Farewell to a true Legend

A few days ago, while most of us were watching Canada take on USA in the Gold Cup one of the best international careers in many of our lifetimes came to an end.  I am of course referring to Tuesday nights friendly between Brazil and Romania which would have been nothing special if not for the fact that it was the final match for Brazilian striker Ronaldo.

Ronaldo's actual appearance in the match was merely a token chance for the home fans in Sao Paulo to say goodbye to the striker that helped them dominate for more then a decade on the international scene.  Having retired from football back in February Ronaldo clearly did not have the fitness to even play a full half but he came on at the 30 minute mark and played through until the intermission where he was honoured in an emotional send off.  He did get involved in a couple of decent chances and a younger version of himself probably would have scored 2 or 3 of them but it was not to be in his final match.  Ronaldo is now 34 years old and was able to represent Brazil in the World Cup on 4 different occasions.  His 4 trips to the World Cup is an impressive enough feat but when you add to that the fact that he is the greatest scorer in the competition history having netted 15 World Cup goals it is clear that he will long be remembered for his performances on footballs biggest stage.

The Brazilian fans, as well as Ronaldo, were clearly very emotional about saying farewell to each other. That only seems fitting to me since Ronaldo was always at his best when he pulled on the Brazilian shirt.  He had a decent club career but it was in that yellow shirt that he really made a name for himself.  He scored a total of 67 international goals in the 104 matches that he played which ranks him second all time behind only Pele (who scored an amazing 95).  He came into the footballing spotlight in the 1994 World Cup in the United States where as a 17 year old he helped to lead the Brazilians to the title.  In 1998 he was back in the finals but this time around Brazil lost to France.  In 2002 Ronaldo won his second world cup title in large part due to his performance in the finals against Germany.  Ronaldo came back from a knee injury that had him in doubt for the finals and was able to score a pair of goals against the Germans.  In 2006 Ronaldo said farewell to the World Cup as Brazil were only able to make it to the quarter finals.

Ronaldo scored 15 World Cup goals, won 2 titles, made another final, and his worst ever finish was as a quarter finalist.  That is what he will be best remembered for and his performances at the World Cup assure him a place as one of the greatest strikers of his generation.  His club career saw him score another 247 goals in just 343 appearances as he made stops at some of Europe's top clubs including AC Milan, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and PSV.  He also spent time at Cruzeiro where he started his career and he returned to Brazil to end his career at Corinthians.  He won basically everything possible in Europe as well as collecting 3 World Players of the Year.

In my humble opinion Ronaldo is the best pure goal scorer that I have seen play during my 20 years of life.  I guess I am not going out on a limb at all by saying that but I do consider him as better the Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Pippo Inzaghi, Raul, and Klose.  He may have faded away towards the end of his career thanks to fitness issues that resulted from recurring knee injuries and led to him being unkindly referred to as "fat Ronaldo" by some to distinguish him from Cristiano Ronaldo.  But in my mind Ronaldo will always be the player who was physically impressive and a dominant force in 4 straight world cups.  His scoring marks will be very hard for anyone to surpass and I hope that history remembers him right along with the all time greats including his countrymen Pele.

Gold Cup: Day 3 (Canada Day)

June 7th was setting up to be a very big day for Canadian Soccer but in the end the results were not quite we would have all liked to see.  The afternoon kicked off with the Women's National team playing their final warmup friendly in Budapest against the Hungarian team.  The women would have been hoping to rediscover their scoring touches and hopefully fire a few past the Hungarians but that was not to be.  In the end they got the win that they wanted thanks to an 88th minute goal from Matheson which was enough for the 1-0 win.  The win set the stage well for a great day for Canada with the mens team preparing to play in the evening and it also ensured that the Women's team would be going into the World Cup feeling pretty good about themselves.  The match was also the 100th cap for captain Brittany Timko making her only the 7th Canadian woman to reach that mark.  (Women's World Cup preview coming later this month)

Now we get to the Gold Cup.  The first match last night opened up play in Group C with Panama taking on Guadeloupe in Detroit.  In the early stages this match looked like it was going to be yet another lopsided score as Panama took a 2-0 lead in the first half only to see Guadeloupe have a player sent off to the second questionable red card in as many nights.  Having been reduced to 10 men Guadeloupe could have folded but they were ready to put up a fight.  Things only got worse for them though when they opened the second half by conceding a penalty which was converted by Gabriel Gomez to give Panama a 3-0 lead.  Even though Panama was up by 3 the game had seemed a lot closer then that based on run of play.  Both sides were creating chances and it was fairly balances but everything seemed to be going in Panama's favour in the first hour.  After the 60th minute Guadeloupe began an impressive fight back led by Brice Jovial who plays for Le Havre in France.  Jovial would net goals in the 64th and 78th minute to hand Guadeloupe a lifeline but it was all to little to late as time ran out on them before they could salvage anything.  To the other teams in the group it should now be clear that Guadeloupe are not a team that you can take lightly as they will never give a game up and it also showed that both they and Panama possess the kind of quality needed to give Canada and USA tough games.

The second match was the one that we have all be waiting for basically since June of 2007.  Ever since the last meeting between Canada and the United States ended so badly Canadian soccer fans have been left with a really bad taste in their mouth.  The Canadian supporters would have been hoping to get a measure of revenge in Detroit for the recent struggles that we have had against the Americans.  I for one was hoping that for the first time in my life Canada would get a win over the United States in a competitive match.  With all the hope among Canadian fans I almost forgot that Canada was still the major underdogs for this match.  Spend enough time around passionate fans and they might just have you believing that Canada can hold their own against anyone in the world.  That is a good thing though since fans really should have an almost blind faith in the teams that they support.

The game itself went nothing like we had all hoped.  Canada's Josh Simpson made a promising run down the wings to start the game off but his cross was over hit and after that the run of play became all USA.  The Americans were dominant in possession and creating all sorts of chances in the early minutes.  The breakthrough came on 14 minutes when a play that seemed like it was no real danger.  Jozy Altidore picked up the ball in the book and he was held out wide but his low shot was hard enough that it snuck under Lars Hirschfeld before he could get down to stop it.  Hirschfeld probably should have done a lot better with the strike as he was in position to make the save and the shot came from a poor angle.

Following the opening goal Canada seemed to be rather stunned.  The players were all passing off the ball like they didn't want it.  Other then a bending effort from De Rosario just past the half hour mark that barely missed bending into Howard's top corner there was little to be excited about for the Canadian fans.  It appeared that the choice to go with only Jackson up front left Canada without a really threat in attack as their buildup play was not good enough to provide Jackson any support and Jackson was not big enough to serve as a target man against the American centre backs.  The second half of the game began with more of the same as the Americans controlled the run of play and were the only ones really generating any chances.  They were rewarded for that dominance in the 61st minute when Clint Dempsey got in at the back post to tuck home a low cross from Altidore.

Having gone down 2-0 and not shown much in terms of being able to get forward and attack Canada were forced to make some changes.  The moves that Hart did make gave Canada much more of an edge with Ali Gerba being able to generate probably the two best chances of the game for Canada.  Gerba first forced Howard to deal with a powerful effort which would have been heading into the top corner until Howard got his hand on the ball and forced it over.  Gerba's second chance was probably even better as the ball fell to him in close after a scramble in the American box but a great reaction save from Howard kept Canada off the board.

Based on the late surge from Canada they were probably a bit unlucky to not get a goal for their efforts.  I think that in the end the Americans showed that they are still the better team and that they have the quality to control the pace of matches like this one.  Canada showed that they have more questions then answers at this point as they need to find a way to generate more and play with a bit more edge in their attacks.  The game might have been a lot different if say Tim Howard was in Canada's net since it may just have ended up 2-1 Canada but we can only work with what we have and despite the early mistake that led to Altidore's goal Hirschfeld put in a solid effort.

The real highlight of the match for me was seeing the excited and loud bunch of Canadians that had travelled down to Detroit for the match.  Section 118 of Ford Field was filled with a bunch of familiar faces from the game at BMO and folks that came down made the best of their trip.  Despite Canada giving them very little to cheer about they were in full voice for more then 90 minutes and deserve to be considered the man of the match for this one.  Well done to the Voyageurs and anyone else who made the trip down, I wish I could have joined you.

Up next for Canada is a trip down to Tampa Bay where they will play Guadeloupe on Saturday at 6 PM EST.  The team will likely feature a few changes from the group that started against the Americans.  I can see Peters, De Guzman, Gerba, and Borjan all getting starts in this one in hopes of improving the teams attack as well as tying down Borjan as a Canadian international.  I more complete preview of the next game will be up in the coming days!

Playing Surfaces are real Problem

This post is brought to you by Ford Field.  The field that will be home to a pair of matches tonight in the Gold Cup has come into question in the days leading up to the match for the quality of its playing surface and that led me to think about some of the other low quality fields that I have come across watching soccer in North America.

I do understand that maintaing a quality grass playing surface takes a lot of time and money and it can be very difficult to do in areas where the weather is not good enough for the entire length of the season.  For a lot of cities in Canada and the northern United States it would be difficult to have a natural grass playing surface in good shape earlier enough in the spring to start the season since it is still to cold and wet for grass to grow.  That has forced a lot of teams to resort to using some form of field turf to ensure that it will be in playable condition for more months of the year.  I have played on a wide variety of surfaces myself as an amateur player and though I can see the positives to using an artificial surface it really is not the same thing and it takes a real toll on your body not to mention how awful turf burn can be from some of these surfaces.

That brings me back to Ford Field which is normally an artificial playing surface which is quite common in the NFL which is the fields main use.  I would have understood if they decided that they could not put in a real surface at Ford Field but I was glad when I heard that they would be putting in a grass playing surface for the Gold Cup matches since that would be better for the players and will improve the quality of the game.  This way we also wont have to deal with any issues of having NFL lines on the soccer field making it look poor and being a distraction as you cant tell which one is the touchline a lot of times.  The choice that they ended up making at Ford Field though was to bring in a natural grass surface and place it on top of the artificial one.  The concern with this is that the grass will not be thick enough and by the time that the second match in a row is getting near its end the surface may very well be torn up and filled with divots.

The players have reported that training at Ford Field has been good and they are enjoying the surface which is very promising.  Hopefully the grass is thick enough and able to stand up to have two matches played on it since that is a lot more stress on the field then just training sessions.

While I am on the topic of playing surfaces I really hope that in the near future Vancouver is going to be moving to a better one.  The White Caps current playing surface is artificial and with each passing game it seems to be getting worse and worse as the grounds crew are forced to add more and more plastic pellets to the surface every game and even more so when it has rained just to make it playable.  It may not be the direct cause of any injuries but I cannot be doing the Whitecaps players any good having to play on that terrible surface so often.  I remember seeing the condition it was in for the first league of the Nutrilite Championship and it was more plastic pellets then fake grass it seemed as some areas had taken on a dark almost black shade rather then being green.

The point is that playing surfaces are key and while grass is the ideal I understand it is not always possible but for the sport to advance in North America and in Canada in particular we need to work on ways to improve the field quality on which we play both for the quality of the games and for the safety of the players.

Gold Cup: Day 2

Last night was Day 2 of the Gold Cup and with the games being played all the way across the continent in Los Angles the kickoffs were a bit later.  The first game kicked off at 9 PM EST and the second one at 11 but I am glad that I stayed up to watch the second one because it was a highly entertaining match.

First off I would like to vent a little bit about the awful commentary that was provided for the games on the CONCACAF website last.  I do appreciate that they are providing free streaming but it would have been nice if they got someone with a bit of experience and quality to commentate on the matches.  Even the majority of local broadcast journalism students in LA would probably have done a better job.  I turned the audio off and just watched the video feed and it made things a lot better.  The other problem I had was with some of the kit choices.  It was a bit of an assault on my eyes trying to watch the bright yellow and green of Jamaica taking on the green and red of grenada so at least all the blue and white of the second match between Honduras and Guatemala was a nice change.

As I just mentioned the first match was between Jamaica and Grenada and it continued the trend of lopsided score lines.  Jamaica were the clear favourites for this one since unlike Grenada they have actually scored a goal in the Gold Cup before.  The match followed the expected script as Jamaica were in control of things from start to finish as they only allowed Grenada one shot the entire match and even that was a fairly speculative effort.  Jamaica in the end scored 4 goals of their own but that was a fair few less then they probably should have been able to net based on the run of play.  They scored 4 chances but I can think of a handful of other chances that they wasted so I am not exaggerating to say that they probably could have won this match by 6 or 7 without much difficulty.  Ryan Johnson of San Jose was probably at the centre of most of the games excitement as he was one of 4 different scorers for Jamaica and also guilty of missing some real good chances as he managed to take 5 decent chances.  

The lack of conversion did not cost Jamaica at all though as at the end of the day the 4-0 win is going to be enough to see them sitting on top of Group B after the first round of play.  They will need a better effort in their next two games though as Grenada are clearly the weakest team of the bunch and will be lucky to even come away with a single point.  Personally I will be cheering for them to at least get one goal before the end of the group stage so they can put that behind themselves.

In the late game Honduras took on Guatemala in what was by far the best game of the 2011 Gold Cup so far.  It was certainly worth staying up to watch if you enjoy a good intense matchup between two teams that were going all in for every tackle and loose ball.  After seeing 14 goals in the first three matches it was nice to finally see a close contest.

The opening moments of the game saw what would be one of the best chances of the match as Carlo Costly missed an open net in the first minute for Honduras before Carlos Ruiz almost opened the scoring for Guatemala at the other end.  I quickly found myself getting behind Guatemala in this game as they were the underdogs and they were giving Honduras everything they could handle in this one.  Both teams were tackling hard and fighting for the ball so it was kind of surprising that the first half ended with no cards being handed out.  It was a half where as I was watching it I expected a goal to come at any moment as both teams were fairly open and the play was quite fast paced and back and forth.  The second half once again lacked for goals but it had a bit of everything else but shamefully Mr. Gutiérrez stole the show in the second half with the cards he handed out.  Personally I think that the red card which he gave to Guatemala's Gustavo on 61 minutes was more then a little harsh.  Gustavo did make a hard tackle but he got a lot of the ball and though I can see it being a foul and maybe a yellow card it was certainly very harsh to send him off for that.  Guatemala were just trying to hang on from then on but a second yellow card for Medina saw them go down to 10 men for the final 15 minutes of the match.  Guatemala did manage to find a way to hang on even if I was less then impressed with some of the stalling that they engaged in with several players going down like they were shot and spending several minutes on the ground.  In the end the game was 0-0 but it was a more exciting match then any of the high scoring games were.

For me the Honduras-Guatemala match was the real start to the Gold Cup.  Watching such an intense battle between two teams who clearly don't like each other got me really fired up for tonights 1812 Derby between Canada and the United States.  Then when the ref came in and ruin the game with a needless sending off I got even more fired up with memories of 2007 coming flooding back.  Remember the Carlos Bocanegra tackle on Julian De Guzman that was not a red card, well that tackle was about 20 times worse then last nights.  And that is not to even mention this:

Game Day!  Let's Go Canada! Go all 1812 on the Americans!

8 PM EST on Rogers Sportsnet One.  You better all be watching!

Need your thoughts: Video blog/Podcast

So this is a post that I would really appreciate your comments if you have been checking the blog with any regularity at all.  Myself and my brother, the authors of the blog, have been floating around the idea of adding another element to the page beyond just the written post.

We would still need to work on the logistics of recording, editing, and posting the content but that would only take a few days at most and then just some time to fine tune the process.  What we need from you is to provide your comments on what you think is the best format to add extra content to the page.  Would you prefer a video blog maybe once or twice a week where we just chat about recent news and maybe include some guests or would you rather not see our faces and it just be done in an audio format.  It would not make all that much difference which format we used in the end but I guess if we went with audio and it took off we would be able to make it into a downloadable podcast but you can't really do that as easily with a video blog.

The idea would be as mentioned to maybe once or twice add this in and just have to two of us talk about the news, rumours, games, and anything else that we would normally blog about.  It would add a bit more variety to the page and give you the chance to see the back and forth that actually goes on between the two of us rather then probably not really noticing which one of us wrote whatever post you are reading.

So let us know with a comment what you think and if you would ever check it out.  You should be able to comment without have an account with Blogger otherwise you can either tweet us, or direct message us on twitter.

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.

Gold Cup: Day 1

The central story line of day 1 at the Gold Cup has got to be the very lopsided score lines.  To me the games really served to illustrate just how large the gap now is between the top teams in CONCACAF and the teams that are just barely able to make it into the Gold Cup and will be among the first ones out of World Cup qualifying when it starts in the fall.  On the other side of the coin Mexico and Costa Rica both showed that they are going to be tough teams to beat and that should set up a good clash between the two of them with top spot in the group likely on the line.

There was some good news for Canada on Day 1 as the lopsided score lines mean that the team that finishes third in group A is likely to have a bad goal difference.  That is good for Canada in case they finish third in group C since in the Gold Cup the top two teams advance and then the 2 best third place teams also make it though.  So unless we get a lot more one sided scores then its not looking for great for who ever ends up third in group A, but lets not get to far ahead of ourselves with that since it was only the first day of the tournament.


The games themselves were entertaining affairs unless you are a fan of either of the losing teams in which case they were probably about as much fun as getting a root canal. The tournament opened with Costa Rica taking on Cuba in front of a decent crowd at Cowboys stadium. The crowd was no where near the kinds of record numbers that the new Cowboys Stadium is none for but at least the place was not dead and anyone who stayed to watch both matches were treated to a lot of goals. Costa Rica stole the show in the opener with their 5-0 win over Cuba thanks to getting goals from 4 different sources with
Marcos Urena, a Russian Premier League player, netting a pair.  The game was fairly close, on the score sheet at least, through the first 40 minutes but that is when Costa Rica put the game out of reach.  A goal just before half was followed up by a shocking 2 goals in the first 2 minutes of the second half to put this one beyond doubt.  The 5-0 scoreline in the end was nothing more then Costa Rica deserved as they completely controlled the match and Cuba never even looked like a threat to score while their back line seemed completely outclassed and unable to stop the constant attacks.

The second game of the night was not much different which I sure pleased the largely pro-Mexican crowd that was in attendance.  The Mexican fans would have come into the match expecting a comfortable win over the much weaker El Salvador and would probably have been very uncomfortable with their teams first half performance.  At the break the match was 0-0 and Mexico was failing to make anything of the number of chances that came their way.  The second half was a completely different story though as they found their stride and under the leading of Javier Hernandez, the Manchester United striker, they found their scoring boots.  Chicharito scored a hat trick which was capped off with a 93rd minute penalty after Juarez and De Nigris had each scored to give Mexico a 2-0 lead.  Again the 5-0 score line was probably a deserved result as the Mexicans completely dominated to run of play firing 20 shots towards the net and constantly threatening the back line of El Salvador.

Things that I will be taking away from the first round of matches is that:

- Costa Rica and Mexico are the two teams almost certainly going to be fighting it out for top spot in group A.  

- Mexico are deserving of being labelled as pre-tournament favourites, along with the States, and will be a force to be reckoned with

- Javier Hernandez is going to be a force in this tournament having spent all season causing some of the world's best centre backs problems his pace is just going to be too much for most teams

- We might just be in for a treat this year in terms of the number of goals scored

Day 2 is likely to be a bit less exciting in terms of the number of goals scored but Jamaica-Grenada and Honduras-Guatemala should still be interesting matches.  Honduras are probably the team to watch in group B as I would consider them the favourites to win it and the one team in the group that could provide a shock and go far in this tournament.

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.

Results Before Support

The idea that the Canadian soccer team needs to start producing results on the field before the fans will start to support them is a popular idea in Canada. This was the view that I held up on till our trip to the Canada-Ecuador friendly and felt the same pain that our players felt in seeing a stadium full of yellow rather than a teeming sea of red and white. There are two views I have on the result before support opinion of many soccer fans in Canada. The first is the Toronto Maple Leafs and the second is the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

It has been 45 years since the Toronto Maple Leafs last won the Stanley Cup and yet they fill the nearly 20,000 seat Air Canada Centre on a nightly bases despite absurdly high ticket prices. The Maple Leafs support base makes up only a small fraction of Canada's population but they still shell out the cash to come to the games and tune in every Saturday night for Hockey Night in Canada. If the Canadian population as a whole requires a team to be successful before they are willing to support it, how are the Maple Leafs still so strongly supported?

Many Leaf fans will answer that question I just asked with one word: history. Yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs are a team with a history that many professional sports teams would be jealous of. But that is in the past now. No one is left who can remember the days of the Original Six and few can recall their last Stanley Cup. The argument for history as a means to maintain support despite recent success falls apart when one takes a look at another Toronto sports franchise, the Blue Jays. In the early 90s the Blue Jays were the best team in the MLB winning back-to-back World Series and boosting one of the best lineups in the league. But now, only 20 years later, not even 20,000 fans can be found at Rogers Centre where in 1993 50,000 celebrated Joe Carter's World Series winning walk off home run. The Blue Jays trophy draught is about half as long as the Maple Leafs and are currently rebuilding as well, but why does one continue to sell tickets well the other plays in front of empty stands?

Now the men's national team may not have ever been the best team in the world but only 10 years ago they were crowned CONCACAF champions and are competitive in the Gold Cup each time around. In my opinion, that counts as more success than the Maple Leafs have had in recent history. On top of that, the market for the national team is over 30 million while the Leafs have a support base of maybe 5 million. Hockey is more popular in Canada than soccer as our national sport, but soccer is growing rapidly and quickly catching up so when will the fans start turning out.

I have taken a look at how a team still manages to garner support despite a lack of success, now I will look at how increased support lead to better results with the example of the Canadian Olympic team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

With the Winter Olympics on home soil in 2010, Canadian's turned out in droves to sport our national athletes in sports such as cross country skiing, ski jumping, and bobsled. For a month, these lowly sports that few ever paid attention to came into the spotlight of the sports world and ignited Canadian patriotism. With the home crowd behind them, Canadian athletes put on a show for the ages. Canada's 14 gold medals was double the previous best (7) and was the highest total amongst all participating nations.

On this occasion, it was the support of the home crowds that drove our Olympic athletes to success and it was a sense of patriotism that brought out the support. Millions of Canadians cheered on athletes they had never heard of in sports they had no prior interest in because they loved their nation. But why doesn't this patriotism bring out the supporters for of national soccer team, a sport that is far more popular than bobsledding or cross country skiing? Our players have expressed their feelings about playing in empty or hostile stadiums even when they are at home, so image the how they would feel if they got the same support as our Olympic athletes? If the support of a nation drove our Olympians to glory, can it not do the same for our soccer teams? Our support could be all it takes to propelling our men's soccer team to the biggest stage in the world, the 2014 World Cup.

The example of the Toronto Maple Leafs shows that Canadians don't always follow the opinion that a team must experience success before we will come out and support them. The success of the Canadian Olympic team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic shows that the support of a nation can propel a team to success. So if Canadian soccer fans are waiting for results on the field before they fill the stands and show their support, maybe it is their turn to do their part in creating a tradition of success by taking a page out of their own book and showing their patriotic support.

Gold Cup Preview: The 1812 Derby

This weekend the CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off in the States and the attitude around the Canadian mens national team is that they are in it to win it.  It is going to be a tough task for the Canadians who will almost certainly have to get past the Americans and the Mexicans if they hope to win for the first time since 2000.

For most Canadian soccer fans when you mention the Gold Cup there are two images that come to mind.  The first one, hopefully since its a lot happier, is of Canada winning it all in 2-0 thanks to goals from De Vos and Corazzin.  Canada triumphed over Columbia that year down in Los Angles but the high point of the tournament was almost certainly when Richard Hastings scored a 92nd minute golden goal to give Canada a 2-1 win over Mexico in the quarter finals.  The image of Hastings celebrating with his shirt on backwards is engrained in the minds of many Canadians and has to be among the happiest moments in our national teams history.  The other image that the Gold Cup triggers is one that makes passionate fans annoyed, angry, or sad but either way it is one that has stuck with them all.  The image comes from the semifinal of the 2007 edition of the tournament when Canada was playing the United States.  With Canada down 2-1 late in the match it appeared that Atiba Hutchinson had levelled the game.  He latched on to a through ball that had deflected off a defender before calmly slotting it home.  The only problem was that it was wrongly flagged for offside by the assistant and the referee went along with him.  I don't often remember who was the referee for a match that took place almost 4 years ago but I can tell you that on that day the refs last name was Archundia who has reffed in the World Cup but to me he will always be remembered for June 21, 2007 at Soldier Field in Chicago when he cost Canada a chance to beat the United States.

But that is all in the past now and 2011 gives Canada another chance to make a magical run to the title.  Several members of the current squad were on that 2007 team and they will be looking to get a measure of revenge when they take to Ford Field in Detroit on Tuesday to play against the United States in what is sometimes referred to as the 1812 Derby.  The Canadians open up with what is by far the toughest game of their opening round group stage.  After the match against the Americans on June 7th they have dates with Guadeloupe on June 11th and then Panama on the 14th.  With the set up of the Gold Cup it is not crucial that Canada beats the United States but for the momentum and national pride that would come from such a match it makes the game a lot more important.  Canada can get through to the knockout stages by finishing either first or second in the group or be one of the two best third place teams.  With only 12 teams in the whole tournament and 8 needing to advance to the quarter finals it is key that Canada finds a way to win at least one match in the group stage.

For the sake of seeding it will be beneficial to Canada to win as many games as possible since that will likely give them the easiest draw in the next round.  For example if Canada comes in second in this group which is where I would expect them to end up at the very least then they would get to play the winner of the group featuring Honduras, Jamaica, Grenada, and Guatemala which would not be the worst draw imaginable.  On the other hand though is Canada finds a way to win the group then they would get one of those two best third placed teams.

On paper the Americans have to be the favourites for the June 7th match.  They have won the Cup 4 times in the past, are fixtures in the World Cup, and are ranked 22nd in the world by FIFA.  As recently as 2006 the Americans were ranked number 4 in the world which was probably a very favourable ranking but it does illustrate the quality that their side possesses.  Canada on the other hand is probably ranked a bit unfairly at 75th.  Despite the apparent gap though the two teams have played each other fairly close in recent meetings but that match in 2007 was the last time they met at this level having avoided playing each other in the 2009 Gold Cup and in World Cup 2010 qualifiers.  If you look back into the history of this rivalry you will see that for the past 2 decades it really has been all the United States as Canada has not been able to claim a win over their neighbours to the south since a friendly back in 1985.  The players on this years team might not know when the team last beat the USA but they will know that it has been a long time and that is something they will be desperate to change.  A win against the USA could go a long ways towards increasing the profile of the mens national team in this country as well as erasing some of the pain of 2007.

For the Canadian National team the start of 2014 World Cup qualification in the fall is going to be the priority but if they can go deep in this months Gold Cup it would give them priceless experience as well as momentum going into that qualifying campaign.  So a win over the USA would be a massive boost in getting the ball rolling towards 2014.  Canadian coach Stephen Hart seems to be confident in his sides ability to go out and compete in a tough group and hopefully make a run into the later stages this summer.  He has a confidence which seems to have spread to the players who are going into the match next week with a belief that there is no reason why they can not come away with a positive result.  If Canada can put together a similar performance to the one they did against Ecuador and cut out some of the sloppy errors that came from lack of time on the field together then they really should be in with a chance of coming away with something.  It is clearly going to be a tough ask but if Canada goes out and gives its best there really is no reason why they can not get something from it.

Canada's roster for the Gold Cup has a nice mix of veterans who have played in the tournament before including members from that 2007 team along with some fresh faces.  De Rosario is the only player left who tasted victory in this tournament back in 2007 and he will certainly be looked upon to provide stability in the midfield and use his experience to be a leader in this team.  Along with Atiba Hutchinson he will be key in driving the team forward and controlling the tempo against an American team with a very strong midfield.  With a veteran core in the roster Hart will be looking to some of the fresh faces to bring new energy and a desire to prove themselves at this level which could help to boost the team and set the foundations for a brighter future.  The likes of Tosaint Ricketts and Simeon Jackson will want to show what they can do at the senior level to ensure that they will be with the national team for a long time to come.  Another new face who will be asked to contribute is Milan Borjan who seems likely to be the teams first choice keeper as he is set to make his competitive debut for the national team against the United States.  A strong showing from him in the Gold Cup would set him up as the number one keeper going forward which would provide some nice stability at the back end.

1- GK- Lars Hirschfeld | NOR / Vålerenga Fotball

2- D/M- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / SV Wehen Wiesbaden

3- D/M- Mike Klukowski |

4- CB- Kevin McKenna | GER / FC Köln

5- CB- André Hainault | USA / Houston Dynamo

6- M- Julian de Guzman | CAN / Toronto FC

7- M- Terry Dunfield | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC

8- M- Will Johnson | USA / Real Salt Lake

9- F- Rob Friend | GER / Hertha BSC

10- F- Ali Gerba | CAN / Impact Montréal

11- M- Josh Simpson | TUR / Vestel Manisaspor

12- M- Pedro Pacheco | POR / CD Santa Clara

13- M- Atiba Hutchinson | NED / PSV Eindhoven

14- F- Dwayne De Rosario | USA / New York Red Bulls

15- D- Dejan Jakovic | USA / DC United

16- M/F- Tosaint Ricketts | ROM / FC Politehnica Timiþoara

17- M- Simeon Jackson | ENG / Norwich City FC

18- GK- Milan Borjan | SRB / FK Rad

19- M- Marcel de Jong | GER / FC Augsburg

20- D- Jaime Peters | ENG / Ipswich Town FC

21- M- Jonathan Beaulieu-Bourgault | GER / SC Preußen Münster

22- GK- Haidar Al-Shaïbani | FRA / Nîmes Olympique

23- M- Issey Nakajima-Farran | DEN / AC Horsens

Canada v Ecaudor in Photos

 Me in the stands before the game.  Face paint crayon = itchy!

 Calvin outside of Gate 3...all alone

 Canadians warming up before the match

 We finally found some other Canadians!

 I hope they were praying.  They needed all the help they could get.

 Canada's Starting 11

 Getting the flags out!

 Red to the front of me, yellow to the right..and everywhere else

 Norwich's Simeon Jackson with the ball

 More Jackson, he had a solid game

 De Ro setting up the corner

 Party after the goal.  Canadian players just returning to the field

 Getting scolded for jumping into the crowd I guess

 De Guzman on for the second

 We all laugh at the yellow football team, the yellow football team!

 De Guzman!

 De Rosario taking a free kick

 De Ro and my man of the match pick Hutchinson

 Right after the match.  Ecuador still going after the ref

 Players coming over after the game to salute the home fans

Great bunch those Red Patch Boys are

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!!!

Canada v Ecaudor

I just got in from the game and still have the faint outline of half a maple leaf on my face along with a sore throat.  But it was all worth it to know that despite the Canadian contingent being small in numbers, around 500 of us in the supporters section, we were very loud in voice.  Was nice to know that along with the good folks from the Red Patch Boys and the Voyageurs we were part of motivating the Canadian team to storm back to steal a 2-2 draw.

I will be writing a longer post in the morning with my pictures and insights on the game but suffice to say it was a great experience and I would dare anyone to go to a match with crazy Canucks like I did tonight and not want to go.  For me it was my first time going to see the Canadian Mens national team play but I have been won over and will be going back for more the first chance I get.  The match was entertaining, the crowd was lively, and the team deserves all of our support.  So if you are reading this and live in the Toronto area consider yourself called out!  Next time the team are in town I expect you all to be there and I promise that you will not regret it.  Heck maybe we will even get a win!