Quality of Canadian soccer/football players

[lawrenceterp]

Can someone give me a quick tutorial on the state of Canadian soccer? I was mostly wondering because some Canadian teams will be coming into the MLS (well at least one will be coming anyway). For exmaple, if all the best Canadian players came back to play for Toronto FC, how good would the team be? Would it completely dominate MLS? Would it be the same level as the MLS clubs? Could you stock 2 or 3 MLS teams full of Canadians and have them all be quality club teams? Please be nice to me if I'm asking silly questions here. I honestly have no idea. The only thing I know is Stalteri and DeRo. I believe both are pretty good players.

[feyenoordsoccerfan]

Can someone give me a quick tutorial on the state of Canadian soccer? I was mostly wondering because some Canadian teams will be coming into the MLS (well at least one will be coming anyway). For exmaple, if all the best Canadian players came back to play for Toronto FC, how good would the team be? Would it completely dominate MLS? Would it be the same level as the MLS clubs? Could you stock 2 or 3 MLS teams full of Canadians and have them all be quality club teams? Please be nice to me if I'm asking silly questions here. I honestly have no idea. The only thing I know is Stalteri and DeRo. I believe both are pretty good players.

Probably demolish the competition in the MLS. By the way, anyone knows if Marcel de Jong of Roda JC has a double nationality?

[canada striker]

Heerenveen striker Rob Friend is hoping that Feyenoord starlet Jonathan Guzman will choose to play for Canada instead of opting for Holland, as he is pondering.

"It would be an enourmous loss for Canadian soccer if Jonathan didn’t play for the national team," said the target man.

"The problem is really that many Canadians who play in Europe think in a sporting way – you see this with Owen Hargreaves."

"The boy spent the first 17 years of his life living in Canada, but plays for England," noted Friend.

"I understand that players want to play for the bigger teams, but naturally it is a shame for Canadian soccer."


JDG#2 alone is better than any american player currently (although Beasley vs JDG#2 would be a great battle to check out)

[Daniel from Montréal]

Probably demolish the competition in the MLS. By the way, anyone knows if Marcel de Jong of Roda JC has a double nationality?
He does and we're pissed.

[urtel]

Canada is killing itself, in soccer means, by embracing their multiculturalism.

"Born here, play here"

It doesn't make sense to me. Why fight for a spot on a NT rather than helping an NT that needs all the help it can get with international experience and skill?

[Daniel from Montréal]

Canada is killing itself, in soccer means, by embracing their multiculturalism.

"Born here, play here"

It doesn't make sense to me. Why fight for a spot on a NT rather than helping an NT that needs all the help it can get with international experience and skill?
Not quite in agreement with that, as a lot of people are born in countries that don't have much to do with their allegiance. Canada probably have a couple of players born in other countries (Wil Johnson being one).

The thing with MDJ is that he's essentially Dutch, but decided he'd play for Canada because he could. Now that he might be good enough for his "real" country (he lived in Canada until age 5), he wants out. My problem is with him deciding to play for Canada in the first place if it was a second choice.

[RamR]

What Daniel says is correct in my mind as well. But, how to determine (in a perfect world) where a player should be required to play? It's a really sticky situation but there must be a better solution than the current system. Also, I don't agree that a player's allegiance should come into the equation. If that were the case it would be open too much to interpretation.

Here's an idea for FIFA to consider... which is undoubtedly flawed.

Two requirements that must be met before a player is able to play for a nation alternate to his home nation.

1. The player must qualify for and attain citizenship under the same rules that apply to any other immigrant.

2. The player must have begun playing soccer in that alternate nation before he reached a pre-determined level. Not sure what that level would be but somewhere in the development or youth level seems appropriate.

This prevents players who have been developed by their home nation from having the option of jumping ship because their parents or grandparents were born elsewhere. It would also ensure that soccer is indeed the world game by providing the necessary infrastructure for lesser nations to develop and improve without the fear of their best players being poached (or at least tempted to defect).

[jpg75]

Not quite in agreement with that, as a lot of people are born in countries that don't have much to do with their allegiance. Canada probably have a couple of players born in other countries (Wil Johnson being one).

Will Johnson was born in Toronto while his English parents were teaching at the U of T. They moved back to England shortly after he was born, then they moved to Chicago when Will was 9 to teach at the University of Chicago. Will lived in the US and was part of the U17 residency program at US Soccer before his spell at Blackburn. At this time he was approached by Canada and switched allegiance. Then he moved back to play for the Chicago Sockers U19 with Michael Bradley before joining the Chicago Fire. Will is more American than Canadian...

This is all a fine line, i'm all for the Will Johnsons' of the world choosing Canada, but we have to be careful to not be hypocrites when others poach our top players. Another example is Bircham, now that was a dubious link to Canada! And this Jack Stewart guy who Yallop invited to a B camp, we can't be stealing all these fringe Americans because it makes us look bad. I guess it's all about circumstance, each case is unique. For every Hargreaves who was born and grew up here, there's a De Jong who moved away at a young age. Then there's Fernandes and Vitoria who are just as bad as the Whore...Hughes, probably the same. Adam Street takes the cake though, how do you represent Canada on Saturday and then literally choose England on Wednesday of the same week?

p.s. not picking on you Daniel, just chose your post to make a point...and sorry for the rambling, incoherent post that doesn't make a whole tonne of sense

[ksh1970]

my son started playing in Phoenix AZ, but now we live in a smaller city in Alberta, Canada

what is frustrating about canadian soccer is that it can be so small that politics play in at a frustrating level for advanced teams

in phoenix, if your child is a talented player and doesn't get played, there are many other teams interested in winning who will pick your kid up immediately, here, they have to be good enough to not only make a team, but boot off a player that may have played rep soccer on that team for a number of years

it is inverted in regard to hockey, if a talented player gets booted for political reasons from a rep team, there is always a nearby team interested in nabbing up the talent so the team that may have cut a child for political reasons will simply wind up facing that same talent from another team.... politics still play a part, but winning is important enough that coaches are recitient to cut talent for that reason. i work with some folks who came from england who say the same for soccer in england. cutting talent for politics hurts more there than here....

i think it is just a matter of scale, but what do I know?

world soccer could learn from world hockey, you have to be closely tied to the home country in order to play for that national team, that way canadian hockey does not face the mass talent it cuts from its national team each year through random defections, i admit not knowing all the rules, but the complaints you see in the soccer community about the same subject are not near as common in hockey

(sorry for the ramble, but i found this blog interesting and thought that these thoughts might be of some interest)


ps - don't think i'm a bitter parent either as my son has made all the teams he has tried out for, but i have seen several players get hosed for the aforementioned reasons

[ag futbol]

It’s really not about multiculturalism as much as the CSA’s inability to run a professional organization. It’s not secret in Canada that the national team program is crap. The people in charge of running soccer in Canada are unqualified and disorganized.

Regarding the player quality : Canada produces some good players but the National team isn’t always able to cap them. Also, with the disorganization of the MNT there is not enough training to build a proper squad. I’d also say that few players are the result of our ‘training system’ and are more self developed.

The good news is that with the arrival of MLS and TFC we have a chance to develop more players and get a legit program going. There also seems to be an emergence of clubs investing in Canada (Manu training facility in Oakville as one example).

[BayernFan003]

No offence but if i was a quality soccer player i wouldnt be playing for Canada

[ksh1970]

i know, it kind of stinks, but if i had a child of professional caliber that was recruited in europe or the UK, (which was the case with one of canada's more elite players, but the name has slipped my mind) i'd send him over for training so fast it would make your head spin (if he wanted of course)

[Moaca]

Can't blame the CSA for attitudes like the above. Those wouldn't change with Alex Ferguson in charge. Nuf ced.

[windycity]

JDG#2 alone is better than any american player currently (although Beasley vs JDG#2 would be a great battle to check out)

If he's only slightly better than de Beasely, he has no hope in hell of making Oranje. But he's better than that I think