Atiba Hutchinson

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Ruffian said:

I am pretty sure one of us ( @Unnamed Trialist ) didn't think a player from the English Championship was too good.

Good one 

Funny how the mere mention of maybe, probably, the Championship was not the best 2nd tier in the world, ruffled so many feathers. So I've become famous for dissing the Championship, when it should have been for knocking a mindless, baseless assumption. And admiting it is quite likely one of the top four  2nd tiers in the world. 

Just, quite likely, for a lot of reasons, not clearly the best.

 

[Big_M]

Get a good laugh every week watching usl games when an announcer calls usl one of the top 2nd divisions in the world

[jpg75]

18 minutes ago, Big_M said:

Get a good laugh every week watching usl games when an announcer calls usl one of the top 2nd divisions in the world

You've gotta be kidding me? American hyperbole at it's best.

[shermanator]

If you take a team in the German, English or Spanish second division, get them drunk, then put them on the pitch, that's about the quality of USL in my eyes. Improving? Yes. But the claim that they're one of the best second divisions in the world is just laughable.

Edited April 26, 2017 by shermanator

[Gian-Luca]

On 4/23/2017 at 10:46 PM, Gian-Luca said:

It did - for Italy, West Germany and Norway, all of whom qualified for the tourney because Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and East Germany, respectively, boycotted the games after winning the respective groups with those teams.

However, this didn't make a scrap of difference for Canada who didn't have any of those teams in their group. The European team we got was Yugoslavia, who we lost to 1-0. However a 1-1 draw with Iraq and a 3-1 win over a Roger Milla-led Cameroon team that was coming off an undefeated World Cup performance two years before, enabled us to qualify for the quarter-finals irrespective of any boycott.  

 

This morning I came across a good new article on the national team exploits from from 1984 through 1986 here:http://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/04/25/canada-at-world-cup-1986-an-era-of-great-talent-that-amounted-to-nothing/

Learned a few things that I didn't know at the time. Re: Vrablic, I seem to recall he did spend a year or two in the CSL a few years after the bribery scandal

 

[ray]

27 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

This morning I came across a good new article on the national team exploits from from 1984 through 1986 here:http://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/04/25/canada-at-world-cup-1986-an-era-of-great-talent-that-amounted-to-nothing/

Learned a few things that I didn't know at the time. Re: Vrablic, I seem to recall he did spend a year or two in the CSL a few years after the bribery scandal

 

Thanks for this.  I didn't really have a full understanding of the "Merlion Cup" incident.  Really too bad as it may have played a role in the changing fortunes of Canada vis-à-vis the USA.  Damn cards!

Edited April 26, 2017 by ray

[Shway]

Gawd, everytime I click this thread due to it being the latest talked about topic....I click hoping I'll see some news about Atiba, but I always find myself going back to see if I clicked the right link. 

[A_Gagne]

21 hours ago, shermanator said:

If you take a team in the German, English or Spanish second division, get them drunk, then put them on the pitch, that's about the quality of USL in my eyes. Improving? Yes. But the claim that they're one of the best second divisions in the world is just laughable.

Pretty sure drunk VfB Stuttgart or Newcastle United would still take the Orange County SC to school.

[MtlMario]

1 hour ago, A_Gagne said:

Pretty sure drunk VfB Stuttgart or Newcastle United would still take the Orange County SC to school.

Agree. I did some of my best work drunk.

[Unnamed Trialist]

On 2017-4-26 at 5:52 PM, Big_M said:

Get a good laugh every week watching usl games when an announcer calls usl one of the top 2nd divisions in the world

They must count total attendance, or number or reffing teams working on a given weekend. Or total goals scored. Or beer gardens in places fans should be. Or total miles travelled. Or divisions. Or length of team names. Or total number of corporate sponsors. Or press releases per capita. Or total miles run by defensive midfielders in the entire league. Or growth rate of league based on numbers of teams. Or how they teams are so good none ever relegates. Or teams playing in later rounds of the national cup competition. Or freezie flavours available in USL foodstands. Or total parking spots available outside USL stadiums. Or total blades of grass.

There are a lot of reasons to call USL the best 2nd division in the world.

[Ruffian]

 

Is this rumoured extension from this summer on or on top of a contract he already has?

[zeelaw]

There is always a bit of me hoping he some how joins Bilic at West ham.

[Obinna]

Good for him. Glad to see him continue with a very respectable European team at his age.

[Ansem]

1 hour ago, Ruffian said:

 

Is this rumoured extension from this summer on or on top of a contract he already has?

Whenever his career is over in Europe, I hope he chose CPL over MLS

[Obinna]

https://www.dailysabah.com/football/2017/05/23/trabzon-did-their-job-besiktas-are-almost-champions-now

Interesting take on Besiktas season. Atiba is mentioned, but not signaled out, which is probably good for a defensive midfielder.

[shermanator]

If Atiba doesn't move to MLS, what reason would Don Garber have for setting up his Canadian office?

[A_Gagne]

17 minutes ago, shermanator said:

If Atiba doesn't move to MLS, what reason would Don Garber have for setting up his Canadian office?

lol

[king1010]

Hope he plays for us at the gold cup. 

With other nations not sending their best team we could really do some damage if we bring our top players and zambrano brings in some of those new recruits. 

[Complete Homer]

17 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

We need to be realistic about CPL. For the foreseeable future it will be a development ground for new players, not a retirement home for old ones. CPL will not be able to afford Hutch and nor should they even try.

I don't think it will position itself as a development league, I think some on the board will be annoyed by the number of mid/late career concacaf players that end up playing

I agree though that Hutch will not be in CPL unless he plays long enough to make a sweetheart deal make sense for both sides

[Complete Homer]

19 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

I won't be disappointed to see mid/late career CONCACAF players playing. In fact I expect it. But they won't be former superstars like Hutch. I envision the CPL will be a competitive league, not a developmental one. But it will be a league where you see some players who will one day be on multi-million pound contracts rather than players who have already been on that kind of contract.

I'm more thinking if Hutch keeps playing past the point of earning those contracts and comes home for a victory lap. Probably not super likely but possible 

[Kent]

If JDG could play for Ottawa Fury I see no reason to close the door on the possibility of Hutch playing in the CPL one day.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Hutch would go play an extra year in Qatar for the cash, or retire and be coaching Besiktas youth before making 80 grand Canadian playing for Windsor. How can any of you seriously think he would at all be interested in a league that does not even exist? Never mind a league that has no promise of being able to pay anyone, ever, over a hundred thousand devalued Canadian dollars. 

Frankly, Hutch to CPL, it is basically directly insulting the guy to his face. 

[Big_M]

If he's looking to come back and live in Canada something like a player-coach role could be interesting for him. At this age he has to see how his body feels after each season and if he's getting more injuries. He might just retire after next season.

[Unnamed Trialist]

7 hours ago, Kent said:

If JDG could play for Ottawa Fury I see no reason to close the door on the possibility of Hutch playing in the CPL one day.

NASL has a salary structure on some teams that is way ahead of anything minimally conceivable for a CPL or whatever it may be. We are talking about a league that most likely will not pay anyone more than 80 grand, while NASL had players making ten times that, I believe. 

Julian to Ottawa was a slight shift down, Hutch to CPL is simply a figment of your imagination. 

I love the way folks here insist on dreaming up financially irresponsible ways to make sure a league that has not even started yet will immediately fail.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Unnamed Trialist

[dyslexic nam]

8 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Hutch would go play an extra year in Qatar for the cash, or retire and be coaching Besiktas youth before making 80 grand Canadian playing for Windsor. How can any of you seriously think he would at all be interested in a league that does not even exist? Never mind a league that has no promise of being able to pay anyone, ever, over a hundred thousand devalued Canadian dollars. 

Frankly, Hutch to CPL, it is basically directly insulting the guy to his face. 

Stop with the positivity.

No chance, ever, of CPL being able to pay anyone $100 grand of our Monopoly money?

On a board where we collectively fawn over him and dream of having 10 clones of him to round out our national team, it is grossly insulting to Hutch for supporters to dream of a scenario under which he could help found our new national league?

I am glad I am not so miserable that this is the way I support Canadian footy.