The Real Marc

Do you see lots of Argentinian influence in our culture? Who are you to say that for him? Why are people so insecure about this? We call up guys based on their skill, experience, determination and willingness to show up. Why a values test too?

My apologies, I got distracted with all the talk of player values and missed that it was just some Trasnfermarkt stuff - might as well be looking that up on Football Manager. I mean, I hope it works out, but the soccer world is full of once promising former junior Brazilian footballers trawling out careers in marginal leagues...I certainly don't know him from a foosball man, but let's not get too blinded by his passport or the club that just released him.

I think there are lots of kids from first and second generation immigrant/ethnic families in Canada that are raised in a family environment that feels as if they're on the fringes of Canadian cultural margins, particularly if their communities are fairly whitebread. So to not feel particularly Canadian is pretty normal IMHO. I don't see the need to twist ourselves into knots to justify this one way or the other. Similar to back when he took flak for saying he regretted becoming cap tied to us. It's likely that there are all sorts of Canadian national team players that would have opted for another country if they had the eligibility for someone better; for Cavallini, that may not have been the most polite thing to say but it's certainly rational and understandable given his career trajectory.

We're the country that capped Marc Bircham. Aren't we overreacting a bit here to this from Cavallini?

Did YOrk 9 pay a fee?

The issue isn't second chances - it's who gets them and what they get them for. AS for JdG, I don't find his comment about Bekker all that offensive. I would have said similar before CPL season started.

Victor Oppong - now there's a name I hadn't heard in 10 years

None of those fit the (goofy ad weird) CPL mould of not using the city name Maybe it’ll be something like Capital FC

One is Tom Hanks, the other Tim Allen

They play ten months a year. Jeepers. That's quite the low bar but if that's good enough for you, then cool. It's not for me, at least not for the guys we thought were going to have a big role to play in the Nats setup in the future. I'm not making a comment on the CPL. I'm making a comment on his career trajectory. If you wanna see the world soccer is a great way to do it. I have nothing but jealousy if these guys have both the talent to catch on with a semi pro club and the foresight to decide that in a short career they'd rather spend a season making peanuts in Drogheda or Bratislava over a summer making peanuts in Winnipeg or Halifax. Go for it! That's adventure that most of us don't get. But let's not pretend that this is an upwards move, a high level for development, or a sign of a progressive career for a 21 year old whose previous club career has been being released by the worst team in the CPL, riding the pine in Sweden tier two and featuring in half of the games in a regional Finnish third division season. The question is, is he going over there because that club is a better opportunity than CPL, or because CPL is no longer an opportunity for him?

I think the question is are guys like Sacramento and Simmons opting for those locales over CPL, is CPL just not interested, or are they realizing their career prospects are dwindling so why not have an adventure? Playing in the New Zealand equivalent of the Can PL, tier two Ireland and Slovakia...yikes. Is she saying they are party people?

No, it’s a bias against tier two football in already small, marginal leagues for guys that are supposed be our prospects.

OUCHZING

From CanPL to tier two eastern Europe? Yikes

When we talk about top paid player, what are we thinking of? 75k?