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CASA - Canada vs Mexico game - Hershey Center


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51 minutes ago, Sauga City Collective said:

Not sure how many people we'll be able to convince to check it out, based on pricing, but we'll likely be there in some form or another. We are also concerned that, if the event itself draws poorly, that there might be a perception of "non-support" for soccer in Sauga.

I keep vasillating back and forth on this. 

How did the city bite down so hard on something totally rogue and effectively counter to the collective efforts of a milllion people in this country. 

 

 

 

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I really do not have a problem with this 'version' of soccer. I just have a problem with the price of tickets, which seem a little much.

Anyway, there is now an 'Indoor Soccer World Cup' and 12 countries played in the 2015 World Championships.

 

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Likely wont attend. That said...

De Rosario on the Executive Team. 

The Canadian Arena Soccer Associations (CASA) was established in 2017.

Links of interest:

  • NA system pyramid - http://www.casasoccer.ca/arena-soccer-development/
  • New Canadian pro league - http://www.casasoccer.ca/apl/
    • "The Arena Premier League will be kicking off in the fall of 2017 in the main bowl of the Hershey Centre.  This will be a semi-professional league with a minimum of six (6) teams playing games on a Saturday during fall/winter from October to April.  The APL games will provide affordable family entertainment. he The league will be the Premier Professional development Arena Soccer League in the country."
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It's a rogue association that is trying to find their own slice of the soccer pie because much of it's leadership has been blackballed by the CSA. That's my take on the whole thing. The Arena soccer is not sanctioned by FIFA and Futsal is the desired indoor sport both for it's ability to train players and for entertainment value (having clearly defined out of bounds assists defenders in "squeezing the play" and encouraging creative solutions).

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The battle is for Futsal.  

I am just stunned they are throwing resources at this. 

Let's train 20 people in this for ten years and 20 people in Futsal. Then have them play an 11v11 game and see what happens. It would be murder.   No matter how 'entertaining' this is, that point matters.

 

 

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6 hours ago, admin said:

Let's train 20 people in this for ten years and 20 people in Futsal. Then have them play an 11v11 game and see what happens. It would be murder.   No matter how 'entertaining' this is, that point matters.

 

 

Both teams would lose as neither has the fitness or tactical acumen for a full-field game. ;)

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6 hours ago, admin said:

The battle is for Futsal.  

I am just stunned they are throwing resources at this. 

Let's train 20 people in this for ten years and 20 people in Futsal. Then have them play an 11v11 game and see what happens. It would be murder.   No matter how 'entertaining' this is, that point matters.

 

 

Who is the "they" that are throwing resources at this? I haven't looked that deeply at this (not planning on reading a bunch of articles from their website that I really don't care about) but all I see is that some people are starting some sort of League and there is some friendly being played. This isn't a CSA initiative is it?

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23 minutes ago, Kent said:

Who is the "they" that are throwing resources at this? I haven't looked that deeply at this (not planning on reading a bunch of articles from their website that I really don't care about) but all I see is that some people are starting some sort of League and there is some friendly being played. This isn't a CSA initiative is it?

They are the people doing it.   This is not Canada Soccer rubber stamped. 

 

 

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They definitely have some credible soccer people behind it - Marinaro and Oliverio are two of the best Canadians to play indoors.  And DeRosario being attached to it doesn't hurt either.  

Not sure if it's a "rogue league" as much as Arena Soccer isn't a FIFA thing.  But those ticket prices are crazy and seems shocking that they wouldn't reach out to the Voyageurs in any way.  Not a lot of positive signs from what I can see.

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I'll be having a meeting with Peter Kovacs of CASA on Monday evening. Hopefully then I can pass along any additional info he might be able to give me. I've got lots of questions. One of which is why ticket prices are so high and why there was no contact or connection with the CSA or Voyageurs before setting it all up. Based on the quick chat I had with him over the phone, they'd like to have a supporters section with "chanting and singing" for the Canada game...but that might be hard if no ones interested in paying 20$ or more to get in.

In an email I also made it abundantly clear that a MASL team playing at Hershey and possibly named "Toronto..." is concerning to us, but I stopped short of saying we would not support it as a group. I plan on saying that in person.  

stay tuned. 

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So I met with Peter Kovacs of CASA last night at Canlan Sportsplex in Mississauga while the Canadian players trained for the upcoming match against Mexico. Here's the scoop:

The Canada v Mexico game at Hershey is a one off game for a couple of reasons. 1) to make CASA visible and begin promoting arena soccer as well as the MASL team kicking off in 2018. 2) to train the Canadian team to participate in the upcoming arena world cup.

That being said, supporting a Canadian selection playing some variety of soccer is fine, and some of our members may be there if they can make it, but this will not be treated as a SCC meet up. We'll be there as part of the (hopefully) larger group there to support Canada. In fact, Peter mentioned that he had also met with some members of Inebriatti (Toronto FC supporters group) about getting involved with this game as well to help provide some atmosphere. A promo code will be provided to Johnny Stancati that will get supporters a ticket to the event for $15. Parking is free. If you're able to make it out, great! You're likely to recognize a few faces on the team.

My issue, and it's a big one, is a comment Peter made about the future MASL team. Surprise! It will be named Toronto, and that feels like a slap in the face. I've spoken with a few other heavy hitters within the arena soccer community, Mississauga born and bred, and they too feel that it is a bad look and a missed opportunity. The decision, as it usually is, was made by higher-ups. CASA and the group behind the MASL team have chosen a "name brand" as opposed to building an actual connection to the city they will somehow call home. I get it. Mississauga doesn't have the same brand recognition as Toronto, but as a city, as a community, we're long passed this. For as willfully blind as MLSE has been in the past, even they understood that naming the D-League Raptors after Toronto would be stupid, hence the 905. For them it was to a lesser degree since they are more concerned with developing players than community involvement. Melnyk understood it when he brought the OHL Majors to Mississauga. I'm offended by it and it runs contrary to our groups stated goal of helping Mississauga establish an identity through sport. It's embarrassing in my opinion: a team that plays a strange variation of soccer that will be new to many, playing out of a city it wants to share no connection with, named after a city that likely won't support it. Mind boggling decision. Our main objectives are CanPL and Mississauga. So good luck to them.

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Torontonians won't be supporting this and neither will Mississaugans. MASL will fail.

As for the claim to have TFC SG's supporting them, I'd like someone to confirm if this is true considering that the CASA group also used Voyageur images without permission in their advertisement so I wouldn't be surprised if they're making up stories to try to garner more support and ticket sales.

 

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