de Guzman - the female version???

[Bill Ault]

The Ottawa Fury are delighted to announce that 18 year old W-League striker Alex Valerio has accepted an invitation to travel to Portugal to try out for the Portuguese National Team which will compete in the 2008 UEFA European U-20 Women's Championship.

www.canadakicks.com

[L.T.]

This seems to be a growing trend - an U17 girl from Ontario is being wooed by Mr. Warner to suit up for T&T... An Ontario born 19-year-old stars for the Santos Women's team and is considering representing Brazil...

[Bill Ault]

Begs the question how can other countries scout our players better than us....

[soccermom]

Because our country scouts players that can run after balls and plow players over rather then skilled possession players.

[JamesW]

Do we have any idea just how skilled this player really is?

I doubt if she is with the Ottawa Fury the CSA have failed to notice her. I also wonder why, if she has any chance to play for Canada, she would go play for Portugal?

[Vic]

If she plays at Princeton with Matheson, she's no unknown.

The reasons can be so many... the fact that they come looking and we don't, the style of play, our national programs are harder to crack, the politics here, family heritage and cultural connections, etc. One day I hope it's about money too.

1) the Portuguese are no newcomers to fishing over here:

http://www.uslsoccer.com/intl/71885.html

"The most recent USL-related foray to Portugal was ELAS, a select group of Portuguese-American girls that participated in a Portuguese FA Inter-Association Tournament last April as one of the initial steps in the launch of the new international Player Development Opportunity program designed to increase opportunities for American and Canadian women of Portuguese descent. Despite being put together on short notice, the players as individuals and the team as a whole showed brilliantly, finishing as the only 4-0 team in the tournament."

2) And there is also Leah Lynn Gabriela Fortune, US 17yr old who plays U20 Brazil:

"Though she speaks little Portuguese and attends school in the Chicago area, Leah recently helped Brazil win the South American Under-20 Championships. Born in Sao Paulo, she moved with her family to Chicago when she was 2.

Leah remains eligible to represent the United States and is a member of the U.S. Olympic Development Program. Though she has until age 21 to make a permanent national team choice, she says it's her dream to represent Brazil in the Olympics or the Women's World Cup."

[Gian-Luca]

The thread title is a little bit harsh on Julian.

[The Ref]

quote:Originally posted by soccermom

Because our country scouts players that can run after balls and plow players over rather then skilled possession players.

Exactly. Bravo!

[fishman]

Add another player - Daniela Fuenzalida. Well known to the CSA (she trains with the NTC), she will almost certainly be playing for Chile in the U20 WWC.

[jpg75]

Has anyone seen Ms. Valerio play? Anyone know her W-League and NCAA stats?

Answer:

http://www.ottawafury.com/profile.php?id=67

"Alex is a former student at St Mark High School in Manotick, Ontario. She is just completing her freshman year at Princeton University where she is studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

She played her early years of soccer with the Gloucester Hornets and Capital United before joining the Ottawa Fury program. She was a member of the U14 Girls Ontario Provincial program and captain of Team Ontario in 2003. She captained her Fury teams at the U15 through U17 age groups and was a member of the 2005 Fury team which won the Super Y-League New England Championship and went on to reach the semi-finals of the SYL North American championships, In 2006, her Fury U17 Girls team reached the North American final of the US Club Soccer National Cup.

For the past two seasons, Alex has been a member of the Ottawa Fury W-League squad. She participated in the 2006 W-League Championship Final and played in 10 games for the 2007 W-League Regular Season champion squad."

http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12205

She scored against the Cdn "U17"(U15-16) girls last summer in a 2-1 win for Ottawa.

http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=46564&SPID=4233&DB_OEM_ID=10600&ATCLID=883526&Q_SEASON=2007

At Princeton – 2007 – started 13 games including the first 11, playing in all 17 ... scored three goals, one each against Notre Dame, Dartmouth and Lehigh ... assisted against Saint Joseph's ... At St. Marks – played for the Ottawa Fury “89” club team and the Fury’s W-League squad ... served as team captain of the 89 squad for four seasons ... three-year National Cup finalist ... Super Y League North American Championships participant in 2005 and 2006 ... one of only three high school players on the 2006 Fury W-League team that finished second in the league ... 2003 Ontario Provincial Team captain ... Ontario Soccer Association all-star team member ... Personal – born May 1, 1989 ... daughter of Victor and Susan Valerio ... father is a foreman; mother is a sales representative ... one younger sister, Stephanie ... participated in her school’s French Immersion Program for five years ... coached the Ottawa Fury’s U-16 team.

Year Goals Assists Points Shots Pct.

2007 3 1 7 27 .111

So clearly she's been in the system, as far back as 5 years ago on the Provincial team. So what gives? Portugal are not exactly world beaters at the Sr. Women's level, so i assume their U20 team must not be that competitive either. If she's choosing to represent them can she really be that good?

Same goes for the girl being wooed by T&T, why would you subject yourself to the corrupt dealings of the TTFA, an org. that makes the CSA look good if you don't have to?

[jpg75]

quote:Originally posted by fishman

Add another player - Daniela Fuenzalida. Well known to the CSA (she train with the NTC), she will almost certainly be playing for Chile in the U20 WWC.

She's a '90, attended a U15 camp three years ago.

http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=2295

This girl is only 18 this year and likely not on the radar for our U20's. Couldn't she wait 2 years until it's her turn? Or is she not confident enough to believe she'll make the Canadian girls team?

[Bill Ault]

quote:Originally posted by Vic

The reasons can be so many... the fact that they come looking and we don't, the style of play, our national programs are harder to crack, the politics here...

^Nail on head or in other words some of all of the above...

[Bill Ault]

Just a follow up Ms. Valerio has made the Potruguese squad and will be part of the roster for their upcoming games against Italy, Norway and the Ukraine later this month.

[Vic]

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/wunder19/teams/team=600110/index.htm

Portugal came in the back door to stay alive in the UEFA U19... they had a 1-2 record in their first round pool with losses to Romania 0-2 and Iceland 2-3. And having been drawn into a 2nd round pool with Norway and Italy, I'm not surprised they're using up all their lifelines (or rather bloodlines) to keep hope alive.

[terpfan68]

If your home country passes on you for whatever reason -- they don't think you are good enough, or they are not competetent enough to evaluate you properly -- you have every right to play wherever you can qualify. Brett Hull is a good example. Canada passed on him and then some of us got upset when he played for the U.S. I can even see the position of "He who cannot be named" playing for England.

[Trillium]

quote:Originally posted by bjarne

I noticed a couple of youngsters on the roster for Ottawa last summer, in Christina Julien and Valerio and had asked if they had been involved with the National Programs at all, as I was impressed with both of them the couple of times I saw them play. The response was no, that the kids in Eastern Ontario are rarely given a fair shake being outside of the and it was just not a reasonable commute to expect them to make. Julien was apparently the leading scorer for her college team (James Madison I think who are a pretty decent side) her freshman year and wasn't given any kind of a look from what I heard. As long as the politics are the way they are in Canada,

Julien was doubly.. hampered she came out of the United Counties playing for a club out of Cornwall before moving to the Fury Program, dear old Jimmy One foot Canovan in Toronto would never look at her even when as U13 she was a goal machine a pure natural striker with nose for goal... developed in Glengarry style of play then given a more "brasilian" influence as she developed.

Her day will come with options to go to Europe and play professional .

[Vic]

quote:

... the kids in Eastern Ontario are rarely given a fair shake being outside of the GTA and it was just not a reasonable commute to expect them to make....Its nice to see the Sydney Leroux's and Alex Valerio's flourishing in environments that are about what you can do as a player, not which city you are from.

When you live in Northern Vancouver, Eastern Ontario, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, etc, you take for granted your employment options are not what they would be in Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto. And so it goes with soccer. Unless you move to one of the main population areas, at best you can train 50% of the time with a provincial/national squad. And when you're 4-8 hours away, being good enough is not good enough. You have to be BETTER. You have to make people accept you with your handicap. That is the geographic/financial reality we exist in.

quote:

If your home country passes on you for whatever reason -- they don't think you are good enough, or they are not competetent enough to evaluate you properly -- you have every right to play wherever you can qualify.

It's not just the kids passed on for whatever reason. These aren't million dollar athletes with a players union. If kids in these programs had a paid ride, then yes, as a fan and Canadian I would have an expectation of commitment returned. But I think the reality is most are paying their own way (field time, uniforms, international travel, etc). And if that's the case, who are we to judge them, and what do they owe us?

[Trillium]

quote:Originally posted by Vic

When you live in Northern Vancouver, Eastern Ontario, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, etc, you take for granted your employment options are not what they would be in Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto. And so it goes with soccer. Unless you move to one of the main population areas, at best you can train 50% of the time with a provincial/national squad. And when you're 4-8 hours away, being good enough is not good enough. You have to be BETTER. You have to make people accept you with your handicap. That is the geographic/financial reality we exist in.

[terpfan68]

Good point. Let's either break up the large provinces or combine the small ones. We need to reorganize Canadian society to fit the football development program. Call the PM. Act now. After all the U.S. has at last count 50 states and runs their club national championships after regional play and they run it (how's this for an inovation) in the SUMMER because in the excited states players may not play club soccer AND high school soccer. They take their high school soccer very seriously as the do all high school sports. Has anyone ever even heard of high school soccer in Canada? I know in Winnipeg it can get pretty brutal. The teams that win are the ones with the most premier players and scores of 11 - 0 are not unusual.

Well, that's enough issues for one posting.

[Bill Ault]

Or let the Eastern Ontario kids travel to Montreal to the NTC there - a few Fury kids did that for a while until politics reared it's head. We need things to be done on a regional not provincial level - more NTC with no provincial programs. Never happen but it would be the best solution.

[bjarne]

I apologize as I am not completely familiar with the system, but what is the motivation to keep the Provincial Teams going the way they are if they hurt the kids not in the major centres of each province? Bill A, you say that its the best solution (to have regional centres instead of provincial ones, which makes complete sense in line with players travelling to Quebec from Eastern Ont), but you say it would never happen? Why not do you think? (Sorry again if its an obvious answers, as again, just not completely familiar with the system) Why do the Provincial Teams stick around, whats the motivation?

[Bill Ault]

The only reason the provincial team programs stick around is that the people in power mandate they exist. Certainly in Ontario's case all of the best players are not going to the program - for many reasons - but people protect the status quo because they are comfortable with it whether it works or not. The only way change would happen would be for the provincial associations to vote themselves out of existence and that is just not going to happen.

[Vic]

Using your logic the NHL should be populated by players from the main population centres..interestingly enough its not.... To believe you need to be in Toronto to have success as soccer player is wrong in my opinion.

And mine too. I'm always the very first one to say you don't have to be in Toronto or Vancouver or Montreal to be a great player. But that said, it sure helps. Thin talent band, easy commuting, good coaching. Eastern Ontario with a satellite center is actually one of the lucky ones. It's the areas without that, or where kids have to shunt hours to get to any training at all that really suffer. It used to be a lot worse, and we're actually getting better at it. But it takes time and money, which is in too short a supply already.

I actually think we stink at Hockey Development. I posted up the numbers a while back, and if it wasn't our national game played and funded maniacally by everyone with a son who can walk, I doubt we would even qualify for the world championships. There are countries all over the world who put in a sliver of the resources we do (players, rinks, coaches, money) and come close or match us. I'm sure someone will want a fight with that, but hey, that's for another day in another place.

Hockey players are developed to teenage levels by amateur clubs just like soccer. But then the roads split in separate directions. The elite hockey players become the "property" of junior clubs (with no provincial/national programs), and the elite soccer players stay in the club system, but are not property of them, and also join and train in provincial/national programs.

If we had soccer clubs contributing financially for teenagers like in hockey, you would see a lot more movement, and a higher percentage of players from outside the big cities on our national teams.

I think the bottom line is you can develop talent anywhere, it just takes more effort and money outside the major cities. And I think that's probably the same in every sport without a professional infrastructure all over the world. It would be nice to see some government funding to help (i.e. this girl is 12 - http://tinyurl.com/4ddbg7), but that's not going to happen without some pretty major changes to our entire national sports system, and not just our soccer bodies.

The problem is a system where ontairo produces one provincial team out of 40% of all national participants and Manitoba produces a team out of 5% of all participants and so many qualified skilled players are never seen.. at all.

Yes the math is dizzying. We do the same thing in a lot of national associations, and what usually happens is the bigger provinces platforms are a lot stronger and more thorough. It's part and parcel of our federal system. But I don't really understand how qualified players are not seen at all? There are regional programs starting at 12 years old?

in the excited states players may not play club soccer AND high school soccer. They take their high school soccer very seriously...

God that would be brutal. For teenagers, in anything other than semi-serious competition, put me down for a complete separation of church and state, or rather education and sports.

Or let the Eastern Ontario kids travel to Montreal to the NTC there - a few Fury kids did that for a while until politics reared it's head. We need things to be done on a regional not provincial level - more NTC with no provincial programs.

They're still travelling 4 hours a day. Wouldn't it be better for them to just to train in Ottawa? How much better does the training have to be to compensate 4 hours a day? Wouldn't they be better off with the satellite center and/or the Fury?

There are ten times the amount of kids in the golden horseshoe as in Ottawa. Just because the provincial/NTC offering isn't tailored to Ottawa doesn't mean it should be ripped apart. For the kids in commute of the GTA, it's a solid program. Numbers-wise, that's the meat and potatoes of Ontario soccer. And I don't know that's wrong. Outside of that are tons of players who are capable of being there, they just don't live close enough. That's just mathematics.

NTC's, Provincial programs, academies, club teams, elite leagues, SYL teams, residencies... there are enough options on the table for good players to bubble to the top. All of which have good coaches, bad coaches, geographic and financial upside and downside, and yearly fluctuations. It's half full and half empty, equal measure good and bad, will be slow to change, and is the reality we all find ourselves existing in and having to navigate as best we can for ourselves, our clubs and institutions and the players under our care.

To quote a similar situation:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

Godspeed for a season of Light.

[Guest Ed]

Vic, please keep your opinions confined to soccer. For you to say that we stink at hockey development shows me you are absolutely ignorant of the state of the game in Canada.

[Vic]

Sorry, just reread what I wrote. To calrify, I meant what I figuratively wrote, which was we stink for the money we spend at it versus other countries (but not as bad as the Americans). I'm sure you still disagree 150%, so I'll do everyone here a favour and accept your comment and leave it at that. I shouldn't have even brought it up and not something to waste time on.