Steven Sandor's Blog, page 2

And, in other news, Valour signs two more

So what a weekend, huh? Alphonso Davies comes in as an 86th minute substitute to make his league debut for Bayern Munich, another Edmontonian, Tosaint Ricketts, signs with Lithuanian side FK Suduva, and on Tuesday, the Canadian Premier League is expected to make a major announcement. Canadian Pat Onstad is named the technical director of the Columbus Crew.

I was thinking of writing something truly original, like “what does Davies’s substitute appearance for Bayern mean for soccer in Canada,” but it was truly such a unique and original thinkpiece that I didn’t think the world would be ready for it. I mean, no one is writing about it.

Honestly, it’s hard to keep up with the Canadian soccer news. And, how often have we been able to say that? That there’s so much Canadian soccer news coming out in such a short period of time, that we’re having a hard time following it all? Usually, we get a news tidbit and milk it for two or three weeks. One rumour can do us for a month. Heck, it’s Monday and Davies’s debut already feels like it happened a month ago.

There’s Canadian Premier League signings that are announced on what’s basically a daily basis. On Monday, Valour FC announced that it added teenage prospect Tyler Attardo and draft pick Dylan Carreiro, the Winnipegger  who spent time with Queens Park Rangers and Dundee FC before returning to Canada and attending York University.

“We anticipated offering Dylan a contract, and after thorough scouting across the country at various levels, we felt that it should happen sooner rather than later,” said Valour coach Rob Gale in a release issued by the club. “We want to give him that platform to get back to his previous level in professional soccer.”

Carreiro represented Canada in 2015’s CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. He appeared in two games. He played two games for Canada’s U-20 side in 2013, scoring once.

Gale has high hopes for Attardo: ““Tyler is a player I know well and have been following his progress over the last few years. We were excited going into the Winnipeg GotGame trials to see how he would perform, and to his credit he was the standout player and confirmed the potential that he has. This will be an important step in his early professional soccer career.”

The real challenge (and this is will be somewhat new for the three Canadian MLS clubs and the Ottawa Fury — plus the CanPL teams) will be the timing of the announcements. With Canadian soccer news coming fast and furious, how do you make your little tidbit of news stand out? How to make sure the Twitterverse doesn’t forget it in an hour? It’s a challenge for those who want to make sure that their team news connects with fans and creates a buzz that last longer than 15 minutes.

It’s easy right now for news to get lost — and for Canadian soccer, that’s a really new phenomenon. Usually, the challenge is to get the mainstream to pick up that one important item. Now, it’s about making messages stand out in a sea of soccer noise.

Huitema signs with American super-agency, will skip NCAA and go pro

When Canadian soccer fans ask “where will Jordyn Huitema sign?” it won’t be about a letter of commitment to an NCAA powerhouse.

On Thursday the super-agency that represents a slew of past and present American soccer stars including Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach, Tobin Heath and Megan Rapinoe, announced that it had retained the Canadian teenager as a client and that she’ll be going pro right away.

Huitema, winner of the Golden Boot at the CONCACAF U-20 Championships, made a couple of guest appearances at Paris St-Germain, the club that employs Canadian fullback Ashley Lawrence.

Huitema is represented by Spencer Wadsworth of the Wasserman agency.

“We are thrilled to have Jordyn join our group of exceptional athletes at TeamWass,” said Wadsworth in a release issued by the agency. “We’re looking forward to helping Jordyn navigate through her professional career and are excited to support her goals both on and off the field.”

After a lengthy audition, Fury brings in local teen talent

The Ottawa Fury needed this.

First, let me get a disclaimer out of the way: What I am about to write in this column is not meant to question the footballing merit of the signing of 18-year-old local product Jadon Vilfort. The defender spent most of 2018 training with the Fury, and appeared in Ottawa red and black in a friendly against the Montreal Impact. He has been on the USL club’s radar for a while, and the mutual interest between team and player was sparked long before the Fury announced its intention to not join the Canadian Premier League and remain in the USL, instead.

His signing, announced Thursday, brings the number of Canadians on the roster to eight.

“Him being a local talent and getting a chance to play for his hometown pro club is not only a great moment in his development and career, but he could really become an inspiring story for kids all across the Ottawa-Gatineau region hoping to make it,” said Fury general manager Julian de Guzman in a release issued by the club.

But, as many message boards continue with USL vs. CanPL snipes, from a PR perspective, the Fury needed a hometown-prospect signing more than the club needed to secure a flashy, proven goalscorer. Over the last few weeks, Canadian soccer Twitter has been filled with stories and updates about seven Canadian Premier League teams all adding young, Canadian players to their roster. In the case of all of the teams save Halifax, those include significant signings of local players. Heck, right now, FC Edmonton only has one announced player who isn’t from the city.

So, the Fury, though it led all independent USL or MLS teams in terms of minutes played by Canadians in 2018, needs to sing its own praises, too. The club needs to be even louder when it comes to broadcasting the idea that, yes, you can develop local players in a USL environment, as well.

Even though the Fury have had local-hero stories in the past (Eddie Edward, Jamar Dixon, to name a couple) it needs a new one. It needs another chapter to add to its book of Canadian successes. When you’re looking to win over hearts and minds, remember that sports fans can have awfully short memories. And, after the CanPL/USL debate, it’s easy for many to forget that, well, the Fury — whether it be in NASL or USL — has always put a premium on finding and developing Canadian talent.

 

Foothills alumni dominate new pack of Cavalry signings

Cavalry FC has inked four more Canadians, three of whom were with last year’s PDL-winning Foothills FC side.

Foothills alumni Nico Pasquotti, Carlos Patino and Dean Northover will wear Cavalry red and green in the inaugural Canadian Premier League season. Also added to the mix is Niko Giantsopoulos, a Canadian who had played professionally in Australia and then auditioned for the Cavalry in last autumn’s Al Classico friendlies against FC Edmonton’s prospects. Giantsopoulos goes right into a battle with Halifax’s Elton John for “who has the most headline-ready name in CanPL?”

Pasquotti scored the extra-time decider in the 2018 final, and is a graduate of the University of Lethbridge’s soccer program. Northover was a physical presence in that final, and got a yellow card for a rash challenge. In 2018, as a member of SAIT, he was named the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference player of the year, prompting his Trojans coach, Grant Stevens, to say this: “He’s like a hair dryer in a bathtub filled with water — simply electrifying.” 

Patino was born in Colombia but raised in, gulp, Edmonton. Before joining Foothills FC, he was part of the Seattle Sounders system, and played in the USL with the Sounders 2 team. Before that, he was part of the steady Edmonton pipeline to the Whitecaps Residency.

Giantsopoulos took a load far less traveled, moving to Tasmania to cut his professional teeth with Devonport City. He’ll have a challenge in battling Marco Carducci, whom the Cavalry has already signed, for the No. 1 shirt.

It’s interesting to see how the different CanPL teams are being built. While the Ontario teams are showing a reliance on League1 Ontario grads, the Alberta teams are choosing to go with what they know. Cavalry is leaning heavily on the Foothills roster, while FC Edmonton has signed many of its Academy players and University of Alberta prospects.

Chance to be a CanPL original attracted Simmons to Halifax

There’s something that no one will ever be able to take away from the players who are in uniform for their respective teams’ first-ever Canadian Premier League games: Those players will always be able to say they were CanPL day-one’rs. They’ll always have that historical link to the league and Canadian soccer.

And that was a major attraction for holding midfielder, whose deal with Halifax Wanderers was revealed Tuesday. The England-born, Stittsville, Ont. raised player had been with Swedish side Dalkurd FF, he had some offers in Europe, but decided to make the move back to Canada.

“For me, it’s new. It’s going to be high-profile and history will be made this year,” said Simmons of the CanPL, which kicks off this April. “It will be great to be involved in something that’s never been seen before.”

Dalkurd is a team in transition; according to the club’s own news release, in September a spat between the club’s major sponsor and ownership led to minority shareholder Kawa Junad packing up his things.

From the club’s own English-language press release: “Dalkurd FF also wants to apologize to its fans worldwide because of the lack of detailed information through our official channels. But due to the circumstances we haven’t been able to give this information until now. Previously there have been speculation and information from unofficial sources, which haven’t given an accurate view of the situation.”

Simmons did not comment on Dalkurd’s club affairs.

As for what he’ll bring to Halifax, Simmons said Wanderers supporters can expect a player who will bring out the best in his teammates.

“I am a very team-based player, and that comes with my role in defensive midfield. I want to play with good flow, good possession, good tempo, and be that link between defence and attack.”

Simmons is a product of the Ottawa Fury’s youth system. And, while he didn’t play with Zachary Sukunda, the Wanderers first-ever signing, he thinks that having another former Fury prospect as a teammate will be a great icebreaker for him in Halifax, a city which he’s never previously visited.

“Zachary was two or three age groups ahead of me,” said Simmons. “But I am sure we have quite a few mutual friends.”

Lamy: “It was an easy choice to come to Halifax”

Halifax Wanderers have added two young Canadians to their roster — Elliot Simmons and Vincent Lamy.

Simmons came out of the Ottawa Fury’s youth system and made the move to Malaga in Spain, before spells with Dalkurd’s U-19 side in Sweden and Mikkelin in Finland. In 2015 and 2017, he was invited to Canada’s U-20 development camp.

As a member of the Montreal Impact Academy, Lamy scored 25 times in 24 USSDA games this past season. But, despite his strike rate, the Impact decided not bring him back into the club’s fold for 2019.

“Soccer is about opportunity, and the Impact didn’t need me right now,” said Lamy. “I hope that the opportunity comes that they are going to need me.”

And if he wants to make the Impact lament what the club has lost, he knows he’ll need to impress in the Canadian Premier League. Lamy describes himself as a fast player “who can not only score goals but has good vision.” He says he is also willing to create scoring chances instead of simply being happy poaching goals.

“One of the things that attracted me to these players is their enthusiasm and desire to be professional players, that intrinsic motivation cannot be taught,” said Halifax coach Stephen Hart. “These are the type of players we want, young and enthusiastic players, who love the game.”

Lamy said that, after chatting with Hart, he realized that Halifax was the place for him to go.

“After talking with Stephen, he made me have great confidence in him,” said Lamy. “I like the way he sees things. It was an easy choice to come to Halifax.”

 

Attack in black: Sinclair’s 178th goal gives Canada a win over Norway

Christine Sinclair’s 178th career international goal was enough to get Canada’s women’s team a 1-0 win over Norway in a friendly Tuesday in La Manga, Spain.

For the most part, thought, it was a less-than-inspiring effort from the Canadians who were fortunate not to be down to the Norwegians by the halftime break.

Oh, who am I kidding? We all want to talk about the new Nike kits, right? OK, let’s get it out of the way. This was the first Canada “A” game of any sort since Nike took over from Umbro as the official gear supplier to the various Canadian national programs.

And, Canada came out in an, ahem, all-black Nike kit, save for white stripes down the sides of the shorts.

Canada has worn black kits before; in the late 1990s the team had an Umbro black kit, but it was filled with red accents and detailing, including taping across the shoulders with “Canada” repeated on it.

But today’s kit was, well, underwhelming. It was as if Nike was like “quick, we need to get Canada a kit in time for this January friendly!” and sent a couple of boxes of generic black shirts and shorts to Spain.

OK, back to the game, one in which Canada was lucky not to be down a goal or two to the Norwegians by halftime. The Norwegians came with the high press game, and were able to force the Canadians into long periods where they struggled to connect more than three passes together.

And, thanks to two simple passes that split the Canadian defence wide open, Caroline Graham Hansen had a breakaway chance for Norway, but keeper Stephanie Labbe got enough of an outstretched foot on the shot to deflect it wide by a matter of inches.

The sustained Norway pressure led to another good chance, with Labbe forced to make a near-post diving stop on Emilie Haavi.

After coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller made a series of second-half subs, Canada was more composed, and it was newcomer Jenna Hellstrom who made the telling play, a perfect cross to the box for Sinclair to head just inside the post.

All in all, with the World Cup just five months away, it wasn’t a confidence inspiring effort from the Canadians, with too many unforced errors, too many loose passes, too many short passes. But, Canada got away with it. Come France in June, an effort like this will be duly punished.

We can blame the jerseys.

 

Murofushi makes the move from Singapore to York 9

York 9 has added Japanese midfielder Wataru Murofushi, a creative midfielder who was named the player of the year in the Singaporean League.

Murofishi’s Albirex Niigata side went undefeated in Singaporean League play and won the domestic cup and the league cup. In 19 league games, he scored eight times and added four assists.

“Wataru is technically gifted, incredibly exciting to watch, and he’s got exactly the right frame of mind to come continue his professional career in Canada.” said York 9 manager Jim Brennan in a release issued by the team. “He’s explosive and exceptionally quick off the ball. He’s going to be a great asset to our club.”

Oe major asset is Murofushi’s age. He’s only 23, so it’s not a case of a long-in-the-tooth international coming over for a last kick at the can. But he does have a history of injury problems.

According to this item from the Footballing Association of Singapore, Murofishi was looking to move to the United States before accepting the contract with Albirex Niigata.

“Since I had many injuries during high school and college, there was a chance I couldn’t be a big success as a player,” he told the league’s official website.“I wanted to go to America first but last December, Chairman Daisuke Korenaga called me and asked me to join (Albirex). It was totally unexpected… (but) since my goal was to play overseas and the first step (for that) is to speak English, and Singapore is English-speaking, so I thought ‘why not?’”

Saputo hands the keys to the Impact kingdom to Gilmore

It’s an enduring image, burned into the history of the Canadian Championship: Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo and then-FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller needing to be separated after a heated on-field exchange, just a few moments after the final whistle of their semifinal match. The Impact turned the tie around with the controversial 97th minute penalty kick.

And there was Saputo, right after the game, going toe to toe with Miller.

Or, in 2017, there was Saputo, issuing one of his many open letters to fans, stating “our team’s latest performance has clearly fallen short of our expectations and those of our members, supporters, and city.”

Or, Saputo front and centre in pretty well every Impact press conference of note. Coaching hire? Saputo was available to take questions.

Heck, Saputo was arguably the most influential man in the room when a group of USL owners decided “to hell with this” and formed NASL 2.0.

Throughout the Impact’s history, Saputo’s cult of personality has been reflected in almost every part of the Montreal Impact.

So, on Tuesday, when Saputo pledged to turn over control of the team to new president Kevin Gilmore, it marked a massive change in direction. Cynics — myself included — will wonder just how long this kind of arrangement can last. Love it or hate it, Saputo bleeds Impact blue, and it’s hard to find an owner in MLS who has been more engaged in the day-to-day business of his club, both on and off the field.

But, the club needs some sort of change. Saputo has publicly stated that the teams losses are in the millions, and he wants the team to be more recognized as a major-market player. He wants the team to be more visible in the corporate community.

And he’s realized that he might not be the one to do it.

Enter Gilmore, who has served as a vice president with the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and, most importantly for the context of his new job, the Montreal Canadiens — the undeniable big dog of Quebec’s sporting culture. He’s a director on the Canadian Olympic Committee. He’s worked for the Anschutz Entertainment Group. He’s tried to sell hockey in a massive market — Los Angeles — and understands the nuances of selling sport in Montreal.

“We need to start acting like a  big-market team in all facets of our operations,” was Gilmore’s blunt assessment of the Impact when he was introduced to the media on Tuesday.   

That means a change in culture.

And Saputo said Gilmore will be given a chance to run the Impact and Stade Saputo’s operations “as he sees fit.”

According to Soccer Stadium Digest, the Impact averaged 18,569 fans per game in 2018, down from 20,046 in 2017. That’s got to turn around — as it’s hard to sell the notion you’re ready for prime time and deserve more corporate support when the first-look scratch test indicates your fan base is eroding.’

(Mind you, according to those numbers, MLS attendance league-wide was down — from 22,147 in 2017 to 21,873 in 2018, so the Impact aren’t alone).

Saputo is also the chairman of Bologna FC, currently in 18th spot in the 20-team Serie A. Relegation is a very real possibility, so that also will require some focus.

Saputo  has said the goal is to make the Impact a profitable team within three seasons. With shrinking gates and the need to arouse corporate support, Gilmore has got a full plate. Time will tell if he’s going to be the lone man steering the ship.

Would the last one to leave Fresno, please turn out the lights?

The exodus of former Vancouver Whitecaps prospects who played for Fresno in 2018 continues. On Monday, Pacific FC announced the addition of midfielder Noah Verhoeven, who becomes the third ex-Fresno player to join the ranks, joining Matthew Baldisimo and Terran Campbell.

Also added to the Pacific FC roster is keeper Mark Village, who spent last season with FC Cincinnati  but didn’t get into a USL game with the club.

Verhoeven is a dual Canadian/American citizen who had been part of the U.S. youth program before changing his allegiance to the Canadian set-up in time to play at last year’s Toulon tournament. He got 1,085 playing minutes for Fresno in 2018.

The Whitecaps affiliated with Fresno ahead of the 2018 season, after the MLS club folded its WFC2 side. Five Canadians played for Fresno last season, and three of them are now with Pacific FC.  The other two weren’t part of the WFC2 set-up before the Fresno switch.

When the Whitecaps hired Nick Dasovic as the team’s U-23 development squad’s coach, a footnote to the release was that there would be no affiliation with Fresno in ’19. (Corrected from original draft)

“Noah is one of Canada’s top young talents,” Pacific FC CEO Rob Friend said in a release. “He not only brings professional experience, but as the captain of our youth national team, he’s bringing tremendous leadership qualities and we are very fortunate to have secured his services.”

Village was team MVP of the University of Fraser Valley before moving to the Whitecaps.