It was a tough year for club teams in Canada. The three biggest teams struggled, to put it (very) diplomatically. You can add the men’s national team to that list.
There is no way to diplomatically say what the women did at the World Cup – they were an unqualified disaster. Yes, they won a lot pre and post World Cup, but there is little that can be done to erase the memory of the disaster that was Germany.
FC Edmonton was a possible choice for Team of the Year, and they were a nice story, but the club was just a tad too inconsistent and the poor way their season ended eliminated them from the competition.
Thinking a bit outside the box, the Simon Fraser men’s university side was considered -- they were ranked No 1 in the NCAA division 2 for most of the year. However, the quality of D2 is questionable. Although many will disagree, it says here that a good CIS team can compete with a NCAA D2 team. So, if you open the Team of the Year up to SFU, you’d have to consider the best CIS sides as well. For a college team to win, it has to be nearly perfect.
In the end, there was only one team that played above its ability and remained a feel good story throughout the year.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
The 2011 Team of the Year is the Canadian men’s u17s
The u17s were the story of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament, only coming up short in the final. Even then, the team managed to force the Americans to extra time before allowing their first goal of the tournament.
With very little expected of them at the World Cup, they managed to perform slightly above expectations. A draw with England – lucky goal or not – the highlight.
However, the results at the World Cup are not what defines the u17s, nor what has made Canadians cautiously optimistic about the future. Rather, it’s the make-up of the team. For the first time since the original NASL days, the
majority of a Canadian team is being drawn from domestic professional environments.
Finally, we have a plan – even if it took third parties with complimentary but alternative goals to get it.
However we got there, it’s worthy of celebration and the u17s are a worthy Team of the Year.