Jump to content
  • The way we were


    Guest

    Not even seven years ago, in July of 2002, Brazil defeated Germany for the World Cup, and big ugly demolition machines started knocking down Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

    The next day, I wrote that Canadian pro soccer was at its all-time low-water mark. There were four teams then – Vancouver Whitecaps, Montreal Impact, Toronto Lynx and Calgary Storm – all playing in the A-League, as the second-tier USL-1 was then known.

    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

    The Canadian United Soccer League proposal had just asphyxiated itself, the Calgary Storm soon dissipated and blew away, and there was only one grass-turf stadium in the entire nation that could hold 15,000 people – Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

    There was no BMO Field, no Toronto FC, not even a hope of MLS coming north to Canada.

    In sadness and desperation, I penned a little personal ad and ran it in my Sportsnet.ca soccer column:

    ---

    Wanted: Owner.

    You are a wealthy, charismatic, ambitious soccer fan. You are prepared to bankroll the construction of a 25,000 seat stadium, buy out a struggling MLS team and move it north of the border. They won't make it easy for you, so you'll have to be prepared to fight. On the field, you are not content with mediocre performance. You are committed, not just to winning one MLS championship, but three, preferably in a row. You want a team filled with bright young prospects, guided by international stars and at least three key members of Canada's national team. You are going to grow the game, in both Canada and the United States, by creating such a huge buzz of excitement that Blizzard tickets become the coolest darn ducats any time, anywhere, ever.

    (Serious inquiries only. No freaks.)

    ---

    Yeah. Blizzard. I was calling a return to the NASL days. I was roundly mocked, and generally called disloyal to Canada.

    Today, the Vancouver Whitecaps – an old NASL name! – were welcomed with open arms as the 17th member of Major League Soccer. They join two-year-old Toronto FC, who are not called Blizzard, but are creating new continental dreams for fans far more fevered, frenzied and fanatical than the old Hoggtown NASLers ever knew.

    The journey from 2002 to today began in Edmonton, with 50,000-plus fans packing in to see Canada almost beat the United States in the women’s Under-19 World Cup final of 2002. That led directly to FIFA bankrolling the BMO Field blueprints, and awarding the 2007 World Youth Cup to Canada.

    All that opened the door for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to answer my want ad, and become owners of that all-but-otherwise-impossible first Canadian MLS team.

    It will be two more full years before Vancouver plays its first top-flight match. I’d love to see them host TFC that day, although there may be more home sentiment for a clash with the Seattle Sounders – on old NASL name! – or the still-rumoured Portland Timbers – another old NASL name!

    Regardless, the amount of terrain covered since that dark night outside Varsity Stadium in 2002 defies belief. If I’d told myself that night what was going to happen the rest of this decade, even I would have thought I was crazy.

    Vancouver’s admission cements MLS as a trans-border league – the very top flight of North American pro soccer … north of the Rio Grande.

    Crucially, this will force MLS to seriously reconsider the harsh limits it places on teams developing their own talent. Vancouver has a thriving academy system. Toronto’s is well on the way. And with two MLS teams flying the Maple Leaf, the need for competent young Canadian soccer players just became critical.

    Ottawa could be next – as soon as 2012. Montreal bluffed its way out of the expansion race, but would still make a lovely landing place if a struggling MLS franchise ever needed a new home.

    The new MLS season kicks off tomorrow night in Seattle, and Toronto FC is expected to be a serious player in the 2009 playoff hunt. That should jack the excitement up nicely, and there will be a lot to prove when the USL-1 champion Whitecaps wander into BMO Field for a crucial Voyageurs Cup match on May 6.

    Even though it has seemed inevitable lately, it’s still hard to take the Vancouver announcement in. We are so very, very far from where we were. The future lies before us, and there are two important feats that must still be equaled:

    - Toronto Metros-Croatia’s NASL championship of 1976.

    - The Vancouver Whitecaps’ NASL championship of 1979.

    Any bets on who’ll get there first?

    Onward!



×
×
  • Create New...