Steven Sandor's Blog, page 8

Canada triumphs over Dominica in U20 Championship opener

After a weather delay in Bradenton, Fla. delayed the kickoff of Canada’s opening match at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship by nearly an hour, Noble Okello Ayo brought the thunder.

The Toronto FC prospect had a first-half brace and Canada went on to beat Dominica by a 4-0 score.

Canadian coach Andrew Olivieri kicked off the tournament by starting the twin towers of Ayo and Bair at the top of his attack. Chances aplenty fell to both players, as Canada hemmed the Dominicans in their final third. The Dominican defenders simply tried to smash the ball in any direction, save towards their own goal, in order to clear their lines. And, because Dominica’s defending was do desperate, the island nation’s lone striker, Zion Lander, was left to simply run around chasing shadows.

In the first half, Bair and Ayo had very different levels of success. Bair had a shot strike the crossbar, and a couple of attempts led to sprawling saves from Dominica keeper Tafarie Elie.

But Ayo got two goals for his efforts. The first one he smashed in from the top of the box after a layoff from FC Dallas draft pick Adonijah Reid; the second he poked through Elie’s legs after a clever dummy from Bair allowed the cross to roll to Ayo’s feet.

Emile Legault, playing on the right side, was effective through the first half, able to get around the Dominica back line over and over and deliver crosses into the box.

Reid was robbed by Elie in the 74th minute, as the keeper guessed right and made a diving stop after the Canadian got onto a through ball and shuffled past a defender.

But Reid got a measure of revenge late in the game when he came in from the left wing, danced around a couple of defenders, left the keeper sprawling, then squared the ball for Jose Hernandez to deposit into an open goal.

Bair finally got his goal on a breakaway just seconds after Hernandez’s goal.

Alphonso Davies’s final day as a Whitecap: A photo essay

Photographer Tony Lewis was on the field at BC Place on Sunday, as Canadian wunderkind Alphonso Davies scored twice in his final MLS match as his Vancouver Whitecaps beat the Portland Timbers, 2-1.

Davies is now off to Germany, where he’ll become a member of one of the world’s biggest clubs — Bayern Munich. At only 18 years of age, he has nowhere near reached his ceiling.

Of course, Davies will be playing in Canada a lot more in the years to come, as a linchpin of coach John Herdman’s national team. So, we won’t be saying farewell, but so long for now.

Walking into the stadium alongside a young fan and veteran Kei Kamara.
Davies tries to evade a tackle (or maybe, a foul)…
Davies scores…
… and celebrates with the BC Place faithful.
The post-game interview.
“We have one last skill-testing question before you leave. Which one is Henrik, and which one is Daniel? Choose wisely.”
From Edmonton to Vancouver: A family portrait.

 

Jalali hopes to restart pro soccer career after receiving conditional discharge

Former FC Edmonton striker Sadi Jalali was sentenced to 30 hours of community service and has been given a six-month conditional discharge after his hearing in Alberta provincial court Monday morning.

The 23 year old was originally charged in August of 2016 for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. But his lawyers, Mona Karout and Sam Jomha, struck a plea deal with the Crown. On Monday, Jalali only faced charges of simple possession.

The six-month conditional discharge means that Jalali will not have a criminal record after the completion of his six-month probationary order.

“Thank you to the people who stood by me these last couple years,” Jalali said in social-media post. “I want to thank my family, my friends, my lawyers [and] the Crown, for not only giving me a second chance, but understanding that I made a mistake and giving me a second chance to do something with my life.”

Jalali and his older brother, Saidkheyam Jalali, were originally arrested by members of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) in separate traffic stops in August 2016. Jalali’s older brother was alleged to have $3,950 in cash and a Beretta handgun with the serial number removed, according to ALERT.

Jalali made 25 appearances for FC Edmonton and has represented Canada at the U-17 and U-20 levels. He famously scored a goal against England and Jordan Pickford in the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The 23-year-old has stated his desire to continue a professional soccer career.

Inescapably Canadian Power Rankings: That’s a wrap!

Well, with no Canadian teams in the MLS playoffs, at least Alphonso Davies put on a heck of a farewell show.

In his final game with the Vancouver Whitecaps before he makes the move to Bayern Munich, Davies scored twice in a win over the Portland Timbers. As well, Canadian Simon Colyn made his MLS debut in that game. He became the 30th Canadian to see the field in an MLS game in 2018.

An iron-man award needs to go to Montreal’s Samuel Piette, who hit the 3,000-minute mark and appeared in every one of the Impact’s 34 regular-season matches.

In the end, Toronto FC just nipped Vancouver for the most minutes played by Canadians, a total of 7,602 for the Reds compared to 7,590 for the Caps.

 

Here are the rankings after the final regular-season week of MLS play:

 

MLS MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Samuel Piette, Montreal, 3000 (34)
Jonathan Osorio, TFC, 2603 (30)
Alphonso Davies, Vancouver, 2420 (31)
Will Johnson, Orlando, 2194 (28)
Raheem Edwards, Montreal/Chicago, 1724 (27) 808
Russell Teibert, Vancouver, 1604 (23)
Mark-Anthony Kaye, LAFC, 1582 (20)
Marcel de Jong, Vancouver, 1392 (19)
Doneil Henry, Vancouver, 1260 (14)
Dejan Jakovic, LAFC, 1147 (15)
Ashtone Morgan, TFC, 1009 (18)
Jay Chapman, TFC, 982 (22)
Brett Levis, Vancouver, 960 (14)
Jordan Hamilton,TFC, 862 (14)
Ryan Telfer, TFC, 813 (15)
Michael Petrasso, Montreal, 782 (14)
Liam Fraser, TFC, 615 (10)
Tosaint Ricketts, TFC, 601 (18)
Anthony Jackson-Hamel, Montreal, 580 (16)
Tesho Akindele, FC Dallas, 577 (19)
Brian Wright, New England, 258 (10)
Richie Laryea, Orlando, 253 (9)
Shamit Shome, Montreal, 249 (5)
Kwame Awuah, NYCFC, 143 (6)
Louis Beland-Goyette, Montreal, 109 (4)
Julian Dunn-Johnson, TFC, 105 (2)
Mathieu Choiniere, Montreal, 82 (5)
David Choiniere, Montreal, 12 (1)
Aidan Daniels, TFC, 12 (1)
Simon Colyn, Vancouver, 4 (1)

No CanPL open trials in Edmonton? It could be an advantage for the Eddies

The Canadian Premier League’s open trials just wrapped up in Calgary, the seventh of eight coast-to-coast stops.

Hosted by Calvary FC in the Foothills facility located in a southeast Calgary industrial park where the streets have Star Trek-ish names like “Endeavour” and “Exploration” and “Enterprise,” the latest instalment of the open trials is as close as they’ll come to Edmonton.

It’s estimated that maybe a quarter of the players at the Calgary trials made the three-hour drive down the QEII highway from the Alberta capital. FC Edmonton’s Academy had a couple of its players take part.

But, according to FCE coach Jeff Paulus, the fact that the tour is skipping Edmonton plays in the Eddies favour. All the other teams had/will have their region show off their top hopefuls, while FCE might be able to sit on a player or two who wasn’t able to travel for a trial.

“One hundred per cent, if I am being cheeky about it, I think it’s our advantage,” said Paulus. “There are none of our academy kids here, except for the couple who want to come for the experience. But, for the most part, our academy kids aren’t here, and these are kids we’ve contributed a substantial expense for, to keep developing. So it’s great no on else gets to see our academy play.

“There’s certainly a couple of boys back home that we know about, that we’ve been talking to, that we’re watching, who will probably have an opportunity. But the other coaches won’t get to see these players and they’re local for us. It probably gives us an advantage there.”

Paulus is admittedly biased, but he believes Edmonton is one of the top breeding grounds for soccer talent in Canada. Four Edmontonians are currently under MLS contracts — Shamit Shome, Tosaint Ricketts, Amer Didic and some kid you might have heard of named Alphonso Davies.

“They’ve got some great clubs down here in Calgary and they’ve some great people involved on the technical side of the game doing great stuff,” said Paulus. “But player-wise, I am partial to the Edmonton player. I find that the Edmonton player is a little different than you’d find in the other places in Canada. A lot these Edmontonian kids, especially on the north side, they have a bit of grit about their game. That bit of determination. They can be nasty, they have a never-going-to-lose attitude. I’m happy with what’s happening in Edmonton at the youth level… Alberta, to me, is that quiet province, and it’s the one that gets overlooked. Edmonton, in particular, gets overlooked. There’s a U-20 national-team camp happening, and I don’t see any of our players there. I’m baffled by that because I know the kind of players we have.”

While Paulus said Alberta is often overlooked, he said — even before the open trials hit those provinces — the CanPL coaches knew a lot about Ontario and Quebec players because of the rise of League1 Ontario and the PLSQ. So, there’s really no place to hide players of quality in those provinces.

CanPL commissioner David Clanachan said that 70 to 80 per cent of the players that have been seen at the open trials were previously on the league’s radar.

“But there are 20 to 30 per cent that didn’t exist,” he said. “We’re going to follow them, and see where they’re at.”

Clanachan said the league is still going through the process when it comes to how many local players teams will be allowed to protect.

He said one of the most-repeated questions he gets is about local players.

“Are we going to get to see homegrown talent? I answer that with yes,” said Clanachan. “Coaches are all over that, the clubs are all over that. They’re very in tune with that. It makes sense.”

CanPL commissioner suggests there may be “room for creativity” when it comes to signing players

The first-ever Canadian Premier League season is set to kick off in late April. The league is currently in the midst of holding trials.

But, there are still some rather large laundry-list items that are being dealt with before the league can formally unveil the roster rules salary-cap amounts.

At the Got Game trials Friday in Calgary, league Commissioner David Clanachan said the league members are still discussing how flexible and creative they will be allowed to be under the coming salary cap. Clanachan repeated that each of the seven teams operating budget will be over $1 million — but how much of that will be devoted to player salaries?

“The vast majority of that will obviously be in the players,” said Clanachan.

And he said that, while still in the discussion phase, ways of being flexible — when it comes to signing players  — are on the table.

“There could be creative ways of doing it, with the players that are coming in,” said Clanachan. “We haven’t had anyone come forward and say ‘we want to to this’ at this point in time. But we’ve given them a little bit of wiggle room.”

The commissioner said “for sure, there will be some room for creativity” within the cap.

“We’ve got all the teams starting at the same time, so you have to help everybody help themselves.”

And that creativity might be needed. While we spoke with a two teams of trialists were taking the field at the Calgary Foothills facility, the league understands that it will need experienced players to underpin the rosters of all seven teams.

“We’re focusing on some foundational players, those who have made their careers in the game, they can be anywhere between 20 to 30 years of age. We’ve said we need at least a couple of foundational players (per team) and really strengthen each club.”

Another thing on the table is what to do about injured players.

“At the end of the day, we’re talking 20 to 23 on the roster but the clubs have said it won’t be uncommon to see three or four players hurt. So, now, what happens? We’re working through that right now. Obviously, we’re doing it collectively.”

Can the CanPL start fixing our country’s “Mayan pyramid?”

Given the state of Canadian soccer, the seven men sitting around this table in could be forgiven for having doubts. They are at the fourth in a series of the seven Canadian Premier League open trials and, with the participation of Pacific FC coach Michael Silberbauer, it is the first instalment of the trials all seven head coaches have been able to attend. (Up to now, Pacific’s interests have been represented by assistant coach James Merriman. FC Edmonton’s brass had to skip a session in Montreal because of the preparations needed for its Al Classico friendly against Cavalry FC).

For someone coming from outside the Canadian system, in this case Denmark, Silberbauer provides an analogy for the situation facing the Canadian player:

“For me as an outsider, the Canadian’s pathway has been a staircase going up and all of a sudden you had to make three steps at once. And the CPL is now those missing steps in the staircase for players, coaches, the organization, everything.”

The Canadian soccer player development system has been regularly described as “broken” or “fractured,” a criticism these rookie professional coaches know all too well, as most of them were part of that system.

Cavalry’s Tommy Wheeldon laments the lack of a pro player pathway while Wanderers’ Stephen Hart calls it a “Mayan pyramid,” the implication being its flat top has no elite opportunities for players. York 9’s Jim Brennan discusses the fact that many kids are priced out of clubs and academies. Forge FC’s Bobby Smyrniotis picks up on that point and decries the lack of financial support in the system, mostly absent in Canada but replete in other countries. They all reference the fracturing that happens between provinces, districts, clubs and academies. Yet another theme is the unhealthy competition between people in all parts of this fractured player pathway and the isolation that the competition and fracturing creates.

But these problems are not new. What is new are the actions currently being taken as part of building the Canadian Premier League from scratch.

Brennan puts it very simply “We are creating a movement. For this game.”

It is a sentiment that is echoed around the table. The task is daunting. The CanPL coaches are building a soccer league in a country that has never really embraced one. Success on the field, in the stands, and with player development may be elusive for years. And, on top of that, the expectation may be that the league will be a panacea for the ills that plague Canadian soccer, an expectation that is almost guaranteed to be unfulfilled. Regardless, these individuals have embraced the challenge, and are taking action.

According to FC Edmonton’s Jeff Paulus, the league is designed to address the broken system and offer the opportunities to players that previously were unavailable.

The trials are paying dividends. According to Wheeldon “…the level of talent hasn’t surprised me because the talent has always been there.”

The top players from the trials are put on a coaches’ “watch lists” and, from there, invitations to team tryouts may follow.

Valour’s Rob Gale says in Hamilton they found a talented player who none of the coaches were aware of but who had the ability to potentially make it in the pro game. Throughout the trials, they have been identifying players who otherwise would have never got chances. Admittedly, the chances being provided are slim, but they are chances nonetheless. The trials comprise one action in a series of actions that will end, and begin again, once the CanPL team rosters are built and once the league kicks off next April.

Perhaps inadvertently, Silberbauer provided a fitting analogy for the task ahead for these seven coaches. Addressing the issues in Canadian soccer player development will take a number of steps. On this front, the Canadian Premier League is taking one giant step up.

Fury celebrates three U-20 call-ups, the day after team cuts ties with those players

Following Canadian soccer can be sorta ridiculous at times.

On Wednesday, Canada Soccer released its roster for the  squad that will make an attempt to qualify for the upcoming U-20 World Cup. The roster included Clement Bayiha, Adonijah Reid and Daniel Kinumbe. Both Kinumbe and Bayiha are listed as Ottawa Fury members (check the roster list below). Reid was on loan from FC Dallas to the Fury.

That release was received at 10:42 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Wednesday. At 11:18 a.m., the Fury sent out a release celebrating the fact that “Reid, Kinumbe and Bayiha selected to Canada U-20 squad.” As stated in the release. “Forward Adonijah Reid and defenders Daniel Kinumbe and Clement Bayiha will get to don the maple leaf looking to qualify Canada for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019.”

But, and this is a pretty big “but,” the Fury announced Tuesday — the day before the U-20 announcement — that Reid, Kinumbe and Bayiha were part of a 15-player purge, as Ottawa’s management cleaned house after a disappointing USL season that saw the team finished the playoffs. The three call-ups were all confirmed not to be returning to the Fury for the 2019 season.

The Fury’s decision to cut ties with more than half of the players on its roster is already creating a bit of CanSoc social-media storm (or, as big a social-media storm as CanSoc can create, really), as the common wisdom was that one of the team’s reasons for deciding to remain in USL for 2019, and not join the new Canadian Premier League, was so that its roster would be protected from what might be a lower salary-cap situation.

It should be noted that oftentimes, the releases of U-20 rosters are coordinated days in advance of them being made public, between the staffs of the clubs and Canada Soccer. So, when this was all planned, all three of the players would have still been part of the Fury family.

CANADA ROSTER

1- GK- Alessandro Busti | ITA / Juventus FC U-23

2- FB- Émile Legault | Unattached

3- FB- Daniel Kinumbe | CAN / Ottawa Fury FC

4- M / FB- Michael Baldisimo | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC

5- CB- Julian Dunn | CAN / Toronto FC II

6- CM / CB- Yohan Le Bourhis | CAN / Académie Impact de Montréal

7- M- Clément Bayiha | CAN / Ottawa Fury FC

8- M- Noble Okello | CAN / Toronto FC II

9- F- Theo Bair | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC

10- M- Mathieu Choinière | CAN / Impact de Montréal

11- M- Noah Verhoeven | USA / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy

12- CM / CB- Dante Campbell | CAN / Toronto FC II

13- FB- Terique Mohammed | CAN / Toronto FC II

14- CM- Benson Fazili | LTV / FK Metta

15- F- José Hernández | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy

16- CB- Antonio Rocco Romeo | CAN / Toronto FC II

17- F- Adonijah Reid | USA / FC Dallas

18- GK- Thomas Hasal | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy

19- F- Jordan Perruzza | CAN / Toronto FC II

20- M- Steffen Yeates | USA / University of Connecticut

CANADA CAMP in FLORIDA

GK- Axel Desjardins | ITA / Spezia Calcio

FB- Justin Yarde | USA / SI Montverde Academy

M- Calin Calaidjoglu | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal

M- Mohamed Omar | CAN / Toronto FC II

W- Jacob Shaffelburg | CAN / Toronto FC Academy

Extreme Makeover: Ottawa Fury edition

After a USL season that saw the Ottawa Fury miss the playoffs and struggle to find the back of the net, the club announced that sweeping changes are being made.

As of right now, there are only five players set to return for the 2019 season; Canadians Jamar Dixon, Nana Attakora and Maxim Tissot, plus imports Onua Obasi and Kevin Oliveira. Tissot is looking to come back from injuries that basically ruined his 2018 season.

The team also announced Tuesday that it is in contract negotiations with five other Canadian players; Carl Haworth, Eddie Edward, Chris Mannella, Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare and keeper David Monsalve.

Monsalve will be the only one of the three Fury keepers to return. Maxime Crepeau enjoyed a standout season for Ottawa, setting the league record for most clean sheets in a season. But even that wasn’t good enough to drag his team into the playoffs. But Crepeau was on loan from the Montreal Impact. The Fury confirmed that keeper Callum Irving will not be back.

All of the players outside of the five returnees and those on the negotiation list won’t be back next season. That’s a total of 15 players off the roster, which also includes Canadian national-team defender David Edgar and domestic forward Daniel Haber.

With 15 players released, that means Ottawa will be aggressive in the marketplace, looking for players. We’ll have to see how this impacts Canadian Premier League teams looking to sign players, as agents will know the Fury, which had previously announced its plans to remain in USL for at least the 2019 season, have a lot of holes to fill. Will players commit to CanPL or hold out for an offer, or at least some interest from Ottawa?

But, critics of the Fury will no doubt note that if some of the team’s reasons for not joining the CanPL were to protect its roster and that it couldn’t possibly squeeze its 2018 roster of players into a projected CanPL salary cap, well, they’re going to note that the team just severed ties with 15 players on Tuesday, anyway. We’ll leave that for you all to argue about on the message boards.

Inescapably Canadian Power Rankings: MLS Week 34

With one week left in the MLS season, we know this: That two of the three Canadian teams have been eliminated, and the Montreal Impact has to win its final game and get help if it wants to make the post-season.

So far, 29 Canadians have appeared in MLS games this season, and Samuel Piette will finish as the runaway minutes leader.

Ten of the 29 have played more than 1,000 minutes so far this season, while four have broken the 2,000-minute barrier.

Here are the rankings after the 34th week of MLS play:

MLS MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS

Samuel Piette, Montreal, 2910 (33)
Jonathan Osorio, TFC, 2519 (29)
Alphonso Davies, Vancouver, 2334 (30)
Will Johnson, Orlando, 2199 (28)
Raheem Edwards, Montreal/Chicago, 1632 (26)
Mark-Anthony Kaye, LAFC, 1582 (20)
Russell Teibert, Vancouver, 1514 (22)
Marcel de Jong, Vancouver, 1303 (18)
Dejan Jakovic, LAFC, 1148 (15)
Doneil Henry, Vancouver, 1080 (12)
Jay Chapman, TFC, 976 (21)
Ashtone Morgan, TFC, 920 (17)
Ryan Telfer, TFC, 878 (16)
Brett Levis, Vancouver, 870 (13)
Jordan Hamilton,TFC, 862 (14)
Michael Petrasso, Montreal, 692 (13)
Tosaint Ricketts, TFC, 601 (17)
Anthony Jackson-Hamel, Montreal, 580 (16)
Tesho Akindele, FC Dallas, 574 (18)
Liam Fraser, TFC, 548 (9)
Richie Laryea, Orlando, 253 (9)
Shamit Shome, Montreal, 249 (5)
Brian Wright, New England, 214 (9)
Kwame Awuah, NYCFC, 143 (6)
Louis Beland-Goyette, Montreal, 109 (4)
Julian Dunn-Johnson, TFC, 104 (2)
Mathieu Choiniere, Montreal, 59 (4)
David Choiniere, Montreal, 12 (1)
Aidan Daniels, TFC, 12 (1)

 

TEAM RANKINGS, MLS MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2018

Toronto FC, 7422/33 (224.9)

Vancouver, 7101/33 (215.2)

Montreal, 5144/33 (155.9)

LAFC, 2730/33 (82.7)

Orlando City, 2448/33 (74.2)

Chicago, 826/33 (25)

FC Dallas, 574/33 (17.4)

New England, 214/33 (6.5)

NYCFC, 143/33 (4.3)