Steven Sandor's Blog, page 40

Piatti’s penalty miss looms large in Canadian Championship final’s first leg

We’ll have to wait a week to see just how large a part Ignacio Piatti’s penalty miss plays in the Canadian Championship final.

Wednesday’s first leg between Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact finished in a 1-1 draw, so the Reds hold the slight advantage of the road goal heading into the second leg at BMO Field. But, things could have been that much brighter for the Stade Saputo home crowd had Piatti converted his second-half penalty kick.

Piatti was brought down in the box by TFC keeper Clint Irwin, who was in the midst of a rough night. In the first hand, he spilled a shot from Marco Donadel right into the path of Matteo Mancosu, who headed the ball into an open goal.

Piatti went to the spot, and Irwin wasn’t required to make save. Piatti obliged the TFC keeper – and let him off the hook for the foul, too — by sending his shot over the bar.

Irwin was called on to provide some heroics late in the second half, as he leapt to tip Laurent Ciman’s free kick over the bar.

But Irwin wasn’t the only keeper on the night who would want to have a chance to make amends for a poor goal. Montreal keeper Maxime Crepeau allowed Jozy Altidore’s shot to go right through him for the equalizing goal. Altidore got his chance while Montreal’s Daniel Lovitz was hunched over on the turf after getting into a collision. But, referee Silviu Petrescu, as is his right if there isn’t a clear head injury, allowed the play to continue, and TFC continued to press the attack.

No quarter was given in the 401 rivalry, as it should be.

Under the new tournament rules instituted for 2017, each team is required to start a minimum of three Canadians. Both teams did that; but only one of those six, Crepeau, played the full 90. Maybe the rule needs to be changed to three Canadians on the field per team at all times, rather than just three Canadians starting.

 

 

30-minute debate: Why a radical proposal to change soccer’s rules deserves a long look

Before marriage, before the kids, I used to set my alarm for god-awful wake-up times on weekends, so I could watch Premiership matches. Living in Alberta, early games would often mean kickoffs well before 6 a.m.

But, as I aged, and technology advanced and gave us the PVR, I realized that it was a far saner option to sleep in as much as having two young children in the house would allow, and watching the game after the family had breakfast. Sometimes the game would need to wait after swimming lessons or dropping my son off at Chinese school.

Then, I realized something. I absolutely loved watching games on PVR. Any time the ball went out for a throw or a corner or play was stopped for a foul, I’d hit fast-forward till the ball was in play again.

And a game that took about two hours of real time to watch, well, it would take just a little more than an hour in PVR time. And I didn’t miss a thing.

Basically, my PVR-soccer life shows just how much time in a soccer game is spent fawning over free kicks, tending to injuries, waiting for the ball to be put back in play.

I think we all know, deep down, that time added on is a fairly arbitrary number. Sometimes it’s three minutes, or four. Or five. We don’t know why.

So, when the International Football Association Board revealed that it would look at a proposal to change the way that soccer is timed: Instead of two 45-minute halves that tick down without any breaks, the game would be broken into two 30-minute halves, with stopped time when the ball goes out of play.

Call me a heretic, but I kinda love it. (But, at the professional level only — more on that later.)

Using my regular PVR-ing of games as a tested-over-time barometer, I can state that 30 minutes of stop time might actually see fans treated to more ball-in-play action than we have now.

But, for me, the real benefit is this: If we have a clock, we can do away with stoppage time. No more wondering why there are four or five minutes added on. No more wondering why the home side was awarded a controversial match-deciding penalty in the seventh minute of time added on. (Not that it ever happens, right, FC Edmonton fans?)

I love last-second scenarios in sport. Goalie pulled, face-off in the opposition zone with 10 seconds left. Buzzer beaters. Instead of having a referee check his or her watch and arbitrarily decide when a game ends, how awesome would it be to know that a team, down a goal, has a corner kick with 10 seconds left? That’s what the 30-minute, stop-time half would allow. Instead of time added on, we’d be counting down to zero. 

If 30-minute, stop-time halves are too radical, I’d suggest that, at least, time added on should have stop time, to prevent time-wasting and to create those last-second scenarios. Once we get into time added on (let’s say, four minutes), 4:00 goes up on the clock as we hit 90, then the timekeeper takes over.

Of course, the cynic in me understands that the big push to have stop-time in soccer game comes from the need to insert commercial breaks into the game. Clock stopped for a throw? Now, a word from our sponsors! This is where I need to state that, well, I work in broadcasting — I do colour work for an NASL team. So, I totally understand the need to better monetize the soccer broadcast. One of the biggest drawbacks is that a broadcaster really only has ad inventory to sell during halftime and the pregame and postgame shows. I get that it’s a business, and that more revenue streams are needed. Of course, I look at that through the lens of someone who broadcasts second-division games, a level of soccer where teams always need to find new streams of revenue.

As well, this would be an easy change to make at the professional level, where there are stadiums with clocks. I can’t imagine this would be easy if you’re playing Edmonton minor soccer on a weed-laden field located in a south-side subdivision. That’s why the 45-minute half will always survive in some form. Because, at the amateur level, when you’re playing on some mosquito-filled field surrounded by lawn chairs, the referee will always need to be in charge of time. But, heck, various forms of basketball have different ways to time games, so I don’t think it’s a stretch to have different levels of soccer timed differently.

But, to me, there are other pros to this that can’t be ignored. CONCACAF-level theatrics won’t do much to waste time in games, anymore. Thrash around all you want. Fake that injury. Go to town. Throw in some pelvic thrusts, some screams and the feet banging onto the turf. The clock is stopped. All you’re doing is giving the opposition a breather. No more killing time with that genius 92nd-minute substitution.

If the soccer domos agree that this is worth further study, it would obviously need to be experimented with on a small scale. Maybe it would be a way to make the Canadian Premier League truly, well, Canadian! We’ll keep time differently than any other league in the world!

In the end, I think it’s worth at least having a look at the 30-minute, stop-time half. If we can remove the arbitrary nature of stoppage time, if we can take time-wasting out of the game, it might be worth the change.

It might make playing the game go longer than two hours of real time, and that’s a drawback in today’s world of short attention spans.

It is still worth at least a look, though.

 

Intrinsically Canadian Power Rankings: MLS Week 16/NASL Week 13/USL Week 13

With Cyle Larin being unavailable to play for Orlando City until he completes an MLS-mandated Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health program in the wake of his DUI arrest, his lead atop the league’s minutes-played-by-Canadians list has evaporated.

Larin is still comfortably in second place, but Orlando teammate Will Johnson took over the lead. Of course, with Gold Cup coming, there will be changes in the rankings as some higher profile players will be out of MLS, NASL or USL action because of national-team duty.

Here are the minutes played by Canadians so far this season:

MLS MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Will Johnson, Orlando, 1331 (15)
Cyle Larin, Orlando, 1315 (15)
Patrice Bernier, Montreal, 906 (13)
Tesho Akindele, FCD, 885 (15)
Raheem Edwards, TFC, 746 (13)
Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla, Montreal,  646 (10)
Tosaint Ricketts, TFC, 544 (12)
Alphonso Davies, Vancouver, 532 (12)
Jonathan Osorio, TFC, 479 (14)
Russell Teibert, Vancouver, 433 (7)
Anthony Jackson-Hamel, Montreal, 312 (9)
Jay Chapman, TFC, 175 (4)
Marcel de Jong, Vancouver, 92 (3)
Ben McKendry, Vancouver, 90 (1)
Maxim Tissot, D.C. United, 90 (1)
Jordan Hamilton, TFC, 64 (4)
Tyler Pasher, Sporting KC, 45 (1)
Wandrille Lefevre, Montreal, 16 (2)
David Choiniere, Montreal, 5 (1)
Kwame Awuah, NYCFC, 1 (1)

 

TEAM RANKINGS, MLS MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2017

Orlando City, 2626/16 (164.1)

Montreal, 1882/14 (134.4)

Toronto FC, 2008/16 (125.5)

Vancouver, 1145/14 (81.8)

FC Dallas, 885/15 (59)

D.C. United, 90/15 (6)

Sporting Kansas City, 45/17 (2.6)

New York City FC, 1/16 (0.1)

 

NASL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Drew Beckie, Jacksonville, 1046 (12)
Kyle Bekker, San Francisco, 1039 (12)
Mason Trafford, Miami FC, 994 (12)
Nana Attakora, San Francisco, 990 (11)
Adam Straith, FCE, 885 (10)
Dejan Jakovic, New York, 720 (8)
Allan Zebie, FCE, 595 (8)
Karl Ouimette, San Francisco, 593 (7)
Ben Fisk, FCE, 524 (6)
Nik Ledgerwood, FCE, 521 (7)
Mauro Eustaquio, FCE, 345 (6)
Nathan Ingham, FCE, 270 (2)
Maxim Tissot, San Francisco, 209 (4)

 

TEAM RANKINGS, NASL MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2017

FC Edmonton, 3140/12 (261.7)

San Francisco, 2831/12 (235.9)

Jacksonville, 1046/12 (87.2)

Miami FC, 994/12 (82.8)

New York, 720/12 (60)

 

 

USL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Mallan Roberts, Richmond, 1260 (14)
Mastanabal Kacher, Colorado Springs, 1188 (14)
Callum Irving, Ottawa, 1080 (12)
Ryan James, Rochester, 926 (11)
Ben McKendry, WFC2, 900 (10)
Ryan Telfer, TFCII, 877 (13)
Eddie Edward, Ottawa, 873 (11)
Terran Campbell, WFC2, 827 (11)
Angelo Cavalluzzo, TFCII, 810 (9)
Jordan Dover, Rochester, 763 (10)
Jordan Murrell, Reno, 752 (9)
Richie Laryea, OCB, 729 (9)
Jamar Dixon, Ottawa, 724 (11)
Thomas Gardner, WFC2, 719 (11)
Daniel Haber, Real Monarchs, 685 (12)
Liam Fraser, TFCII, 678 (9)
Zachary Ellis-Hayden, OCB, 675 (8)
Bradley Kamdem Fewo, Rochester, 659 (9)
Amer Didic, Swope Park, 630 (7)
Kadin Chung, WFC2, 615 (8)
David Norman Jr., WFC2, 614 (9)
Luca Uccello, TFCII, 607 (9)
Shaan Hundal, TFCII, 600 (9)
Jordan Schweitzer, OCB, 599 (8)
Matthew Baldisimo, WFC2, 571 (10)
Tyler Pasher, Swope Park, 555 (8)
Sergio Camargo, TFCII, 552 (9)
Gloire Amanda, WFC2, 531 (12)
Chris Nanco, Bethlehem Steel, 476 (8)
Dominick Zator, WFC2, 428 (5)
A.J. Gray, Phoenix, 391 (8)   
Michael Cox, OCB, 391 (6)
Sean Melvin, WFC2, 360 (4)
Maxim Tissot, Richmond, 340 (4)
Mackenzie Pridham, Reno, 330 (9)    
Marco Bustos, WFC2, 303 (4)
Skylar Thomas, Charleston, 302 (8)                
Alessandro Riggi, Phoenix, 301 (6)
Jordan Hamilton, TFCII, 286 (4)
Chris Serban, WFC2, 283 (5)
Malik Johnson, TFCII, 272 (6)
Anthony Osorio, TFCII, 258 (4)
Kyle Porter, Tampa Bay, 246 (3)
Mark Anthony Gonzalez, Swope Park, 244 (5)
Paris Gee, Tulsa, 243 (5)
Mark-Anthony Kaye, Louisville, 241 (5)
Ashtone Morgan, TFCII, 194 (3)
Jay Chapman, TFCII, 180 (2)
Marco Dominguez, FC Cincinnati, 110 (2)
Aron Mkungilwa, Ottawa, 91 (2)
Marco Carducci, Rio Grande Valley FC, 90 (1)
Marcel DeBellis, Richmond, 90 (1)
Raheem Edwards, TFCII, 90 (1)
Josh Heard, Bethlehem Steel, 75 (6)
Aidan Daniels, TFCII, 75 (3)
Mele Temguia, FC Cincinnati, 62 (1)
Patrick Metcalfe, WFC2, 45 (1)
Carl Haworth, Ottawa, 31 (1)
Brian Wright, Tulsa, 30 (1)
Nicolas Apostol, WFC2, 17 (1)
Michael Baldisimo, WFC2, 13 (1)
Dante Campbell, TFCII, 8 (1)
Thomas Meilleur-Giguere, Ottawa, 1 (1)

 

 

TEAM RANKINGS, USL MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2017

WFC2,6226/13 (478.9)

TFCII, 5487/14 (391.9)

Ottawa, 2800/12 (233.3)

Rochester, 2348/11 (213.5)

Orlando City B, 2434/13 (187.2)

Swope Park Rangers, 1429/11 (129.9)

Richmond, 1690/14 (120.7)

Reno, 1082/11 (98.4)

Colorado Springs, 1188/14 (84.9)

Phoenix, 692/11 (62.9)

Real Monarchs SC, 685/12 (57.1)

Bethlehem Steel FC, 551/13 (42.4)

Tulsa, 273/12 (22.8)

Charleston, 302/14 (21.6)

Louisville City, 241/12 (20.1)

Tampa Bay, 246/15 (16.4)

FC Cincinnati, 172/14 (12.3)

Rio Grande Valley FC, 90/12 (7.5)

 

Lemon to leave League1 Ontario for football in Hungary

To say that Alison Lemon has a diverse soccer résumé would be an understatement.

She’s played professionally in Switzerland and in Italy; she’s been a member of Canada’s national women’s futstal side. She coaches with FC Barcelona’s Metro Toronto-based soccer school; she works with U13 players at Oakville Soccer Club. Oh, and she’s also played in League1 Ontario with North Mississauga SC.

But, she’s about to head back to Europe — as she’s been signed by Hungarian side Gyori ETO. She leaves in early July — and is thrilled to get the chance.

She recalled going over to Europe six years ago, an experience she said opened her eyes.

“Everyone was telling me the quality of soccer wasn’t as good as it would be in North America,” she said. “In fact, it was 100 times better.”

Why? She said the level of coaching, the facilities and footballing culture meant a lot. That is, in Europe, women’s teams train twice a day — and, for many women’s teams in Canada, there simply isn’t room to do that, yet.

And she said League1 Ontario — on the women’s side, at least — needs to improve.

“My experience in League1 was disappointing. “There was not a lot of motivation. I played in a town in Switzerland that had just 1,200 people and yet we had 500 or 600 people coming out to our games. Here in Ontario, maybe the parents show up. That doesn’t really push the players. I want to be in the best pro environment if I want my career to advance; and, here, there is no real culture yet.”

Lemon feels that a lot of the Canadian women’s players who head off to Europe to places that aren’t France, Germany or Sweden drop off the radar of the national side. She said that she’s in a good place; she feels she’s grown as a player and is satisfied that her career is in an upward trajectory. But she fears that Canada’s current culture will prevent the national side from reaching coach John Herdman’s ultimate goal: To be ranked No. 1 in the world.

Alison Lemon

“I think that we have plateaued,” she said. “I think that the Canadian program is looking for a particular kind of player. That is, a player who is overly aggressive, with lots of speed and who can kick the ball really far. And, because of that, yes, I think a lot of skilled players do fall through the cracks.”

As for the move to Hungary, Lemon said she’s impressed by what she’s seen so far from her new club — albeit on video.

“They’re very organized, very strong and very mature.” And she said that the team “is on a mission” to improve, just as she thinks there is a drive in Hungary to improve women’s soccer. Just as Gyori ETO signed Lemon, it also announced a deal to secure keeper Aline Villares Reis, who has appeared between the sticks for the Brazilian national side.

 

 

Referee’s critical error, missed chances cost Eddies in San Francisco

Tonight, I don’t have to write that a “controversial” call decided a game involving FC Edmonton.

Last week, when referee David Barrie took what looked to be a legitimate FC Edmonton goal off the board, well that was controversial. Because the referee called a push in the box, well there’s a level of interpretation to that. You can say he’s right, you can say he’s wrong, but there’s a grey area.

But, on Saturday night, referee Daniel Radford just got it plain wrong. To call a hand-ball in the box, you need to have an essential ingredient: The ball has to make contact with the arm or hand of the offending player. That’s the first step — before you even try to begin the internal debate of if it was ball-to-hand or not.

Radford gave the host San Francisco Deltas a 40th-minute penalty kick that Devon Sandoval converted to give his team a 1-0 win over FCE. Radford fingered FCE defender Pape Diakite for handling the ball in the penalty area.

Problem was that the ball hit Diakite squarely on the chest. It looked like that in real time, and it was clearly shown on replay after replay.

There is no interpretation there. It’s not “controversial.” It’s flat-out wrong.

And it makes for the second straight FC Edmonton game where we are talking more about the ref than we are about the players on the field.

“I didn’t see a penalty,” said Eddies’ coach Colin Miller.

Still, FCE need to assess some of the clear-cut chances that weren’t converted. Early in the match, thanks to a mistake from Deltas defender Patrick Hopkins, Sainey Nyassi went in clear on goal, with Dustin Corea as an escort. Deltas keeper Romuald Peiser charged off the line and stopped Nyassi’s shot. But, really, as soon as the keeper comes off the line, Nyassi needs to play a ball to Corea, who would then had an open net.

Hopkins then lost a battle with Eddies striker Tomi Ameobi, who flashed his shot just wide.

Then, a cross from FCE’s Mauro Eustaquio caught the wind and came off the bar.

Daniel Radford

The Eddies could have been a couple of goals to the good before the referee’s error. And Miller admitted that, as harsh as the call was, the Eddies are culpable for not being able to convert in front of the opposition goal.

“It was never a penalty, but it is what it is,” said Eddies coach Colin Miller. “But we can’t miss chances like that and expect to get anything out of games. We could have been 5-1 at the end of the first half. I am pleased we are creating the chances, but we need to start taking them.”

After the halftime break, Eddies keeper Nathan Ingham had to make a couple of excellent saves to keep the game at 1-0, first leaping to stop a curling effort from Pablo Dyego, then diving to stop an effort from Danny Cruz.

Adam Straith had the best chance to equalize. Off a corner kick, he was left unmarked on the far post, but nudged the ball just wide.

Sandoval had a chance to get his brace but, after the Deltas’ attacker rounded the keeper, Pedro Galvao got back to clear the ball off the line.

In the end, the bad call is what separated the two teams, and the two Canadian coaches, Miller and SF’s Marc Dos Santos, had to be separated as they had a heated exchange after the final whistle.

Larin goes from national-team duty to cell no. BRCIA14: Canadian striker charged with DUI in Florida

At 5:10 a.m. Thursday morning, Cyle Larin was booked into the Orange County Prison, assigned to cell BRCIA14.

The Canadian national-team forward and Orlando City star was arrested earlier Thursday morning. He was charged by Orlando Police for driving under the influence, after allegedly having a blood alcohol level of .179.

Of course, a person is innocent until proven guilty (that’s why we in the media are careful to use words like “charged” and “alleged” when describing a potential crime that has yet to be heard in court). But, to be picked up by the cops and to be processed in jail — well, that’s no doubt a bad look for a man who, just on Tuesday, played in Canada’s 2-1 win over Curacao.

As well, while there was no chance that Larin was going to play Wednesday for Orlando City a night after he was in a Canada jersey, the optics are still pretty terrible that he got arrested just a few hours after his team was humiliated 3-1 by the NASL’s Miami FC in U.S. Open Cup competition.

Larin’s mugshot PHOTO: ORANGE COUNTY JAIL

The next call will belong to MLS; while Larin has not been convicted, the league will want to get ahead of this and issue some kind of punishment to the player. Suspension? Will he be placed in a treatment program? (UPDATE: MLS has now confirmed that Larin will enter the Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health program for assessment; until he completes that, he is not eligible to play for Orlando City.)

And, while it would be a stretch to assume that this would hurt his work status in the United States (we remember that former NHL star Dany Heatley was convicted after a crash that killed one of his Atlanta Thrashers teammates, and continued to play after the legal matter was cleared up), it’s even stickier for a foreign national to be charged with a crime in the United States than it is a citizen of that country.

 

 

FC Edmonton prepares for “local derby” in San Francisco

This Saturday night, the San Francisco Deltas are hosting a special night for singles at Kezar Stadium, offering the chance for like-minded soccer fans to meet and mingle.

FC Edmonton’s players are hoping they can turn that game into the date-night from hell. The Eddies will provide the opposition.

But Eddies coach Colin Miller, as he did last week, will have to deal with injury headaches. Fullback/midfielder Allan Zebie, captain Nik Ledgerwood and fullback Netan Sansara all watched Wednesday’s training session from the sidelines. Midfielder Sabri Khattab missed training due to illness.

“It’s the walking wounded at the moment,” said Miller. “One or two had to step out with some bits and pieces, niggles. We won’t know who’s fit and available till we get down there.”

“Getting down there” won’t be as tough for the Eddies, as road trips go. San Francisco is only one (count it, one!) time zone from Edmonton. The Eddies only have to make one quick connection in Vancouver. It shouldn’t take more than three and half hours to get down to northern California. For the most travelled team in North American sport, San Francisco is a puddle jump.

“This is a local derby, this is,” Miller joked. “We could almost walk there or take bikes or whatever. It’s great; it’s a west-coast rivalry, it’s as close as you can be for a rivalry in our league. It does feel like a genuinely short trip.”

Put that in perspective. What the Eddies consider a “short trip” is 2,387 km (that’s 1,483 miles for those of you still using weights and measures from the 12th century).

Winger Sainey Nyassi said that the Eddies have performed well in their most recent two matches, a 4-2 win over the Cosmos and 1-0 loss to Miami that was influenced by a controversial call (more on that at the bottom of the article).

“We just have to play as a team and keep pushing,” said Nyassi, who scored against the Cosmos last week. “We lost against Miami, but we just have to pick up the positives out of that game and move forward.

“I have so much more confidence now than a couple of games ago, and I think it’s like every player on the team.”

The Deltas are coming off a 3-1 win over Puerto Rico. Kyle Bekker scored twice in that game and was named the NASL’s player of the week. Miller worked with Bekker when FCE’s coach was also the interim manager of the Canadian national team. Bekker is joined by three other Canadians on the roster — Maxim Tissot, Karl Ouimette and Nana Attakora.

FCE coach Colin Miller and San Francisco coach Marc Dos Santos exchanged pleasantries before their match in Edmonton in May. PHOTO: TONY LEWIS/FC EDMONTON

“It’s interesting how well the Canadian lads are doing in the NASL — I think it’s fantastic,” said Miller. “Mason Trafford [at Miami FC] has been one of the best centre backs in the league for a few years now, and he’s playing with the best team in the league at the moment. He’s just a great professional. I worked with Mason when I was with the Whitecaps, for a short period of time before he went to Europe. And then you see the Canadian lads who are down there in San Francisco. Kyle Bekker’s goal, as I explained to my players this morning, the left-footed strike that he scored in Puerto Rico last weekend, if there’s a more clean strike this season, I’ve yet to see it. It’s a fantastic goal. It’s great to see big Nana. He went through a period of time when he was with San Jose when I think he got a serious concussion — and he was out of the game for a little while. It’s great to see the big fella back. We’ve got great Canadian content here, as well. The guys are ready.”

Adam Straith, who had been with the Canadian national team, will meet up with FC Edmonton in California.

The expansion Deltas are a bit of a paradox; the team has picked up a solid nine points in six road games, including a win at Clarke Field earlier this spring. But Marc Dos Santos’s side has won just one out of five home matches. Miller said that, as was the case when Dos Santos coached the Ottawa Fury, the Deltas are built on a foundation of being defensively responsible, then hitting teams with a good counterattack. But, when you’re at home, there’s pressure to entertain the crowd and not play the defend-and-counter game. So, at home, the Deltas get away from their strengths.

THE CALL

Miller is still angry about referee David Barrie’s decision to assess a foul on Tomi Ameobi just as he thought he’d headed home a goal in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Miami FC.

The fallout from that call? Miller spoke with Isaac Raymond, the Canadian Soccer Association’s national referee assessor. The CSA assigns all referees for NASL games on Canadian soil.

“I got the belt a little bit for my behaviour after the game,” said Miller.  “I apologize for that; but I’m quite a passionate wee guy. I care very much about our team’s performances and I had a go at the referee because of the decision.”

Miller said he told Raymond that he was unhappy that he saw Barrie point to centre — the signal for a goal, before crossing his arms to award the free kick to Miami and signal “no goal.”

“It was an excellent conversation,” said Miller. “It was a good conversation with experienced football people, and the door is open for that sort of dialogue at any point between us and the CSA. I’m glad we made contact, Isaac and I — because it was a good conversation.”

Jackson-Hamel scores winner for Canada after Hoilett’s penalty miss

Junior Hoilett messed up his chance to be the hero — so Anthony Jackson-Hamel got the cape, instead.

Just seconds after Hoilett banked his penalty kick off the post, Jackson-Hamel’s long-range strike found the net, giving the Canadian men’s national side a 2-1 win over Curacao. The goal from the Montreal Impact striker ensured that Octavio Zambrano’s first match as national-team coach would end in a win.

But, that fact than only 6,026 bothered to head to Montreal’s Stade Saputo to take in the spectacle showed just how far Zambrano and the men’s national side have to go to win over a) casual sports fans b) disillusioned Canadian soccer supporters c) naysayers who claim Canada’s never gonna be any good.

To be fair, Curacao is about as un-sexy an opponent as can be found in CONCACAF.

Curacao doesn’t present many surprises; they play a similar style to many teams in the Caribbean at the moment. You line up 10 physically imposing players in front of your goalie, clog up the final third and be confident that you can win most of the 50-50 battles close to your net.

Through most of the first half, it worked — as the best Canada could do was a couple of long-range efforts from Cyle Larin and Will Johnson.

Then, with three minutes to go before halftime, Manjrekar James began a very busy sequence for himself. We saw Hyde. Then we saw Jekyll.

First, we watched as the Canadian centre back totally lost his man in the box. The man in question was Rangelo Janga, who got the ball and slammed it into the goal thanks to James’s slack defending.

But James got the chance to make it up thanks to a howler from Curacao keeper Eloy Room. Will Johnson floated in a free kick and Room looked to get caught in two minds — punch or catch? The result was that the ball bounced out of his arms and fell to James, who spun and shot the ball into an open goal.

Speaking of open goals, Larin should have made it 2-1 for Canada midway through the second half, but somehow, from just a couple of feet in front of goal, found a way to miss the net. Larin continues to get in good spaces but, unfortunately, the finishing touch he shows for Orlando City continues to evade him when he wears his country’s colours.

Zambrano gave debutant Raheem Edwards a spot in the starting XI. Edwards came out in the second half for 16-year-old Alphonso Davies. The kid from Edmonton made an instant impact, forcing a good save from Room after a nice square ball from Vancouver Whitecaps teammate Russell Teibert.

Then it was Jackson-Hamel who had a great chance;  but his shot deflected off Teibert before going into the net — and Teibert was so clearly offside, you’d have to be a Hungarian linseman in order not to notice.

Davies, then, came to the fore, with a dash up the left side and into Curacao’s penalty area. He was brought down by Shanon Carmelia, and referee Ted Unkel pointed to the spot. That set up the Hoilett miss, followed by the winner from Jackson-Hamel.

Juan Cordova was brought in late to make his Canadian national-team debut.

 

Intrinsically Canadian Power Rankings: MLS Week 15/NASL Week 12/USL Week 12

With many of the MLS teams having an off week due to international play, the focus was on USL and NASL this past weekend. And, there were certainly some events of note:

Three Canadian keepers all made their season debuts: Nathan Ingham started Wednesday and Saturday for FC Edmonton, as he looks (for now) to have at least a loose grip on the No. 1 position with the club. Marcel DeBellis, formerly of the Ottawa Fury, got into a game for the Richmond Kickers; and Marco Carducci finally got his chance to start for Rio Grande Valley.

As well, Kyle Bekker had a brace as the San Francisco Deltas beat Puerto Rico FC by a 3-1 count. Basically, Bekker’s two goals represented the margin of victory.

And, it’s worth noting that there are only two players in all three leagues who can boast that they have played every minute of their teams’ games so far this season — that’s Ottawa keeper Callum Irving and Richmond Kickers centre back Mallan Roberts, formerly of the Fury and FC Edmonton.

Here are the minutes played by Canadians so far this season:

MLS MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Cyle Larin, Orlando, 1315 (15)
Will Johnson, Orlando, 1241 (14)
Patrice Bernier, Montreal, 844 (12)
Tesho Akindele, FCD, 798 (14)
Raheem Edwards, TFC, 731 (12)
Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla, Montreal,  646 (10)
Tosaint Ricketts, TFC, 544 (12)
Alphonso Davies, Vancouver, 501 (11)
Jonathan Osorio, TFC, 473 (13)
Russell Teibert, Vancouver, 374 (6)
Anthony Jackson-Hamel, Montreal, 294 (8)
Jay Chapman, TFC, 175 (4)
Marcel de Jong, Vancouver, 92 (3)
Ben McKendry, Vancouver, 90 (1)
Maxim Tissot, D.C. United, 90 (1)
Jordan Hamilton, TFC, 52 (3)
Tyler Pasher, Sporting KC, 45 (1)
Wandrille Lefevre, Montreal, 16 (2)
David Choiniere, Montreal, 5 (1)
Kwame Awuah, NYCFC, 1 (1)

 

 

TEAM RANKINGS, MLS MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2017

Orlando City, 2536/15 (169.1)

Montreal, 1802/13 (138.6)

Toronto FC, 1975/15 (131.7)

Vancouver, 1055/13 (81.2)

FC Dallas, 798/14 (57)

D.C. United, 90/14 (6.4)

Sporting Kansas City, 45/16 (2.8)

New York City FC, 1/15 (0.1)

 

NASL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Drew Beckie, Jacksonville, 981 (11)
Kyle Bekker, San Francisco, 957 (11)
Mason Trafford, Miami FC, 904 (11)
Nana Attakora, San Francisco, 900 (10)
Adam Straith, FCE, 795 (9)
Dejan Jakovic, New York, 720 (8)
Allan Zebie, FCE, 595 (8)
Karl Ouimette, San Francisco, 593 (7)
Nik Ledgerwood, FCE, 521 (7)
Ben Fisk, FCE, 449 (5)
Mauro Eustaquio, FCE, 284 (5)
Maxim Tissot, San Francisco, 209 (4)
Nathan Ingham, FCE, 180 (2)

 

TEAM RANKINGS, NASL MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2017

FC Edmonton, 2824/11 (256.7)

San Francisco, 2659/11 (241.7)

Jacksonville, 981/11 (89.2)

Miami FC, 904/11 (82.2)

New York, 720/11 (65.5)

 

 

USL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Mastanabal Kacher, Colorado Springs, 1188 (14)
Mallan Roberts, Richmond, 1170 (13)
Callum Irving, Ottawa, 990 (11)
Ryan James, Rochester, 900 (10)
Ben McKendry, WFC2, 810 (9)
Eddie Edward, Ottawa, 795 (10)
Ryan Telfer, TFCII, 787 (12)
Terran Campbell, WFC2, 765 (10)
Jordan Murrell, Reno, 752 (9)
Richie Laryea, OCB, 729 (9)
Angelo Cavalluzzo, TFCII, 720 (8)
Daniel Haber, Real Monarchs, 685 (12)
Jordan Dover, Rochester, 673 (9)
Thomas Gardner, WFC2, 643 (10)
Jamar Dixon, Ottawa, 634 (10)
Liam Fraser, TFCII, 588 (8)
Shaan Hundal, TFCII, 586 (8)
David Norman Jr., WFC2, 586 (8)
Luca Uccello, TFCII, 585 (8)
Zachary Ellis-Hayden, OCB, 585 (7)
Matthew Baldisimo, WFC2, 571 (10)
Bradley Kamdem Fewo, Rochester, 569 (8)
Amer Didic, Swope Park, 540 (6)
Kadin Chung, WFC2, 525 (7)
Gloire Amanda, WFC2, 517 (11)
Jordan Schweitzer, OCB, 509 (7)
Sergio Camargo, TFCII, 484 (8)
Tyler Pasher, Swope Park, 465 (7)
Chris Nanco, Bethlehem Steel, 398 (7)
Sean Melvin, WFC2, 360 (4)
Maxim Tissot, Richmond, 340 (4)
Dominick Zator, WFC2, 338 (4)
Mackenzie Pridham, Reno, 330 (9)    
A.J. Gray, Phoenix, 311 (7)   
Marco Bustos, WFC2, 303 (4)
Skylar Thomas, Charleston, 302 (8)                
Alessandro Riggi, Phoenix, 301 (6)
Michael Cox, OCB, 301 (5)
Chris Serban, WFC2, 283 (5)
Malik Johnson, TFCII, 272 (6)
Anthony Osorio, TFCII, 258 (4)
Kyle Porter, Tampa Bay, 246 (3)
Mark-Anthony Kaye, Louisville, 241 (5)
Jordan Hamilton, TFCII, 210 (3)
Mark Anthony Gonzalez, Swope Park, 199 (3)
Ashtone Morgan, TFCII, 194 (3)
Paris Gee, Tulsa, 190 (5)
Jay Chapman, TFCII, 180 (2)
Marco Dominguez, FC Cincinnati, 110 (2)
Aron Mkungilwa, Ottawa, 91 (2)
Marco Carducci, Rio Grande Valley FC, 90 (1)
Marcel DeBellis, Richmond, 90 (1)
Raheem Edwards, TFCII, 90 (1)
Josh Heard, Bethlehem Steel, 75 (6)
Aidan Daniels, TFCII, 75 (3)
Mele Temguia, FC Cincinnati, 62 (1)
Patrick Metcalfe, WFC2, 45 (1)
Brian Wright, Tulsa, 30 (1)
Nicolas Apostol, WFC2, 17 (1)
Michael Baldisimo, WFC2, 13 (1)
Dante Campbell, TFCII, 8 (1)
Thomas Meilleur-Giguere, Ottawa, 1 (1)

 

 

TEAM RANKINGS, USL MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2017

WFC2,5776/12 (481.3)

TFCII, 5037/13 (387.5)

Ottawa, 2511/11 (228.2)

Rochester, 2142/10 (214.2)

Orlando City B, 2164/12 (180.3)

Swope Park Rangers, 1204/9 (133.8)

Richmond, 1600/13 (123.1)

Reno, 1082/11 (98.4)

Colorado Springs, 1188/14 (84.9)

Phoenix, 612/10 (61.2)

Real Monarchs SC, 685/12 (57.1)

Bethlehem Steel FC, 473/12 (39.4)

Tulsa, 220/9 (24.4)

Charleston, 302/13 (23.2)

Louisville City, 241/11 (21.9)

Tampa Bay, 246/14 (17.6)

FC Cincinnati, 172/13 (13.2)

Rio Grande Valley FC, 90/11 (8.2)

 

Kids in the haul: Youngsters shine in Canadian romp over Costa Rica

In the aftermath of Canada’s 6-0 win over Costa Rica Saturday at Toronto’s  BMO Field, I had two ledes in my head.

There was the obvious one: That, on a day when Canada Soccer honoured five retiring veterans — Kaylyn Kyle, Lauren Sesselmann, Robyn Gayle, Josee Belanger and Jonelle Filigno — it was the kids who made themselves count.  Janine Beckie, age 22, had a hat trick, 16-year-old Jordyn Huitema had two and 18-year-old Deanne Rose opened the scoring.

The other lede I kicked around was comparing this Canada home friendly to the kind of home friendlies were used to seeing from the United States, where a lower-ranked nation is brought in to be cannon fodder for a game that feels more like a celebration than a competitive event.

Both are true.

It was obvious right from the get-go that this one was not going to be as close as Canada’s 3-1 win over Costa Rica in Winnipeg that opened this two-game series of friendlies. Canada pressed right from the outset and the Costa Ricans, for some reason only known to their coaching staff, decided to play an extremely high defensive line. Time after time, Canada was able to play strikers through the back line that was far too aggressive, and Costa Rican keeper Noelia Bermudez was hung out to dry.

Rose opened the scoring just a couple of minutes in, getting to a low cross at the near post before the defenders could catch her.

Then it was the Beckie show.

First, she was sprung by a great pass from Jessie Fleming, and she chipped Bermudez to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

Then, Beckie found herself on another breakaway. And this is where it gets kinda funny; Bermudez came well out of her goal to challenge Beckie and, after being chipped the last time around, she leapt. She guessed that Beckie was going to try and chip her again. Instead, Beckie rolled the ball right under the keeper.

Whoops.

Beckie made it 4-0 with a smashed volley that gave Bermudez no chance. All credit has to go to veteran Christine Sinclair, who cushioned the ball over to Beckie, allowing the young forward all the time and space in the world to complete her hat trick.

It only took Beckie 15 minutes to register three goals. That was the fastest hat trick in the history of Canada’s women’s national team.

The Huitema show came in the second half. Being a good, apologetic Canadian, I think it needs to be said that maybe, just maybe, her first goal shouldn’t have been allowed to stand. Ashley Lawrence came down the wing and sent in a low cross that caused havoc in the Costa Rican penalty area. The ball ricocheted off Nichelle Prince’s backside and popped into the air in front of the goal line. The ball then hit a Costa Rican defender, and while Huitema got a touch to get it across the line, it came as she basically shoved that opposing defender into the goal.

There was no doubt about Huitema’s second goal, scored less than a minute later. She slammed the ball high into the Costa Rican goal.