Hey guys, just came back from a year of school in australia. Damn did they have a good year in football. I don't think there players are THAT much better than ours. They have some EPL players but so do we. i think we have the talent but we just need to get a coach like Guus Hiddink. So to the powers that maybe.....raise some money and try to sign this coach after Russia is done w/ him.
we DID have a great year of football! * First/Second year of our first fully professional league * WC Qualification > Progression to the Round of 16 * Move from OFC to AFC * Qualification for 2006 Asian Cup However, prior to that our football situation was very much the same as yours. Either a crap national league or no national league, players leaving to Europe the second they can, no public interest in the game. Yet just a few weeks ago we had over 50 000 people to a league match. Not a final or anything, just a league match between glamour clubs Sydney and Melbourne. So you can see how far the game has come here. It all came to a super-rich fellow named Frank Lowy (worth around $8 billion) becoming the presiident of our football federation, putting forward the vision and the finances, and the rest is history... But no, you can't have Guus Hiddink, we're hoping to sign him back after he's done with Russia!
The Aussie's should be our model and they have a population of 20 million. We're letting our domestic hockey leagues slip from our grasp, I doubt Canadians are capable to do what the Aussie's do at that speed. Unless someone is willing to speed it up for us; someone with a lot of cash. my 2 cents.
I think when Van and MTL have MLS teams and another Canadian city is trying to get a team, then it will magically pop in to canadians' minds that we should create our own league.
What the hell are you talking about with the domestic hockey leagues remark? Our amateur sports and soccer certainly could use some remodeling but the "if it works, don't fix it" maxim certainly applies to our hockey.
Look at the number of Canadian teams in the NHL, the number of Canadian players in the NHL (decreasing) and the number of Americans being imported into the CHL. We have American teams in the CHL. Our hockey system is great, but for who? That's just the top of the cake. That's another discussion for another time, which I am certainly not going to discuss with you. Take a deep breath and don't turn red, this is bigsoccer.com.
Hey guys! We should have formed a league years ago!We are one hell of a team in the CONCACAF region.We have the potential to become a strong CONCACAF side but we are wasting it as we don't have our own league. I remember when the qualifying campaign for the 2006 world cup started.Most of us thought that we would have reached the Hex, but our campaign collapsed not long after it had started failing to get results on home soil.One of the thing that hurted us so badly was the fact that the chemistry within the team wasn't that good!I'll specify:What kind of chemistry could there be between Paul Stalteri(back then at Werder Bremen who were German champions and Patrick Gervais(Montréal Impact.......).One of the two was playing in a top European league for the best team in that league for the season and the other was playing semi pro for the Impact....The gap between the two was big.And how can you possibly have a good chemistry on a side that is fielding European based players with amateur players??The guys are teamates,yet they' don't know each other very much and since they don't play at the same level,they can't get it together on the pitch. I don't believe that a single club(Toronto FC) will sort out our NT problems. We need a league,our league!.With that, the players will learn to play with/against each other, know each other better(strong points,weaknesses),that's how it should be done! The coach of our NT has to go to Scotland,England,Norway,Germany,Holland etc to see how our players are progressing.If we had a league, he could just watch the players from the stands instead of traveling. Plus,if we had a league, our players would get more playing time and less bench warming time out there.We need to build strong bases as soon as possible!It's 2007 for christ's sake and yet we are still sitting on our laurels getting owned by small countries from Central America(No disrespect intended to the like of Costa Rica,Honduras,Guatemala,El Salvador and co....).It's about time to show what we are truely made of! Peace!
The CSL did not last too long and there is only isolated interested in the USL. The CPSL is the only Canadian League right now, but it is limited to only the GTA, I think. Part of the problem is that our best athletes still prefer other sports, esp Hockey as their are greater avenues for them to pursue their dreams.
just a question, why is canada so poor in sport generally, is it too cold for outdoor sports, because besides ice hockey what is canada good at. I think the pop. is around 30 million, should perform better than what they do
^^ Baseball, Lacrosse, Canadian Football, Curling, Track and Field, Swiming, Basketball, the list goes on and on...
You took too many blows to the head or what? Basketball - MVP last 2 seasons - Cdn. Soccer - England's top player in WC 2006 - Cdn. - Best NCAA player (women) - Cdn - Top 10 youth players in the world - one Cdn there along with Messi, etc. Baseball - MVP of the AL - Cdn Track & Field - 100m kings in 1996 - beat USA in 4X100 in Atlanta Golf - Masters champion a few years ago. And of course we are untouchable in ice hockey. Aussie accomplishments: SFA (acronym typically used when talking about Australian sporting achievements globally). Not the best forum to dis Cdns you doofus. We could sic Jack Bauer on your ass for less.
There has been a fundamental rethinking of Canadian sport in the last few years. The days of being happy with a top ten finish are over. If sports don't produce they lose their gov't funding. Those that produce results get the cash. This was evidenced by the top three medal finish at the Torino Olympics. Canada also had the largest distribution of medals in different disciplines than any other country (maybe Germany also IIRC). So it wasn't like it was only speed skating and Cindy Klassen, who by the way brought home five medals. I could be wrong but didn't Australia naturalize a bunch of former ex Soviet athletes for a quick fix. The "Own the Podium" program has as its goal having Canada be the top medal winner in Vancouver 2010. They also have a "Top Secret" plan where the latest technologies will be used to give the Canadians an edge in their events. This will be also translated to the summer Olympic disciplines as well. It is also remarkable that in baseball while Canada has 21 players in the majors, in the last few years, we have produced an MVP (Justin Morneau), Cy Young (Eric Gagne) and Rookie of the Year (Jason Bay) award winner. It won't be long before our Commonwealth brothers will be learning from us again.
They're constantly one of the better nations at the summer Olympics. I think only the US, Russia and China topped them last time. They've also won the Cricket WC thrice and the Rugby WC twice.
ah.. no Baseball, Lacrosse, Canadian Football, Curling, Track and Field, Swiming, Basketball, the list goes on and on...25 Jan 2007 09:07 PM lacrosse -who cares canadian football - what is that curling - rubbish swimming - we own u basketball - u got one good player, ur team sucks comm. games - we own u olympic games we own u
Heh! sorry but I agree with this guy. He speaks the truth. Australia has a population of only 20 million and they own the US to. Pretty sad, not our fault, blame our government for not giving a shit and funding money like China, Russia, OZ or the US. I hate curling and the CFL and our Canadian BBall National Team does suck. Moaca is right though, we are better disciplined in more sports than most countries. Also our future coming, so you better watch out. Lacrosse rules, buddy! Better than your Aussie Rules The question I have (because I can't remember): Did Australia suck before the 2000 Olympic games or did they do good after investing so much money into their youth systems, sports, stadiums in a bid to dominate after and beyond 2000?
Cricket, rugby, Aussie rules - rubbish - sport played by a few tea-sucking ex-pat infested sunspots. Girlie games for the most part. When you beat the US in the uncontested number 1 draw of the Olympics (100m), then perhaps the Zinc-nosed twats can say they own the US too.
Okay, at first I thought you were truly asking a question but now I see you're just trolling. Do yourself a favour and go ******** a wallaby.
It won't translate to the Summer Games since all the effort had been pushed towards the Winter Games. As well, Canada doesn't have an Institue for Sport like the Australians do. That's been the biggest factor in the success of the latter.
We don't need one, we have our own high performance centres. Essentially the same thing and where is the proof that they won't have budget for summer sports. Fed budgets don't work that way. Alex Baumann didn't come back because he wanted to leave a good program for a lesser one. He came back because of the changes in structure, attitude and thinking. The old Canadian negativity about sports is only offered by those who don't have a clue about what has been going on in recent years. It's go for gold, top ten doesn't cut it anymore.
That goes both ways though, aerez. Look at all of the Canadians in the NCAA. Not just in hockey, but football, basketball, baseball and soccer. NCAA really has footed the bill in a lot of ways in the development of our soccer players, both male and female. Maybe this isn't the case for you, but I do get frustrated when I return to Canada to visit and constantly hear the gripping about things like this regarding Americans without looking at what we Canadians receive from them as well. I am certainly not saying that the USA is above all criticism, but I would like to see a more thoughtful and, frankly, reasonable approach from my fellow Canadians. When I hear CFL people knock the NFL and suggest that they consciously keep Canadian players out of that league, without ever putting forward a shred of evidence, I find it amazing that so many people will not only buy into it, but also ignore Canada's little dirty secret as to the way non-Canadians were viewed and treated up until the early-90s in NHL. For instance, Jim Craig (the USA goalie from the "Miracle On Ice" game) was bullied by teammates because they didn't want an American taking a Canadian's job. And European players, particularly Eastern Europeans, had it tougher. By the way, I'm originally from Canada. I root for Canada and the USA. When both teams play each other I close my eyes and then feel rotten for which ever team loses. My take on the potential for the Canadian national team issue is this: Yes, Canada has approximately 30 million people but the climate isn't condusive for year-round play for ALL 30 million of those people. For instance, you can't really play soccer in Edmonton or Calgary in December in January and probably at least two or three additional months. This does hamper the development of the sport. Also, I think this hurts us in basketball as well because a lot of people don't have year-round access to gyms. As for this Australian-Canadian pissing contest, Australia excels at the Summer Games and Canada at the Winter Games. By the way, soccer is in the Summer Games. Too bad for us, I guess.
Fair enough assessment and this is particularly the strongest case from the American point of view. However, you can also look at it like this. The NCAA is an elite college sport organization which is based from American Universities. Canada also has University Hockey League(s) (Teams) which falls in the same respect with the NCAA. The CHL embodies it's own organization. It's not really affiliated with the NCAA or Canadian Universities. The Americans don't really have a system like Canada does to develop their juniors. The CHL's goal is to advance the best Canadian talent in Canada to a career in the NHL and for the Canadian National Men's Hockey teams. I think, while it's alright to include Americans, foreigners into the system. How much of an influence over the system should they have? Anyway, I really want to stray away from this issue, so I won't bring it up again. It's a highly complicated issue; I'll read what you have to say, but I'm not honestly in the mood begin a discussion on this.
It's hard to compare 2 countries who's sporting interests are at completely oppositte ends of the scale. However, I have been led to believe that per capita Australia is the second best sporting country in the world behind New Zealand and thats not including the dominant sport of Aussie Rules Football.