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Predictions for Canadian soccer in 10 years


Soccerpro

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Well not to knit pick but here's my take:

- We haven't hit the 6 year mark on the date you posted so there's a bit more time

Sport Infrastructure:

- Two soccer specific stadiums

- $20 Million facility built for youth development in the most populated area of the country

- Two more soccer minded stadiums rumored with the WWC in 2015 - Halifax/Edmonton

- Hamilton's new stadium will be built with soccer in mind

Governance:

- The CSA has finally started to navigate through the political minefield and will restructure over the next year

- 2nd Division Study for a professional league

- Landed two more FIFA events in 2014, 2015

- Have unprecedented sponsorships

- Cross promoting home games with OSA

Professional:

- 3 MLS teams

- 2 NASL Franchises, Hamilton Rumored to be the 3rd

- League One Ontario - 2013 start

- 2 Residency Programs - Vancouver and Toronto by the end of the year

- Canada sports broadcasting for MLS

On Field:

- JDG 2 has decided to play for Canada - Will others follow his lead?

- .......

The real issue is that the progression has come from outside of the on the field performances. There's still no money and not enough quality players (IMO). But you combine elite production from the academies and the marketability of homegrown talent....those two could be solved in the near future.

However, the realist in me says that it will come down to Mission 2018 for the academies to produce an extra 15 players for the pool. If they aren't proper elite players then we will be in trouble. The problem is we need those players now to qualify but outside of a select few, I don't see too many potential impact players coming from that route in the next round of qualifying this summer.

If Daniel Fernandes, Steven Vittoria, Jonathan De Guzman, Junior Hoilett and some other players come forward with high-end talent then 2014 might be more plausible but my gut keeps kicking my heart into submission on the topic.

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No clue where they'll play. There will be no reasonable stadium in Ottawa in place for 2013.

Unfortunately, I think this is true. As I see it, there's no way the stadium will be finished on time (they haven't even started construction yet). I'd love to be proved wrong, but I doubt it will happen. Hopefully the bureaucratic red tape delaying its construction doesn't push the team past 2014.

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First, on this board you should write "perdiction", it is traditional.

Second, my perdiction: pretty much the same as the last decade, but more. We will not win a single trophy nor get to the World Cup in 2014 nor the next. I do not think there is absolutely any basis to think otherwise.

So the new academies, teams, interest in the game and reforms to the CSA and provincial boards aren't a basis to think otherwise?

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Unfortunately, I think this is true. As I see it, there's no way the stadium will be finished on time (they haven't even started construction yet). I'd love to be proved wrong, but I doubt it will happen. Hopefully the bureaucratic red tape delaying its construction doesn't push the team past 2014.

The south stands have been demolished. It's not bureaucratic red tape holding things up it the Friends Of Landsdowne. Their final appeal should be dismissed in the next couple months. Everything I've read is that both the CFL and NASL teams will be ready for 2014.

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It's easy to be negative/realistic and predict we won't qualify for the next World Cup, the odds are stacked against us at this point! I think the 3 academies and the opportunities presented by the pro clubs has got to make the MNT program stronger in the long run! With a new stadium being built I'm hoping Hamilton lands an NASL franchise for 2014, Bob Young, the owner of the Ticats has indicated that will be in the cards!

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I know academies have become the great hope of Canadian soccer in the eyes of many, but realisitically, the small number we are talking about probably does not do a lot more than replace the European opportunities lost when FIFA outlawed the trafficking of children. The Hoiletts, DeGuzmans and players who do not have opportunity to move their entire family to Europe "for non-soccer reasons" will have a place to develop that didn't exist 10 years ago. But, in the grand scheme of things, it is hard to see that we are any further ahead given that Europe is not in the cards any more.

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Additionally, one would think it would be at least a decade from when they're properly up and running until academies can be counted on to be significant factors in the national team player pool. When you think that most of our significant NT contributors are 25+, and kids should be in an academy from 14 on to get the full effect, it's simple math. Shouldn't affect our qualifying teams much until Qatar at the earliest.

I know academies have become the great hope of Canadian soccer in the eyes of many, but realisitically, the small number we are talking about probably does not do a lot more than replace the European opportunities lost when FIFA outlawed the trafficking of children. The Hoiletts, DeGuzmans and players who do not have opportunity to move their entire family to Europe "for non-soccer reasons" will have a place to develop that didn't exist 10 years ago. But, in the grand scheme of things, it is hard to see that we are any further ahead given that Europe is not in the cards any more.
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The last two posts are pretty close to correct. The current u16 Academy kids will probably benefit the next u20 cycle they are eligible for significantly. Just a heads-up for "one to watch." Whitecaps u16 USSDA forward, Brody Huitema. Haha, I coached him when he was 10 so I like to point him out to folks. He is tearing-up u16 USSDA....if he isn't the leading scorer in the entire USSDA at his age I'd be surprised. He's a product of Chilliwack and Coquitlam metro soccer. So he is a potential proper forward coming through the system....though I know I know, we have all heard about a "standout 15 year old striker" before. Enthusiasm is appropriately tempered. As he is u16 USSDA I have to think he'll be invited to the next u17 WC trials?

@Gordon - I wanted to ask if you could explain why you think Europe isn't an option for kids anymore just b/c we have 3 academies? Joseph Di Chiara bypassed the 3 academies to land in the Russian Premier League so....??

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Regardless of when the academies will start producing CMNT players, (although if you count Morgan, one already has) the CMNT isn't all of Canadian soccer. The thread is about predictions for Canadian soccer. On the whole we've made huge progress in the past couple years. The men's team hasn't improved much, but they aren't the whole picture.

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The last two posts are pretty close to correct. The current u16 Academy kids will probably benefit the next u20 cycle they are eligible for significantly. Just a heads-up for "one to watch." Whitecaps u16 USSDA forward, Brody Huitema. Haha, I coached him when he was 10 so I like to point him out to folks. He is tearing-up u16 USSDA....if he isn't the leading scorer in the entire USSDA at his age I'd be surprised. He's a product of Chilliwack and Coquitlam metro soccer. So he is a potential proper forward coming through the system....though I know I know, we have all heard about a "standout 15 year old striker" before. Enthusiasm is appropriately tempered. As he is u16 USSDA I have to think he'll be invited to the next u17 WC trials?

@Gordon - I wanted to ask if you could explain why you think Europe isn't an option for kids anymore just b/c we have 3 academies? Joseph Di Chiara bypassed the 3 academies to land in the Russian Premier League so....??

FIFA regulations prevent clubs from taking kids under 18 from other countries to stock their academies. In order for someone without the appropriate nationality to be eligible the family of the player has to have moved there for non-soccer reasons. Thus a 12 year old Hoilett or 12 year old Deguzman can't go to Blackburn or Feyenoord now they way they could a decade ago. It is not the presence of the academies that is the obstacle. The academies give a professional environment that would not have been available domestically 10 years ago, but, with the loss of the European opportunities for young Canadians, - and obviously these would have been most of our most promising youngsters - the first 20 or spots at the academies will effectively replace the lost european opportunities. Which mean they provide only a small net gain not as significant as some seem to think. I suspect that DiChara signed when he was 18, and top Canadians will still go to Europe if they are good enough at 18, but far far fewer will go over to join European Academies at a development age.

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I have been following Canadian soccer since 1972 and apart from the success achieved by Tony Waiters and a little bit by Holger Osieck, our men continue to be an "also run" team. Not so with our women where Ian Bridge and Even Pellerud achieved great status that we still manage to maintain. Will the next 10 years for our men team be different than the last 40 years, I don't think so, but will be happy if better things happen.

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Regardless of when the academies will start producing CMNT players, (although if you count Morgan, one already has) the CMNT isn't all of Canadian soccer. The thread is about predictions for Canadian soccer. On the whole we've made huge progress in the past couple years. The men's team hasn't improved much, but they aren't the whole picture.

You and I have different notions of "huge" progress I am afraid. Mild, staggered, progress on professionalising the CSA, the addition a of a domestic "fan experience" for approximately 55,000 Canadians, and a handful of MLS jobs for Canadian players does not equate "huge". It is minimal, probably the minimum possible. We have 3 MLS teams - thank god the US economy tanked - so a some improvment in quality of league there, but we still have effectively the same number of teams (recall that we did have 5 A-League at one point a decade ago) and there have been no steps taken to address any of the systemic challenges facing Canadian soccer aside from the mild CSA reforms.

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It's an old thread, but I'll make my predictions starting from now.

Mens Nats: not much change. Continued strong results at U-17 due to MLS academies. Similar results to present at U-20 and Senior levels. Slow growth in support levels for Nats at live games.

Womens Nats: a drop off in results and stature when Sinclair retires.

MLS: Canada has all the MLS teams it will ever have. They will all produce an increasingly larger percentage of our youth national team players as their academies grow. Canadian MLS content slowly increases, but not just on the Canadian-based MLS teams.

D2: We will see clubs established in Calgary, Hamilton, and Ottawa to join FC Edmonton. The placing of teams in CFL stadiums in Hamilton and Ottawa will, of course, be a failure, because those stadiums are too large for D2 soccer, so ownership in Hamilton will move to someone other than Bob Young. Those three teams will follow FC Edmonton and build smaller facilities, and by 2022 they will all have one, possibly shared with university football.

Women: The current network of Canadian W-League teams will be added to by teams in Edmonton and Calgary, and MAYBE Winnipeg. There will be no professionalisation of the game, only a slow professionalisation of the coaching and facilities they use.

University: not much change, unfortunately. Largely ignored by potential fans.

Regional Elite youth development: more concentration of top players in sponsored leagues, like the recent BC High Performance League, particularly in BC, Ont, and Que. More in-fighting and continuation of ethnic social clubs in Ontario preventing a true D3 semi-pro league from developing there.

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  • 3 years later...

Some of those names haven't heard of in ages. sad to see that most of the pessimistic posts a decade ago are bang on. The CSA and men's national team have been spinning the same broken wheel every WCQ campaign of this time, we'll get better, when in fact we have disgressed in alot of areas.

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