So yesterday I posted about how supporters tickets are going on sale now and that regular ticket sales for Canada's home games will begin sometime early next week. With tickets about to go on sale it is time for the people who care about the Canadian men's national team to stand up and do there part. The CSA has done there part by promising that they will be turning all of their spare focus to contacting clubs and other organizations to try and market the game. This move seems to come as a direct response to the calls that came out from a lot of Canadian fans, including the guys over at Canadian Soccer News, following the friendly against Ecuador. At that match, also in Toronto, there was a clear lack of youth soccer teams at the game. Personally I only noticed one team and they came from Oakville which is a club where Jason DeVos is heavily involved so the fact that they were at the forefront was no surprise at all. This time around there should be no excuse for more clubs not coming out. Yes only one of the three games is going to be on a weekend night with that being a Friday so there will still be the excuse of being unable to make it.
So the CSA has promised to do there part, they even tweeted me saying: "No worries, we got that covered! we'll be turning our office into call central so that we can reach as many cubs as humanly possible!" This tweet came in response to my slightly cynical remarks about the CSA announcing that it would be offering discounts and group packages for clubs. I for one might have felt well that is nice but the problem is that who is going to tell that clubs about this since last time many of them claimed to know nothing about the match and their options. This time the CSA has gone on the record and promised that they will do everything in their power to promote this game and I am ready to applaud them for that but will wait until September 2nd when we get to see the fruits of this labour.
The commitment of the CSA is nice and that is a great start but lets face it at the end of the day a lot of pressure is still coming to be on the people who call themselves supporters of the national team. I am not just referring to the normal names and faces who do their best to promote the games any time they happen since that is not where new fans are going to come from. They are all ready fans and in a lot of cases they have already exhausted their friends and family with attempts to win them over. I trust that despite that though they will all once again do their best to fill up at least the south end of BMO for each game. The pressure now will actually fall on the more casual fans. The ones that say they support the team, or want to support it, but have yet to do anything really tangible about that. These are the fans that we need to get on board if we are going to fill the rest of the stadium, at least part of the way. I am not going to be the first or the last person to make a plea to these fans and I acknowledge that most of them will not be reading this post since my audience is generally the more hardcore fans. So I hope that people with a much bigger audience and reach then I have will also echo what I am saying. Today i was glad to hear that on Tim and Sid Uncut (A Score program) Sid Seixeiro
gave a very impassioned plea to fans to get out and support the team. If you want to check it out head over to:
http://blogs.thescore.com/timandsid/2011/08/04/tim-and-sid-uncut-august-4/
The podcast is basically an hour long and talks about all kinds of sports but the important part is how fired up Sid gets about this issue. The thing is though that The Score is already among the leaders in promoting CMNT and the sport of soccer in general around this country so I am not sure how much more they can do. They worked hard to increase the profile of the Gold Cup and the friendly leading up to it. So maybe this plea from Sid is just going to end up reaching people who have already heard it all before and decided not to respond. I hope though that it does reach at least few people and gets just a couple more butts in the seats.
Let me add to what Tim had to say and stress that if you have the chance to get to Toronto for at least 1 game, can afford a 20 or 30 dollar ticket, and care about sports in the country over even just like soccer then you have no excuse here. You can spend all day trying to reason with me about why you wont be at these games but I will be hearing none of it. I have no excuse for not trying to bring the people that I know to the game and promoting it where I can so you have no excuse to not try your best to be there. If I get to BMO on September 2nd and the crowd is as disheartening as it was earlier this summer I will be more then a little disappointed. I know that people who really care about the CMNT are putting in the effort and now I just want to see some sort of reward for that! So please get out and do something real to support your national soccer team. We won't be in the World Cup with out it!
Showing posts with label BMO field. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BMO field. Show all posts
Friday, August 05, 2011
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
CSA confims WCQ Schedule
Earlier today the Canadian Soccer Association confirm what most of us were already assuming to be true. That is that all 3 home games in the second round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying will be played at Toronto's BMO field. The games are St. Lucia on Sept. 2, Puerto Rico on Oct. 11 and St. Kitts and Nevis on Nov. 15. These dates and locations come as no real surprise since it had been speculated for weeks that the games would all be at BMO and following the drawing of the groups the dates had been released on the CSA site. Now there is no speculation left and we all know how the road to Brazil is going to look for at least the first round of matches.
This news was greeted by a very mixed reaction by loyal fans across the country. The fans in Toronto were of course very pleased by the news that all 3 games will be taking place in our back yard. The issues came from the fans across the rest of the country who felt that this was some sort of snub to them and favoritism towards the GTA area. I am not going to get in to the wild debates that were taking place on my twitter feed throughout the afternoon but instead I will try to lay out why I think that this is the best move for the national team and will actually help the team in the long run as well as the CSA.
1. BMO field is the only stadium in Canada that is good enough to host these matches. It is up to date, has over 20 K seats, and most importantly it has a grass surface. That along with the fact that having the games in Toronto puts it in the middle of Canada's largest population area increases the chances of getting a large pro-Canadian field. Cities like Montreal, Edmonton, and Vancouver would also be more then capable of hosting a game but they do not have grass fields and at this stage putting down a temporary surface for one match is not worth the hassle that it brings, just ask Whitecap fans.
2. It is what the players want. A lot of them are from the GTA area, they like spending time in the city of Toronto and again it comes back to the issue of playing surfaces. If you did a survey of the players I guarantee that they would all say that playing on a grass surface is one of the most important factors. The players are the ones who go out and play the game, not the fans, so it is key to keep the players happy since last I checked that helps them to play better.
3. It is the easiest thing for the CSA to do. By having all the games in one city they have less to do in terms of making arrangements for player travel, training grounds, and promoting the games. At this stage I think that anything that makes the CSA's job easier is a good thing since they have proven to struggle when they try and do to much.
4. Having all the games in one place will allow the Canadian players to develop a comfort level on the field and in the stadium which is a big part of a home field advantage. That advantage might not be as crucial in this first round but if Canada is going to push far into qualifications then it will eventually be crucial.
5. This debate is not about what we want as fans. It is about what is going to give the team the best chance of advancing to the next round and eventually moving on to the World Cup. That means that we have to accept that it might not be convenient for some of the fans, it might not help to grow the fan base, and it may even make Toronto a bit more hated but at the end of the day none of that matters when this is a World Cup qualifying campaign. At the end of the day this is not a fan making campaign and the best way for the CMNT to make new fans will be having success. Who knows where the games will be in the third round but for now this is the best move.
For all those reasons I think that the CSA has done the right thing by placing all the games in Toronto. IT is all about making the World Cup and this gives us the best chance to do that. I will though admit that if the shoe had been on the other foot and all the games were in other places I would have been very annoyed so I understand how fans around the rest of the country are feeling. All in how you look at it at the end of the day.
This news was greeted by a very mixed reaction by loyal fans across the country. The fans in Toronto were of course very pleased by the news that all 3 games will be taking place in our back yard. The issues came from the fans across the rest of the country who felt that this was some sort of snub to them and favoritism towards the GTA area. I am not going to get in to the wild debates that were taking place on my twitter feed throughout the afternoon but instead I will try to lay out why I think that this is the best move for the national team and will actually help the team in the long run as well as the CSA.
1. BMO field is the only stadium in Canada that is good enough to host these matches. It is up to date, has over 20 K seats, and most importantly it has a grass surface. That along with the fact that having the games in Toronto puts it in the middle of Canada's largest population area increases the chances of getting a large pro-Canadian field. Cities like Montreal, Edmonton, and Vancouver would also be more then capable of hosting a game but they do not have grass fields and at this stage putting down a temporary surface for one match is not worth the hassle that it brings, just ask Whitecap fans.
2. It is what the players want. A lot of them are from the GTA area, they like spending time in the city of Toronto and again it comes back to the issue of playing surfaces. If you did a survey of the players I guarantee that they would all say that playing on a grass surface is one of the most important factors. The players are the ones who go out and play the game, not the fans, so it is key to keep the players happy since last I checked that helps them to play better.
3. It is the easiest thing for the CSA to do. By having all the games in one city they have less to do in terms of making arrangements for player travel, training grounds, and promoting the games. At this stage I think that anything that makes the CSA's job easier is a good thing since they have proven to struggle when they try and do to much.
4. Having all the games in one place will allow the Canadian players to develop a comfort level on the field and in the stadium which is a big part of a home field advantage. That advantage might not be as crucial in this first round but if Canada is going to push far into qualifications then it will eventually be crucial.
5. This debate is not about what we want as fans. It is about what is going to give the team the best chance of advancing to the next round and eventually moving on to the World Cup. That means that we have to accept that it might not be convenient for some of the fans, it might not help to grow the fan base, and it may even make Toronto a bit more hated but at the end of the day none of that matters when this is a World Cup qualifying campaign. At the end of the day this is not a fan making campaign and the best way for the CMNT to make new fans will be having success. Who knows where the games will be in the third round but for now this is the best move.
For all those reasons I think that the CSA has done the right thing by placing all the games in Toronto. IT is all about making the World Cup and this gives us the best chance to do that. I will though admit that if the shoe had been on the other foot and all the games were in other places I would have been very annoyed so I understand how fans around the rest of the country are feeling. All in how you look at it at the end of the day.
Monday, June 06, 2011
Importance of Home Field for TFC Progress
TFC is a team that is supposed to be rebuilding and working towards one day competing for league titles or at least playoff spots. The problem is that of late it seems like BMO field is turning in to a relatively easy place for visiting teams to come and play. This weekends 0-0 draw against a road weary Sporting Kansas City team who have begun the season with 10 straight games on the road. For TFC it has to be looked at as 2 lost points rather then 1 gained as they really should have been able to beat a side like Kansas at home since KC are bottom of the league. For KC though the draw must feel nice as they were able to finally head home to their new stadium with one more point in hand and a clean sheet giving them something to build on.
There are two ways to look at this game if you are a TFC fan. The first is that, well it is a heck of a lot better then the team being beaten 6-2 a week earlier. The other positive that can be taken from the match is that the single point keeps Toronto FC within reach of the final automatic playoff position despite struggling through the early stages of the season. You can also be happy with the single point when you consider the fact that the team has a fair few injuries as well as a couple of players already gone for the Gold Cup.
All of those positives are true and a draw is not the end of the world but I am inclined to look at the match from the other point of view. The team has struggled to find goals this season with really only Maicon Santos providing a regular threat, and even he is not lighting it up be any means. At the other end of the field TFC have struggled not to concede a lot of goals, so I guess in that light the clean sheet is nice. For me the biggest concern is that TFC seem to have very little if any home field advantage going for them of late. Which is worrisome because if you look at the top clubs in any league you realize that they are really strong at home and claim the majority of their points at home. The best example of this that I can think of right now is Manchester United in the most recent Barclays Premier League season. They did not have the most impressive of seasons overall but they only lost one game at Old Trafford as well as only drawing once. The means that United claimed 55 points at home out of a total possible 57 points. I am not saying that I expect TFC to get that kind of home record at any point in the near future but if you want to compete you need to have at least as good of a home record as the other top teams in the league which is a long ways off for TFC.
Toronto FC's record on the season is:
Games Played - 14
Wins - 2
Draws - 7
Losses - 5
But at home the record is:
Games Played - 9
Wins - 2
Draws - 5
Losses - 2
You might say that at least Toronto has won at home and have only lost twice which is a big improvement over their road form where they have yet to win in 5 matches and have already lost 3 times but I would counter that if you want to compete you better pick up more then 11 points in your first 9 games at home. BMO field is no where near being the kind of fortress that a top team needs its home field to be. Of late it seems that teams are coming there expecting that they will be able to at the very least come away with a draw and they are right to think that. I am not saying that the fans are not doing their part to make it a tough place to play because the environment would certainly improve if the team were playing more exciting matches on the field. The crowd does a decent job of getting into the game and encouraging the team but of late they are not being rewarded with that much to cheer about. I do think though that the team has to get to a point where they have an attitude where they are expecting to win every time that they take to the field at BMO and when they do draw they are unhappy about it.
The team seemed pleased with a draw this weekend which in fairness was still a decent result for a side that has struggled for form and fitness in this season of rebuilding but if they are going to move forward that is an attitude that is going to need to shift. Before TFC is ever going to become an elite team they have to develop the attitude of one and expect nothing less then a win at home and that applies even more so when they are playing a tired side like KC who are bottom of the league.
There are two ways to look at this game if you are a TFC fan. The first is that, well it is a heck of a lot better then the team being beaten 6-2 a week earlier. The other positive that can be taken from the match is that the single point keeps Toronto FC within reach of the final automatic playoff position despite struggling through the early stages of the season. You can also be happy with the single point when you consider the fact that the team has a fair few injuries as well as a couple of players already gone for the Gold Cup.
All of those positives are true and a draw is not the end of the world but I am inclined to look at the match from the other point of view. The team has struggled to find goals this season with really only Maicon Santos providing a regular threat, and even he is not lighting it up be any means. At the other end of the field TFC have struggled not to concede a lot of goals, so I guess in that light the clean sheet is nice. For me the biggest concern is that TFC seem to have very little if any home field advantage going for them of late. Which is worrisome because if you look at the top clubs in any league you realize that they are really strong at home and claim the majority of their points at home. The best example of this that I can think of right now is Manchester United in the most recent Barclays Premier League season. They did not have the most impressive of seasons overall but they only lost one game at Old Trafford as well as only drawing once. The means that United claimed 55 points at home out of a total possible 57 points. I am not saying that I expect TFC to get that kind of home record at any point in the near future but if you want to compete you need to have at least as good of a home record as the other top teams in the league which is a long ways off for TFC.
Toronto FC's record on the season is:
Games Played - 14
Wins - 2
Draws - 7
Losses - 5
But at home the record is:
Games Played - 9
Wins - 2
Draws - 5
Losses - 2
You might say that at least Toronto has won at home and have only lost twice which is a big improvement over their road form where they have yet to win in 5 matches and have already lost 3 times but I would counter that if you want to compete you better pick up more then 11 points in your first 9 games at home. BMO field is no where near being the kind of fortress that a top team needs its home field to be. Of late it seems that teams are coming there expecting that they will be able to at the very least come away with a draw and they are right to think that. I am not saying that the fans are not doing their part to make it a tough place to play because the environment would certainly improve if the team were playing more exciting matches on the field. The crowd does a decent job of getting into the game and encouraging the team but of late they are not being rewarded with that much to cheer about. I do think though that the team has to get to a point where they have an attitude where they are expecting to win every time that they take to the field at BMO and when they do draw they are unhappy about it.
The team seemed pleased with a draw this weekend which in fairness was still a decent result for a side that has struggled for form and fitness in this season of rebuilding but if they are going to move forward that is an attitude that is going to need to shift. Before TFC is ever going to become an elite team they have to develop the attitude of one and expect nothing less then a win at home and that applies even more so when they are playing a tired side like KC who are bottom of the league.
Results before Support: More Thoughts
I have spent a lot of time thinking about the comments that are made all to often that the Canadian Mens National team will get more support when it starts to get better results. That has led to me trying to figure out where the line is going to be. What does the team have to do to win over enough support to even fill up half of BMO field?
Let us imagine for a moment or two that Canada makes it to the finals of the Gold Cup or even wins it and along the way they beat a team like Mexico or the United States. Would that be enough to win over any new supporters? I would say no. That might seem like the pessimistic answer but with the Gold Cup receiving limited coverage in the Canadian media, granted Sportsnet, the Score and CBC are all putting in a real effort, not enough people are going to realize that Canada is involved in a major tournament this month. It is shocking how many people who play soccer and claim to like the sport I have come across that don't even know that the Gold Cup is underway right now. So that is why I think that even winning the Gold Cup will not do that much to boost the support for the team. I hope I am wrong and that a good showing this month means a few more people will come out and support the team this fall when it begins its world cup campaign but unless the team gets a lot more attention in the news people will continue to be oblivious to the fact that they are already now worth supporting.
I will say that if Canada wins somehow this month, or even makes a good run, it should still have more of an impact then the runs of 2000 and 2007 because the coverage is improved since then. The games are all being shown on TV even if its on Sportsnet's alternate channel and a dedicated group of journalists and bloggers are doing their very best to get the word out. That will all help, even if it is only slightly, and at this stage every extra fan that can be won over is going to be a boost in the long run since they might one day bring a friend along to see a match and that is the best way for support to grow in numbers.
Now to get back to my original point of what would it take to get a decent amount of support for the team across the country and in the Toronto area. I think it would take the team making a serious push towards World Cup qualification. If they were to make it to the final stages and for example have a match at BMO field against either the United States or Mexico with a spot in the WC on the line then that stadium would be packed. Maybe even if the same spot is on the line and we are hosting a match against Costa Rica or Honduras we would see a full stadium with most of the crowd being pro-Canadian. But the fact of the matter is that Canada is still probably some ways off from making a serious push to qualify for the world cup and any such push is going to require the team being almost unbeatable at home. That creates a sort of catch 22 for the program since they need strong support to provide that much needed home field advantage but they clearly need to win more before they are going to receive that kind of support.
I guess the best that we can hope is that the group of people already dedicated to the cause continue to put in the hours of tireless work trying to support the team and with each passing game the crowd grows slightly larger. It is going to take a lot of time but since support helps with results we need to give the best support possible to the team so that in the future more fans will come out who have been waiting to see results first. Sadly though the people waiting to see results first are going to be missing out on a lot of good matches and great times.
Let us imagine for a moment or two that Canada makes it to the finals of the Gold Cup or even wins it and along the way they beat a team like Mexico or the United States. Would that be enough to win over any new supporters? I would say no. That might seem like the pessimistic answer but with the Gold Cup receiving limited coverage in the Canadian media, granted Sportsnet, the Score and CBC are all putting in a real effort, not enough people are going to realize that Canada is involved in a major tournament this month. It is shocking how many people who play soccer and claim to like the sport I have come across that don't even know that the Gold Cup is underway right now. So that is why I think that even winning the Gold Cup will not do that much to boost the support for the team. I hope I am wrong and that a good showing this month means a few more people will come out and support the team this fall when it begins its world cup campaign but unless the team gets a lot more attention in the news people will continue to be oblivious to the fact that they are already now worth supporting.
I will say that if Canada wins somehow this month, or even makes a good run, it should still have more of an impact then the runs of 2000 and 2007 because the coverage is improved since then. The games are all being shown on TV even if its on Sportsnet's alternate channel and a dedicated group of journalists and bloggers are doing their very best to get the word out. That will all help, even if it is only slightly, and at this stage every extra fan that can be won over is going to be a boost in the long run since they might one day bring a friend along to see a match and that is the best way for support to grow in numbers.
Now to get back to my original point of what would it take to get a decent amount of support for the team across the country and in the Toronto area. I think it would take the team making a serious push towards World Cup qualification. If they were to make it to the final stages and for example have a match at BMO field against either the United States or Mexico with a spot in the WC on the line then that stadium would be packed. Maybe even if the same spot is on the line and we are hosting a match against Costa Rica or Honduras we would see a full stadium with most of the crowd being pro-Canadian. But the fact of the matter is that Canada is still probably some ways off from making a serious push to qualify for the world cup and any such push is going to require the team being almost unbeatable at home. That creates a sort of catch 22 for the program since they need strong support to provide that much needed home field advantage but they clearly need to win more before they are going to receive that kind of support.
I guess the best that we can hope is that the group of people already dedicated to the cause continue to put in the hours of tireless work trying to support the team and with each passing game the crowd grows slightly larger. It is going to take a lot of time but since support helps with results we need to give the best support possible to the team so that in the future more fans will come out who have been waiting to see results first. Sadly though the people waiting to see results first are going to be missing out on a lot of good matches and great times.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Allez Les Rouges
So here it finally is. The blog that I have been most looking forward to writing since I started this thing. I finally get to talk about my first real experience in supporting local soccer and I honestly hope that even just one person reads this post and decides to come and join the already passionate, but far to small, group of Canadians who came out last night.
Firstly I would like to thank all of the supporters who were in the Canadian section with me whether you are a member of the Red Patch Boys, from the Voyageurs, a die hard Canadian soccer fan for years, or like me were giving the team its first real chance. That group of folks proved that they know how to have a good time and how to be loud for the better part of 2 hours. That is a lot of strain on ones voice and I am sure that like me many of them have paid the price in terms of being able to talk today. I also know that like me many of the others were very frustrated about how the rest of BMO looked last night but I will come back to that latter. The Canadian supporters section actually reminded me of what sports were often like at my University the only difference was we were never out numbered at the school. What was similar is the fact that we were a few hundred passionate people who managed to make a whole lot of noise. In fact I would wager that the 3 sections in the corner of BMO field filled with Canadian fans made about 5 times as much noise as the roughly 10,000 folks wearing yellow.
The game itself was something to behold. Do not be deceived by the fact that both Canada and Ecuador have poor rankings from FIFA they are both better teams then that. It may not have been Argentina or Spain playing in terms of quality and it may have only been a friendly but there was not a single player in either side that did not play their heart out like they really wanted to win this game. Canadian Coach Stephen Hart was not happy with the play of his players after the match but I would have to disagree with him and say that besides a very poor stretch at the start of the second half Canada was the better side and were able to control much of the run of play. A lot of that control I would attribute to the excellent performance that Atiba Hutchinson put in at central mid. The Canadian side were clearly experimenting with their formation but Atiba was one player who never got moved around and he showed that he really was the engine that is going to make this Canadian team go when they get to the Gold Cup.
Canada's two goals in the match came from players making their debuts for the national team. In the first half Vancouver Whitecap's Terry Dunfield scored a very nice strike from 20 some odd yards out which he drove in to the top corner of the net taking advantage of the strong winds on the night. The second goal came from Tosaint Ricketts who took advantage of the confusion caused by Julian De Guzman taking a quick freekick while many of the Ecuadorian players were swarming the ref to protest. The freekick seemed to set up perfectly for Dwayne De Rosario to take it and try to score a heroic goal but instead it was taken quickly to Ricketts who took a couple of touches to settle the ball and move it on to his better foot before slotting it home. The tying goal came in basically the 93rd of a game that was supported to only have 3 minutes of stoppage time, despite two VERY drawn out injuries to Ecuadorian players. When the supporters at the opposite end of the pitch realized that the ball was in the back of the net in the final moments of the match it led to an eruption of noise that would not stop until several minutes after that match was over and the players had left. Ecuador's goals both came early in the half and were probably due to poor defending on the Canadians parts. Firstly leaving the undersized Christian Benitez unmarked on a corner to head the ball in and then De Guzman failing to close down leading to a 30 yard strike being curled into the top corner by Michael Arroyo. Canadian keeper Milan Borjan was left rooted to his spot as the strike either had an impressive curl on it or it was taken by the wind and pushed in to the top corner. Either way though it was an impressive strike which silenced that Canadian fans for about 30 seconds before they got right back to encouraging the team to push forward for the eventual equalizer.
Having already read a few interviews with players it is clear that seeming their home field filled with so much yellow was a tough thing to take. These players are so proud to pull on the Canadian jersey but for them it must really be starting to feel like there is nothing they can do to win over the support of their countrymen. If there home games look like that then there really is no advantage for them since last night we might as well have been in Ecuador with them outnumbering the Canadians maybe 6 to 1. The one nice thing though is that the Canadian players embraced the few of us that were there. First when Dunfield scored he jumped the boards and came over to be embraced by the Canadian fans in the front rows. He was then followed by basically every other Canadian player besides the keeper who all seemed compelled to come and party with a section of red and white clad folks who couldn't stop jumping and cheering. Again on the second goal the Canadian keeper turned and ran back towards the supporters and seemed compelled to come and party with us which I do not blame him for.
Now I have to get back to the rant that I promised I would delay. The fact is that if I had the time of my life at this game and if a couple of hundred fans could do their country so proud then what is stopping the rest of you from coming out. The "Support Local Soccer" campaign was very much present at the match last night and granted it is still in its early stages but I would have liked to see it have a greater impact. I know that a lot of the Canadian press had a hard time making sense of the crowd at last nights came with so many of them spending much of their match reports discussing the lack of fan presence. For people who truly do care about the national team it must be hard to understand. I would bet that if anyone, like myself and my brother, came to this game to give it a chance they will be back again the first chance they get. The match experience was so good, the weather was perfect, the game didn't go that late, and the tickets were affordable but despite that I guess you all had excuses for why you were not there. Well guess what I do not want to hear anyones excuses for why they can not come out and supporter their national team. If you claim to love your country and you also claim to love soccer then you just have to come to a Canadian mens national team. I personally guarantee that you will not regret doing so. I do understand that we are a multi-cultural country and that many of us hold on to our roots but when you consider that 1/4 of a million people play soccer in the greater Toronto area I would like to think that 20,000 of them would enjoy coming to a game like this. So if you coach a minor soccer team or are involved with a club try and bring them out next time because they will have the time of their lives and it will only increase their love of the game which is what we all want. I saw a team from Oakville soccer club last night and the kids were having so much fun, loving the game, and being proud Canadians. It seemed like last night was one that they were going to remember for quite a long time.
I could sit here now and respond to the normal excuses that people tend to give but Gerry Dobson already did that for me and I fully agree with what he wrote here: http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2011/06/02/dobson_canada_ecuador/
He may not be my personal favourite analyst of the game but here I am in complete agreement with him. If 10,000 or so Ecuadorian fans knew there was a game going on and were able to get tickets to it and bring their kids along then why do Canadians seem to think that they have an excuse for not being there?
I will challenge the Canadian and Ontario soccer associations to do a better job. Lets promote these games to death and have them all over the place so that there is no room for debate about people not knowing there was a match going on. Every time you turn on a Canadian tv channel in the Toronto area, or wherever the next match is, you should see a commercial advertising the game. I know that kind of promotion would be a greater investment on their part but getting a true home field advantage will only help the success of the national teams in the long run. As for the OSA I would task you of setting up a widely available discount group rate for teams in your member clubs. These kids are the future of the sport in our country and getting them to games would be priceless in terms of what it would do for their excitement and passion. If the Canadian supporters groups can get a deal set up for $17 dollar tickets I would like to think that the OSA and CSA could have set up something even better to bring out even just a couple hundred more kids teams.
If you want a little bit more to read/watch about the match go and check out the stuff that the guys from The Score's Footy Show have put up. Kristian Jack's article for example is a very worthwhile read: http://blogs.thescore.com/footyblog/2011/06/01/canada-2-2-ecuador/
Oh and next post here comes my better photos from the match!!!
Firstly I would like to thank all of the supporters who were in the Canadian section with me whether you are a member of the Red Patch Boys, from the Voyageurs, a die hard Canadian soccer fan for years, or like me were giving the team its first real chance. That group of folks proved that they know how to have a good time and how to be loud for the better part of 2 hours. That is a lot of strain on ones voice and I am sure that like me many of them have paid the price in terms of being able to talk today. I also know that like me many of the others were very frustrated about how the rest of BMO looked last night but I will come back to that latter. The Canadian supporters section actually reminded me of what sports were often like at my University the only difference was we were never out numbered at the school. What was similar is the fact that we were a few hundred passionate people who managed to make a whole lot of noise. In fact I would wager that the 3 sections in the corner of BMO field filled with Canadian fans made about 5 times as much noise as the roughly 10,000 folks wearing yellow.
The game itself was something to behold. Do not be deceived by the fact that both Canada and Ecuador have poor rankings from FIFA they are both better teams then that. It may not have been Argentina or Spain playing in terms of quality and it may have only been a friendly but there was not a single player in either side that did not play their heart out like they really wanted to win this game. Canadian Coach Stephen Hart was not happy with the play of his players after the match but I would have to disagree with him and say that besides a very poor stretch at the start of the second half Canada was the better side and were able to control much of the run of play. A lot of that control I would attribute to the excellent performance that Atiba Hutchinson put in at central mid. The Canadian side were clearly experimenting with their formation but Atiba was one player who never got moved around and he showed that he really was the engine that is going to make this Canadian team go when they get to the Gold Cup.
Canada's two goals in the match came from players making their debuts for the national team. In the first half Vancouver Whitecap's Terry Dunfield scored a very nice strike from 20 some odd yards out which he drove in to the top corner of the net taking advantage of the strong winds on the night. The second goal came from Tosaint Ricketts who took advantage of the confusion caused by Julian De Guzman taking a quick freekick while many of the Ecuadorian players were swarming the ref to protest. The freekick seemed to set up perfectly for Dwayne De Rosario to take it and try to score a heroic goal but instead it was taken quickly to Ricketts who took a couple of touches to settle the ball and move it on to his better foot before slotting it home. The tying goal came in basically the 93rd of a game that was supported to only have 3 minutes of stoppage time, despite two VERY drawn out injuries to Ecuadorian players. When the supporters at the opposite end of the pitch realized that the ball was in the back of the net in the final moments of the match it led to an eruption of noise that would not stop until several minutes after that match was over and the players had left. Ecuador's goals both came early in the half and were probably due to poor defending on the Canadians parts. Firstly leaving the undersized Christian Benitez unmarked on a corner to head the ball in and then De Guzman failing to close down leading to a 30 yard strike being curled into the top corner by Michael Arroyo. Canadian keeper Milan Borjan was left rooted to his spot as the strike either had an impressive curl on it or it was taken by the wind and pushed in to the top corner. Either way though it was an impressive strike which silenced that Canadian fans for about 30 seconds before they got right back to encouraging the team to push forward for the eventual equalizer.
Having already read a few interviews with players it is clear that seeming their home field filled with so much yellow was a tough thing to take. These players are so proud to pull on the Canadian jersey but for them it must really be starting to feel like there is nothing they can do to win over the support of their countrymen. If there home games look like that then there really is no advantage for them since last night we might as well have been in Ecuador with them outnumbering the Canadians maybe 6 to 1. The one nice thing though is that the Canadian players embraced the few of us that were there. First when Dunfield scored he jumped the boards and came over to be embraced by the Canadian fans in the front rows. He was then followed by basically every other Canadian player besides the keeper who all seemed compelled to come and party with a section of red and white clad folks who couldn't stop jumping and cheering. Again on the second goal the Canadian keeper turned and ran back towards the supporters and seemed compelled to come and party with us which I do not blame him for.
Now I have to get back to the rant that I promised I would delay. The fact is that if I had the time of my life at this game and if a couple of hundred fans could do their country so proud then what is stopping the rest of you from coming out. The "Support Local Soccer" campaign was very much present at the match last night and granted it is still in its early stages but I would have liked to see it have a greater impact. I know that a lot of the Canadian press had a hard time making sense of the crowd at last nights came with so many of them spending much of their match reports discussing the lack of fan presence. For people who truly do care about the national team it must be hard to understand. I would bet that if anyone, like myself and my brother, came to this game to give it a chance they will be back again the first chance they get. The match experience was so good, the weather was perfect, the game didn't go that late, and the tickets were affordable but despite that I guess you all had excuses for why you were not there. Well guess what I do not want to hear anyones excuses for why they can not come out and supporter their national team. If you claim to love your country and you also claim to love soccer then you just have to come to a Canadian mens national team. I personally guarantee that you will not regret doing so. I do understand that we are a multi-cultural country and that many of us hold on to our roots but when you consider that 1/4 of a million people play soccer in the greater Toronto area I would like to think that 20,000 of them would enjoy coming to a game like this. So if you coach a minor soccer team or are involved with a club try and bring them out next time because they will have the time of their lives and it will only increase their love of the game which is what we all want. I saw a team from Oakville soccer club last night and the kids were having so much fun, loving the game, and being proud Canadians. It seemed like last night was one that they were going to remember for quite a long time.
I could sit here now and respond to the normal excuses that people tend to give but Gerry Dobson already did that for me and I fully agree with what he wrote here: http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2011/06/02/dobson_canada_ecuador/
He may not be my personal favourite analyst of the game but here I am in complete agreement with him. If 10,000 or so Ecuadorian fans knew there was a game going on and were able to get tickets to it and bring their kids along then why do Canadians seem to think that they have an excuse for not being there?
I will challenge the Canadian and Ontario soccer associations to do a better job. Lets promote these games to death and have them all over the place so that there is no room for debate about people not knowing there was a match going on. Every time you turn on a Canadian tv channel in the Toronto area, or wherever the next match is, you should see a commercial advertising the game. I know that kind of promotion would be a greater investment on their part but getting a true home field advantage will only help the success of the national teams in the long run. As for the OSA I would task you of setting up a widely available discount group rate for teams in your member clubs. These kids are the future of the sport in our country and getting them to games would be priceless in terms of what it would do for their excitement and passion. If the Canadian supporters groups can get a deal set up for $17 dollar tickets I would like to think that the OSA and CSA could have set up something even better to bring out even just a couple hundred more kids teams.
If you want a little bit more to read/watch about the match go and check out the stuff that the guys from The Score's Footy Show have put up. Kristian Jack's article for example is a very worthwhile read: http://blogs.thescore.com/footyblog/2011/06/01/canada-2-2-ecuador/
Oh and next post here comes my better photos from the match!!!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Nutrilite Disaster
Last night was the second leg of the Nutrlite Cup finals, or should I say the first attempt at it, but weather got in the way of what was potentially a good game. With the first leg having ended in a 1-1 draw despite Vancouver controlling much of the play things were set up for an interesting match. The weather forecast was clear that rain was expected around 8 which would mean that it would be around just in time for the second half and that is exactly what happened.
The first half saw Vancouver take a 1-0 lead thanks to Eric Hassli who scored a 17th minute strike which would have been his second of the finals having given Vancouver the lead with a similar shot in the first leg. His goal had a lot to do with the deflection that it took but based on the run of play before the ran came the lead was nothing more then what Vancouver deserved. When the rain did arrive that is when the problems began for players, officials, coaches, and the powers in charge of the championship. The turf surface at BMO field quickly became coated in water and it proved impossible to actually play the game as the ball was getting stuck and the safety of players was clearly being endangered. Thankfully thunder and lightning arrived around the 60 minute mark and the officials were forced to stall the game. This was actually the second stall as the match had been delayed by 30 minutes before the second half could kick off. They tried to wait out the storm and get the rest of the game in but by the time 11 pm rolled around fans were being sent home and some kind of decision was needed. It was clear that a match of only 60 minutes would not count and if they decided to make it official I don't think anyone would have been happy about it and it might have done irreparable damage to the cup itself and the reputation of soccer Canada.
Around 11 the coaches, refs, and officials in charge of the tournament all met behind closed doors to discuss what to do about the match. Initially it was reported that the plan would be to play the final 30 minutes of the match the following morning but it would have been in front of an empty stadium which I personally think would have been a terrible solution. That would have resulted in Toronto FC having basically lost its home field advantage for 1/3 of the match and it would also have been very physically draining on the players who would have been faced with a very quick turn around and playing a match at such an unusual time. The 8 AM kick off time seemed quite insane in light of the fact that it would have been after 11:30 by the time that they players were all able to leave BMO.
Thankfully this morning it became apparent that the field conditions had not improved since the rain had continued in the overnight overs and the whole 8 AM plan would have to be scrapped. Instead they made the decision that I think should have been made in the first place which was to scrap the entire match and start it over again at a later date. The date has been set for June 2nd when the Whitecaps are already in town for an MLS league game. This way the whole match will be played under tolerable conditions, assuming the weather is better that night, and in front of the partisan crowd that Toronto FC deserve for their home leg. I for one hope that this decision allows the match to be much more entertaining match that is fitting of ending in a team claiming the top club prize in Canadian soccer.
The strangest part of the whole night is how long it took them to come to these decisions when apparently it was all written down for them in the competition rules. As I was watching it I wondered if they even had a plan in place for such an eventuality. With the weather being such an unpredictable force it would have been very poor planning on the part of the Nutrilite championship not have put something in place. I found out this morning that it was all clearly outlined in the rules for the tournament under the following rule:
Official Nutrilite Canadian Championship rule 12: If the match is abandoned before the completion of normal playing time because of extreme weather or for reasons outside the control of the host team, the match shall be replayed in its entirety the following day, thus avoiding the considerable extra expense for the visiting team. If it is still impossible to play the match the next day for the same reasons, the match may be postponed by another day, provided both teams agree. If the match can still not be played on the third day, the expenses thus incurred by the visiting team shall be split between the two teams. A decision will be taken within two hours of the referee’s decision to abandon the match, in consultation with the two clubs concerned. In case of dispute, the CSA Organizing Committee fixes the date and kick-off time of the match. Its decision is final.
So if they want things to go a lot smoother next time the right thing to do would be getting a copy of these rules into the hands of the people who are broadcasting the match so that they can convey something useful to the fans and spectators so we are not left staying up late wondering just what is going to happen. The other issue I have here is that playing the last 30 minutes the following day does not seem to be anywhere in these rules. They suggest that the whole match would have to be replayed no matter what and that is the correct thing to do. In the end I am glad that they got this right and avoided turning this championship into a complete joke. They have worked hard to improve the standard of it and increase its profile so thankfully they did not let some bad weather undo all of that hard work.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Support Local Soccer Campaign
A friend of mine on facebook posted the link to this video and I felt that it would be fitting for me to talk about on here. Myself and my brother have recently begun our own quest to support local soccer in the form of being more committed to Canada's mens national team as well as getting behind Toronto FC in some way even if it has only begun with occasionally taken the time to watch a game on tv or following the Nutrilite Championship as well as my brother picking up a TFC kit even if it was on for a great sale price. The fact is that for much of our lives as supporters we have only backed Manchester United as our club team and the Netherlands in internationals. We will of course not be stopping with our support of them but we can do that as well as put more in to local soccer. For me this is a matter of necessity since the best way to grow the game at a local level is to get behind it. Toronto FC might not play the best soccer in the world and the games might not be as entertaining to watch but the fact is that they have increased the profile of the game greatly since joining the MLS.
The thing with this video that first struck me is that the opening commenter states that local football arrived in 2007 but that is not true. It arrived at a new and higher level but it was not the first pro or semi-pro team in the country. What TFC has done is provide Canada with a club at a level that felt worth putting our backing behind since it was in a league that we could see as being important. For me the point of the video is not to call people to support any club but to start to care about Canada. Many children now play soccer in this country so it is time that we all start to cheer for the national team. We are Canadians and we can back our hockey team with so much pride and passion so why can we not do the same for the soccer team.
My biggest hope is that on June 1st when I go to the game I am greeted by a see of red and a stadium that is full of pride and patriotism. It would be a shame to get to BMO field only to see that it is filled with Ecuador's colours and people who are Canadians but have chosen to put their support behind the visit side since that is where their background is. There is nothing wrong with having a soft spot for the country where your roots are or even where your ancestors called home but if you are Canadian and you like soccer then you should consider getting behind the Canadian teams.
I will admit that I am never going to give up supporting Manchester United in favour of supporting TFC but what I am hoping to do is play my part in helping to grow the game in my country and if going to a game now and then or buying a shirt can do that then I am in. I will admit that I am extremely excited to finally go and see a soccer game at such a high level and it has taken me far to long to do so. The hope is that this experience does not let me down and in the future I hope that my stories of going to this game will allow me to convince others to come with me to support team Canada and Toronto FC.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)