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6/30/2011: Canada v. France


Vic

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Well someone even managed to blame EP for the defeat [...] Let's face it--France was just better in every way.
That's twisting my words (and tmcmurph's, who I see also mentioned EP)! I didn't blame EP for the defeat (in fact, similar to your assessment, I said that France had a great game and we had a very bad game). I was responding to comments about other countries catching up to/passing us by pointing out that, while they were improving, we were not continuing to do so (those were the EP years).

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A clip from the post-match press conference was shown during the Germany vs. Nigeria halftime. Morace was calling for a Canadian women's soccer league.

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Question is, are the youth being schooled in Route 1 still? You can't overcome a lifetime of play once you get to the top, you have to instil the possession approach from the very start. LTPD

From what I've seen yes. We are still on the highway to hell at the kids level.

I'm not saying it was EP's fault but you are not going to turn an ocean liner around on a dime. As a country that is how we have taught players from kids on up. We have changed the top with a good coach but we need to focus on changing all levels. How many kids practices do you see where kids are running without a ball? Lots.

France has better control, and a midfield that owned ours today. We have shown that we can play the real soccer but once panic sets in we reverted to old bad habits. That it happened on the biggest stage for the ladies is a shame. They can and will play real soccer. Beat Nigeria for a consolation and on to the Olympics.

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Very bad result. Old habits die hard and 2 years of Morace haven't rid the team of 8 years of Pellerund. Too bad I had high hopes for them. As long as we play punt and chase we will lose. The ladies game has moved beyond that just like the mens game did long ago. Route 1 soccer is a highway to hell.

Exactly. I thought that Pellerud was back. How could have we played so badly is beyond me. Mask or no mask, France made french onion soup of us. Being objective I question Morace's choice of players for this game. Where were all her teachings in the last two years. Who will be next after Morace?

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A gut wrenching game for me and for sure the WNT is feeling more than any of us could imagine.

Clare and Jason's recap comments are probably the best statement on what the problems were in the game and with the lack of a Canadian youth development system.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifawomensworldcup2011/story/2011/06/30/sp-canada-france-wcup.html

Hopefully what will come from this game is it's time to blow up the CSA and do something like the Aussie's did with their Crawford Report. It's the only way Canada will have a structure that works at home so the team and players will be able compete abroad. Failing that it's maybe time for a Canadian investor to create a Euro team filled with Canadian NT and upcoming players to play in one of the 28 Euro women's leagues.

If the CSA sacks CM it will be another example of how far they are out of touch and that the Perkie boys need to be replaced. It will look like another knee jerk hockey decision. CM is the future but we need to see what she teaches get into the youth level as the current WNT ain't getting any younger to change their ways. More importantly our youth players and their families deserve better for the time and money they are investing in the sport to play rec or shoot for the university, pro and NT pathway.

Super to see more of the comments here focusing on the real problem of the lack of youth development prior to the NT system. The Euro and soccer nations that have pro development where players in their early teens are picked up by pro teams into a pro club to play and train year round is the only way to go. Residency in this day and age is only a 1/2 way step to the real deal. As demonstrated by the French team with 10 year round pro players from their top pro team Olympique Lyon, Champions League title this season. The system they grew up in is far superior in development funding, time and experience than what the CSA can offer or even organize for the youth of Canada.

My bottom line and broken record is still the same as other years, get rid of the Perkie boys, power brokers and don't know anything about sports development programing and management at the CSA.

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Rebuilding the team means starting at the points such as I assume where you are - Oakville. We won't be able to overcome the hockey culture that has inbreeded into whatever footy culture we have until we have generation after generation and their coaches realize football isn't just about being an athlete and fitness.

One aspect though we seemed to have failed to import from hockey is mental strength. Time and time again - with this June being a glaring example - across both genders, our teams just fold up when the big show arrives.

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*shrug*

Awful match. Simply awful. But wouldn't define this as the be-all and end-all of the program. Some matches it just doesn't work for you and not to take anything from France who looked very professional today, but it just wasn't working out there for Canada. Go figure, that happening to us at the worst possible time. Who'd have thought?

Regardless, that's back to back matches the ladies lost it badly in the midfield. Can't say I like seeing that. Can't say that at all.

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I'm certainly no where near as choked up as the majority here are. I saw the first half this morning and the second just now. I don't think the French were all that dominant. First goal was a fluke after a Canadian miscue, second was a terrible decision by Zurrer. If Kyle had still been on the field the third wouldn't have happened and the fourth was France being successful at the very thing that everyone here is accusing the Canadians of - route 1 football. Not one French goal came off of any sustained possession or pressure. In fact in the second half Canada had some nice buildups that resulted in a couple of chances that should have resulted in goals. The one French centre back was very good at intercepting Canadian long balls, however Canada gained possession deep more than a couple of times off direct balls and a couple more narrowly missed being great chances. Individually the French made fewer mistakes but still mishandled quite a few balls and had numerous bad passes as well. I think expectations were so high for this game (and tournament) that the letdown has severely coloured people's perceptions of the game. I want Canadian teams to win as much as anybody but I usually watch the other team during games more than our team. One thing struck me about Foligno, she needs to get a lot tougher. I would think she must have got tired of picking herself off the grass. Julien was invisible so it was probably best to bring Tank on but I wouldn't have removed Kyle, her replacement did squat and contributed nothing. Sinclair was noticeably affected by her injury, I believe that it made a difference. After reading some of the comments before I saw the second half I had assumed that she had never touched the ball at all. Not true at all, she probably had it as much as the French centre forward did. All in all I still think this team is on the right track and can improve. I'm more worried about the long term future, I just don't see a lot at the u20 and u17 levels at this time.

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And the last time this happened (IIRC) was the 2007 U20 WC. Double ouch.

Exactly what I've been thinking all afternoon and evening. And that team also got all the stops pulled out (by Canadian standards) in terms of camps and preparation. Our last two "prime time" oppurtunities to promote the national teams have been complete disasters and we've probably lost another enite generation of potential part time followers. At least the women scored, I guess!

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Re: Kids, long-ball, and LTPD

From what I've seen yes. We are still on the highway to hell at the kids level.

I'm not saying it was EP's fault but you are not going to turn an ocean liner around on a dime. As a country that is how we have taught players from kids on up. We have changed the top with a good coach but we need to focus on changing all levels. How many kids practices do you see where kids are running without a ball? Lots.

I'd say it's more yes and no. Certainly the competitive instinct exists and is too influential which puts an emphasis on athletic players over technical ones but my recollection is that one of the complaints about the EP years was that his approach was already out of date with what was being taught at the better, bigger youth clubs most of our players come out of.

I think De Vos hit on the more fundamental problem: we don't have a soccer culture in this country. And until we do it's going to be difficult to create a team that is really competitive at a world class level.

Think about it. These women were the best of their gender and age group in our entire country but, even among them, how many have truely lived, eat, slept and breathed soccer from the time they were in diapers? How many hours of soccer do they watch? They're certainly not surrounded by a culture that is constantly discussing, critiquing, and philosophizing over the game. And they're not used to being the focal point of a nation's attention and responding to pressure or expectation.

On the tactical side I see it all the time amongst players in my men's league: there are guys in their 20s who've played their whole life at relatively high levels of youth soccer and have gotten pretty technically proficient (compared to our rec level) but don't know a damn thing about the game because they don't regularly WATCH soccer. Their tactical development is stunted because, no matter what "systems" they've been taught, they've never learned to think about the game.

That, more than anything else, is probably why we fail on the big stage at every level and in every gender. (Man does this tournament make me wistful for '03! The football was crap but there was a moment where I could believe we were going to be playing in a World Cup final!)

You can LTPD all you want but until kids are raised surrounded by the game, with soccer as at least the main summer sport in terms of national DISCUSSION, we're gonna be behind the eight ball and needing to overachieve to accomplish much. That's why pro teams are so important. It's not just places for Canadian to develop professionally or academies to groom our (noticed) elite talent: it's about creating a soccer culture that doesn't go into hibernation outside of the major internationals every other summer. Sadly, even with 3 MLS clubs and a growing network of 2nd (and lower) division sides I find it hard to imagine soccer ever reaching the cultural critical mass necessary to push us over the top into becoming something like a regular soccer nation.

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Are we really serious about this. Our national teams are a farce. The CSA utterly incompetent. How about TFC and the Whitecaps.

Let us get honest our just shut up.

WE DO NOT PRODUCE QUALITY PLAYERS AT ANY LEVEL. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE ODD FLUKE CSA SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.

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Fantastic post. We are simply not passionate about the game. Jason De Vos is. You hear it in his voice, and my mates in Dundee cannot say enough about his presence and passion for the game. The CSA ( whatever that is.) are truly tragic, and the shower that run the Whitecaps are not much better.

Thank goodness for cable and satelitte Barca v Real M Chelsea v Man U. Predictionthe national teams get worse, not better. The world is moving on. Canadian soccer is going the way of all other Canadian sports nee hockey. Where are our tennis players, golfers, etc.

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Are we really serious about this. Our national teams are a farce. The CSA utterly incompetent. How about TFC and the Whitecaps.

Let us get honest our just shut up.

WE DO NOT PRODUCE QUALITY PLAYERS AT ANY LEVEL. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE ODD FLUKE CSA SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.[/]

What should the CSA have done differently to change today's result? Those who offer up that excuse often are those who lack any understanding of the big picture when it comes to sports and the organization of elite level sports. It's simpleton excuse for people who are unable analyze anything with reference points or baseline comparaison and formulate ideas or thoughts. So when one doesn't undstand what the role and responsibilities of of national sports governing body is the simple scapegoat becomes the CSA. Often they don't know why or cat tell you why its the so it's just simple to say it's the CSA's fault.

The nationals governing body is made up of your usual bureaucrats and certainly has incompetence. But that has nothing to do with completing a good pass on the soccer pitch. And as far as other FA's around the world, some of them are corrupt or run by criminals. But that hasn't stopped some of those countries from reaching great heights in the game. Take a look at the recent FIFa scandal to see the views and actions of some of these same people who are prominent in FA's of places like Argentina.

Player development rests with the clubs And club structure. As I said many times here, I hate defending a bunch of bureaucrats but I also hate reading posts here and in various media sources where fans respond by simply blaming the CSA without saying why, what, or how. Its copy cat group think that offers no insights.

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Are we really serious about this. Our national teams are a farce. The CSA utterly incompetent. How about TFC and the Whitecaps.

Let us get honest our just shut up.

WE DO NOT PRODUCE QUALITY PLAYERS AT ANY LEVEL. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE ODD FLUKE CSA SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.

To be honest, CSA shouldn't get all the blame. We truly lack a professional setup of developing players.

We need more professional soccer teams or better yet our own professional league where we can develop our players and create a large pool of quality of players (for both gender).

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Too tired to post all that needs to be said (and there is a lot) but what no one has mentioned is that the players were mentally fried. That's one small part Berlin and one massive part a year on the road.

When you are away from your home, your family, your comfort zone, your source of strength, your grounding, and your spiritual center - you change.

Hemingway's saying was "you lose it if you talk about it" and the other quote that comes to mind is people who love what they are doing aren't the ones who go around and tell people they're loving it.

Whether they admit it or not to the world or even themselves I think a lot of the players just wanted to come home a long time ago. They looked like they were just tired of all the b.s. and mentally lost at sea.

Had they come home a couple of months ago and gone back over a week or two before the tournament they would have kicked ass all over German soil.

Everything else that happened on the field is insignificant.

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So you work for the CSA. How do you know what understanding I have of the "big picture" and I am also a simpleton. Fair enough are you a clairvoyant?

The CSA are elitest and lack the very basic understanding of international soccer. Our soccer has gone backwards since 1986 ( 25 yrs ago.) The CSA regularily challenge local associations that don't follow their stupid rules. As long as they can play big shot they are a satisfied lot.

We will continue to fall further behind the rest of the world until we are no longer relevant. Too bad that folks like you defend the CSA. You should be asking why they allowed 2 million to be spent on preparations for this fiasco, and why Canda played so many non top ten teams in the run up to this. Or did the CSA not know about, or authorize this expenditure? Oh wise one!

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I may be wrong but when they had time off, some players went to Sweden. Why not come home if they were homesick then. Judging from how they enjoyed being in Rome for a month, it doesn't look as if they were mentally fried.

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