2020 Voyageurs Cup Format

[RS]

Just now, narduch said:

Because the current proposed date (March 20) occurs in the middle of Olympic qualifying. The tournament is over by March 30.

Meaning TFC players could be back to play 1st week of April

They'd have to quarantine for 14 days upon return.

Even if Canada flames out in the group stage, the earliest they'd be back is March 26 (final group stage game is a day earlier). That puts them into quarantine until April 9.

There's a reason TFC prefers March 20, and why the CSA concurs.

[narduch]

Just now, RS said:

They'd have to quarantine for 14 days upon return.

 

Is that for sure?

They managed to get quarantine exemptions last fall when they would return to Toronto mid week from Connecticut a couple of times.

[RS]

Just now, narduch said:

Is that for sure?

They managed to get quarantine exemptions last fall when they would return to Toronto mid week from Connecticut a couple of times.

They were allowed to train at their own facility for a few days. The players still had to stay under "house arrest" otherwise.

Effectively, they stayed within their own bubble. No way the government allows anything more than that.

[narduch]

19 minutes ago, RS said:

They were allowed to train at their own facility for a few days. The players still had to stay under "house arrest" otherwise.

Effectively, they stayed within their own bubble. No way the government allows anything more than that.

Weren't they allowed to see their families? Doesn't really sound like a bubble in any sense.

[RS]

6 minutes ago, narduch said:

Weren't they allowed to see their families? Doesn't really sound like a bubble in any sense.

I’m not saying the Ont. government makes logical decisions.

[Watchmen]

39 minutes ago, narduch said:

I totally disagree with this premise.

Its way more ridiculous to force a club to play a Final with only 1 week of training.

What you are describing is fairly normal. It happens all the time. Teams play a weekend game and a mid-week Champions League game. No big deal.

I do not disagree that it is ridiculous to force a club to play a final with 1 week of training.  That is on the CSA for setting this scenario up.

Yes, normally a weekend game and a mid-week game is fairly normal and no big deal. This is not a normal scenario. I would prefer which ever team advances have additional time to acclimatize in Mexico. 

None of the options here are good.

[narduch]

6 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I do not disagree that it is ridiculous to force a club to play a final with 1 week of training.  That is on the CSA for setting this scenario up.

Yes, normally a weekend game and a mid-week game is fairly normal and no big deal. This is not a normal scenario. I would prefer which ever team advances have additional time to acclimatize in Mexico. 

None of the options here are good.

I can't recall any Canadian club team ever leaving super early for a Champions League game in Mexico. So this suggestion is bunk.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. But most teams only arrive a few days before the match.

[Watchmen]

8 minutes ago, narduch said:

I can't recall any Canadian club team ever leaving super early for a Champions League game in Mexico. So this suggestion is bunk.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. But most teams only arrive a few days before the match.

Because normally the schedule would not allow for it. How have the Canadian teams fared once there? Why not try to give them less of a disadvantage?

[narduch]

1 minute ago, Watchmen said:

Because normally the schedule would not allow for it. How have the Canadian teams fared once there? Why not try to give them less of a disadvantage?

That still doesn't even guarantee TFC would leave early for the game.

Again sounds like bending over backwards to appease TFC.

We should be trying to make the Voyageurs Cup as fair and competitive as possible. 

The current rumored date makes a farce of the competition. 

[RS]

15 minutes ago, narduch said:

I can't recall any Canadian club team ever leaving super early for a Champions League game in Mexico. So this suggestion is bunk.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. But most teams only arrive a few days before the match.

TFC in 2018 did most of their preseason in Mexico.

[narduch]

6 minutes ago, RS said:

TFC in 2018 did most of their preseason in Mexico.

That's not the same thing as showing up earlier than normal for a match.

That year their 1st round was against Colorado 

[RS]

Just now, narduch said:

That's not the same thing as showing up earlier than normal for a match.

That year their 1st round was against Colorado 

True. Although that helped maintain their altitude training as Colorado’s a mile up 

I’m not really fussed if the teams can’t go to Mexico early, but having the winner play on three days rest after playing their first competitive game in months isn’t advisable either.

Leon will always be the favourite either way.

[gator]

Reading The Caretaker's statement and considering logistics, player safety and competitive balance, as well as the threat of holding players back from Olympic Qualifying this has an angry forfeit written all over it, that would not be nice for many reasons, it may be the most logical solution!

[narduch]

9 minutes ago, gator said:

Reading The Caretaker's statement and considering logistics, player safety and competitive balance, as well as the threat of holding players back from Olympic Qualifying this has an angry forfeit written all over it, that would not be nice for many reasons, it may be the most logical solution!

They may not even have to forfeit. Maybe they never get approval to train.

[nfitz]

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

I do not disagree that it is ridiculous to force a club to play a final with 1 week of training.  That is on the CSA for setting this scenario up.

How is it on the CSA? They announced last year that the game would be played before the end of March. And we've known for a very long time that there was an international break from March 22 to March 30.

They are literally playing on the last available day ... well I suppose they could play early on March 21, so that internationals could travel later in the day.

If CPL and Hamilton Forge have failed submit the correct paperwork to resume training, after having months of notice, then that's not on the CSA.

[Watchmen]

Just now, nfitz said:

How is it on the CSA? They announced last year that the game would be played before the end of March. And we've known for a very long time that there was an international break from March 22 to March 30.

They are literally playing on the last available day ... well I suppose they could play early on March 21, so that internationals could travel later in the day.

If CPL and Hamilton Forge have failed submit the correct paperwork to resume training, after having months of notice, then that's not on the CSA.

Because from the sounds of it, not having that date finalized is what's held up Hamilton from getting an exemption for full training.  If the CSA had announced the date sooner, there's a much better chance the exemption would have been granted.

[nfitz]

22 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

Because from the sounds of it, not having that date finalized is what's held up Hamilton from getting an exemption for full training.  If the CSA had announced the date sooner, there's a much better chance the exemption would have been granted.

They knew the date of the Champions League. They could have written April 1st on it, and been able to start a week ago easy.

That sounds too simplistic, and more of an excuse than anything else. They knew in 2020 that the latest date it could be played is March 21.

Someone should FOIA the exemptions request and communications.

[narduch]

59 minutes ago, nfitz said:

Someone should FOIA the exemptions request and communications.

Lol.

This doesn't matter that much.

[Cblake]

TFC returned to training on Feb 17th. The CSA should have set March 13th as the date for the game. That way the CPL/Forge would have had a firm date to present to the levels of government for an exemption to train. Based on the TFC's start date of Feb. 17 it would have also given both teams three weeks of training to prepare if Forge had been granted the same start date as TFC already had. It would also have given the winner ample time to train afterwards and even go to Mexico or a similar location altitude wise to prepare leading up to the CCL opener. As a TFC supporter I have to say this falls on the CSA. With a firm date things would be much different right now. 

[narduch]

35 minutes ago, Cblake said:

TFC returned to training on Feb 17th. The CSA should have set March 13th as the date for the game. That way the CPL/Forge would have had a firm date to present to the levels of government for an exemption to train. Based on the TFC's start date of Feb. 17 it would have also given both teams three weeks of training to prepare if Forge had been granted the same start date as TFC already had. It would also have given the winner ample time to train afterwards and even go to Mexico or a similar location altitude wise to prepare leading up to the CCL opener. As a TFC supporter I have to say this falls on the CSA. With a firm date things would be much different right now. 

CSA should have set the date for September 26, 2020.

 

[RS]

12 hours ago, Watchmen said:

Because from the sounds of it, not having that date finalized is what's held up Hamilton from getting an exemption for full training.  If the CSA had announced the date sooner, there's a much better chance the exemption would have been granted.

To be devil's advocate for a moment, it appears as though the CSA and TFC agree on March 20. Thus, the reason for the holdup is Forge.

It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation, but again I lay this at the feet of the CSA for not being decisive enough.

[Club Linesman]

The game should have been played when both teams were in season.  If this game goes ahead on the 20th it will be a farce.  And really you think the CSA would have imposed the date on TFC giving the CPL team the advantage.  TFC is my team, but it doesn’t play in the CSA’s league so they should have been inconvenienced by the game decision, not the Forge. The CSA doesn’t benefit from TFC representing it in the Concacaf Championship but having the Forge in there would be a feather in the cap.

[Ansem]

After this mess has been resolved and this farce has past, the CSA needs to get it's priorities straight.

CPL needs to be given EQUAL consideration than MLS clubs. No matter what the MLS purists thinks, those billionaires who launched CPL providing the CSA with it's own D1 stepped-up when no one else would.

Yes, these are exceptional circumstances due to COVID but the optics looks terrible. Not a great way to convince more investors to be part of the league (certainly not Euro powers) if you're acting like this.

Why would you be part of this when the federation is demonstrating that it won't have your back whenever MLS sides are demanding to be accommodated?

It's a bad look...period

[gator]

The president of the CSA also has a son in the Toronto FC Academy, do you think he is going to inconvenience or piss off the club? This whole thing stinks, I can't remember the exact circumstances or the quarantine protocol at the time but wasn't the idea thrown out last fall for TFC to wait for Forge to return from Concacaf matches and play the Cup final after TFC was eliminated and it was deemed completely unreasonable? Now they want a team to play one week back into training!

[narduch]

9 minutes ago, gator said:

 I can't remember the exact circumstances or the quarantine protocol at the time but wasn't the idea thrown out last fall for TFC to wait for Forge to return from Concacaf matches and play the Cup final after TFC was eliminated and it was deemed completely unreasonable? Now they want a team to play one week back into training!

It only became unreasonable after TFC got turfed out of.the playoffs early.