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browna · 10-14-2004, 02:00 AM

Having played a high level in thie country until I was 24, it comes down to a couple factors.

a) Geography. Short summers. To make a living, having no pro teams here that can pay enough to make it a full time job, means that decisions must be made by 15-18 whether to go to American colleges, or try out in Europe (who , even at lower divisions, have hangups/restrictions on foreign players). Proper devleopment can't be done indoors 6 months a year.

When Bayern scooped up Owen Hargreaves at 16, they molded his skills into the player you see today. Knowing the family and having played with his brother, Owen was not a blatantly obvious superstar at 13, 14, 15...but he got recruited for a tryout, and made the most of it.

b)Politics, on a number of levels. Talent is not identified properly as youth growing up...that is, unless you live in BC, Ontario or Quebec. We went to many nationals, and got to a couple finals. Low and behold, players on the teams we beat to get there popped up on youth national teams, and got recruited to US colleges, with players from other provinces had to be head and shoulders above to be even given slight consideration. Owen Hargreaves is a good example. Did anyone from Soccer Canada figure that this guy, when he went to Nationals as a kid, figure he was good enough to develop? No.
The whole youth system is based on playing favourites and doing favours for specific provincial associations.

Then, politics at the national level. The best coach Canada had was Holger Osieck, but he walked away, not wanting to put up with the backseat coaches and political infighting that was basically going to force him out. (maybe because he was German?). So, Soccer Canada feels they can pull strings themselves, and inserts one of the old hands in Yallop, who is pretty much doing the same thing as Lenerduzzi did before Osieck, which is play the old boys and insert underdevloped and unprepared young guys and ask them to do a lot. Why is Pat Onstad still on the national team? It's been over 10 years that he's been there.

Lars Hirschfeld, a guy that sparkled a few years back is sitting in England being a third string goalie....because he's not been given a decent chance, and been given the run around by the National team. Same goes for Kevin McKenna. These guys have flown back over from their club in Europe for games over the past years, only to sit on the bench for a few games, watching the team struggle on the field.

The team peaked in 1990 and 1994, those were the best chances to get to the WC. All those players have gotten too old, but the poor recruitment and scouting from youth across Canada in the last 10 years has turned up very very little (for the reasons mentioned above...the focus on certain province's reputations), and the pig headedness of the Canadian Soccer Association in recognizing the need to shake up the system and stick with it, is a mistake.

My solution. Bring back in a foreign coach with European experience, and give him complete autonomy and the power to recruit, motivate, make player personell decisions, and put a structure in place.

Osieck had this structure for the first time in years after Lenerduzzi played his favourites. Canada won the region's tournament because players could play with confidence in the knowledge that they had a structure to follow, and a leader as a coach who was strong in his convictions. Tough, demanding, but fair.

The CSA must have thought he was getting too much power, and punted him out to revert back to the country club atmosphere.

Having watched a few games in the last couple weeks, its clear this team has no direction and no confidence.

Being Canadian and making a living playing soccer, and playing on the national team has many extra challenges that other countries don't have to worry about. Canada will never rival world favourites, or even the average world calibre teams in skill. But there is more soccer talent, skill and heart in top level up and coming soccer players in this country then our national team is showing.

Those players have to be found, and to get past the mental and physiological barriers, an outsider with a firm hand is needed to call ths shots and bring some pride and respect to this country.

10-14-2004, 02:00 AM	#3
browna Franchise Player Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Calgary Exp:	Having played a high level in thie country until I was 24, it comes down to a couple factors. a) Geography. Short summers. To make a living, having no pro teams here that can pay enough to make it a full time job, means that decisions must be made by 15-18 whether to go to American colleges, or try out in Europe (who , even at lower divisions, have hangups/restrictions on foreign players). Proper devleopment can't be done indoors 6 months a year. When Bayern scooped up Owen Hargreaves at 16, they molded his skills into the player you see today. Knowing the family and having played with his brother, Owen was not a blatantly obvious superstar at 13, 14, 15...but he got recruited for a tryout, and made the most of it. b)Politics, on a number of levels. Talent is not identified properly as youth growing up...that is, unless you live in BC, Ontario or Quebec. We went to many nationals, and got to a couple finals. Low and behold, players on the teams we beat to get there popped up on youth national teams, and got recruited to US colleges, with players from other provinces had to be head and shoulders above to be even given slight consideration. Owen Hargreaves is a good example. Did anyone from Soccer Canada figure that this guy, when he went to Nationals as a kid, figure he was good enough to develop? No. The whole youth system is based on playing favourites and doing favours for specific provincial associations. Then, politics at the national level. The best coach Canada had was Holger Osieck, but he walked away, not wanting to put up with the backseat coaches and political infighting that was basically going to force him out. (maybe because he was German?). So, Soccer Canada feels they can pull strings themselves, and inserts one of the old hands in Yallop, who is pretty much doing the same thing as Lenerduzzi did before Osieck, which is play the old boys and insert underdevloped and unprepared young guys and ask them to do a lot. Why is Pat Onstad still on the national team? It's been over 10 years that he's been there. Lars Hirschfeld, a guy that sparkled a few years back is sitting in England being a third string goalie....because he's not been given a decent chance, and been given the run around by the National team. Same goes for Kevin McKenna. These guys have flown back over from their club in Europe for games over the past years, only to sit on the bench for a few games, watching the team struggle on the field. The team peaked in 1990 and 1994, those were the best chances to get to the WC. All those players have gotten too old, but the poor recruitment and scouting from youth across Canada in the last 10 years has turned up very very little (for the reasons mentioned above...the focus on certain province's reputations), and the pig headedness of the Canadian Soccer Association in recognizing the need to shake up the system and stick with it, is a mistake. My solution. Bring back in a foreign coach with European experience, and give him complete autonomy and the power to recruit, motivate, make player personell decisions, and put a structure in place. Osieck had this structure for the first time in years after Lenerduzzi played his favourites. Canada won the region's tournament because players could play with confidence in the knowledge that they had a structure to follow, and a leader as a coach who was strong in his convictions. Tough, demanding, but fair. The CSA must have thought he was getting too much power, and punted him out to revert back to the country club atmosphere. Having watched a few games in the last couple weeks, its clear this team has no direction and no confidence. Being Canadian and making a living playing soccer, and playing on the national team has many extra challenges that other countries don't have to worry about. Canada will never rival world favourites, or even the average world calibre teams in skill. But there is more soccer talent, skill and heart in top level up and coming soccer players in this country then our national team is showing. Those players have to be found, and to get past the mental and physiological barriers, an outsider with a firm hand is needed to call ths shots and bring some pride and respect to this country.