Steven Sandor's Blog, page 91

The Not-so-Great Walls: 10-man Eddies fight back to draw Minnesota

The Eddies celebrate Daryl Fordyce’s equalizer. PHOTO: TONY LEWIS/FC EDMONTON

Back when my cranky ankles could still withstand 90 minutes of outdoor or 50 minutes of indoor, I played for an Edmonton men’s team called AC Misfits.

We had a guy named Hans who played for us, and he had the most powerful shot in our league. I mean, it was ridiculous. He once broke a keeper’s hand in practice. And, as his legend through the lower divisions of Edmonton’s men soccer spread, we found that, more and more, once he struck the free kick, guys in the defensive walls were falling over themselves to get out of the way. Hey, we all understood; these guys didn’t want to get badly hurt – they had to go to work in the morning. So we saw jumps, flamingoes, dives — all sorts of ways to avoid the ball.

On Sunday, both FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller and Minnesota United boss Manny Lagos will rue how the players in their teams’ respective walls got out of the way when free kicks were hammered in their direction.

Each team’s marker in the 1-1 draw was a free-kick goal that could have been prevented had the defensive walls kept their shapes.



In the 10th minute, the visitors took the lead on a wet, cold and generally miserable afternoon in Edmonton. Kalif Alhassan’s free kick, to be honest, wasn’t well struck; it was target right for the heart of the Eddies’ wall. But a hole appeared in the wall where defenders Allan Zebie and Mallan Roberts had stood; and the ball hooked into the corner of the goal. Keeper Matt VanOekel had no chance to stop it.

Then, after playing a man down for 65 minutes and injury time, the Eddies got the equalizer at the death. Daryl Fordyce struck a low, powerful shot that Loons’ keeper Sammy N’Djock couldn’t keep out. But Loons’ supporters will lament how the players in the wall jumped as a unit and allowed the ball to go under them.

Had Fordyce not scored on the last-gasp free kick, the spotlight would have been on referse Yusri Rudolf. Not for his decision to send off Eddie Michael Nonni in the 24th minute; but for deciding late in the game to not play advantage — and spoiling a golden Eddies’ scoring opportunity. A couple of minutes before the equalizing goal, sub Frank Jonke was fouled by Minnesota defender Thiago Calvano. As Jonke went down, the ball was played to Fordyce, who was in alone on N’Djock. But Rudolf made a major error; he didn’t play the advantage even though the Eddies never lost possession of the ball and Fordyce was in the clear.

Fordyce’s ensuing free kick was saved, but he got another chance on another could call just outside the box— and he scored with the low shot.

“That was a very important goal,” said Fordyce. “It’s up there with a few other important goals that I’ve scored.”

The forward hailed his team’s never-say-die attitude.

And, the Eddies had plenty of opportunities to say “die.” The team was without five regulars; wingers Lance Laing and Sainey Nyassi were each on national-team duty. Midfielders Thiago de Freitas and Ritchie Jones were out with injury. Defender Kareem Moses was also hurt.

The weather was also, well, awful. Environment Canada had it between 6 and 7 C through the game, but 30 km/h winds and driving rain made it feel more miserable than if it had snowed.

Then, after giving up the goal, the Eddies went down a man. Michael Nonni, inserted into Nyassi’s right-wing slot, got his second yellow in the 24th minute. To be fair, he could have little to complain about on either card he received. But the fateful one came after he lost the ball to Minnesota’s Greg Jordan. Nonni lunged in and got Jordan late.

But Minnesota, despite having the advantage for most of the game, couldn’t find the killer second goal. And a lot of the credit has to go to ex-Loon Matt VanOekel, who made a couple of splendid saves to keep the visitors close. He made a diving stop on Alhassan; and he also made a great reflex stop on a headed point-blank-range attempt from Christian Ramirez.

Those saves set the stage for a crazy finish — one that left Lagos dumbfounded.

“I’m speechless,” said the Minnesota coach. “We didn’t manage the end of the game well.”

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Ricketts now has a better strike rate than De Ro: Canada does the job against Belize

Tosaint Ricketts

Dwayne De Rosario is Canada’s all time leading scorer. He scored 22 times in 81 appearances for the senior national side. That works out to 0.27 goals per appearance.

With his brace on Friday night against Belize, Tosaint Ricketts now has 12 goal in 43 appearances for Canada. That puts him at 0.28 goals per appearance, slightly better than De Ro’s standard. But, more interestingly, Ricketts has seven career goals in World Cup qualifiers; De Rosario had nine in his career.

Thanks to the two Ricketts’ goals and an injury-time back-breaker from Atiba Hutchinson, Canada came out of the first leg of its CONCACAF third-round World Cup qualifier with a 3-0 win over Belize.

With the visitors parking the bus for 90 minutes at Toronto’s BMO Field, simply trying to survive the first leg, Canada could attack for 90 minutes. Surely, 3-0 will be a disappointment to some of you out there deluded enough to believe that our national team could lay an eight- or nine-goal whupping on anybody.

While Belize offered nothing going forward — heck, Canadian keeper Kenny Stamatopoulos could have spent the game upstairs in the broadcast booth with Gavin Day and Terry Dunfield — the Canadians struggled to find a flow. There were occasions where Cyle Larin’s first touches went awry. Twice, Issey Nakajima-Farran ended up inadvertently blocking shots launched by his teammates. Shots were slammed wide and skied over the bar.

But, a win is a win. And 3-0, against anyone, is a good result.

Both of Ricketts’ goals had scrappy feels to them; but that’s what you have to do when the opposition puts 10 men behind the ball. We’ve all seen teams try to pass the ball in the net when the opposition is falling back — and fail to score. To beat the park-the-bus, you have to win balls in close quarters, follow the bouncing ball in the penalty area, and just stick with it.

And, the stay-compact-and-defend-deep looks to be more and more common in its use. We have seen it all over the European pro game, and in World Cup qualifiers around the world. It’s become the formation of choice in the English Premier League this year. And, it really feels like the soccer world is entering an era of ultra-defensive soccer strategy (thanks, 4-2-3-1!), so more and more, coaches have to be able to teach players to shoot and follow rebounds. Pretty goals will still be scored, but ugly goals will win games and trophies.

Ricketts’ first goal game after a point-blank header from Larin somehow didn’t go into the net. The next touch came off Belize keeper Woodrow West, but he couldn’t control it. Defender Trevor Lennen had a chance to clear it off the line, but waited for the ball to settle after it took an awkward bounce. Ricketts dashed in and poked it across the line. The keeper and possible even Lennen also got touches, but the goal was credited to the Canadian forward.

On his second goal, Ricketts cashed in on a second chance, after Nakajima-Farran had got in the way of a Larin volley. The ball was cycled back out, pushed back into the penalty area, and Ricketts finished from in close.

Ricketts is a great reflection of the national team; he’s the subject of lots of criticism, and when he does do good things on the pitch, it tends to get ignored. But, if he can find the net twice in the second leg in Belmopan — and remember, Belize can’t afford to sit back — he’ll have just as many WCQ goals in his career as DeRo has.

The one real negative from Friday was that Julian de Guzman had to leave after 14 minutes. He’d missed the last couple of weeks for the Ottawa Fury because of injury, and it was clearly a gamble to have him on the team. He pulled up in minute 13 and wasn’t able to continue, and that’s got to be a worry for his NASL side.

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FCE roster depleted by call-ups, injuries ahead of key clash with Minnesota United FC

Thiago de Freitas

The highest scoring team in NASL, Minnesota United, will visit and FC Edmonton team that’s on a two-game losing skid — and hasn’t scored in either of those defeats.

And, the Eddies will have a reconstructed midfield on display Sunday at Clarke Stadium. Left winger Lance Laing is on World Cup qualifying duty with Jamaica. Right winger Sainey Nyassi is with Gambia for an African Cup of Nations qualifier against Cameroon.

Eddies’ coach Colin Miller said that central midfielders Thiago de Freitas and Ritchie Jones are both doubtful for the Minnesota match — Jones suffered a thigh strain in last weekend’s loss to Atlanta, while de Freitas is nursing a bad hamstring.

There is some good news. Defender Mallan Roberts and midfielder Pablo Cruz — who had both been on the shelf — were training on Thursday, and both would be available for the Minnesota game.

“Well, that’s what they pay us [the coaching staff] for; we rejig things,” said Miller after Thursday’s training session at Clarke Field. “This club is about more than one player.

“But we’ve created a monster here, in terms of players getting call-ups to their national teams. It’s a situation we’ve never had to deal with before this season, but it’s also an honour for the club.”



Miller has been on both sides of the coin. As a club manager, he hates losing players to the national teams. But he knows the national-team callups bring prestige to not only FCE, but the NASL as a whole. And, he recalls when he played for Canada, that it wasn’t always an easy sell to his Scottish club sides.

“In my career, I made [60] appearances for the national side and, every time, it was my club that paid my wages. There was one year where I missed 18 games because of call-ups.”

Miller says that was the 1992-93 season; Canada had an exceptionally long World Cup qualifying campaign — in fact, as long as any CONCACAF team could have. The Canadians got the wild-card slot in CONCACAF and into a playoff with then-Oceania champs Australia. Canada didn’t make USA 1994, but endured a long campaign which meant many club games lost for the players.

According to NASL, nine players will be gone this weekend because of international duties. And Miller agreed that NASL could look at its schedule and to see if there’s room to have league-wide byes when the FIFA dates come around.

He said that there’s a worry that, if a player is regularly called up — especially in a year that also has a Gold Cup, World Cup or other summer tournament — that a North American side might hesitate to sign said player. After all, it’s a big risk to ink a player who you know has a good chance of missing a significant number of league games.

That risk becomes all the much greater if said player is taking a large chunk of your salary budget.

But, debates aside, Miller has a tough task ahead of him Sunday; his team is depleted and, if the Eddies are to snap this losing streak, someone will likely need to come from the squad and make a statement as a starter.

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Floro: Osorio was a victim of the numbers game, Bekker “a very good player”

Kyle Bekker

Canadian national-team coach Benito Floro re-affirmed his belief in Kyle Bekker, but said that the return of veteran midfielders Atiba Hutchinson and Will Johnson meant that there was no room at the inn for Jonathan Osorio.

Osorio, who was played more minutes in MLS this season than any other Canadian player, was left off the roster for Canada’s two-game World Cup qualification series against Belize. (Friday’s game at BMO Field will be streamed on canadasoccer.com at 7:30 ET.)

In a short conference call with three journalists — which is a sign of just how important the Canada-Belize series is when it comes to the national sports media — Floro said that there was simply no room for Osorio because Johnson, who was left off the Gold Cup squad so he could rack up minutes for the Portland Timbers as he came back from a broken leg, and Hutchinson, who also had been injured, came back into the squad.

But, then, of course, came the follow-up question. Then, why was Bekker, who was traded from FC Dallas to Montreal — and has yet to see a minute of MLS action for the Impact — named to the team?



Floro reaffirmed a message we’ve heard from the national-team brass before. They see something in Bekker that the MLS coaches aren’t seeing.

Floro said he recalled Bekker “because I consider that player to be a very good player.”

Out of Canadians playing in MLS and NASL, Bekker ranks 29th in minutes played.

The coach also said that Canada must treat the elimination series with Belize like it did its second-round qualifying series with Dominica. It must treat the opponent with respect.

Face it, when you’ve got the résumé of the Canadian national team — goalless in the two most recent Gold Cups — you don’t have the right to call any country a gimme.

Floro said Belize’s players are in good physical condition “and they have three or four players with skill.”

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Quintessentially Canadian Power Rankings, MLS Week 26/NASL Week 20

Tesho Akindele started for FC Dallas and scored on a penalty kick. Orlando City’s Cyle Larin thought he’d the MLS rookie scoring record on Sunday. But it was later ruled an own goal. Larin and Chicago defender Eric Gehrig both went up for the cross — and it was later ruled the ball glanced off Gehrig’s head after the goal was initially credited to Larin. The goal will be reviewed again to see if Larin gets goal No. 12 or if he’ll be stuck on 11.

But, more importantly for Canadian soccer followers, the two forwards will head into next week’s World Cup qualifying two-legged knockout series against Belize with a bit more confidence.

Larin is fourth overall in our Canadian minutes-played ranking. Akindele moved up into 10th. The top two spots belong to NASL players — Atlanta’s Kyle Porter and FC Edmonton’s Eddie Edward.

While we don’t count the Amway Canadian Championship games in our system — only league games — Whitecaps

Russell Teibert deserves praise for being named the tournament MVP last week. But, in a good news/bad news scenario, he was the only Canadian to start for either the Whitecaps or Impact in the second leg of the final.

Currently, in NASL and MLS combined, there are only 10 Canadians who have hit the 1,000-minutes-played mark (or just over 11 full games of action).

Here are the updated minutes:



MLS AND NASL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS (MLS AFTER 26 WEEKS, NASL AFTER 20 WEEKS):

1. Kyle Porter, ATL, NASL, 1625 (20)

2. Eddie Edward, FCE, NASL, 1560 (18)

3. Jonathan Osorio, TFC, MLS, 1535 (21)

4. Cyle Larin, ORL, MLS, 1440 (21)

5. Carl Haworth, OTT, NASL, 1437 (18)

6. Ashtone Morgan, TFC, MLS, 1374 (17)

7. Mason Trafford, OTT, NASL, 1350 (15)

8. Mallan Roberts, FCE, NASL, 1260 (14)

9. Nana Attakora, SAS, NASL, 1151 (13)

10. Tesho Akindele, FCD, MLS 1127 (21)

11. Adrian Cann, SAS, NASL, 1080 (12)

12. Will Johnson, POR, MLS 980 (11)

13. Russell Teibert, VAN, MLS, 979 (18)

14. Mauro Eustaquio, OTT, NASL, 928 (13)

15. Julian de Guzman, OTT, NASL, 895 (11)

16. Dominic Oppong, ATL, NASL, 846 (13)

17. Allan Zebie, FCE, NASL, 842 (12)

18. Marcel de Jong, SKC, MLS, 768 (11)

19. Karl Ouimette, NYRB, MLS, 698 (10)

20. Sam Adekugbe, VAN, MLS, 645 (8)

21. Frank Jonke, FCE, NASL, 614 (11)

22. Michael Nonni, FCE, NASL, 562 (11)

23. Wandrille Lefevre, MTL, MLS, 540 (6)

24. Sadi Jalali, FCE, NASL, 513 (8)

25. Maxim Tissot, MTL, MLS 426 (9)

26. Drew Beckie, OTT, NASL, 349 (8)

27. Patrice Bernier, MTL, MLS 340 (13)

28. John Smits, FCE, NASL, 315 (4)

29. Kyle Bekker, FCD/MTL, MLS, 313 (8)

30. Hanson Boakai, FCE, NASL, 291 (10)

31. Jay Chapman, TFC, MLS, 186 (89)

32. Patryk Misik, OTT, NASL, 166 (5)

33. Kianz Froese, VAN, MLS, 162 (7)

34. Anthony Jackson-Hamel, MTL, MLS 156 (8)

35. Philippe Davies, OTT, NASL, 104 (5-RETIRED)

36. Tyson Farago, FCE, NASL, 90 (1)

37. Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare, MTL, MLS, 18 (2)

38. Bruno Zebie, FCE, NASL 13 (1)

39. Jordan Hamilton, TFC, MLS, 4 (1)

MLS AND NASL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIAN MAYBES — PLAYERS WHO COULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR CANADA, BUT ARE ELIGIBLE FOR OTHER NATIONS AND HAVE NOT COMMITTED TO CANADA (MLS AFTER 26 WEEKS, NASL AFTER 20 WEEKS):

1. Ethan Finlay, CLB 2237 (27)

2. Steven Vitoria, PHI 1080 (12)

TEAM RANKINGS, MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2015 (INCLUDES BOTH SUREFIRES and MAYBES); RANKED BY AVERAGE MINUTES PER GAME:

FC Edmonton, NASL, 6070/21 GP (289) (-4.7)

Ottawa, NASL, 5239/20 GP (262) (+1.5)

Toronto FC, MLS, 3099/25 GP (124) (+0.5)

Atlanta, NASL, 2471/21 GP (117.7) (-1.4)

San Antonio, NASL 2131/19 GP (112.2) (-1.2)

Columbus, MLS, 2237/27 GP (82.9) (+0.3)

Montreal, MLS, 1480/22 GP (67.3) (+1.1)

Vancouver, MLS, 1786/27 GP (66.1) (+2)

FC Dallas, MLS, 1441/25 GP (57.6) (+1.3)

Orlando City, MLS, 1440/27 GP (53.3) (+1.1)

Philadelphia, MLS, 1170/27 GP (43.3) (+1.8)

Portland, MLS, 980/27 GP (36.3) (-1.4)

Sporting Kansas City, MLS, 768/25 GP (30.7) (-1.3)

New York Red Bulls, MLS 698/25 GP (27.9) (-2.4)

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Why NASL should consider breaking for international dates

Lance Laing

Over the years, Major League Soccer has received more than its fair share of criticism for playing games during international dates.

But, as more and more North American Soccer League players get the calls to play for their countries, that league should also be subject to the same scheduling scrutiny. In fact, you could argue that NASL teams are less equipped than the MLS teams are when it comes to dealing with games on international dates. NASL rosters aren’t as deep as MLS rosters; when the star players of NASL get called up to play for their countries, it’s harder for their coaches to replace them than it is for the MLS coaches to replace their national-teamers.

This coming weekend, FC Edmonton will lose Lance Laing to Jamaican World Cup qualifying duty. The Eddies already lost their talisman for most of July because of the Gold Cup. The Eddies could also lose right-winger Sainey Nyassi, who is on the long list to represent Gambia next weekend. He’ll find out in the next 48 hours if he’s made the roster. The team is planning for him to be gone.

It’s bad enough to have a home game on the last long weekend of the summer, when the fans you want in the seats are away at festivals or the lake or the cottage. (At any league level, teams fight against having home dates ‘awarded’ to them on holiday weekends.) But FCE will have to play that game shorthanded.



Julian de Guzman will be playing for Canada next weekend, not the Ottawa Fury. He was a late addition to the Canadian roster ahead of its two-game World Cup qualifying series against Belize.

The Atlanta Silverbacks will lose starting keeper Steward Ceus to Haiti.

In the past, NASL teams have put players on national teams from El Salvador, the United States and several Caribbean nations. And, you can pretty safely predict that when Puerto Rico joins as an expansion team next year, that it will be similar in makeup to the Islanders of old — with much of the Puerto Rican “national” side’s players on the team.

And maybe, just maybe, there could be an opening here for NASL to differentiate itself from MLS. And that’s to decide to give its teams bye weeks when the international dates come up.

Could it be done? Well, it would likely mean sacrificing the month-long break between the spring and fall seasons. But, in doing that, you’d open up three to four off-weeks you could spread through the entirety of the schedule.

As well, only four teams make the post-season in NASL. It’s now 12 teams in the MLS playoffs. That means MLS is under extreme pressure to create enough room for a long playoff schedule, but still get the MLS Cup done before you get into the deep of winter in the northern markets. NASL does not need that same kind of buffer zone.

And, NASL already starts its season about a month later than MLS. By moving its openers from early April to early March, the NASL would create more buffer zones for international dates.

Yes, that would mean that there could be a stupid game in Ottawa or Edmonton that’s played in freezing temperatures. Or, would that be stupid? Wouldn’t it only be fair that the northern teams get some wintery home dates? Consider that the teams in the south often get the advantage of playing many home games in the summer in temperatures of 30 C or more. To a sane person, it’s just as silly to play a game in extreme heat as it is in cold temperatures.

And, sure, maybe playing on a cold winter afternoon in Edmonton wouldn’t bring a big gate. But you know what else kills a gate? Playing a game on the same day as the World Cup final, which is what FCE did last year.

Each time an NASL player gets called to his national side, it reflects well on the league as a whole. So, why not give the teams and players every incentive possible — and every reward possible — when it comes to grooming their charges for international success?

If NASL took the international weeks off, it could claim a moral high ground that MLS can’t get to. And, considering the Traffic scandals that plagued NASL this season, it could definitely use that kind of good-global-citizen-of-soccer publicity.

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Burgos’s free kick breaks Eddies hearts in Atlanta

FC Edmonton’s Kareem Moses, right, tries to shadow Atlanta’s Pedro Mendes. PHOTO: ATLANTA SILVERBACKS

In a defensive battle, a single moment of brilliance can make the difference.

With 10 minutes left Saturday’s match between Atlanta and FC Edmonton, Silverback Junior Burgos came up with that moment of magic. He hammered a free kick from distance just inside the post to give Atlanta the 1-0 win.

Yup, in case your wondering — and you have a killer mind for trivia — that’s the same Efrain “Junior” Burgos who made two appearances for Toronto FC in the 2012 MLS season, playing a total of 11 minutes.

“It was the difference in the game,” said FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller. “We gave up a stupid free kick in a dangerous area. I had warned the guys that they [Atlanta] had players who are dangerous from those places. And that’s what happened. Look, Burgos is a very good player, Atlanta is a good side. We would have been happy with a point here on the road, I think at one point Atlanta would have taken a point. I think it was a very even game, once we came to grips defensively with the game after 10 or 15 minutes, I think Matt [keeper Matt VanOekel] has had to make maybe one save from distance.”



Atlanta created just three golden chances over the 90 minutes; and Burgos came up trumps on chance No. 3.

The other two? In the first half, Silverbacks’ forward Jaime Chavez got behind the back line and looked to heading towards Eddies’ keeper Matt VanOekel for a one-v-one chance. But left back Allan Zebie, in for Johann Smith, dashed back and made a perfect sliding tackle to take the ball off Chavez’s feet. In the second half, off a corner, the ball came off Pedro Mendes’s head, took a bounce off the Atlanta turf, and then came off the post. To be fair, it didn’t look so much like Mendes intended to head the ball; the cross, which came over heavy traffic, looked to have caught him by surprise and come off his head.

But, for the Eddies, the concern will be that they were shut out for the second game in a row. And, the Eddies didn’t do enough to trouble Silverbacks’ keeper Steward Ceus on Saturday night. In the first half, Ceus was called on to make two very good diving saves. On the first, he stopped an attempt from Sainey Nyassi, who regained his starting right-wing spot, with Dustin Corea dropping to the bench. Then, before halftime, Lance Laing’s screwball of a long drive forced Ceus to drop to the turf.

The visitors, though. didn’t launch a dangerous shot towards goal in the second half.

Midfielder Thiago de Freitas, who was subbed out of last week’s 2-0 loss to Fort Lauderdale, also wasn’t on the trip. He pulled his hamstring in training this past week. Smith being left in Edmonton was  coach’s decision And Miller was forced to take out midfielder Ritchie Jones at halftime in Atlanta; the coach said Jones had a thigh strain.

Miller will have some more headaches next Sunday when the Eddies host Minnesota, the highest-scoring team in NASL. Laing will be away on World Cup qualifying duty with Jamaica. Nyassi is on the 30-man roster for Gambia’s African Cup of Nations qualifier. He will find out over the next couple of days if he’s on the main roster.

“We’ll be without Laing, likely Nyassi and maybe even Jones,” said Miller. “That means the club will need to use all of our resources available to us.”

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Red-less: No Toronto FC players on the roster for Canada’s WC qualifiers against Belize

Kyle Bekker

The Canadian team that will face Belize in their two-legged World Cup qualifier will have just nine MLS players on board.

Coach Benito Floro’s 22-man roster features just nine MLS-signed players. We use the term “MLS-signed” because two of those nine, Montreal Impact keeper Maxime Crepeau and midfielder Kyle Bekker are, for all intents and purposes, reserve players plying their trades in the USL.

And, we’re hard pressed to remember the last time a Canadian national-team roster featured no Toronto FC players. But that’s the case, as neither midfielder Jonathan Osorio nor fullback Ashtone Morgan were named to the roster.

Veteran midfielder Julian de Guzman was injured a couple of weeks back playing for the NASL’s Ottawa Fury and is also omitted from the roster.

Floro has complained about the lack of playing time Canadian players have got from the Canadian MLS teams. So it’s ironic that the two Canadian players who have the most minutes out of this country’s MLS teams — Morgan and Osorio — aren’t on the roster. Meanwhile, two fringe Impact players made the cut, as did the Whitecaps’ Sam Adekugbe and Russell Teibert, neither of whom is starting MLS games at the moment. But, Teibert was named the MVP of the Amway Canadian Championship.



It says something when the three Canadian MLS teams put a grand total of four players on the national side — and none of those four players are what you’d consider “regulars” for their club sides. Think about it: Five of the nine MLS players on the Canadian roster come from the American teams.

Canada hosts Belize at BMO Field on Sept. 4, then travels to Belmopan for the second leg on Sept. 8. The winner on aggregate will advance to the fourth round of CONCACAF qualifying.

CANADA ROSTER

GK- Milan Borjan | BUL / PFK Ludogorets Razgrad

GK- Maxime Crépeau | CAN / Impact Montréal

GK- Kenny Stamatopoulos | SWE / AIK Fotbol

CB- David Edgar | ENG / Sheffield United

CB- Luca Gasparotto | SCO / Greenock Morton FC

CB- Manjrekar James | HUN / Diósgyöri VTK

FB- Samuel Adekugbe | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC

FB- Marcel de Jong | USA / Sporting Kansas City

FB- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / Energie Cottbus

FB- Karl W. Ouimette | USA / New York Red Bulls

M- Tesho Akindele | USA / FC Dallas

M- Kyle Bekker | CAN / Impact Montréal

M- Atiba Hutchinson | TUR / Be?ikta? JK

M- Will Johnson | USA / Portland Timbers FC

M- Issey Nakajima-Farran | MAS / Terengganu FA

M- Michael Petrasso | ENG / Queens Park Rangers

M- Samuel Piette | ESP / Racing Ferrol

M- Adam Straith | NOR / Fredrikstad FK

M- Russell Teibert | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC

F- Marcus Haber | ENG / Crewe Alexandra

F- Cyle Larin | USA / Orlando City SC

F- Tosaint Ricketts | TUR / Boluspor FC

The Impact threw away the Voyageurs Cup 10 minutes before Cabrera was sent off

Dominic Oduro PHOTO: CANADA SOCCER/ROGERIO BARBOSA

At the 30-minute mark of Wednesday’s second leg of the Amway Canadian Championship final, the game had a feel of inevitability to it.

Referee Silviu Petrescu brandished a yellow card in the face of Montreal Impact defender Victor Cabrera for a second time. Cabrera had just brought down Octavio Rivero just outside the box, a simple call for the referee to make. That meant the Impact had to continue a full hour down to 10 men, with the aggregate score at 2-2.

The Vancouver Whitecaps already had two away goals from the first leg; going into the second leg, the Impact players knew that the likely route for them to defend their Canadian championship would be to win at BC Place. When Cabrera made the walk towards towards the dressing room, those chances became very slim.

Rivero scored soon afterwards — a tap-in after Cristian Techera had his first shot blocked in the box, then had a second bite of the cherry deflected goalward by keeper Eric Kronberg. Whitecap defender Tim Parker scored off a corner in the second half to give the Whitecaps a 2-0 lead — and that would be the final score.

The Whitecaps finally could hoist the Voyageurs Cup over their heads.

Inevitable, right?

Well, let’s rewind to the 20-minute mark, 10 minutes before Cabrera was given his marching orders.



The Impact was set up to bunker and counter, a system that served the team well in its run to the 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League final. Speedy striker Dominic Oduro was the lone man up top, and it would be up to him to pace the counterattack.

And, at the 20-minute mark, that chance for a counter came to the Impact. The Whitecaps got caught deep in Montreal’s final third, too many bodies committed forward on a set piece. The ball came to Oduro and, by the time he reached the centre circle, he was leading a four-on-two rush.

When a team wants to bunker and counter, it needs to make sure those counterattacks pay off. Montreal’s four-on-two was a comedy of errors. It should be shown to atom-age players as a lesson on how not to attack. First, Oduro carried the ball for far too long. With both Whitecaps centre backs backing off down the middle, he had options down each wing. Wide open, both of them. When he did play the ball (finally!), he made an awful pass to Justin Mapp down the right. That pass forced Mapp to have to run away from goal to play the ball. And, because Oduro waited too long to play it, Mapp’s run to recover the ball also took him too close to the end line.

But, all was not lost. Mapp got to the ball, and the Impact still had three players in the Vancouver penalty area. But, those three players all went far too deep; in that situation, one player should hang at the top of the area so he can be facing the goal and run on to any ball in the area (fundamentals of attacking 101). Mapp played the ball to the top of the area, which was the right thing to do. Yet, all three of his teammates went charging for the goal line.

From a four-on-two to nothing. The Impact shot itself in the foot. Surely some of the Impact supporters will cry about the first yellow that was given to Cabrera, which paved the way for his sending off. But it’s hard to cry for a team that plays for the counterattack and, when it gets the chance, shows such a lack of fundamentals that you just want to cover your eyes.

That was the Impact’s chance. If Montreal had made it 1-0, maybe the game would have changed. But, to not even threaten the goal? Awful. And, the Impact wouldn’t get a better look at goal for the rest of the game.

CANADIAN SOCCER. CANADIAN STORIES. TRY THE FREE PREVIEW TODAY.

Quintessentially Canadian Power Rankings, MLS Week 25/NASL Week 19

Russell Teibert: The No. 1 Canadian for minutes on the Whitecaps, but just No. 14 overall on the power-rankings list.

In earlier instalments of this weekly feature, we’ve criticized the Montreal Impact for the low number of first-team minutes that they’ve given to Canadian players.

So, in fairness, it needs to be noted that a milestone was hit this week. The Impact is no longer the weakest of the five Canadian first- or-second-division sides when it comes to Canadians’ first-team minutes. On average, the Vancouver Whitecaps now give Canadians the lowest minutes-per-game of any of the five north-of-the-border MLS or NASL sides.

Feel free to keep bashing away at the club-vs.-country debate. There’s no arguing that the Whitecaps are enjoying MLS success at the moment, as they are battling for the Supporters’ Shield.



MLS AND NASL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIANS (MLS AFTER 25 WEEKS, NASL AFTER 19 WEEKS):

1. Kyle Porter, ATL, NASL, 1535 (19)

2. Eddie Edward, FCE, NASL, 1470 (17)

3. Jonathan Osorio, TFC, MLS, 1445 (20)

4. Cyle Larin, ORL, MLS, 1358 (20)

5. Ashtone Morgan, TFC, MLS, 1329 (16)

6. Mallan Roberts, FCE, NASL, 1260 (14)

7. Carl Haworth, OTT, NASL, 1257 (16)

8. Mason Trafford, OTT, NASL, 1170 (13)

9. Adrian Cann, SAS, NASL, 1080 (12)

10. Nana Attakora, SAS, NASL, 1061 (12)

11. Tesho Akindele, FCD, MLS 1037 (20)

12. Will Johnson, POR, MLS 980 (11)

13. Julian de Guzman, OTT, NASL, 895 (11)

14. Russell Teibert, VAN, MLS, 889 (17)

15. Dominic Oppong, ATL, NASL, 846 (13)

16. Marcel de Jong, SKC, MLS, 768 (11)

17. Mauro Eustaquio, OTT, NASL, 754 (11)

18. Allan Zebie, FCE, NASL, 752 (11)

19. Karl Ouimette, NYRB, MLS, 698 (10)

20. Sam Adekugbe, VAN, MLS, 615 (7)

21. Frank Jonke, FCE, NASL, 614 (11)

22. Michael Nonni, FCE, NASL, 562 (11)

23. Wandrille Lefevre, MTL, MLS, 540 (6)

24. Sadi Jalali, FCE, NASL, 513 (8)

25. Maxim Tissot, MTL, MLS 368 (8)

26. Drew Beckie, OTT, NASL, 343 (7)

27. Patrice Bernier, MTL, MLS 340 (13)

28. John Smits, FCE, NASL, 315 (4)

29. Kyle Bekker, FCD/MTL, MLS, 313 (8)

30. Hanson Boakai, FCE, NASL, 274 (9)

31. Jay Chapman, TFC, MLS, 186 (89)

32. Patryk Misik, OTT, NASL, 166 (5)

33. Kianz Froese, VAN, MLS, 162 (7)

34. Anthony Jackson-Hamel, MTL, MLS 124 (7)

35. Philippe Davies, OTT, NASL, 104 (5-RETIRED)

36. Tyson Farago, FCE, NASL, 90 (1)

37 Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare, MTL, MLS, 18 (2)

38. Bruno Zebie, FCE, NASL 13 (1)

39. Jordan Hamilton, TFC, MLS, 4 (1)

MLS AND NASL MINUTES BY PLAYER, THE CANADIAN MAYBES — PLAYERS WHO COULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR CANADA, BUT ARE ELIGIBLE FOR OTHER NATIONS AND HAVE NOT COMMITTED TO CANADA (MLS AFTER 25 WEEKS, NASL AFTER 19 WEEKS):

1. Ethan Finlay, CLB 2147 (26)

2. Steven Vitoria, PHI 1080 (12)

TEAM RANKINGS, MINUTES PLAYED BY CANADIANS IN 2015 (INCLUDES BOTH SUREFIRES and MAYBES); RANKED BY AVERAGE MINUTES PER GAME:

FC Edmonton, NASL, 5873/20 GP (293.7) (-4.9)

Ottawa, NASL, 4689/18 GP (260.5) (NC)

Toronto FC, MLS, 2964/24 GP (123.5) (-2.2)

Atlanta, NASL, 2381/20 GP (119.1) (-1.5)

San Antonio, NASL 2041/18 GP (113.4) (-1.4)

Columbus, MLS, 2147/26 GP (82.6) (+0.6)

Montreal, MLS, 1390/21 GP (66.2) (+1.7)

Vancouver, MLS, 1666/26 GP (64.1) (-2.3)

FC Dallas, MLS, 1351/24 GP (56.3) (-1)

Orlando City, MLS, 1358/26 GP (52.2) (+0.5)

Philadelphia, MLS, 1080/26 GP (41.5) (+1.9)

Portland, MLS, 980/26 GP (37.7) (+2.1)

Sporting Kansas City, MLS, 768/24 GP (32) (+3.2)

New York Red Bulls, MLS 698/23 GP (30.3) (NC)

CANADIAN SOCCER. CANADIAN STORIES. TRY THE FREE PREVIEW TODAY.