May as well promote Fonseca. He picks more dimensional squads and will not ignore the attacking side of the game.
At the end of the day the coach has to wear the result, but I don't think that a new coach is going to take this team to the next level unless their first accomplishment is finding some more scoring touch. This team has some decent players at most positions, but even with its best offensive players on the pitch it has a brutally hard time finding the back of the net. Coaching isn't going to change that. Anyway, thanks for the memories, guys. At least it was sort of respectable for a while, and that's definitely an improvement. See you in four years.
Simply put: football in Canada needs the same overhaul they did in Australia. The Aussies were in the same boat as us at one time, and look what they've become (and look at who's coaching their NT right now!)
This so hard. Time to say goodbye to the De Guzmans, De Ros and Jazics. They did their part but their time is over. I want to see some new blood hit the field from now on. Let the Morgans and the Henrys have their chance now.
Australia has a coherent national program. Canada has a hodge-podge of half-baked provincial programs run by a weird mix of egomaniacs and soccer moms, with the national teams perched on top of the mess and struggling to succeed. That's one reason I don't get too snarky about the coaching. They don't have much to work with in the way of a national system. It's been getting better, but not quickly. The faltering first steps Soccer Canada has taken to reform the sad state of soccer development in Canada need to be followed by more vigorous measures to build a unified national system. Then we can start talking about what Australia, and various other countries, have done.
But overall their system is in much better shape than ours. IIRC, what they did was take developement away from little ethnic based clubs to making it a nationalized system of developement where kids would be serving Austrailia first. That's how they ended up starting the A-League if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure if we'll have our own national league in four years but that would really help. And yes, it's nice to see Holger's doing alright.
That league's semi-pro and only takes place in one province. It's equal to about PDL level soccer. There's also been recent match fixing scandals regarding the league which FIFA is investigating.
I'm just fearful all the following and energy generated by the womens team and canada's qualification up until this point has just been dissipated into non existence...that game at home vs Honduras came back to haunt the team.
Funny thing, the thing I learned today was everything I need to know about Kevin McKenna...... 1). Take a look at the first goal.......at first glance he is beaten in the air for the crucial touch. On second look, he mis-times his jump and is actually on his way down when the Honduran player simply nods it on......then during his half time interview he describes it as "a goal mouth scramble".....a man would have admitted fault and raised his hand. 2). There was no organization in defense, no one pulling them together.....that's the job of a central defender wearing a yellow arm band. Some have asked how the players could get this so wrong and lots did go wrong but I have always doubted his skill (review the tape of the Panama game and be shocked how often the big man is torched in the air)....tonight his leadership should also be the subject of questions. History will show that Canada, again, lost "it" in the hostile Central America......but burying any one of the chances against Honduras @ BMO and this match was a friendly.
That's my point though, how you describe what Canada is like now is what Australia used to be like, now they have a coherent national program because they made the very kind of overhaul that I am suggesting.
Five years ago that would have been justified. I don't see it happening now. Think of how godawful TFC has been, and they aren't playing to an empty stadium (I think their worst attendance this year has been over 14,000) - or shy about ticket prices. If they put together a winning season, they're back in business. Meanwhile franchises in other parts of the country seem to be doing fine. I think the game continues to grow in Canada. The MNT is a work in progress.
As for Hart, it just does not seem clear how he could possibly be managing this team in 2018......so if we are starting over on the pitch we should also be doing that on the sidelines.
Fair enough. It's supposed to be happening, if all the rhetoric is to be believed. Hopefully an 8-1 thrashing by los catrachos will help make the point that more haste is needed.
A good observation. The problem I have with CSL is it does not really serve a purpose, as is. I can handle the relative disorganization of Provincial level clubs, but there has to be more of a nationwide mandate for Canadian youth. Fledgling semi-pros and veteran amateurs dominating level 3, 4 & 5 of the pyramid--which should be prioritized for youth development, isn't doing ourselves any favors. It's great that we have 3 major academies now, but that's good for what, 60 players? We need more high level outlets for promising 16-18 year olds.
Instead of chasing Jonathan De Guzman, Junior Hoilett and Steven Vitoria, why don't we put our efforts into recruiting and naturalizing foreigners that play for Canadian teams in MLS. Camilo, Felipe Martins, Stefan Frei, Milos Kocic. Players that will never play for their birth nation, but bring intangibles that we clearly do not develop in our programs and systems here. Players that would be more than happy to be given an opportunity to play for someone's national team, even if it isn't the place they were born. I'm just saying, if other countries are going to pick off our top talent, when they clearly don't need it, why don't we pick off other countries talent that they'll never call-up and never use. We're a multi-cultural nation, and really it's no different than what we've done with some of our current NT players, except now we're making it a policy that, where there is a talent gap, we pursue players to fill that talent gap. I know you can say "oh it's not as easy as saying *poof* your Canadian, now put on this red jersey and come play for us. But I'm certain there are many candidates on Canadian MLS teams that could add something to our national team program that we aren't getting from our homegrown players and would be intrigued by the opportunity as they haven't played for X nation since U17 or U20, 5 years ago, if at all. And just to use a real world example, Germany, France....in the past and present many NT players who aren't born/raised in those countries, yet star for them. Heck, half of France is really African, be it presently or one generation ago. Got to start somewhere, why not there?
i don't know whether to take those completely seriously, they seem a bit cosmetic. certainly not as rigorous or influential as the 3 MLS programs.
Never been to one, only heard of them. I do recall hearing of a player or two being recruited by both TFC and Man Utd and they opted for Utd's academy though, so there has to be something tangible there...or maybe I'm wrong. One thing I do know is that when I was growing up Carlos Rivas had a pretty rigorous soccer school at Etobicoke Soccer Centre that graduated a bunch of players who went down to South America to play, especially Chile. As far as I know he still runs it and still takes select players abroad to play against real clubs academy teams. Real Madrid is the last place they visited/played if I recall. IMO, we need more coaches like him, who know what it takes to succeed on the national level and implement training and experience that will expose our young players to these situations early. It shouldn't be when your 20 years old your facing a team who doesn't speak English for the first time (if you understand what I'm saying), you should be challenging these players to play against their foreign peers even at 15. Lord knows the European national ice hockey teams do it, even if they get their butts handed to them when they come over here or we go there.
no I think you're right, they're reputable and worthwhile just not on the same level, imo. i'm not really surprised some would opt for Utd over TFC though. interesting about Rivas. it would be nice to see CSA, provincial and regional associations proactively seek out more people like that, legitimate foreign influence.
From what I understand, the academies associated with big name European clubs have very little to do with those clubs beyond the name. Generally, they're just private academies set up by just about any Joe Schmoe here who licenses the name. There's nothing about it that guarantees anything about the quality of the academy, or potential to play for these big name clubs.