer. There is evidence in the media back in June that they were actually happy with the offer and were close to signing it. So, what happened? The MNT did not want the deal because they felt ripped off by unexpectedly being forced to share their "pot of gold of $10m from FIFA". Again, selfish self-interest and greed. The WNT only started getting upset with the deal when they saw how the MNT were treated in Qatar. The WNT saw the high-end hotels, meals, flights, and services in Doha and got enraged. Again, it's about greed. Plus, this is a FIFA issue not a CSA issue. FIFA determines the service levels at their events and whether the WNT like it or not, the men's World Cup is still the king of all sporting events. 4. It's an absolute slap in the face that the WNT and MNT care about youth soccer. They do NOT. If they did, they would have left some prize money for the CSA to use to fund their other initiatives (U20, U17, U15, para, beach, coaching, referee, grassroots, etc.). As is stands, the June 2022 offer leaves less than 20% of the Qatar prize money for CSA operations. The CSB annual payment of $3m to the CSA is a "useless leg to stand on" for the players. It represents about 10% of CSA's annual revenues which is nothing. Even if it were doubled to $6m per year (which CSB will never agree to) that still won't put a dent on the woeful resources the youth teams will receive. Plus, the senior players would still be greedy enough to take that extra money for themselves. The CSA saw an opportunity to solidify their cash flows back in 2018 when they were only getting just over a million a year from sponsorship in the year before, and paying a million a year to TSN and SportsNet to get games on TV for over a decade. Anyone with half a brain would have agreed to the CSB offer. The fact that the CSB deal gets conflated with the collective bargaining agreement is an absolutely "deflection tactic" by the MNT and WNT's lawyers, the biased media, and self-serving MPs. Nothing more and nothing less. Even the Birarda issue has become a deflection strategy. Just five days ago it was confirmed that Birarda does NOT have to register with the sex offenders database when he gets out of jail. This is in 2023! Birarda could move next door to your house, and you would never know. Even though he was criminally convicted and is in jail for his crimes that have nothing to do with the CSA! YET, the heritage committee believes that the CSA should have had Birarda flagged in a database back in 2008 (when the coaches database never existed). But today in 2023, Birarda still doesn't have to be in a sex offenders database. Holy cow! 5. CSB deal did not include women's pro soccer because the CSA was already paying about a million a year to the NWSL in salaries for the WNT players for a decade. Why does everyone forget that? The CSA was directly funding the WNT players salaries and supporting bids to host the women's world cup in Canada way before the CPL kicked a ball. Sinclair's salary was paid for by the CSA (not Portland) yet she argues they were treated unfairly. Osorio's TFC salary was never paid for by the CSA. Again, 100% disingenuous. In summary, Canada Soccer has had three strategic plans in the last decade. All three are very clear with their objectives and goals. And yes, the WNT were supported way more than the MNT in the first two iterations. Then the focus switched to the MNT in the latter years as we garnered success and leveraged a better player pool. It's like having two siblings and the daughter complains when the son gets a better gift for Christmas. Problem is, the son never complained once when the daughter was getting paid her salary in the NWSL and hosted two world cups for them. Now the tables have turned and the son gets some much needed attention, his own league and his own world cup, and the daughter is losing her mind. Media pundits have no clue, former players are biased, and sponsors are running for the hills again after a World Cup year. Again, 100% disingenuous. Players must perform on the field, not behind a desk. Executives allocate scarce resources the best way they can. The problem now is will the WNT ever perform again like they have over the last decade? I'm nervous for them in Australia. Of course, I want them to win it all, we all do, but I'm not sure they will even get past the group stage or the first knockout stage. And as for the MNT, they've done nothing yet compared to the WNT. If they lay an egg at Nations League in Las Vegas and another one in Gold Cup later this summer, neither the WNT nor the MNT will have any leverage for negotiation whatsoever by late summer. In the meantime, the association has already been blown up, barely anyone is left, many executives have left, volunteers have been shamed as scapegoats, and our country will be forever remembered for having two teams: an Olympic gold medalist, and top of table in Concacaf soon after burn the house down. This is all on the players. Sad but true. I leave you with two words again: disingenuous greed. P.S. One last important note regarding how we move forward. There is no way that a new general secretary who is the CEO of Canada Soccer and responsible for assessing and firing the MNT and WNT coaches can do that properly and independently when he was a prior assistant coach to both of them. More lunacy! And it's only begun.

FACT: Each team gets $3.8m in WC pooled prize money. Do the math. $3.8m divided by 26. Each rostered player whether they play in the WC or not will receive at least: $146,154 per player This number will rise significantly with each round the WNT advances in Australia this summer.

FIFA Suspends Pakistan and Chad in 2021 https://www.reuters.com/article/soccer-fifa-idUSKBN2BU11Q FIFA Suspends Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2022 https://www.voanews.com/a/fifa-suspends-zimbabwe-kenya-for-government-interference/6459189.html FIFA specifically prohibits any form of government intervention in football on a national basis. FIFA suspensions are handed down after governments push aside associations' leaders. While suspended, member associations will not receive any funding from FIFA, and their football teams will not be allowed to play in any matches organized by FIFA or their respective confederation.

Ancelotti vs. Herdman Copa America 2024

https://www.concacaf.com/gold-cup/article/sofi-stadium-awarded-2023-concacaf-gold-cup-final/ 2023 Gold Cup Draw is set for Friday April 14, 2023 in Los Angeles.