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    Guest
    Courtesy of Voyageur Elder, Mr. Victor Maitland.
    For a year without a single qualifying event at any level, 2009 was a watershed moment in Canadian women's soccer. It marked the arrival of a new architect and her team with a four year contract to instill a contemporary sensibility to our tactics and bring long overdue freshness to the program.

    Carolina Morace and her staff (Elisabetta Bavagnoli, Andrea Neil and part-timers Massimiliano Colucci and Mario Familari) are now a year embedded and performed extensive scouting of all Candian women and had an opportunity to evaluate their selections in a number of camps and exhibition games with both the U20 and senior women. The year ahead is the most exciting in the history of women's soccer for a Canadian fan with non-stop action as the qualifying and competing phases of all our women's teams intersect giving everyone a chance to wave the flag.Before breaking down the national scene, to provide some context and background a quick roundup on the women's game around the planet.
    The biggest story of the year and arguably the biggest in the history of the women's game was a pink-scarfed occupational therapy student with an impressive academic awards record (and a blank discipline rap sheet on the field) who flipped a switch in the final weekend of the season and thanks to the immediacy of youtube became a national icon. If you played soccer, odds are extremely high you watched Elizabeth Lambert.
    In a preview of this Summer's World Cup, Germany and Brazil play to a 1-1 draw in front of 45,000 in Frankfurt in April. Demand of tickets for the Summer's World Cup has already outstripped supply. The slogan for the Summer Cup is "The Beautiful Side Of 20Eleven."The year 2009 also marked two very significant milestones in women's soccer: play began in the first-ever UEFA Women's Champions League and FIFA announced a Women's World Club Championship in the Spring of 2010.
    Brazilian Marta Vieira da Silva is named World Player of the Year for the fourth straigh year, beating out three-time winner and four-time runner-up Birgit Prinz of Germany.

    The new Tier 1 American professional women's league (WPS) completes it's birth season showcasing the talents of the finest collection of female players anywhere in the world. Canadians are considered internationals which are capped per team but are well-represented with nine players in the seven team league in 2009 (which will expand to nine teams in 2010). The Ottawa Fury make their fifth W League Final Four in seven years but go down on penalties to the Washington Freedom. The Freedom lose to L.A.'s Pali Blues in the final with a Canadian on each roster.The Tier 2 W League feels the WPS squeeze and drops almost a quarter of it's teams in 2010 while the Tier 3 WPSL expands 50%.
    Canadians are well represented in the NCAA as well with a similar eight players in the Final Eight, as well as a First Team All-American (Sophie Schmidt) and Second Team All-American Scholar (Christina Julien).Closer to home Edmonton Victoria win their third gold and sixth medal of the millenium in the Jubilee hosted this year by Saskatoon. They tipped BC's Surrey United 5-4 in penalties in a 0-0 final.
    The Trinity Western Spartans two-peat for the CIS title with a similar 0-0 penalty kicks win over the Université de Montréal Carabins with a combination of lady luck and some outstanding goalkeeping.
    Canada makes the World University Games quarter-finals in Belgrade but goes down 1-4 to France.
    Two more women enter the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame with Joan McEachern as a 2009 entrant and Sylvana Burtini a 2010.
    CSA General Secretary Peter Montopoli announces his Christmas wish is a winning 2015 Women's World Cup bid.
    Abigail Raymer (U17), Chelsea Stewart (U20), and Christine Sinclair (Senior) are the CSA Players of the Year.Barring a last-second act of God, Karina LeBlanc is a well-deserved inaugural winner of the Voyageurs Women's Player of the Year for 2009.Our U17 team coached by Ian Bridge with assistants Bryan Rosenfeld, Cindy Walsh and Owen Braun ran a preliminary September camp in Laval and will be back on the field early in the New Year continuing their preparation for the March CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament in Costa Rica and the September World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.With a January qualifying tournament in Guatemala, the reigning CONCACAF champion U20 team coached by Carolina Morace and her staff is farther into the preparation cycle having encamped in Colorado in July, Texas in October and Florida in December.
    The Senior Women's team met a number of times during the year with their new chief, who as promised mixed things up regularly in her search for talent. Scouting in Canada is probably more difficult than anywhere on the planet with national team players in professional leagues all over the world (England, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Denamrk, Italy, USA, etc) and CIS and amateur club players spread 8,000 kilometers coast to coast. Twelve Canadian women are on the the Top 20 ranked pro teams in the world.Morace's hiring became official in early February and she got to work immediately with a California camp her first week, followed by a camp in Rome a few weeks later and then a week in the Mediterranean at the Cyprus Cup. We played consistently better in our group with a 1-1 tie against the #24 Kiwis, a 2-1 win over the #17 Dutch, and a 2-0 win over the #14 Russians, good enough for a ticket to the final where we went down 1-3 to the England squad which made the Euro finals this Summer.The next phase was a three game series against the Americans. The first game at BMO in May in Toronto was originally slated to be against the hot Japanese but they bailed on their tour due to the Swine Flu. We went down 0-4 at home followed by consecutive 0-1 losses in the Summer on late American goals in both games. Again, positive signs and results with time.After working on the defensive aspects of their play against the Americans, the final women's session was in Florida in November with friendlies against American college teams working on possession-based attacking with Morace again describing improvements as the week progressed.Preparation for next Fall's Gold Cup (World Cup qualifier) will continue throughout the year with the first major test being the Cyprus Cup in February with games against Ramona Bachmann's well-prepared Swiss side, South Africa's Bafana Bafana and a rematch with the English.
    Off the field Kara Lang blew out her right knee a second time and Kristina Kiss retired.

    We began the year with a world #11 ranking and carried it through to August where we dipped to #13 for a few months before regaining #12 in December. The women's game is evolving exponentially around the planet and despite our major strides in development and professionalization it is going to take a lot of hard work, talent, and commitment not just to climb the ladder but hold our place. After a year of transition and preparation the year 2010 is full of opportunity with all our teams in a competition phase. Hopefully we'll see the fruits of the positive changes and a little magic to put us back on the world map.
    Guest

    Not "If" but "When & Where"

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by Cheeta

    Gillingham's Simeon Jackson has been getting a lot of love lately. The mercurial striker has been a boggie on the transfer market radar for a few English clubs the last year or so and interest doesn't seem to be diminishing any heading into 2010 as the goal scoring tally continues to rise. With Gills sitting in the bottom third of the League 1 table Mr Jackson has managed to put 13 into the ol' onion bag so far and is on track to bettering his last seasons impressive League 2 totals. Not too shabby for playing on a newly promoted club with a horrendous road record. Not too shabby at all. More and more it looks like come January Mr Jackson will be saying farewell to the sea air and moving on up the road towards bigger and better challenges. The love coming Mr Jackson's way isn't confined to English soccer circles either. Over at the Canadian Soccer Association the year end polling results are getting out and it was announced Friday that the man had been voted the CSA's Male Player of the Year. An impressive acknowledgment from Canada's footie media and accredited coaches alike. Congratulations to Mr Jackson and here's hoping it all augers well for the future. By the way, over at rednationonline.com they managed to get a few words in with the Mississauga footballer about this award. Always a good read over a rednationonline where they've had a busy winter so far. Stop in and check out the good work.
    Guest

    No for November

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by Gian-Luca
    Canada lost 1-0 to Poland today, continuing this nation's woes when it comes to playing in the month of November. The result, while not exactly encouraging, is at least a far more respectable scoreline than the debacle on Saturday, and the same can be said of the performance as well. Canada was bolstered by the addition of Tomasz Radzisnki (still proving to be crafty and clever up front) and especially by Dejan Jakovic at the back in the place of Richard Hastings. Jakovic made some excellent, well-timed tackles and helped to bail out his central defensive partner Kevin McKenna, who continued to look rusty, no doubt a result of a relative lack of playing time in Europe this year, an all-too-common theme with Canada's European-based players on this roster. Rustiest of all was keeper Lars Hirschfeld, who, while making a number of decent stops from long-range shots (which is where most of Polands's chances came from other than their goal and a goal-post they hit in the second half), didn't seem to be able to collect any of the many crosses sent into the box. His timing looked off, most notably on one occasion where an attempted punch of the ball was whiffed on completely. I don't think I've ever felt that nervous about a keeper in the Canadian goal as I was in this game (though it should be noted that he had no chance the well-taken Polish goal).
    The Canadian team looked somewhat more organized defensively however, which indicates that some of the problems against Macedonia can be put down to collective team rustiness. With a few more days together the team looked better but still struggled in retaining possession going forward. And the well-drilled Poles, coming off a World Cup Qualifying campaign which kept them busy in recent months, made it difficult for Canada to regain possession once we lost it. Canada did create a few chances but often mis-fired on their best ones or didn't manage to make that final pass. Which isn't exactly something that Canadian soccer fans haven't heard before. In a game like this Canada needs to do well on free kicks and corner kicks to have its best chance of scoring, and we continue to be extremely unimpressive, both in the delivery into dangerous areas and by any challening for the few that are taken properly. The lack of proficiency on set pieces is one reason Canada is now scoreless in 3 consecutive matches.
    A few positives - the play of Jakovic and to a lesser extent Jamie Peters on the right wing (his review would be more positive if he had finished off probably the best Canadian build-up in the two games by shooting right away instead of trying make one move too many). And it was good that everyone saw some playing time in the two-matches, including Jonathan Borgeault. Its so far from Canada's next meaningful match that it's difficult to take too much from these games played against teams we will not play a meaningful match against unless we can qualify for a World Cup. The most valuable lesson learned from these two matches - its better for our players to be playing regularly in North America than to be sitting on the bench most of the time in Europe. With more Canadian jobs available in the MLS (especially starting in 2011) I'd like to see more of our boys flock back here. McKenna and Hirshfeld for example, would both be look great in a Whitecap uniform in 16 months time.
    In the end, despite the results and a lack of goals, I'm glad that we did get a couple more matches under our belt. Let's get many more of these please, CSA - including a whole bunch on the grass at BMO Field next year. Just like Mo Johnston, you no longer have the FieldTurf excuse to fall back on.
    Guest

    Why do we suck so much in November?

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by Gian-Luca
    Canada's painful 3-0 loss to Macedonia on Saturday was just the latest in a seemingly perpetual series of dud Canada matches in November. Since 2001, Canada has managed to lose to Malta 2-1, get blown out 5-1 by the Czech Republic, get white-washed 3-0 by Ireland, play poorly in a 1-0 win over measely Luxembourg, lose 1-0 to Hungary, lose 3-0 to a South African B team and last year lose 3-0 to Jamaica, all in the month of November. The only good result to happen in this month during this stretch would be a 1-0 win in Guatemala in 2004 for World Cup Qualifying - but the huge caveat there is that we were already eliminated at the time. So why is this such a poor month for us? Some might argue that we are simply no good, but all of these results have shown the Canadian team under-achieving by their own standards. I'd argue that yesterday's match was the poorest result we've had with Stephen Hart as a coach, and the performance reflected it. In some cases the answer is that we aren't bringing a strong line-up (that would be the case for the Jamaica match last year, a World Cup qualifying match where we were already long gone but Jamaica was still in it). In many cases the team is rusty as they usually haven't played together in several months prior to these friendlies. And in every single one of these matches, we have been playing on the road, which hasn't helped. (The last Canada home game in November would be the last Canada game at Varsity Stadium back in November 2000, another World Cup Qualifying match where we were already eliminated and which we drew Mexico 0-0 after hitting the woodwork three times and missing 2 empty nets - but it was at least a good performance). I suppose its a combination of all these factors and maybe something else that I can't put my finger on, but something has to give, and something better change. Yesterday's match just saw some sloppy Canadian play that can't be excused by any factor - the sequence of events leading to the Macedonia PK three minutes into injury time (just to make the result look even more embarassing) was frankly pitiful, with a woefully misjudged attempt at a header and a ridiculously rash challenge in the box, by two differing veteran players who shall not be named. The team looked to me like they were playing to get Stephen Hart removed as coach, interim or otherwise. Which I'm sure is not their intent, but that's how bad it looked. There are two saving graces from the match - one, the players and fans can't blame Dale Mitchell for this result (although some fans have tried) and its always good to get rid of an excuse, and two, Canada has a chance to redeem themselves on Wednesday against Poland. I should produce a caveat of my own and mention that I only saw bits of the match (I'd guess about every 5 seconds out of 10 thanks to a choppy internet stream which I am nevertheless still grateful for) from about the 25 minute-mark onward. But that was still enough to come up with an assessment that I haven't heard anyone who was actually at the match disagree with. The match itself was actually choppier than the internet feed, with fouls seemingly occuring every 15 seconds, most of which were committed against Canadian players. Macedonia must have done some pretty decent scouting on our team, as they seem to realize that Canada hasn't done anything on a set-piece or free kick since we last played Macedonia ten years ago and won the game on a corner kick, as they were pretty happy to foul Canada in and outside their own penalty box. Macedonia exacted revenge with the game winning goal on a corner kick scored against a defence that included Richard Hastings, the same player who took the corner that beat them 10 years ago. But even Macedonia couldn't have known that Canada would have blown two penalty kicks in the same half, so that was an unexpected bonus for them. It made me appreciate Der Cucumber Bomber, Ali Gerba again after a disappointing half-season with TFC, since even if he did nothing else in the game, this match probably would have ended 2-2 had he been there to blast home the penalties. And you just know he would have. Still, with so many player defections I don't want to rag too much on the Canadian team. They came out looking rusty and of course, they actually were, not having played since July, and some players (Friend and Hume especially) had an even longer absence. We'll leave this one on a positive note - despite Hume's PK miss, it was still great to see him in a Canada jersey again since we thought that might never happen again. Great to see you out there Iain - now go score two against Poland!
    Guest

    Canada Invades Poland

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by Gian-Luca
    On November 18th Canada will travel up to Poland to play against the Polish National Team just four days after having played Macedonia in Macedonia. As I was fully expecting Canada not to play any games in 2009 after the Gold Cup, this is a pleasant surprise that we are getting two in November. Well done CSA - now get us some home friendlies next year!
    This time there is already a CSA press release confirming the match:
    http://www.canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=3861
    though it does contain one error - the last match between Canada and Poland was July 15 1988 (not 1998 - the only match we played that year was - ironically - against Macedonia) at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. I should know because as with the Macedonia match ten years later, I was in attendance for this one. The 1988 match was a warm-up match for World Cup Qualifying for both teams which Poland won 2-1 (both teams had made the previous World Cup, but both would fail to reach in 1990). Canada's goal was in the second half by defender Enzo Concina (who I may be alone in remembering actually existing) - my recollection of the goal is that it was a header off a clever free kick that was chipped over the Polish wall for Concina to run on to, the type of goal I have not seen Canada do before or since. It cut the lead to 2-1, but it was as close as Canada would get. This time both teams are coming off fairly disappointing failed World Cup Qualifying campaigns and starting their re-building process now.
    Canada has a number of players of Polish origin within their ranks, including Chris Pozniak and Mike Klukowski, but the most famous one is the pictured Tomasz Radzinski, although despite the fact that he's still popping in the goals for his Belgian club team, I am not expecting that he'll feature in the line-up in these two friendlies. "Ra-Ra-Radzinski, Canada's Greatest Goal Machine" is nearing the age of 36 and these friendlies have to have both eyes on the future, particularly since Canada's next meaningful match is still about 18 months away (the 2011 Gold Cup).
    The roster for these two Euro-friendlies is perhaps a little easier to predict with a number of Canadian players from MLS play now definitely available thanks to TFC and DC United crashing out of the MLS playoff picture. We'll take a closer look at possibilities in a future update (how fun is it to ahve something to blog about again!) Interestingly the scuttlebutt on the Voyageurs forum thanks to Ed Swain, is that Interim Coach Stephen Hart has been talking to at one potential new national team player that previously hasn't been on the CSA's radar. Might we see this new mystery player at these friendlies? Time will tell - and fairly soon with the first match little more than just a couple of weeks away
    And now that the USL & MLS season is over, I hope the Canadian soccer media turns their attention to these matches and the surprisingly-forgotten issue of the head coach of the Canadian Men's National Team, which we've heard (to put it bluntly) absolutely dick-all about from the mainstream media over the past year. Stephen Hart has been interim-Head Coach longer than Dale Mitchell was non-interim head coach, so its about time we got an update from someone out there as to what the bloody hell is going on, and if nothing is, just give Hart the job already.
    Guest
    by Gian-Luca
    We haven't heard it from the CSA just yet, but according to the Macedonian Football Federation at http://macedonianfootball.com/200910151643/news/friendlies-against-canad... Canada will be playing against Macedonia in Macedonia on November 14th, one of two international dates in November. It will be Canada's first match since the Gold Cup Quarter-Final way back in July, and there are rumours circulating on the net that Canada might also be playing on the 18th of November (the other FIFA date that month) as apparently they have put in an offer to play the Czech Republic that day and the Czech's are mulling it over. This will be a decent game for Canada - Macedonia proving no slouch at home recent months having beaten Scotland and Iceland there in the recent World Cup Qualifiers along with drawing Norway and narrowly losing to Holland.
    Canada has played Macedonia before - a 1-0 victory back at the old Varsity Stadium in Toronto back in May 1998. And if you thought that July 2009 to November 2009 seems like a long gap, the game against Macedonia in May 1998 was Canada's first since the previous November after they had crashed out of World Cup Qualifying (unbelievably, the last time we have made it as far as the final round of six teams), and would not play again until the following April (!) when Holger's Heroes drew 1-1 in Northern Ireland. The 1998 match against Macedonia featured Niall Thompson heading in a corner kick, which if memory serves, was taken by Richard Hastings earning his first cap. Paul Stalteri played striker, with Robbie Aristodemo and Jeff Clarke as the engines running the Canadian midfield and Tony Menezes making his debut in the back four. The telecast was on Rogers Community Television (Toronto only!) and featured a completely bewildered Ed Jovanovski being interviewed at half-time about a sport he clearly knew nothing about by former Global Sportsline soccer personality Peter Irvine. (Jovanovski was there attending the match with his father, a former soccer pro and an immigrant to Canada from Macedonia.)
    So much has changed since 1998 - although one thing that likely won't is that Canada will have again have an interim coach at the helm when facing Macedonia. Then it was Bruce Twamley, and I'm assuming it will still be Stephen Hart on the 14th given the complete lack of news or even any rumours about who the new permanent head coach might be (assuming of course it is not the player's choice, Stephen Hart).
    Predicting who the coach will be is quite easy, predicting what the squad will be like is less so at this present time. Presumably it will be European-based, but a number of former European-based players (Gerba, De Guzman) have moved back to North America to play in MLS, although most of them are not confirmed to be in the MLS playoffs at the present time and could be available come mid-November. Of the Euro-based players, there are an alarming number who aren't playing regular first team ball, including David Edgar, and all three Euro-based keepers (Stamatoplous, Wagenaar and Hirshfeld). With Sutton not playing at all and no Canadian starting keepers on any of Canada's three pro clubs, if Hart wants to take a Canadian keeper getting regular playing time, he'll probably have to go down the Euro-club youth level or ask Onstad to come out of international retirement yet again. On the other hand there is a young Canuck keeper getting some decent playing time for Nimes in the French 2nd Division. His name is Haidar Al-Shaibani and he has not previously played for Canada. Perhaps its time to change that - with Ass-smear Begovic having been officially capped by Bosnia and no other keeper under the age of 40 playing first team ball, I don't see what we have to lose by calling him.
    On the good news front, Iain Hume is healthy once again again so it would be nice to see him make his return to the Canadian national team. Assuming we can find an internet stream showing the match of course.......
    Guest

    Canada at the 2009 Francophone Games

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by Gian-Luca
    Not a lot has been made of this, but Canada recently reached the semi-finals of an international men's soccer tourney. What's this you ask? It's the 2009 Francophone Games Soccer tournament, this year being held in Lebanon, featuring what is largely an U20 B team for Canada (most of the team that attempted to qualify for the 2009 U20 World Cup was not present, particularly as many of them are with their club teams). 20 Years ago this was a tourney Canada actually won with its senior team against other senior teams - beating Morroco 4-1 in the final, with two goals by Rick Jaskens of the Victoria Vistas of the old CSL (how's that for trivia). I think Lyndon Hooper got one of the others, and all four Canada goals - plus the single by Morocco - came in the same half.
    Anyway, that was 20 years ago. This year's tourney saw Canada lose 3-2 to Rwanda to open the tourney, with Whitecaps youth player Alex Semenets scoring both goals (unfortunately one of the Rwanda goals was a Canadian own-goal from a back pass that somehow went into our net). However Canada bounced back to win the other group game, defeating Cameroon no less 2-0 on another goal by Alex Semenets (on a PK) and one (pictured above) by Agustin De Medina of the Brampton Lions - of the current CSL (not the same league that Rick Jaskens played in, in case you were wondering). This meant that Canada won its 3-team group on goal differential as Cameroon had earlier defeated Rwanda by a single goal.
    Canada kept up their two-goal-a-game pace in the semi-final match against yet another African team, Congo. But it wasn't enough as the match finished 2-2 and went to PK's, where Canada lost 2-1 after 5 PK's (have to feel for Sunderland keeper Michal Misiewicz who made three saves on the PK and still didn't pick up the win). Canada's goals in this game were scored Jarek Whiteman of the CSL's North York Astros and Reda Agourram of the Montreal Impact's farm team the Trois-Riviere Attak (a team that also plays in the CSL, boy is that a recurring theme or what?)
    The tourney's not actually over for Canada - there is a 3rd place game this upcoming Tuesday. But well done to the boys for a good showing against some tough competition, with the typical amount of preparation time for this tourney (which wasn't much). Somebody out there is recognizing your efforts!
    Guest

    CONCACAF Champions League

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by Cheeta
    It's one tournament to the next with CONCACAF as Champions League Play begins Wednesday, July 29th for Voyageur's Cup holders Toronto Football Club as they welcome USL 1st Division side Puerto Rico Islanders to BMO Field in Preliminary Round play. And make no mistake, Toronto are in it tough.
    Puerto Rico and Montreal were the shock teams of the 2008 CCL driving deep into the final stages of the tournament all the while leaving a trail of shocked and bloodied MLS and Mexican clubs in their wake and although the Impact have floundered this year its everything as usual for the Islanders as they continue to hold their place in the lofty heights at the top of the 1st Division table and boast a home record which no club in any league in CONCACAF can take lightly.
    Chris Cummins goes into the home leg of this home-and-away test having to deal with the rotating door of squad changes, some forced, others chosen, which has handi-capped Toronto's ability to find their potential on a consistent basis. And while the arrival of poacher Ali Gerba has already paid dividends where needed most a plague of injuries has struck the club at it's weakest link. For the Reds of TFC, Canada's representatives, the 1st Division Puerto Rico Islanders represent the wrong opponent at the wrong time and with no second chances.
    If you can't make the match, GolTV will be bringing the nation all the action live beginning 8 PM EST.
    CONCACAF Champions League
    Preliminary Round Series 8
    Toronto Football Club vs Puerto Rico Islanders
    Wednesday, July 29th 8 PM EST
    BMO Field, Toronto ON
    GolTV
    Guest

    Escape from CONCACAF

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by Gian-Luca
    With the Canadian players, media and fans alike all decrying the horrific officiating in CONCACAF negatively affecting Canada for the umpteenth time, with players such as Julian De Guzman and Greg Sutton actually coming right out and accusing this region's governing body of favouritism against Canada, it is apparent that a change needs to happen. One option that needs to be looked at is leaving the region altogether - if Australia can leave Oceania for another confederation, why not us? There are four possible options that I can think of:
    1. Join UEFA.
    Arguments for: We are right next door to Greenland, which is still technically Danish territory, and they are part of Europe. As well we are right next to a part of France - St. Pierre et Miquelon. Obviously, we are in the same region as Europe.
    Pros: We will play against a lot of really good teams (possibly improving our overall level of play), get a fair shake from the Refs and our Euro-based players don't have to travel overseas for World Cup Qualifiers on the road. We also get to try to qualify for European Cup tourneys and Euro U21 qualifiers
    Cons: We might never actually make the World Cup out of this region.
    2. Join Asia.
    Arguments for: If Australia can do it for no good reason, so can we.
    Pros: We will have a much better chance of qualifying given the 4.5 spots available, and no teams in the region like Mexico who's home games are a guaranteed loss. Asian Cup would be fun. Officials might be incompetent but not known to be biased.
    Cons: Travel for our players would suck even more.
    3. Join Oceania.
    Arguments for: We are in between two Oceans, that's as Oceanic as anyone as far as I can tell. Plus we have a player called Olivier Occean in our national team pool. And the region needs a big fish in a large Ocean with Australia gone. We were obviously made for this region.
    Pros: Region largely sucks with Australia deciding they'd like to play in Asia and for some reason being allowed by FIFA to do so. We can beat a team of Andy Boyens and Jarrod Smiths. Would guarantee us a spot every four years in the Confederations Cup and a better chance of World Cup Qualifying playing against the 5th place Asian team. Officials might be incompetent but not known to be biased. We would rack up the FIFA points with lopsided scores against various minnows.
    Cons: Travel for our players would suck even more than if we joined Asia.
    4. Break off from CONCACAF and declare ourselves to be a region of our own.
    Arguments for: Right now the land mass of what is left of the Oceania region would probably be the equivalent of the land mass of our Maritime Provinces. Therefore we are easily a large enough land mass to call ourselves our own region.
    Pros: Automatic entry into the Confederations Cup every 4 years without even having to play a game. Possible Automatic entry into the World Cup every 4 years, or at the least a half-spot for a two-game series against a team from another region that we can fluke our way past with bunkering if need be. Winners of the Snow Cup (new Canada-only competition to replace Gold Cup) every year, or every day, if we so choose. Don't have to put up with CONCACAF, its Referees, Jack Warner, Chuck Blazer and annoying CONCACAF fans.
    Cons: None. Let's do it.
    Guest

    Gold Cup Post-Mortem

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by Gian-Luca
    Sadly the 2009 Gold Cup is over for Canada, and two comments in my Gold Cup preview turned out to be, unfortunately, quite prophetic for Canada in the end. In Part D of my preview I stated:
    "Without Iain Hume, Rob Friend (both through injury) and Dwayne De Rosario the team is without much of its potential offensive firepower."
    "We will have to watch out for CONCACAF officiating and the ever-present desire for a Mexico vs. U.S. Gold Cup final for the organizers of the tourney hoping to make yet another miserable buck. They key to getting past this is playing so well that not even the officiating can stop us."
    Both of these points (which you didn't have to be a genius to think of, let's be honest) eventually came to bite us in the ass. Canada outplayed Honduras but still didn't play well enough or sharply enough (particularly in the first half) to beat both them and the officials at the same time, which is what was required unfortunately. And once Honduras went into full bunker mode when they got the lead, it would have been nice for another established striker to go up there to help Ali Gerba pose more of a threat to Honduras. Gerba never did get a clear chance to score (his best chance coming off the McKenna header off the post which unfortunately was blocked by his own teammate, Simeon Jackson) and nobody else was quite able to step up, although McKenna, Hutchinson and Johnson all came close.
    It stings to lose to Honduras yet again, this time with a roster that overall was probably inferior to ours - they probably have more key players missing than we did. But their team was good enough to win on a cheap call and by bunkering the rest of the game, and we played well but not quite our best. The two games that were most difficult for our midfield were against Jamaica and Honduras, two teams able to combat our skill by being physically dominant in the midfield (which makes the Honduran flopping all the harder to take and that Ref even more gullible, but then he did Ref the Panama-Mexico debacle, so that was to be expected).
    There are a lot of positives to take from this tourney, particularly the play in the group stage which was enjoyable and fun to watch, and the development of some of the younger players. We gave up 3 goals in 4 games - one a cheap PK, one an excellent FK and one a horrific Sutton blunder. Which means that horrific Sutton blunder aside Canada gave up no goals from open play in 4 games against 4 of the better Concacaf teams. After a WCQ tourney where we were leaking goals at the back, this is a huge improvement that shouldn't be ignored.
    There are negatives though as well. Going out on our last competitive games for another two years (at any age level) on yet another horrible call absolutely sucks. And if you think we are angry, the feeling can be summed up with these two comments from two of our best players:
    Atiba Hutchinson: "The same thing happens over and over. I thought it was a horrible call from the ref. I think if he looks it himself, he should be ashamed. That's all I can say."
    Julian De Guzman:
    "I was really disappointed with the officiating, with this particular game. If I had a chance to make a tackle on this ref, I wouldn't even think twice. It's pretty obvious that would be bad business for CONCACAF if Canada was to make it to the finals or semifinals. I mean we don't bring in the crowds that CONCACAF would like."
    To the Canadian team, players and staff - a job well done. You did Canada proud and can hold your head up high.
    Guest
    by Cheeta
    Once again Canada finds itself in what will likely be the most closely contested match of the Quarter final round of this years Gold Cup as the Group A winners face off against the Group B runner ups, Honduras. The match from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia with will be available on Roger's SportsNet across all broadcast regions beginning 5 PM EST.
    Stephan Hart and his squad have their groove on in this summers federation championship and should they win through to the semi-finals this afternoon will be traveling to Soldier Field in Chicago for a Thursday night contest against the winner of Quarterfinal #2, Group B winners, USA and the 3rd place wild-card group stage team from Group C, Panama.
    For Canada who so infamously crashed out of World Cup Qualifying for South Africa 2010 last year there can be no denying this year's Gold Cup represents the best opportunity to regain a measure of their dignity and provide a glimmer of light at the end of the very long and very dark tunnel Canadian soccer fans have been traveling through these many years.
    And though its unwise to look ahead it is also very hard not to when the chance of a semi-final against the tournament favourate American side is within sight. It is hard not to recall the 2007 Gold Cup semi-final match between the USA and Canada which ended in so much controversy and so much disappointment for Canada. You'd be hard pressed to find a Canadian soccer supporter who isn't keen at the opportunity for a little payback under (hopefully) more fair conditions.
    But first things first. Honduras would welcome a “home match” against the USA in Chicago to and have the tools to get to that likely semi-final opponent if Canada allows them. For Canada, no matter what lays ahead, this afternoon's test is a chance to send a stern message to CONCACAF by claiming another scalp from The Hex.
    Guest
    by Gian-Luca
    With the enormous break between the group stage and the next round (8 days for Canada and nearly a full week break in play for the whole tourney) there is time to take a look at what transpired during the group stage of the 2009 Gold Cup.
    Group A:
    The acknowledged "Group of Death" saw Canada come out comfortably as group winners, with two wins and a draw (the latter after they already qualified), for the most successful group stage performance by Canada at this tourney. Surprising? Other fans and members of the media seem to think so but I don't know if the Canadian team is all that surprised. They are full of confidence heading into the quarter-finals.
    Costa Rica did just enough to qualify, but it does seem that they have their priorities elsewhere. Still, they brought most of their top team and with qualification on the line failed to beat a Canadian team that had little to play for and had rested 5 starters (and was already missing more top players from its roster than the Ticos to begin with).
    El Salvador and Jamaica were both disappointing, particularly Jamaica. I honestly didn't expect much from El Salvador and their performance confirmed my expectations. They seem to run out of gas after the first half against Costa Rica and were lucky to beat them. That their full-squad lost to two non-Hex teams is further proof that the qualifying system in Concacaf is flawed.
    Jamaica simply self-destructed. They may have deserved a draw against Canada but they didn't get it. They were outplaying Costa Rica before a stupid challenge brought a deserved red-card late in the first half. Unfortunately being in the group of death meant that the two other 3rd place teams got to beat up on a weak team whereas Jamaica (or even El Salvador for that matter) didn't have that luxury. The group of death lived up to its name (it was the only group that didn't feature any blow-out scorelines - in fact no game was decided by more than one goal - and the only group where every team won at least one game).
    Group B:
    The US finished in first as expected although they got a surprise scare from Haiti in their final game with Stuart Holden scoring in injury time to prevent a Haitian victory and a 3-way first place tie in total points for Group B. As it is, those two points dropped were only the second time in Gold Cup history the US has done that in the Group stage, having won every other match but one (a draw in 2005 against Costa Rica with both teams already qualified). It has to be said that the US team against Haiti could be considered a "C" team as even the B team starters didn't play with qualification already assured. The US roster keeps changing with players being added and released at an almost dizzying pace (Cherundolo and Parkhurst have apparently gone back to their clubs, joining Feilhaber and Adu in that regard already).
    Honduras without many of their own stars won comfortably against Haiti and especially against Grenada - but then everybody beat Grenada comfortably in this group. The Hondurans may be heading into the Quarter-final against Canada fairly confident given that they walloped Grenada 4-0 heading in their last match and haven't lost to Canada in a senior-level competitive match since the 1996 Gold Cup. As for Grenada, their two best players (and by some margin) Joseph and Roberts didn't make it to the tourney for reasons of injury and simply declining, respectively, which doomed a team that had already over-achieved just getting to the tourney. As for Haiti, they are a team that might do anything, and after a disappointing start, two positive results might have them confident enough to believe they can beat Mexico. Its the first time the two teams have played a competitive match at any level since "The Legend of Johnny Placide" match in 2008 Olympic qualifying and it should be fun.
    Group C
    Guadeloupe continue to prove their worth in this region. They won their first two matches comfortably, scoring the goal of the tourney thus far in the process (another screamer from David Fleurival - who scored on a similar screamer to beat Canada in 2007). They did lose to Mexico in their final group game, but having already qualified had little to play for. They should give Costa Rica quite the battle, although they haven't done themselves any favours with two sending-offs in their last match.
    Nicaragua won a moral victory of sorts by holding Mexico to a 2-0 win in their first game, but ran out of steam after that and ended up as the bottom-feeders everyone thought they would be. Like Grenada they didn't score a goal, although only giving up 8 to Grenada's 10 they can at least claim to not finish dead last overall in the tourney.
    Panama started slowly but improved with every game. Whether they can continue to improve to pose a challenge to the US remains to be seen. They should also be in a fairly confident mood after popping in 4 goals in their last match and holding Mexico to a draw prior to that. They lost to the US in the Quarter-finals in 2007 and should they do so again, it will probably feel like a kick in the nuts, even moreso than Ricardo Philips' testicles can testify to.
    Finally we come to Mexico. What a brilliant bit of coaching genius by Javier Aguirre. Original, innovative and progressive. Understanding how irrelevant he is, and knowing that his team will probably play better without him on the bench, he takes the wise and shrewd decision to kick a Panamanian player in the nuts as he's running down the sidelines with the ball. A shoving match ensues, resulting in Aguirre taking the Panamanian player with him and giving his team a numerical advantage for the last ten minutes of the match. The move nearly paid off in that game, although he was foiled by the Referee only adding 12 minutes of injury time rather than the required amount. And it definitely paid off for the stadium vendors as the Mexican supporters seem to buy food, seemingly including entire plates of tuna casserole and chicken a la king, just to hurl at the Official for giving their team an undeserved man advantage for the last 12 minutes. But the team went on to win their final game without their coach and played their best football of the tourney so far, so everyone was a winner - Mexico, Aguirre, the peanut vendors, and most of all, the game of soccer itself.
    Guest

    Canada tops the Group of Death

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by Gian-Luca
    While it would have been nice to say that after the semi-final round of World Cup Qualifying, it's still nice to be able to say it now. A 2-2 draw against Costa Rica in the final group match gives Canada 7 points, with 4 goals scored and 2 allowed. Costa Rica finishes 2nd with 4 points and Jamaica sneaks into third with a 1-0 win over El Salvador - both teams finished with 3 points but Jamaica finishes 3rd on the first tie-breaker (head to head results) and must hope for help in the other groups to advance.
    There were three nice things about this game.
    1. Canada's response after giving up a really crappy goal - came right down the field and scored (ironically, in a play started by some decent Greg Sutton distribution out of the back).
    2. Both of Canada's goals were well-taken and its always nice when the team can still score without its top striker on the field (and 4 other key players).
    3. Stephen Hart didn't pull a Javier Aguirre and run on to the field to kick a Costa Rican player in the nuts.
    A strange game overall. Costa Rica only seemed intent in getting a decent scoreline and performance rather than going all out to win the game to ensure that they qualified. In other words they seemed indifferent to whether they qualified, and perhaps in keeping with their coach's pre-tourney comments, might even be irritated that they have at least one more game to play (likely against either Guadeloupe or Mexico). Canada of course had little to play for and fielded a largey 2nd string squad, which featured a couple of defenders playing out of position, and were quite happy with a 2-2 draw as well.
    This is the second Gold Cup in a row where Canada has won its group and the second time in its history - unless you count being "drawn" out of the hat first in 2002 as winning the group (the year they finished even with Ecuador and Haiti in points, goals scored, goals allowed and of course goal differential).
    Guest
    by Gian-Luca
    Mexico and Panama drew 1-1 in a match many are calling a disgrace, with 3 players and one coach getting ejected and with tons of debris being projected by Mexican fans at Panamanian players. But for Canada it is all good news as the tie means that Canada has clinched a quarter-final spot and can go into the final group match against Costa Rica knowing that they have already qualified. With three key players (Stalteri, Klukowski and De Guzman) carrying single yellows that I understand get wiped out after the first round, it will be interesting to see if all three are rested for the sake of protecting their availability for the quarter-final match (which is, unusually, more than a week after Canada's final group game). Perhaps a chance to give Smilin' Jamie Peters a chance at right back and Hainault at left back (where he has played for Houston this year)?
    However, as FIFA rankings are used to help determine WCQ seeds and groups and these might be the last meaningful games Canada plays before the qualifying seeds are made (remember, the seeds for the 2010 qualifying were based on FIFA rankings before the 2007 Gold Cup took place) one hopes Canada doesn't start a "B" line-up and takes things too easy. And of course there is also the matter of their finish determining which team they will play. Finishing 3rd will get you a first place team in one of the other groups - currently held by US and Guadeloupe respectively. 1st place in group A gets a second place team in one of the other two groups. So does finishing second, so there's actually no reward for finishing first in Canada's group, other than FIFA points and pride (remember, the tournament is set up to favour the US and Mexico, so that if they finish first in their group, they get to play a 3rd place team. For the second year in a row, the Costa Rica/Canada group winner doesn't get that privilege. But it is what it is and its best to get on with it and win the games then to complain about it mid-tourney.
    Costa Rica still has everything to play for, so this will be a difficult match for Canada. Our fate is assured, but we can possibly seal theirs with a win.
    Guest

    Canada's Tactical Genius

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    by leafdolfan
    Calling Stephen Hart "Canada's Tactical Genius" may be a little over the top, but Hart can take lots of credit for Canada's 1-0 win over Jamaica last night. The group of players that played last night were not any better than the players Mitchell was working with during World Cup Qualifying. They are certainly not a group of superstars, and individually none of them are near world class. The difference between last night and World Cup Qualifying was the style of football.
    Under Mitchell Canada was playing a 4-2-3-1, a formation which often collapsed into nine or ten men behind the ball with a lone striker up top. Canada was defending poorly, and when they got the ball it was a direct style. Canada often tried to break out with pace and attack the opposing centre backs with balls through the middle. None of this worked and as a result Canada's midfielders would not have time to get out of the defensive third and the pressure was consistently being piled on. Last night was different.
    Hart claimed he tried to go out playing a 4-3-3. It looked much more like a 4-5-1, or a 4-1-4-1 with De Guzman playing as the central defensive midfielder. The formation actually worked very well, Canada worked the ball around the midfield, often with De Guzman trying to stretch out the play and bring both sides into the play. Gerba was playing as the lone striker and played a lot with his back to goal, laying the ball back and trying to create an opening. As a result Canada kept very good possession of the ball throughout the first half. Canada looked good but were still lacking that little bit of creativity or flair in the final third.
    Defensively Canada looked very good in the first half, and for most of the second half. They didn't throw in any rash challenges in the middle of the park and they allowed Jamaica to enter their half of the pitch. As soon as Jamaica tried to get through Canada's final third, the Canadian defenders were all over them. Jakovic in particular played a very good game in the centre of the defense. The patient defending was complimented by the possession style which allowed Canada to slow the play down. The defenders were playing the ball through De Guzman and allowing the play to build up instead of booting the ball down the pitch. Canada's defensive performance allowed them to play the game Hart sent them out to play.
    In the second half things got a little shaky and only a few solid saves from Sutton kept Canada in the game. Hart then made two very astute substitutions. First he brought on Simpson who almost had an immediate impact, as his ability to beat a man opened up the second half right away. He slowly faded away and Hart made his second tactical change seventy minutes in, which turned out to be a game changer. He brought on Jackson to play upfront in a 4-4-2 with Gerba.
    A 4-4-2 from the onset may have been overrun by a quick Jamaican team, having the extra midfielder really helped from the start. As the game progressed however the Jamaicans tired, and Hart chose to perfect time to attack the Jamaican back four. Jackson really opened up the field for Canada, and eventually a Klukowski cross made in through a tired Jamaican defense for Ali Gerba to finish. The change of formations payed off and led Canada to the win.
    All in all Canada played a very smart game, and the same players that were embarrassed during World Cup Qualifying looked much better in a tactically sound formation. So a thumbs up to Stephen Hart and hopefully a good start to a great tournament for Canada.
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