The Canadian Men's Soccer Team Thread

[troutman]

They should be going to Mexico sooner to get used to the altitude.

[shermanator]

Now that I've slept on it, I think the following post from the Voyageurs board sums up my thoughts on last night's game.

"Yeah, losing to Mexico is not a shocker. But losing by 3, at home, in that way, in front of that crowd, under a coach that named that starting 11, with glaring misses by what were supposed to be our shiny new talents - that ####ing sucks."

But on the bright side, the crowds gathering at our watch parties are growing. Had 30 people out last night.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by troutman

They should be going to Mexico sooner to get used to the altitude.

Unless you are going a month ahead you're better off showing up as late as possible to a high altitude venue.

[CofR]

Originally Posted by shermanator

But on the bright side, the crowds gathering at our watch parties are growing. Had 30 people out last night.

Great to hear, if I wasn't working last night I would have been there. The crowd in Vancouver looked great, looked like a fun atmosphere to be a part of.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by shermanator

We need our own league. That is the be all and end all in my mind

Have there been any details released, or even any rumours as to how a Canadian league might work? I'd be interested to know, because I think it will take a lot more then just having a National league available to improve the National program.

What we really need is a dedicated youth program across the country that can provide young players with a path to playing at the highest level. Maybe a Canadian league would also provide that whole setup, but the level of play itself in the new National league would likely not be high enough to have an affect at the national level, IMO.

When you look at how we are producing basketball and baseball players, it is by providing players opportunities in the USA's system in the key years before the professional draft. For basketball, there is a clear path from youth teams, to switching the the US for either High School or College, where they can get everything they need to succeed. Its working really well too, as there are now Canadians playing div 1 ball every year, and have been drafted in the lottery several times now. Our National basketball program looks like it has a very bright future.

Will this new Canadian league provide that same opportunity to young soccer players? We need a better path for players to reach the MLS, or top leagues in Europe.

[Resolute 14]

The problem with a Canadian league is the fact that Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver would never leave MLS for it. And while they would/could but development level teams into such a loop, that sets the expectations on what it would be: an inherently unstable minor league. There's no real reason to re-invent the wheel and set that up when it already exists as the NASL. That's where we need to get Calgary and other cities to.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by The Big Chill

Have there been any details released, or even any rumours as to how a Canadian league might work? I'd be interested to know, because I think it will take a lot more then just having a National league available to improve the National program.

What we really need is a dedicated youth program across the country that can provide young players with a path to playing at the highest level. Maybe a Canadian league would also provide that whole setup, but the level of play itself in the new National league would likely not be high enough to have an affect at the national level, IMO.

When you look at how we are producing basketball and baseball players, it is by providing players opportunities in the USA's system in the key years before the professional draft. For basketball, there is a clear path from youth teams, to switching the the US for either High School or College, where they can get everything they need to succeed. Its working really well too, as there are now Canadians playing div 1 ball every year, and have been drafted in the lottery several times now. Our National basketball program looks like it has a very bright future.

Will this new Canadian league provide that same opportunity to young soccer players? We need a better path for players to reach the MLS, or top leagues in Europe.

The Canadian league teams would have youth academies that develop young players.

There is no current system for most kids to go through to develop properly and have realistic pro aspirations to aspire to.

No only are Central American kids playing unstructured pick up soccer outside every waking minute of their childhoods (which is a huge disadvantage for our kids, as this doesn't happen in our society), these kids are also trained by the numerous pro clubs in their domestic leagues, for free. If they excel they move up to the first team and play pro.

Quite a difference from practicing once or twice a week with a community club in Canada and the dropping the game at 18 because you can't go any further with the game in this country...

[MillerTime GFG]

There is a club in Calgary that is working on getting an affiliation with a European club right now, via their technical directors' connections overseas. Some pretty major clubs too...Aston Villa being one of them.

Essentially it would give that club exclusive rights to any players coming up through the affiliated club in Calgary. It would be a step in the right direction and hopefully give some kids some legitimate options.

Edit: don't want to name the club because I'm not sure it's ready to be public info yet. Could probably confirm via PM if anyone is interested.

[Matty81]

Canada U-20s beat England U-20s 2-1 today.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/white...-past-england/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...t-Stadium.html

Still a ways to go but the MLS academies are having a huge impact on youth development in Canada and there are some really good prospects in europe. Lots of positives on the soccer scene in Canada these days.

[shermanator]

The win over England is a nice development, but I don't think the MLS academies are having a huge impact just yet. I've found that the work done by the MLS academies thus far has been really overrated, as they have not yet produced talent that can actually help Canada in games that matter, such as Friday's debacle.

Canada has traditionally done quite well in youth competition, particularly at the U-17 level, however when player compete at the older age ranks they are losing ground to other nations. Canada beat England last year in a friendly before the CONCACAF U-20 qualifiers and then proceeded to lose to El Salvador, Cuba and Honduras. Historically, outside of these international tournaments there have not been many places for youth to play competitively against top level competition. Players aren't getting first team minutes in MLS or NASL or other leagues.

When the most promising youth prospect around right now (Zanatta) has to leave Vancouver to get a shot at a professional career it speaks volumes.

Hopefully the new USL clubs, and regional leagues like League1 Ontario and PLSQ will help close that gap where players who aren't good enough for MLS, but are too good for academy teams have somewhere to play and develop, and eventually move up to the first team or to Europe. It's still too early to tell whether these clubs will help Canada improve in international soccer, but it is a good step.

Outside of that mini rant, it's nice to see that today's lineup had a 15 year old (Davies), 16 year old (Tabla) and 17 year old player (Chung) in the starting 11, all signed to USL contracts. As well as an 18 year old player (Shome) signed to an NASL contract, and one signed to a contract in the Scottish Premier League (Zanatta). If these players can actually get lots of pro minutes this year, it is a good sign that our best youth prospects are getting somewhere to develop when a few years ago they would not have.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

The Canadian league teams would have youth academies that develop young players.

There is no current system for most kids to go through to develop properly and have realistic pro aspirations to aspire to.

Unfortunately, the youth academies of top flight clubs (i.e. a country's highest league not just the BPL, La Liga, et. al.) only work with a fraction of country's youth players. It's not the Arsenals and Uniteds that are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to player development, it is the Senrab F.C.s (Sol Campbell, John Terry and Ledley King) and Fletcher Moss Rangers F.C.s (Danny Welbeck and Marcus Rashford).

My brother-in-law is coaching my nephew's summer league hockey team this year and he had to complete 18 hours of coursework before they would let him coach. When he was coaching my nephew's youth football team, it was a walk-on role. We give the majority of those in charge of our youth player development little to no preparation for the crucial task at hand.

Originally Posted by The Big Chill

Have there been any details released, or even any rumours as to how a Canadian league might work? I'd be interested to know, because I think it will take a lot more then just having a National league available to improve the National program.

What we really need is a dedicated youth program across the country that can provide young players with a path to playing at the highest level

I reckon that the path to high level football is teaching players the skills they will need at higher levels. As I alluded to above, we need to raise the expectation of coaching for our youth football program to the level we expect for youth hockey program.

[corporatejay]

[MillerTime GFG]

No bump yet? HAVE YE NO FAITH?!?

[The Big Chill]

I'm willing to get my hopes for tonight unreasonably high if you guys are.

[shermanator]

Tosaint Ricketts is going to light Mexico up!

I'm actually more nervous for the result of the Honduras / El Salvador match.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by The Big Chill

I'm willing to get my hopes for tonight unreasonably high if you guys are.

Well we could set the bar low. Let's make the over/under "a loss of less than 3 and a somewhat encouraging performance at times".

Then if we lose by 1, we can dance around a little. A draw will warrant a small parade.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Well we could set the bar low. Let's make the over/under "a loss of less than 3 and a somewhat encouraging performance at times".

Then if we lose by 1, we can dance around a little. A draw will warrant a small parade.

A draw might result in me getting a Benito Floro tattoo...

[TheAlpineOracle]

The Mexicans are getting their piss bags ready as we speak.

[MillerTime GFG]

Originally Posted by shermanator

A draw might result in me getting a Benito Floro tattoo...

Quoted for future use/documentation.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Well we could set the bar low. Let's make the over/under "a loss of less than 3 and a somewhat encouraging performance at times".

Then if we lose by 1, we can dance around a little. A draw will warrant a small parade.

I'm in.

Considering this team is capable of losing by double digits, keeping it to a 1-2 goal loss will be a great showing.