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Football Discussion => World Football => Topic started by: DC76 on March 22, 2007, 09:16:20 PM
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Now as you probably all already know, I'm Canadian, and very proud to be Canadian. But there is one thing that bothers me immensely about this country. We don't have a decent football system of our own. Now most Canadians think "football" is that weird rugby spinoff played by men wearing tights and insane amounts of padding, which irks me because they only use their feet what? 5% of the time? :p
We share our systems with the US of A, which is financially efficient, but also means we're stuck with only four truly professional teams - Toronto FC (who start when this upcoming MLS season starts), Vancouver Whitecaps (DEFENDING USL CHAMPS BABY! :D) who are the closest thing to a local club that I have, the Montreal Impact (along with Vancouver they comprise two of the three best teams in the USL, the other being the Rochester "Raging Rhinos" in New York State) and the Toronto Lynx (who are pure crap). We did also have the Calgary Mustangs at one point, but they folded.
The so-called "Canadian Professional S****r League" is almost entirely Ontario-based, with only one current team being from outside Ontario, the Dynamites de Laval. (There are two more expansion teams slated for Quebec in the next couple of seasons, but still, western alienation much?) On top of that, they aren't even of Isthmian Premiership calibre.
Then there's the "Pacific Coast S****r League" which is mostly in British Columbia but there are a few Washington State teams as well. My local club in that league, Victoria United, has taken three of the last five, but the defending champs are the Whitecaps Reserve Team. (The other winner was New Westminster Khalsa.)
And in spite of all this, we do manage to get the lone good player. Some notes about Canadian football:
- Most Canadian football fans despise Owen Hargreaves, especially after remarks he made earlier this year (I for one, am a fence-sitter on the whole Hargreaves issue). A similar case is Jonathan de Guzman, who like Hargreaves was born and raised here, but unlike Hargreaves neither of his parents were citizens of the country he's playing for now, the Netherlands. And his older brother, Julian, plays for Canada. Like I say, we're never going to get better if our best guys keep ditching us. (I honestly don't think Jono will ever play with the best guys in the Netherlands anyway!)
- a flip-side of this situation that is awkward for many hardcore Canadian football fans (like most of the people at the Voyageurs site) is QPR mid Marc Bircham, who only plays for Canada through a Canadian passport he was able to obtain somehow because his grandfather lived in Winnipeg for a short time. A lot of said fans, myself included, don't think Bircham should be playing for Canada, but it's a little late now because he's already been capped. He hasn't even lived in the country a day!
- There are a large amount of players that were born abroad and that moved to Canada when very young (well pre-career) in our national team ranks. A particularly high number have Polish citizenship - Tomasz Radzinski, Chris Pozniak, Nicolas Blicharski, Wojciech Zarzycki, Andrzej Ornoch, and Mike Klukowski (who was actually born in Austria) are all Canadian-Polish dual citizens. The three Imhof brothers, Daniel, Dominic and Christoph, are all Canadian-Swiss duals.
- there are a few Canadian-British duals other than Marc Bircham: Iain Hume was born in Edinburgh but grew up in London, the Dodds brothers, Rhian and Jamie, are also of Scottish extraction, and Kevin McKenna got his from having lived in Scotland for so long as a member of Hearts.
- many of our best players come from either the Toronto-Hamilton area or from Montreal, with the occasional input from the south-west of BC (including Steve Nash's little brother Martin, who's from Victoria).
The Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador) don't usually produce high-level players, but one noteworthy exception is Halifax native Ante Jazic who has played for Rapid Wien, Hajduk Split, and Kuban Krasnodar.
- In last year's Voyageurs Player of the Year voting, M/F/D Atiba Hutchinson from FC K
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What is the state of attendances at league games on average?
Is there any real funding going into progressing the game in Canada?
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That is the CSA's biggest failing IMO. Very little funding going into actually growing the game, relative to other countries in the world. And as a matter of fact, the only sport the government seems to care about is hockey, hockey, hockey. The interest is there, because youth football registration is actually higher than youth hockey. Just that the money isn't. And it pisses me off to the absolute extreme
:ranting::rant_:
As for attendance, the Montreal Impact consistently have sellout crowds and their attendance is up with the best in the USL, around the 15-16 thousand range. Vancouver is in the process of building a new stadium, which is a good thing because Swangard Stadium is sh*t (in more ways than one) and only holds something like 8000 people tops. They expect that the MLS stadium will draw a lot too, with 30 000 seats and the likes of David Beckham going to pass through. They've already sold out the Galaxy matches, or at least, that's what I've heard. Their season tickets have already completely sold out and the season doesn't start for another month.
The Toronto FC roster looks like it's starting to take shape:
G: Greg Sutton (CAN), Jon Busch (USA), Tomer Chencinski (CAN/ISR)
D: Richie Asante (CAN), Adam Braz (CAN), Chris Pozniak (CAN), Marco Reda (CAN), Andy Boyens (NZL)
M: Jose Cancela (URU), Maurice Edu (USA), Andrew Gray (unknown), David Guzman (CAN, this guy is feckin tiny, so is Asante :p), Tyler Hemming (CAN), Rich Mulrooney (USA), Paolo Nagamura (BRA), Ronnie O'Brien (IRL), Carl Robinson (WLS), Jim Brennan (CAN)(captain)
F: Edson Buddle (USA), Conor Casey (USA), Alecko Eskandarian (USA), Jeff Gonsalves (CAN, a question mark at this point)
We need more defenders and another Canadian forward or two. When's the next transfer window?
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15-16,000 isn't bad, better then most Champ grounds.
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Only Rochester really rivals them as far as the USL is concerned. I think Vancouver will jump into the mix once the new stadium is built, though. Hell, if I get a job, I might put a little money aside to go over and catch a 'Caps game myself :D Interestingly enough, although the jerseys aren't the same, the Whitecaps' colours are very similar to Tottenham's! ;)
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Give me a Canadian team for me to follow then!!
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WHITECAPS ALL THE WAY! Even if they play in a shared system (most of the USL teams are stateside) they're one of the best teams - finished third in the "regular season" and won the championship playoff this season! (Not long after the fact, Walsall decided to sign D/M Geordie Lyall right fresh off the roster!)
http://www.whitecapsfc.com/
Although the CPSL, as I said, is largely Ontario-based and really not that great, I do have a soft spot for Serbian White Eagles (one of the many Toronto-based teams in that league) because some of their players have gone on to bigger things in their careers. In the PCSL, it's obviously all about Victoria United for me, considering I only live an hour or so out of Victoria ;)
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I am now an officially adopted Whitecaps fan :D Peter Beardsley used to play for them :o
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That was back in the days of the old NASL. :) But then along came the multi-million-dollar deals and the league went bankrupt in hardly any time at all, so the original 'Caps folded in 1984. They were re-formed as the 86ers the year Expo was in Vancouver and re-renamed the Whitecaps six years ago. :) I remember seeing that on the news. "Whitecaps" sounds way cooler than "86ers," IMO.
Jordan and Gjertsen were near-unstoppable last season in the USL1, and having Martin Nash on the team always helps, too ;)
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http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-canada-bermuda&prov=ap&type=lgns
Let's hope this is the beginning of a turnaround for the Canucks. This month we finished at an all-time low 103rd place in the FIFA rankings. I mean sure, it's only Bermuda, but we have to start somewhere.
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Looks like Ryan "Wacky" Gyaki might be headed to Deutschland... Sheff U's loss, he could turn out quite well with the right coaching. He was dynamite for our U-20s.
http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11619
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I think Jacob Lensky and Jonathan de Guzman are big talents. They both play for Feyenoord Rotterdam, and both are still young. The only problem for our Canadian friend is that De Guzman doesn't wants to play for Canada, but prefers Holland. :D Their best player, doesn't want to play for 'em.
Rob Friend, who's playing at Heracles Almelo (on loan from Heerenveen) is wack.
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I think Jacob Lensky and Jonathan de Guzman are big talents. They both play for Feyenoord Rotterdam, and both are still young. The only problem for our Canadian friend is that De Guzman doesn't wants to play for Canada, but prefers Holland. Their best player, doesn't want to play for 'em.
That's not entirely correct. He isn't our best player. And besides that, The Netherlands has enough talented players of its own. Why does it have to poach ours? :dry:
Oddly enough, in one article, Jono still referred to himself as Canadian. So he may not play for Holland, that's still apparently up in the air. He has until he's 21 to decide, and that's 1 1/2 years from now or so.
Our best players:
G Lars Hirschfeld - Rosenborg, Norway
D Kevin McKenna - Energie Cottbus, Germany
M Tam Nsaliwa - Panionios, Greece
M Atiba Hutchinson - K
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That's not entirely correct. He isn't our best player. And besides that, The Netherlands has enough talented players of its own. Why does it have to poach ours? :dry:
Oddly enough, in one article, Jono still referred to himself as Canadian. So he may not play for Holland, that's still apparently up in the air. He has until he's 21 to decide, and that's 1 1/2 years from now or so.
Our best players:
G Lars Hirschfeld - Rosenborg, Norway
D Kevin McKenna - Energie Cottbus, Germany
M Tam Nsaliwa - Panionios, Greece
M Atiba Hutchinson - K
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Whatever.
DeRo is in his thirties, so of course nobody's really that interested, but remember that MLS All-Stars vs. Chelsea (who want to sign Jono btw), who scored the only goal in that match? That would be DeRo. :p He's more of a playmaker, but when he scores goals, they always make the highlight reel :D
Hutch and Hirschie are both under contract atm and there's no way that either are going anywhere fast. Especially not after K
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The Latest "Canucks Abroad" list from Canada-s0ccer.com
Argentina
Emmanuel (Manny) Gomez - River Plate (Argentina Premier League) (1) Youth
Belgium
Mike Klukowski - Club Brugge (Belgian Jupiler League) (1)
Robert Giacomi - KSK Beveren (Belgian Jupiler League) (1) Reserves
Brazil
Selvin Lammie - Gremio (Brazilian Serie A) (1) Youth
Chile
Carlos Rivas Jr. - La Serena (Chilean Primera Division) (1)
Jason Quezada - Uni
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Well, after going without a goal for the entire month of April, Toronto FC, featuring English striker Danny Dichio, has won two in a row! :spoton:
First they beat the Chicago Fire 3-1 with Dichio scoring the club's first-ever goal, and Andrea Lombardo coming off the bench for an assist despite having played only days prior against Argentina for the Canadian U-20 side. Then they got the club's first-ever clean sheet, blanking defending champs Houston Dynamo 1-buzz. Lombardo had another solid effort off the bench and of the outfielders (no offence to Jim Brennan, Adam Braz or Chris Pozniak) he has been the best homegrown Canadian player for TFC this season :D Greg Sutton has been decent in goal, but his defence is lacking somewhat. Brennan is good and Pozniak is decent, but Braz needs time to adjust and the others are kinda average, except maybe Andy Welsh. The biggest downfall of TFC is inexperience. That's why they brought Dichio in.
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Nice article here on the elder de Guzman, that is, Deportivo D-mid/left mid Julian.
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=stdeguzman&prov=st&type=lgns
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Apparently AZ Alkmaar isn't the only club showing interest in Atiba Hutchinson ;) Next thing you know, Spurs could be on the list! I'd post the link, but the word "s*ccer" is censored in URL code. So I'll recap the entire post:
As posted by CanuckFan (Ed) on Bigs*ccer:
Also reports today out of Denmark that both VfB Stuttgart or Werder Bremen (top clubs in the Bundesliga 1) are eager to sign Atiba Hutchinson. Either club would be a great opportunity for Atiba (looking at a transfer fee of 5 to 6 million euros).
EDIT: Apparently Anderlecht are looking at him, too.
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It seems that Germany's becoming the new popular hotspot for Canadians :p Bernier's headed for Kaiserslautern!
http://transfermarkt.de/de/news/16273/ddd/news/anzeigen.html
Who's next? Stalteri? Radzinski? Wacky Gyaki? :lol: nyeh, more likely Hutchinson, unless Jol decides he wants to pursue him. ;)
I know it's not Julian de Guzman, Deportivo want him to stay and he wants to stay in the Galician side
And now for a list:
DC76's Top 10 Canadian-Friendly Clubs Outside Canada And The USA
1. Term
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Who is Andy Boyen's. I've never heard of him. I feel I should have after all he is a kiwi
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I'm as in the dark as you, dude :p All I know is that he plays for Toronto FC :lol:
EDIT: Did a little research on the guy, turns out he was drafted out of US college, the University of New Mexico to be exact. So that's why you haven't heard of him. He's a US Uni brat :p Although he was under contract with Otago United (NZL) last season, I'm not sure if he ended up even playing.
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2-2 draw against Venezuela, DeRo and Gerbz (Dwayne De Rosario and Ali Gerba) got the goals. Gerba's goal was quality :D
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Looks like former Blade prospect Ryan "Wacky" Gyaki is going to be with Hansa Rostock next season:
http://www.fc-hansa.de/cp/index.php?id=154&oid=4066
Well, Greg Sutton from Toronto FC is injured, so they decided Pat Onstad should start. Oh great. There goes any chance of us winning any games.:wall::cry1:
Pat Onstad is CRAP when he plays for Canada!! Why don't they call Begovic in fgs?? Of course, Hirschie seems to be more concerned about playing for the club than he does about playing for Canada, and after having a p*ss-poor manager in Yallop, I might not like this decision, but I can't say I blame him.
Our defence had better be up to snuff in the Gold Cup, or let's face it, Canada's going out of this one faster than an emo CD goes out my window!
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You're not going to believe this, but Canada beat Costa Rica 2-1 in Gold Cup tournament action tonight! :hyper: I wish there were a Canadian flag smiley so I can express how awesome this is, but I'll just post an image of a flag :p
The guy that scored both goals for Canada was Juli
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Here's one directed at the prats in San Diego's newspaper who thought Canada was crap:
YOU CAN STICK YOUR PAPERS UP YOUR ASS
YOU CAN STICK YOUR PAPERS UP YOUR ASS
YOU CAN STICK YOUR PAPERS
STICK YOUR PAPERS
STICK YOUR PAPERS UP YOUR ASS
COZ WE'VE GOT DIESEL AT THE BACK
COZ WE'VE GOT DIESEL AT THE BACK
COZ WE'VE GOT DIESEL
WE'VE GOT DIESEL
WE'VE GOT DIESEL AT THE BACK
:nerner:
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My ratings from the game on Wednesday:
Onstad - 7
Stalteri - 8 (almost scored in the first half, too!)
Hainault - 6 (He needs to clean up his act)
Hastings - 7.5
Jazic - 7.5
Bernier - 8
De Rosario - 7
De Guzm
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Even though it's about Rugby not football, this seems the most appropriate place to say that we are welcoming your Canadian Rugby team over here this week for an international against the All Blacks. The game is being played in Hamilton. This is the city that the uni I work for is based in.
The All Blacks have just thumped France in two tests but don't read too much into it as it was virtually the French C team that turned up.
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Heh, whether it's full rugby or Sevens, Canada's still going to get its ass kicked :p
As for football tonight, though, we're playing a non-FIFA nation in the Gold Cup, Guadeloupe. They're not bad, but they're not great, either. Canada should win. Well, if they can beat Costa Rica, then they better feckin beat Guadeloupe! :lol:
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Well, Canada dropped a 2-1 stinker against Guadeloupe, who by the way are a bunch of injury-faking, Ars*nal-imitating goons. :dry: We were nothing short of pure crap in that game. Sutton was rushed back from his concussion and he definitely showed it.
But then we turned around and smacked Haiti upside the head 2-scratch, with both goals by Dwayne De Rosario. :hyper: Issey Nakajima-Farran is going to be huge for Canada in the future, coz he certainly was in that match :D
So Canada not only advances from the first round for the first time since '02, but does so finishing top of the group! :hyper: Costa Rica finishes second on head-to-head results over Guadeloupe, and Haiti gets their butts whooped :p The Loupers can still advance if either the third place team from Group B or the one from Group C finishes with a worse record.
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@pukeko
I like the All Blacks' dance :-)
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Thats good, problem is they don't have a dance.
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Ummm... this is the Canadian Football Thread :p
Anyhow, big news on Canada's front - the new FIFA World Rankings were released today, and Canada went up 38 places from 94th to 56th! :hyper: This is after wins against Costa Rica and Haiti in the Gold Cup first round. Our match against Guadeloupe? It didn't count. :p Guadeloupe's not a FIFA entity, so matches against them don't count. I guess that's bad news for Costa Rica, because they beat Guadeloupe :lol:
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Canada 3 Guatemala 0 :ohyeah: We're going to face the Americans now in the semis.
All Diesel had to show for it was a booking :p But oh well, it was Da Ali G Show at the Gillette as Ali Gerba scored two of Canada's three goals :) And this guy plays for a half-arse team like Horsens? Someone better, PLEASE SIGN THIS GUY!
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Do CONCACAF referees not like Canadians or something? Because we got a royal screw-job at the hands of the refs yesterday. Atiba Hutchinson was onside, but had his goal called back because on an "offisde." That goal would have sent it to extra time and potentially given us a spot in the Gold Cup Final. I'm feckin CHOKED.
No offence to Rob or any other Americans on this site, but I hope to GOD Mexico wins in the final. Because the American victory over us was a tainted one.
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Well, despite our losing a very controversial semifinal, Canada still can lay claim to the Gold Cup MVP.
Juli
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Another Canuck in the EPL?
The Daily Star is saying that apparently Newcastle and Wet Spam are going to battle for K
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Hows the U20 tourney going in Canada. I see your lot and mine lost their first game. We were pretty encouraged about the game against Portugal though especially as we are ranked 24th in the comp.
There is a hope that we will get a result today.
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Well, despite getting their butts handed to them in the U-20, Canada went up four more spots in the FIFA World Rankings to top out at 52nd. I don't think we'll go any higher this year, unless we play a friendly against a really good side this month or next and do well.
That said, the exposure for Canadian football has been reasonable of late, more so because of the Gold Cup. IMO Atiba Hutchinson and Julian De Guzm
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The current list of our guys abroad (thanks to canadian-s0ccer.com):
Argentina
Emmanuel (Manny) Gomez - Trist
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Bloody hell!
Half the population of Canada now plays football overseas!
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:lol:
It sure seems like it sometimes, dunnit? :p Most of 'em play in England or Germany, although one of the best ones plays in Denmark for some reason. He had the Spammers and Newcastle interested in him for a while, but K
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The only footie pitch i have seen out here had stupid looking posts so you could play rugby or american footie on it aswell looked a bit confusing not even seen any one kicking a ball around have drien past loads of baseball games tho.
Maybe will try and get an army team to play against some local outfits if i can dunno if we would be to strong for them and make it a bit onesided tho.
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I bet the town of Smithers, BC (now eligible for City status because it's over 5000 people) is collectively grinning from ear to ear today. Daniel Imhof, who was born in Switzerland but raised in Smithers and plays for Canada, scored the eventual winning goal in a 2-1 Bochum victory over Hamburg. :D
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-germany&prov=reuters&type=lgns
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I bet the town of Smithers, BC (now eligible for City status because it's over 5000 people) is collectively grinning from ear to ear today. Daniel Imhof, who was born in Switzerland but raised in Smithers and plays for Canada, scored the eventual winning goal in a 2-1 Bochum victory over Hamburg. :D
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-germany&prov=reuters&type=lgns
''I bet the town of Smithers, BC (now eligible for City status because it's over 5000 people)''
The 'town' i live in currently has an ever increasing poulation of around 350.000 people, but because it doesnt havea cathedral they wont grant it city status! Stupidity at its highest if you ask me...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Keynes
Grats to the Canadian though!
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''I bet the town of Smithers, BC (now eligible for City status because it's over 5000 people)''
The 'town' i live in currently has an ever increasing poulation of around 350.000 people, but because it doesnt havea cathedral they wont grant it city status! Stupidity at its highest if you ask me...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Keynes
Hmmm... I always considered MK to be a city. I guess that's because, like I said, in BC, to be able to gain city status, you have to have only 5000 people. Smithers is around 5500. 350000 is about the size of the Greater Victoria area, population wise. But it also has several cathedrals :p (That's a dumb rule, btw - a cathedral doesn't make a city.)
But I digress.
Next friendly for Canada is against Costa Rica. I hope we beat them AGAIN :D Maybe Jol will let Stalteri play for us again. I don't know why, but he always seems to play his best football for Team Canada. He was even like that with Werder at the height of his career (aka The Double).
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You know those Adidas "Impossible is Nothing" commercials? Well, there was one done of a Canadian. 20-year-old Asmir Begovic, to be exact.
[youtube]KtLhlLc5jc4[/youtube]
He was born in Trebinje, Bosnia, and lived there during the height of the fighting in the war, which only really ended when he was eight or so. He then moved to Edmonton and did most of his grade school in Canada, before starting his football career. He currently plays for Bournemouth, where he was loaned to from Portsmouth. He's probably Canada's best young goalkeeper and I think he'll be our starter in the future. He may even have the potential to surpass Craig Forrest and Lars Hirschfeld as our best 'keeper of all time.
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We drew 1-1 with Costa Rica, who of course dove, whined, faked injuries and generally raised a stink non-stop.
I'm convinced that CONCACAF hates Canada. :dry: Coz why else would it let all these diving, time-wasting, injury-faking pikeys get away with murder and yet if we even look at someone the wrong way, we get the hammer dropped on us?
UEFA doesn't have that bad a double-standard. I wish Canada would join UEFA. Because let's face it, we don't get along well with anyone in our own confed, which is no fault of our own.
In UEFA, I can count the teams I think are divers on both hands. In CONCACAF, I can't even count the ones that aren't on one hand, and one of those is my own country! Mexico isn't bad when it comes to that, but their referees hate Canadians, especially that :tossa: Archundio. The Americans play dirty football at times. And everyone else? Don't get me started!
I think for the most part, Canada actually has stronger cultural ties to Europe than to the rest of the Western Hemisphere. And we definitely have stronger footballing ties - half of our players who play pro outside of Canada play in England, Germany or the Benelux! I think only two of our top 20 best players play in the US - De Rosario and Jazic - and there isn't a decent Canadian player playing anywhere else, although Tony Menezes spent quite a bit of time with Botafogo earlier in his career. Most Canadians, when they're not rooting for Canada, will root for a team in Europe. Of course, the ethnic Asians will also root for Asian teams. But who are the most popular teams amongst Canadians? Not the USA. Not Brazil. Not Argentina. Not even feckin Mexico! (And I like them!) England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, Ukraine (especially in the Prairies - you'd be amazed how many people in that region are at least part-Ukrainian), Portugal, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Serbia, Croatia... these are the teams that Canadians generally cheer for, besides Canada. Because it's from those places that the majority of the Canadian population gets its ancestry.
In UEFA, although Canada would be hard-pressed to do anything, at least we'd get experience and some reasonable treatment by the feckin refs. And maybe we'd sneak into the odd EURO tournament :ph34r: Plus like I said, the majority of our pro players playing outside of Canada play in Europe anyway. And quite honestly, I'd rather say I support the 20th best team in a decent confederation than 4th-best (which we are now) in probably the most bush-league confederation there is. Even the OFC cares more about "Fair Play" than CONCACAF. Perkele... :wall:
Okay, I'm done ranting. Laugh away. Gimps. :p
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So we went down to 54th in the FIFA rankings. Just to give you an idea of where we'd sit with that, we're between Wales (who went up 21 spots after incinerating Slovakia and getting a bad month off the books) and Hungary. So if we were in UEFA, we'd be 30th right now. Granted, the FIFA rankings seem to have a pro-Europe/pro-South America slant, so I'm hardly complaining considering that we also leap-frogged Costa Rica into third in our confederation behind the Mexicans and the Americans. That said, I never thought I'd see the day where Canada was higher up than Belgium, Slovenia, or Latvia. And of course we're higher than Austria, who are going to get butchered at EURO next year. The Swiss may play boring football, but at least they do it well. Austria sucks. :lol:
And not only that, but CONCACAF is bush-league :p
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This transfer window hasn't been too eventful for Spurs (THANK GOD) but it has for Canadians... and to think it just started 4 days ago!
Actual moves:
- M Sandro Grande has left Molde (Norway)
- F Stephen Ademolu transferred from Troms
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Today's news:
D Andr
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Today's news:
Ali Gerba now with FC Ingolstadt in Germany (was at IFK G
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Canuck updates:
G Josh Wagenaar is reported to be leaving ADO Den Haag to join Toronto FC because Troms
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None of our players play abroad
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Except for Becks, Danny Dichio and a handful of players I doubt many have ever heard of :p
But that's because England has the world's best league system. ;) Canada doesn't have a league system at all. And I honestly wish they did. But hey, at least Canada's a decent footballing nation thanks to the good graces of countries like England, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.
I guess Greece is getting that rep these days too, here in Canada. I mean come on. Tam Nsaliwa's the holding mid on the best team in Greece right now, AEK, and Tomasz Radzinski's on a mega hot streak with Skoda Xanthis!
Our only really good player playing in the US professional system right now is Dwayne De Rosario, if you don't count the Canadian teams that are in said system (Toronto FC, Montreal Impact, Vancouver Whitecaps). Pat Onstad is okay, but he's old and streaky, and I can't see him playing in even the 2009 Gold Cup.
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Thanks for that
I don't know much about Canadian football/footballers, so that's helpful
Are there any plans for a Canadian league?
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No, unfortunately. The problem has everything to do with two things - financial reality, and the CSA being run by total f*ckwits. :dry: I'd love to have a Canadian League of some sort, and in fact there had been one tried, but it ended up folding because of money issues.
As for our game internationally, it would help a LOT if we weren't in the most corrupt confederation of the six (CONCACAF), run by Jack Warner, whose only concerns are lining his pockets and getting Trinidad into the World Cup while making sure the status quo (Mexico, the USA) remains otherwise intact, and Jack Blazer. They're both anti-Canadian. And that's the reason why Benito Arse-chundia (Mexican ref) was assigned to our semifinal match against the States, because they knew he'd screw us over. lol... you shoulda seen Stalteri in that match. He was fit to be tied. If not for half the bench holding him back, he would have beat the stuffing out of the ref. :lol:
Despite all the adversity, many pundits say this is our best chance in the last two decades to make the World Cup. If that happens, I'll be elated. But when Canada's one of only two teams in the confederation that doesn't resort to hardcore diving (the other being Mexico), I'm not too optimistic :sad:
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A report from the Voyageurs site:
- Gillingham (League 1) and Peterborough (League 2) interested in M/F Simeon Jackson from Rushden & Diamonds (Conference Premier). He has near half of R&D's goals this season. I think the moment he leaves there is the moment R&D start collapsing :p
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More Voyageurs rumours:
Dwayne De Rosario (aka the guy who scored the winning goal both in the 2007 MLS Cup and that MLS All-Stars vs. Chelscum match a couple seasons ago) could be on his way to Newcastle.
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G Simon Rayner has left Torquay for Boston on loan (rest of the season) after being phased out in favour of the other goalkeeper. He has also handed in a transfer request. Rightly so - five clean sheets this season and they repay him by benching him? Gimps. :dry:
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M/F Andrew Ornoch (Andrzej Mateusz Ornoch) has signed a 4-year deal with Esbjerg fB in Denmark. This surprised a few people on the Voyageurs site, but it's quite a step up from Lombard FC P
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Crystal Palace USA???????????????????
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Mhmm. CP started an offshoot of their club in Baltimore, Maryland. CPUSA'll often get players sent over on loan from the "parent club" from their reserve team.
http://www.crystalpalaceusa.com/Home.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Palace_Baltimore
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Apparently M Jaime Peters is being looked at by Steaua Bucuresti. Now there is a Romanian team I actually see as having prestige. And there is where Hirschie should have gone if he wanted Romania :p Gimp.
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As you've probably heard already, Stalteri's been loaned to Fulham. I guess the Wolfsburg thang either fell through or has been put off until the summer.
Also, M Jaime Peters is joining "Canadian" Marc Bircham at Yeovil for the rest of the season, on loan from Ipswich.
M/F Simeon Jackson has left Rushden & Diamonds for Gillingham. About time Sim left that crap-hole :lol:
Unless something drastic happens in the next hour and a half, it looks like de Guzman's staying in La Coru
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Canada currently sitting in 56th in the FIFA World Rankings.
I'm getting just a little fed up with CONCACAF, too. They figure they can bully Canada around. :dry:
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Well, Jonathan de Guzman made it official today, he's gonna play for the Netherlands. So that's two players that have sold out on Canada for selfish reasons. So Judas de Guzman is no longer Canadian, and he can kiss my Finnish-Canadian ass!
And here's my parting shot:
(To the tune of "There's only one Arsene Wenger")
There is only one De Guzman
There is only Julian De Guzman
We aren't gonna count that selfish hack
Jono stabbed Julian in the back
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Well, time for a blow-for-blow depth assessment of Canada's national team pool :p
GK - could be good in the future, but as for the here-and-now, things aren't looking too good.
Lars Hirschfeld - may have freed himself to play for Canada by leaving Rosenborg, but his play with Cluj hasn't been that great. Still, he has shut out Chelsea in the past. That has to mean something. :p
Pat Onstad - 40 years old. He played well at the '07 Gold Cup, but that's about the only time I've seen him do decently. He's good for Houston in the MLS, but kinda inconsistent for the Maple Leaf.
Greg Sutton - I'll admit I once rated this guy, when he played with the Montreal Impact. But he's slow and somewhat injury-prone.
Kenny Stamatopoulos - good enough for Toronto FC's backup role. Not good enough for a big-time team. I'd say he was mid-Championship calibre at best. At worst mid-League One.
Roberto Giacomi - shows some signs of future promise. Even got called up to Team Canada for the 2007 Gold Cup even though he didn't actually play.
Asmir Begovic - our best hope for the future, but he needs to get the hell out of Pompey and to a League side where he can actually develop his skills properly. Is a Bosnian citizen and could play for Bosnia in the future, but he only lived in Canada for five years before leaving for Pompey, so while I'd be crushed if Bego switched, I'd hold no ill will against him, and most Canadians would likely agree.
Josh Wagenaar - another young hope. Not as good as Begovic, but the best young goalkeeper that is a sure bet for Canada. ADO's former backup, now trialing with Lyngby in Denmark.
David Monsalve - I'll have to admit, I don't know much about this guy, but he's good enough to be in Canada's U20s. I'm hoping he'll see more action for Toronto FC.
Srdjan Djekanovic - I was impressed with this guy and how well he played for a kid in his matches with Toronto FC. I don't think you've heard the last of him.
Wojciech Zarzycki - not the best guy available, but he's on this list because Ferencvaros, that Hungarian giant that recently fell upon hard times, has put it on his shoulders to carry them back to the promised land. Wears #99, too! What Canadian can hate a guy who wears 99? :lol:
RB - we're stuck with one guy, one guy we yiddos know of all too well :p Or at least, that's what Dale Mitchell would have us think.
Paul Stalteri - shoulda stuck to playing midfield. He was decent coming forward, but a series of groin injuries have slowed him down big time, plus he's getting on in the years, is prone to angry outbursts (see: Gold Cup semifinal, 2007), takes rash fouls, and heads the ball into his own net.
Nikolas Ledgerwood - could play right back (or right wing-back for that matter) and has for the U20s and U23s in the past, but seems more at home at defensive mid. He can also play right mid.
Stathis Kappos - a relative unknown outside of Canada and Greece. The coaching staff doesn't have as much confidence in him as they do in Diesel (Stalteri) but they may have no choice in the matter (and sooner than they think at that) but to play him! He isn't great, but he isn't horrible by CONCACAF standards either.
LB - better off than RB but not by much.
Mike Klukowski - our best LB. He isn't half-bad but does take some dumb fouls at times.
Ante Jazic - decent, but plays for the LA Galaxy, unfortunately. He's not anywhere near as big a spazz-case as his Canuck teammate Kevin Harmse. Heck no. Had a solid GC 2007. Is getting on in the years.
Jim Brennan - has Championship experience and would have played in the Prems for Norwich if not for injuries. Solid leader as well. Toronto FC's captain.
Kent O'Connor - Regionalliga calibre if even. 'Nuff said.
CB - one of Canada's strongest positions.
Richard Hastings - dropped off the radar for a while after scoring the shocking goal that eliminated Mexico from Gold Cup 2000 en route to Canada's only win of a major trophy. But then he was unquestionably Canada's best defender in the same tournament seven years later. He's a little slow, but there's no denying his defensive skill. Can also play defensive mid.
Kevin McKenna - on paper, he's Canada's best CB. However, there are some concerns about his attitude after a somewhat dodgy transfer to K
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LM - is dangerously thin although De Guzman can also play the position.
Marcel de Jong - good enough that the Netherlands was considering him for a time, but he chose Canada in the end. One of Roda JC's better players. One of the Eredivisie's best defenders. But here's the clincher - he's better at mid! :p Canada's best left-flank player, period.
Jaime Peters - can actually play both flanks. Left winger, right winger, left mid, right mid, he can do it all... when his head's on straight, that is. There are some concerns about this diminutive winger's mindset from time to time. On loan at Yeovil as a result. Best-known as a playmaker although he's on a bit of a cold streak atm.
RM - more right wingers known in Canada, but the calibre of player isn't as high.
Martin Nash - Steve Nash's little bro is getting on in the years and really never was that great, with the exception of Canada's Cinderella Gold Cup run in 2000.
Paris Nakajima-Farran - one of Canada's new breed, he plays for N
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ST continued:
Alex Elliott - one of Canada's newer pros, he only signed his first contract earlier this year with Germany's Sportfreunde Siegen. I don't know much else about him, except that he just turned 21 (four days ago). So he's just a kid and he has nowhere to go but up from here.
Joevannie Peart - a guy I'm surprised hasn't been called up because of his size. He could be best described as a poor man's Rob Friend - tall (6'6"), lanky, target man type player - and he's been around the block a few times, playing for TFC Lombard-Papa, Becamex Binh Duong in Vietnam, and more recently, as a trialist for various teams in Scandinavia. Kinda slow.
Elliott Godfrey - yes, he's in Conference South. And yes, he's lived in England most of his life. But he's still Canadian, having lived the first years of his life in Toronto. Hampton & Richmond's Elliott Godfrey's had something of a career year, garnering himself a team-leading 17 goals (tied tenth overall in Conference South) in the H&R Block's stunning 3rd-place finish only one season after gaining promotion from the Isthmian League Premier Division. If Simeon Jackson can put up those kind of numbers in the Conference Premier and go up to League One, then certainly someone in League Two would have their eyes on Elliott! And going into League two would mean instant consideration from the Canadian national team, if only to be a sub.
Stephen Ademolu - fleet-footed Stephen has been with Troms
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Jason DeVos has retired after 18 pro seasons.
This from canadian-s*****r.com:
Ipswich’s De Vos retires
By PA SportsTicker
Ipswich captain Jason De Vos has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 34 on Sunday.
The central defender, who also played for Wigan, Dundee United and Darlington, said he would be returning to his native Canada to work in the media.
De Vos signalled his intention after Ipswich’s 1-0 victory over Hull at Portman Road.
“This was my last game as a professional footballer,” said De Vos, whose side missed out on the championship playoffs by a single point. “I’ve known for a couple of months now that this was going to be my last season. It was a very difficult decision. I just felt the time was right for me to walk away from the game.”
De Vos, who enjoyed an 18-year career, said he would be working as a football media pundit on Canadian television.
“The football scene in Canada is exploding at the moment,” De Vos said. “There’s a real hunger and appetite back home. I’m hoping to pass on what I’ve learned.”
From Ipswich Town's website:
http://www.itfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10272~1305641,00.html (http://www.itfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10272%7E1305641,00.html)
There are two things I'll always remember DeVos for.
1. Captaining Canada to the 2000 Gold Cup and even scoring the tournament-winning goal in the process.
2. Having a big hand in turning Wigan from low-leaguers into Premier-Leaguers.
Canadians regard this guy as legend - probably the best defender we've ever had, and way the hell better than Stalteri :p. Also one of the best leaders Canada's ever produced. He's been team captain of three club teams as well as Team Canada - Dundee United, Wigan, and most recently Ipswich.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_DeVos
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_3519828,00.html