Poll: Best (and Worst) of 2003 in Canadian Soccer

[Guest Jeffery S.]

How about a little poll on the best and worst of 2003?

Almost all national federations -or press associations- come up with a best player male and female of the year, too bad we can't do this officially. But the Voyaguers can have their say.

I don't think we should be hammering our own players (at least not here), so my worst questions avoid personalizing. I'll post my votes later. How about it boys and girls?

1) Best overall player, men.

2) Best overall player, women.

3) Best team performance, men.

4) Best team performance, women.

5) Most promising young player, men.

6) Most promising young player, women.

7) Biggest disappointment, men.

8) Biggest disappointment, women.

9) Dumbest, kitchiest or classless moment in Canadian soccer 2003.

[Gordon]

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

1) Best overall player, men.

2) Best overall player, women.

3) Best team performance, men.

4) Best team performance, women.

5) Most promising young player, men.

6) Most promising young player, women.

7) Biggest disappointment, men.

8) Biggest disappointment, women.

9) Dumbest, kitchiest or classless moment in Canadian soccer 2003.

1) Radzinski overall - Stalteri when it comes to NT.

2) Charmaine Hooper

3) U-20 MWC - tournament as a whole

4) WWC vs. China

5) Iain Hume

6) Brittany Timko

7) vs. Cuba - Gold Cup

8) Round robin portion of WWC

9) Non-selection of Julian DeGuzman in Miller's first game as interim coach (Finland IIRC)

[beachesl]

Good picks Gordon. Only ones where I might vary:

5) Hume and Hutchinson, tie

8) Injuries to Women's Senior team, especially on defence.

9) Holger's unjustified and unfair dissing of various players

without given them a chance to perform, especially

the blanket insult against A-League players (I was

supporting him against the storm before that).

[The Ref]

1) Rocco Placentino

2) Charmaine Hooper

3) U20 World Cup team

4) Women World Cup team

5) Josh Simpson

6) Kara Lang

7) Colin Miller coaching the nats

8) Erin McLeod did not get to play a WC game.

9) Media and Marketing departments at the CSA

[redhat]

1) Best Overall Player (Men) - Julian De Guzman, Tomasz Radzinski

2) Best Overall Player (Women) - Christine Sinclair

3) Best team performance (M) - World Youth Championship (U20) vs. Spain

4) Best team performance (W) - Women's U19 Team (Semifinal) vs. Brazil

5) Most promising (YM) - Ian Hume, Josh Simpson

6) Most promising (YW) - Kara Lang

7) Biggest disappointment (M) - Gold Cup 2003 vs. Cuba

8) Biggest disappointment (W) - WWC game vs. Argentina

9) Class-less moment in Canadian soccer -

(3-TIE): a) behaviour of Brazilian team/officials in WWC Semi

behaviour of some American fans during the GC2003, challenging us on the issue of "the war" involvement;

c) Holger using "they" to describe our players after the

Cuba result. Not great PR ...

[matthew]

1) Best overall player, men — Paul Stalteri

2) Best overall player, women — Charmaine Hooper

3) Best team performance, men — U20 World Youth Championships

4) Best team performance, women — Women's World Cup

5) Most promising young player, men — Atiba Hutchinson

6) Most promising young player, women — Kara Lang

7) Biggest disappointment, men — Cuba 2, Canada 0

8) Biggest disappointment, women — the last 12 minutes of the semifinal. So close to an amazing achievement.

9) Dumbest, kitchiest or classless moment in Canadian soccer 2003 — Holger ignoring players who obviously deserve a look and then calling in others, not playing them and then insulting them by saying they weren't footballers (ie calling Budalic and Kindel, was it? 'extras').

cheers,

matthew

[Mimglow]

1) Best overall player, men: Tomasz Radzinski

2) Best overall player, women: Charmaine Hooper

3) Best team performance, men: U20 World Youth Championships

4) Best team performance, women: 2003 Women's World Cup

5) Most promising young player, men: Atiba Hutchinson

6) Most promising young player, women: Kara Lang

7) Biggest disappointment, men: Cuba 2 Canada 0

8) Biggest disappointment, women: None

9) Dumbest, kitchiest or classless moment in Canadian soccer 2003: Redhat beat me to it, those fans had ZERO class (yes, I was the one they tried to attack )

[Gian-Luca]

1.Paul Stalteri & Julian De Guzman

2.Kara Lang

3.Canada 1, Czech 0 U20 tournament

4.Canada 6, Mexico 0 (friendly)

5.Atiba Hutchinson (Julian's fufilled his promise by starting regularly in the Bundesliga - now its up to Yallop to use him properly)

6.Carmelina Moscato

7.Canada's loss to Cuba in the Gold Cup & their subsequent elimination on goal differential

8.Poor style of play in the Women's World Cup

9.Dumbest would have to be the non-calling of De Guzman for the Finland match.

If we could add two more categories:

10.Best Goal Celebration of 2003

11.Most hilarious Canadian soccer moment of 2003 (the year is ending positively & optimistically, let's end on a humourous note)

10.Unfortunately I only saw the first few seconds of the entire Olympic team running off the field & congratulating Rocco Placentino against El Salvador (which I heard was good) so I'm going to have to go with the Iain Hume's "Come to my arms, fellas!" salute to his teammates against Spain.

11.A three-way tie A. - the look on the faces of Fletcher, De Vos & a few of the other Canadians as they watch Ghadaffi's son with amusement as he basically stops play in the Libya match with his team trailing 3-1 so he can shake the hands of the entire Canadian team on the field, as well as every player, coach & staff member on the bench.

B.Rhian Wilkinson's shot after the whistle, off the post & into the un-suspecting face of the Argentinian keeper, who drops to the ground like a stone. This was funny enough to make Kenny Blakenship's "10 Most Painful Eliminations of the Day" on Most Extreme Elimination

C.Someone (possibly Nick Dasovic) on the Canadian U20 bench yelling out to the 4th Official "It's a Phucking Bandage!!", in reference to the black bandage Chris Lemire was wearing as he was trying to get substituted onto the field late in the first half against Spain. Keep in mind that the 4th Official's objections came shortly after Matondo got a yellow card for wearing something similar underneath his shorts, hence the exasperated comment.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by redhat

1) Best Overall Player (Men) - Julian De Guzman, Tomasz Radzinski

2) Best Overall Player (Women) - Christine Sinclair

3) Best team performance (M) - World Youth Championship (U20) vs. Spain

4) Best team performance (W) - Women's U19 Team (Semifinal) vs. Brazil

5) Most promising (YM) - Ian Hume, Josh Simpson

6) Most promising (YW) - Kara Lang

7) Biggest disappointment (M) - Gold Cup 2003 vs. Cuba

8) Biggest disappointment (W) - WWC game vs. Argentina

9) Class-less moment in Canadian soccer -

(3-TIE): a) behaviour of Brazilian team/officials in WWC Semi

behaviour of some American fans during the GC2003, challenging us on the issue of "the war" involvement;

c) Holger using "they" to describe our players after the

Cuba result. Not great PR ...

Forgive my pickiness, but keep in mind the U19 matches were in 2002, rather than 2003.

[matthew]

10) I like Hume rocking the cradle for his soon-to-be-born at the U20s.

11) Ghadafi was the first thing that sprung to my mind. The 'psych' move of offering his hand to one of the armed soldiers on his victory lap and then pulling it away was also hillarious. And the look on Fletcher's face was priceless.

I'm trying to think of other funny moments and not coming up with much.

I didn't look at anyone else's picks before voting, good call on No. 9 beachesl

cheers,

matthew

[JayWay]

Someone explain in detail the Ghadafi incident.

[matthew]

quote:Originally posted by JayWay

Someone explain in detail the Ghadafi incident.

Okay, they sub him out early in the second half. He walks over, shakes the refs hand, shakes a few of the hands of a few Cdn mids near him. Gives up the arm band, starts walking not towards the sideline, but towards the Canadian goal. Shakes more hands, he gets to DeVos and you can see Fletcher has a 'you have got to be kididng me look on his face' in the foreground. Someone (KlukowskI?) starts to jog in towards him from way on the other flank to speed things along. I mean it took almost a full minute for him to leave the pitch. Good thing we were up.

He finally gets to the sideline and heads straight to the Canadian bench, they cut away to the action, but they cut back to him shaking Collin Miller's hand and the rest of the bench is sitting back down. Then he starts walking around the track of the stadium and behind one of the goals he goes up to a security guard, offers his hand and then takes it away when the guard goes to shake it! No idea what that was about, but the crowd loved it (or made more noise in any event).

It just got funnier as it went along and then the thing with the guard put me over the top. I hope I remember the details well. I haven't seen that game in months.

cheers,

matthew

[redhat]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

Forgive my pickiness, but keep in mind the U19 matches were in 2002, rather than 2003.

Thanks G-L. Let me change #4 to: WWC2003 vs. China.

Also a change to #9, the class-less moment: delete the Brazil

event (only because it was in 2002) and add the Olympic qualifying

vs. El Salvador, where the crowd basically coerced the ref to award

a penalty kick in the final minute. Also note that 2 red cards

were given to the Salvadoreans in the final leg, confirming their

"sporting" approach ... Always cheating, huh?

[Cheeta]

Kinda gotta use the ol' noodle on this one.

1). Radz. (Stalteri strong honorable mention)

2). Hooper.

3). Tough one. Had quite a few senior matchs. I'm going to say the CR Gold Cup match and honorable mention the loss to Cuba during the same tourny. Rubber legs killed the finishing but I still think hard, hard, luck did us in on what could have been a night where we may have scored 6.

4). China victory at WWC.

5). Hume. Geezus, there are a few though, eh?

6). Lang. No brainer.

7). Loosing to Estonia. That's pretty devistating. Very strong 2nd would be Radz.'s injury early in the year which ended a breakthrough EPL campain, Everton's European ambitions, and any chance of a Gold Cup appearance. Ug.

8). I'm going to say the Sweden loss just because the ladies were so close to stealing one there.

9). Staying closer to home for this one. Three way tie. Calgary Storm becoming Team Calgary in mid-flight. The going ons at Swangard by the Sounder players after their playoff victory. And football coverage in Canada, generaly speaking, by our broadcast stations and cable "Sports" channels. Especially the domestic game.

And the add ons;

10). Imhof's goal against Libya where he basically dose nothing after squeezing one in from range. Just kinda precision powers one in and then dosen't even shrug. Yep boys, I get those ones all the time. Cheeky bugger.

Honorable mention I'm giving to a local during the MSA Cup (I think) which no-one else would have seen anyway. Sokol's Nano Ramero netted against a lack luster United Weston (could have been Maples. Sorry) then pulls a SpiderMan mask out of his shorts and dose a side line run in front of the bleachers. Poor taste but pretty funny. Nano got carded for the display but worse still he had to wear a mask which he'd been running around with hidden in his shorts for a half hour. Yikes.

11). Has got to be MikeD's story from the Gold Cup. Absolutely brilliant.

[JayWay]

Thanks Matthew

[Gian-Luca]

Cheeta, are you thinking of Brennan's goal against Libya? As Imhof didn't score in that match. Brennan's goal is the one that the keeper looked like a dnorkus on.

With regards to Libya, I think it was Onstad who came charging out of his net to greet Ghaddafi Jr. at the edge of the 18 yard box in order to get the 5 minute delay he was causing shortened.

When did Hume pull a "Bebeto" - was it after his goal against the Aussies (which I haven't seen)?

The Toronto Star has a quote from Lee Bircham (about Marc Bircham being Canada's David Beckham & learning the words to the anthem from South Park) as one of the top Canadian sports quotes of the year. They also had a quote from Even Pellerud which I didn't quite get, something about Gucci shoes needing an IQ test (or something like that).

[Elaine]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

They also had a quote from Even Pellerud which I didn't quite get, something about Gucci shoes needing an IQ test (or something like that).

read the quote above coach pellerud's quote, and it'll make sense.

elaine

[DJT]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

They also had a quote from Even Pellerud which I didn't quite get, something about Gucci shoes needing an IQ test (or something like that).

Hahaha! Well, Gian-luca can take Elaine's suggestion, but for those who don't get the Toronto Star: it was "Gaucci", not "Gucci", as in Luciano Gaucci, Perugia's chairman who wants to sign a woman. They had a quote from him right above Pellerud's.

(Personally I don't think Gaucci needs an IQ test. Rather, anyone who doesn't realize that he's just trying to grab headlines needs one! I can't believe how many people have seriously discussed him and his crazy schemes --- thus giving him the attention he wants! So who's the stupid one?)

[matthew]

Yeah Hume's Bebeto move was against the Aussies. I think Cheetah was thinking of Stalteri's tap in at the start of the second half against Libya. He looked kind of cocky. Brennan looked kind of embarassed. My favourite non-nat celebration was the Quebec U15s (I think it was them and not the U17s) at the nationals. They finally scored and the scorer ran, jumped in the air and fell flat on his back and the whole team piled on. Then in a flash they all popped up and sprinted for the halfway line so none would get carded. I assume the refs were really cracking down, because nearly every big goal had huge celebrations for about three seconds and then they bolted back to their half.

It was Onstad that came jogging over? I couldn't remember. I'm going to have to find that tape again.

cheers,

matthew

[Gian-Luca]

I'm an ass - my favourite Canadian goal celebration of the year should be Lars Hirshfeld's turn around & jump in the air while shaking his fist in a victory salute at the group of 30 or so Voyageurs behind his goal when Stalteri scored the winner against Costa Rica. It was so good I decided to imitate it later that night for Kevin McKenna's parents, accidentaly setting off my car alarm in the process.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

Here's Mine:

1) Paul Stalteri.

2) Hooper.

3) World Youth Cup

4) Beating China.

5) Hume.

6) Sinclair

7) Loss to Cuba.

8) The US having our number by such a small margin

9) I agree that Holger saying that Budalic and Kindel were not really soccer players, they were more like filler, was a disgusting moment. Personally I think that he dug his grave with that one, it was totally cowardly apart from being an admission he didn't know what he was doing by calling them, and that he was dead wrong in considering them so lowly while using A-League players at their same level. Take a lesson Yallop.

10) My biggest goal celebration, when Hume scored against Spain. Those were a fun few minutes when we had them on the ropes.

[Gian-Luca]

Just to clarify, it was actually Jordan, not Kindel, and yes, not exactly Holger's finest hour.

[JayWay]

GL,

I don't remember Lars jumping in the air. I just remember him taking a few steps towards us and showing a fist with a look that hinted at constipation.

My favourite moment of 2003 as well. That and the players (including Hume) doing bowing motions towards us after the CR match.

[Cheeta]

Oops. Yeah, sorry. Brennan's goal it was. Somehow I recall it being a left footer from the right corner of the Libya box. Would have had to have been Brennan then.

Yeah, I was afraid Holger's post Wolfsburg slag on Jordan/Budalic was going to pop up on a few selections. Rightfully so. Slit his own neck there. I've got no problem with the manager being critical of players, nature of the beast but that was over the lines of good taste by more than a yard or two. That, and keeping Xausa on the bench against Cuba said everything that needed to be said about Holger's confidense in our 2nd team players. Right or wrong, it was not something the CSA wanted to see or hear about publicly.

[Relient k Mike]

1)Stalteri

2)Hooper

3)U20 Youth Championship

4)VS China

5)Hutchison

6)Lang

7)Gold Cup Vs Cuba

8)Losing to Sweden

9)Not Calling up De Guzman for finland would beup there for sure