Yesterday may well be remembered as a momentous day in Vancouver soccer history. The news that Miami was dropping out of the MLS expansion race [Duane Rollins, The 24th Minute] was huge, as many had seen their bid as almost a sure thing given the involvement of FC Barcelona. This also reduced the pool of remaining cities to four (Vancouver, Portland, Ottawa and St. Louis), giving Vancouver a 50 per cent chance mathematically. Shortly thereafter, the news got even better: Duane related that a highly-placed MLS source had confirmed Vancouver and Portland as the two teams to be added, while Ives Galarcep anointed Vancouver as the front-runner. That seems to be the consensus around the intertubes at the moment, with Vancouver Province soccer reporter Marc Weber telling me on Twitter that he’d bet his house on Vancouver earning an expansion slot (he also put up a post about it today), Ben Knight declaring the Whitecaps all-but-in today, Ben Van Weelden proclaiming the Whitecaps as the obvious choice and Jason from Match Fit USA giving it to Vancouver and Portland by process of elimination.
I’ve been writing about why I think this bid will work for a while here, as well as at Out of Left Field and most recently on The 24th Minute, so I’ll try not to repeat too much of that. The key point at the moment is that Vancouver is the safest option on the table. The city has a long history of passionate support for high-level soccer and an incredible ownership group with tons of financial resources and experience running professional sports franchises. Furthermore, they’ve never made any suggestion of paying less than the desired $40 million franchise fee (while St. Louis has reportedly tried to negotiate it down to $9 million: Weber jokingly said "[Their] master plan is to raise money at Card's games. Every time Pujols homers, he donates another $100"). The Whitecaps have a solid stadium deal already locked up with B.C. Place, and it’s a design that’s worked very well for soccer in Germany’s Allianz Arena. There’s also a very good prospect of a beautiful waterfront soccer-specific stadium down the road, but the key point in Vancouver’s favour is there are no immediate stadium concerns. By contrast, Ottawa hasn’t even decided what they’re going to build yet, the St. Louis group is heavily leveraged and may run into financing issues and Portland still needs some support from local politicians. I don’t see any way that a Vancouver franchise can fail, and that’s got to be something that’s in the mind of the MLS executives making the decision.
Moreover, Vancouver’s bid has a lot of upside. For one, there’s the rivalries. You instantly have some very exciting fixtures between Vancouver and Seattle and Vancouver and Toronto, as well as Vancouver-Portland if the Timbers make it in as well. These are extremely marketable to sponsors (see the Nutrilite Canadian Championship and the five or six different sponsors they found for it on short notice last year; imagine how much bigger that becomes with both Vancouver and Toronto in MLS), and also are attractive to TV stations looking for enticing matchups to sell.
Furthermore, bringing Vancouver in could be huge for negotiating national television deals in Canada. The one failure of Toronto FC so far has been on the national television front; they’ve gotten their games on TV across the country, but they’ve tended to attract incredibly small audiences so far, and that doesn’t provide a lot of leverage in future negotiations. It’s a long and difficult process to sell a national audience on a Toronto team; ask the Raptors about that! With Vancouver and Toronto teams, though, you’ll certainly have fans from all over B.C. interested in MLS, and you may even get fans from other provinces drawn to the league and picking sides in the old Vancouver-Toronto rivalry. That’s a huge advantage over the Ottawa bid, which might draw viewers from that city’s region and perhaps a few from Quebec, but not too many nationally. Remember that one of the most successful TFC matches so far in terms of ratings was the Canada Day clash [myself, Out of Left Field] against the Whitecaps last summer; that suggests to me that there’s a lot of potential for increased national audiences with Vancouver in the league, particularly for their games against Toronto.
If there aren’t any further twists (something that’s tough to rule out in MLS), this is tremendous news for soccer fans in Vancouver. There certainly are plenty of them: the old NASL Whitecaps had a ton of support, and the USL 86ers and Whitecaps have received a lot of fan backing over the last few decades. Moreover, the soccer community is huge in the Lower Mainland; I played on various clubs in the area for about 12 years and know firsthand how much support there is for the sport. Something that will be interesting to watch is how Vancouver’s ticket sales compare to those in Seattle and Toronto; there are big rivalries between soccer supporters in Vancouver and those in both other cities, and both have been hailed as model expansion franchises. Seattle one-upped Toronto in sales before they’ve even played a game (thanks at least in part to a larger stadium); I have a feeling that Vancouver fans may try and take it even further. The stadium designs at the moment imagine a much lower capacity for soccer than football, but I could see that changing if there’s demand for tickets on a level similar to Seattle. This could be the start of something huge.
Showing posts with label Ben Knight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ben Knight. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Premier League Punditry 02-15-09
A quick note that we will be live with today's edition of Premier League Punditry in just under an hour. Phil from There Is No Original Name For This Sports Blog will be here as usual, but Amrit is lying on a beach in Mexico, so Ben Knight, one of Canada's pre-eminent soccer writers (currently of Onward! Soccer, formerly of The Globe and Mail and Sportsnet.ca) will be filling in for him. There's only a bit of Premier League action to talk about, but there's plenty of other stuff going on in the world of European soccer between the FA Cup, Guus Hiddink's takeover at Chelsea, rumours of Avram Grant to Portsmouth, Real Madrid possibly preparing for another run at Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Mourinho vowing to return Douglas MacArthur-style and David Beckham supposedly coming back to MLS (or is he?). [All stories above from ESPN Soccernet] The plan is to cover some MLS and Canadian soccer topics as well, including the Ottawa stadium debate, Toronto FC's prospects for the year and Vancouver's chances of landing an MLS expansion slot. Join the conversation here with us at 1:30!
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Welcoming Ben Knight to the blogosphere
Now would be a great time to extend good wishes to soccer writer extraordinaire Ben Knight, who has just launched his own site after the Globe decided to move in a different direction [Duane Rollins, Out of Left Field] with their On Soccer blog. Ben is a terrific writer and a great guy, and I'm sure he'll find a lot of success with this. What I value most about his work is his ability to see the shades of grey I referenced earlier. Even on the topics he's most passionate about, such as the bungling of the CSA and some of the mistakes made by Toronto FC, he has avoided the pitfalls of absolutism and put forth balanced, reasoned and rational arguments to improve matters, rather than just the constant vitriol and criticism without solutions found in other quarters. He can balance being a journalist and being a fan, which is a difficult line to walk, but he does it very well in my mind and appeals to a broad range of people as a result. All soccer fans should definitely give him a look if they haven't already. I've been following his stuff passionately since the Sportsnet.ca days, and I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Becks to Milan?
Don't have enough time to go into detail, but this is certainly interesting. The AP reports (via the Globe) that AC Milan is trying to sign David Beckham on loan for the winter months when MLS isn't in season. Makes sense for Becks from both a soccer perspective (keep in shape) and a marketing one. Works for Milan too: Beckham is still a great player if used properly. Ben Knight has some great analysis on the marketing point here.
Monday, October 13, 2008
White is the colour
It was tremendous to hear that the Vancouver Whitecaps claimed the United Soccer League Division I championship [Marc Weber, The Vancouver Province] Sunday with a 2-1 win over the Puerto Rico Islanders [Jim Morris, The Canadian Press via The Globe and Mail]*. It's the Whitecaps' second championship in three years (their last one came in 2006), and their first championship clinched at home since they won the 1991 Canadian Soccer League title. That's some great news for Vancouver soccer fans. Yes, the Lions are still doing well and the Canucks are off to a 2-0 start, but for at least a little while, the Caps claimed top spot in the Vancouver spotlight.
*Morris has some great tidbits in the notes at the bottom of his story, including that this is the first time the USL men's final has ever been between two teams from outside the U.S. and that the Vancouver-Puerto Rico trip is the second-longest in any world soccer league (bested only by Vladivostok and Kaliningrad in Russia).
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch this one thanks to being in Florida for the weekend (in fact, I'm writing this in the airport), but it sounds like a terrific game from all accounts. It's fantastic to hear about the Caps players jumping into the stands to celebrate with the fans afterwards [in Morris' piece]: that shows the level of interest in their community this team has. Toronto FC is legendary for their support of their fans and their player-fan interaction, but they aren't the only ones. Vancouverites love their team as well, which was reflected in the over-capacity attendance of 5,288 [Weber].
It was also nice to see Charles Gbeke get both goals for the 'Caps. Gbeke was born in the Ivory Coast, but grew up in Montreal and played for the Impact. He was also on the 2006 Rochester Rhinos squad that lost the USL final to the Whitecaps. He's a great Canadian story and a talented player, and it's terrific to see him playing for Vancouver instead of their rivals: I expect much more from him in the years to come.
This victory couldn't come at a better time. With the race for MLS heating up, this is a terrific opportunity to play up soccer in Vancouver and get the community even further behind the team than they are already. As Duane wrote over at Out of Left Field, "It's moments like this that it becomes clear that the Whitecaps deserve to be awarded a MLS franchise (deserve and "are gonna get" are two very different things). The team, which has survived the folding of two leagues, is as close as you can get to a football institution in this country. An argument can be made that the Whitecaps are the only club left that can trace itself directly back to the NASL -- that's something to be proud of. Who knows whether the 'Caps will get the MLS nod for 2011. But, if they don't it won't be Vancouver that is losing out."
This is also a ray of hope for Canadian soccer fans, given the dismal failure [Ben Knight, On Soccer] of the national team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Yes, that exit begs question, and the whole structure of Canadian soccer needs to be looked at and considered: I'll have more on that shortly. For now, though, as Duane pointed out [Out of Left Field, there's plenty for Canadian soccer fans to be excited about at the club level, with Vancouver's championship, Montreal's success in the CONCACAF Champions League and the strength of the MLS bids in both cities (and Ottawa as well). TFC is also moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. Our clubs seem to be getting things right both on and off the field, with their play, their marketing, their fan support and their youth development systems. Let's take some comfort in that during the struggles of our national teams: things may not always be this bad.
*Morris has some great tidbits in the notes at the bottom of his story, including that this is the first time the USL men's final has ever been between two teams from outside the U.S. and that the Vancouver-Puerto Rico trip is the second-longest in any world soccer league (bested only by Vladivostok and Kaliningrad in Russia).
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch this one thanks to being in Florida for the weekend (in fact, I'm writing this in the airport), but it sounds like a terrific game from all accounts. It's fantastic to hear about the Caps players jumping into the stands to celebrate with the fans afterwards [in Morris' piece]: that shows the level of interest in their community this team has. Toronto FC is legendary for their support of their fans and their player-fan interaction, but they aren't the only ones. Vancouverites love their team as well, which was reflected in the over-capacity attendance of 5,288 [Weber].
It was also nice to see Charles Gbeke get both goals for the 'Caps. Gbeke was born in the Ivory Coast, but grew up in Montreal and played for the Impact. He was also on the 2006 Rochester Rhinos squad that lost the USL final to the Whitecaps. He's a great Canadian story and a talented player, and it's terrific to see him playing for Vancouver instead of their rivals: I expect much more from him in the years to come.
This victory couldn't come at a better time. With the race for MLS heating up, this is a terrific opportunity to play up soccer in Vancouver and get the community even further behind the team than they are already. As Duane wrote over at Out of Left Field, "It's moments like this that it becomes clear that the Whitecaps deserve to be awarded a MLS franchise (deserve and "are gonna get" are two very different things). The team, which has survived the folding of two leagues, is as close as you can get to a football institution in this country. An argument can be made that the Whitecaps are the only club left that can trace itself directly back to the NASL -- that's something to be proud of. Who knows whether the 'Caps will get the MLS nod for 2011. But, if they don't it won't be Vancouver that is losing out."
This is also a ray of hope for Canadian soccer fans, given the dismal failure [Ben Knight, On Soccer] of the national team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Yes, that exit begs question, and the whole structure of Canadian soccer needs to be looked at and considered: I'll have more on that shortly. For now, though, as Duane pointed out [Out of Left Field, there's plenty for Canadian soccer fans to be excited about at the club level, with Vancouver's championship, Montreal's success in the CONCACAF Champions League and the strength of the MLS bids in both cities (and Ottawa as well). TFC is also moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. Our clubs seem to be getting things right both on and off the field, with their play, their marketing, their fan support and their youth development systems. Let's take some comfort in that during the struggles of our national teams: things may not always be this bad.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Earning the (re)cap: Deutschland marches on
Photo: Wingback Philipp Lahm seals the Germans' place in the finals with a stoppage-time goal. [Photo from The Daily Telegraph]
Breaking down Day XVII of the European Championships...
Germany 3, Turkey 2
What a game that was. Unlike their snooze-fest against the Croatians, the Turks went for the throat right from the start and created chances by the bushel. The Germans, meanwhile, seemed to be caught flat-footed, and could only defend for the first little while as Turkey racked up 10 shots to their two in the first 20 minutes: amazing, considering the short bench Turkey was left with due to suspensions and injuries.
The offensive pressure soon paid off for the Turks, as Ugur Boral drilled a rebound off the crossbar through the legs of Jens Lehmann in the 22nd minute. However, Germany quickly equalized four minutes later against the run of play on a great combination from Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger, and it was 1-1 going into the half.
In the second half, watching began to get frustrating. The on-pitch product was superb, but it was rarely available, as a lightning strike [The Associated Press via The Globe and Mail] overloaded the satellite transmission and blacked out the broadcast for most of the world three separate times for over 25 minutes in total. Unfortunately, one of these times just happened to coincide with Miroslav Klose's brilliant header off a Philipp Lahm cross in the 79th minute to drill the ball past Turkish keeper Recber Rustu, which we didn't find out about until later. The feed came back just in time to see Semih Senturk work his magic again, snatching a desperate late equalizer for the Turks by sliding in to knock what looked like an easy ball for Lehmann to collect past him into the back of the net.
The Germans weren't finished yet, though. In stoppage time, Lahm made a great run forward from his wingback position, put a brilliant move on Colin Kazim-Richards and played a beautiful give-and-go with Thomas Hitzlsperger to break into the box. Rustu came out and cut down his angle, but Lahm made no mistake on the finish from 12 yards out, slotting it into the top left corner. Unfortunately for the Turks, they'd already used up not only their supplies of last-minute miracles, but probably those of the entire footballing world. Unfortunately for the viewers, another power outage meant we didn't get to see their last-ditch attempt.
It was a remarkably even game overall. The Germans only recorded nine shots to Turkey's 22, and only five of those were on target, but they made the most of their limited opportunities while Turkey wasted many of theirs. The first half was all Turkey, but the Germans showed their class in the second, and the end result was probably fair. An amazing stat is that Turkey made it through five matches and ten hours of play during this tournament, but only led for 14 minutes. They gave a great account of themselves, and we'll hopefully see more from them in the future. In the end, it truly was a feast of football... just with portions slightly charred by the power surges.
Related:
- Stephen Brunt's great column, focusing on Lahm's contributions (and so what if he can't spell Low or Hitzlsperger?). [The Globe and Mail]
- Ben Knight has an excellent piece comparing Turkey's run this time around with Greece's tournament four years ago. [On Soccer]
- Duane has a good recap of the game (complete with an awesome picture). [Out of Left Field]
- Brunt has a hilarious story about his train trip to Austria. [On Soccer]
On deck today: Spain vs. Russia (Kick-off: 2:45 P.M. ET)
Should be a great match. Russia will give Spain a run for their money, but like I predicted yesterday, I think the Spanish will advance in the end. Either way, we'll have a fantastic matchup for Sunday's final.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Vancouver's recipe for MLS
To make a Major League Soccer franchise, you will need:
- One (1) large metropolitan area with a long soccer tradition
- One (1) billionaire owner committed to building a soccer-specific stadium at his own expense
- At least three (3) natural rivals either in the league, entering the league, or pushing for an expansion slot.
- 48, 172 fans who come out for a mere exhibition game against an MLS side (granted, one with a noted superstar)
- One (1) prominent and highly recognizable Canadian soccer player, national coach, Hall of Fame member, club coach, star executive, team president, spokesperson, TV commentator and newspaper columnist to helm the franchise bid.
- One (1) soccer-specific waterfront stadium
(NOTE: Highly desirable, but can be replaced temporarily by the following concoction: one (1) aging stadium that's shown it can handle high-level soccer matches, one (1) provincial premier willing to step into the breach left by local authorities and spend money on sports facilities even after the 2010 Olympics and one (1) league willing to consider the stadium as a temporary home with renovations. This replacement will substantially increase baking time, however.)
Directions: Place in oven and bake on low heat for several years. MLS entertainment should be ready to serve by 2011, but full soccer-specific quality may not be achieved until 2016.
So, yesterday's conference about the B.C. Place retractable roof went down pretty much as anticipated. Some interesting details came out of it, though, and it looks as if the Whitecaps may now be on the path to an MLS franchise. As mentioned above, it's not a perfect path, but at least it's a path, and Vancouver's MLS chances look much better than they did before, which is great news for soccer in this country.
Related:
- Jim Jamieson's story in the Vancouver Province.
- Province columnist Ed Willes has a great piece on how this isn't the ideal solution, but it's the best one currently available (complete with Iron Man analogies)!
- Ben Knight has an excellent take over at the Globe on Soccer blog.
- One (1) large metropolitan area with a long soccer tradition
- One (1) billionaire owner committed to building a soccer-specific stadium at his own expense
- At least three (3) natural rivals either in the league, entering the league, or pushing for an expansion slot.
- 48, 172 fans who come out for a mere exhibition game against an MLS side (granted, one with a noted superstar)
- One (1) prominent and highly recognizable Canadian soccer player, national coach, Hall of Fame member, club coach, star executive, team president, spokesperson, TV commentator and newspaper columnist to helm the franchise bid.
- One (1) soccer-specific waterfront stadium
(NOTE: Highly desirable, but can be replaced temporarily by the following concoction: one (1) aging stadium that's shown it can handle high-level soccer matches, one (1) provincial premier willing to step into the breach left by local authorities and spend money on sports facilities even after the 2010 Olympics and one (1) league willing to consider the stadium as a temporary home with renovations. This replacement will substantially increase baking time, however.)
Directions: Place in oven and bake on low heat for several years. MLS entertainment should be ready to serve by 2011, but full soccer-specific quality may not be achieved until 2016.
So, yesterday's conference about the B.C. Place retractable roof went down pretty much as anticipated. Some interesting details came out of it, though, and it looks as if the Whitecaps may now be on the path to an MLS franchise. As mentioned above, it's not a perfect path, but at least it's a path, and Vancouver's MLS chances look much better than they did before, which is great news for soccer in this country.
Related:
- Jim Jamieson's story in the Vancouver Province.
- Province columnist Ed Willes has a great piece on how this isn't the ideal solution, but it's the best one currently available (complete with Iron Man analogies)!
- Ben Knight has an excellent take over at the Globe on Soccer blog.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The greatness of soccer songs
Some of the finest things about soccer are the inventive anthems each team's fans come up with. They can reference a past triumph, immortalize a particular player, or mock rival players, teams, fans and even the referees. They're also one of the prime reasons why soccer is so much more interesting and interactive than other sports: most North American pro sporting experiences involve blasting canned music (occasionally all right), doing "The Wave" (see Drunk Jays Fans for a great takedown of that one), running stupid animations on the scoreboards (Ben Knight had a nice rebuke of those), or trying to pump people up via the stupid NoiseMeter (no outside destruction of this is needed).
Songs have always been a hallmark of the European soccer experience, but they've caught on in North America as well: the Whitecaps have long used "White is the Colour" (a takeoff on the popular Chelsea song "Blue is the Colour"), and TFC supporters have come up with some fantastic new variants. My favorite TFC one is below, traditionally used after a call goes against the Reds (note: language warning. To the tune of "My Darling Clementine"):
Who's your father, who's your father, who's your father, referee?
You don't have one, you're a bastard, you're a bastard, referee
Who's your girlfriend, who's your girlfriend, who's your girlfriend, referee?
You don't have one, you're a wanker, you're a wanker, referee.
The other great thing about songs is everyone can get involved in creating them. With this in mind, I figured that Sunday's Premier League title was a deserving occasion to add a couple of new verses to the old standard, "Glory, Glory, Man United" (to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic: note, these are in the style of the original song's verses, not the modified verses often used in the Man United version). Here they are:
The pie-eaters are crying at the rugby pitch in vain
The Blues are jumping off the Bridge, much to their mothers’ shame
The Gunners fired blanks all year, the Scousers did the same
As we go marching on!
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
The Reds are marching on!
Ronaldo boldly stepped up to convert the penalty
Ryan Giggs drilled home a strike, passed good old Sir Bobby
Rio, Vidic and Van der Sar kept our own net ball-free
And we’ll keep marching on!
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
The Reds are marching on!
Now we’re marching off to Moscow seeking European glory
Where France and Germany have failed, we can complete our story
We’ll beat Roman on his home turf; tell Uncle Avram sorry
For we’re still marching on!
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
The Reds are marching on!
Songs have always been a hallmark of the European soccer experience, but they've caught on in North America as well: the Whitecaps have long used "White is the Colour" (a takeoff on the popular Chelsea song "Blue is the Colour"), and TFC supporters have come up with some fantastic new variants. My favorite TFC one is below, traditionally used after a call goes against the Reds (note: language warning. To the tune of "My Darling Clementine"):
Who's your father, who's your father, who's your father, referee?
You don't have one, you're a bastard, you're a bastard, referee
Who's your girlfriend, who's your girlfriend, who's your girlfriend, referee?
You don't have one, you're a wanker, you're a wanker, referee.
The other great thing about songs is everyone can get involved in creating them. With this in mind, I figured that Sunday's Premier League title was a deserving occasion to add a couple of new verses to the old standard, "Glory, Glory, Man United" (to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic: note, these are in the style of the original song's verses, not the modified verses often used in the Man United version). Here they are:
The pie-eaters are crying at the rugby pitch in vain
The Blues are jumping off the Bridge, much to their mothers’ shame
The Gunners fired blanks all year, the Scousers did the same
As we go marching on!
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
The Reds are marching on!
Ronaldo boldly stepped up to convert the penalty
Ryan Giggs drilled home a strike, passed good old Sir Bobby
Rio, Vidic and Van der Sar kept our own net ball-free
And we’ll keep marching on!
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
The Reds are marching on!
Now we’re marching off to Moscow seeking European glory
Where France and Germany have failed, we can complete our story
We’ll beat Roman on his home turf; tell Uncle Avram sorry
For we’re still marching on!
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
The Reds are marching on!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Overcoming the odds, or, why Canada is now Mexico's Enemy No.1
Against the odds, the Canadian men's U-23 soccer team pulled off an amazing 5-0 win over group-leading Guatemala Sunday to keep their dreams of qualifying for this summer's Beijing Olympics alive. Although they were last in the group heading into the match, with only one point from two games, the win proved to be just enough to advance to the next stage. It came at the expense of perennial power Mexico, though, who scored five goals of their own in a win over Haiti that drew them level with the Canadians on points: the one goal the Mexicans gave up proved their undoing though, as Canada squeaked through with a +4 goal differential to Mexico's +3.
It's impressive that the Canadians were able to produce so much offense. Usually, soccer teams from this country score a goal or two and then tenaciously defend, perhaps cautioned off from going for the jugular by fear of dispelling the "polite Canadians" stereotype. In international competitions like this tournament though, where a single goal can make the difference between going on or going home, every opportunity to run up the score must be seized. Perhaps Canada is starting to learn that.
It's also great to see some of our younger players coming along. This summer, I watched Tosaint Ricketts, who had two goals for Canada against Guatemala, pour in a hat-trick at Richardson Stadium in a friendly against the U.S. U-20 team. Ricketts is a supremely gifted striker with incredible bursts of speed, and it was disappointing that he wasn't able to do more in the U-20 team's undignified goalless exit from the U-20 World Cup last summer. That team wasn't very impressive in the tournament, but several of their players like Ricketts, Toronto FC's Andrea Lombardo and Will Johnson (who also tallied twice against Guatemala) have gone on to make an impact with the U-23 side. The future looks considerably less bleak than it did last July.
What can't be neglected is how close they came to failure, though. In fact, if it hadn't been for Kyle Hall's 90th minute goal and some several key saves from Haitian goalkeeper Johnny Placide, it would be the Mexicans moving on. Canadian coach Nick Dasovic (a former player and coach with the Vancouver Whitecaps) had high praise for Placide afterwards. "He was unbelievable," he told CanadaSoccer.com. "He was on fire. I don’t know where he plays, but he definitely deserves a contract somewhere in the world." Placide stopped a penalty and other good chances, and Mexico also missed several chances, including two 5 on 0 breaks. As Larry Millson wrote on the Globe on Soccer blog, "Couldn’t believe the chances Mexico missed. There was the ball that went straight up off a Mexican foot and over the goal instead of in on a gimme from in front and the missed penalty kick and that is just a couple." If any of those had gone in, or Canada hadn't found an amazing outburst of offense, it would be the Mexicans advancing to Thursday's final against the U.S. Dasovic didn't even think that the Canadians could pull off such a lopsided victory. "Not in my wildest imagination did I think we would win that big," he said.
The sad thing in this though is that Mexico's Olympic dreams are crushed. Based on past results, they're probably more deserving than Guatemala or Honduras, the fourth semi-finalist. The vagaries of the pool system, a poor performance against Guatemala and a draw with the Canadians combined to leave them on the outside looking in, though. As Millson related, there are many passionate Mexican fans who had already planned to travel to the semifinals, never believing that their team wouldn't make it. There also have been plenty of calls for the head of coach Hugo Sanchez. As Jeff Blair reports on the Globe on Baseball blog, this is pretty much a national crisis in Mexico. "I watched Contacto Deportivo on Monday night and while I don't know Spanish beyond Dora The Explorer, I do know that there were a boatload of 'person on the street interviews' about Mexico's shocking exit from Olympic qualifying and on at least a couple of occasions I could hear the word 'Canada' spit out derisively," he wrote. "It's nice we're pissing people off, no?"
As Blair wrote, it's good to see our nation put off our lovable-losers tag for a couple of tournaments (this one and the baseball team's Olympic qualification come to mind). The real question is if we can keep that up, though: as the Globe's Ben Knight noted before the Guatemala game, there are still many issues with the national soccer programs, first and foremost a lack of corporate support. The Canadian Soccer Association will need to get their ducks in a row and start obtaining the financial backing required for on-field success at all levels. If they can get their own house in order, it may be a lot easier to convince corporations to tie their image to Canadian soccer.
It's impressive that the Canadians were able to produce so much offense. Usually, soccer teams from this country score a goal or two and then tenaciously defend, perhaps cautioned off from going for the jugular by fear of dispelling the "polite Canadians" stereotype. In international competitions like this tournament though, where a single goal can make the difference between going on or going home, every opportunity to run up the score must be seized. Perhaps Canada is starting to learn that.
It's also great to see some of our younger players coming along. This summer, I watched Tosaint Ricketts, who had two goals for Canada against Guatemala, pour in a hat-trick at Richardson Stadium in a friendly against the U.S. U-20 team. Ricketts is a supremely gifted striker with incredible bursts of speed, and it was disappointing that he wasn't able to do more in the U-20 team's undignified goalless exit from the U-20 World Cup last summer. That team wasn't very impressive in the tournament, but several of their players like Ricketts, Toronto FC's Andrea Lombardo and Will Johnson (who also tallied twice against Guatemala) have gone on to make an impact with the U-23 side. The future looks considerably less bleak than it did last July.
What can't be neglected is how close they came to failure, though. In fact, if it hadn't been for Kyle Hall's 90th minute goal and some several key saves from Haitian goalkeeper Johnny Placide, it would be the Mexicans moving on. Canadian coach Nick Dasovic (a former player and coach with the Vancouver Whitecaps) had high praise for Placide afterwards. "He was unbelievable," he told CanadaSoccer.com. "He was on fire. I don’t know where he plays, but he definitely deserves a contract somewhere in the world." Placide stopped a penalty and other good chances, and Mexico also missed several chances, including two 5 on 0 breaks. As Larry Millson wrote on the Globe on Soccer blog, "Couldn’t believe the chances Mexico missed. There was the ball that went straight up off a Mexican foot and over the goal instead of in on a gimme from in front and the missed penalty kick and that is just a couple." If any of those had gone in, or Canada hadn't found an amazing outburst of offense, it would be the Mexicans advancing to Thursday's final against the U.S. Dasovic didn't even think that the Canadians could pull off such a lopsided victory. "Not in my wildest imagination did I think we would win that big," he said.
The sad thing in this though is that Mexico's Olympic dreams are crushed. Based on past results, they're probably more deserving than Guatemala or Honduras, the fourth semi-finalist. The vagaries of the pool system, a poor performance against Guatemala and a draw with the Canadians combined to leave them on the outside looking in, though. As Millson related, there are many passionate Mexican fans who had already planned to travel to the semifinals, never believing that their team wouldn't make it. There also have been plenty of calls for the head of coach Hugo Sanchez. As Jeff Blair reports on the Globe on Baseball blog, this is pretty much a national crisis in Mexico. "I watched Contacto Deportivo on Monday night and while I don't know Spanish beyond Dora The Explorer, I do know that there were a boatload of 'person on the street interviews' about Mexico's shocking exit from Olympic qualifying and on at least a couple of occasions I could hear the word 'Canada' spit out derisively," he wrote. "It's nice we're pissing people off, no?"
As Blair wrote, it's good to see our nation put off our lovable-losers tag for a couple of tournaments (this one and the baseball team's Olympic qualification come to mind). The real question is if we can keep that up, though: as the Globe's Ben Knight noted before the Guatemala game, there are still many issues with the national soccer programs, first and foremost a lack of corporate support. The Canadian Soccer Association will need to get their ducks in a row and start obtaining the financial backing required for on-field success at all levels. If they can get their own house in order, it may be a lot easier to convince corporations to tie their image to Canadian soccer.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
A weekend of Cupsets
I'm still in a bit of shock after watching Manchester United knocked out of the FA Cup by Portsmouth yesterday. United dominated the match, and looked sure to score at many points, including when a Michael Carrick effort was cleared off the line, but they could just never put the ball in the net. A perhaps overconfident halftime substitution saw Tomas Kuszczak take over in the goal for Edwin Van der Sar, but manager Sir Alex Ferguson can't really be blamed: at that point, it seemed inevitable one of United's efforts would slide home, and given the crucial fixtures upcoming in United's quest for league and European glory, it made sense to try and get Van der Sar some rest.
Kuszczak had played pretty well thus far this campaign in the limited action he saw as well, so it didn't seem like an unreasonable decision at the time. Unfortunately for United, Kuszczak made a critical error, taking Milan Baros down on a breakaway (one of Portsmouth's only legitimate scoring chances of the game), and received a red card as a result. Defender Rio Ferdinand was forced to replace him in goal, and guessed the right way on the ensuing penalty, but that wasn't enough to stop a terrific blast from Sulley Muntari. Portsmouth then tenaciously hung on for the last few minutes, and in the process booked a place in the final four. It was their first victory at Old Trafford since 1957.
In the aftermath of this shocking debacle, Sir Alex found perhaps the conventional scapegoat: the referee. However, his comments were unusually vitriolic. "It's absolutely ridiculous," Ferguson told the Associated Press. "Managers get sacked because of things like that and he's going to referee a game next week. He's not doing his job properly and he needs to be assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, players are assessed, referees should be assessed properly by the right people. That performance today should not be accepted by our game." It didn't seem quite that bad from my perspective watching it, but there were certainly many things that went uncalled: apparently, you can do anything to superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and get away with it. Good on Ferguson for speaking his mind: those kind of quotes are what us journalists love to hear, as they're far more interesting than the run-of-the-mill 'We gave it our all' stuff. Unfortunately, the FA was not impressed, and there may be a fine in the offing.
The most interesting story of the weekend came from another game, though. League Championship side Barnsley, fresh off a defeat of Liverpool at Anfield, slayed their second giant in a row with a win against Chelsea to put themselves into the semifinals. That's something you don't see every day: Barnsley, a mere four points clear of the Championship relegation zone, knocking off one of the few sides still in the hunt for the Premiership crown. Manager Simon Davey was appropriately at a loss for words as he spoke to the Associated Press. "I'm speechless at the moment," he said. "I can't believe we've really done it. We're in the semifinal of the cup, I've never been to Wembley."
Two more Championship sides also advanced to the Final Four Sunday. West Bromwich Albion beat Bristol Rovers and Cardiff City knocked off Middlesbrough at the Riverside, leaving Portsmouth as the sole Premiership representative in the competition. This is the greatness of the FA Cup: none of these sides could hope to compete with the likes of Manchester United or Chelsea over a long season, but in elimination play, anything can happen. It will be most interesting to see who winds up in the final.
Related: Globesports.com's Ben Knight has a great piece on the upsets, including where all the Premiership teams bowed out.
Kuszczak had played pretty well thus far this campaign in the limited action he saw as well, so it didn't seem like an unreasonable decision at the time. Unfortunately for United, Kuszczak made a critical error, taking Milan Baros down on a breakaway (one of Portsmouth's only legitimate scoring chances of the game), and received a red card as a result. Defender Rio Ferdinand was forced to replace him in goal, and guessed the right way on the ensuing penalty, but that wasn't enough to stop a terrific blast from Sulley Muntari. Portsmouth then tenaciously hung on for the last few minutes, and in the process booked a place in the final four. It was their first victory at Old Trafford since 1957.
In the aftermath of this shocking debacle, Sir Alex found perhaps the conventional scapegoat: the referee. However, his comments were unusually vitriolic. "It's absolutely ridiculous," Ferguson told the Associated Press. "Managers get sacked because of things like that and he's going to referee a game next week. He's not doing his job properly and he needs to be assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, players are assessed, referees should be assessed properly by the right people. That performance today should not be accepted by our game." It didn't seem quite that bad from my perspective watching it, but there were certainly many things that went uncalled: apparently, you can do anything to superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and get away with it. Good on Ferguson for speaking his mind: those kind of quotes are what us journalists love to hear, as they're far more interesting than the run-of-the-mill 'We gave it our all' stuff. Unfortunately, the FA was not impressed, and there may be a fine in the offing.
The most interesting story of the weekend came from another game, though. League Championship side Barnsley, fresh off a defeat of Liverpool at Anfield, slayed their second giant in a row with a win against Chelsea to put themselves into the semifinals. That's something you don't see every day: Barnsley, a mere four points clear of the Championship relegation zone, knocking off one of the few sides still in the hunt for the Premiership crown. Manager Simon Davey was appropriately at a loss for words as he spoke to the Associated Press. "I'm speechless at the moment," he said. "I can't believe we've really done it. We're in the semifinal of the cup, I've never been to Wembley."
Two more Championship sides also advanced to the Final Four Sunday. West Bromwich Albion beat Bristol Rovers and Cardiff City knocked off Middlesbrough at the Riverside, leaving Portsmouth as the sole Premiership representative in the competition. This is the greatness of the FA Cup: none of these sides could hope to compete with the likes of Manchester United or Chelsea over a long season, but in elimination play, anything can happen. It will be most interesting to see who winds up in the final.
Related: Globesports.com's Ben Knight has a great piece on the upsets, including where all the Premiership teams bowed out.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The new kids on the block
Ben Knight has a great post on his globesports.com blog today about the creation of a Canadian Soccer Federation as perhaps the first step in the drastic overhaul or replacement of the troubled Canadian Soccer Association. I've written pretty extensively on the problems affecting the CSA before, so there's no real point in rehashing that.
As Knight points out, probably the major issue at the root of these troublesome symptoms is the unnecessarily factionalized nature of the decision-makers, particularly on a board where provincial representatives looking out for their own organizations' interests make decisions affecting Canada at a national level. It's as ludicrous as those "Team Canada" missions where the premiers conduct international talks: you can't have provincial officials making decisions that affect an entire country, as they will always be looking after their own constituencies before the good of the entire populace.
Knight also points out that the CSA can't really take too much credit for the various successes Canadian soccer has enjoyed recently: they didn't have much to do with BMO Field or Toronto FC, they mismanaged the wildly successful U-20 World Cup and lost millions despite setting attendance records, and they switched the organizational structure of the men's national team immediately after their Gold Cup success. Thus, any counterpoints they raise about good things they've done need to be looked at through a skeptical lens.
I'm not one to condemn people unilaterally for past mistakes: if the CSA is willing to admit they've screwed up, drastically overhaul their structure and move on to what's best for the national game instead of what's best for their members, I don't mind if they keep the reins of Canadian soccer. Otherwise though, the government needs to wake up to the mismanagement under this regime, kick it out and allow some more capable organization to step into their place. Toronto FC, the Montreal Impact and the Vancouver Whitecaps have already partially stepped into the void with their own talks about growing the game and improving player development: this new CSF sounds like a potential candidate for other roles of the CSA.
Most importantly, the function of managing the national team system needs to be sharply separated from the regulation of the amateur game, and incompetent amateur officials concerned with the preservation of their own fiefdoms should be kept away from the national program with as long a stick as possible. Hopefully, the formation of the CSF will draw more attention to the plight of the CSA and will raise national awareness of the aforementioned issues. Whether this results in the dissolution of the CSA or merely its drastic retooling, this is a positive first step.
Links of the Day:
- Roy MacGregor of the Globe and Mail has one of the best sports features I've read in a long time, looking back at the lessons of the tragic Swift Current bus crash. A great piece of writing overall, and especially relevant given the Bathurst tragedy.
- Sticking with the Globe for the moment, James Mirtle has a nice piece up on the introduction of CIS women's hockey at UQAM.
- Neate Sager on the Jays' decision to offer tickets to Boston and Detroit fans before local ones. I tend to agree with the guys from All Your Base Are Belong To Rios (greatest blog title ever, by the way) on this one: I don't mind them selling tickets that wouldn't normally be sold to fans hungry for the game, but the problem is when these fans get greater privileges than your own supporters.
- Neate has another post over at The CIS Blog (great resource for university sport stuff, by the way) on more statistical incompetence by the OUA (see my volleyball post from last weekend for another example).
- Greg Layson of the Guelph Mercury talks about how exactly Ontario University Athletics screwed up the score (which could be important) on his Big Man on Campus blog. It would be nice if this was a one-off, but my experience with OUA statistics indicates it isn't. Greg has more in a follow-up post, and should have a story on this in Wednesday's Mercury. It's nice that someone with a slightly bigger platform is taking the league to task on getting these things right, as it needs to be done: as James Mirtle wrote in the Globe a little while ago, we don't even know if Andrew Spagrud's going to break the CIS basketball scoring record, as no one knows what it is. That's a bit of a problem for a league's credibility.
- Speaking of campus stuff, Mike has a nice post up on everything from Richard Zednik to Gaels' hockey. A pretty amazing choke-job by Toronto leaves Queen's with a nice first-round bye, even after it looked like they'd blown the division with the Ryerson loss.
- And one final one: a tongue-in-cheek humour piece I put up on my Journal blog about possible reasons the Giants beat the Patriots last Sunday.
As Knight points out, probably the major issue at the root of these troublesome symptoms is the unnecessarily factionalized nature of the decision-makers, particularly on a board where provincial representatives looking out for their own organizations' interests make decisions affecting Canada at a national level. It's as ludicrous as those "Team Canada" missions where the premiers conduct international talks: you can't have provincial officials making decisions that affect an entire country, as they will always be looking after their own constituencies before the good of the entire populace.
Knight also points out that the CSA can't really take too much credit for the various successes Canadian soccer has enjoyed recently: they didn't have much to do with BMO Field or Toronto FC, they mismanaged the wildly successful U-20 World Cup and lost millions despite setting attendance records, and they switched the organizational structure of the men's national team immediately after their Gold Cup success. Thus, any counterpoints they raise about good things they've done need to be looked at through a skeptical lens.
I'm not one to condemn people unilaterally for past mistakes: if the CSA is willing to admit they've screwed up, drastically overhaul their structure and move on to what's best for the national game instead of what's best for their members, I don't mind if they keep the reins of Canadian soccer. Otherwise though, the government needs to wake up to the mismanagement under this regime, kick it out and allow some more capable organization to step into their place. Toronto FC, the Montreal Impact and the Vancouver Whitecaps have already partially stepped into the void with their own talks about growing the game and improving player development: this new CSF sounds like a potential candidate for other roles of the CSA.
Most importantly, the function of managing the national team system needs to be sharply separated from the regulation of the amateur game, and incompetent amateur officials concerned with the preservation of their own fiefdoms should be kept away from the national program with as long a stick as possible. Hopefully, the formation of the CSF will draw more attention to the plight of the CSA and will raise national awareness of the aforementioned issues. Whether this results in the dissolution of the CSA or merely its drastic retooling, this is a positive first step.
Links of the Day:
- Roy MacGregor of the Globe and Mail has one of the best sports features I've read in a long time, looking back at the lessons of the tragic Swift Current bus crash. A great piece of writing overall, and especially relevant given the Bathurst tragedy.
- Sticking with the Globe for the moment, James Mirtle has a nice piece up on the introduction of CIS women's hockey at UQAM.
- Neate Sager on the Jays' decision to offer tickets to Boston and Detroit fans before local ones. I tend to agree with the guys from All Your Base Are Belong To Rios (greatest blog title ever, by the way) on this one: I don't mind them selling tickets that wouldn't normally be sold to fans hungry for the game, but the problem is when these fans get greater privileges than your own supporters.
- Neate has another post over at The CIS Blog (great resource for university sport stuff, by the way) on more statistical incompetence by the OUA (see my volleyball post from last weekend for another example).
- Greg Layson of the Guelph Mercury talks about how exactly Ontario University Athletics screwed up the score (which could be important) on his Big Man on Campus blog. It would be nice if this was a one-off, but my experience with OUA statistics indicates it isn't. Greg has more in a follow-up post, and should have a story on this in Wednesday's Mercury. It's nice that someone with a slightly bigger platform is taking the league to task on getting these things right, as it needs to be done: as James Mirtle wrote in the Globe a little while ago, we don't even know if Andrew Spagrud's going to break the CIS basketball scoring record, as no one knows what it is. That's a bit of a problem for a league's credibility.
- Speaking of campus stuff, Mike has a nice post up on everything from Richard Zednik to Gaels' hockey. A pretty amazing choke-job by Toronto leaves Queen's with a nice first-round bye, even after it looked like they'd blown the division with the Ryerson loss.
- And one final one: a tongue-in-cheek humour piece I put up on my Journal blog about possible reasons the Giants beat the Patriots last Sunday.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Bring on the auditors!
Ben Knight, the Globe and Mail's esteemed soccer writer, had a great post up today about the Canadian Soccer Association refusing to reveal the terms of their settlement with Fred Nykamp (the chief operating officer they lured from Canada Basketball, kept in limbo for several months, and eventually fired before he could start work). If this were any other government-funded organization, people would be up in arms by now: they've been without a full-time president since Colin Linford's resignation, there's no technical director or COO in sight, they somehow managed to lose substantial money on a U-20 World Cup tournament that shattered attendance records, and now they've wasted an undisclosed amount of money on a settlement that wouldn't have been necessary if they hadn't been so inept in the first place.
It's not disputed that Nykamp deserved a substantial settlement for his shoddy treatment at the hands of the CSA: the taxpayers and average soccer players who fund the agency deserve to learn just how much money was wasted by its own incompetence. As Knight pointed out, a full-fledged audit would answer many of the underlying questions about the CSA, show which parts of the organization should be retained and which ones should have been scrapped long ago, and pave the way for the future success of Canadian soccer. This is unlikely to happen at the moment, given the lack of pressure on the CSA, but if enough fans get angry enough, something might be done.
Links of the day: (perhaps inorganic, but after all, the point is to advertise some great work that I don't have time to write full entries about!)
- Neate has an interesting take on the Ray Emery saga, and also caught the Boston Globe perhaps jumping the gun
- CFRC's Tyler King makes a good point about how untrustworthy the OUA is
- In the same vein, James Mirtle has a hilarious story in the Globe about how no one knows the CIS basketball scoring record
- Mirtle also has a nice post up on his blog considering how hockey's changed since the lockout
- A post I wrote over on my Journal blog about the Belgian Olympic Committee banning their athletes from expressing political opinions this summer
It's not disputed that Nykamp deserved a substantial settlement for his shoddy treatment at the hands of the CSA: the taxpayers and average soccer players who fund the agency deserve to learn just how much money was wasted by its own incompetence. As Knight pointed out, a full-fledged audit would answer many of the underlying questions about the CSA, show which parts of the organization should be retained and which ones should have been scrapped long ago, and pave the way for the future success of Canadian soccer. This is unlikely to happen at the moment, given the lack of pressure on the CSA, but if enough fans get angry enough, something might be done.
Links of the day: (perhaps inorganic, but after all, the point is to advertise some great work that I don't have time to write full entries about!)
- Neate has an interesting take on the Ray Emery saga, and also caught the Boston Globe perhaps jumping the gun
- CFRC's Tyler King makes a good point about how untrustworthy the OUA is
- In the same vein, James Mirtle has a hilarious story in the Globe about how no one knows the CIS basketball scoring record
- Mirtle also has a nice post up on his blog considering how hockey's changed since the lockout
- A post I wrote over on my Journal blog about the Belgian Olympic Committee banning their athletes from expressing political opinions this summer
Sunday, January 20, 2008
To Swede, or not to Swede (and if so, which Swede?)
There's lots of discussion going on in Canuck Nation at the moment regarding Hockey Night in Canada panelist Al Strachan's suggestion last night that Mats Sundin may be headed to Vancouver. It's certainly an intriguing notion: the Canucks' major weakness is a lack of deep, consistent scoring, which Sundin would certainly provide. However, given that he's likely to only be a rent-a-player and wind up back in Toronto next season, the question is if he's worth the steep price the Leafs will certainly demand. My thinking is he is, but only if two conditions are met: first, that Vancouver's playing well enough that his addition would be enough to push them over the top into the realm of serious Cup contenders, and second, that the Canucks don't have to mortgage their entire future to grab him.
The first condition seems to be a bit of an iffy proposition at the moment, as the Canucks haven't played consistently lately. After falling behind to Detroit, one of the best teams in the league, they mounted an incredible comeback and only lost in a shootout. However, they then fell 4-3 Saturday to the Los Angeles Kings, one of the worst teams in the league, on Hockey Night in Canada. The Canucks seemed to catch fire later in the game, and easily could have tied it with chances like the one Ryan Kesler had with less than a minute left: however, as Kesler himself said, they never should have been down that far.
"We seemed to be all over them at the beginning, but for us to be down 3-0 to the last-place team in our conference is inexcusable for us," Kesler told Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province.
A positive that can be taken from the game was the Canucks' generation of offensive chances: however, their defensive play that has stood out for most of the year was noticeably absent. They'll need to find a way to get both to click simultaneously, and on a consistent basis, if they want to be a serious contender. Interestingly enough, this condition is necessary for more than one reason: not only do the Canucks need to be able to challenge for the Stanley Cup to have a Sundin trade approach the realms of rationality for the organization, but they'll likely need to be in contention in order to have Sundin consider it, due to his no-trade clause.
On Condition II: it's uncertain what the market would require, so this is hard to discuss at the moment. I would certainly jump at the scenario Sportsnet hockey analyst and former Leaf GM Gord Stellick proposed in Rick Westhead's Jan. 9 Toronto Star article: swapping Sundin straight up for Cory Schneider, Mason Raymond and Taylor Ellington. This is nice because Schneider isn't that incredibly valuable to a Canucks team that will live and die on Roberto Luongo's play (and has also been getting strong backup play from Curtis Sanford). Drew MacIntyre has also shown himself to be a good prospect, and has been actually outplaying Schneider so far this year from what I understand, making Schneider a very expendable prospect (but one the goaltending-troubled Leafs might be interested in). Losing Raymond and Ellington would hurt a bit more, but many would happily give up both for a chance to win the Cup: this scenario also allows the Canucks to retain their draft pick this year, a good move considering that this draft is supposed to be very deep. However, my guess is that John Ferguson Jr. (or his successor) would want more for Mats, including picks.
Perhaps a better option is lurking out there in Peter Forsberg. Zanstrom wrote that Forsberg claims to be completely healthy and might be a possibility for the Canucks. If so, the Canucks would be a great fit for him, due to both Swedish ties and potential to contend. They also have enough cap space (especially if Morrison's injury turns out to be longer-term) to make Forsberg a decent offer. His injury problems notwithstanding, this is a gamble the Canucks should try. If it fails and Foppa gets hurt, all they've lost is a chance to make a run this year, rather than pieces of their future.
Related:
- Alanah's take on the Sundin/Forsberg situation
- Zanstrom's thoughts
Other links of the day:
Hockey
- Tom Benjamin's take on the Toronto situation
- James Mirtle on the records teams will need to get into the playoffs
Soccer
- The always-inspiring Uli Hesse-Lichtenburger of ESPN Soccernet has a great piece on how media oversensationalize even the most routine goals
- Stephen Brunt's take on the possible split between Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr (originally with the great headline "Doomed to Walk Alone")
- Brunt's compatriot Ben Knight of the Globe and Mail on Kevin Keegan's return to Tyneside
- Soccernet has Hicks denying the split
- A piece I wrote for my Journal blog about the Premier League title race
CIS
- Neate Sager has some interesting thoughts over at The CIS Blog about the NCAA situation
- Speaking of the NCAA: my long-in-the-making piece for the Journal on the situation appeared on Friday: I'll have more on it both here and in Tuesday's Journal
- Mark Wacyk of cishoops.ca on U of T's recent win over the Gaels in CIS basketball
- Sager again on his personal blog, talking about the weekend that was in CIS hockey and basketball
Football
- Bill Simmons' always entertaining mailbag and picks
- Brunt again on the Patriots' triumph over San Diego
Baseball
- Sager with Brunt's thoughts on why he didn't submit a Hall of Fame ballot: very interesting stuff. I admire Brunt for taking a stand for what he believes, but as Sager points out, it's a shame he's not voting while far lesser minds are
- Jeff Blair on an interesting clause in Scott Rolen's contract
- Blair's globesports.com colleague Larry Millson has a nice retrospective on John McHale, the former Montreal Expos
president who died Thursday
The first condition seems to be a bit of an iffy proposition at the moment, as the Canucks haven't played consistently lately. After falling behind to Detroit, one of the best teams in the league, they mounted an incredible comeback and only lost in a shootout. However, they then fell 4-3 Saturday to the Los Angeles Kings, one of the worst teams in the league, on Hockey Night in Canada. The Canucks seemed to catch fire later in the game, and easily could have tied it with chances like the one Ryan Kesler had with less than a minute left: however, as Kesler himself said, they never should have been down that far.
"We seemed to be all over them at the beginning, but for us to be down 3-0 to the last-place team in our conference is inexcusable for us," Kesler told Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province.
A positive that can be taken from the game was the Canucks' generation of offensive chances: however, their defensive play that has stood out for most of the year was noticeably absent. They'll need to find a way to get both to click simultaneously, and on a consistent basis, if they want to be a serious contender. Interestingly enough, this condition is necessary for more than one reason: not only do the Canucks need to be able to challenge for the Stanley Cup to have a Sundin trade approach the realms of rationality for the organization, but they'll likely need to be in contention in order to have Sundin consider it, due to his no-trade clause.
On Condition II: it's uncertain what the market would require, so this is hard to discuss at the moment. I would certainly jump at the scenario Sportsnet hockey analyst and former Leaf GM Gord Stellick proposed in Rick Westhead's Jan. 9 Toronto Star article: swapping Sundin straight up for Cory Schneider, Mason Raymond and Taylor Ellington. This is nice because Schneider isn't that incredibly valuable to a Canucks team that will live and die on Roberto Luongo's play (and has also been getting strong backup play from Curtis Sanford). Drew MacIntyre has also shown himself to be a good prospect, and has been actually outplaying Schneider so far this year from what I understand, making Schneider a very expendable prospect (but one the goaltending-troubled Leafs might be interested in). Losing Raymond and Ellington would hurt a bit more, but many would happily give up both for a chance to win the Cup: this scenario also allows the Canucks to retain their draft pick this year, a good move considering that this draft is supposed to be very deep. However, my guess is that John Ferguson Jr. (or his successor) would want more for Mats, including picks.
Perhaps a better option is lurking out there in Peter Forsberg. Zanstrom wrote that Forsberg claims to be completely healthy and might be a possibility for the Canucks. If so, the Canucks would be a great fit for him, due to both Swedish ties and potential to contend. They also have enough cap space (especially if Morrison's injury turns out to be longer-term) to make Forsberg a decent offer. His injury problems notwithstanding, this is a gamble the Canucks should try. If it fails and Foppa gets hurt, all they've lost is a chance to make a run this year, rather than pieces of their future.
Related:
- Alanah's take on the Sundin/Forsberg situation
- Zanstrom's thoughts
Other links of the day:
Hockey
- Tom Benjamin's take on the Toronto situation
- James Mirtle on the records teams will need to get into the playoffs
Soccer
- The always-inspiring Uli Hesse-Lichtenburger of ESPN Soccernet has a great piece on how media oversensationalize even the most routine goals
- Stephen Brunt's take on the possible split between Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr (originally with the great headline "Doomed to Walk Alone")
- Brunt's compatriot Ben Knight of the Globe and Mail on Kevin Keegan's return to Tyneside
- Soccernet has Hicks denying the split
- A piece I wrote for my Journal blog about the Premier League title race
CIS
- Neate Sager has some interesting thoughts over at The CIS Blog about the NCAA situation
- Speaking of the NCAA: my long-in-the-making piece for the Journal on the situation appeared on Friday: I'll have more on it both here and in Tuesday's Journal
- Mark Wacyk of cishoops.ca on U of T's recent win over the Gaels in CIS basketball
- Sager again on his personal blog, talking about the weekend that was in CIS hockey and basketball
Football
- Bill Simmons' always entertaining mailbag and picks
- Brunt again on the Patriots' triumph over San Diego
Baseball
- Sager with Brunt's thoughts on why he didn't submit a Hall of Fame ballot: very interesting stuff. I admire Brunt for taking a stand for what he believes, but as Sager points out, it's a shame he's not voting while far lesser minds are
- Jeff Blair on an interesting clause in Scott Rolen's contract
- Blair's globesports.com colleague Larry Millson has a nice retrospective on John McHale, the former Montreal Expos
president who died Thursday
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Why they still play the games
Last weekend in the NFL was a case in point as to why we still bother to actually play out the games, even in this day and age of intensive statistics, research and computer analysis on sporting events. Against the odds and the collected wisdom of the pundits and prognosticators, two underdogs (the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants) knocked off heavily-favoured teams (the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys). The classic "any given Sunday" line became true again, which is a great thing for both the league and sport in general. Hopefully, this will continue: it will certainly make next week's
games interesting if the Chargers and Giants can at least give the Patriots and Packers a run for their money. All sense, odds, and logical thought again favours the home teams, but as this past week showed, the league can't simply be turned over to the statisticians and computers. It should be a great round of games.
Links of the day:
- Stephen Brunt has a great piece in the Globe and Mail on the Patriots
- Bill Simmons went 3 for 4 straight-up, amazing considering the two underdog wins: he even violated his own rule by taking Eli Manning and the Giants!
- The Vancouver Province's Marc Weber has a great piece on yesterday's decision to allow Canadian schools to apply for NCAA Division II membership (I'll have a story on this in Friday's Queen's Journal).
- James Mirtle weighs in on the NCAA situation on The CIS Blog
- Neate Sager has an interesting angle on how many Canadians are lost to the NCAA already
- Ben Knight on the atrocious current form of Liverpool FC
games interesting if the Chargers and Giants can at least give the Patriots and Packers a run for their money. All sense, odds, and logical thought again favours the home teams, but as this past week showed, the league can't simply be turned over to the statisticians and computers. It should be a great round of games.
Links of the day:
- Stephen Brunt has a great piece in the Globe and Mail on the Patriots
- Bill Simmons went 3 for 4 straight-up, amazing considering the two underdog wins: he even violated his own rule by taking Eli Manning and the Giants!
- The Vancouver Province's Marc Weber has a great piece on yesterday's decision to allow Canadian schools to apply for NCAA Division II membership (I'll have a story on this in Friday's Queen's Journal).
- James Mirtle weighs in on the NCAA situation on The CIS Blog
- Neate Sager has an interesting angle on how many Canadians are lost to the NCAA already
- Ben Knight on the atrocious current form of Liverpool FC
Friday, January 04, 2008
49th Parallel War/Links of the Day
Currently watching the Canada-U.S. showdown at the World Juniors. Good game so far: the first period was a little defensive, but as a Canucks fan, I can hardly complain about that! Canada broke through in the second with a nice goal, and both teams seem to have decided to turn up the offensive pressure as a result. Kyle Turris is having a solid game, and just recorded Canada's second goal on the power play (after the U.S. was called for too many men on the ice) What I find weird about this match is how many, including the Globe's Tim Wharnsby, have labeled the Canadians as underdogs. Sure, they lost once in the group stage this year to a very good Swedish team (who knocked off Russia earlier today to advance to the finals), and came in through a quarterfinal win over Finland, but they've still won the last three world championships, and killed the Russians in the Super Series earlier this year: that deserves a little respect in my books at least. In contrast, the U.S. hasn't accomplished much at this level since their 2004 upset of the Canadians. They have many highly-touted players, but Canada can match them in skill with players like John Tavares and Kyle Turris, and Canada's quotient of hard workers and grinders is second-to-none. The Canadians also realize how important this tournament is to their country, and know they're playing on a national stage: skill guys like Tavares are willing to take whatever role they're given to help the team, while the U.S. philosophy seems to be more about advancing one's own stock and less about the team game. I think that difference in attitude will give Canada enough of an edge to hang on to the lead here and beat the Swedes for the gold.
Also interesting: Canadian starting goaltender Steve Mason got traded right before the game started. Can you imagine that happening at any other tournament?
Links of the Day:
- Alanah's take/open thread on this game
- James Mirtle's thoughts: he also sees the US as favorites
- Wharnsby reports that Canada's set to host the juniors three out of the next four years: should be a nice home-ice advantage
- Zanstorm's review of last night's epic Canucks-Rangers clash
- The Province's Jason Botchford has a nice piece on Ryan Kesler
- Ben Knight has a fascinating column up today: apparently Bayern Munich is trying to lure Jose Mourinho after Ottmar Hitzfeld leaves at the end of the season. That would be something to see!
- Michael Grange has an interesting post on the links between the Raptors and tonight's opponents, the Detroit Pistons
- Bill Simmons' playoff predictions (he also has a cool new column up and some new links)
- Great piece by Dana Kennedy of the Huffington Post on the Tony Parker non-scandal and the woman who started it
- Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a hilarious column picking out the most trite sporting cliches of the year
- Richard Sandomir of the New York Times dissects the problems with Bryant Gumbel's announcing
- The guys at Orland Kurtenblog found a Dan Cloutier mousepad on EBay
Also interesting: Canadian starting goaltender Steve Mason got traded right before the game started. Can you imagine that happening at any other tournament?
Links of the Day:
- Alanah's take/open thread on this game
- James Mirtle's thoughts: he also sees the US as favorites
- Wharnsby reports that Canada's set to host the juniors three out of the next four years: should be a nice home-ice advantage
- Zanstorm's review of last night's epic Canucks-Rangers clash
- The Province's Jason Botchford has a nice piece on Ryan Kesler
- Ben Knight has a fascinating column up today: apparently Bayern Munich is trying to lure Jose Mourinho after Ottmar Hitzfeld leaves at the end of the season. That would be something to see!
- Michael Grange has an interesting post on the links between the Raptors and tonight's opponents, the Detroit Pistons
- Bill Simmons' playoff predictions (he also has a cool new column up and some new links)
- Great piece by Dana Kennedy of the Huffington Post on the Tony Parker non-scandal and the woman who started it
- Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a hilarious column picking out the most trite sporting cliches of the year
- Richard Sandomir of the New York Times dissects the problems with Bryant Gumbel's announcing
- The guys at Orland Kurtenblog found a Dan Cloutier mousepad on EBay
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