November friendlies

[Obinna]

39 minutes ago, N1ckbr0wn said:

This is just Leos Elitist/biased attitude I referred to in the Fraser thread. Refer to the Cavallini thread for exhibit B of this attitude. If you don’t play for TFC or in Europe, then in Leos mind you’re useless in this Canadian soccer landscape. It’s a weird attitude, to hate and make fun of your fellow countryman teams playing In the exact same league as you. Me myself, I’m a Whitecaps fan first and foremost. But I love to see TFC/Montreal do well specially if the Canadians on that said team are apart of that winning culture. He embodies the many reasons why a lot of Toronto sports fans are not liked outside of the GTA

edit: I hope this doesn’t offend the many other level headed TFC fans on here. You know who you are

Spot on. I am a TFC fan and nothing about your post is offensive. Like yourself, I want the other Canadian MLS teams to thrive. 

It is what it is. Different strokes for different folks. Things would get boring if we all had same perspective.

[CanMNT Memes]

 

[Bison44]

If we are talking a novemeber mini poutine NA friendly/camp, we could pick up some of the USL guys to fill the ranks.  Pasher, Montgomery, Comisa, Haworth, Melvin, Peruzza.  Grab Zator, Didic, Rarsi, Bekker, Carducci, Irving, Awuah, Bustous, Edgar Petrasso etc etc from CPL.  Realistically one of Montreal or Vancouver wont make the playoffs, and TFC has surplus CDN they wont play even if they have a long run so you could have a nice "stew" of guys with lots of first timers.  It would let Herdman et al get a bunch of guys involved in the program, maybe light a fire under some of them to go to the next level.  Remember what it did for Kaye.....

[Obinna]

14 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

If we are talking a novemeber mini poutine NA friendly/camp, we could pick up some of the USL guys to fill the ranks.  Pasher, Montgomery, Comisa, Haworth, Melvin, Peruzza.  Grab Zator, Didic, Rarsi, Bekker, Carducci, Irving, Awuah, Bustous, Edgar Petrasso etc etc from CPL.  Realistically one of Montreal or Vancouver wont make the playoffs, and TFC has surplus CDN they wont play even if they have a long run so you could have a nice "stew" of guys with lots of first timers.  It would let Herdman et al get a bunch of guys involved in the program, maybe light a fire under some of them to go to the next level.  Remember what it did for Kaye.....

Hopefully Montreal and Vancouver make it, but if not both of those teams are loaded with Canadian players. Throw in the other guys you mention and there is no reason why we cannot have a domestic off-season camp. We may have to exclude the Forge guys, but the other CanPL players would be in play. We would not need to adhere to the FIFA calendar to do this. Perhaps we can even play a small island nation.

Players like Bustos, Aird, Petrasso and Aleman are nearing their prime. I would like to get them back in the pool, even if it is just on the B level. Peruzza and Pasher are guys we want to look at also. Sprinkle some vets like Edgar in.... I like it.

[RS]

Considering the final day of the MLS regular season is November 8 and both the Impact and Whitecaps are currently right on the playoff bubble, it might be cutting it close to see if players from those teams will be available.

[Obinna]

1 minute ago, RS said:

Considering the final day of the MLS regular season is November 8 and both the Impact and Whitecaps are currently right on the playoff bubble, it might be cutting it close to see if players from those teams will be available.

Good point. The other thing is, if we have money earmarked for a November friendly in Euro and it does not happen, we could use that money to have a domestic camp, MLS players or not. Even if we cannot fly in an opponent last minute, bring some players together and train. It should not cost more than playing in Europe. 

[BuzzAndSting]

48 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Good point. The other thing is, if we have money earmarked for a November friendly in Euro and it does not happen, we could use that money to have a domestic camp, MLS players or not. Even if we cannot fly in an opponent last minute, bring some players together and train. It should not cost more than playing in Europe. 

This is an interesting point that the usual critics haven't clued in on. From what JH has said, this was the plan so I'm sure the CSA has either saved all that money or at least recouped some of it. He's also stated that they're trying to organize another camp(s). The only question is if this savings remains earmarked for the CanMNT. We know that all CSA staff have taken reduced pay since the pandemic started and we know they've built themselves a nice "emergency" reserve but are those two actions enough to maintain some semblance of normal operations or will these funds be reallocated?

Edited October 15, 2020 by BuzzAndSting

[narduch]

The EU is removing Canada from its list of safe countries

 

[N1ckbr0wn]

7 minutes ago, narduch said:

The EU is removing Canada from its list of safe countries

 

This in regards to the November Friendlies; I don’t think this would necessarily effect the chances (theoretically) of them happening as it would be an EU based so none of our players would be coming from Canada or the USA 

[Strait Red]

4 minutes ago, N1ckbr0wn said:

This in regards to the November Friendlies; I don’t think this would necessarily effect the chances (theoretically) of them happening as it would be an EU based so none of our players would be coming from Canada or the USA 

Our coaching staff would be.

[Ansem]

Just now, Strait Red said:

Our coaching staff would be.

Herdman is European - no?

[N1ckbr0wn]

15 minutes ago, Strait Red said:

Our coaching staff would be.

This is a fair point. As Ansem posted above, I wonder if Herdman being an EU passport holder, that could work in our favour ? Also, I haven’t checked but I’m assuming the US was never on their safe list, would this not effect their EU friendlies as well? 

Edited October 21, 2020 by N1ckbr0wn

[Strait Red]

Didn’t the UK leave the EU? Or is the Brexit thing not in effect yet? 

Unless they play the game in a non-EU country and the coaches can travel there.

[Shway]

Welp, there's another excuse for November friendlies to not happen. 

[Obinna]

15 minutes ago, Strait Red said:

Didn’t the UK leave the EU? Or is the Brexit thing not in effect yet? 

Unless they play the game in a non-EU country and the coaches can travel there.

The decision to leave has been made, but I believe the decoupling process is being negotiated. Boris Johnson is about to walk away from the table because the EU is trying to play hardball in the negotiations. That is the last I heard. 

I don't know where that leaves Herdman or any Brit for that matter on the passport thing. In either case, I bet the UK is on the list of friendly countries, so probably a moot point on the Brexit thing. 

[SthMelbRed]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

The decision to leave has been made, but I believe the decoupling process is being negotiated. Boris Johnson is about to walk away from the table because the EU is trying to play hardball in the negotiations. That is the last I heard. 

I don't know where that leaves Herdman or any Brit for that matter on the passport thing. In either case, I bet the UK is on the list of friendly countries, so probably a moot point on the Brexit thing. 

That's a novel way of saying 'insisting on sticking with the agreement previously negotiated in good faith.' 😉

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, SthMelbRed said:

That's a novel way of saying 'insisting on sticking with the agreement previously negotiated in good faith.' 😉

"good faith" lol

[SthMelbRed]

10 minutes ago, Obinna said:

"good faith" lol

You must be a reader of the Sun or Daily Mail. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

The transition/negotiation period lasts until December 31. (A commercial just popped up in the Champions League highlights show I am watching confirming this). There is no previous agreement about the relationship when a member leaves the EU, hence the protracted negations.  Just that a member could leave unilaterally if the government in question followed democratic procedures internally.  

But if the EU "is moving to" do something regarding Canada, I would doubt it would be in place by November anyway. 

 Could be wrong on the last part of course, unprecedented times and all.  

[Shway]

Looks like Roberts CONCACAF friendlies tracker thread got deleted ha....

but seeing how Jamaica can organize friendlies, I'm going to assume we are going to have a camp in November too.

[scooterlawrence5]

On 10/15/2020 at 1:43 PM, BuzzAndSting said:

 We know that all CSA staff have taken reduced pay since the pandemic started and we know they've built themselves a nice "emergency" reserve but are those two actions enough to maintain some semblance of normal operations or will these funds be reallocated?

"Salary reduction" because of the pandemic does NOT mean there is a "nice emergency reserve".  Canada is still in a pandemic. Ontario and Quebec are even worse where most of our domestic players are from. Travel to USA and EU is (will be) restricted. There are business sectors (e.g. restaurants, gyms, banquet halls, retail malls entertainment) that may never ever recover. OR, they may need 3+ years to get back to pre-COVID levels. Hosting a national camp in Canada or in the USA or in Europe would never be approved by the health authorities in Ottawa. Remember that it's ultimately the health department's decision, not the CSA's.

[BuzzAndSting]

1 minute ago, scooterlawrence5 said:

"Salary reduction" because of the pandemic does NOT mean there is a "nice emergency reserve".

No, salary reductions do not mean there is an emergency reserve, the emergency reserve exists because the CSA diligently took profits from some of the tournaments they’ve hosted and invested them wisely. This is stated in the CSA’s annual financial statements and General Secretary Peter Montopoli mentioned recently that they will have to use some of that emergency reserve to cover some program costs.

[scooterlawrence5]

My point is that much of the soccer industry in Canada (youth clubs, private academies, provincial bodies, CPL clubs) and the CSA won't last indefinitely in this pandemic environment. Cash flow can only be negative for so long.

I think we both agree that whatever surpluses any organization was lucky to be sitting on in February 2020, is not still sitting on them in October 2020.

My fear is that without new revenues at all levels from 5 year olds who now choose not to play houseleague up to pro clubs playing in empty stadiums, the soccer landscape is now void of fiscal stability. The government at all levels will not bail out soccer in Canada!  Especially after the new federal election coming soon.

[BuzzAndSting]

46 minutes ago, scooterlawrence5 said:

My point is that much of the soccer industry in Canada (youth clubs, private academies, provincial bodies, CPL clubs) and the CSA won't last indefinitely in this pandemic environment. Cash flow can only be negative for so long.

I think we both agree that whatever surpluses any organization was lucky to be sitting on in February 2020, is not still sitting on them in October 2020.

My fear is that without new revenues at all levels from 5 year olds who now choose not to play houseleague up to pro clubs playing in empty stadiums, the soccer landscape is now void of fiscal stability. The government at all levels will not bail out soccer in Canada!  Especially after the new federal election coming soon.

You don’t seem to have a real understanding of the CSA’s finances, perhaps you should read the thread posted to this forum about the organizations FS before making broad assumptions.

To your points, the CSA operates at a loss almost every year and has for a long time and I would be surprised if they’ve spent a significant portion of their reserve because at last check it was about one years operating expenses and considering they haven’t  hosted any camps at any level, staff have taken pay cuts, they’ve taken advantage of some of the Federal governments support programs and they do still have some revenues coming in.

Edited October 22, 2020 by BuzzAndSting

[Obinna]

40 minutes ago, scooterlawrence5 said:

My point is that much of the soccer industry in Canada (youth clubs, private academies, provincial bodies, CPL clubs) and the CSA won't last indefinitely in this pandemic environment. Cash flow can only be negative for so long.

I think we both agree that whatever surpluses any organization was lucky to be sitting on in February 2020, is not still sitting on them in October 2020.

My fear is that without new revenues at all levels from 5 year olds who now choose not to play houseleague up to pro clubs playing in empty stadiums, the soccer landscape is now void of fiscal stability. The government at all levels will not bail out soccer in Canada!  Especially after the new federal election coming soon.

I don't they are calling a federal election now. They voted against it today I believe.