The Canadian Men's Soccer Team Thread

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by Addick

Thanks Mango!




Even if we start to make some large strides, I wonder if we'll have to go the Aussie route and start fresh with a new FA.

On the topic of large strides, Jason de Vos tweeted that the National Curriculum will be coming out on Tuesday.

Did anyone review what came out on June 3rd?
http://www.canadasoccer.com/canada-s...r-game-p156446


If it's the same people, big woop.

[shermanator]

The President of the CSA has stated that they have a goal of an all-Canadian Divison "1A", that co-exists with MLS and NASL. At this point, it's nothing more than very very early talk about this, but if this does come to fruition, it is the biggest step in Canadian development since the CSL fodled in the early 90's.

http://the11.ca/2014/06/18/montaglia...with-mls-nasl/

[shermanator]

Also, new home shirt for the national team announced this morning. I don't particularly like it, but it could be much worse.

[mac_82]

Once again it is a generic red shirt with a Canada logo on it.

The 2012 100 year retro jerseys are the best ones we have had in a very long time.

[Ozy_Flame]

I actually like it. Simple is better. red stripes remind me of Celtic FC.

[nik-]

They should put a beaver on it like the Iranians have the leopard.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I actually like it. Simple is better. red stripes remind me of Celtic FC.

There is simple and then there is basic.

I like the direction in which there were going, I just don't think they made it to the final destination.

[mac_82]

You can literally go down to your local soccer store and get a jersey customized and do a better job that the CSA.






Seriously. Simple is good. Put putting a Canada logo on a $30 jersey doesn't mean I want to buy it for $100.

[corporatejay]

Not to mention that those jerseys are made out of cotton. Not clima-cool or dri-fit, but cotton. Brutal.

[Matty81]

Ya that is brutal, dri fit is a minimum expectation. They look like our typical house league jersey with a CSA crest. Not brutal visually but not a buyer for me.

A national league would be great but I've never understood why we don't just copy the aussie model. 10 provincial divisions that are formalized in structure, governed and sanctioned by the csa and a national championship for the 10 winners. Like the current championship but standardized from province to province and with a longer champions league style finale. Lower cost for travel and a little more organic then trying to create a pro league. If they try to go pro with 10 teams it will probably sink, there are not enough stadiums and travel is so expensive.

The csa has its issues but the real problem in Canada is the provincial bodies imo. Everybody pulls in different directions! Has their own way of doing things and there are way too many power struggles. Plus they all feel hard done by the CSA and are ruled like little local fiefdoms. Power and financial control needs to be more centralized imo. Then punt some of the current b team in charge and hire execs from succesful professional organizations. Those reforms a few years ago didn't go far enough. Just my two cents anyway.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Lol; I've been looking into jerseys for my 7 a side rec team today and pretty sure I saw the same ones on clearance for $20 each.
Those are pathetic kits.

[shermanator]

Sounds like Caniggia Elva is set to sign with Stuttgart. Based on translations I've read, he will be loaned out in Europe until he can get his Canadian passport (since Canadians only count as half a foreigner in the EU apparently)

http://www.derwesten.de/sport/lokals...d9462610.html#

[Johnny199r]

Canada has a long way to go, but has some technical, attacking youngsters being developed. A few more pro teams, along with more educated youth coaches would go a long way. However, it's been a long time, if ever, that we have good, young, attacking players like Michael Petresso, Hanson Boakai, Cyle Larin breaking into the senior team. Usually if it was just more defensive minded players with "grit" who were "hard working" which is fine in hockey, but is useless in soccer.

[Matty81]

Petrasso and Piette are such stud prospects. I like what I've seen of Boakai but want to see him do it for a prolonged period before I get fully onboard with him as part of the core. Too many players in our past who flared up quickly and faded away just as fast. He potentially looks like a type of player/skillset Canada has not had in my lifetime though. Piette and petrasso already have established names in europe and rock solid careers in front of them, only the level is tbd in my opinion.

Midfield looks real good now and into the future, good prospects and decent current players.

[Matty81]

Another promising young Canadian, Marcos Bustos of the Whitecaps, a member of our u17 national team, born and raised in Winnipeg and developed by the whitecaps appears to have defected to Chile.

https://twitter.com/LegionChilena/st...22054602768387

Pretty sickening how little loyalty some people have to Canada with all it's given them and their families. In a couple days he will have some lame excuse about how the csa slighted him.

I hope the Whitecaps cut him, show some spine and that they are actually backing Canadian soccer for once.

[Ozy_Flame]

All of our soccer players seem to have dual citizenship somewhere else (Bustos, De Guzman) . . . Others choose to play for their parent's blood lineage (Hargreaves, Hoilett) . . .

We really need a Canadian development league to convince them signing contracts in the F.A. and spending their formative athletic years in another system. I don't really know what else could be done, especially when the other leagues are just so much more prestigious and offer so many more opportunities.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by Matty81

Another promising young Canadian, Marcos Bustos of the Whitecaps, a member of our u17 national team, born and raised in Winnipeg and developed by the whitecaps appears to have defected to Chile.

https://twitter.com/LegionChilena/st...22054602768387

Pretty sickening how little loyalty some people have to Canada with all it's given them and their families. In a couple days he will have some lame excuse about how the csa slighted him.

I hope the Whitecaps cut him, show some spine and that they are actually backing Canadian soccer for once.

Well that's certainly not a good sign, but it's not a done deal either. It'll still take a cap at the senior level before we've lost him.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

All of our soccer players seem to have dual citizenship somewhere else (Bustos, De Guzman) . . . Others choose to play for their parent's blood lineage (Hargreaves, Hoilett) . . .

We really need a Canadian development league to convince them signing contracts in the F.A. and spending their formative athletic years in another system. I don't really know what else could be done, especially when the other leagues are just so much more prestigious and offer so many more opportunities.

I agree that a developmental league would be great but thats not the issue here. No other league swayed him, he is staying with the caps reserves.

The player has been fully developed in Canada, he played youth soccer in Winnipeg and was trained by the Whitecaps residency program which is what makes this one particularly bitter. He had a trial at Liverpool but as far as I know has never lived anywhere but Canada.

He is not leaving for Chile, he is continuing with the Whitecaps, just playing for Chile's national team.

[atb]

Old but relevant article by Jason deVos on how Germany turned around their national program, and what Canada could learn from it: http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=422202

Following the 1998 World Cup, in which Germany suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Croatia in the quarterfinals, German football took a good long look at its collective self in the mirror. And it didn't particularly like what it saw.

So, in typical German fashion, they decided to fix it

They replaced their youth development model with a new one; a model that required all German Bundesliga clubs (there are 36 clubs in two divisions) to run centrally regulated youth academies. These academies have been a key factor in the production of players for Germany's national teams in recent years.

Dr. Reinhard Rauball, President of the League Association in Germany, said this of the new academy system:

"For all clubs, the compulsory introduction of academies for young players in 2001 was the building block which laid the way to a successful future for German football. Today, ten years later, we can enjoy the fruits of the labour of those academies."

[browna]

As far as the new kits, what more can you say of the CSA? Lines up perfectly with that organization.

Umbro hasn't been relevant for a decade and a half or more, even with Nike buying them for 4 or 5 years then dumping them off. Here's a list of the other national teams they outfit. I'm guessing some family member/business acquaintance of someone higher up in the CSA was a Umbro rep, and owed a favour or two. Look at these powerhouses (source, Wikipedia):

Azerbaijan
Botswana
Canada
Greenland
Guatemala
Republic of Ireland (Since 1994 - at least 2020)
Malawi (Since 2014)
Norway
Peru
Sápmi
Tajikistan
Tunisia (Since 2014)
Turkmenistan
Serbia (Since 2014)

And out of 62 European clubs, only 4 are in their native England.

As far as player retention, as soon as the CSA gets out of its own way and there are strong leaders throughout, and a strong manager, and the results start to go forward with the MNT, players will want to be part of that. The CSA is far too political and fractured, and gives zero reason right now for players, who have choices, to believe that anything is changing with all the BS until that change happens.