2021 CPL Season General News

[Kent]

2 hours ago, Watchmen said:

Vancouver appears to have been cleared for 50% capacity at events soon.  I would assume the same would be applied for Pacific.

 

I am watching CBC news and they threw up a hard to read paper with the rules for all the different stages in BC with the stage 3 part highlighted. I think I saw "5,000 or 50% capacity, whichever is higher". I don't know who or what the Bandits are or how big their stadium is, but given the rule I saw 50% would apply to Whitecaps and Lions, but 5,000 would apply to Pacific, since that is nearly full capacity in their stadium if I am not mistaken.

[Watchmen]

2 hours ago, Kent said:

I am watching CBC news and they threw up a hard to read paper with the rules for all the different stages in BC with the stage 3 part highlighted. I think I saw "5,000 or 50% capacity, whichever is higher". I don't know who or what the Bandits are or how big their stadium is, but given the rule I saw 50% would apply to Whitecaps and Lions, but 5,000 would apply to Pacific, since that is nearly full capacity in their stadium if I am not mistaken.

This would be the table you were probably looking at:

So yeah, Pacific would be allowed up to 5000.   Of course, their highest attendance in year 1 barely topped 5k so maybe it's not that applicable.

Edit: There's your answer:

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by Watchmen

[SpursFlu]

12 hours ago, Kent said:

I am watching CBC news and they threw up a hard to read paper with the rules for all the different stages in BC with the stage 3 part highlighted. I think I saw "5,000 or 50% capacity, whichever is higher". I don't know who or what the Bandits are or how big their stadium is, but given the rule I saw 50% would apply to Whitecaps and Lions, but 5,000 would apply to Pacific, since that is nearly full capacity in their stadium if I am not mistaken.

Bandits are a CEBL team and their arena is 7k ish.. so 3500. Actually no.. 5000

Edited June 30, 2021 by SpursFlu

[Rocket Robin]

Audio from the York United FC of CPL Zoom call yesterday with head coach Jimmy Brennan before today's game against Pacific ...In their first game with 290 minutes played by U-21s, York have almost hit 20% of the CPL's seasonal requirement!
http://www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com/reports21/21york032.htm

[Cheeta]

Bit of fun and a chance at swag for those who missed it.

https://canpl.ca/predictor

[narduch]

Looks like tickets are $21 + service charges. They are only selling Valour games it looks like. 

[narduch]

Standings after 3 rounds 

 

[jonovision]

West: top 4. East: bottom 4.

Not likely to remain this way.

[T_Bison]

1 hour ago, jonovision said:

West: top 4. East: bottom 4.

Not likely to remain this way.

Absolutely not - Forge is going to come back and FCE is going to drop down. After that though? Pacific & Valour have both been solid, and Cavs have been Cavs. I could easily see the final four being Forge, Cavs, Pacific & Valour

[Unnamed Trialist]

For me, if I had to compare with last year's bubble in PEI, I would say it has not been as good. 

Not as sharp, and not as intense. Perhaps teams are easing into the games and treating this as a preseason.

Some more poor errors, goalkeeper gaffes or weak plays, defenders too, own goals, slip-ups. 

Reliance on set plays, giveaways, quick counters, rebounds.

No standout players yet, just a half dozen or so looking promising as we go forward. No great goalkeeping, no stellar striking. But okay, 3 matches is too early.

The tv images as well are terrible, that is so unethical of them to show 40% ads in a sports broadcast. Hopefully with fans  in the stands it will change. 

Reffing, more or less right, with only small glitches. 

This season is going to be a slower start, an upward curve, and intensity will rise throughout, peaking at the end. As it competes with WC qualifying it will also have that, it may have some problems to draw interest beside Canadian competition.

[narduch]

24 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

For me, if I had to compare with last year's bubble in PEI, I would say it has not been as good. 

Not as sharp, and not as intense. Perhaps teams are easing into the games and treating this as a preseason.

Some more poor errors, goalkeeper gaffes or weak plays, defenders too, own goals, slip-ups. 

Reliance on set plays, giveaways, quick counters, rebounds.

No standout players yet, just a half dozen or so looking promising as we go forward. No great goalkeeping, no stellar striking. But okay, 3 matches is too early.

The tv images as well are terrible, that is so unethical of them to show 40% ads in a sports broadcast. Hopefully with fans  in the stands it will change. 

Reffing, more or less right, with only small glitches. 

This season is going to be a slower start, an upward curve, and intensity will rise throughout, peaking at the end. As it competes with WC qualifying it will also have that, it may have some problems to draw interest beside Canadian competition.

I think the pandemic has stunted  the league's growth in terms of quality. It's been basically 300 days from the end of the Island games to the start of the season.

Teams have not had a proper pre season

A number of International player contracts have collapsed.

The schedule is a grind with basically 2 matches per week.

 

[Cheeta]

It's pre-season, maybe an intense pre-season but one all the same.  Which of course is why Valour needs to run up the points while they can, LOL.

Kidding, they'll be all right even after all the teams find their stride.

Good and bad in spells.  Some less than stellar matches to be sure still more than eased overall.

[Aird25]

12 minutes ago, Cheeta said:

It's pre-season, maybe an intense pre-season but one all the same.  Which of course is why Valour needs to run up the points while they can, LOL.

Kidding, they'll be all right even after all the teams find their stride.

Good and bad in spells.  Some less than stellar matches to be sure still more than eased overall.

Pre-season, apart from the small matter of points counting.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

The pre-season angle is starting to wear a little thin as an excuse. So far the standard appears to have dropped significantly since 2019. If it doesn't pick up over the next few games it will be time to question the effect of the focus on U-23 imports through the agency. The conventional wisdom going back to leagues like the NSL was always to bring in a few older experienced imports (Pacific did it with former CMNT players in 2019 rather than imports obviously) that could pass on their knowledge to younger Canadian players and build their soccer IQ.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[SpursFlu]

Let's be real for a second. Football without fans sucks! I can barely watch it. Actually, I can't watch it. I was fully in to the Caps game last night and i thought to myself, why am I actually enjoying this? It feels like old times. Then I realized its because it was a packed house with next to no weirdness going on.

Same thing applies to CPL games. I think the standard of play is there but once you get fans back, that extra feeling & energy will be infused back in to the proceedings. It makes a big difference 

[Unnamed Trialist]

17 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

The pre-season angle is starting to wear a little thin as an excuse. So far the standard appears to have dropped significantly since 2019. If it doesn't pick up over the next few games it will be time to question the effect of the focus on U-23 imports through the agency. The conventional wisdom going back to leagues like the NSL was always to bring in a few older experienced imports (Pacific did it with former CMNT players in 2019 rather than imports obviously) that could pass on their knowledge to younger Canadian players and build their soccer IQ.

After 8 days and no pre-season matches before the tournament, how can the "pre-season" angle start to wear thin? Are you aware that most pro teams have pre-seasons that last 5-6 weeks, include 4-5 preseason matches, involve warming into game intensity with early matches vs. lower level teams. Time to rest in a stage in some mountain or coastal environ that is relaxing?

I mean, you compare with 2019 but in 2019 we had a major and costly preseason on a Caribbean island. If anything that proves the preseason angle is far from worn.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

18 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Let's be real for a second. Football without fans sucks! I can barely watch it...

This might get knees-a-jerking but in certain markets there were usually relatively few fans visible in Onesoccer broadcasts or the crowds were getting lost in absurdly oversized stadia so not sure that's making as big a difference as you think it is. My impression in 2019 was always this is decent approaching tier 5 in England and top half of tier 2 in Scotland even for Y9 games with a backdrop of empty bleachers. This year I'm not getting that impression.

6 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

After 8 days and no pre-season matches before the tournament, how can the "pre-season" angle start to wear thin? ...

Perhaps worth bearing in mind that Atletico Ottawa spent nine weeks in Spain. It's a mixed bag on how well prepared the teams should be.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[narduch]

4 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

After 8 days and no pre-season matches before the tournament, how can the "pre-season" angle start to wear thin? Are you aware that most pro teams have pre-seasons that last 5-6 weeks, include 4-5 preseason matches, involve warming into game intensity with early matches vs. lower level teams. Time to rest in a stage in some mountain or coastal environ that is relaxing?

I mean, you compare with 2019 but in 2019 we had a major and costly preseason on a Caribbean island. If anything that proves the preseason angle is far from worn.

I would also question the statement that play has dropped significantly v. 2019.

I would argue that it's about the same except the keeping may be worse. And that may even be explained by the lack of preseason too.

[MM3/MM2/MM]

50 minutes ago, narduch said:

I would also question the statement that play has dropped significantly v. 2019.

I would argue that it's about the same except the keeping may be worse. And that may even be explained by the lack of preseason too.

I haven't watched a single game this season, but my impression is that play has improved😎

[Aird25]

From what I've seen, I'd guess the general sentiment amongst fans is that the quality of player has improved year over year. There have been some horrible gaffes this season, but what do you expect after playing 7 games in nearly two years, and not having proper preseason training. 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Aird25

[red card]

5 hours ago, jonovision said:

West: top 4. East: bottom 4.

Not likely to remain this way.

It's like the CFL. Only 1 good club in the East. In the CFL East, it rotates while Forge dominates in CPL.

I think the play has improved from YoY and 2019. But this year, there has been more goalkeeper mistakes. Abzi looks like he could be a breakout player. Loanees Sirois, Ferdinand & Yao are looking good. Previous year's stars like Bustos, Borges & Bekker haven't shown enough brilliance yet.

At the club level, Forge hasn't yet reached previous years' standards and HFX has been worse than 2020 but on par with 2019. Valour & FCE have shown couple levels of improvement. AO & York have shown some improvement. Cavalry has continued looked good. PFC hasn't been consistent but has shown good link up play.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Perhaps worth bearing in mind that Atletico Ottawa spent nine weeks in Spain. It's a mixed bag on how well prepared the teams should be.

It's the same error of those saying going to a GC is the same as being in preseason with your club. A properly designed preseason involves a curve or multiple curves to prepare for the following 10 months. Diet, conditioning, physical tests, tactical work, some easy game minutes, then harder.... Leading to the first match of the season.

9 weeks with no friendlies is in no way a proper preseason, although Mista should have gotten some things done. But for example, that AtO keeper doesn't look too sharp. You'd never know just practicing, in practice keepers stop dozens and let in tons. Now they can see he's probably not up to par. 

We are 100% seeing a preseason level of play, I mean, the walls on free kicks have been terrible. Defenders are just feeling things out. Few attacks flow. 

By late next week I expect more urgency and sharpness. 

BTW, I also think watching the Euros and then CPL probably creates a mental breach. 

[toontownman]

Playing level has clearly improved. 

I think we are seeing some fatigue and disjointed plays not only from lack of pre season but the number of games at high intensity in such a short amount of time. Also the rotation that comes with that. 

They did what they had to given the limitations in terms of scheduling to get a full season. Perhaps only playing each other 3 times would have been wiser and spacing these games out. I worry about the injuries that might happen over the next few weeks. 

Absolutely no drop in overall standard though imo. Although interesting to see some of the year one standouts like Ongaro and Campbell struggling a little. Keeping was just as dodgy in year one and two. Just as it was for MLS for two decades.  My view anyway.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

38 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

...BTW, I also think watching the Euros and then CPL probably creates a mental breach. 

I'm barely watching the Euros now as the thought of England winning is too awful to even contemplate having grown up in Scotland at a time when they wouldn't shut up about 1966 on the BBC and would show Geoff Hurst's extra time goals for the most spurious reasons.

What are we supposed to be arguing about on the preseason thing given I clearly stated that it will still be a few more games before advancing arguments about the effects of the U-23 imports focus on roster composition will be fair game?

Not sure what you think Atletico Ottawa were getting up to in Spain but I doubt they were in Club 18-30 trip to Shagaluf mode. Friendlies can happen behind closed doors, so they are the team I would have been expecting most from at this point.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

I'm barely watching the Euros now as the thought of England winning is too awful to even contemplate having grown up in Scotland at a time when they wouldn't shut up about 1966 on the BBC and would show Geoff Hurst's extra time goals for the most spurious reasons.

What are we supposed to be arguing about on the preseason thing given I clearly stated that it will still be a few more games before advancing arguments about the effects of the U-23 imports focus on roster composition will be fair game?

Not sure what you think Atletico Ottawa were getting up to in Spain but I doubt they were in Club 18-30 trip to Shagaluf mode. Friendlies can happen behind closed doors, so they are the team I would have been expecting most from at this point.

"Shagaluf", high level. Do you know what balconing is as well?