Exciting, dynamic young Canadian player going to the 2nd division of France. Need more CPL teams!! The talent is there, they just need chances. 📣 Cavalry FC today announced the league-record transfer of Goteh Ntignee to @FCAnnecy in France’s Ligue 2 for an undisclosed fee. Ntignee will immediately join the French club, initially on loan for the remainder of their 2023/2024 season and subsequently on a permanent basis… pic.twitter.com/RNdfSaTmVl— Cavalry FC (@CPLCavalryFC) August 31, 2023
It’s clear he doesn’t really want to go back to MLS, but it doesn’t really seem he’s had any interest in Europe since he turned down Southampton and Leicester. I imagine he’s a supremely confident guy so he’s not really worried about not doing well in a job and how it might ruin his reputation. While also trying to avoid any clearly bad situations. If Canada didn’t have the financial difficulties they do I could see him being interested in and taking the job. But since they do exist I don’t think he would. But there’s no harm to Canada to asking.
CF Montreal started 6 Quebecois Players on Wednesday. https://onesoccer.ca/a/it-meant-a-l...stment-in-local-talent-with-latest-milestone-
I think this is great. Ironic that CF Montreal has the most local players regularly seeing the pitch of any Canadian MLS team and they invest the least amount of the three MLS teams in their academy setup and don't have their own USL team. Different paths and all that. If Quebec ever gets a CPL team, they'll be wildly talented.
No MLS team has their own USL Championship team currently...... CF Montreal have chosen to enter their reserve side in the Quebec League, rather than MLS Next Pro.
That's what I meant when I said USL. Quebec semi-pro league is a big step down from MLS Next Pro. However Montreal has made use of some CPL loans.
What's the deal with Jonathon David? Wasn't he supposed to be sold for some ridiculous amount of money this summer???
CF Montreal doesn't think its as big of a step down from MLS Next Pro. As their president said previously, this won't be a conversation until their team dominates Ligue 1 Québec which has yet to happen. CS St-Laurent is the strongest team this season while CF Montreal is 5th League 1 Ontario has to be consider the strongest D3 league in the country right now and they are starting pro/rel next year while adding D4 and D5. Have seen TFC 2 and L1O games this season, I don't see much of a difference. On that account, CF Montreal were smart to stay local
Goal of the season so far in the CPL from Luke Singh (Atletico Ottawa) Atletico Ottawa [1] - 1 Cavalry FC - Luke Singh fantastic volley 88'https://t.co/kMgim04RmS— GoalRushHQ (@GoalRushHQ) September 5, 2023
what is the problem with Canada? many many things the first, most important, though, is that all of their players are Canadian
There is no problem. Growing pains at the federation level. [As the US has had over the years as well. Remember when we almost had to use replacement, scab players for 2006 WCQers?] Good progress on the player side. Much of their talent is young and the arrow is pointing upwards. Depth is still an issue as was cruelly exposed at the Gold Cup. [Not that the depth of the US program looked all that great either at the Gold Cup.]
There were a myriad of problems when this thread started. Some of those problems are still around, like their lack of funding. They're in a good spot nowadays, at least on the talent side, and an upward trajectory. You wouldn't have said that back in 2016.
This aged well, LOL Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag ok Bayern LB Alphonso Davies: “Davies is not a great defender.” Alphonso Davies is the best young LB in the world currently….. pic.twitter.com/Hmct1dgRUV— MLS Moves (@MLSMoves) September 20, 2023
Historically (less so with their current roster), a large percentage of their local players were developed in European club academies. Even now they have three players of that description: Piette, Brault-Guillard, and Vilsaint.
He went to Belgium for a year at 18 and it didnt work out. I think the Lille connection is inaccurate. He played his whole youth career at Montreal youth clubs.
Athletic article advocating for Smytniotis as coach https://theathletic.com/4889841/2023/09/22/bobby-smyrniotis-canada-forge/?source=user_shared_article Also says it will be the next general secretary of Canada Soccer who hires the coach and sets the timeline for hiring a general secretary as the end of the year.
So who's coaching Canada for their upcoming Nations League games? It's not like a Copa America spot is on the line of anything....
The CPL final is today in Hamilton with Forge vs Cavalry. Both teams along with Vancouver Whitecaps have qualified for the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup. As of several days ago, more than 10,000 tickets have been sold for the final. In his recent state of the the union address, the CPL Commish advised there will be no expansion next year but they are targeting 2 additional teams in both 2025 and 2026. They are in talks with 15 groups. Additionally he expects to be able to announce within 30 days that "a world class" group is taking control of York United. He says they've learned their lesson on past mistakes. The CMNT is an absolute mess right now as is the entire Canada soccer umbrella. I have serious doubts about beating Jamaica to qualify for the Copa America next year. How quickly we crashed back down to reality after qualifying for the World Cup. However, I'm pleased the CPL seems to have a relative level of stability given how hard it is to run a pro soccer league in this country, especially considering COVID times, even if it has led to serious problems with our national teams players and governing organization. If York United does indeed have new ownership and can execute on turning things around, that will leave Valour FC as the only struggling club left in the CPL. Vancouver had worrisome attendance this year as an expansion club, but we'll see if year 2 gets better (I have my doubts). Frustratingly, the CPL continues to be shut out of Canadian cable tv. I will be very content with life if the CPL manages to get to 10 teams. We need to continue to build the culture. I'm also convinced the Halifax model of expanding into mid-sized Canadian cities is the way to go vs adding more teams in the 3 largest metro areas with MLS competition.
It's really a fascinating question. The CPL is clearly built to be a developmental league. It's low investment, low payroll, and there's not necessarily a clear path to significant change there. And what I mean by that is to rise up takes a huge amount of investment that revenues don't really have a near term path to justify. But at some point, you've got to at least nibble around the edges, like York, right? Because the population is so centered there. The US is somewhat unique in Western countries with how distributed our population is. I think it would actually be for the best that you don't -- a massive superclub in Toronto or something -- if say, TFC actually switched over or left, etc. -- wouldn't really be good for the overall league.
It's tough to get fans in big cities to care about minor league sports teams. I think there should be another team in Southern Ontario (Golden Horsehoe area), just not in the Toronto area.