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Canucks in Germany


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Paul Stalteri winds down his Bundesliga career with a shot at putting his team into a Champions League spot for next season. Bayern Munich waltzed away with the title on the weekend due to the collapse of Schalke 04 over the last month. Werder Bremen play this Sunday away to the up and down Borussia Dortmund. A win will set them up nicely for what should be a gimme 3 points home against already relegated SC Freiburg and a final game away against 1. FC Kaiserslautern.

Julian de Guzman and Hannover 96 could help the Bremen cause if they could get a result on Saturday against VfB Stuttgart, in 3rd place, 2 points up on Bremen. Hannover are looking for a UI ticket to Europe next season.

In the Bundesliga 2, Tam Nsaliwa and 1.FC Saarbruecken are coming back to form late in the season, riding a 2 game winning streak and a 4 game unbeaten streak as they look safe from relegation. The Blue and Black face SpVgg Unterhaching on Sunday and have 2 other mid table opponents to end the season. I am a bit surprised but very happy to hear Tam is supposedly back in the picture for the senior national side, although a certain expression involving a horse and the barn door comes to mind.

In the Regional League South, it's nail-biting time for 1860 Muenchen amateurs who are away to 4th place SV Wehen on Saturday. There's lots to play for in the Regional Leagues as they still have 6 games left. Nik Ledgerwood and company did just fine on Wednesday, drawing the Bayern Munich team 1-1 (featuring such 'amateurs' as Guerrero and Zickler up front) in a rescheduled match. The Lions are still 3 points ahead of relegation territory and need to fight for points every game out from here on.

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quote:Originally posted by Hannover96Girl

De Guzman had to replaced in the 69th minute because of an injury. 96 doctors fear that he has a torn "Außenband" (collateral ligament)and won't play the last two games. :(

Well doesn't that suck. I hope Julian has a speedy recovery. He is the only bright light for Canada right now. The only player who has reached up and grabbed the ring. We've seen so many others with potential, no names needed, but only Julian so far has shown the drive and character to go beyond what we could possibly expect. Good luck Julian. Come back from injury and settle in Spain. The national team is yours to grab by the scruff of the neck and set it on the right path. Coaches can't do it. It's got to start on the field.

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That does suck but even if it is torn, it isn't as bad an injury as it used to be. He so young and healthy, I'm sure he can be back into the swing of things without missing too much. The timing could have been worse. If he gets the surgery(If he needs it)right away, then he has a bit of time to rehab.

Fingers crossed though.

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quote:Originally posted by Ed

He is the only bright light for Canada right now. The only player who has reached up and grabbed the ring. We've seen so many others with potential, no names needed, but only Julian so far has shown the drive and character to go beyond what we could possibly expect. Good luck Julian. Come back from injury and settle in Spain. The national team is yours to grab by the scruff of the neck and set it on the right path. Coaches can't do it. It's got to start on the field.

I'd put Stalteri in this category as well.

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quote:Originally posted by Hannover96Girl

De Guzman had to replaced in the 69th minute because of an injury. 96 doctors fear that he has a torn "Außenband" (collateral ligament)and won't play the last two games. :(

torn acl? in hockey isn't that like a 6-month injury?

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quote:Originally posted by Ed

Paul Stalteri winds down his Bundesliga career with a shot at putting his team into a Champions League spot for next season. Bayern Munich waltzed away with the title on the weekend due to the collapse of Schalke 04 over the last month. Werder Bremen play this Sunday away to the up and down Borussia Dortmund. A win will set them up nicely for what should be a gimme 3 points home against already relegated SC Freiburg and a final game away against 1. FC Kaiserslautern.

Julian de Guzman and Hannover 96 could help the Bremen cause if they could get a result on Saturday against VfB Stuttgart, in 3rd place, 2 points up on Bremen. Hannover are looking for a UI ticket to Europe next season.

In the Bundesliga 2, Tam Nsaliwa and 1.FC Saarbruecken are coming back to form late in the season, riding a 2 game winning streak and a 4 game unbeaten streak as they look safe from relegation. The Blue and Black face SpVgg Unterhaching on Sunday and have 2 other mid table opponents to end the season. I am a bit surprised but very happy to hear Tam is supposedly back in the picture for the senior national side, although a certain expression involving a horse and the barn door comes to mind.

In the Regional League South, it's nail-biting time for 1860 Muenchen amateurs who are away to 4th place SV Wehen on Saturday. There's lots to play for in the Regional Leagues as they still have 6 games left. Nik Ledgerwood and company did just fine on Wednesday, drawing the Bayern Munich team 1-1 (featuring such 'amateurs' as Guerrero and Zickler up front) in a rescheduled match. The Lions are still 3 points ahead of relegation territory and need to fight for points every game out from here on.

Sorry Ed, but I take issue with your suggestion that Tam Nsaliwa give Yallop the proverbial for finger for being shunned in WCQ. I'm with you that Tam's talent and current level of competition should have placed him firmly in the WCQ squad, particularly when injuries decimated our back line. However, as much as I like Nsaliwa, I'd put the kid in your underachieving category. He was on the verge of first team football at Nuernberg and, though he paid for the price for representing Canada, left them when he was demoted following a Canada appearance. That put him into the abyss for awhile when he resurfaced at Regensburg and even there was suspended at one point by the club.

I personally don't give 23 year olds permission to whine about team selection at the MNT level. Don't blame him for shunning a couple relatively meaningless invites at then end of WCQ and following but the kid deserves no kudos for "forgiving" the manager for having the audacity to leave him out of the squad and gracing us with his presence now. At this point, Tam deserves to be in the mix of our MNT and nothing much more than that. I hope he proves Yallop wrong but I won't beg his mercy for being excluded in the first place.

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You don't give 23 year olds permission to whine about team selection at the canadian mens national team? First of all he plays at a very good level of football, a level in which many USL players dream they could play at and he gets ignored while other players who are playing at the same level (English Championship)or lower are called up instead. Not to say that these people don't deserve to be part of the MNT. Why can't a 23 year old PROFESSIONAL PLAYER IN ONE OF EUROPES TOP COUNTRIES complain about not being selected for Canada since he is obviously more than qualified.

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quote:Originally posted by ditty

Sorry Ed, but I take issue with your suggestion that Tam Nsaliwa give Yallop the proverbial for finger for being shunned in WCQ. I'm with you that Tam's talent and current level of competition should have placed him firmly in the WCQ squad, particularly when injuries decimated our back line. However, as much as I like Nsaliwa, I'd put the kid in your underachieving category. He was on the verge of first team football at Nuernberg and, though he paid for the price for representing Canada, left them when he was demoted following a Canada appearance. That put him into the abyss for awhile when he resurfaced at Regensburg and even there was suspended at one point by the club.

I personally don't give 23 year olds permission to whine about team selection at the MNT level. Don't blame him for shunning a couple relatively meaningless invites at then end of WCQ and following but the kid deserves no kudos for "forgiving" the manager for having the audacity to leave him out of the squad and gracing us with his presence now. At this point, Tam deserves to be in the mix of our MNT and nothing much more than that. I hope he proves Yallop wrong but I won't beg his mercy for being excluded in the first place.

I am surprised he is back because the MNT games for the next 3 yrs are meaningless and he could be looking for a contract in June/July, not potentially getting injured in the Gold Cup (if he makes that squad, he's got tough competition apparently) . The horse/barn door analogy is all about Yallop not looking at him for WCQ, not about Tam's atttitudes, refusals, etc. I don't see where I condoned Tam giving Yallop the finger. I don't think it happened, nor would I condone it. Tam saying no thanks, I am busy is quite alright with me because the only games that Yallop invited him to were totally meaningless. Yallop will be long gone when Tam is still part of our player pool for important games coming up in 4 years (or 3 1/2).

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quote:Originally posted by Ed

I am surprised he is back because the MNT games for the next 3 yrs are meaningless and he could be looking for a contract in June/July, not potentially getting injured in the Gold Cup (if he makes that squad, he's got tough competition apparently) . The horse/barn door analogy is all about Yallop not looking at him for WCQ, not about Tam's atttitudes, refusals, etc. I don't see where I condoned Tam giving Yallop the finger. I don't think it happened, nor would I condone it. Tam saying no thanks, I am busy is quite alright with me because the only games that Yallop invited him to were totally meaningless. Yallop will be long gone when Tam is still part of our player pool for important games coming up in 4 years (or 3 1/2).

First of all, I wasn't literally suggesting you condone giving Yallop the finger of course. That's why I stated "proverbial finger". I understood that you were surprised Nsaliwa accepted being brought back in after being rejected when it really counted.

I guess I take the 'what if everyone took that approach' stand on this one. We complain that our MNT do not play together enough and that we don't enough quality games or preparation. Our program doesn't exist solely WCQ years. Club v.s. country isn't the simplest of decisions at the best of times and that's not what I have an issue about. It's when we support a young player holding a grudge because he's been excluded at some point along the program.

Would I have selected Nsaliwa? Absolutely, especially when we were featuring the likes of Pizzolito and Gervais in our back line and to a lesser extent, Watson. Should Tam pick and choose when he wants to be involved because he was shunned in the past? No. In August he was a young player who had just finished an up and down season with a relegated 2. Bundesliga team. Doesn't equal automatic selection to me

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