Steven Sandor's Blog, page 28

OK, TFC fans: Put a hold on #SaveTheCrew stuff and gloat for a little bit

OK, kids, gather round, I’ve got a story to tell.

Back in the day, when Toronto FC was a brand-spankin’ new team, it developed a rivalry with, of all teams, the Columbus Crew. There was no rhyme or reason to it; if you look in the history books, there is no mention of the great Columbus/Toronto war. And, honestly, before TFC was a thing, if you’d have asked anyone in Toronto to name a city in Ohio, that person would have said either Cleveland or Cincinnati. OK, maybe a Rick Nash fan or two would have said, yeah Blue Jackets and all that.

But, in those early years, boy did TFC fans dislike Columbus. They went down en masse to Crew Stadium, and there were incidents with the police. There were wars of words and cameraphone videos of a fan allegedly being zapped with a Taser.

And the Crew was so darn easy to hate; it was one of MLS’s best teams, while TFC was the worst.  The Crew’s star was everything that was wrong about soccer; Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who was a pretty damn good player when he could bother to stay upright.

Then the Montreal Impact came into MLS and, well, the whole Crew rivalry/Trillium Cup thing faded. Columbus became just another team. And, late in 2017, the Crew became an object of sympathy. Sympathy!

But there are TFC fans of a certain age, you know, the ones with the grey beards and missing teeth, who will remember a time when black and yellow were hated hues. Kinda like how older Toronto sports fans will recall the Detroit Tigers were a far more hated rival during the Blue Jays’ glory years than the Red Sox or Yankees. Heck, nowadays there are Jays fans who actually don’t mind the Tigers. Weird. You all need a remedial course in “why Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker and Kirk Gibson are baseball’s worst people.” 

For those who remember when the Crew were hated, Wednesday night’s Eastern Conference Final 1-0 win over Columbus should have been sweet. But, heck, Crew owner Anthony Precourt had to ruin everything by making plans to relocate the Crew to Austin. Now, everyone in soccer feels sorry for Columbus. It’s #SaveTheCrew this and #SaveTheCrew that. You almost feel like you have to apologize for beating the Crew. Rubbing their faces in it feels wrong.

That isn’t fair. If you beat a rival, you want to be able to gloat. If the Crew are soon to leave for Texas, the elder TFC fans should be able to toast knocking Columbus out of what might be the last truly meaningful game that version of the franchise is  going to play. Sure, it all depends on what happens next year, but what if the Crew becomes a lame-duck franchise? This could very well have been its last kick at playoff-glory can.

Look, it’s only fitting, that after all the misery the Crew heaped on TFC during the Reds’ early years, that the favour would be returned.

In the first half, TFC made the home fans very nervous, with Victor Vazquez telegraphing a penalty kick, allowing Zack Steffen to make the save. Those slow run-ups, like Vazquez employed (and I really shouldn’t have called it a “run”-up, should I?) can give a patient keeper that extra second to see if the shooter’s body closes or opens up. The way Vazquez closed his body to the goal, it was easy to see that he was going to pull his shot across his body.

“For me, it’s whichever guy is feeling it,” TFC coach Greg Vanney said of Vazquez electing to take the shot.  “We have a few guys that are comfortable, whichever guy is feeling will step up and grab the ball and shoot.  These guys are pros and they know who can step up and take it.

Vazquez was bailed out. Despite nursing a bad ankle, Jozy Altidore got the winner in the 60th minute, after taking a pass from Vazquez that sprung him into the penalty area. Vanney likened Altidore to Keyser Soze; limping one minute, running the next. Nice to see TFC itself keeping the league-bad-guy thing going. Good on Vanney to jump on the TFC-as-villains bandwagon.

“I knew I couldn’t continue,” said Altidore. “I had a problem with this ankle at the beginning of the year.  I just knew obviously it’s not a long term thing but I knew that I would have trouble continuing at the level we needed.  I also wanted to give whoever was coming on potentially a little time to get ready.  I knew that if I get a chance to make a play that I wanted to be on the field for it and it all worked out in the end.”

But the most important part of the sequence came when Sebastian Giovinco, who may have been the shortest player on the field, was able to knock down and control a ball despite being surrounded by three Crew defenders. Losing a battle to Giovinco when the ball is on the ground is, well, expected. But, losing an aerial battle to him, well that’s unforgivable. Giovinco controlled the ball, got it to Vazquez, and the Crew-killing sequence had begun.

And the Crew had chances to get that road goal. Just as they squandered chances in the home leg, Columbus’s players put on a second-leg clinic of how not to finish. Just before the Vazquez penalty, the Crew were off on a two-on-one break. The ball was squared to Justin Meram, whose first touch was so awful, by the time he tracked down the ball, TFC’s Michael Bradley was able to get back and break up the play.

And, with just a couple of minutes left, Ola Kamara was open at the far post and would have put the ball in the open net, should have put the ball in the open net, but squandered the chance. Somehow, Adam Jahn’s flicked header found Kamara at the back post, but the Crew striker found a way to contort his body so the ball went through his legs. Like, it took dodge-ball kinda skill to find a way to actually not make contact with the ball.

Wait? I’m being too mean to the Crew? Come on, for one night, it’s OK to pile on, TFC fans. Get back to the #SaveTheCrew stuff when the season’s over. In a way, the best way to remember the Crew is to see them as the rivals they once were. Being nice to them patronizes them, it makes them less of a team. 

Canada comes back from two down to beat Norway in error-filled friendly

Canada was terrible in the first half. Norway was even more terrible in the second.

Canada’s national women’s team came back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat Norway 3-2 . But, let’s face it, Canada gifted Norway a couple of goals in the first half of their Tuesday night friendly in Marbella, Spain. Then, Norway gave it all back and then some, with a series of shocking mistakes and missed marking assignments.

It was the kind of game that coaches will shudder to watch, though it was fun to see all the goals.

The game started with the Norwegians pressing the Canadians, and earning a series of corner kicks. The fifth Norwegian kick was the charm. Kristine Minde’s delivery came awfully close to the Canadian goal, but keeper Stephanie Labbe couldn’t claim it. Norwegian defender Ina Gausdal was alone at the back post to put it in.

Canada struggled to get the ball out of its half; a series of attempts to get the ball to the wings went askew. Poor pass after poor pass saw the Canadians surrender the ball in midfield. Clearly, the plan was to try to get the ball wide and press Norway’s fullbacks, but the Canadians defenders and central players struggled in their attempts to get the ball to the wings.

Then, a series of errors helped Norway double the lead. Midfielder Sophie Schmidt left a back pass awfully short for centre back Shelina Zadorsky. The Canadian defender rushed to get it, but then presented the ball to Norway’s Caroline Graham Hansen, who smashed the ball into the Canadian goal.

It was the worst half Canada has played for a while. You’d have to think back really hard to remember when Canada was as poor as it was in the first 45 in Marbella.

But, in the second half, it was Norway’s turn to treat the ball like a hand grenade.

Keeper Cecilie Fiskerstrand whiffed on an awkward back pass, allowing the ball to go right to Christine Sinclair. Canada’s all-time leading scorer put it in the open goals. Of the 169 international goals Sinclair has scored in her career, that one will go down as one of simplest to finish.

But Norway wasn’t done giving away the ball. Another dreadful error in the back, a weak pass from the fullback, allowed Janine Beckie to have a look at goal and beat Fiskerstrand with an effort from outside the penalty area.

Canada got the winner when Maegan Kelly’s good low cross found sub Adriana Leon, who had burst into the penalty area. In short order in the second half, Canada (with a lot of Norwegian help) turned what looked to be a dismal Spanish evening into a salvage job.

FCE’s move to cease operations is a bad sign for CanPL, Edmonton World Cup boosters

I first met Tom Fath seven years ago, when FC Edmonton was in the process of going from the planning stages to being an on-field concern.

Over the years, I have known him to be many things: An enthusiastic community booster, an advocate for soccer (though he never played the game much) and, many times, when things were tense, he would keep things close to the vest, in order to protect the interests of him and his partners. He was always very good at returning calls, but he would be up front about telling you what he could, and couldn’t, comment on.

He was the living proof that the best “soccer people” sometimes aren’t “soccer people.”

One thing, though, I have never seen Fath do is bluff. He’s never purposefully laid out claims to the media only to further some kind of agenda. He does not negotiate through the press.

So, when he very bluntly put it out there Friday that not only was FC Edmonton ceasing its pro operations, there was no guarantee that it would be revived to join the Canadian Premier League, there was absolutely no reason to take it at anything else but face value.

Ironic, on a day that many Canadian Premier League supporters-to-be took to Twitter to vote for their favourite team scarves — an exercise to build hype around the coming league — Fath delivered a pretty large blow.  He said that he was not convinced that his team could be “sustainable” if it was to be revived to  join the new league. It was a massive statement of uncertainty. And, to be clear, while he said the NASL’s ongoing battles with the United States Soccer Federation, it was only an additional difficulty placed on top of what was already a bad situation. He gave every indication that, if all was rosy with the NASL, FC Edmonton might still be making the same decision.

The sustainability issue is a lot more than the lack of bums in seats.  Let’s first look at the City of Edmonton itself. When the Oilers made the playoffs for the first time in a decade last season, city councillors wore orange jerseys. They broadcasted their pride. When FC Edmonton battled for first in the league and made the playoffs last season, nada.

Years ago, the city made a pledge to explore expanding Clarke Field if FCE regularly sold out. FCE rarely sold out — but there was little from the city to promote the team. No rallies or wear-blue days or rallies for the team — the kind of things we normally see from various business associations and city government when the Oilers and Eskimos are doing well. Since then, FCE has paid for new seats at Clarke, it brought in a new replay screen. While other sports owners cry for money, FCE made a lot of the improvements on its own dime. But, while the Eskimos and Oilers were often treated as partners, FCE was simply a tenant. 

(I did see NDP MLA Dr. Bob Turner wear his FC Edmonton scarf to a Northlands Farmfair event earlier in November, so there’s that.)

And corporate Edmonton, as Fath said, did not support the team to the level that had been hoped. Again, FCE was treated as an ugly stepchild in this city. 

How much of that was the fault of the team’s front office? Promotions (or lack of them?). That’s a cause for debate. But, last season, when this team was in a battle for first place in a league that featured the likes of Miami and New York, FCE didn’t cross into the mainstream. Businesses didn’t jump on it.

Well, now me may reap the whirlwind. FCE is one of four Canadian finalists to host World Cup games in 2026 (if the U.S./Canada/Mexico bid is successful); but what does “oh, we lost our professional soccer team due to mass indifference”  say to those making those decisions? The Edmonton Economic Development Corporation can do all the promotions it wants, but it’s hard to tell anyone that you can be a soccer city, worth hosting national-team competition, when you can’t sell 4,000 not-expensive tickets to see a pro soccer team. It will be much harder to sell Edmonton to the World Cup Bid Committee and FIFA with a straight face, now.

FC Edmonton plays (sorry, played)  in a city-owned stadium, did not have primary tenant status, and would often have to take the game dates presented to them. So, they got Sunday afternoons, a brutal time in which to draw fans in the Alberta summer. Yes, in previous years, TV also played a factor into Sunday afternoon games; but, there was a conscious effort made in 2017 to move some games to Fridays and Saturdays, even if it meant losing TV coverage. I lost count of how many times I’d be at FCE practice, it would end at noon, and the team was told it could not be on the field one minute longer — even when there was no one scheduled to have the field behind them.

The stadium had one bathroom area each for men and women.  

Yet it was the team that footed the bill to boost the capacity of the stadium.

Then, we get to the Canadian Premier League. Fath has been religiously attending the meetings. On Friday, he reiterated that the CanPL “is exactly what Canada needs.” He is on board when it comes to finding a way to give developing Canadian soccer players a chance to play. It’s the reason he will continue to foot the bill for the FCE Academy.

But, at the same time, he openly doubted FCE’s potential to be financially viable in CanPL. It was anything but a “we’re in for 2019” statement. He said he needs to know ticket sales will be better and, maybe more importantly, that corporate support will be better. That will be the challenge for CanPL; to prove it can pull the kind of corporate support needed to keep someone like Fath on board — before a ball is kicked.

Plus, on the PR side, it doesn’t help anyone trying to sell the notion of CanPL that the owner of a team in Canada’s fifth-largest city (and an economic power, one of the fastest growing cities in North America) is now openly on the fence when it comes to viability of soccer outside of MLS. If it doesn’t work in Edmonton, will it work in Halifax? Winnipeg?

In the end, FC Edmonton’s demise may just prove that in the world of pro sports, maybe nice guys do finish last. Fath paid to double Clarke’s capacity by bringing in the grandstands. He never said much to the media that challenged the status quo.

Maybe he would have been better off demanding millions from city council, threatening to move the team, complaining to the media whenever he could.

(Fath is the only voice for FCE at the moment. I have contacted players and they have been requested not to speak. Staff have confirmed that, right now, all comments about the club will come from its owner. Those around the team are respecting the owner’s request.)

Fath: FC Edmonton will not return in any league unless Edmonton proves soccer can be sustainable

FC Edmonton has “discontinued” operations. No matter what happens with the ongoing NASL court action against the United States Soccer Federation, the Eddies won’t be back.

Thus ends the run of a team that was part of NASL 2.0 since the 2011 season. Tom and Dave Fath were the longest-standing owners in NASL.

Now, let’s get to what the word “discontinued” means. It’s not quite the same as “folding.” The team is still going to operate its academy program.

“We are no longer a team or a franchise in any professional league,” said Tom Fath. He said that the team will “look at its options” going forward.

But what it doesn’t mean is that FC Edmonton is a slam-dunk entry into the Canadian Premier League, either. That league is expected to get off the ground in 2019, but Fath said if he is to reactivate the professional part of the franchise, he needs to know things will be different.

“Of all the years we have been in the league, how many times did we sell out?” he asked. (A couple of times.)

So, is there a future for the Eddies? This is how Fath looks at it.

“As for the Canadian Premier League, I love the idea, I think it’s important for Canada. But what we require is it to be sustainable. We need to be sustainable. Whatever we do, it won’t be USL. And the NASL is not sustainable in Edmonton.”

Fath said travel costs — it can cost $50,000 per road trip — and the poor exchange rate are factors. When FCE kicked off in 2011, the loonie was nearly at par with the American dollar. Now it’s worth less than 80 cents US. That’s a 20 per cent increase in road-trip costs, and a 20 per cent penalty when you offer contracts to players in Canadian dollars.

If the team is to re-start, Fath says he needs to see better corporate support, and sponsorships. The team had a kit deal with Sears Financial through the first couple of years of its existence, but hasn’t had a shirt sponsor since.

And, if the market doesn’t show that it can be better for soccer, “it won’t happen,” Fath said.

So, what looks to be the message is that if fans want FC Edmonton in the Canadian Premier League, the Faths need to see clear evidence that crowds will be better. That there will be more corporate support. That maybe someone will want to put a company’s name on the kits. It’s an Edmonton question before it’s a CanPL question.

“This was an unfortunate decision that we had to come to,” said Fath. “But, it was not a hard decision. When you look at the fact that the club wasn’t sustainable, it was an easy decision to make. An unfortunate decision, but an easy one.”

“We are very appreciative of FC Edmonton’s contribution to the NASL as a founding member,” said NASL commissioner Rishi Sehgal in a release.” As the club’s owner, Tom Fath was a tremendous ambassador for the league and his genuine passion for the community did so much for the fans and the people of Edmonton.”

The Evil Reds: Why it’s good for MLS that TFC is just so darn despicable

“On one hand, you feel for the small group of loyal supporters that they have and have been here since the beginning who continue to support the team and come out week after week. On the other hand, you can’t deny the fact that things here have really fallen behind in terms of the atmosphere in the stadium, the quality of the stadium, what it’s like to play here.

“I don’t know who’s at fault for that. There’s a lot going on and I get that and as an outsider I don’t know what that falls on, but again the reality is as the league has continued to grow, and this is not the only one, this is one of a few markets that has not kept pace.”

— Michael Bradley

Michael Bradley is surely not going to win himself any popularity contests with that (already viral) comment, made in the wake of Toronto FC’s 0-0 Eastern Conference first leg result at Columbus.

The Crew are likely going to move to Austin and, amongst soccer supporters in North America, the cause celebre is #SaveTheCrew. We like to pretend that somehow soccer in North America wasn’t going to be like other sports leagues on this continent, where franchises move with regularity.

But this article isn’t about #SaveTheCrew. It’s about how Bradley’s comment is just another building block in Toronto FC’s reconstruction of itself not only as MLS’s best team, but it’s most despicable. This is a team that had two of its star players suspended for the first leg; this is a team that swarms referees with regularity. Before Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco saw cards in the playoff decider against the New York Red Bulls, they put their hands all over the officials as they protested cards. They have become a polarizing group; loved by their fans (who believe the world is against them) and hated by those who see them as dirty, whining complainers who fake it when they need to. Basically, they’re Arsenal of the late ‘90s.

And this is exactly what MLS needs. It needs Toronto FC to be the foil. That’s the thing with MLS. With central control of contracts, with all franchises trotted out in Adidas gear, it’s always had the feel of a bunch of branch plants playing each other. What MLS needs is a New York Yankees, a Manchester United, a New England Patriots or Dallas Cowboys, a super-team that, outside of its fan base, is absolutely loathed. Let’s face it, think of the team you dislike most in MLS. Now compare that to the team you most dislike in the Bundlesliga or La Liga or the Premiership. It’s not close, is it?

But, finally, Bradley, Giovinco, Altidore and co. are building something for MLS, something the league has needed for two decades — a collection of heels.

As well, despite Designated Players, MLS rosters still remain largely anonymous. There is still little personality to the teams. Quick, name three players on the New England Revolution. Or the Philadelphia Union. Time’s up. And you’re a soccer fan, aren’t you? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. The lack of personality in MLS makes the NHL look like a league of charisma. But, finally, FINALLY, there are players in this league who cause thousands of fans to boo at the top of their lungs (OK, most of it has to do with a failed American World Cup qualifying campaign, granted). This league needs villains as much as it needs sparkly Designated Players.

There is something special about Toronto and polarizing athletes. A couple of years ago, it was Jose Bautista’s bat flip. Now we’ve got a TFC team that comes off as the bad guys. Look, Auston Matthews, it’s up to you — to fit in you’ve got to go out and say that you hate puppies and sunny days.

Deep down, I think Canadian soccer fans know that this TFC team is kinda evil. But, heck, who would you rather be at Halloween, Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker? MLS needs it. Toronto needs it. Look, if you cheer for TFC, you know some of the things they do are hard to defend. But don’t let it gnaw at you. The “us against the world” thing is fun.

Now, go ahead and drive a muscle car down the King Street streetcar lane. You know you want to.

Dour stalemate in Columbus will suit TFC just fine

To say that the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinal was an ugly affair would be an insult to the word ugly. No, it wasn’t quite 2016 MLS Cup bad in terms of anti-football, but it definitely made you wonder why you weren’t spending Tuesday evening watching The Flash, instead.

Sure, a 0-0 result on the road was a good one for a Toronto FC team that was without Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore; the Reds go home for the second leg knowing that they have no deficit to overcome. Columbus will no doubt draw inspiration from the Seattle snoozefest that was last year’s final and try to get some kind of stalemate in Toronto.

“There was a couple of acceptable results that we could live with, and this was one of them,” said Crew coach Gregg Berhalter. “It was one of the results we can live with. As the game went on, you saw how strong we were, how fit we were, and I think that’s going to bode well in the second leg.”

Depending on what the weather’s like at BMO Field next week, we can look forward to second leg that might be cagier than the first.

With their two most potent scorers serving suspensions, the Reds put Canadian Tosaint Ricketts up top and thumped some hit-and-hope balls his way, but it was pretty clear that the big goal was to get out of Ohio level. Ricketts had little in terms of support, and the Reds were far more concerned at breaking up Columbus’s counterattacks.

Still, despite the negative feel of the evening, the Crew will be thinking that it should have some kind of lead going into the second leg. Early in the second half, Pedro Santos made a clever run, slipped by the back line, and bore down on the TFC penalty area.

Keeper Alex Bono came charged out to meet Santos. The Crew man went down easier than a Schelotto on an ice rink, but the ball went over to Columbus teammate Ola Kamara. His wayward attempt was blocked by Reds defender Drew Moor; but it looked like the ball would have gone wide had Moor not been in the way.

Santos screamed and lobbied for a penalty, but referee Robert Sibiga motioned to the corner spot — in fact, the official flashed the yellow card at Santos.

The play was halted so the video could be reviewed, but there was nothing that showed that Sibiga had erred in not awarding a penalty. Replays indicated that Santos looked to be going down before Bono got to him.

Then, with six minutes left in regulation, the Crew’s Harrison Afful got a point-blank chance in the box after a dreadful clearing attempt from Moor basically presented the ball to the Ghanaian’s feet. But Bono blocked the shot, and TFC sub Raheem Edwards got in the way of the rebound.

And that, well, was that.

 

With the club’s path unclear, FC Edmonton begins releasing players

The group of FC Edmonton players had their contracts expire on November 15. And with the team in limbo at the moment, it’s really no surprise that the team is now making the news of these players’ departures official.

The club announced Thursday that Dustin Corea, Tomi Ameobi, Daryl Fordyce and Sainey Nyassi won’t be back.

The club isn’t selling tickets for 2018 at the moment. The NASL, the league in which FCE has participated since 2011, is currently in a legal battle with the United States Soccer Federation. The league was denied Division-2 status by the USSF for the 2018 season; the league asked a federal judge for an injunction, didn’t get it — and is currently appealing the decision. Meanwhile, the league has undertaken a larger antitrust suit against the USSF. But FC Edmonton, as a Canadian team that isn’t governed by the USSF, was not part of the committee that decided to take legal action and were not named on the league’s original application for Div-2 status.

The San Francisco Deltas, the NASL champs, have folded, though there is some hope that the league can revive them. Of course, this is moot if the NASL loses its appeal. And, on Thursday, North Carolina FC joined the Ottawa Fury and Tampa Bay Rowdies as NASL clubs that have made the jump to the USL.

So much politics, and pretty well all of it is out of FCE’s control.

Owner Tom Fath has been going to Canadian Premier League talks, but nothing official has been announced with that league — including the formation of that league itself. While the stated goal was to launch in July of 2018, league president Paul Beirne has stated that the league will not rush into a kickoff where teams are only sort of half-ready.

With all of this uncertainty, the team has no choice but to let players go.

And that’s the rub: Even if the NASL does survive, players can’t simply wait around and see what happens out of the court case. They need to secure jobs for the upcoming season. Drew Beckie, the Canadian who played in Jacksonville in the 2017 season, tweeted earlier this week that he was off to Finland. More will follow that example. So, even if NASL does eventually come to some sort of deal with the USSF or wins its appeal, many of the teams won’t be able to bring back players who have already had to go and find something else.

Fordyce is FCE’s all-time top scorer. He left the club in 2016 for USL’s FC Cincinnati, but returned to Edmonton before the start of the NASL fall season. The Northern Irish player does not take up an international slot because he is a Canadian resident.

Ameobi is one of only three players to break the 100-game mark with the Eddies. He took time away from law school this year to re-focus on his game, but suffered a series of injuries that limited his effectiveness and playing time.

Corea has already publicly said goodbye to Edmonton via his Twitter account, and was named the team’s player of the year by the club’s supporters.

Nyassi had been with Edmonton for three seasons, scoring five goals and adding nine assists in 71 NASL matches.

“Their play on the pitch will be remembered by the club and its fans as some of the best talent the city of Edmonton has had the honour of experiencing, and it’s been an absolute pleasure working alongside them throughout the years,” said coach Colin Miller in a release.

Canada loses to the United States, again. Or did we win? No, we lost. Or, did we?

If you didn’t live through the 90 minutes, Canada Soccer has provided a fine highlights package that can help us all sleep well tonight. If you watch it, you’ll see that Canada didn’t lose 3-1 to the Americans Sunday night in San Jose; no, in fact we won, 1-0!

You’ll see that Christine Sinclair just missed a chance after an American giveaway, before she made a lovely pass up the wing to Nichelle Prince, who squared it to Janine Beckie for the goal that tied the game at the time winning goal. And you’ll see the ball squirt through Canadian keeper Stephanie Labbe, hit the post and stay out. Whew.

Beckie with the ⚽. Highlights #CanWNT 1-3 #USWNT pic.twitter.com/oPNlD0Cf1q

— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) November 13, 2017

Now, for those of us who’d rather live in the real world, a place where the Canadian women’s team hasn’t beaten the Americans since 2001, there were some bits left out.

For starters, Julie Ertz beat Canadian fullback Allysha Chapman to the near post and slotted home Megan Rapinoe’s corner to give the Americans a 1-0 lead.

Soon after Beckie equalized in the second half, the Americans got the lead, taking advantage of a series of mistakes from Canadian midfielder Jessie Fleming. Deep in her own half, Fleming decided to try and take on two American players who were pressing her. Instead of finding help or simply hoofing the ball out of danger, she foolishly decided to try and play through the pressure and, predictably, she lost the ball. Christen Press pounced on the turnover and slid the ball into the penalty box for Alex Morgan, who gave the Americans a 2-1 lead.

Carli Lloyd made it 3-1 when she was in the right place at the right time to get the final touch on the ball. A cross from Rapinoe found a wide-open Morgan in the Canadian penalty area, and she simply nodded the ball into Lloyd’s path. It looked as if the Americans were able to translate a nifty training-ground play into game action.

Yes, Canada played a bunch of young prospects on Sunday. As a Canada Soccer reminded us in the heading of its post-game press release, “Canada sends signal to the world in U.S. series, playing six teens against world’s top team.” Yes, three 16-year-olds got to play for Canada on Sunday: Jordyn Huitema, Ariel Young and Jayde Riviere.  But not matter how experimental the lineup, I’m not sure of the “signal” being sent to the world is that “we have a lot of young players who are coming up for the next couple of cycles” or “Americans still are beating Canada.”

It’s harsh and, from all accounts, coach John Herdman was pleased with the Canadian effort on Sunday: “These women put in a shift tonight and I can’t say enough how proud of each and every one of them we are. We’ll take away some lessons from tonight and from the match in Vancouver, but I can honestly say we feel pretty good about what we’ve accomplished against this US team and there are no hung heads coming out of this camp.”

So maybe I’m being unfair. After all, we lost 3-1 won 1-0, right?

Canada wins the Soccer Bowl

The San Francisco Deltas’ home strip, black with a big red vertical stripe down the middle, kinda looks like those black Canada jerseys the national team sported in the Eddy Berducso era.

All the better for our unofficial Team Canada.

The Deltas boasted four Canadians in the starting lineup — Nana Attakora, Karl Ouimette, Kyle Bekker and Maxim Tissot — for Sunday’s Soccer Bowl. Canadian coach Marc Dos Santos looked to win the NASL title in what could very well be the franchise’s final game.

And, well, Team Canada did the business, beating the New York Cosmos 2-0.

And the San Francisco Canadians, er, Deltas,  did it with the kind of gutsy performance that might make a certain hockey commentator known for flashy suits and big collars wonder if the team should just be up and moved to Kingston and entered in the Canadian Premier League.

The Deltas opened the scoring on a penalty from Tommy Heinemann (former Vancouver Whitecap, Ottawa Fury), who went to the spot after Jackson (former Toronto FC) was ruled to have been brought down by Cosmos keeper Jimmy Maurer.

The Cosmos players and coach Gio Savarese were apoplectic over the penalty award, but it needs to be noted that the sequence began when the Deltas intercepted a dreadful clearing attempt from Maurer. The Cosmos then had another chance to clear the danger, but instead presented the ball back to the Deltas.

Meanwhile, Attakora, who rushed back from knee surgery so he could play in the post-season, went down early in the first half, looked to be favouring his leg, limped off, but came back on and gutted out 65 minutes.

Keeper Romuald Peiser (ex-Ottawa Fury) was clearly favouring a bad back, struggled to get up after he went down to make saves, grimaced when he leapt for balls, but didn’t come out of the game. Lacking mobility, he willed his way through the game, and the Cosmos didn’t do enough to test a keeper who was clearly ailing.

Finally, it was Bekker’s time to cap what has been a massive comeback year for the former TFC, FC Dallas and Montreal Impact man; deep into stoppage time, he cleverly nudged a ball past Maurer and into the path of teammate Devon Sandoval for the insurance goal.

Tissot, Ouimette and Bekker all played the 90.

The NASL is battling the USSF in American court for its very survival. The Deltas played a wonderful season that the Bay Area widely ignored, though a crowd of nearly 10,000 for the final made for a rather ironic swan song. The Deltas were not part of NASL’s team list for 2018 when it made its sanctioning application to the USSF.

But, on this night, they brought Canada some glory, however unintentionally it was done.  

To think, Dos Santos could not have built the Deltas roster the way he did without the NASL’s decision before this season to make Canadians count as domestic players on the rosters of all teams, not just the Canadian one.  That move allowed Dos Santos the freedom to bring in Canadians without penalizing his international roster count.

When he arrived in San Francisco, Dos Santos made  a three-year agreement to steer the Deltas. Now, unless there is some sort of Divine Intervention, he’ll be looking for work as of mid-November. But, the NASL’s coach of the year really shouldn’t be in any sort of trouble to find a new job.

USL president says Canada needs its own league

While the Ottawa Fury are committed to return to USL in 2018, USL President Jake Edwards said that the team’s sanction in the North American Division-2 circuit is on a year-to-year basis. And Edwards said he and the league are supportive of the move to launch a Canadian Premier League.

According to the league, the Fury have “long-term agreement” with USL, but the team’s sanction to actually be able to participate in the USL comes up year to year as per CSA rules. In a conference call with media on Friday, Edwards said that Canadian teams in cross-border leagues are  only sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association on an annual basis.  

Edwards said the push for a Canadian Premier League has the “long-standing support” of the USL. The league has announced teams in Winnipeg and Hamilton and is groups in Halifax and Surrey B.C. are working on stadium arrangements. FC Edmonton of the NASL has been attending the league meetings. And there is an ownership group that’s looking to root a team in either Regina or Saskatoon. Whether Ottawa goes or stays has been a matter of debate.

Edwards’ tone on the rise of a Canadian Premier League was downright conciliatory.

“We feel Canada needs its own professional league,” he said.

“We know that they’ve had a couple of false starts, and they are looking to a ‘19 or ‘20 start.”

The Fury left NASL after the 2016 season and moved to the USL for 2017.  The team will return to USL in 2018. 

“I think they’ve had a great experience in our league,” said Edwards.

But, while there has been discussions about franchise agreements and long-standing obligations of American teams in the USL, Edwards’ comments indicate that those kind of restrictions — by the nature of the Fury’s sanction — need to be balanced with what the governing federation decides… in this case, the Canadian Soccer Association.