Mitchell hopes to remain with national team

[Grizzly]

I don't think this will make anyone very happy:

Mitchell hopes to remain with national team

Canadian team playing Jamaica

By Jim Morris, THE CANADIAN PRESS

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/Canada/2008/11/14/7415211-cp.html

With nothing but pride on the line, coach Dale Mitchell decided to inject some youth into Canada's lineup for Wednesday's World Cup qualifying game against Jamaica.

The game, to be played in Kingston, Jamaica, will be the final match of the year for the national men's team. There are questions if Mitchell will be the coach when the team gathers again in 2009.

"I'm sure the media will be notified if anything is going to change in that regard," Mitchell told a telephone conference call Friday.

"My concern is with the game on Wednesday. All my focus is on that. After Wednesday we start to look forward. I enjoy the position I have. I enjoy the challenge. I think it's fairly safe to say I would like to continue."

Canada has a 0-3-2 record heading into the match against Jamaica and has no chance to advance into the next round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. With that in mind, Mitchell decided to have a look at some of his younger players.

"Given the fact the game doesn't mean that much to us, the motivation is something we were concerned about," he said. "With that in mind, a lot of the players that have been called are players with maybe a little less experience.

"It's a good chance for them to show that they have what it takes to participate in a real game, and a real qualifier, and hopefully be a part of the future."

Among the talent Mitchell is anxious to watch is Simeon Jackson, a 21-year-old midfielder from Mississauga, Ont., who is looking to play his first game for the national team. Also on the roster is David Edgar, 21, a defender from Kitchener, and goaltender Asmir Begovic, 21, of Edmonton, both Canadian U-20 players of the year

Also on the roster is defender-midfielder Marcel de Jong, 22, of Newmarket, Ont., and defender Kevin Harmse, 24, of Vancouver, who both played in Canada's 2-2 draw with Mexico Oct. 15 in Edmonton.

"It would be nice to see if they can continue," said Mitchell. "There are going to be others who get the opportunity in the match as well. To be honest, I wish I had a bit more time with them because we would get a better idea in training."

Among the veterans on the team is captain Paul Stalteri, who will earn his 74th cap, third most in Canadian Soccer Association history, and goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld, 30, of Edmonton.

One player not on the roster is Dwayne De Rosario of the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. The veteran midfielder did not play in the game against Mexico after being quoted as wondering why Mitchell was given the national team job after leading Canada's U-20 squad to a winless performance at last year's's world championship.

Mitchell said he had spoken to De Rosario about playing in the Jamaica game, but at the time the Dynamo were involved in the MLS playoffs. Since then Houston was upset by the New York Red Bulls.

"We did have a conversation about if (his) team was eliminated would this be a good time to come back in," said Mitchell. "At the end of the day we decided it's best the younger players get the opportunity in this game and leave it at that until we get together again in the new year."

Iain Hume had been selected to the squad before suffering a skull fracture in a Barnsley-Sheffield derby last Saturday in England. Patrice Bernier, Julian de Guzman and Adrian Serioux were all unavailable due to injuries. Michael Klukowski and Tomasz Radzinski were unavailable due to suspensions.

Canada found itself in a group with Jamaica, Mexico and Honduras in second-round of qualifying in the CONCACAF region, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. The top two teams advance to the next round.

A disappointing 1-1 tie at home against Jamaica in August put Canada behind the eight-ball early. The team then lost the next three games.

That resulted in players like Jim Brennan and De Rosario criticizing Mitchell.

Mitchell said the whole process has been a learning experience.

"I'm disappointed like everybody else about one thing, that we won't be playing (World Cup qualifying) in 2009" he said. "I feel like the team is among the six best teams in CONCACAF. We weren't able to put two of the also six best teams in CONCACAF behind us during the qualifying process.

"I think there are certain things that happen and some things will catch you a little bit by surprise."

Canada will arrive in Jamaica Sunday and begin training on Monday.

[wildguy27]

I hope he does. He is an outstanding coach and should be not be thrown under the bus for one bad showing.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by wildguy27

I hope he does. He is an outstanding coach and should be not be thrown under the bus for one bad showing.

I guess I should rephrase my comment from above: I don't think this will make anyone happy except for the resident trolls who have nothing better to do in their life than post BS on this board. I will now await the diatribe from Jeffrey S. about my secret agenda in trying to shut out wildguy from the Voyageurs.

[wildguy27]

You are the with 4700+ posts on here, not me.

[Sam]

Not surprising I don't think anyone expected him to step down, the question is what will the CSA do? Will they have the balls to fire him?

[Trillium]

quote:Originally posted by wildguy27

I hope he does. He is an outstanding coach and should be not be thrown under the bus for one bad showing.

Robby do you have full movement in your neck ? If so please give your head a good long violent shake, I do think your comment on Mitchells supposed excellence is pretty much dumb and really if your not a troll you might want to realize National Team Coaches should not be learning on the job like a u12 recreational coach.

Horrible.

[Cheeta]

quote:Originally posted by leafdolfan

Not surprising I don't think anyone expected him to step down, the question is what will the CSA do? Will they have the balls to fire him?

Who's going to have the balls to keep him on after Wednesday?

Mark my words. If Thursday morning Mitch is still managing this team each and every member on the BoDs is going to have to answer for their position on this issue.

This BoD just spent $1M+ to buy out Nykamp and 99% of Canadian soccer fans are still wondering why, it can find the money to regain the confidence of the Canadian fans & national team players by seeing to Mitchell's immediate release with the conclusion of WCQ and the appointment of an intern manager.

[FootieFool]

Hahahahah...hahahaha...Good one, Grizzly. You almost had me there for a moment. Mitchell staying on...hahahaha....good one!

[The Ref]

Thank you Grizzly for posting the article from Jim Morris.

One thing that this idiot of Mitchell is not counting on is that, even though he may have received some assurances from the idiots at the CSA, he is not going to have any players as one by one they will desert him. He will have to leave with his tail between his legs. That will be a day of celebration for me.

[Richard]

I don't think there are enough balls on either side for the one party to quit or the other to do the firing. They took the cheap and easy route by appointing him, they will take the cheapest and easiest route and keep him on at least until his contract expires. The CSA does not have the money to fire yet another relatively high profile employee and pay yet more severance. Mitchell knows it, he is on a good wicket. Nothing will change till the CSA is restructured.

[villus]

What a pathetic loser. Have some shame and quit and stop leaching money from the organization that made you even relevant. Even if he wants to stay on who is he going to coach?? None of our top players want to play for him and rightly so guy is out of his league. Obviously though I'm sure he's not going to quit and pass up the pay check, and the CSA will let their old boy continue and the program will still be the laughing stock of concacaf.

[Daniel]

Really? Is Mitchell still the coach?

[The Ref]

quote:Originally posted by Richard

I don't think there are enough balls on either side for the one party to quit or the other to do the firing. They took the cheap and easy route by appointing him, they will take the cheapest and easiest route and keep him on at least until his contract expires. The CSA does not have the money to fire yet another relatively high profile employee and pay yet more severance. Mitchell knows it, he is on a good wicket. Nothing will change till the CSA is restructured.

You can be funny at times and that is a good quality. Do you think Mitchell is intelligent enough to figure the CSA can't afford to fire him? If that is the case, then he is staying just to milk the money cow, and by doing so he is being selfish as he doesn't care about screwing our players, our team and Canada's image abroad.

[RJB]

From the perspective of the CSA, there is little reason to fire Mitchell. If they leave him on until 2010, and then hire someone after his contract expires, it will still leave plenty of time for a new coach to familiarize himself with the program. Honestly, between now and 2010, what do we need a coach for? The Gold Cup: no one cares, and this Gold Cup won't get us into a Confederations Cup, so there is very little on the line.

Furthermore, the CSA continues to operate in relative obscurity so these horrible decisions(Nykamp, Mitchell, etc) aren't anywhere near the forefront so people don't hear about it. They know what side of the bread their butter is on.

[piltdownman]

Whats the CSA's Phone number? We should start calling as soon as the office opens Thursday until they get the message. Letters, and emails can be ignored, but 100 people phoning ever hour is something they can't.

[RJB]

quote:Originally posted by The Ref

Ref, I don't think that Mitchell is trying to screw anybody. I think that he knows that if he leaves the team now, then he will have no more opportunity anywhere. But if he stays on, and manages to claw some success in a Gold Cup, all of a sudden his reputation could be saved. He's trying to save his career.

You can be funny at times and that is a good quality. Do you think Mitchell is intelligent enough to figure the CSA can't afford to fire him? If that is the case, then he is staying just to milk the money cow, and by doing so he is being selfish as he doesn't care about screwing our players, our team and Canada's image abroad.

[nolando]

In all sincerity, the title of this article should be,

"Mitchell Remains Delusional Ahead of Final Game in Charge"

[tmcmurph]

quote:Originally posted by Richard

I don't think there are enough balls on either side for the one party to quit or the other to do the firing. They took the cheap and easy route by appointing him, they will take the cheapest and easiest route and keep him on at least until his contract expires. The CSA does not have the money to fire yet another relatively high profile employee and pay yet more severance. Mitchell knows it, he is on a good wicket. Nothing will change till the CSA is restructured.

I fear you are correct in your assessment senor Ricardo

Sad but true state of affairs in Canadian soccer. I think the only hope is if the majority of the top 50 Canadian players form a union or Canadian Players Association and take on the CSA.

[Bill Ault]

quote:Originally posted by piltdownman

Whats the CSA's Phone number? We should start calling as soon as the office opens Thursday until they get the message. Letters, and emails can be ignored, but 100 people phoning ever hour is something they can't.

You're assuming they answer the phone when it rings...

[CanadianSoccerFan]

I never knew Stephane Dion was coaching our team...

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by The Ref

You can be funny at times and that is a good quality. Do you think Mitchell is intelligent enough to figure the CSA can't afford to fire him? If that is the case, then he is staying just to milk the money cow, and by doing so he is being selfish as he doesn't care about screwing our players, our team and Canada's image abroad.

Canada MNT Head Coach for four years looks good on the old resume. Asked about the team's record in a job interview by anybody but a really well informed person four years from now, say for a job as head coach of a big amateur club in Canada and he can spin a good yarn about how the players let him down, he didn't have enough resources to get the job done etc. etc., all the usual stuff. In the meanwhile he has a secure, well paid job without the stress of competing in a World Cup.

[I_AM_CANADIAN]

quote:Originally posted by wildguy27

I hope he does. He is an outstanding coach and should be not be thrown under the bus for one bad showing.

One bad showing? Remember us looking like 13 year-olds at the U-20 World Cup? That was a pretty bad showing. Plus also, losing is one thing, but losing and then alienating your best players is a different story altogether. It screams 'epic fail' in one's face.

[vpsoccer]

quote:Originally posted by piltdownman

Whats the CSA's Phone number? We should start calling as soon as the office opens Thursday until they get the message. Letters, and emails can be ignored, but 100 people phoning ever hour is something they can't.

Tel: (613) 237-7678

Fax: (613) 237-1516

Please note the direct extension for each member of staff. The membership is encouraged to call (613) 237-4580 to access staff members directly.

General Secretary

Peter Montopoli

Ext. / Poste : / Poste 234

Chief Operating Officer

John Billingsley

Ext. / Poste : 235

Email / Courriel : jb@soccercan.ca

Manager of Administration

Cathy Breda

Ext. / Poste : 222

Email / Courriel : cbreda@soccercan.ca

Place Soccer Canada

237 Metcalfe Street

Ottawa, ON

K2P 1R2

For any media inquiries, please send an email to:

Richard Scott

rscott@soccercan.ca

[LMW]

quote:Originally posted by piltdownman

Whats the CSA's Phone number? We should start calling as soon as the office opens Thursday until they get the message. Letters, and emails can be ignored, but 100 people phoning ever hour is something they can't.

You would be wasting your time. The CSA does not care about soccer and the fans in this country. When 2012 comes around, Canada will have a similiar record like the one we have now. The only way to stop this from happening is to contact youth soccer, businesses, the pro players and tell them to boycott the CSA. This means DO NOT give any money to this organization. Stop being nice to the CSA. THEY HAVE TO GO!! They are a RECREATIONAL SOCCER ORGANIZATION. A new soccer organization has to be started. Time to get vicious and declare total war on the CSA. No more Bulll****e. This is the only way to get what people want on this board. Proper development and a team we can be proud of in the future.

[Richard]

^ You're right in that nothing will change until the CSA is restructured and its governance overhauled. Deloitte & Touche got it right.