OhCanadaOhBaby

It was definitely Kaye. He was the catalyst of the whole financial gripe against the CSA and was the one who brought the American law firm into it. I respect him for wearing the Maple Leaf and representing his country, but it would not surprise me if he has been one of Westhead's biggest sources over the years; however, not sure how he would be involved as much with this new story.

Hows the Canadian turn out in Atlanta overall? Will we have enough to make some noise behind enemy lines tonight?

Enjoy today, everyone. A day unlike any in Canadian footy history. The approach I am taking tonight and I hope others are as well, is going to be just live in the moment and appreciate where we are. Playing Messi's World-Champion Argentina in a Copa America first where the expectations, once again, seem to be higher than the realistic outcome we have been accustomed to for so long...what a world.... regardless of the result, this is a great day for our program and soccer in this country.

To further this, the most damming part of the performance for me, specifically with regard to this AD19 captaincy experiment, was how bad the level dropped after conceding the first goal. Phonzie looked TERRIBLE on defence letting Frimpong have time and space to line up a nice cross, but his reaction was NOT how a captain should react. He immediately turns away, and sulks back to position. Doesn't go to his players to bring them up, no encouragement, no direction, no energy. You can be tired, but you cannot react that way after conceding especially if you are the captain. That attitude bleed from Phonzie throughout the team in my opinion, and the impending result came as could be expected. We did not play bad. First game under new management, new system, new players in new roles against #7 in the world. A fine first half ruined by an seemingly uninterested second half. I know this is super long, but I also want to mention that after this match, I believe Shaff's role is cemented as a pacy, athletic, and dangerous winger for this team. He should be starting over Liam Millar in that formation.

Considering how the team has lined up before with Kamal Miller starting every game of recent memory, I was a little shocked not to see him in the line-up, albeit you are right that he and Cornelius are on inverse form trajectories. Im sure he'll do fine

Not sure, could be 4 at the back with Millar wide left

Couple surprises including Millar and Cornelius, but I actually support St. Clair over Crepeau. The only difference between them, for me, is experience on the national team, but that doesn't always translate to on field performance so let's see.

Anything today for Halifax?

If I had to guess, he's alluding to the fact that the talks in Munich the other day went well with his agent, and that Phonzie is going to get the money he wants. Also, that the extension will be announced soon, but I don't know how realistic that is. To be honest I don't know why Phonzie would even want to resign in Munich... no one there seems to be able to make up their mind if they love him or hate him. My personal opinion is that he should go somewhere where he will be given the least amount of defensive responsibility and can have the freedom to roam up and down the left wing as he pleases at wingback. Flick seems to be there only one who really extracted that TRUE two-way capability from him. Since then, the other managers have seemed to place a greater stress on the importance of him tucking in and defending more as opposed to stretching the wing to make up for a weaker backline. I am not sure he will get the freedom he needs under Kompany, to be quite honest. His management is only concerned with his money at this point, I fear, and for that I worry about what is to come for the former World XI LB.

Any word on what the voyageur allocation of tickets for the Halifax game will look like? Would love to get involved in a 108 style Voyageurs section in Halifax

I think the root of a lot of this is that yes, the CSB deal was the best thing for CS at the time it was signed -when Qatar was just a twinkle in Johns eyes. But now, that is not the case. Thus, the agreement needs to be altered ever so slightly because If the players and CSA want to capitalize on this and exceed our projected growth to become the soccer nation we need to be, we need a new deal. While the CSA higher ups are a problem and changes are needed, the biggest change in this situation has to be the CSB deal or arrangement of new funds to boost our capabilities.

The players better release a statement. I’m tired of hearing just from the CSAs side. If they want to persist with their strike they better have something say to all the little boys and girls whos Sunday they just ruined. (And mine too😂) Seriously though, this is embarrassing and immature from both sides. Instead of having reporters do your bidding, maybe have someone come out and explain yourselves because I’ll tell you what, these boys will have ALOT of explaining to do

I disagree. Achieving pay equity with the womens team from a World Cup birth has been the plan as far back as 2018 when Herdman took over. What quote have we heard from him repeated over and over again? - That he knew he couldn’t take the womens team any further without the funding from a mens World Cup birth. That’s why he moved to the mens, that’s what he’s been working at this whole time. the fact that the CSA want pay equity should not come as a surprise to anyone, and to say they just threw it in now to make the players look bad would be a massively shortsighted opinion. the more I think about it, the more simple this entire equation is. The CSA have just made a very fair offer to the players with 30-30 considering their financial situation. As long as the CSA are willing to budge on the family tickets point ever so slightly, this should be resolved very soon. I think if the players are given the 30% plus tickets and means for all immediate family members to attend matches and DONT take it, this is on them and their greed. Looking at some other top nations (granted their financial situation is much better) players are still not getting as much as the Canadians would get.

Rick Westhead is a really talented report for TSN. He covered the national team a little bit during Quali; however, his bread and butter is the high impact, serious, and controversial news in sports. For example, he broke the Chicago Blackhawks SA news this year as well as some other injustices in sport stories. that would be the only reason to go to him first with that kind of info because he is really good at what he does in that regard

How can you expect to be a world class team when you’re run like an amateur club… we need MASSIVE CHANGES from the top down. This is unacceptable. I think we as Voyageurs also have to take a stand one way or another because these kinds of issue can’t keep happen. It’s embarrassing and sad that the people we trust to represent us and take us to the next level continue to make such questionable decisions. i will try and enjoy todays CanChamp Final but this is not a good day for Canadian soccer