Canadian Premier League joins CONCACAF League

[Copes]

4 minutes ago, SkuseisLoose said:

Ben Fisk's take on it all

 

 

 

Retweeted by Rob Friend no less. Obviously the excluded clubs are not thrilled.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Copes said:

Retweeted by Rob Friend no less. Obviously the excluded clubs are not thrilled.

I agree with Ben Fisk. Even as a Valour fan, I think this is a very poor way to decide.

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, Copes said:

Duane Rollins tweeted that other clubs weren't happy. Made it sound like a CSA choice?

Whatever it is, my happiness about the CONCACAF League has been coated in salt.

My initial thought was that participation would start after CPL had a full season under its belt so I'm not going to worry too much about whatever happens this season.

[Obinna]

So let me get this straight, Forge, Valour and FC Edmonton are the only clubs allowed to qualify by virtue of when they joined the CanPL?

What is wrong with people in this country? 

Micky Mouse.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Obinna

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Obinna said:

So let me get this straight, Forge, Valour and FC Edmonton are the only clubs allowed to qualify by virtue of when they joined the CanPL?

What is wrong with people in this country? 

Micky Mouse.

The one thing to keep in mind is that there may be practicalities of which we are unaware. There is certainly a cut off date by which they need to know the entrant and this may be well before July.

Still, I do agree that this is a poor way to decide.

Edited February 13, 2019 by dsqpr

[gator]

The CSA needs to explain their logic, if there is any for this format, being a founder is lame, there has to be a better way!

[Ansem]

2 hours ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Before everyone jumps to the conspiracy theories of favouritism for the founders,  I suspect not all clubs wanted to take part.  The hassle and cost of traveling back and forth to central america is not to be overlooked.  

That's false according to this 

 

 

 

[toontownman]

Glad to hear this isn't a CPL approved decision. I expect they feel the same about the V cup. 

Its literally madness that is comes down to who was registered for the league first.

There has to a better way for both competitions. Classics CSA amateur hour. 

[kacbru]

I must have missed this bit of the CSA's new strategic plan. 

Also, CMNT will be selected based on which players sign up first. 

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

As I said in the other thread, lets honestly start a petition for the CSA to change it. If we can send it through to all the supporters groups we would have some serious support.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Suspect this means that they are using CONCACAF League dates for some of the earlier Voyageurs Cup games that FCE, the Forge and Valour have byes for.

[Obinna]

4 hours ago, dsqpr said:

The one thing to keep in mind is that there may be practicalities of which we are unaware. There is certainly a cut off date by which they need to know the entrant and this may be well before July.

Still, I do agree that this is a poor way to decide.

Then why not make us aware then? I don't get it.

[SthMelbRed]

Looking at this in a vacuum, this absolutely looks like a steaming pile of bullshit - a ridiculous way to determine the CanPL representative.

However, when you consider that 1. the leagues participation coming in 2019 had to come as a bit of a surprise even to those close to the deliberations, 2. there was no way that a full season's competition could be used to determine the legitimate CanPL entry, and 3. in the absence of the possibility of playing a full home-and-away, balanced schedule in the short timeframe available, any process of determining the representative was going to be a bit shit, I can just about swallow this stupid decision.

For 2019, we'll possibly have a illegitimate representative in the secondary continental club competition. However, from 2020 onwards, we'll have the right team in the competition and this bit of nonsense will be forgotten.

[shamrock]

The one thing to keep in mind is that there may be practicalities of which we are unaware. There is certainly a cut off date by which they need to know the entrant and this may be well before July.

Still, I do agree that this is a poor way to decide.

 

I have to say it might not be all CSA's fault. This participation in the Concacaf League is too early. There is no Champion yet. So I think Concacaf have forced this early participation upon them, which has put them in a tough spot.

Now they all of a sudden had to come up with some sort of "fair" qualification. Since we don't know the schedule yet, it could be that these home and away games are the only ones that are finished before the CL date. Also, BBTB's suggestion could be in play here. 

And I agree it looks bush (f that, it IS bush). None of the clubs have a right to participate, since it's the first season of the CPL. But what do you do if you have to send a team already?

[Copes]

3 hours ago, shamrock said:

 

I have to say it might not be all CSA's fault. This participation in the Concacaf League is too early. There is no Champion yet. So I think Concacaf have forced this early participation upon them, which has put them in a tough spot.

Now they all of a sudden had to come up with some sort of "fair" qualification. Since we don't know the schedule yet, it could be that these home and away games are the only ones that are finished before the CL date. Also, BBTB's suggestion could be in play here. 

And I agree it looks bush (f that, it IS bush). None of the clubs have a right to participate, since it's the first season of the CPL. But what do you do if you have to send a team already?

I mean, even with an unbalanced schedule, I think sending either 1) Point leader at X date; or, 2) Percentage of possible points earned at X date; from across the whole league table, would be the fairest of unfair ways. 

Look, I'm not going to toss aside my CPL support and condemn the league. They've done boatloads correctly so far to launch this, in my opinion. Duane's tweet that CPL isn't happy about this either suggests to me that its some sort of garbage CSA rule that I don't understand. 

I'm salty but I'll get over it. I would love to push back on the decision a bit though and see if we can't get a justification, or maybe even a change. Short of a rule no one knows about (a team must be legally 1.5 years old to compete) I don't get it.

[tyler453]

I suppose this is why its taking CPL so long to figure out the schedule. Lots of things to figure out between league play, CONCACAF League, and Canadian Championship.

[dyslexic nam]

I have to assume that there is some sort of CONCACAF rule that required some sort of registration by a set date.  I have to assume this because any other explanation is pretty goddamn ridiculous. And the fact that CPL is apparently opposed to it means that it was a CSA decision/process.

So, best case scenario this was unavoidable and it is just poor communication on CSA's part.  Wouldn't be the first time.

Worst case scenario is that CSA is making arbitrary decisions that call into question their ability to effectively support this league.  Taken in the context of their announcement re the format of the V-Cup, and this doesn't look good.  That would be two very basic scheduling/format issues that they have completely fucked up.  That would be extremely discouraging.

Again, I am hoping that this is the result of some sort of CONCACAF-imposed registration deadline. Releasing a quick statement would clarify things very easily.

[matty]

45 minutes ago, tyler453 said:

I suppose this is why its taking CPL so long to figure out the schedule. Lots of things to figure out between league play, CONCACAF League, and Canadian Championship.

i don't think this is the cause of why it's not out yet

[Obinna]

10 hours ago, BenFisk'sBiggestFan said:

As I said in the other thread, lets honestly start a petition for the CSA to change it. If we can send it through to all the supporters groups we would have some serious support.

I'll sign a petition. Who else is in?

[dyslexic nam]

Barring any explanation from CSA why this had to occur, I am in.

[nfitz]

14 hours ago, Initial B said:

One thing that galls me about this format is that the Caribbean Club Champion gets an automatic spot in CCL (which isn't listed in your second pot, Kent). There is no way they deserve that - they should be forced to play in the CL round.

On one hand they don't deserve it, as they aren't one of the top 10 (or even 16) teams in Concacaf.

But on the other hand, you do want regional representation. If you strictly put the best 16 teams in the tournament, until recently that would have meant putting in 16 Liga MX teams! The other 9 teams with direct entry are arguably the top 9 teams in the tournament. I don't think a tenth spot for the Caribbean harms the tournament, and can grow the sport in the long term.

If you apply the same approach further down, then surely Canada 2 should not necessarily be reserved for a league that's not at the top of the pyramid.

Personally, I think it's great that a CPL team - that by your standard doesn't deserve that - is in Concacaf League. I think you need to look at other issues than simply putting the top 16 (or 22 or 32) teams in.

Edited February 13, 2019 by nfitz

[SpursFlu]

Most decisions that some have deemed strange or have complained about to me have seemed rational and understandable. This one is just dumb to me.  But oh well i guess win the league and your in next year

[Kent]

I was going to rant about how over time I'm hating the new format for CONCACAF League/CCL even more. And then this garbage happens? Easy solutions are staring CONCACAF and the CSA right in the face, and they manage to come up with the most perverse solutions a demented person could come up with.

[lazlo_80]

late to this. Has anyone come out and explained why? Or how this decision was made?

[Kent]

OK, I'm going to try to forget about the haves/have nots of CPL for a moment to vent a bit about the CCL/CL.

Who is the president of CONCACAF? A Canadian. Who are Canada's best friends in soccer right now? 2026 co-hosts USA and Mexico. Who is needed for votes within CONCACAF? The Caribbean. Who has spots directly in the CCL baked into the rules? Canada, USA, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Who loses their direct spots in the CCL? Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, despite all of them having significantly better results than the Caribbean (and Panama has had better results than 1 American spot) over the last 5 years (or ever really).

They designed a point system for ranking teams, and then they don't use it when they need to rank teams! The point system they came up with was a move away from bias and a move towards fairness. It felt like they were signalling change. Gone was the favouritism rule prohibiting American teams and Mexican teams from meeting in the first round. Gone was the baked in rules about which countries are in which pots. But now they have taken a step backwards back towards bias.

Just think of it. Imagine a Central American team wins the whole CCL this year (personally, I think I might actually be rooting for this scenario now to expose this ridiculousness, and I have a soccer hate on for Central America as much as the next Voyageur). Their country still wouldn't be guaranteed a CCL spot next year. WTF!

Disclaimer: The paragraph about the president and friends is meant to point out that this whole thing smells. Of course I don't know who exactly is behind these decisions. It's possible Vic wanted something fair but couldn't get it past a Caribbean block. Or there could be any other number of sources of this confusing decision. But it looks bad to me.