hamiltonfan Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/columnist.jsp?content=20040305_120611_744 Missed opportunity Canadian soccer lost more than just an Olympic bid when our women lost to Mexico. Okay, it wasn't a disaster. Disasters are bigger, scarier and much more serious than unexpectedly losing a 2-1 soccer game to Mexico and getting dropped from the dance card for the Athens Olympics. So let's just call what happened the other day to the Canadian women's soccer team a multiple missed opportunity - not just for the women, but for soccer in general in the Great White North. The argument runs something like this: Soccer, in general, is an under-appreciated sport in Canada. Lots of people want to fix this, with new stadiums, new leagues, maybe even talking the All-American MLS into expanding north of the border. All of these plans have merits and drawbacks. A new stadium would be wonderful, but who would pay for it? A new Canadian league would be a huge achievement, but it would never even be home to the best players in Canada, let alone the rest of the world. The MLS represents the highest level of club soccer available, but would it concentrate too many national resources in a single city? All of these plans require one vital element to succeed. Mass public excitement. The biggest problem is, none of them will ever be able to generate that excitement on their own. The public imagination only embraces a new sport when it has absolutely no choice. In recent years, lots of work has been done to try to grow Canadian soccer. But not nearly enough work has been done to figure out how in the name of Brian Budd (Bruce Wilson?) to make thousands and thousands and thousands of Canadians to really, really give a darn. Yeah, the Canadian men brought home the Gold Cup earlier in the decade. But all that did was set up two gruesome years of heightened expectations our goal-starved lads never came close to fulfilling. But then came the Women's Under-19 World Cup in Edmonton, late in 2002. Our gals went straight to the final, and were the width of a crossbar away from winning before the Americans got them with a golden goal to win the gold. The vast bowl of Commonwealth Stadium was packed that day. Huge numbers of people who don't care about soccer - or sports in general, for that matter - got happily hooked on that game. Suddenly, we had a team that could make people care. Most of that team moved up to the senior squad, and acquitted themselves pretty darn well at the recent Women's World Cup. Meanwhile, the men have been struggling. No home games in three years, quite a few ugly setbacks on the road. No results. Precious little interest. Bog-all excitement. But like the women, there are great youngsters, and the hiring of new coach Frank Yallop looks like a win-win situation for everyone. The men are actually going to play a home game in June, taking on Belize in World Cup qualifying in Kingston. Good signs all, but we still really need something to make non-soccer fans take notice. So cut to Olympic qualifying. The men got munched, but the women rolled to three straight victories, and needed only to outscore Mexico, a team they had never lost to. I suppose you could see it coming in the second half of the previous game against Costa Rica. Canada had jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but then got bogged down in a tough, physical struggle with a plucky, home-standing underdog. The Canadians would prevail 2-1, but when an almost identical script was written in the Mexican game, the roles were reversed and Mexico won the plane tickets to Greece. The bigger loss, I think, is that Canada would have had a legitimate chance to earn an Olympic medal. And that would have generated all kinds of excitement heading into the men's qualifying campaign for Germany 2006. In short, this was a golden chance to grow the game. Full credit to a plucky, gritty bunch of Mexicans, but drat, nonetheless. The great news was the emergence of yet another formidable young Canadian star on the rise. Calgary teen Aysha Jamani is just 16, and can flat-out thump a soccer ball. She's got a striker's touch, and the instinct and field-reading skills to play a very aggressive midfield. She scored six blistering goals playing with the big girls in Olympic qualifying. But it's going to be a while now before the rest of the world, and the Canadian in the street, knows about her. The Olympic stage, which could have done so much good for our game, is gone. So, once again, there's nobody here but us soccer fans. That's okay. We've been here so very many times before. But there's not going to be a really big, clear, strong chance to light up the collective Canadian imagination any time soon. And that's a pity, because the Olympics could have been amazing, and our wonderful women's team came so close. Back to the drawing board, I suppose. Let's start by packing Kingston (Sunday, June 13, 2 PM) for the Belize game. (Then, let's actually beat Belize.) Onward! Fan Rants Hear, hear, Ben. Good article. I wondered how long it would take someone to out-Heinrich April's gaffe of last year's World Cup by fielding a lineup that nobody could comprehend. Turns out it didn't take that long, unfortunately for Lang, Morneau (too-late subs) - Jamani and Hooper, who deserved a better fate. Add to that LeBlanc's dazed performance throughout the Costa Rica Tournament and you had the required recipe for disappointment. I know this country supposedly loves Pellerud, but I'm not encouraged at all by the coach's professed inability to explain what happened. No defense is what happened, Evan. Experimentation can be done before one gets to crunchtime. Peter Elliott Ben, shouldn't you have taken this opportunity to point of the horrible tactics and questionable team selection? Sinclair is not a left winger and Jamani can't cross a ball -- yet leaving her out on right wing was wasteful. Ugly hoof ball, poor first touches, limited off-ball movement, non-existant short passing and no possession/retention on the ball. Surely this loss was in the cards and the lack of technical ability has to be addressed through coaching. Pellerud has taken them as far as he can. Time for a new coach and modern tactic and training. Neil Masterman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leekoo Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 anyone know Ben Knight's email address ... thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metro Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 quote:Originally posted by hamiltonfan Ben, shouldn't you have taken this opportunity to point of the horrible tactics and questionable team selection? Sinclair is not a left winger and Jamani can't cross a ball -- yet leaving her out on right wing was wasteful. Ugly hoof ball, poor first touches, limited off-ball movement, non-existant short passing and no possession/retention on the ball. Surely this loss was in the cards and the lack of technical ability has to be addressed through coaching. Pellerud has taken them as far as he can. Time for a new coach and modern tactic and training. Neil Masterman You might be asking for too much. You never get this type of criticism/analysis from a Canadian soccer commentator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metro Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 quote:Originally posted by hamiltonfan Ben, shouldn't you have taken this opportunity to point of the horrible tactics and questionable team selection? Sinclair is not a left winger and Jamani can't cross a ball -- yet leaving her out on right wing was wasteful. Ugly hoof ball, poor first touches, limited off-ball movement, non-existant short passing and no possession/retention on the ball. Surely this loss was in the cards and the lack of technical ability has to be addressed through coaching. Pellerud has taken them as far as he can. Time for a new coach and modern tactic and training. Neil Masterman You might be asking for too much. You never get this type of criticism/analysis from a Canadian soccer commentator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJT Posted March 10, 2004 Share Posted March 10, 2004 quote:Originally posted by leekoo anyone know Ben Knight's email address ... He is a member of this forum, so find his profile and you can send him an e-mail from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leekoo Posted March 10, 2004 Share Posted March 10, 2004 why didn't i think of that ... thanx djt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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