Canada Pre-World Cup "friendlies" thread: news, gossip and speculation.

[Ruud]

6 hours ago, Cadeau said:

The phone was supposedly ringing off the hook about football powers wanting to play Canada, yet no friendly has been announced.

Argentina Brazil in Australia is nothing more than a cash cow.  My guess is we couldn’t get a profitable location sorted to meet needs of Argentina and make sense financially so they went another route. Another failure of having only 2 decent grass stadiums in this country.  

[Free kick]

24 minutes ago, Ruud said:

 Another failure of having only 2 decent grass stadiums in this country.  

Yes.  You may be understating the problem.  What we are learning now through the WC 2026 venue selection exercise and the planning of important friendlies pre WC, is that stadiums is a problem in Canada.  Despite all the progress we have made with the addition of new MLS teams and the accompanying facilities,  we are not where we need to be.   The MLS stadiums maybe fine for MLS but they are not for important international matches of high profile and visibility.  The main reason is they lack the seating capacity or lack the proper surface or both.  No stadium in canada, right now, meets our needs. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Free kick

[Califax]

What a failure of leadership this is. On the same day they ask for a $150 bucks for a membership. 

 

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Free kick said:

Yes.  You may be understating the problem.  What we are learning now through the WC 2026 venue selection exercise and the planning of important friendlies pre WC, is that stadiums is a problem in Canada.  Despite all the progress we have made with the addition of new MLS teams and the accompanying facilities,  we are not where we need to be.   The MLS stadiums maybe fine for MLS but they are not for important international matches of high profile and visibility.  The main reason is they lack the seating capacity or lack the proper surface or both.  No stadium in canada, right now, meets our needs. 

This is the simple hard fact.

Now if we had a way to readily and effectively install grass in a large venue, and ensure its quality--not just acceptable or similar to field turf, but a proper grass playing surface with its full virtues--we could get away with not having the surface but having the venues. 

My experience, however, is that those solutions don't work optimally. I'd even be worried about the World Cup in 2026 going forward. Oh, and the expansion of BMO is insufficient. Edmonton looks outdated. As does the Big O. BC Place looks good but even then is undercapacity for a WC in North America.

[Bison44]

Stadiums are the problem in CPL as well. 

It annoys me to no end when guys talk about just following Halifax, find a historic downtown green spot in a perfect location and put in a pop up.  Oh and dont use the existing big stadium with all the amenities that was built for a CFL team, it looks bad on TV and the atmosphere is poor.  Plus where can you have a grass field year round in canada??  Lets face it we have natural unavoidable problems with soccer pitches and being able to schedule top flight friendlies.  And its getting harder and harder to agree on any kind of tax break or public funding for these sporting cathedrals every year.  

[Floortom]

Looking forward to our announcement of friendly vs. marquee opponent Nicaragua

[narduch]

19 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Looking forward to our announcement of friendly vs. marquee opponent Nicaragua

Played in Orlando 

[Shway]

1 hour ago, Califax said:

What a failure of leadership this is. On the same day they ask for a $150 bucks for a membership. 

Literally. 
I won’t being gold.

I can’t wait to see the 2021 & 2022 annual reviews 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Shway

[Cadeau]

Started out dreaming of Italy, Argentina, even England....I've lowered my expectations...how about Iran? Couldn't they come to Toronto? 

[Buchta]

Iran was in talks with Canada but I think they only wanted the potential match to be played in Canada

[Ally McCoist]

What mind boggles me is one of the vice-presidents of FIFA is a goddamn Canadian. Use that leverage will ya Montagliani?  

We got Ronaldinho to visit Toronto, how about we set up a marquee friendly?

Edited April 21, 2022 by Ally McCoist

[ob1]

If the u20's is anything to go by.
We may have already played 2 friendlies  

Just waiting for the local updates from taxi drivers and groundskeeper. 

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

5 hours ago, Ruud said:

Argentina Brazil in Australia is nothing more than a cash cow.

This match is technically not a friendly.

It is the WCQ match that the Brazilian health authorities cancelled mid-game by storming the pitch.

Brazil was sanctioned with having to replay it outside of Brazil. Australia likely seemed the most profitable venue I suppose.

The venue may even have been decided by FIFA.

https://www.fifa.com/legal/media-releases/fifa-disciplinary-committee-decisions-on-brazil-v-argentina-match

 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[RS]

4 hours ago, Califax said:

What a failure of leadership this is. On the same day they ask for a $150 bucks for a membership. 

 

 

Did something else happen today or are you just talking about in general?

[grigorio]

2 minutes ago, RS said:

Did something else happen today or are you just talking about in general?

Just seems like the CSA has had a number of kinda inept seeming situations of late. Maybe they’re all still hungover? 
 

- no World Cup kit

- no merchandise available

- late delay in publicizing WC ticket process and then it’s super last minute where it’s announced and made available exact same day

- super late details on the Canada Red + Gold and also grabbing another $150 from ppl

- zero friendly news

- zero content from the U20 camp  

 

[EJsens1]

3 minutes ago, grigorio said:

Just seems like the CSA has had a number of kinda inept seeming situations of late. Maybe they’re all still hungover? 
 

- no World Cup kit

- no merchandise available

- late delay in publicizing WC ticket process and then it’s super last minute where it’s announced and made available exact same day

- super late details on the Canada Red + Gold and also grabbing another $150 from ppl

- zero friendly news

- zero content from the U20 camp  

 

This is spot on. To me, they’re working with a skeleton staff, who weren’t prepared for what has happened the last 7-8 months, culminating in a convincing World Cup berth. On one hand, I feel for them, especially during a pandemic. On the other, get your shit together. 

[RS]

5 minutes ago, grigorio said:

Just seems like the CSA has had a number of kinda inept seeming situations of late. Maybe they’re all still hungover? 
 

- no World Cup kit

- no merchandise available

- late delay in publicizing WC ticket process and then it’s super last minute where it’s announced and made available exact same day

- super late details on the Canada Red + Gold and also grabbing another $150 from ppl

- zero friendly news

- zero content from the U20 camp  

 

Those are all fair criticisms/gripes. I was just wondering if something other than the Canada Red + Gold thing happened today based on the wording of the post I responded to. No biggie.

I still expect a June friendly or two, and I still think Argentina could be in play for September. We'll see.

[SpursFlu]

6 hours ago, Ruud said:

Argentina Brazil in Australia is nothing more than a cash cow.  My guess is we couldn’t get a profitable location sorted to meet needs of Argentina and make sense financially so they went another route. Another failure of having only 2 decent grass stadiums in this country.  

It's not even just about grass. Our stadiums are shit even if the field is made of gold

I dont blame the csa, I blame the citizens of Cantnada. These countries probably inquire about playing here and when we put our options in front of them they're probably like ahh no I think we're good. You guys can just watch John Oliver on YouTube or something instead of watching Canada v Argentina 

Edited April 21, 2022 by SpursFlu

[narduch]

9 minutes ago, grigorio said:

Just seems like the CSA has had a number of kinda inept seeming situations of late. Maybe they’re all still hungover? 
 

- no World Cup kit

- no merchandise available

- late delay in publicizing WC ticket process and then it’s super last minute where it’s announced and made available exact same day

- super late details on the Canada Red + Gold and also grabbing another $150 from ppl

- zero friendly news

- zero content from the U20 camp  

 

-Womens U17 starts their qualifying tournament on Sunday and there has been zero promotion. All the other nations at least announced their squads

[Obinna]

44 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

It's not even just about grass. Our stadiums are shit even if the field is made of gold

I dont blame the csa, I blame the citizens of Cantnada. These countries probably inquire about playing here and when we put our options in front of them they're probably like ahh no I think we're good. You guys can just watch John Oliver on YouTube or something instead of watching Canada v Argentina 

Yeah. I was going to say to Bisons point that yes it's true we have natural challenges that other nations don't because of climate, but at the same time countries with a very similar climate such as Norway figure it out. We have like 4-5 times the population and without even looking it up I am certain they have much better outdoor stadium infrastructer, including numerous CPL sized stadiums. That's why I feel the climate argument hassome merit, but there's also a weird inability to get stadiums built in this country. It's very strange and I don't know what explains it.

[Obinna]

Getting off topic perhaps, but here's a list of the top flight stadiums in Norway. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Eliteserien_venues

[Free kick]

5 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Stadiums are the problem in CPL as well. 

It annoys me to no end when guys talk about just following Halifax, find a historic downtown green spot in a perfect location and put in a pop up.  Oh and dont use the existing big stadium with all the amenities that was built for a CFL team, it looks bad on TV and the atmosphere is poor.  Plus where can you have a grass field year round in canada??  Lets face it we have natural unavoidable problems with soccer pitches and being able to schedule top flight friendlies.  And its getting harder and harder to agree on any kind of tax break or public funding for these sporting cathedrals every year.  

This is another problem.   Its those catch phases and populist notions that people out there like to throw out as because they have heard it repeatedly by others; to the point that it becomes gospel.    The one I am referring to of course is the ones that say:  "No public funds for sports teams",  "Let them (the private sector) pay for it themselves",  "no welfare for millionaire owners".   Hence nobody assesses the circumstances and merit individually for each of these cases, you just hear the catch phrase.   

I get the that its tax payers money and I get that sometimes (or even often) you have to say "no".   But without any public support, other than an NHL arena for the Leafs, Canucks and Habs, nothing will ever get built in Canada.   Its as simple as that.  And that money will go elsewhere to who knows what entitly or group.

[Cheeta]

7 hours ago, Buchta said:

Iran was in talks with Canada but I think they only wanted the potential match to be played in Canada

I'd take it.

[Cheeta]

8 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Stadiums are the problem in CPL as well. 

It annoys me to no end when guys talk about just following Halifax, find a historic downtown green spot in a perfect location and put in a pop up.  Oh and dont use the existing big stadium with all the amenities that was built for a CFL team, it looks bad on TV and the atmosphere is poor.  Plus where can you have a grass field year round in canada??  Lets face it we have natural unavoidable problems with soccer pitches and being able to schedule top flight friendlies.  And its getting harder and harder to agree on any kind of tax break or public funding for these sporting cathedrals every year.  

The decision to go to artificial turf in CFL stadiums was an economic decision, but I confess I'd love to sit around the board room discussing the data that was consulted in making that decision.  I expect there was a fair bit of cherry picking going on there.   As has been said so often before, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. 

From the outside I can't see the reasoning for using artificial turf in a place like IG Field.  Maybe it too hard to measure marketability differances and injury expences? Labour costs vs asset purchaces?  Don't know.  But if the Bombers and Valour can't have an A1 natural grass pitch in that venue then man, I don't know.  

 

[grigorio]

7 hours ago, EJsens1 said:

This is spot on. To me, they’re working with a skeleton staff, who weren’t prepared for what has happened the last 7-8 months, culminating in a convincing World Cup berth. On one hand, I feel for them, especially during a pandemic. On the other, get your shit together. 

Yeah but this is prime time baby. Time to strap in and get shit done.