sstackho Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Young soccer star has terrific year: Represents Canada in World Cup qualifying game Dan Stinson CanWest News Service 215 words 18 August 2004 National Post All but Toronto B9 English © 2004 National Post . All Rights Reserved. VANCOUVER - The new wave of Canadian soccer is best represented by Josh Simpson, a 21-year-old midfielder whose easy and virtually constant smile reflects his rocketing status in the game. Born in Burnaby, B.C., and raised in Victoria, Simpson will represent his country tonight when Canada plays Guatemala in a CONCACAF zone semifinal World Cup qualifying game at Swangard Stadium. Simpson's selection to Canada's 18-man roster is only the most recent chapter of his remarkable success story in the game this year, however. The personable, multi-talented Simpson came into 2004 with two goals in mind: To help Canada's under-23 Olympic team qualify for the Athens Summer Games, and to return to the University of Portland for his fourth and final NCAA Division I season while completing his studies in finance and accounting. Simpson's year got off to a disappointing start. Canada failed to win a CONCACAF berth in Athens during a zone qualifying tournament in February, leaving Simpson's return to Colorado's Boulder Rapids of the Premier Development League as his only option to stay active in soccer during the spring and summer months. (The Province) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 SOCCER: CANADA It could be Peschisolido's final kick; Veteran realizes his chances of reaching the World Cup are getting slimmer PETER KENNEDY 579 words 18 August 2004 The Globe and Mail S5 English All material copyright Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. Vancouver BC As he prepares to face Guatemala in a vital World Cup soccer qualifier tonight in Burnaby, B.C., Paul Peschisolido recognizes that this may be his last chance to make it to the final round of the celebrated competition. At age 33, and still playing in England with Derby County, the former Toronto Blizzard player is unlikely to be around when the qualifying rounds for the 2010 finals get under way four years from now. “Realistically, this is my last throw at the dice,” said Peschisolido, who is now the grand old man of the national soccer team, but still a striker who will be relied on to get the goals in tonight's game. “But hopefully, we will be successful.” Looking relaxed in white T-shirt and denims, Peschisolido has played 51 games for Canada since making his debut in 1992. In that time he has scored 10 goals. At this late stage in his career, he is clearly enjoying working with coach Frank Yallop, a man, he says, who has been like a breath of fresh air since he took over from Holger Osieck earlier this year. Married to Karen Brady, the president of English Premier League club Birmingham City, Peschisolido has played for eight teams in England since going to Birmingham on a trial in the early 1990s. The former clubs include Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, Fulham, and Stoke City. He is currently on a two-year contract with Derby and thinking ahead to life outside the game as a player agent, acting for Canadian-based prospects who are aiming to make a career in the United Kingdom and Europe. He also has his own building company in England. Before tonight's game at Swangard Stadium, Peschisolido said he believes Canada stands a good chance of qualifying for the final round in Germany this time simply because so many of his teammates already play for top teams in Europe. At midfield, for example, Canada can call on Paul Stalteri, who plays for German champion Werder Bremen, and Josh Simpson, a 21-year-old Burnaby native who recently signed with English FA Cup finalist Millwall. Simpson said yesterday he was recruited after playing in an exhibition game for Canada against his new club. Describing himself as someone who “gets the ball and goes for it,” Simpson played the full 90 minutes when Millwall beat Leicester City 2-0 last weekend. He expects to make his home debut for Canada tonight since Canada's star striker Tomasz Radzinski is unavailable for the game because of injury. Using young players such as Simpson is vital if Canada is to progress, Peschisolido said. “This helps the team.” He described Guatemala, ranked 59th in the world, as a “very talented, technical” soccer team. Tonight's game is the first of six for the Canadians in a Group B semi-final round of qualifying in the region that covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. “We have enough good players available to overcome them,” Yallop said. He feels future success rests in getting his players together more often. Canada's strategy, Peschisolido said, will be to outmuscle its opponents, who may prove a more formidable challenge when backed by a partisan crowd in Guatemala. “We don't want to estimate them,” he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Quest for berth in World Cup begins Wednesday: Frank Yallop's maple-leaf-clad lads kick off a CONCACAF zone semifinal qualifying tournament against Guatemala Dan Stinson Vancouver Sun 828 words 17 August 2004 Vancouver Sun Final F8 / Front English Copyright © 2004 Vancouver Sun Twenty years is a long time between World Cup soccer tournament appearances. Too long in the opinion of head coach Frank Yallop, who hopes Canada's two-decades absence from the global spectacle will finally end on the fields of Germany in 2006. Aiming to become the first Canadian team to qualify for the men's World Cup since 1986, Yallop's maple-leaf-clad lads kick off a CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) zone semifinal qualifying tournament against Guatemala Wednesday evening at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium. "This is a good footballing team and I'm excited about all of the 18 players in the squad," Yallop said Monday at a national team news conference. "We've got a good mix of experienced and young players. It's a well-balanced squad and every one of the players is eager to get on with the business at hand." The business at hand involves playing three Group B opponents. They are Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica in a six-game, home-and-home series that starts Wednesday and concludes Nov. 17. The top two teams in the group advance to the final round of zone qualifying next year along with the top two teams in Groups A and C. The top three nations in the final round are guaranteed berths in the Germany World Cup tournament. While the early line in the lengthy process is that Mexico, the United States and Canada are favoured to advance to the World Cup, Yallop avoided predictions. "It's a long road to Germany and obviously no one can predict qualifying results," he said. "All I know for sure is that this Canadian team will force the issue in each qualifying game and not sit back waiting for things to happen. We will be a very aggressive team on each occasion." Canada was dealt a player personnel blow Saturday when veteran striker Tomasz Radzinski suffered a calf injury while playing for English Premier League club Fulham against Manchester City. The injury has sidelined the Polish-born, Canadian-naturalized Radzinski for Wednesday's match. He was replaced in the squad by 32-year-old striker Mauro Biello, who is the Montreal Impact's all-time leading scorer in the A-League with 55 goals and 53 assists over 11 seasons. Radzinski was Canada's leading scorer with two goals in preliminary round zone qualifying against Belize this past June. Canada trounced Belize 8-0 on aggregate in the two-game series at Kingston, Ont. Asked who will replace Radzinski in the starting 11 Wednesday, Yallop was reluctant to show his hand but suggested it might be Olivier Occean, a strapping 6-foot-1, 185-pound Montreal native who plays club soccer for Olde Grenland of Norway's First Division. Occean, 22, is a prime example of Yallop's willingness to go with some younger and relatively untested players in the qualifing round. Occean impressed Yallop while playing for a Canadian B development team last month in the exhibition International Pacific Soccer Series, scoring the decisive goal in Canada's shocking 1-0 victory over English League First Division side Millwall. "If you speculate that Olivier will start [against Guatemala] you won't be far wrong," Yallop said. "He's a typical target man type of player and definitely in my thinking as a starter." If Occean gets the nod, he will be paired with 51-capped veteran Paul Peschisolido as Canada's front runners. Peschisolido, a Pickering, Ont., native who's in his 13th season of English League soccer, said he'd welcome the chance to play with Occean. "He's a good player and would give us a bigger presence up front," said Peschisolido, who has scored 10 goals for Canada. "It would be a different situation for me because he's a target man and I might be able to pick up the pieces off him. I'm sure we'll be working on it in training." Yallop promoted two other players from the development team to the World Cup squad -- Burnaby-born, Victoria-raised midfielder Josh Simpson and Toronto defender Adrian Serioux. Both recently signed two-year contracts with Millwall. Swangard is also the venue of Canada's Oct. 13 qualifying game against Costa Rica. Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium is the site of Canada's only other home game in the series, Sept. 4 against Honduras. Wednesday's kickoff is 7 p.m. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcl_19 Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Mexico USA and Canada early favourites? haha this guy must be one of the hockey-turned-soccer writers....lets face it, i think we have a great shot...but we're definitly underdogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canso Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 and was that victory over Millwall realy "shocking". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guatemala01 Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 If you're not going to add anything to each thread other than "GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA!" then please refrain from posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champs Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 let him tlk crap..dont worry. In the end he will be the one suffering not us. He wants tlk cocky let him be, when the game is over then will se what he has to say. I cant wait till kick off. All i know is that everyone in Vancouver better make Canada feel like there really playing at home. we need to take the advantage of playing at home, and make other teams not want to play in that kind of envirement. For some reason i think DeGuzman is going to have the best game of his carrear. Something is tellin me. Anyways good luck boys, show them what where made of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 quote:Originally posted by marcl_19 Mexico USA and Canada early favourites? haha this guy must be one of the hockey-turned-soccer writers.... Wrong. Dan Stinsons been covering soccer since the 70's, and no hockey. He's just not as negative about the Canadian chances as a lot of people are here on the voyageurs board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Krammerhead Wrong. Dan Stinsons been covering soccer since the 70's, and no hockey. He's just not as negative about the Canadian chances as a lot of people are here on the voyageurs board. The "early line" is not that at all, no matter how you look at it. FIFA rankings may be wrong, but I think everyone sees the 3 from 2002 as favourites. Then you might stick in Honduras THEN us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Sure Daniel, but thats just one writers opinion. He may be a writer but he is also a fan. Perhaps he's putting a positive spin on things to get more fans out to the game. I just wanted to point out that he's no converted hockey writer who doesn't follow the sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theglove0 Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Daniel The "early line" is not that at all, no matter how you look at it. FIFA rankings may be wrong, but I think everyone sees the 3 from 2002 as favourites. Then you might stick in Honduras THEN us. Yep, when I read that article in the Sun yesterday, I thought to myself that there must've been a typo. I think he wanted to write that the early line says the U.S., Mexico and Costa Rica are the favorite to qualify, but that Canada has a shot too. That seems to be gist of the article to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokanne Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Yeah, but they could have said something diffrent for the previous world cup. The early line says Mexico, USA, Jamaica are the favourites. Hopefully this will be canadas time to shine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Guatemala01 GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! GUATEMALA! Don't you have your own forums in Guatemala? Stay off this one. Mirá che, eres aburrido. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted August 19, 2004 Author Share Posted August 19, 2004 Here is a fuller pre-match article on Simpson: World Cup thrill replaces letdown: Burnaby-born midfielder's rocketing status dispels his Athens disappointment Dan Stinson Vancouver Sun 872 words 18 August 2004 Vancouver Sun Final F8 / Front English Copyright © 2004 Vancouver Sun The new wave of Canadian soccer is best represented by Josh Simpson, a 21-year-old midfielder whose easy and virtually constant smile reflects his rocketing status in the game. Born in Burnaby and raised in Victoria, Simpson will represent his country tonight when Canada plays Guatemala in a CONCACAF zone semifinal World Cup qualifying game at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium. Simpson's selection to Canada's 18-man roster is only the most recent chapter of his remarkable success story in the game this year, however. The personable, multi-talented Simpson came into 2004 with two goals in mind: To help Canada's under-23 Olympic team qualify for the Athens Summer Games, and to return to the University of Portland for his fourth and final NCAA Division I season while completing his studies in finance and accounting. Simpson's year got off to a disappointing start. Canada failed to win a CONCACAF berth in Athens during a zone qualifying tournament in February, leaving Simpson's return to Colorado's Boulder Rapids of the Premier Development League as his only option to stay active in soccer during the spring and summer months. Or so he thought at the time. "It was very disappointing not to qualify for Athens," Simpson says. "I went into this year thinking that Canada had a great chance for an Olympic Games berth. My heart was set on going to Athens and representing Canada this summer." What Simpson didn't know back in February was that Canada's World Cup team head coach Frank Yallop was monitoring his performances closely with the Olympic side. Simpson had played for Canada's senior national team only once, in a Jan. 18 friendly game in Barbados, but Yallop saw a lot of potential in the lanky six-foot, 170-pound youngster. As luck would have it, the B.C. Soccer Association helped fill a mid-summer void for the national team by organizing a five-game exhibition International Pacific Soccer Series. The tournament field included Scottish Premier League club Hearts, English League First Division side Millwall, which had played in the FA Cup championship game only two months earlier, and a Yallop-coached Canadian B development team. Yallop selected Simpson to the roster for Canada's tournament games against Hearts and Millwall at Swangard and Simpson responded in exemplary fashion. His magnificently struck goal in injury time lifted Canada to a 1-1 tie with Hearts in a July 12 game and he followed with a superb assist on striker Olivier Occean's goal in Canada's 1-0 victory over Millwall on July 14. "Another great game by Josh," Yallop said after Canada's shocking result over Millwall. Millwall manager Dennis Wise had similar thoughts. He invited Simpson and 25-year-old national development team defender Adrian Serioux of Toronto to Millwall for a trial shortly after the International Pacific Series. Both players recently signed two-year contracts with Millwall. After only one training session, Simpson made his debut with Millwall in its first game of the 2004-05 Football League Championship (formerly First Division) season, coming off the bench for 30 minutes in a 0-0 road match against Plymouth Argyle on Aug. 7. He has since played in two Millwall home games -- 60 minutes in a 2-0 loss to Wigan on Aug. 10 and the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 victory over Leicester City last Saturday. "I don't want to sound boastful, but Dennis Wise said there's not a lot of defenders in the division who can keep up with my pace," Simpson says. "That said, I'm amazed at how quickly my fortunes in soccer have changed this year. Back in January, my goals were to play for Canada in Athens and then to complete my university soccer and studies in Portland. "Now I'm part of Canada's World Cup team and playing club soccer for a FA Cup finalist team in England. Millwall has even arranged for me to complete my university studies at a school in London. I've pinched myself a few times to make sure that all of this isn't just a dream." Yallop says Millwall's signing of Simpson and Serioux underscores the rapid development of Canada's younger players. "It's proof that we have a growing number of very good young players in this country," he says. "And it bodes well for Canada's future in international soccer." GOAL DUST: Guatemala's main scoring threat is striker Carlos Ruiz, of the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. ... According to the latest FIFA rankings, Canada is the lowest-ranked team among the four Group B nations in the semifinal qualifying round. FIFA ranks Canada 96 in the world, Guatemala 59, Honduras 79 and Costa Rica 28. ... The top two teams in the group advance to final stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying next year. Profile of Josh Simpson. Color Photo: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun / Josh Simpson has pinched himself a few times to make sure it isn't all just a dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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