GERMANY vs CANADA (Pre-Game / In-Game) Thread (R)

[StrandOne]

Can you explain why we had a pre camp in Rome? As to the game ... we need to replace or push Leblanc to be better she looked unfit and lost out there.

Sometimes, part of the reason you hire someone is because of their resources and connections that lie BEYOND your existing sphere of influence. Carolina brings a wealth of European connections & relationships with her. Her ragazze could provide fertile ground for engaging her system within the WNT. So it makes sense to me that she took her new peeps (WNT) to her old stomping grounds. It's good for Carolina to remain connected to the roots that were an integral part of her success-- and that could be very good for the WNT to really soak up the changes Carolina is guiding them to implement on the field. Culture. Attitude. Style. When in Rome... maybe that's where the girls really soak up why & how to play in a different style-- free-flowing & attacking creativity. Anyway, that's purely my own conjecture but I can see it working. Once you're in Europe, great competition is merely a train ride away. Not so in this vast geographic expanse of a nation.

As for Karina, I don't get the sense that she's had as much playing time & prominence as she enjoyed last year in WPS. McLeod has had more of that but is out with an ACL injury. But Karina is no Brianna Scurry (who should've stopped playing BEFORE the 2008 Olympics). 1 BS yellow card and 2 soft goals-- perhaps because she hasn't had hte amount & quality of play time as last year-- is a 2-0 game which isn't the worst scoreline any of us has seen. Don't quit on Karina just yet. She's key to WNT chemistry and can pull it together in time for Cancun. Just watch.

[ThruBall]

I'm going "Green" (my surname). I'll walk. And I'm sure I'll get to the Promised Land before you... and yer bus. I'm sorry Peter K. but YOU GUYS crapped on my Cheerios so batten down the hatches. I'm tired of hearing the WHOLESALE CHANGE is THE ONLY WAY for the Cdn soccerscape to improve dramatically. I think it's absolutely foolish to think that a 180 turn of an AIRCRAFT CARRIER is an easy maneuver. It's easier to tinker with smaller pieces of the BIG PICTURE-- like a mosaic. I'm not saying that's the only way to fix things but this GET ON THE BUS FOR WHOLESALE CHANGES mentality is just as destructive as the problems at hand.

Nothing like being candid about where you stand and you certainly are not alone. There are plenty in your camp who like the status quo just fine.

I am not one who supports the current governance frame work. It has to change for too many reasons that can be listed here but say two; World Cup Success at the senior Men’s and Women’s level in the next 5 years.

Now that is exactly why I posted this link… http://csagovernancemodel.blogspot.com/

There is nothing unusual about this process. It is certainly not about wholesale change. Nor is it about slowing a titanic; far from it. Success in organizations is brought about through governance reform all the time. Without it, organizations fail. Successfully utilized, organizations stay current with the ability to work effectively with in their every changing environment. Is the world of soccer dynamic? You bet. How has the CSA performed in the last 30 years?

This reform is more about “mixing it up” versus “tossing out the baby with the bath water”. No question some of the status quo power mongers will face the exit door….good riddance if they can’t demonstrate their value. However many more within the existing organizations can take their place where their contributions might prove to be more effective and current for the issues at hand. The people resources must evolve.

Not with standing the success the Women have had through the past decade the men’s game is lost and there really isn’t any near term hope in sight. The CSA is in need of the two most fundamental resources required to survive; People and Money….. The first enables the second. Many of the incumbents across all associations with in the current governance frame work have proven themselves to be self serving (example Alberta) and incompetent. 20+ years is a fair amount of time to make a judgement of this.

No one is entitled to a free ride. Produce with in well defined and time sensitive boundaries or get out or be removed. The CSA must bestow powers on their servants …. not the other way around. This proposal moves the CSA entity closer to having these powers.

However, lets be clear….I am not speaking about the athletes with in the CSA. I’m speaking about the organization that must be there to support them to be successful.

[ThruBall]

I'm heated that people want to look OUTSIDE the current group for "talent". THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY SPOTS. It will always be true that there are other players-- short, tall, skinny & chunky-- who could play exceptionally at the national level. Tough beans! Yes, there should be communication between national team head coaches. The transition from Ian Bridge to Bryan Rosenfeld was prolly the most convenient one. I think it worked out well enough-- a fabulous Gold Cup result + a not-so-fabulous World Cup result. If CSA decides to review the position and new candidates, I hope BR will also get an interview. Until then, Carolina does indeed have her work cut out for her. But please stop brandishing axes and circling like vultures over her. That doomed + defeatist spirit may be very Canadian but ISN'T NECESSARY. Instead, choose optimism and encouragement.

Are you a fan, an athlete, or someone fighting for a cause?

Our current WNT17 team does not demonstrate the same level of skills and tactical capabilities as the final 8. The teams performance at the Gold Cup speaks to the state of soccer with in the region. Canada achieved Gold versus USA loosing Gold. Regardless, the Gold Cup is about qualifying. The talent and tactics the team succeeded at during Gold Cup could not move them further ahead at the final than the 2008 team which finished 3rd at the qualifier and then progress to the final 8. The 2010 team failed to equal or achieve a better result.

BR lead this show. I haven't seen anything before or after that speaks to him ducking the result. He doesn't deserve an interview for the position in 2012. His methods and abilities have taken the program in reverse. BR needs to go get educated. He needs to leave the OSA and pursue new knowledge in the game. Go to Europe or somewhere where he can work on his coaching experience and then return. No free ride. Certianly the paying public do not need the OSA or CSA propping him up in this position for an indefinite time into the future. Why? He has had his day.... move on.

There are only so many spots. Yup. Both for players and Coaches. The organization picks the coach and the coach picks the ones they want to go to war with. It's the coaches vision. If coaches change, the athletes will likely see their star rise or fall based on what the coach requires. That's life. That is sports.

If there was just one cure for a hang over I"m sure we would all be onto it by now. Canada has a deep pool of athletes and coaches. Why should the public be seeing the same ones all the time when there are not any championships to go along with them?

"I defy you to name an ACTIVE NT player you feel is an millstone around the team's neck and doesn't deserve to play"? Kara Lang!

[StrandOne]

There are plenty in your camp who like the status quo just fine.

If anything about my presence here (WPS in Canada. Voyageurs-supported Player & Coach Profiles website, CSA mktg consultancy, etc.) suggests to YOU that I like the status quo just fine I'm not sure addressing such half-baked discernment is worth my time. Pearls to swine perhaps. But serving the public is often gluttony for punishment so...

I'll admit, I didn't follow the link and absorb any of its content. Instead, I reacted to a collage of comments from an assortment of folks calling for whoelsale changes that seemed tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bath water. I don't support such an approach. I hadn't followed the link to know that the reform proposed therein is NOT a 'throw the baby out with the bath water' model. But I agree with much of what you said AFTER your insulting comment about me embracing the status quo. Reform is good. But I don't preach reform. I live it... by suggesting & supporting ideas that enact change. BE about it.

For example, Voyageaurs love to call for coaches' heads on a stick-- without suggesting competent replacements. I ♡ the suggestion you put forth this morning to have COACHES' PROFILES online. Such a tangible product FROM THIS ONLINE COMMUNITY could transition Voyageurs to being SOLUTION PROVIDERS in a SUSTAINABLE EFFORT. Reports & documents are fine but something like a Coaches' Profile website is sheer brilliance. Canada NEEDS to raise an awareness about and VET great candidates for the upper ranks of a coaching network. No question the kids, the game, the national squads would benefit from that. So let's do it. I'm ready to stop talking about it and be part of doing it. I'm not sure how much concensus needs to be reached to push fwd but I'm not even a forum moderator-- Thank God! Whoever can legitamately push this fwd in this community needs to galvanize a call to action before I can do more. And I can do PLENTY.

I can start by approaching my brother-- a designer, sports enthusiast, and business owner-- about creating such a website for Voyageurs to own & moderate. I can't speak for him but I can see him suggesting that Voyageurs stick to a coaches' profile site and cross-promote HIS athletes' profile service. I don't think Joslin (my bro) intends to step into the coach profile arena and doing so just for soccer circumscribes any competition Voyageurs might present to his business. But that would a be a HUGE first step for Voyageurs to take. You can call encourage your compatriots in far-flung regions of the world, who may be interested in coming to Canada for soccer, to register a profile. A sponsorship from SONY or Telus or Teck to pay for the site design shouldn't be too difficult to secure. A nominal fee like $10/mo or $100/yr should be in order-- to weed out the yahoos who aren't serious about the exposure this could bring for them. The revenue generated goes directly to an endowment fund that could energize a Voyageurs Coaches Conference or a Coaching Scholarship. This idea is totally worth doing.

But that's the status quo, right?

[StrandOne]

Are you a fan, an athlete, or someone fighting for a cause?

"I defy you to name an ACTIVE NT player you feel is an millstone around the team's neck and doesn't deserve to play"? Kara Lang!

I am an athlete. I played varsity soccer at the University of Waterloo for 3 years, alongside Olympian Heather Moyse, once going to OUA Championship tourney.

I am a sport administrator. I founded the Aurora Minor Soccer League in Yellowknife and served as an officer of the NWT Soccer Association for a year.

I am CLEARLY a fan of the Canadian WNT. I also ♡ Chelsea, Leo Messi and KNVB (altho' I was deeply saddened by the "hooligan football" they displayed in the WC Final)

I will concede that perhaps you are right in discerning that Bryan Rosenfeld has had his time and should continue his learning process in a new environment. That doesn't seem overly rash to me. Just because he gets an interview doesn't mean he's given the job-- but I see your point. You state a worthy position that I'll stand neutral to.

Kara Lang. ouch. That's my girl right there. She's suffered some setbacks with injuries but I still believe in her. She contributed to UCLA's success. She appeared on the scene earlier than most but I believe she's got more to give... that the WNT can benefit from. The players I might qualify as millstone at the WNT level are not active players. Hope Solo is DEFINITELY a millstone due to her antics & attitude. I can understand some feeling Natasha Kai is a millstone. They're both great athletes. But I have trouble putting Kara Lang that category.

I hope I'm not the only one enjoying the banter.