RickC

We got our tix yesterday too. Smallest crowd of the season is likely: mid-week, 6 pm start time, season seat holders have to opt in. But, agree this match is "intriguing" and "special."

FC Cincinnati agrees to transfer Welshman to Hapoel, and Hapoel agrees to have him stay on loan to Forge FC. I just woke up, so that was a dream, but it may happen. We have no idea of what conditions are on the loan, so we just have to wait for it all to happen to really know what the outcome will be. Fully agree that Forge needs a true striker if they are to continue their tactical set up. Nowak returning would do that, but they shouldn't just have the one pure striker. Maybe a deal with another CPL team?

I have to say that when we leave Forge games we leave thoroughly entertained. Yes, I'd love to see fewer defensive errors. But, am so happy we bought the season's seats and didn't mind that much getting thoroughly soaked at the game.

I'm not going to quote Ozzie the f**g parrot, but wtf is this a**holes problem? Upset that CPL is like other sports leagues that show attendance as tickets distributed? Fine, made your f**g point. Move along, nothing more to see. Buy a f***g ticket and go to games.

Why did the referee stop play when the US player was down? France had the ball and was attacking. It took about 5 minutes for France to get going again. Even from replays and more angles it looked like a penalty for the French. Tabernac.

For specifics, you should look for the policy on the Tim Hortons Field website or TiCats, if there's not enough info on the Forge FC site. But, because of the weather and having two kids with us, we've taken a large bag to each match. Large enough for a couple of blankets, 4 rain ponchos, and maybe a couple of other things. They do check bags on the way in but unless you're bringing certain beverages that shouldn't be a problem. Enjoy the match!

It's interesting that almost all of the supporting comments out there for the US goal celebrations concerns defending them running up the score. I don't have an issue with scoring. It would have been far more disrespectful had the US just booted the ball down the field and stayed in their own end. Go score goals in the group stage. But, celebrating later goals as if they were Cup winning goals is disrespectful and classless. This could have been another team doing this, but it wasn't, it was the US. It shows why we have the word stereotype, in this case the "ugly American." The vast majority of Americans don't deserve this label, but the US women's team does. I hope they realize their errors and be contrite. They deserve support for their abilities but apart from the massive number of Americans buying tickets for this World Cup they won't be getting any from the neutrals.

Forge missed Welshman lastnight, but they were really missing Nowack too. Centre forward is not Borges' proper position. Any one else surprised with Forge's second half subs? Choiniere off, neither Nanco nor Zajac on? Through the course of the season so far, Calgary is the better team. But, Forge is the better team to watch, sigh.

It is good to see a price reduction, but to compare again to other leagues, here's Queens Park Rangers season ticket prices for next season in English Championship, near midfield (section T) about half way up the stand (12th row): Full price 674 sterling or CD$1,146 or CD$50 per match Over 60 or under 23 452 sterling or CD$768 or CD$33 per match Under 18 220 sterling or CD$374 or CD$16 per match Of course, single game tickets would be more, but still, other than airfare and hotel or flat, it's a much better deal at QPR.

Any word on Anthony Novak's knee? Second half of the previous match he had a big ice pack on it.

First Forge match we've missed, had to take my kid to his U10 rep match where they got thumped. Raced home to watch the added time red card and penalty. Maybe against Cavalry the fans should leave at the 90th minute so they see Forge beat them every time. Our four tix were used as I transferred them to my brother who took three friends. None of them had been to a Forge match yet, and all enjoyed themselves. I did get the report that ShortDutchCanuck was not too happy at the end!

I don't know why some people seemingly obsess about checking Ticketmaster, like it's a sacrificed chicken whose innards are being examined to foretell the future. Let's add up all the blue dots to see how many tickets are left. Suddenly, there are more tickets available. Who knew? It's like they had created an artificial sense of scarcity. Shocking. Some thought in terms of all teams selling out all games, requiring larger stadiums for year two. Others thought failure of the league in year one. The reality was always going to be a difficult slog to get beyond the hard-core Canadian soccer supporter. Getting to the casual supporter, the general sports supporter, etc. Seems to me that any truly negative attendance issues can be traced to management decisions: pricing, marketing, etc. I think all on here thought York 9 would be in tough due to location. Specific to Forge, I'm happy with the attendance of roughly 5500 to 6000 per game so far (ignoring the anomaly of game one). From people I speak to at the games, or see interacting with others, these fans are leaving very happy with the experience. Remember, Forge (and the other CPL teams) are not just competing for sports dollars, but all entertainment dollars such as going to a movie.

Yes, I think it was. Along with the big Nike banner brought out to midfield with another slogan on it. I know, accepting advertising helps pay the bills, but having players stand in their positions, waiting to start the match, as a Nike attempt to start a new "go Canada" chant is on the big screen is awful. I didn't see many people start following the chant and nobody was paying attention near the end of it (section 221). In the CPL forum there are comments about starting the games on time, or in one (?) case even a minute early. But, starting seven minutes late isn't great either. I admit to not following the women's team as closely, but noticed Schmidt drop back to play center back after a substitution. Does she often play there as well as midfield?

Two other thoughts: my wife says O Canada was played at too low a pitch (I never argue with her about anything to do with music); and, what a lame chant, clapping thing they tried to get people to do right before kickoff. I hope that is not tried again.

Yes, Canada did dominate the game for most of the time, seemed quite in control. I do think they'll have to put in a better performance when up against another top ranked team, rather than #26 Mexico. Wonderful to see Sinclair with her little flick-ons and deft passes. She definitely got the loudest applause during introductions and when substituted out. Chapman did a great job down the left. We sat beside a family of Mexican-Canadians (I don't like hyphenating but do so to make my point!) who applauded good plays by both teams and were on their feet for the Canuck goals. Should we be disappointed with the size of the crowd? A few thousand less than last June's match in Hamilton (although that was a beautiful day). At least it was a very pro-Canada crowd.