Jarrek Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 At least for a while. The large pro-Honduran atmosphere coupled with the blue seats seemed like a Honduran home game. The pitch was absolutely brutal. Most of you have probably stated this elsewhere. I'm not sure what went wrong, but at least the match in Toronto was way more pro-Canadian than last nights game. Quite honestly I was absolutely gutted after the whistle went. It probably will end up meaning another 4+ years of waiting after all is said and done. At least Ukraine won its game, so hopefully I'll have someone to cheer for in 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSamurai Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 I wouldn't go that far. The same could've been said about BMO during the Tico friendly last year and look what happened against Jamaica. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarrek Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 BMO was more red and boisterous against Jamaica than what we saw against Honduras. There's no comparison really. Its the TFC fans that make the difference in the end. Other than a few hardcore Montreal Impact fans, there's just not enough local footy fans in Montreal who would come to support Canada. The Tico game was just a friendly and it didn't mean much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Until Montreal joins the MLS the support for the MNT just won't be there. For now the hardcore Montreal supporters can come down to Toronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesW Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Montreal was a disgrace. And this coming after all those posts saying how Toronto has a crap field and should never be allowed to host another World Cup Qualifying game. On Saturday Montreal not only had a much worse field then Toronto but there was no comparing the fan support either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoccerNewf Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 I have said it again and again, but bring a game to St. John's. These Central American teams won't know what they're in for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck in Boston Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Jarrek At least for a while. The large pro-Honduran atmosphere coupled with the blue seats seemed like a Honduran home game. The pitch was absolutely brutal. Most of you have probably stated this elsewhere. I'm not sure what went wrong, but at least the match in Toronto was way more pro-Canadian than last nights game. Quite honestly I was absolutely gutted after the whistle went. It probably will end up meaning another 4+ years of waiting after all is said and done. At least Ukraine won its game, so hopefully I'll have someone to cheer for in 2010 Seemed? I am guessing you werent there. It was a home game, no doubt. Unless the CSA is better organised (and it is not completely their fault there were so many Hondurans there) this will continue outside of cities without organised, hardcore club support. I was in Toronto and Montreal and as much as I hate to admit it, Toronto deserves the bulk of matches until other cities get their act togther. Well done TO! Edmonton you are up next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Yeah I agree, St. John's would have even been better than Montreal this time around. No chewed up field and certainly no Hondurans driving from the North Eastern United States. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronto Ruffrider Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 quote:Originally posted by SilverSamurai I wouldn't go that far. The same could've been said about BMO during the Tico friendly last year and look what happened against Jamaica. There were a lot of Ticos, but they were not as numerous as the Hondurans yesterday. Imo, over half of BMO was clad in Canadian red last September, but substantially less of Stade Saputo was clad in the same colour last night. I completely felt like I was in Honduras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronto Ruffrider Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Jamit Montreal was a disgrace. And this coming after all those posts saying how Toronto has a crap field and should never be allowed to host another World Cup Qualifying game. On Saturday Montreal not only had a much worse field then Toronto but there was no comparing the fan support either. Well, the players got what they asked for. They must really love natural grass, because they surrendered their home field advantage in order to get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squizz1402635577 Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 This match was an absolute debacle from start to finish. Begin with the absolute joke that was the Admission ticketing system. Give out the "will call" tickets not at the box office, but at a random tent 100 metres from the stadium (it screams professionalism). Have no security patdown upon entering the stadium, and then have NO police presence inside the stadium, and NO SECURITY TO SEPARATE OPPOSING FANS AS THEY EXIT THE STADIUM. It's actually a miracle that the little scuffle at the end of the match didn't develop into something bigger, because if it had, there could have been a legit bloodbath. I mean, for Christ's sakes, has no one at Saputo ever heard of the phrase "soccer violence", or seen an international match played? What the hell could they possibly have been expecting? Not to mention the horrible condition of the pitch, of course. Unless the folks organizing things in Montreal get their act together, there shouldn't be another match there for a while. I agree with the St. John's idea - I'll take any excuse I can for a trip to George Street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_AM_CANADIAN Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 Not to mention the blue thunderstix. Absolutely pathetic. Everything the CSA did for that game, from not having sacked Dale Mitchell months ago, not having a clue how to sell tickets properly, charging 25 bucks for scarves that pale in comparison to the V's ones and doing zero publicity of any kind for this match was infuriating. And I literally had to go up and grab the security guy by the arm because he couldn't hear the greating fifty of us screaming "security" at them and couldn't see the fight materializing a few feet away. I thought the Jamaica game was poorly organized, well, I clearly hadn't yet seen the CSA at their best... Not to mention our own section was only about 75% Canadian. It's enough to make you want to cry. SACK THE CSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnipeg Fury Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by squizz This match was an absolute debacle from start to finish. Begin with the absolute joke that was the Admission ticketing system. Give out the "will call" tickets not at the box office, but at a random tent 100 metres from the stadium (it screams professionalism). Have no security patdown upon entering the stadium, and then have NO police presence inside the stadium, and NO SECURITY TO SEPARATE OPPOSING FANS AS THEY EXIT THE STADIUM. It's actually a miracle that the little scuffle at the end of the match didn't develop into something bigger, because if it had, there could have been a legit bloodbath. I mean, for Christ's sakes, has no one at Saputo ever heard of the phrase "soccer violence", or seen an international match played? What the hell could they possibly have been expecting? Gerry Dobson comments on this fight at the end. Anyone care to elaborate: There was the shameful scene at the final whistle of several hundred Canadian supporters in one end zone, swarmed by a much larger and volatile throng of Honduran fans. Yes there were fights. I can't comment on who started it, as my vantage point was the broadcast booth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squizz1402635577 Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury Gerry Dobson comments on this fight at the end. Anyone care to elaborate: There was the shameful scene at the final whistle of several hundred Canadian supporters in one end zone, swarmed by a much larger and volatile throng of Honduran fans. Yes there were fights. I can't comment on who started it, as my vantage point was the broadcast booth. I have started another thread, called "Post-match melee", to get people's impressions on this. I saw the beers being hurled into our section, and definitely saw the words getting heated... and then, the flashpoint when it all broke down. I can't say for sure who initiated things, but considering that a) Honduras won, and a lot of their fans seemed like total scumbags, I'm guessing it wasn't us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youllneverwalkalone Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 It still looked better than Vancouver 4 years ago, for what that's worth. Rather than write Montreal off, I'd like to see TO help Montreal find the secret to shutting the away supporters out -as we saw with the Jamaicans. I still can't quite believe that happened so successfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB_Tito Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone It still looked better than Vancouver 4 years ago, for what that's worth. Rather than write Montreal off, I'd like to see TO help Montreal find the secret to shutting the away supporters out -as we saw with the Jamaicans. I still can't quite believe that happened so successfully. How? we cant move BMO to Montreal players don't like the turf,and we can't make Montreal soccer fans to buy tickets if they don't know about the game in the first place. Secret is simple SHOW UP for your country and support it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdmontonSoccer Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Canuck in Boston Seemed? I am guessing you werent there. It was a home game, no doubt. Unless the CSA is better organised (and it is not completely their fault there were so many Hondurans there) this will continue outside of cities without organised, hardcore club support. I was in Toronto and Montreal and as much as I hate to admit it, Toronto deserves the bulk of matches until other cities get their act togther. Well done TO! Edmonton you are up next. Yes that is fair. Edmonton on a cold October weekday with the team basically eliminated (hope I'm wrong), compared to a Saturday night in Summer with a lot of meaning. Give us that game from Saturday, 50,000 minimum. We got 37,000 for a Beckham exhibition game on a weekday in May. We still will have at least 20,000 for a nothing game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_AM_CANADIAN Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 But the Beckham game was marketed, people knew it was happening. It's nearly impossible to find out when Canada's playing unless you really make an effort to find out, meaning that the general public never knows that the national team is playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massimo Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Jamit Montreal was a disgrace. And this coming after all those posts saying how Toronto has a crap field and should never be allowed to host another World Cup Qualifying game. On Saturday Montreal not only had a much worse field then Toronto but there was no comparing the fan support either. Concerning the field it really is a question of playing way too many matches on it in so little time. Something like 5 games in th last 20 days. At the same time it has basically rained in Montreal the whole summer. But I agree it was pretty shameful to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 Let's leave the pitch out of this debate. It was crap - Montreal had a bizarre summer and the grass didn't set properly. It was great against SVG, poor against Honduras. As for support, Montreal should not host any more WCQ until it has an MLS team. Support, publicity, professionalism, ticket distribution, awareness of security, etc. were all completely botched in Montreal. The Impact have shown this year their amateurism and the lack of a presale was a bad start. Admission had no idea how to sell this (searching "Honduras soccer" on their website returned nothing), much less do a presale - who are the Travellers? Security showed how unprepared they were, being second on the scene for every incident. The Quebec Soccer Federation boasts 100,000 players and couldn't do a better job of selling tickets. And Montreal soccer fans, people that show up at Impact games, people that parade in the streets during the World Cup, didn't buy any tickets. Be it from a lack of publicity, a lack of caring or whatever. Sad, pathetic, embarrassing. And we'll see the same from Edmonton (sorry to say). We need a professional operation for WCQ homegames. We've only seen that in Toronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Daniel Let's leave the pitch out of this debate. It was crap - Montreal had a bizarre summer and the grass didn't set properly. It was great against SVG, poor against Honduras. Sorry Daniel, but I can't leave the pitch out of the debate. It was a huge reason that the game was played there in the first place. And guess what? It rains some times. There are ways around the inclement weather, like not scheduling Impact home games 24 hours before a World Cup Qualifier. quote:As for support, Montreal should not host any more WCQ until it has an MLS team. Support, publicity, professionalism, ticket distribution, awareness of security, etc. were all completely botched in Montreal. The Impact have shown this year their amateurism and the lack of a presale was a bad start. Unfortunately, it'll be the Impact in MLS if it happens, so what guarantees about improved support, publicity, professionalism, ticket distribution, awareness of security, etc. will we have when the same morons that run the current Impact and Stade Saputo will be running a bigger club? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdmontonSoccer Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Daniel Let's leave the pitch out of this debate. It was crap - Montreal had a bizarre summer and the grass didn't set properly. It was great against SVG, poor against Honduras. As for support, Montreal should not host any more WCQ until it has an MLS team. Support, publicity, professionalism, ticket distribution, awareness of security, etc. were all completely botched in Montreal. The Impact have shown this year their amateurism and the lack of a presale was a bad start. Admission had no idea how to sell this (searching "Honduras soccer" on their website returned nothing), much less do a presale - who are the Travellers? Security showed how unprepared they were, being second on the scene for every incident. The Quebec Soccer Federation boasts 100,000 players and couldn't do a better job of selling tickets. And Montreal soccer fans, people that show up at Impact games, people that parade in the streets during the World Cup, didn't buy any tickets. Be it from a lack of publicity, a lack of caring or whatever. Sad, pathetic, embarrassing. And we'll see the same from Edmonton (sorry to say). We need a professional operation for WCQ homegames. We've only seen that in Toronto. Toronto has one game that is supported by more than visiting fans (for once)and it returns to the centre of the universe. As for not advertising I have seen half page adds numerous times. I'll put Edmonton's 5-2-1 record up against the other venues (except St John's...Won the biggest game ever there.) Canada won their 2nd biggest game in Edmonton defeating Australia before losing in PK in aussie after giving up a late goal. We would have made the WC that year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtlCanuck Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 First time posting here, but a long time MNT fan. (I am in my mid 30s). Being from Montreal, I also agree that we should not have any more games here. I made the trip to Toronto for the Jamaica game and it was day and night between the 2 venues. The short post by I Am Canadian summed up the real problem. We all knew there was a game and when the tickets would go on sale, but that's because we are hardcore supporters. The casual fans here, who would definitely be interested had no idea there was a game yesterday. I don't know about the rest of you MTLers, but I am wondering who heard anything done to promote this game in this city?? Again, I don't think it's exaggerated to say that 80% of casual fans had no idea about this game, let alone the importance of it? I brought in 4 guys with me, 2 of them learned about this game because of me. I think this city put a lot of importance in getting a good crowd for the SVG game in order to land a real qualifier. Once that was accomplished, many in the association and the media thought the job was finished. What a disgrace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by EdmontonSoccer Toronto has one game that is supported by more than visiting fans (for once)and it returns to the centre of the universe. As for not advertising I have seen half page adds numerous times. I'll put Edmonton's 5-2-1 record up against the other venues (except St John's...Won the biggest game ever there.) Canada won their 2nd biggest game in Edmonton defeating Australia before losing in PK in aussie after giving up a late goal. We would have made the WC that year. God, shut up. "Toronto has one game that is supported by more than visiting fans (for once)and it returns to the centre of the universe." Are you aware that Daniel is from Montreal? That "one game" was the best supported Canadian home game ever. I'll put the 16-18,000 passionate, involved fans at the Jamaica game up against any crowd Edmonton can come up with, any day of the week. This is not bravado, or any hatred towards Edmonton (or any other Canadian city). This is simply the truth at the moment. And it will continue to be the truth as the TFC culture grows here. Hopefully MLS will do the same for Montreal and Vancouver as it did for Toronto, in creating a real support culture. I'm not so hopeful for Montreal if the Saputos and Impact are involved (see my previous post), but there should be at least some improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdmontonSoccer Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Rudi God, shut up. "Toronto has one game that is supported by more than visiting fans (for once)and it returns to the centre of the universe." Are you aware that Daniel is from Montreal? That "one game" was the best supported Canadian home game ever. I'll put the 16-18,000 passionate, involved fans at the Jamaica game up against any crowd Edmonton can come up with, any day of the week. This is not bravado, or any hatred towards Edmonton (or any other Canadian city). This is simply the truth at the moment. And it will continue to be the truth as the TFC culture grows here. Hopefully MLS will do the same for Montreal and Vancouver as it did for Toronto, in creating a real support culture. I'm not so hopeful for Montreal if the Saputos and Impact are involved (see my previous post), but there should be at least some improvement. Nice try, Get your facts straight. Historically, the Canadian national teams have preferred to play here because of the size of the crowds and the fact Edmonton fans cheer for them instead of the other team - as often happens, particularly in Toronto. The largest crowds for national team games in Canada have all come here. The all-time record is 51,936 to watch Canada tie Brazil 1-1 in Edmonton on June 5, 1994. On July 7, 1993, the first World Cup qualifying game was played here against Australia. It drew 40,000. Oh ya, Why don't you shut up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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