To all my Canadian brothers and sisters out there,how's it going?If I may I'd like to get your thoughts and feedback on a few things relating to Canadian ball'.I am a big fan of Canadian sport,but I need something to capture me and convince me that the future look's bright for our National men's team in futbol.I have to be honest,I have not really followed our men's team because they have been average at best for so long.Now,that's not to disrespect them,it's just I can't get particularily excited for a squad ranked around 70th in the world.Because of this I have looked elsewhere in the world,and for the past 10 years been a fan of the Mexican National squad. What will it take to make our team better?money,training facilities,the MLS coming to TO.,which there is talk of, to drum up more interest in the game?I mean surely to God,in Toronto alone with so much ethinic diversity,futbol should be supported much,much better than it is at this point in time.And one more thing before I go,why is it that you Westerner's get all the big matches out there?I know there are tons of Toronto hater's out West,but don't we deserve some of those games?We like futbol to,really!
Stop looking at the number of the ranking, and start looking at the quality of up-and-coming players. This is achieved by watching games and obtaining tapes when they're not on TV here.
You could start by supporting Canada over Mexico. I feel that you should always support your home side.
Daniel, I plan on watching whenever the games are on T.V.Like I said,I am not disrespecting the team and I am sure there are quite a few stars on the squad.Players like Lars Hirschfield,Thomaz Radzinski and up and comer Julian de Guzman immediately come to mind.Let's not disquise the fact though that our national teams,men/women don't get neither enough funding,training etc. that the other world class teams do.Also,about the rankings,and I am not being flipent here,do you think that Canada is a better squad than the rankings indicate and should be higher on the totem pole?or is it that big monster Fifa who has it wrong.Just wondering.
It's getting damn hard to support a team that never plays at home and rarely gets on TV when they play.
Amen,To that KrammerHead.Why are the games not more available on the tube here.Not a great way to promote the team,me thinks.
The local sports stations aren't very interested much of the time and the CSA hasn't got enough money to purchase the rights to broadcasts on every occasion. The only reason we got to see the Confederations Cup & 2001 U20 Championship is because the CSA forked out the cash to get Sportsnet to show the matches. With the U19 Women's World Cup last year it was FIFA who paid Sportsnet to show it & the result was the final between the US & Canada got the highest ratings in Sportsnet's history. Instead of that spurring Sportsnet into greater Canadian soccer programming, they've actually done less - they passed on the opportunity to show Canada vs. US (shown instead by a rival digital station that few have access to), and they aren't showing the U17 tourney which starts tomorrow in Victoria B.C., proof that even if a match is held in Canada the networks still might not be interested. The Germany friendly & Gold Cup should be televised this summer, so it will be a nice reminder to people we have a men's team.
Aside from hardcore soccer fans, there probably isn't a big television audience for U-17 soccer, thats why thats not being shown. You can be sure if Canadas mens team ever played a friendly on it's own soil for once, it would be televised.
You are probably right. I remember the 2001 U17 WCQ (in St Louis) were shown on Fox Sports World, but I have no idea what the ratings were like.
As I predicted, the 'closet' Soccer fans are taking interest in Canadian soccer through talk of the MLS.
Wrong. The person who started this thread is not a closet fan, already has an interest in soccer. The question of MLS is only brought up as a passing question. I guess you'd have to live in this country to understand. MLS games don't even make the newspaper here in Vancouver, not much talk or interest in it here. Certianly outside of a few soccer fans on the internet, nobody is talking about Toronto and the MLS.
That's what was said by many about the U19 woman's tournament when it was first announced....and then look what happened. I'm not saying a qualifying tourney would have the same ratings success as finals of a tournament itself, but there would an acceptable audience for it if the networks decided to carry it & promote it properly. But I guess they would have to be paid to do so first.