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    Rintaran
    Link:: https://www.northernstartingeleven.com/what-goes-on-ottawa-fury-at-six-2/
    It looked grim, really grim, you will recall. At this point last year with six games under their belt, Ottawa Fury had notched up four defeats and achieved only two draws. The team had just two points to show for 540 minutes or more of football, having conceded 14 goals, five of them in one game alone.
    This time around it looks nowhere near so ghastly, mercifully so. The extended pre-season spent in sun-splashed Florida evidently did the squad a world of good, as there is reason to believe that the Ottawa Fury may well have a half-decent season this year.
    ...
    Read more on the NSXI Network.
    Rintaran
    Link:: https://www.northernstartingeleven.com/tactical-analysis-forge-york/
    April 27th, 2019 was a day for all of us Canadian soccer fans to remember for a long, long time. Our wildest dreams came to fruition at Tim Hortons field, where Forge FC took on York 9 FC in the inaugural Canadian Premier League match. While the event was very much a celebration all-round, we all know that the Canadian Premier League has been split up into 2 seasons, and with this first Spring season lasting just 10 matches, this was a rather important match for both teams – not just a soccer celebration.
    Read more on the NSXI Network
    Lord Bob
    Link:: https://www.maple-leaf-forever.com/2019/04/26/2019-canadian-premier-league-preview/
    On October 4, 1992, the Winnipeg Fury tied the Vancouver 86ers 1-1 and won the Canadian Soccer League title on aggregate. The next match in a Canadian national soccer league comes 9,701 days later, tomorrow, April 27, 2019. Forge FC versus York 9 (10 AM Pacific, CBC television). We’ve waited long enough.
    Nobody knows how this league is going to shake out, and unusually for Canadian soccer, nobody pretends they know. We’re all excited. We’re all smashing rosters with the hammer of criticism on the anvil of looking players up on Wikipedia. I am trying to track publicly-made predictions, because that should be good for a laugh; in fact I can’t remember the last time I had this many laughs just reading about and listening to Canadian soccer takes. There are well-respected veteran pundits who were not alive the last time a national Canadian soccer league played a game and they’re gushing with the best of them. Enthusiasm is more contagious than measles in a Montessori.
    This is Maple Leaf Forever!‘s official 2019 Canadian Premier League preview. Like all the others it is insane in spots, biased everywhere, and probably wrong more than it’s right. But who cares? Our hopes are unblemished by the scars of experience. Here’s the one prediction you can take to the bank: there won’t be many better years to be a Canadian soccer fan, ever, than the year 2019.
    For more: https://www.maple-leaf-forever.com/2019/04/26/2019-canadian-premier-league-preview/
    Rintaran
    Link:: https://www.northernstartingeleven.com/cpl-fantasy-games-three-options/
    Among the many questions that have consistently been asked everyone watching the development of the Canadian Premier League: will there be a fantasy game?
    We briefly outline three options: the official CPL Centre Circle Q&A "Fantasy" game, our NSXI Score Prediction Fantasy Game, and @GuillermoDelQuarto's FanPL.
    Learn all about it on the NSXI Network.
    Rintaran
    Link:: https://www.northernstartingeleven.com/young-gaffers-the-ultimate-definitive-canadian-premier-league-prediction-episode/
    Wherein Our Heroes participate in a panel, co-ordinated by the Northern 90’s very own Pat Sweet. Together with Pat, TSN 1290’s Ryan Brandt, and YouTube sensation AFC Curtis, we offer up our Canadian Premier League predictions based on nothing but sheer conjecture.
    The Young Gaffers are proud members of the Northern Starting Eleven Network. 
    Lord Bob
    Link:: https://www.maple-leaf-forever.com/2019/04/25/power-ranking-the-canadian-premier-league-mascots/
    The Canadian Premier League kick-off this coming Saturday will be our biggest event in some time. The entire domestic soccer community will be settling down at 1 PM Eastern, either in Forge FC’s stadium or in front of CBC television, to witness a new and hopefully more positive era in our nation’s game. This otherwise quite ordinary league fixture is making hearts across the Dominion beat a bit faster, like an Olympic semi-final.
    Nothing could better herald this dawn than our mascots. Four of the Canadian Premier League’s seven teams have, in recent weeks, introduced us to new mascots who will stand as symbols for all time, representing the Canadian Premier League to ourselves and to the world. Canada’s national coat of arms is supported by a unicorn and a lion, representing the British heritage of our governance and our culture that goes back way before Confederation. Perhaps, in a couple centuries, some new country will bear arms supported by Bolt and Stewie the Starfish. It is scarcely less probable than the existence of the Canadian Premier League itself.
    In honour of this joyous week I have decided to rank all of the league’s mascots so far, from best to worst. These ratings are entirely objective and based off a proprietary statistical algorithm developed by the Prince of Wales and tested by Maple Leaf Forever!‘s secret nerd hive in Sudbury-Thunder Bay. As a result its decisions are not to be argued with, only agreed on and amplified.
    https://www.maple-leaf-forever.com/2019/04/25/power-ranking-the-canadian-premier-league-mascots/
    Rintaran
    Link:: https://www.northernstartingeleven.com/interview-with-vancouver-island-fc-inaugural-signing-alexis-mckinty/
    New WPSL expansion club, Vancouver Island FC announced their first three signings in club history on April 19th. Three players were named to the roster: Liz Gregg, Mariel Solsberg, and Alexis McKinty. Coached by Neil Sedgwick and Wes Barrett, the first tryouts were held on April 1st and the club has two more tryouts scheduled for late April. 
    Liz Gregg joins VIFC with a wealth of professional football experience including multiple seasons abroad with Doncaster Rovers Belles.
    ...
    Continue reading on the NSXI Network.
    Duane Rollins
    We don’t like life getting in the way of our sports.
    Sports are supposed to shield us from the day-to-day irritations and stresses. They are our escape. So, when “real life” sneaks its way onto the playing fields many get angry.
    “STICK TO SPORTS,” is the cry when someone tries to start a conversation about more serious topics. That’s a best case response. Worse?
    “YOU’RE LYING/EXGGERATING/NEED TO SUCK IT UP.”
    Often the voices calling to be heard are shouted down by those that just want to cheer.
    We see this in soccer all the time, especially as it relates to racism. And, of course, as always, anything that has to do with women. It’s toxic when fans do this. It destroys lives when institutions do it.
    Such is the case of Bob Birarda and the accusations of sexual misconduct and harassment made against him by, so far, 12 different women who were coached by him while part of the Canadian u20 program and Vancouver Whitecaps elite women’s team. The alleged incidents took place in and around 2008.
    The 12 women came forward after Ciara McCormack published a blog detailing the abuse of power she witnessed while at the Whitecaps at that same time.
    I won’t go into the details here as it is better stated by the 12 women and McCormack, but suffice to say it was horrific.
    It also wasn’t a surprise to anyone that has been around Canadian soccer over the past decade. I first heard a version of this story about nine years ago. It’s been whispered by those “in the know” for years.
    Yet, nothing ever was said publicly. Worse, nothing was done privately either. Prior to the accusations finally becoming public Birarda was still coaching women’s soccer for the club Coastal FC. He’s since been suspended by the club pending review of the accusations.
    Over the past while, I’ve been thinking about why I never wrote or talked about these accusations publicly over the last decade. A fear of being sued likely played a role, but I was involved with a show in It’s Called Football (along with this website) that went after matchfixing (Ben Rycroft’s reporting leading the way), corruption in minor soccer (hello, Ben Knight) and talked openly about potential improprieties in Mo Johnston’s relationship with certain player agents.
    In a previous job, I wrote a story accusing the Northern Ontario Minor Hockey Association of systemic racism against aboriginal players.
    So, I’ve pushed the boundaries as a journalist before. Why didn’t I here?
    I should have. And, I apologize for not doing so. 
    The question is one that I don’t yet know the answer to. But, it’s one that I, and everyone who heard the same whispers, needs to keep asking themselves so that it never happens again.
    Ciara McCormack will be a guest on SoccerToday on Monday, live at 11am ET @SoccerTodaySPN
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