Steven Sandor's Blog, page 54

FC Edmonton coach Miller says club is already deep into search for a new goalkeeper

FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller found out last week that goalkeeper Matt VanOekel would be making the move to MLS, as the NASL’s Golden Glove winner was going to sign with Real Salt Lake.

RSL made the signing official on Thursday.

But Miller said the club is already well on its way to replacing VanOekel, who led the league in goals-against average and set a new NASL record for clean sheets in a season.

“We have started to make inquiries about  a replacement,” said Miller. “We are well down the road to acquiring a new keeper of a similar calibre.”

Obviously, with NASL in a state of flux, with many players being released from contracts, there is a glut of very good goalkeepers on the market. And, as second-division clubs in North America go, FC Edmonton has proved to be maybe the most stable club on the continent, with owner Tom Fath stating over and over that the club will play in NASL in 2017 – and, more importantly, that there will be an NASL in 2017,

Miller was signed to a three-year extension just a couple of weeks ago and the club is hiring new staff. It’s also set a new record for season-ticket sales. M

Miller said that MVO was offered a new deal at the end of the 2016 season, the sides had agreed on terms but the keeper asked for a chance to have a look around and see if he could move up to a higher level of soccer.

“It was his dream to move to a higher level,” said Miller. “And, in this case, it was a move to MLS. We are not going to hold a player back.”

Hutchinson still hasn’t made up his mind about his national-team future

Canadian midfielder Atiba Hutchinson has been named the men’s national team player of the year for the fifth time.

Of course, that meant he had to do the obligatory press conference by phone with members of the media. And that meant that the Besiktas star would need to answer two burning questions, right?

What is your national-team future?
How did you react to the recent terror attacks near Besiktas’s stadium in Istanbul?

First off, before Hutchinson even got on the phone line, media were told that any questions about Turkey’s politics would not be addressed. The call was to talk about football, and football only.

And, when it comes to Hutchinson’s unsure national-team future, speaking with him Friday gave we in the media no clearer indication of where he stands. Since Canada crashed out of World Cup qualifying, Hutchinson has focused on his club career; he has told interim national-team coach Michael Findlay that he will soon come to a decision if he will play for Canada again.

But, that decision hasn’t been made yet, though Hutchinson said it would likely be made in weeks rather than months.

“I’m going to take a little more time to speak to a few more people, people in the CSA [Canadian Soccer Association] and friends and family,” he said.

Atiba Hutchinson in action against Honduras PHOTO: BOB FRID/CANADA SOCCER

He said that not making CONCACAF’s Hex, the region’s final stage of World Cup qualifying, was not just disappointing, but surprising. He felt that former coach Benito Floro has the team going “in the right direction” and the squad was better than it had been in previous years.

“We started to play good football, we gelled well together.

Now well into his 30s, and under contract to Besiktas till the end of the 2017-18 season, Hutchinson is not sure if his body would be able to deal with the travel, and the wear and tear of another World Cup qualifying campaign.

“It’s important for me to do the right thing,” he said.

As for Besiktas, he said he feels that he’s well respected by the club and its fans, and is really enjoying his football in Turkey. As for realizing his dream of one day playing in the Premier League, he said he understands the clock is ticking.

“I have to accept that I’m a little bit older. I’m happy where I am at right now.”

As for one day maybe playing in MLS, the thought of performing at home does interest him. But he spoke about it as if it would be a swan song; maybe for a year.

“It would be nice to experience playing at home in a professional league,” he said.  But, considering he’s an everyday player at Besiktas, and he’s enjoying his time at the club, and is under contract until the middle of 2018, any MLS talk is really, really premature.

While others fret over NASL crisis, FC Edmonton sets ticket-sales record

The New York Cosmos have released all of their players. The Jacksonville Armada have released players and have publicly stated that the club is exploring all the avenues necessary to ensure the club survives. The Carolina RailHawks have rebranded as North Carolina FC and have made MLS the team’s clear goal. The Tampa Bay Rowdies and Ottawa Fury have moved from NASL to USL, with rumours of more defections to come. The United States Soccer Federation has delayed sanctioning decisions on both USL and NASL because of the uncertainty that surrounds lower-division soccer on the continent.

Meanwhile, in Edmonton…

Eddies general manager Jay Ball confirmed Thursday that the team, still months away from training camp, has broken a new record for season tickets sold in a season. Edmonton plays in one of the NASL’s smallest facilities — Clarke Field holds 4,500, and crowds were usually under 3,000 for games last season — but the fact that season ticket holders are renewing, and the team is attracting new subscribers, shows just how distant Edmonton is from the mess in the United States.

Ball said the opening of the new team shop has helped boost ticket sales;  FCE players have been making public appearances at the shop, as has Canadian women’s national-team keeper Stephanie Labbe. In its season-ticket offer, the club has announced its intention to have a third jersey in 2017.

FCE owner Tom Fath has stated repeatedly that he believes the NASL will exist in 2017, and that FC Edmonton will be part of it. The team enjoyed its best ever-season in 2016, reaching the semifinals. Coach Colin Miller was rewarded with a three-year extension.

For those outside of Edmonton who may be baffled why the team is full-steam-ahead despite the uncertainty in the leagues, remember that Edmonton is very distant from all of the league meetings going on in the United States. The league issues have garnered zero mainstream media attention in Edmonton. Zilch.

Basically, if you’re going to have a crisis and don’t want anyone in Edmonton media to pay attention to it, do it during a hockey season where the Oilers are showing signs of life, and it’s even better to have it during the Christmas season. Connor McDavid almost ensures that, in December, no one is paying attention to any sport other than hockey.  Sports newsrooms are stretched covering hockey. When Christmas comes, Edmonton’s attention will be diverted somewhat from the Oilers — by the World Junior Hockey Championships.

But, to the supporters and the casual sports fans who’ve been to an FCE game or two, the club is giving off every impression that it is as stable as it has ever been. The team is hiring staff, there has been no break in season-ticket sales, the coach has been re-upped.  

FCE has done very well controlling its message. And the result has higher ticket sales.

Of course, setting new sales records put more pressure on the franchise to play a full schedule in 2017. As indicated by Wes Burdine, for NASL to be dissolved it would need all of its owners to unanimously agree to kill it, and there are complicated formulas for exit fees.

Sinclair wins POTY award for the 13th time

Christine Sinclair’s year: Win a second Olympic bronze medal. Pass American legend Mia Hamm to go second all-time on FIFA’s all-time scoring list. Win the Canadian women’s player of the year award for the 13th time.

Sinclair, to no one’s surprise, was announced as Canada’s top player on Thursday. And she accepted the award with the grace of the average Canadian, by wanting to talk about her team more than she wanted to talk about herself.

“It’s something that never gets old and I think this year, more than ever, our national team reached new heights, new levels, being ranked now in the top four in the world, back-to-back podiums,” said Sinclair. “This would not have been possible without my teammates and the entire national-team staff and, this year more than ever, my family. I just look forward to continuing on and reaching the number-one position (world ranking) in the next couple of years.”

Sinclair said that, with an infusion of young talent that helped Canada to the bronze medal in Rio, she saw 2016 “as a launching pad for our team.” And then made it abundantly clear that she would rather talk about Canada’s up-and-coming players than about herself.

“There’s no turning back from this moment on. We are only going to get better. You see the likes of a Jessie Fleming, a Deanne Rose, Janine Beckie, Ashley Lawrence. The future is so bright for this team, I just see 2016 as the year we put the Canadian soccer team on the map in terms of the world stage.

“I’ve waited my whole career for this, to have a team from player one to 23 that are just world class, that you can put anyone on the field and they’re going to perform.”

Sinclair now sits at 165 international goals, 19 behind American Abby Wambach. But, she said that passing Hamm for second will always mean more to her, even if she does get 19 more tallies.

“A huge moment for me was actually passing Mia Hamm. As a kid growing up, she was the face of women’s soccer. I had her jersey growing up and I remember thinking after my first year or two on the national team, ‘oh my god, she has so many goals, how is anyone ever going to reach that level?’”

And then, later, asked about targeting Wambach’s record, she said

“It was a bigger deal to pass Mia because of what she meant to me as a youngster growing up.”

With no major international tourneys in 2017, Sinclair said she is looking forward to playing a full NWSL season in Portland — and gunning for a title. In just 12 NWSL matches last season, she scored seven times.

Poor field conditions are to be expected when MLS Cup is held in mid-December

I’ve been covering soccer in Canada for more than 20 years now, and if there is one thing that bugs me above all else about the Canadian soccer media, is our reluctance to criticize our own sport.

I get it. Soccer fans in this country are so used to being trolled, to having their message boards bombed, to see one lame dive as the only highlight used on a sports-wrap show. So, any sort of criticism of our own game would only give fuel to the people who have tormented us for so long. It would be like giving brass knuckles to the schoolyard bully.

We saw another fine example of this on Monday; in the wake of Saturday’s MLS Cup final loss to Seattle, Toronto FC star Sebastian Giovinco admitted to the media that his playoff performances on the road were much better than those at home. He suggested the environment might have had something to do with it. He never called out the CFL Argos, who became a tenant at BMO Field in 2016, and the Grey Cup was played in the stadium in late November.

By mid-afternoon, the oh-so-tired cultural war between galvanized sections of the TFC and Argos fan bases began anew. Some Argos players openly questioned Giovinco’s commitment to his team.

Sigh.

First off, if you’ve got a problem with the tenant, then you’ve got a problem with the landlord. I will leave the Argos-TFC debate there.

But, why does MLS get off scot-free in this debate? Every year, the date of MLS Cup final is pushed back. MLS headquarters are in New York; the folks there must be aware that by mid-December, a lot of their markets are basically into their winter seasons? Right? 

According to Environment Canada, over the last five years, the nighttime temperature in Toronto on Dec. 10 has been above freezing… once. So, the law of averages would have let us know well ahead of time that the game was likely not going to be played in great conditions.

If you play a game at night in the second week of December, chances are you’re going to get poor field conditions in Chicago or Toronto or Columbus or Salt Lake City or the Denver suburbs. A grounds crew can heat and protect the field as much it wants; if it’s well below 0 C when the game begins (which it was in Toronto), the field isn’t going to play all that well. 

This also holds true for artificial surfaces; as it gets colder, the surface gets slicker and plays a lot faster. It becomes almost impossible to get balls behind defensive lines and have your wingers catch up with them before they go out of play. Cold weather on artificial turf changes the way you play; so teams like New England would also feel the effects of hosting a mid-December MLS Cup.

Oh, and remember that Olympic Stadium has a snow and ice policy that could force it to postpone games if the weather is poor enough. The roof can only take so much. And, well, last time I checked, it sometime snows pretty heavily in Montreal in December.

So, when does MLS realize that the later it pushes MLS Cup, the more it increases the chance of the game being played in crappy conditions? Or risk a postponement?

I understand that it’s not easy; MLS is under great pressure to at least try and recognize some of the dates on the international calendar, which leads to weeks off during the season. There was even a break in the playoffs to make room for international friendlies and World Cup qualifiers (see? I put “friendlies” ahead of “qualifiers. Why? Cause I’m Canadian, that’s why.) So, the season keeps getting longer and longer.

And, if you start the season any earlier, you start thinking about games in February, which is a bad idea for the same reason a mid-December MLS Cup is a bad idea.  So, do you shorten the schedule? Not gonna happen. Go to a winter schedule so the final could be held in late spring? Can’t wait to see the big crowds for all those November-March home games in winter markets.

It’s a rock and a hard place. Playing conditions might have improved a bit if the game was played while the sun was up, but then the TV network wanted the prime-time experiment.

You could always go back to a neutral-site home game, where MLS could pick indoor or warm-weather venues. But, then, it becomes “MLS Cup in Los Angeles” every second year. I’ve always supported the neutral-site Cup final, but I understand the arguments against it. You don’t want to be in a city that might be ho-hum about it if the home team isn’t in the event; this isn’t the Super Bowl or a World Cup.

But, trust me, there will come an MLS Cup where we’re going to see an MLS Cup final played in far worse conditions than what we saw Saturday night. We’re going to see a game in the snow or with stupid high winds. We’re going to see a field that’s either chopped up or rock-hard.

And guess what? It’s December.

MLS Cup breaks new ground for Canadian TV viewership

Sometimes, it’s nice to be wrong. Let’s face it, as Canadian soccer supporters, we have inherited the ability to prepare for worst-case scenarios for the sport that we love.

So, with that mentality, I thought that there was no way that Saturday’s MLS Cup could break the Canadian viewership records set by the second leg of the Eastern Conference final. Sure, MLS Cup had Toronto FC at home to Seattle, but it was on a Saturday, going toe-to-toe with Hockey Night in Canada and a UFC card. The midweek Montreal-Toronto FC games were of prime importance to two major Canadian markets — and didn’t have the same kind of sports-on-TV competition.

But I was wrong. TSN announced that the game, which saw the Sounders park the bus and hold on for a penalty-kick triumph over the Reds, drew 1.5 million viewers nationwide in both English and French. That broke the record of 1.4 million for the second leg of the Eastern Conference final.

The fact that MLS Cup was able to beat hockey on a Saturday night – well, that’s an impressive feat for a sport we’re used to seeing getting pre-empted by late-running curling matches.

“Audience levels peaked at 11 p.m. ET with 2.7 million viewers as Sounders defender Román Torres slotted home his penalty kick to seal the victory for Seattle,” stated the release from TSN. “Overall, 4.2 million individual Canadians watched some part of Saturday night’s championship game on TSN and RDS.”

This has been a meteoric rise for MLS on Canadian TV. Earlier this year — as reported in Plastic Pitch issue 10 — audiences were as small as 34,000 for Toronto FC broadcasts on Sportsnet. Despite the fact TFC was enjoying its best season ever, it had zero profile outside of the city and couldn’t attract the interest of casual sports fans. To rise from 34,000 to 1.5 million in the same season, this would be like Wolf Eyes all of sudden rocketing up the Billboard charts.

 

 

Super Frei: The man of the hour has an air of great power

Well, in this case, you can use the Klingon proverb, “revenge is a dish that is best served cold,” and it’s totally apropos.

Stefan Frei, drafted by Toronto FC in 2009, may have dreamed back then about winning an MLS Cup at BMO Field. He probably didn’t imagine at the time that he’d do it as a member of the Seattle Sounders.

Seattle won the title in penalties, 5-4, after Toronto FC and Seattle played to more than 120 minutes of scoreless soccer, Saturday. From the outset, it looked as if Seattle’s strategy was to get the game to kicks; striker Jordan Morris was a lonely figure as the lone striker.

And, in regulation and extra time, TFC keeper Clint Irwin didn’t face a single shot on goal. Through the game, you had to wonder how the guy could manage to keep warm in -10C temperatures at BMO Field.

But while Irwin had little to do, Frei was regularly asked to preserve his team’s push for penalties. He made seven saves to Irwin’s none. And none was bigger than his extra-time robbery on a header from Jozy Altidore. It looked as if Altidore’s looping header was headed for the top corner of the Seattle goal;  but, leaping, and holding himself in the air as if in slow motion, Frei was able to reach behind his body and claw the ball back.

“It was a hell of a save,” said Altidore.  “At the end of the day, you must pull off something special.”

Frei also made a brave play late in the second half, challenging Altidore for a ball that it looked like the TFC striker was simply going to nod home. But Frei read the play quickly, got his fists to the ball just before Altidore’s head got there, and got crunched by the Reds’ striker for his trouble.

After suffering through a couple of injury-plagued seasons, Frei was traded to the Sounders in 2013.

“I’m focused on my situation now, I’m in Seattle and this final could have happened anywhere,” Frei said after the match. “We had a chance to make history and this is what you live for.”

Frei also had some luck on his side; just before he made the leaping extra-time save on Altidore, he watched a shot from Canadian striker Tosaint Ricketts screw just wide of the post. Ricketts, the TFC super-sub, had a wonderful chance to win the game for the Reds from the top of the box, but, well, it can be a game of inches.

After five rounds of penalties ended at 4-4, Reds fullback Justin Morrow struck the bar with his attempt, and Seattle’s Roman Torres — who was fantastic for 120 minutes, repelling attack after attack — finished his chance to give the visitors the Cup.

For the soccer historian, this MLS Cup might have felt a bit like the 2005 FA Cup final between Manchester United and Arsenal. Manchester United dominated the game, and should have won it in the 90 minutes of regular time. The Red Devils should have won it in extra time. But, somehow, thanks to luck, poor finishing and great goalkeeping, the game got to penalties, where Arsenal claimed the Cup.

But, while TFC did dominate the game in every way save for the scoreboard, there was an important things to note; that, for the second straight game, Sebastian Giovinco was poor. He fumed when he was subbed off in extra time, but he gave coach Greg Vanney little choice. Giovinco was ineffective in the second leg of the Eastern Conference final, and TFC’s big goals came after the Atomic Ant was subbed off. On Saturday night, he drew a lot of fouls, but it disguised the fact that his first touch was uncharacteristically heavy and that he left many passes short. As he struggled, Seattle could devote more attention to Altidore. Chad Marshall and Torres were very good — not perfect, by any means, but good enough — in dealing with the Reds.

Fury-Impact deal: Ottawa eligible to play in the Cup

With its affiliation deal with the Montreal Impact, the Ottawa Fury is having its cake, and eating it too.

The two clubs ended the speculation Friday by announcing that, yes, they will affiliate. The Fury is moving to the USL from the NASL, and will offer some of its roster spots to the Impact’s young hopefuls.

But the teams were clear that this is not a case where the Fury becomes the Impact’s “2” team. The Fury will remain independent, which will allow Ottawa to be eligible to play in the Voyageurs Cup. In 2016, the Fury lost a hotly contested semifinal to the Vancouver Whitecaps.

“We are and will remain an independent club,” Fury coach Paul Dalglish said in a statement issued by the Fury. “We are proud of our identity and excited for the opportunities that this relationship will provide both of our organizations — including work on the player development pathway.”

The Impact will also play a friendly against the Fury in Ottawa some time in 2017.

The Fury already had 14 players under contract for the upcoming season, five of them Canadian (goalies Andrew MacRae and Callum Irving; fullback Eddie Edward, midfielder Jamar Dixon; forward Carl Haworth).  FC Montreal, which won’t be continuing, featured the most Canadian content out of any MLS, NASL or USL team last season. Montreal’s affiliate average nearly 900 minutes of game time for Canadians per match during the 2016 USL campaign.

Ottawa Fury fans PHOTO: STEVE KINGSMAN/CANADA SOCCER

This is important because the Fury will need strong Canadian content for the 2017 season, it’s just that we don’t know how much. Canada Soccer has yet to make public the roster rules that will govern the Fury for the 2017 USL season, in terms of how many Canadians Dalglish will need to play to stay on the right side of regulations. When asked about the roster rules, the  Fury’s front office has said that the roster-rule information has to come from Canada Soccer.

But, if the Impact and Ottawa were to face each other in the Voyageurs Cup, would Dalglish have lineup headaches? Would the Impact-loaned players be eligible? We’ve seen this happen in the past; the Whitecaps loaned Carlyle Mitchell to FC Edmonton, and he was not eligible to play against the ‘Caps in the VC – and he was miserable during the two games; he disliked seeing his current club and parent club squaring off.

The Fury’s front office says that the eligibility of each Montreal player will be set out in their contracts. There is no blanket policy that covers all loanees. So, if Ottawa and Montreal were to meet in a meaningful game, the status of the Impact loanees would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

As well, it will be interesting to see if there is any reaction from Fury fans who might be hyphenated Toronto FC supporters. How will they see their home team, now that it is partnering with TFC’s rival?

The elephant-in-the-room question is how this might affect the Canadian Premier League down the road. The indication we’ve heard from the yet-to-be-announced-but-out-there league is that it won’t have reserve teams. But what about an affiliate team?

And, indications from FC Edmonton is that, as of this week, are still not interested in joining the Canadian Premier League. No other interested parties have stepped forward from Edmonton.  So, talk of 12 cities being involved in CanPL may be a bit on the optimistic side.

FC Edmonton remains defiant: Owner remains confident that there will be an NASL in 2017

The message from FC Edmonton co-owner Tom Fath is the same as it was at this time last week — that he fully expects that there will be an NASL in 2017, and that Eddies will be playing in that league.

“I am still fully committed to playing in NASL,” Fath said Thursday.

“The plan going forward is that the league will be playing in 2017.”

This stance is consistent with the fact that the team’s players are making public appearances at the new team shop, that coach Colin Miller has been signed to a three-year extension, and that the team is looking to hire new staff members.

Fath wouldn’t comment any further on the topic, keeping to his policy of not speaking publicly about league business.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that all but four of the remaining NASL teams are nearing a deal with USL, which would see them jump leagues. New York Cosmos players and staff posted their fond farewells on Twitter after they were informed that they were now free agents. 

Putting it bluntly; in the blogosphere and Twitterverse, the NASL’s demise isn’t being discussed — it’s being treated as an accepted fact. But, in Edmonton, far removed from the United States Soccer Federation/USL/NASL discussions, talk about these troubles has been limited to the Supporters’ Group and, well, this site. Mainstream media isn’t touching this story, yet.

After all, it’s hockey season — and Christmas is coming, which means any Oilers coverage in Edmonton will be augmented by stories about… the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Meanwhile,  USSF has delayed any decision about divisional statuses until next week. Going into this off-season, USL — which features a mix of independent clubs and teams affiliated with MLS clubs — was Division 3. NASL was Division 2. The Ottawa Fury will move from NASL to USL for the 2017 campaign — a move that was announced near the end of the 2016 NASL season, the same day that the Tampa Bay Rowdies announced that they would move to USL.

But, from the Canadian perspective, the divisional distinction is a superficial discussion. The Canadian Soccer Association’s stance is that these USSF distinctions really don’t matter in Canada, as all major professional clubs can compete for the Canadian Championship. 

TFC must limit Lodeiro if the Reds are to take MLS Cup title

Nicolas Lodeiro was signed by the Seattle Sounders on July 27; at the time, his new team was eight points out of the playoffs.

Fast forward to December, and Lodeiro has led the Sounders to MLS Cup, where they’ll face Toronto FC at BMO Field. The Uruguayan midfielder has been Mr. Everything for the Sounders. He scored four times and set up eight more in 13 league games, as the Sounders made a frantic push for the playoffs under new coach Brian Schmetzer. Lodeiro then scored four times in five playoff games.

Stopping Lodeiro will be key for Toronto FC this Saturday.

TFC coach Greg Vanney said Lodeiro “can unlock the runs of other guys” and is “one of the best guys in the league at pulling strings and moving the game around.”

More from Vanney on TFC’s Public Enemy No. 1: “Nicolas is a very technical player. He doesn’t need a lot of space, and he’s very clever about how he moves about the field.”

Lodeiro and the Sounders may feel like a Cinderella story; but, really, it would be absolutely incorrect to call them that. Really, they are yet another example of the kind of team that usually wins MLS Cup. They have all the ingredients of teams that have won previous titles; they were highly rated in preseason, struggled to start the season, tinkered and tinkered, finally found a rhythm, then scrambled just to make the post-season and then stayed hot once the playoffs started. This has pretty well become the template on how to succeed in MLS.

Even Schmetzer admitted the mad dash for the playoffs helped the Sounders, well, prepare for the playoffs.

“In some, small, odd way I think it helped us,” he said. “We were in a place where every game was a must-win game just to make the playoffs.”

So, having to play more than a dozen do-or-die games in the season made do-or-die games pretty well old hat by the time the autumn came.

The Sounders became comfortable with adversity. So, even though the Reds will be home, even though game-time temps should be slightly below the freezing mark, they need to beware of a squad that looks like 2016’s team of destiny. And they’ll need to slow down Nicolas Lodeiro.