An interesting debate broke out on the Voyageurs’ message board after my “It’s Called Football” co-host and producer Ben Rycroft put out a request for questions for Canada star Julian DeGuzman, whom we hope to interview this week.
My esteemed critic and fellow Canada fan Grizzly – one of the most active and prominent soccer fans in Montreal and la belle province – wants us to ask DeGuzman why he was (allegedly) out partying after Canada was dusted by Honduras at Stade Saputo back in September.
I chipped in that I don’t intend to ask that question, and the fur flew.
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So I’d like to invite you to check out the thread, as I bring this debate to a larger audience.
I’m speaking only for myself here. If either of my ICF co-hosts want to bring partying up with DeGuzman, that’s fine with me.
The criticism, as I read it, essentially boils down to De Guzman should have been too angry after that game to party, and the fact that he (allegedly) was means he didn’t really care about the game.
(Those (allegedlies) are there because I, personally, did not see the man in party mode.)
As far as I’m concerned, it was every man for himself after that match. By the time the Hondurans were finished, and Stade Saputo’s shockingly shabby security force got done with us fans, I think everyone was entitled deal with their feelings whatever the heck way they wanted to.
I ended up doing fire-Dale-Mitchell research over Strawberry cheesecake at one in the morning. But if someone had pointed me to a really good party, I believe I could have been talked into it – just to let off some steam and think about something else. I would have been every bit as steamed about the Honduras/Montreal fiasco on the train the next day.
Player accountability is important, but I’m all for keeping it on the field – especially if the party in question happened after the game.
My current point of study is the CSA board, and the chronically destructive ways it affects the on-field product. Julian De Guzman has raised the stakes considerably in that debate. Ironically, the CSA offered him to our show for an interview as part of their attempt to prove JDG didn’t say the organization was “a cancer.”
I invite Grizzly to make his case and have his say in the Onward! comments section. And I want to hear from anyone with an opinion on where post-game partying stands on the list of fatal soccer problems facing Canada’s national men’s soccer team.
For me, though, the main focus stays on the CSA board. And I look forward to discussing it with DeGuzman.
Onward!