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2011 WCQ: Pick the venues


CanadianSoccerFan

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I only voted for BMO, but think Saputo should get a 1st round game as a way to "test" the waters on support.

On paper I think Saputo is a shoe in, but after the Honduras fiasco, I'm on the fence...

As for a 3rd option, I think St.John's might be a better choice in terms of ease of access for the Euro based players, but Moncton might be a better venue...

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I only voted for BMO, but think Saputo should get a 1st round game as a way to "test" the waters on support.

On paper I think Saputo is a shoe in, but after the Honduras fiasco, I'm on the fence...

As for a 3rd option, I think St.John's might be a better choice in terms of ease of access for the Euro based players, but Moncton might be a better venue...

Take it from me, traveling to St John's is a pain the ass from any direction. There are only seasonal flights from St John's to London (I cannot recall when), so getting to St John's for European based players means flight to Toronto, Halifax, or Newark and then to St John's. Living here on Vancouver Island, with the lay overs, flying to St John's means 8-10 hours of traveling, the same amount of time needed for me to fly to London. Getting to Moncton for European based players is easier than St John's, not directly but To halifax and a short drive or flight to Moncton

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As a Halifax boy, it pains me to see Moncton get anything before us, but a game should go there.

I think the games at which we are going to pull a lot of pro Canada support are those with locations similar to Moncton. It's not ideal to get to for visiting supporters. Nothing attractive about the city (unlike YYZ, YUL, YVR) and not a large community of any of the teams we would face. Plus, when you grow up in a place like Moncton, or Halifax, you LOVE when the rest of the Upper Canadian majority throws a bone.

CIS men's basketball would tank anywhere else, it was part of our culture out east. Is it cause we like mediocre basketball played by all white dudes who can't dunk? No. It's cause when something comes along, we embrace it as ours (or we go cause we don't get much else). If moncton gets a game, and I pray they do, I think we should seriously consider funding some advertising on radio. It would go a long way to help our cause of a pro Canada stadium.

I for one would fly home, rent a bus and drag my friends up.

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Richardson is old and in bad shape and has a bad pitch. As long as it is still FIFA approved though it might be a good venue for a match against a superior possession team with a lot of away fans. I think the ideal opponent for Richardson would be Mexico. With a pre-sale we could probably sell out most of the stadium to Canada fans before tickets went on sale to the public leaving the Mexicans only their FIFA alloted tickets. The poor pitch could negate some of the Mexicans technical superiority. The CSA would have to be willing to sacrifice some ticket income in the interest of increasing our chances of a result for this to happen though.

Love your thinking Griz, and the Mexicans would be p#ssed about the bus ride from the airport.

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I only voted for BMO, but think Saputo should get a 1st round game as a way to "test" the waters on support.

On paper I think Saputo is a shoe in, but after the Honduras fiasco, I'm on the fence...

Who would have thought playing Honduras, in a city close to many Honduran populations, in a stadium in a neighborhood with thousands of Hondurans... would have lead to a pro-Honduran crowd?

All it takes from the CSA for good crowds, is for them to be smart in who they play where. Don't play against Honduras or Haiti or Chile in Montreal, don't play against Asian teams in Vancouver, etc.

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I would love to see a game played...... in a totally different venue...something to be very different...

http://www.glengarryhighlandgames.com/

This little stadia would be great to host ... one of the minnows at in the early goings... you can put in 15k and it would be very intimidating.... the access from Montreal and Ottawa makes it unique ... its natural grass surface and has all the things needed to host .. space for beer sales ..and now in Ontario you can walk about with your beer so it becomes a festival site....

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I would love to see a game played...... in a totally different venue...something to be very different...

http://www.glengarryhighlandgames.com/

This little stadia would be great to host ... one of the minnows at in the early goings... you can put in 15k and it would be very intimidating.... the access from Montreal and Ottawa makes it unique ... its natural grass surface and has all the things needed to host .. space for beer sales ..and now in Ontario you can walk about with your beer so it becomes a festival site....

Love it, Love it, Love it

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Just a reminder, for those who may not be aware... if you're keen on seeing a game go to Moncton, sign the petition.

http://www.petitiononline.com/nbsoccer/petition.html

The CSA is aware of the sentiment, and I will be presenting the petition to them soon. So if you support the cause and haven't signed your name yet, please do so.

Ugg, Im already going to have to go to Moncton on free will, don't make my document it online!

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Um, "literally all the time"? Professional hockey hasn't been played on frozen ponds for more than a century. Or do you mean artificial ice as in "made of plastic" and not just "manmade"? In which case I would say it's still an irrelevant comparison since artificial grass technology is now superior to bad grass (i.e. the stuff they mercifully tore out of Commonwealth) and most of the stigma against it is pure superstition.

I didn't mean water frozen by artificial means. I meant non-water based ice. I meant stuff like this www.ezglide350.com

So why don't hockey players in Canada play on it? One simple reason. They won't accept second best. Not for the kids, not for the teenagers and not for the adults. They insist on real water based ice and they get it. We are talking aobut our men's national team playing on it. Not just a bunch of kids and yet we tolerate it? When the clubs refuse to release players to play on it what then?

As to the fake grass being superior yes there are some fake grass options that are darned good and if AC Milan has it in their training facility then the Limonta/GeoSafePlay cork'o'nut infill stuff has to be decent. But you and I both know when it comes down to it for soccer in North America the people in charge will cheap out and install some crumb rubber or silica crap because it is cheaper.

We have made such great progress in the last 4 years. BMO field is now a world class pitch and SS seems to have sorted out their first year problems and have a great pitch. Lets not start regressing back to the bad old days where "anything will do because it's only soccer" and we blindly accept it like we have no choice.

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Who would have thought playing Honduras, in a city close to many Honduran populations, in a stadium in a neighborhood with thousands of Hondurans... would have lead to a pro-Honduran crowd?

All it takes from the CSA for good crowds, is for them to be smart in who they play where. Don't play against Honduras or Haiti or Chile in Montreal, don't play against Asian teams in Vancouver, etc.

Amen. And no more games against Jamaica in Toronto, FFS.

Toronto is my first choice. The crowd there for the Jamaica match was insane. A sea of red, which is the only time that has EVER happened in a soccer match here in Canada.

Montreal or an east-coast city would reduce travel time for players based in Europe, although the CSA would have to prevent another Montreal-Honduras cock-up.

Vancouver might be interesting if the matches coincide with the buzz of the Whitecaps moving to BC Place this autumn.

BTW, when is CONCACAF's new qualification process likely to be confirmed by FIFA?

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Take it from me, traveling to St John's is a pain the ass from any direction. There are only seasonal flights from St John's to London (I cannot recall when), so getting to St John's for European based players means flight to Toronto, Halifax, or Newark and then to St John's. Living here on Vancouver Island, with the lay overs, flying to St John's means 8-10 hours of traveling, the same amount of time needed for me to fly to London. Getting to Moncton for European based players is easier than St John's, not directly but To halifax and a short drive or flight to Moncton

I agree games would only make sense at KGV if the schedule fell during the seasonal direct flights from LHR to St. John's. Our competitive advantage would be in the logistics you mention, very difficult for our opponents to get there. Not to mention the quirky time difference.

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Amen. And no more games against Jamaica in Toronto, FFS.

Toronto is my first choice. The crowd there for the Jamaica match was insane. A sea of red, which is the only time that has EVER happened in a soccer match here in Canada.

Er... ;)

We showed we can handle Jamaica here (and there are far more Jamaicans in and around Toronto than there are Hondurans in the Montreal area). Hopefully when Montreal gets MLS, they'll develop the culture that allows them to overwhelm the opposition regardless of who it is.

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I did realize I was contradicting myself as I posted.

Most Jamaican immigrants in Canada live in Greater Toronto, right? Or at least there are more in Greater Toronto than in any other area? If so, why host matches against Jamaica in Toronto... even if BMO can become a sea of red in such circumstances? Host Honduras in TO, and Jamaica in Montreal.

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I did realize I was contradicting myself as I posted.

Most Jamaican immigrants in Canada live in Greater Toronto, right? Or at least there are more in Greater Toronto than in any other area? If so, why host matches against Jamaica in Toronto... even if BMO can become a sea of red in such circumstances? Host Honduras in TO, and Jamaica in Montreal.

I'm not entirely convinced that Jamaicans wouldn't simply overrun Stade Saputo.

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Can our liaison to the CSA find out if they have begun work regarding WCQ venues yet? Surely they must have, I'd assume booking the venues would have to happen quite soon if not already. This is wishful thinking, but I wonder if we could have any say in the venues for this fall.

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Sometimes I just don't understand the people on this board. No more ranting against the CSA, I give up. To quote Wallygator in Pogo: "We have met the enemy and they are us".

BMO?

Teams like Guatemala are at least savy enough to schedule their matches against nations like Canada in sweaty inaccesible lowland cocoa-growing swamps instead of the pleasant highlands.

Why not just mail the opposing teams the 3 WCQ points and deny them the pleasant holiday in TO. That'll teach them!

Sheeeeesshhhhhhhhhh!

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BMO is our "national" stadium but yes beachesl, one wonders how accommodating we appear to be to the opposing teams. If it weren't for the Voyageurs, U-Sector, RPB, NEE, and individuals like Dino (who bought blocks of tickets) and organizers like Rudi and WF, it's not hard to imagine what the Jamaica match in WCQ would have been like.

I thought having the October 2008 match in cold Edmonton was smart, but the Mexicans showed up in droves anyway. But must have been a tough experience for them though. We should always try to adopt a "play to win" mentality at this level.

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