Gianfranco Facchineri

[Shortdutchcanuck 1,460]

6'0" 180 lb CB from Windsor,  class of 2002, on loan from Whitecaps to Atletico Ottawa.

Didn't see a thread on this young man and figured we will be talking a lot about him in coming years.  One of our most important prospects outside of Davies and David, especially given our need for someone to step up at the position.  Every comment I have ever seen about him has been overwhelmingly positive.

Played every minute of CONCACAF u17s and u17 World Cup.  Scored the deciding penalty against Costa Rica to get us to World Cup.  Described variously as a tough defender, good on the ball, and very much mature beyond his years.

[devioustrevor 128]

How did a lad from Windsor end up with the Whitecaps?  TFC scouting really **** the bed there, morese when you consider the L1O club in Windsor is a satellite club of TFC.

[Bdog 663]

Was just about to make him a thread. He looked good at the World Cup, definitely plays like he’s older.

Great move to the CPL, assuming it actually gets going again soon. 

[dyslexic nam 8,593]

This is tailor made for CPL.  Instead of playing for an MLS reserve side, a promising young Canada kid will (hopefully) play in CPL and get minutes in a competitive environment.  Beauty.

[gigi riva 233]

Good deal for him get some playing time vs adults  to me its a win win situatuin

[SpursFlu 2,279]

More of this from MLS teams please 

[An Observer 536]

great move and exactly the type of move that hopefully can become common between the 3 MLS sides and the CPL.  He and the CB young kid at the Impact (Ferdinand?) I am really hoping emerge in the next year or two as we really could use some top quality CB prospects as that is our weakest position by far.  Maybe a stretch to hope one of them is ready for the World Cup at the end of 2022 (or end of 2023) should we make it but stranger things have happened (Davies and David for instance).

[TGAA_Star 266]

Another move from MLS to CPL...I guess it just surprises me

[Weng 137]

2 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

Another move from MLS to CPL...I guess it just surprises me

If he is going to be sitting on the bench in MLS, why not go to CPL and get loads of playing time and development.  Not surprising at all.  

[TGAA_Star 266]

12 minutes ago, Weng said:

If he is going to be sitting on the bench in MLS, why not go to CPL and get loads of playing time and development.  Not surprising at all.  

Since you put it that way, you're right he at least gets to play professionally early rather than languishing away on the bench in MLS.

[Bison44 5,442]

2 hours ago, Weng said:

If he is going to be sitting on the bench in MLS, why not go to CPL and get loads of playing time and development.  Not surprising at all.  

Would he even be sitting on the bench in MLS??  Or would he be part of a travelling friendly youth team like they had last year?  If it was TFC at least he could have gone to the USL-1.  This is a great move that helps kids get over the hump from being a good 17year old prospect and get the minutes they need to get to that MLS roster spot.  Worst case scenario he gets some coaching from the Athletico group and gets his feet wet in CPL.  

[hodgkiss 65]

20 hours ago, devioustrevor said:

How did a lad from Windsor end up with the Whitecaps?  TFC scouting really **** the bed there, morese when you consider the L1O club in Windsor is a satellite club of TFC.

Same thing with Russel Tiebert. From Niagara Falls and was with TFC a short time. WFC came knocking and the rest is history.

[Acid-Tone 485]

On 7/6/2020 at 6:09 PM, devioustrevor said:

How did a lad from Windsor end up with the Whitecaps?  TFC scouting really **** the bed there, morese when you consider the L1O club in Windsor is a satellite club of TFC.

I guess he didn't qualify for a US passport!  😛

[Shway 2,394]

On 7/6/2020 at 7:09 PM, devioustrevor said:

How did a lad from Windsor end up with the Whitecaps?  TFC scouting really **** the bed there, morese when you consider the L1O club in Windsor is a satellite club of TFC.

Reality is TFC isn’t going to get every kid in the GTA. As we seen with Liam, and many others. Academies are also not about mass turnover, like MLS teams. Reason why there’s a need for more than one professional academy. Majority of the Canadian Professional talent pool is from Ontario, specifically the GTHA.

It also speaks to the whitecaps organization, because they seem to focus on scouting outside vs developing players from inside their province. I know you can’t compare Vancouver to Toronto in population size, but where are all the BC players? Not one player in the CMNT is from BC - that’s so weird.

[An Observer 536]

I thought if I remember correctly that some parts of Ontario including London were part of Whitecaps territory? 

[nolando 1,245]

5 hours ago, An Observer said:

I thought if I remember correctly that some parts of Ontario including London were part of Whitecaps territory? 

I'm sure I have seen the same map but can't find any trace of it online. Maybe it's no longer the case?

[Jith12 1,364]

10 hours ago, An Observer said:

I thought if I remember correctly that some parts of Ontario including London were part of Whitecaps territory? 

MLS designates an exclusive scouting zone within Canada to each of the three Canadian franchises. The zones vary in terms of geographical size in order to ensure that each club has a proportional amount of the population to scout from. Vancouver's zone includes BC and the Prairie Provinces. I believe that TFC gets all of the Golden Horseshoe area (The exact zone could be a bit smaller or larger, I'm not 100% sure). The Impact get all of Quebec.

All of Canada that was not included in any of the aforementioned regions is fair game for any of the Canadian clubs to scout from. That means the Territories, non-Golden Horseshoe Ontario and the Atlantic provinces can be scouted by any of the three clubs. The Whitecaps take advantage of this rule in every way possible. They have "Academy Centres" in every province and territory that they have access to, except for Nunavut and New Brunswick. TFC has a similar program, but it's not as widespread. Their affiliate clubs are Ottawa TFC, London TFC and Windsor TFC. As far as I'm aware, the Impact do not have any affiliate clubs outside of their exclusive zone.

So in a nutshell, London or Windsor aren't necessarily "Whitecaps territory" or "TFC territory". Rather, any of the three clubs have access to that area. In fact, both TFC and the Whitecaps have centres in London. As for Facchineri, he was already playing on the other side of the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit with Vardar SC before Windsor TFC came into existence, which is why he was never TFC property. 

Edited July 10 by Jith12

[top cheese 137]

2 hours ago, Jith12 said:

MLS designates an exclusive scouting zone within Canada to each of the three Canadian franchises. The zones vary in terms of geographical size in order to ensure that each club has a proportional amount of the population to scout from. Vancouver's zone includes BC and the Prairie Provinces. I believe that TFC gets all of the Golden Horseshoe area (The exact zone could be a bit smaller or larger, I'm not 100% sure). The Impact get all of Quebec.

All of Canada that was not included in any of the aforementioned regions is fair game for any of the Canadian clubs to scout from. That means the Territories, non-Golden Horseshoe Ontario and the Atlantic provinces can be scouted by any of the three clubs. The Whitecaps take advantage of this rule in every way possible. They have "Academy Centres" in every province and territory that they have access to, except for Nunavut, the Yukon and New Brunswick. TFC has a similar program, but it's not as widespread. Their affiliate clubs are Ottawa TFC, London TFC and Windsor TFC. As far as I'm aware, the Impact do not have any affiliate clubs outside of their exclusive zone.

So in a nutshell, London or Windsor aren't necessarily "Whitecaps territory" or "TFC territory". Rather, any of the three clubs have access to that area. In fact, both TFC and the Whitecaps have centres in London. As for Facchineri, he was already playing on the other side of the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit with Vardar SC before Windsor TFC came into existence, which is why he was never TFC property. 

The whitecaps academy centers are a branding effort more then anything. It’s embarrassing that provinces are aligning their programs after it 

[SpursFlu 2,279]

What if somebody wanted to go play for the Whitecaps. Windsor vs playing soccer everyday at a world class facility on UBC's campus. No disrespect Windsor but let's get real. 

[RS 1,648]

On 7/7/2020 at 3:30 PM, hodgkiss said:

Same thing with Russel Tiebert. From Niagara Falls and was with TFC a short time. WFC came knocking and the rest is history.

When Teibert was with TFC they didn't have residency or billeting as the academy was brand new. The Whitecaps did.

Teibert was making a 1.5-2 hour trek to Toronto for every training session.