Steven Sandor's Blog, page 42

Two minutes of madness turn TFC-Fury tie on its ear

At the 40-minute mark of Wednesday’s Canadian Championship semifinal second leg between the USL’s Ottawa Fury and MLS powerhouse Toronto FC, the score was 0-0. Holding a 2-1 edge from the first leg, the lower-league underdogs were very much alive.

By minute 42, the Fury were down 2-0 on the night, 3-2 on aggregate. The tie was pretty well over.

That’s the thing when you’re the heavy underdog. You can’t afford to switch off for any amount of time. The Fury endured two awful minutes, and undid all of the team’s hard work leading up to that point. The Fury’s back line left the door slightly ajar, and TFC kicked it down.

And the Fury’sproblems can be traced to two players who were both found wanting on both of the TFC strikes — Martin Del Campo and Andrae Campbell.

In the 40th, Ottawa had numbers back to deal with a push from the Reds. The ball was sprayed out on the right wing to Jordan Hamilton, who had his back to the penalty area. He was not in a threatening position. Del Campo was covering Hamilton but, then, Campbell decided to join in and create a double-team on the TFC attacker. Hamilton turned and got the ball to a streaking Tsubasa Endoh, who should have been Campbell’s man. Endoh then fired a low cross across the box for Justin Morrow. The ball went off Fury defender Eddie Edward’s shin and into the net. Had Edward not touched it, Morrow would have tapped it in.

But it was the fact Endoh was left so wide open to make the cross that killed the Fury. It was that fatal mistake which reversed so much good work.

On TFC’s next attack, Endoh outran Campbell into the penalty area to head home TFC’s second, while Del Campo stood a few feet away in the penalty area, covering no one. Del Campo didn’t react well to the cross, and Campbell allowed Endoh to get goal side of him; the result — another goal.

Marky Delgado and Sebastian Giovinco, getting a second-half run-out as he returned from a three-week injury absence, added salt to the wound. But, after the 42nd minute, the contest was over — thanks to some Fury lapses. Toronto FC took what was given to them — and will move on to face Montreal in a Canadian Championship final we can hope will be even half as entertaining as last year’s MLS Eastern Conference Final.

 

Impact dominates second leg, moves onto Canadian Championship final

The final score indicated that the Whitecaps were a measly road goal away from taking their Canadian Championship semifinal against the Montreal Impact.

But it sure didn’t feel like it, huh? After the Impact took a 3-0 first half lead in Tuesday’s second leg at Stade Saputo, this tie felt, well, over. When the Impact went up 4-1 just seconds after Alphonso Davies looked to have given the Whitecaps a lifetime, it felt like door was locked tight.

The Whitecaps made it 4-2 after Kyle Greig beat Impact defender Kyle Fisher in the air and headed the ball into the goal, but it never felt like that third goal was going to come. Meanwhile, it sure seemed like the Impact could score again if the home team wanted to go up a gear.

Entering the second leg trailing 2-1, the 4-2 win gave the Impact a spot in the Canadian Championship final.

The final shots on goal? Impact 10, Whitecaps 2. Yes, it finished 5-4 on aggregate, and one more road goal would have given the Whitecaps the tie; but, wow, this second leg wasn’t close. And, really, based on what we saw, there really is no “what if” narrative for Whitecaps fans to latch onto. The team with the triangles on their shirts were comprehensively beaten.

The Impact was off to the races 20 minutes into the first half, after Ignacio Piatti slotted home a penalty after Anthony Jackson-Hamel was brought down in the box by Whitecaps keeper Spencer Richey.

Just eight minutes later, and Piatti was back on the spot, converting after Mauro Rosales slid into him in the penalty area. It all started with an Impact free kick just outside the Whitecaps’ penalty area. Laurent Ciman stood over the ball, and everybody in the stadium assumed that he was going to try and get a shot past the wall and on target. But, instead, he made a quick pass into the box that sprung Piatti, and Rosales dove in.

Blerim Dzemaili made it 3-0, as he was in the right place at the right time after fullback Ambroise Oyongo’s low cross changed direction and went right through the legs of Whitecap Russell Teibert. Dzemaili pounced on the chance and slammed the ball in the net.

Davies made it 3-1 in the second, as Patrice Bernier gave his quarry too much space, allowing the Whitecap phenom to turn and shoot.

But, the next time the Impact got up the field, Bernier made up for his defensive lapse, as he floated a nice cross for Jackson-Hamel to chest down and slam into the roof of the net.

Greig got what amounted to be a consolation goal, but there was no doubt that the Impact deserved this tie. The Whitecaps, thanks to Davies, dominated the first half of the first leg but, after that, it was all Impact.

FCE will split into two groups for long trip to Puerto Rico

FC Edmonton is sending two caravans to Puerto Rico.

The 5,600-kilometre trip is so daunting, so logistically difficult for a travelling contingent of 22 people, that the only way it can be done is to break the group into two. On Wednesday afternoon, after FC Edmonton’s training session, Group One will head to the airport and begin their journey to the Caribbean, routing through Minneapolis and New York. On Thursday morning, the second crew will leave, routing through Minneapolis. The two groups will meet up in Puerto Rico Thursday night. The Eddies face the Orange Agents of Puerto Rico FC on Saturday night, before heading to New York for Wednesday’s game against the Cosmos, a make-up date for the game that was scrubbed so the famed Gotham club could play a friendly in Saudi Arabia.

The Eddies triumphed in their only visit to the island last season, a result they hope to emulate against a club that, just a couple of weeks ago, cleaned out its front office, including coach Adrian Whitbread. Former Toronto FC defender Marco Velez is the team’s interim coach.

The Eddies are coming off a 2-1 win over the Indy Eleven — but the club knows just how daunting the trip to the Caribbean will be.

“It’s an incredibly difficult venue,” said FCE coach Colin Miller. “They just changed their coach two games ago. I watched both their games since the takeover and they have got a different look about them. He (Velez) has certainly given every player a chance to play. The lad Gentile (forward Giuseppe Gentile) is playing very well at the moment. He’s a genuine risk.”

Miller said the team needs to bring “that organization, that spirit” from Saturday’s win to Puerto Rico, and to New York.

Fullback/midfielder Allan Zebie, who was removed at halftime of Saturday’s game with a hamstring “tweak,” is doubtful for Puerto Rico, said Miller. He may miss the Puerto Rico portion of the trip entirely and join the team in New York.

“There’s no point in risking Allan with so many games still left to play,” said Miller

Intrinsically Canadian Power Rankings: MLS Week 13/NASL Week 10/USL Week 10

So far this season, Toronto FC looks to have shaken the “finalists’ curse” that has haunted so many MLS Cup runners-up in the past. The team is well on top of the Eastern Conference, and Canadians Jonathan Osorio and Jordan Hamilton both scored in Friday’s 5-0 drubbing of the Columbus Crew.

(Some of us still remember a time when TFC couldn’t get a result against the Crew. Talk about exorcising your demons.)

The rule of thumb has been that the team that loses MLS Cup struggles the next season or, at best, flames out early in the playoffs. But the Reds have been going strong.

Here are this week’s rankings of Canadians by minutes played in MLS, NASL and USL:

MLS MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Cyle Larin, Orlando, 1154 (13)
Will Johnson, Orlando, 1061 (12)
Patrice Bernier, Montreal, 754 (11)
Tesho Akindele, FCD, 680 (12)
Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla, Montreal,  646 (10)
Raheem Edwards, TFC, 641 (11)
Tosaint Ricketts, TFC, 544 (12)
Alphonso Davies, Vancouver, 487 (10)
Jonathan Osorio, TFC, 447 (12)
Russell Teibert, Vancouver, 374 (6)
Anthony Jackson-Hamel, Montreal, 216 (7)
Jay Chapman, TFC, 167 (3)
Marcel de Jong, Vancouver, 91 (2)
Ben McKendry, Vancouver, 90 (1)
Maxim Tissot, D.C. United, 90 (1)
Tyler Pasher, Sporting KC, 45 (1)
Jordan Hamilton, TFC, 31 (2)
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, 2195/13 (168.8)

Montreal, 1634/11 (148.5)

Toronto FC, 1830/14 (130.7)

Vancouver, 1040/12 (86.7)

FC Dallas, 680/12 (56.7)

D.C. United, 90/12 (7.5)

Sporting Kansas City, 45/14 (3.2)

New York City FC, 1/13 (0.1)

 

NASL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Nana Attakora, San Francisco, 810 (9)
Drew Beckie, Jacksonville, 810 (9)
Mason Trafford, Miami FC, 810 (9)
Kyle Bekker, San Francisco, 783 (9)
Adam Straith, FCE, 705 (8)
Dejan Jakovic, New York, 630 (7)
Karl Ouimette, San Francisco, 593 (7)
Nik Ledgerwood, FCE, 521 (7)
Allan Zebie, FCE, 420 (6)
Ben Fisk, FCE, 280 (6)
Maxim Tissot, San Francisco, 112 (2)
Mauro Eustaquio, FCE, 59 (2)

 

TEAM RANKINGS, NASL MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2017

San Francisco, 2298/9 (255.3)

FC Edmonton, 1985/8 (248.1)

Jacksonville, 810/9 (90)

Miami FC, 810/9 (90)

New York, 630/8 (78.8)

 

USL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Mastanabal Kacher, Colorado Springs, 1008 (12)
Mallan Roberts, Richmond, 990 (11)
Callum Irving, Ottawa, 810 (9)
Eddie Edward, Ottawa, 710 (9)
Ryan Telfer, TFCII, 695 (10)
Richie Laryea, OCB, 639 (8)
Angelo Cavalluzzo, TFCII, 630 (7)
Ryan James, Rochester, 630 (7)
Ben McKendry, WFC2, 630 (7)
Terran Campbell, WFC2, 605 (8)
Jordan Murrell, Reno, 572 (7)
Luca Uccello, TFCII, 571 (7)
Daniel Haber, Real Monarchs, 547 (10)
Thomas Gardner, WFC2, 541 (8)
Amer Didic, Swope Park, 540 (6)
Jamar Dixon, Ottawa, 532 (8)
Shaan Hundal, TFCII, 517 (7)
Gloire Amanda, WFC2, 513 (10)
David Norman Jr., WFC2, 512 (7)
Liam Fraser, TFCII, 498 (7)
Matthew Baldisimo, WFC2, 488 (9)
Jordan Dover, Rochester, 468(6)
Bradley Kamdem Fewo, Rochester, 411 (6)
Sergio Camargo, TFCII, 408 (7)
Zachary Ellis-Hayden, OCB, 405 (5)
Tyler Pasher, Swope Park, 375 (6)
Kadin Chung, WFC2, 345 (5)
Maxim Tissot, Richmond, 340 (4)
Dominick Zator, WFC2, 338 (4)
Jordan Schweitzer, OCB, 329 (5)
Mackenzie Pridham, Reno, 326 (7)    
Chris Nanco, Bethlehem Steel, 317 (6)                   
Alessandro Riggi, Phoenix, 301 (6)
Michael Cox, OCB, 301 (5)
Chris Serban, WFC2, 273 (4)
Sean Melvin, WFC2, 270 (3)
Anthony Osorio, TFCII, 258 (4)
Malik Johnson, TFCII, 251 (5)
Skylar Thomas, Charleston, 230 (7)
A.J. Gray, Phoenix, 204 (5)
Mark Anthony Gonzalez, Swope Park, 199 (3)
Paris Gee, Tulsa, 190 (5)
Jordan Hamilton, TFCII, 180 (2)
Mark-Anthony Kaye, Louisville, 172 (4)
Marco Bustos, WFC2, 123 (2)
Ashtone Morgan, TFCII, 106 (2)
Aron Mkungilwa, Ottawa, 91 (2)
Jay Chapman, TFCII, 90 (1)
Raheem Edwards, TFCII, 90 (1)
Josh Heard, Bethlehem Steel, 66 (5)
Kyle Porter, Tampa Bay, 66 (1)
Mele Temguia, FC Cincinnati, 62 (1)
Aidan Daniels, TFCII, 61 (2)
Patrick Metcalfe, WFC2, 45 (1)
Brian Wright, Tulsa, 30 (1)
Marco Dominguez, FC Cincinnati, 20 (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

WFC2,4713/10 (471.3)

TFCII,4363/11 (396.6)

Ottawa, 2144/9 (238.2)

Rochester, 1509/7 (215.6)

Orlando City B, 1714/10 (171.4)

Swope Park Rangers, 1114/8 (139.3)

Richmond, 1330/11 (120.9)

Reno, 898/9 (99.8)

Colorado Springs, 1008/12 (84)

Phoenix, 505/8 (63.1)

Real Monarchs SC, 547/10 (54.7)

Bethlehem Steel FC, 383/10 (38.3)

Tulsa, 220/9 (24.4)

Louisville City, 172/8 (21.5)

Charleston, 230/11 (20.9)

FC Cincinnati, 82/11 (7.5)

Tampa Bay, 66/12 (5.5)

 

Saturday night special: Corea leads FC Edmonton to victory in a sold-out stadium

The official number for a sellout at Clarke Field is 4,096.

And, no, don’t adjust your set, that was the number announced. And this wasn’t a case of padding numbers; the stands were full. A beautiful Saturday night, a (finally!) full stadium, lots of energy in the park. It made what was a heck of an interesting game between the Indy Eleven and FC Edmonton almost secondary.

Finally, Edmonton showed that it can be a soccer city. The moving of the games to Saturday nights has seen attendances rise. A promotion that saw Canadian national-team hero Diana Matheson appear at the game, and giving pregame instruction to dozens upon dozens of girls soccer players, only increased the family-fun, festival atmosphere.

Mother nature finally cooperated. There was no snow. No giant windstorm. No Biblical downpour.

Maybe this Saturday night was the night soccer finally arrived in Edmonton. Maybe tonight will go down as the first building block towards a larger stadium — one which would have the capacity to allow the Eddies to at least break even. And for the 4,096 in attendance, they witnessed the Eddies win for just the second time in eight NASL matches, as they trumped the winless  Indy Eleven by a 2-1 score.

To think, just last autumn, the Eddies and Indy met in the NASL semifinals.

Dustin Corea goes down in the box.

“We had an Indy side that’s not the same Indy as last year and we just had to come out and take advantage of that,” said FCE’s Dustin Corea, who had a goal and set up Adam Straith’s first-ever NASL goal. “We had a meeting, talked amongst each other, just let each other know that no matter what we’re always here for each other and that everybody is equal. It doesn’t matter, we’re going to pick each other up, the good times and the bad times. And, this time, we showed character.”

The game turned on a penalty call from referee Dave Gantar halfway through the first half. Centre back Pape Diakite hoofed to ball up the right side, and Dean Shiels did well to recover it before the ball could go into touch. He turned and played a great ball into the Indy penalty area for Dustin Corea, who then went down awkwardly in the area. Gantar pointed to spot, calling Indy defender Kwame Watson-Siriboe for the trip. Indy Eleven coach Tim Hankinson saw the replay on the giant Titan video screen, and was incensed.

Then, Corea stepped up, and drove a shot off the crossbar. But Gantar spotted two Eleven players encroaching in the area, and ordered a retake. The second time, Corea made no mistake.

“It was a dive,” Hankinson fumed. And he said allowing the retake was “high-school stuff.”

Hankinson accused Gantar of “putting his personality” into the match; that is, he made the game all about him.

Eddies coach Colin Miller had this to say about the call: “I didn’t actually see it. I asked Jeff (assistant coach Jeff Paulus) and the guys and they thought maybe, maybe not. I’ll take it. I don’t give a toss how the ball goes in the back of the net. I’ll take it all day long.”

And Corea’s take: “Torrado (Indy’s Mexican veteran, Gerardo Torrado) was telling me that it was a dive and all that. At the end of the day, I’m not going to dive. I think it was pretty clear, he was behind when I was about to shoot, I got a foot behind me, and he brought me down. You can look over the video and see what it is, but, at the end of the day, I’m not going to dive for a situation where I can score. I’d rather score than dive. I might not get the call if I dive. I’d rather get the shot. Unfortunately, they hit me from behind. It looked like it was a dive, but it wasn’t a dive.”

There was no controversy about the Eddies second goal. Corea swung in a picture-perfect free kick that Straith headed downward and across the goal line.

The Eddies controlled the match until the very late stages of the game. Indy pressed hard in the final 15 minutes, and was rewarded in the 80th. Substitute Jason Plumhoff, who the Eddies traded away to Jacksonville in 2016,  got a measure of revenge on his former team. Justin Braun nodded a ball into Plumhoff’s path. Both Diakite and his central-defence partner, Albert Watson, went to Braun, giving Plumhoff a clear path to smash home a half-volley.

Just seconds later, Indy’s Ben Speas crashed a shot off the bar, coming within centimetres of drawing the game level.

Corea would strike a left-footed effort off the post late in the game. On a normal FCE night, Corea would get the game ball. But in this case, for getting that sellout, maybe that ball, ahem, needs to go to general manager Jay Ball — for working tirelessly to get games moved away from the Sunday afternoon dead zone; for engaging with Edmonton’s soccer community; and, for getting those bums into the seats.

I’ve covered the Eddies since 2011, been close to this organization for a long time, and Saturday night felt very different. Now, to see if it’s a blip, or the beginning of something special.

 

Matheson: Hopeful that NWSL move to Canada happen “sooner rather than later”

Diana Matheson feels like Canada is getting closer and closer to getting a NWSL franchise. And, like many of her fellow national teamers, she’s waiting on pins and needles for it to happen.

“I think it is reasonable that NWSL gets to Canada, though,” Matheson said Friday night before she spoke to a select group of Edmonton soccer players, coaches and parents at FC Edmonton’s fan shop, as part of the team’s Pro Connect series. “I think it’s been on the radar for a while. I know Vancouver’s been very interested, there’s always rumours. Hopefully, that happens sooner rather than later. And, then, once with one team in, I think it’s totally possible for there to be another, whether it’s Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal, or Toronto. I hope we can be similar to MLS, and just keep building and adding Canadian teams, adding academies to those and suddenly we’ve got a great feeder system for the national team.”

The 33-year-old national-team veteran and two-time Olympic bronze medalist, now property of the Seattle Reign, spent the weekend in the Alberta capital to be part of FC Edmonton’s celebration of girls in soccer. She is out for the NWSL season after she injured the same knee that forced her to miss a number of Women’s World Cup matches in 2015.

Matheson said that she believes NWSL coming to Canada is a more reasonable choice for developing the women’s domestic game. Earlier this week, Canada Soccer Hall of Famer Amy Walsh suggested that Canada needed a national women’s league in the same vein as in the work-in-progress Canadian Premier League.

Diana Matheson takes a selfie with many Edmonton players.

And, she said that a Canadian team would be a massive draw for Canada’s players, currently allocated throughout the league. Of course, being under contract to the Reign, she couldn’t say too much about her interest in playing for a Canadian team that’s still a hypothetical at the moment.

“The draw of playing in and around your home town will be huge for players. I’m not personally from Vancouver, but Vancouver also has the benefit of being a beautiful city that a lot of the players, whether Canadians or not, would love to play in. I just got to Seattle, and I know I’m not playing this season, so I want to stick around in Seattle another season or two. But if it is Vancouver (for NWSL), I know players would love to go there.”

 

 

Eddies hope surprise bye week will work to their benefit

When the New York Cosmos gave FC Edmonton’s front office an 11th-hour phone call, asking of last weekend’s match could be moved to later in the season, it was a blessing in disguise. The Cosmos needed to free the date so the team could travel to Saudi Arabia for a friendly.

The Eddies were going through a real rough patch; they’d won just one of their first seven games, and were eliminated from the Canadian Championship by the Ottawa Fury.

So, the extra week off gave the Eddies a chance to hit the restart button on their season. At least, that’s how the team sees it as it prepares for a visit from the Indy Eleven.

“We’ve been consistent and very good in training since we had the break,” said Eddies coach Colin Miller, who said that he’s been stressing the team’s attacking posture in the past week of training. The Eddies have scored just three times in seven games.

“It (the break) came at a really good time for us, with the Cosmos asking us to switch the game. We agreed to it, for sure. It gave us a chance to work on one or two different aspects of the game. The intrasquad we had last week, there were some great attacking movements… There’s a feel-good factor here at the moment, and we just have to make sure we carry this forward.”

“It was good to slow down a bit and focus a bit more on training, which I think we did,” said defender Adam Straith. “The last two weeks, we had an intrasquad and a good team dinner, which was nice. It was good to take the foot off the game pedal, so to speak. It was nice to focus on training and get another crack at it on Saturday.”

The Eleven got to the NASL championship game last year after beating the Eddies at the semifinal stage. But, like the Eddies, they’ve defied expectations this season — for many of te wrong reasons. Indy has yet to win a game this season. The Eleven come to Clarke Field on Saturday night.

“I look at the qualities they have, and I think we’re both in false positions in the league,” said Miller.

On Thursday morning, before the team trained at Clarke Field, Miller showed the team a rather unpleasant video.

“Believe it or not, I actually showed the players a video of every goal we’ve conceded. I did that for a reason, because not one of those goals were we carved up or were they wonder goals other than (North Carolina FC’s) Lance Laing’s free kick. A lot of the goals have been self-inflicted.”

They also looked at the chances they created — many of them going wanting.

“We looked at some of the good football that we’ve played,” said Miller. “Because we have played some good football this season. It hasn’t been all doom and gloom by any stretch of the the imagination. So I’m hoping these messages, all these positive messages we’re sending to the players, I’m hoping that will come to fruition.”

The Eddies front office says that less than 400 tickets are left for Saturday’s game. Clarke’s sell-out number is 4,096 spectators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canadian HOFers Stalteri and Walsh speak about the need for domestic pro leagues — for men AND women

Both Paul Stalteri and Amy Walsh believe that Canadian soccer players — be it boys or girls, men or women — need more chances to play professionally.

The duo — who were both announced Thursday as the latest to be inducted into Canada’s Soccer Hall of Fame, talked about why more needs to be done to develop a pro game — and, therefore, more playing opportunities — in Canada.

Stalteri has 84 Canadian caps and captained the team 30 times. He was part of the 2000 Gold Cup-winning squad. He was part of a solid generation of Canadian players who qualified for two World Cups at the youth level; he felt that generation “were just as good as anyone in CONCACAF,” and he admitted that he’s still bitter that the group never qualified for a senior World Cup.

He now coaches the U-17 program, and he said it’s at the intermediate stage — when youth players mature into senior professionals — where there’s a major drop-off in playing opportunities. He hopes that the coming Canadian Premier League, which has received the official seal of approval from the Canadian Soccer Association, comes and fills that need.

“We have a gap where the kids are not playing at a good enough level,” said Stalteri.

Stalteri grew up watching the old Canadian Soccer League, this country’s attempt to cement a pro circuit and the early ‘90s. He said that he watched games through the lens of a child; he didn’t care about the playing level or that it wasn’t Barcelona or Bayern Munich on the field — all he knew that this was a professional game with players he could look up to. He could be inspired by Canadians playing in a Canadian league. And that might be sage advice to those who gripe the CanPL won’t have the quality of a European League or MLS.

“At that time, you didn’t really know what you were watching,” said Stalteri.

Walsh, who represented Canada in two World Cups, one Olympic games and had more than a century of caps for her country, also played for the Atlanta Beat of the now defunct WUSA, the precursor to NWSL. She also played in the W-League for the Ottawa Fury and the Laval Cometes.

Amy Walsh PHOTO: DALE MACMILLAN/CANADA SOCCER

And, she believes that any talk of developing a Canadian pro league from coast to coast should also include the women.

“The almighty dollar has to be there for the women, as well,” said Walsh.

She said that, when she was with the Cometes, she would ask Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo “why can’t there be a female Impact team?”

She said that, when we talk about the Canadian Premier League for men, “the same thing has to be developed for women… People need to get on board with a female league as well.”

She said Canada’s women can’t depend on NWSL allocations, European teams or going to national-team camps in Vancouver. She doesn’t believe regularly bringing the national-team pool together for camps in Vancouver is a good long-term strategy.

“That’s not tenable for a long period of time,” she said.

THE PASSPORT AND THE PLAYER

Stalteri knew that his Canadian passport was going to make it difficult for him to build a career as a footballer in Europe. But he became a regular starter at Werder Bremen and then went onto spells at Tottenham and Fulham.

“That’s part of the difficulties of going over there and playing,” said Stalteri.  “You have to accept it. You are not Brazilian. You are not Argentinean. You are not from the European countries.”

He said a player needs to  “take difficulties on the chin” and not use the “because I’m Canadian” excuse. Coaches are going to pick the best players they have for their matchdays, and a passport isn’t going to stop a player from impressing everyone around him.

And his experience rubbed off.

Current national team defender Adam Straith spoke about the influence Stalteri had on his career.

“He is a player that I looked to when I first came into the national-team program when I was 18, 19,” said Straith. “He and Kevin McKenna (another Canadian who made it to the Bundesliga) were the ones I looked to, the ones I looked to emulate. He’s someone I’ve looked up to and still do. He kind of paved the way in Germany for a lot of Canadian players. He played at a high level for quite a number of years in Germany and in England, too. He’s a fantastic role model and it’s great to see him still involved in coaching.”

Stalteri said MLS has done “great job” of giving opportunities to Canadians who, without that league, would have gone to Europe like he did. And he believes many players could still make the move to a league as lofty as the Bundesliga.

“I still think our top players could be well doing that.”

Voyageurs Cup wrap: Fury comes back, Canadians star in Vancouver

The second stage of the Canadian Championship got underway Tuesday, as the three MLS teams got into the fray. The first legs provided plenty of talking points:

OTTAWA 2, TORONTO FC 1

A second-string TFC squad, without any Designated Players in the lineup, took the halftime lead against the Ottawa Fury thanks to a great give-and-go play between Benoit Cheyrou and Jordan Hamilton which saw the Frenchman neatly finish his chance.

But the 1-0 lead was undone by a series of critical mistakes from TFC’s youngsters, as the Reds shot themselves in the feet over and over through the second half.

Ryan Williams converted a penalty kick to tie the game 1-1 after a comedy of errors from the visitors. First, off a corner, Ottawa’s Martin Del Campo was left wide open, and he headed his effort off the far post. Then, TFC defender Mitchell Taintor had a chance to clear the rebound, but made a hash of it and the ball went right back to the Fury. And, as we see so often, the guy who makes  the first mistake makes the second one, too.  Sito Seoane’s shot went off Taintor’s arm for the easy penalty-kick cll.

Seoane could have made it 2-1 after he got behind the TFC’s flat, slow back line — but Reds keeper Clint Irwin, who once patrolled the box for Capital City FC of the Canadian Soccer League, dove to make the stop.

But Seoane would get his goal; and it came after TFC”s Jay Chapman made the bizarre decision to play a lofted ball across his own backline. It didn’t get near a teammate; it fell to Ottawa’s Tucker Hume, who stumbled in the box but was able to nudge the ball to Seoane, whose deflected shot went in.

TFC’s Raheem Edwards got his second yellow in second-half stoppage time.

A healthy attendance of 7,611 was announced, but to think what could have been. A visit y an MLS team is a big deal for a second-division club. But the game at TD Place was clearly the second choice in the city’s sports schedule, going head-to-head against an elimination home game for the Senators. If the Fury had been the prime spot on the capital city’s sports schedule, TD Place could have seen a crowd of 9,000-plus like it had for the 2015 NASL playoffs, or when the Whitecaps played the Fury in the 2016 Voyageurs Cup.

This marked the second time in three Voyageurs Cup match weeks that the tournament has gone head-to-head with the NHL playoffs, as FC Edmonton’s first-round home leg against the Fury went up against the Oilers playing a Game 7.

Not enough can be said about the sheer lunacy of scheduling this tournament against the NHL playoffs. It’s like a broken record. While the coincidences can be blamed on scheduling bad luck, the fact is the Voyageurs Cup always runs the risk of having these conflicts by playing games in the spring. Hopefully, when this tournament is overhauled in the years to come, this brutal scheduling issue can be resolved.

VANCOUVER 2, MONTREAL 1

While TFC’s young Canadians struggled mightily, the first leg between Montreal and Vancouver at BC Place was a showcase of what our country’s kids can do.

Alphonso Davies, the Edmonton-raised phenom who is still waiting for his family to get their passports, dominated the first half, scoring in the 12th minute off a low pass to the centre of the box from Brek Shea, then dashing through a series of defenders before leaving the ball for Nicolas Mezquida to drive home.

Ben McKendry had a chance to score as well, but Montreal keeper Maxime Crepeau made a good leaping stop.

But, it was as if the teams changed jerseys in the second half. The Impact, sluggish in the first half, brought the game to the Whitecaps and got a vital road goal heading into the second leg. Frankly, the Impact should have had more than that single road marker.

The Impact scored thanks to a solid Canadian combination, with sub Anthony Jackson-Hamel with a neat little touch off the head to knock the ball into the path of David Choiniere, who made no mistake.

Jackson-Hamel should have leveled it; he had Whitecaps keeper Spencer Richey at his mercy after Chris Duvall’s long-range effort struck the post. But Jackson-Hamel’s half-volley was off-target.

Then, in shades of the classic 2014 series between Montreal and FC Edmonton, referee Drew Fischer awarded the Impact a penalty. In 2014, it was in stoppage time, and Patrice Bernier went to the spot, converted, and turned what looked like it was going to be an Eddies upset into a Montreal win. This time, Bernier stepped up again, took his patented stutter step (just like 2014) and tried to pull the shot inside the post. But, Richey guessed correctly (or maybe he saw the tape from 2014) and made the stop.

 

 

 

CanPL cannot fall victim to “culture of free” which pervades Canadian soccer

First off, apologies for not updating the site more over the last week. The New York Cosmos’s trip to Saudi Arabia  forced the postponement of their previously scheduled NASL match against FC Edmonton, so I got what was an unexpected weekend off from the club I cover. As well, this week allowed me a bit of time to recover, sports wise, from the Oilers playoff run, which kept me extremely busy over the past several weeks.

But, make no mistake, I’ve been keenly aware of the excitement that’s building following the Canadian Soccer Association’s rubber stamping of the Canadian Premier League. We may only have two for-sure teams right now — Winnipeg and Hamilton — but CPL organizer Paul Beirne’s comments, about his dreams for a league that could thrive in many markets we previously thought too small for division-one pro sports, have many of us dreaming about a league with true coast-to-coast coverage.

Supporters’ groups and potentials supporters’ groups are making themselves known. We’re eyeing players in MLS, NASL and USL and saying “geez, he’d make a good fit for the CanPL.”  We’re imagining the kits the teams will wear when the league finally kicks off, be it in 2018 or 2019.

Excitement, though, won’t be enough to make this league survive. Those involved in the league will be making significant up-front investments to make this thing work, and even the bluest-sky scenario will see this league leaking millions of dollars over its first few years of operation. This will be a long road.

And the light at the end of the tunnel needs to be provided by fans.

That means excitement isn’t enough. Here’s the real question, folks. How much are you willing to spend? Tickets? Subscription packages? Merchandise?

Those who have followed this site for a while have likely heard this before, but it’s worth repeating again. When I launched this site (and later, when the late Plastic Pitch was launched), I spoke to many ad agencies and their view of soccer fans in Canada was downright harsh. Over and over, they told me “soccer fans don’t spend any money.” Their rationale, 100,000 soccer fans don’t spend as much as 1,000 hockey fans would on their sport. So, actually trying to sell stuff to soccer fans through advertising was pointless.

I just finished a season of covering sold-out hockey game after sold-out hockey game, where fans spending hundreds of dollars each on tickets were wearing official jerseys costing $300 or more. Meanwhile, I have lost count of the people who have told me $20 or $30 “was too much” to watch FC Edmonton. Or the outcry that came when NASL tried to charge $5 a month for its streaming package, a couple of years ago. 

Look, I get it: For years and years, our sport wasn’t really available to us on mainstream TV or major websites; so, we looked for pirated streams and shared the links on social media. We shared articles the only way we knew how, by cutting and pasting them. But, because of that, we’ve been branded as cheapskates. I think, with the success of MLS in three Canadian markets, we’re slowly shaking that reputation, but it will all go for naught if CanPL fans start sharing pirated streams and not paying for stuff when the league kicks off.

Basically, when CanPL commences play, pay the going rate. Support a broadcaster who is paying the rights fees. If you’re a cord cutter, support the platform that is ensuring that money is going back to the content creators; the broadcasters, the league and the players.

Do everything you can to shake the “culture of free” stigma that sticks to Canadian soccer.

As well, do your part and support the media that write about CanPL. Don’t copy and paste stories from websites; paste the links. Find ways to throw a few bucks towards the young writers who will be cutting their teeth covering CanPL. If a magazine covers CanPL, subscribe. Hey, this isn’t about me; I’m realistic. I’ve been covering Canadian soccer for more than two decades. What this sports needs is new voices, fresh people, who will offer their perspectives, insight and scoops. But, unfortunately, the lifecycle for most of these young soccer writers is this: 1. Start writing 2. Take lots of trolling from people who are reading your stuff for free  3. Get burned out and quit.

So, ahem, pay for this stuff.

It burns me when I hear soccer fans moan that a streaming package might cost a couple of bucks a month. If you can’t afford it, fine. But, I’ve lost count of the people who have told me how they can’t actually afford to legally stream soccer, while we’re having beer, or during a road trip to support the Canadian national team. Money for beer, money for the road trip, but, man, those few bucks to watch soccer is gonna kill me!

Look, I know how this looks, coming from someone who is a colour commentator for a Canadian NASL team. “Of course you’re going to slam piracy. You have to!” But I wish I could give you a tour of a game day. How many cameras and camerapeople are involved. Commentators. Producers. Directors. The people who make the stat fonts on the screen. Oh, and the production truck that costs north of a million bucks.

Now, there are some of us who legitimately can’t afford to support soccer, even though we love the game. That’s obviously going to be true. This article isn’t aimed to shame you. It’s aimed at those of us who have come to treat soccer’s “culture of free” as an everyday thing. It’s for those of us who have become desensitized to the Russian porn ads that run alongside the pirated streams. It’s aimed at those of us who think that broadcasting or covering pro sports is a social responsibility, and not a business.

CanPL is only as good as the fans who are willing to support it, not just with our voices, but with our cash and credit cards.