A Team Canada Thread (again...) [R]

Re: Who Else Was Missing

hey BB99!

thanks for the insights into breanna, and i must agree with you...she doesn't get a whole lot of attention, but she does a solid job in the back and one of the 'unsung heroes' on the team for sure!!

do you often attend husker games???

elaine

ps- i would also like to say that i really respect how john walker is willing to release his players for such int'l games, especially right in the thick of the season with NCAA's coming up. he could hold breanna back, but instead allowed her to come up and play at least one game. i like how nebraska and the canadian program have a pretty good relationship....

 

yup, i know john's history with canada...

i believe he coached at queens before starting the program at nebraska, and yes, i believe tanya franck was one of john's first recruits, although she was playing at arkansas-little rock at the time.

i think he's still "in the loop" in some capacity...at least, the vibe i get lol...i believe a lot of players who went to nebraska from canada did so b/c of john. for example, in izzy's case, she committed to nebraska knowing that john was there, and that would have made her transition much more easier, knowing the coach from various national/provincial camps etc.

from what i read, the story goes that both john and izzy wanted amy walsh to come down to nebraska for her freshman year (the same freshman year as izzy's), but amy had already committed to mcgill, and wanted to honor it. after a year of CIAU ball, and realizing that she couldn't improve in that environment, she looked elsewhere, and remembered her "friends" at nebraska. lol

ooo...and speaking of the husker-canada connection. during world cup 99, at half-time of that awful canada-russia game on espn, they did a "feature" on the canada-husker connection. i have it on tape still, and if ppl would like a "transcript" of the feature, i'd be happy to do it...it's a neat piece, and i throughly enjoyed it. they talked to amy (with her dark brown hair!!! lol), izzy, karina and john. let me know, and i can get it done with no prob... (gives me a good excuse to rewatch it! lol)

elaine

 

missing player..

hey-

i got word that the player missing in the CSA lineup is Randee Hermus, so she played and amy walsh did not. breanna was obviously back with Nebraska...

glad to see that randee got some playing time!

elaine

 

Re: Hey Elaine

i would have to totally agree with that statement BB99...nebraska used to be the "pipeline" for some of canada's brightest talents, but now other major schools are recruiting our best players as well...gives the players more choice. members of the senior squad currently who played for nebraska are: isabelle morneau, sharolta nonen, amy walsh and karina leblanc. (breanna of course too...) tanya franck no longer plays for canada, but she too was a 'husker.

keep us posted on how they're doing!! i've always rooted for nebraska for NCAAs, so i hope they do well in these upcoming games!!

i think canada for sure should qualify for the wwc, unless something gawd-awful happens. as for who will be in the starting lineup, i'm going to go out on a limb and say that for the first three games of group play, i think the roster might not be too "consistent". personally, playing against upstart teams like haiti, jamaica and costa rica in which ANYTHING can happen kinda scares me, not so much of the final outcome, but of players and getting injured etc. coach even *might* play different players at different times. when it comes down to the games that count, i think personnel will depend on what formation coach uses...as the team used last week, they could do a 3-5-2, or a 4-4-3, or even a 4-4-2. different players can play at different spots on those formations, and i think coach is gonna have a tough job selecting who will go where...i am sure that there will be some very talented players sitting on the bench, but that just goes to show how well our depth has improved.

i remember concacf qualifying in 98 here in toronto, when then-coach turnbull played his best 11 players, regardless of what their strong positions were, and hardly went into 1-2 players deep into his bench...

that being said, i look forward to this!!! most of the players are still in BC training on-and-off (not "officially", but they are living in BC for the fall), so that should really benefit team dynamics. next "camp" begins October 20th, and the roster called in for that should be pretty much the one for the Gold Cup.

elaine

ps- fudd, i'll get that transcript done tonight after i get offline. i'll have it posted no later than tomorrow!!

 

canada halftime piece transcript

hey-

i got a headstart on this, so i thought i would just post it now, since i just finished doing it. lol

here's the "transcript" of the halftime feature done during world cup '99...i tried my best to "describe" what you see as this is going on. i believe this was "shot" during the '98-'99 college season...

Abbrv:
G: Guy hosting halftime show.
K: Karina LeBlanc.
I: Isabelle Morneau.
A: Amy Walsh
J: John Walker.

all soundbites from players/coaches are done in a "sit-down" interview with a black screen behind them etc.

~ anything written in b/t these symbols means what is being shown on the screen. ~

G: Now three of the players on the team and Canadian assistant coach John Walker are from the University of Nebraska. We have more now about the Canadian Cornhuskers.

~ shows karina, laughing. ~

K: She gets to interview me?

~ sharolta nonen laughs. ~

A: The viewers want to know why Lincoln?

voice: 1...2...2...

I: I didn't even know where Nebraska was on this map.

A: I started my first year in a University in Canada...

I: That was my dream to come down here.

A: ...and girls were coming out and had never played competitive soccer before...

K: The game is at a higher level in the States

A: ...and I was just horrified.

I: Knowing that John was a Canadian (izzy says canadian with her french accent...canadien...lol) made a big impact on my decision to coming down here.

~ shows the locker room with john writing stuff on the whiteboard, and izzy listening to his talk intently. ~

K: This is my second year, and I've learnt a lot more than I've learnt in all of my years playing soccer.

~ shows some shots from a practice ~

J: Well done Amy.

~ shows amy heading the ball during the practice ~

J: It's really a true high performance environment. When you play a team like a North Carolina or Notre Dame, you're really playing a team that is just as good as the top 10-15 countries in the world.

~ shows team huddle ~

"GO BIG RED!!!" <-- team says this in huddle.

A: The atmosphere is almost cult like. I went from having maybe a dozen fans, half wich was my family. to here where we have like 800 people and close to a thousand a game.

~ shows a clip of amy signing an autograph for a fan. ~

I: Oh, my freshman year was, I think, the hardest, ever, of my life. The hardest year. Cause you come here, you don't know anybody. I didn't have any friends.

~ shows izzy in the locker room sitting on a trainers table icing her shoulder while talking to sharolta, laughing ~

I: Different language, 24 hours I have to think in English. Now i can do anything.

~ smiles and raises her right eyebrow ~

I: I can play the spoons....

~ izzy is trying not to laugh, keeping a straight face...cuts to a shot of her playing the spoons ~

I: i'm pretty good at it!! (laughs)

K: Mentally i've become much stronger. I think that has been through the nat'l program and i've been able to use that experience to this program and i think it has made me a better goalkeeper.

~ shot of karina saving a shot ~

J: Their devlopment here helps the nat'l team as wll. and i really think that if there are good canadian players going to some of the best american schools, then that's going to enhance the canadian nat'l team program without a doubt.

~ shot of sharolta leaving the locker room while putting on her nebraska warm up jacket ~

THE END

it's a really neat piece...enjoyed the insight!

and this whole izzy thing with spoons...i think it's like become a big joke. in her 'questionnaire' for my site (link below...Go BIG RED!!), she lists something fans might not know about her she said: "I can play the spoons!! To entertain Amy Walsh!"

fun stuff...

hope ya'll enjoyed!

elaine

 

hey-

got word that the final "training camp" leading up to the gold cup will start on october 20th. from that camp, coach even will select his 18 player roster.

from what i understood from before, i believe there would be 3 camps leading up to the final one. we've only had two camps thus far, so i think it's quite possible that there might be another camp going on in early october...but the majority of the players are centralized in BC for the last month and will continue to train/practice together even if not under an "official" training camp title...

GO CANADA!!!

elaine

 

gold cup tiks

loma-

you asked about gold cup tiks in victoria...here's the CSA release on it:

http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=911

let us know if you make it to any games!!

was *this* close in being at these games....grrr.....had everything set up and ready to go but something came up!!!!! lol ::: sigh :::

elaine

 

kristina kiss

ok...

this thread needs some life, so i thought i would post something i come across today.

i'm not sure if anybody remembers, but in the old canada thread (before they deleted everything), i mentioned how i found a press release from oaklahoma state university about them signing canadian midfielder kristina kiss for the 2000 ncaa season....but then :: poof :: she never played for them, nada....and i had no clue why.

then natalie mentioned that penn state wanted her to play for them, but that never woked our either...so i'm thinking, what's going on? cause kiss should right now be at the prime of her college/university career, yet she doesn't play for any NCAA school and/or CIAU school (that i know of...lol)

BUT...i found this article today, and it explains EVERYTHING: (from last year)

so knowing that, it makes total sense...what a sticky situation to be in...and since i don't think kiss is playing in any other NCAA school this season, i would assume that OSU still has not fully released her...right? or she'd be in a PSU uniform this year....or maybe they lost interest too?? i also found out that it wasn't until 10 days before preseason for the 2000 ncaa season did kristina inform OSU that she would not be coming...why did she sign a letter of intent with OSU in the first place?? (if she didn't think the team was all that good to begin with....)

who knows??? SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS!!! lol....will try to find out more!!! and like the article said, i think kiss would definitely benefit playing in the US, and can only improve her game...she's coming back from some-type of injury, and i look forward to seeing her at the gold cup! (hopefully! lol... )

hope this makes some sense...

elaine

 

i would have to agree with that!!! so NOT cool!!!!

anywho...i went to the carleton site, and kristina is definitely not on the roster there for soccer, but i would assume that she's studying there or something....will try to find out more!

elaine

 

kristina kiss

hey-

got a small tidbit about kiss for ya'll...

heard from a source that she is in fact studying at carleton (not playing soccer there, though), but is taking this year (or semester) off to train with the team full time.

she, and the rest of the team, is currently in victoria preparing for gold cup.

go canada!

elaine

 

tell me about it!!! and next year will be even more "difficult" with the world cup being held in the fall...i have a feeling that maybe some of the players that are still NCAA-aged might red-shirt the year...just a hunch! lol

also, sportsnet just re-aired the fifa u19 finals of canada vs. usa in their primetime time slot of 7-10pmET...i also caught the brasil vs. canada replay a few days ago, but it was on sportsnet maritimes....nice to see they are replaying the games...maybe building some interest in gold cup coming up soon!

i'm looking forward to the CSA releasing the official roster soon...i think i know who the 18 are, but any official confirmation would be nice...they should release before sunday, as the players will be heading into their final "training camp" starting on the 20th.

elaine

 

i don't believe any colleges will be "holding back" any players this time. while it's understandable for an int'l friendly, world cup qualifying is totally different.

i remember reading an article that had even talking about his depth and choosing a GC roster, and he stated that eventhough some of his younger players are not with the team right now (it was written during/surrounding the aussie series), that they would be with 'em for the GC....

you can only carry 18 players, 2 keepers too...so i'm eager to see the official roster...i'm sure it'll be a good mix of the young and old...can't wait!

elaine

 

sportsnet!

yes-

all games will be on TV, Sportsnet is carrying all of canada's gold cup games LIVE starting with the game on the 30th vs. haiti...

looking forward to it!

elaine

 

ok...

the roster is out, and i'm sad.

there's only 17 players on the roster, with the 18 being named before gold cup....

they are:

• 1 Karina LeBlanc
• 3 Breanna Boyd
• 4 Sasha Andrews
• 5 Andrea Neil
• 6 Sharolta Nonen
• 8 Clare Rustad
• 9 Candace Chapman
• 10 Charmaine Hooper
• 11 Randee Hermus
• 12 Christine Sinclair
• 13 Amy Walsh
• 14 Carmelina Moscato
• 15 Kara Lang
• 16 Brittany Timko
• 17 Silvana Burtini
• 18 Kristina Kiss
• 22 Erin McLeod

so right now, i'm FLIPPING OUT, cause Isabelle Morneau is NOT on that roster, and knowing that she should be, and that the reason why only 17 is on the roster is b/c something must have happened to her...as in she got injured or something....which SUCKS...i'm gonna find out what's going on, and let everyone know...but right now i'm super sad and bumming...i was soooo looking forward to seeing izzy out there!

elaine

ps- miabriover...ugh!!! what did i tell you about my nightmare..it's coming true!!!

PR: http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=932