sloth8

Very open and honest interview with Hume. Among many things he talks about the preparation for this game and says that it was not Hart's fault. See 28:50

Ottawa Sun interview with Jeff Hunt: https://ottawasun.com/sports/soccer/the-real-jeff-hunt-says-things-about-to-get-busy-for-atletico-ottawa Describes the behind-the-scenes activity necessary to open the business and get the club up and running. Plan is to announce season ticket pricing this week (Wednesday or Thursday). He would like to announce one player signing per day leading up to training camp on March 11. Hunt hints at 8 players having already been signed.

Neil Davidson interview with CEO Fernando Lopez about the tight deadline to put a team together: https://www.tsn.ca/deadlines-aplenty-for-atletico-ottawa-as-it-builds-canadian-premier-league-expansion-team-1.1447828 "Lopez expects to make player announcements in the next two weeks"

They now need to win against Jamaica to claim first in the group. They have looked listless in attack both games.

The full schedule has been released. Really unbalanced schedule in terms of home games. Only 5 of their first 17 games are at home (April through July). Then 9 of their final 11 games are at home (August through October).

What's weird about that article is that it says Canada is 18 points behind when it is only 14. It also says that the most points a team can earn in one window is 8 points (4 points for each win). I am not sure where the author is getting his information from, but I would think their FA has a better handle on how FIFA points are calculated.

I have only seen the Canadian Press article about it: https://www.tsn.ca/canada-soccer-schedules-news-conference-amidst-speculation-of-international-game-1.1442327 Press conference is supposed to be at 11h00 PST/14h00 EST

Delayed until 12:20

According to Jeff Hunt, they have a list of 4 or 5 coaching candidates. That being said, they may sign players before a GM or coach is hired as "No matter what scheme a coach is going to run, you want good players." https://ottawasun.com/sports/soccer/soccer-is-back-atletico-madrid-jeff-hunt-behind-ottawa-expansion-team-in-cpl

Jackson started his first match for Stevenage today against Grimsby Town. Played 64 mins in a 3-1 defeat.

Jackson has signed a deal with Stevenage (who are near the relegation spot in EFL League Two) for the rest of the season https://www.stevenagefc.com/news/2020/january/transfer-new-signing-simeon-jackson-sky-bet-league-two-efl-english-football-league-monday-20th-january-2020/

Not mentioned in that article was the fact that the City of Ottawa accepted the OSEG and Katz bid for the Champions after having a conditional agreement with a different group of local investors. https://obj.ca/article/city-prefers-rival-bidder-over-upstart-ottawa-group-take-over-baseball-capital

Not sure if there was any falling out. Jazic moved to Arkansas in 2016 and is the technical director of a NPSL club in Little Rock. http://www.littlerockrangers.com/jazic-takes-official-role

An interesting article about attendance numbers for this World Cup. Of note, total ticket sales are just over 1 million while the 2015 edition had 1.3 million. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jun/18/womens-world-cup-empty-seats-fifa-france-2019 Also the David Squires' cartoon re: VAR in the France v. Nigeria match is great: https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2019/jun/18/david-squires-on-the-womens-world-cup-goals-and-good-old-var

Group C has definitely been the most entertaining group so far. I thought Australia had shot themselves in the foot after that opening loss to Italy, but credit them for fighting back against Brazil and getting the necessary goal difference against Jamaica to move them into second spot. They now have a very winnable match against Norway. Definitely a more favourable draw for them since Brazil will likely be playing France. Italy, meanwhile, top the group and are rewarded with a match against Nigeria or China.