The Footie Fool

In just a few hours, Canada will hit the turf against Jamaica to kick off the 2009 Gold Cup. While many are not giving the Canucks a spit of a chance of making it very far, I think we are being woefully underestimated.

Despite the notable absences, we have a few young players who, if they come of age, will spark a decent run for us. And I have no doubt that they can. Will Johnson, Dejan Jakovic and André Hainault have all become instant impact players with their MLS teams. Simeon Jackson is riding high these days after scoring a couple of very memorable goals in the past few months. Marcel De Jong has shown with his few starts for the MNT that he has the quality to make some noise for us. So, the potential for one of those players to breakout is certainly there.

Our midfield is anchored by Atiba Hutchinson, who was close to being the Danish Superliga MVP this year and, of course, the in demand Julian de Guzman. If we get the kind of performance from JDG that we got in the 2007 version of this competition, then we’ll do well.

While a third friendly would have been nice, we have had 2 good results (1-0 vs Cyprus and 3-0 vs Guatemala) under Stephen Hart, who knows how to get the best from our squad. Under Hart, we are 7-1-4.

Against Jamaica, we have more than just a shot of winning, despite the outcome of the 2 WCQ meetings we had with the Reggae Boyz (2-2 and 3-0). In the first game in TO, we played well, much better than Jamaica. We just got a bad break, and that set the tone for the rest of the campaign. By the time the return leg in Jamaica rolled around, the player revolt and WCQ dream was over. It’s not going to be that way this time around.

As a warm up, let’s spend a few moments reliving the glory days of 2000. Enjoy.

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Canadian players are on the move this week. First it was Lars Hirschfeld signing with FC Energie Cottbus in Germany. Now it’s David Edgar, Josh Simpson, Chris Pozniak and Kevin Harmse.

After much speculation as to where he would end up, David Edgar has finally left Newcastle and signed a 4 year deal with EPL newcomers Burnley.

As one comment on The Score blog put it, “that’s 1 year in the Prem and 3 in Championship”. Burnley has put in place an aggressive salary cap which puts it squarely in the bottom of the Prem as far as compensation is concerned. While it is great that teams take a stand on ridiculous salaries (yeah, we’re talking about you, Cristiano Ronaldo), you know that Burnley is going to have a tough time attracting a lot of high caliber talent for this season. But who knows. Wigan was able to stay up and do well a few seasons ago under similar circumstances when everyone was expecting them to drop after a season.

One definite plus for Edgar and fans of the Canadian MNT (should he ever get capped) is that it looks like he will be getting first team experience on a regular basis.

Edgar’s agent Barry MacLean told Ontario newspaper The Record:

“I`d say he`s pretty happy. We are looking for him to play regularly at this stage of his career. For him to play regular first-team football is critical for him.”

Meanwhile, Josh Simpson is leaving Kaiserslautern in Germany and joining (Google translate) newly promoted club Manisaspor in Turkey. You have to think after a few games in the Turkish league Josh will be very well equipped to handle playing in harsh conditions, like Central America.

Other Canadian who have made the move to new clubs in the past week include Kevin Harmse from TFC to Chivas. Harmse requested the trade. Moving back to TFC from SPL’s Dundee United is Chris Pozniak.

Still waiting for the big news about Julian de Guzman (and do not believe the TFC rumour) and his fate at Deportivo. That will be the next big move I’ll be expecting.

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• Defender Edgar swaps Newcastle for Burnley (guardian.co.uk)
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• Burnley sign Newcastle United defender Edgar (soccernet.espn.go.com)

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I have such a love/hate relationship with Sportsnet when it comes to their coverage of Canadian soccer. I mean, they do some good things. I like Craig Forrest and they did bring the EPL to regular cable. For that I am happy and grateful. But today my relationship is much more on the hate side.

Just in case you haven’t heard (and despite the glowing headline from the CSA site declaring Sportsnet to Broadcast Canada Gold Cup Matches), Sportsnet will not be showing Canada’ s Gold Cup matches on the main Sportsnet channel. In fact, if you live in British Columbia, you are shit out of luck at any coverage as NONE of the games will be carried on Sportsnet Pacific. Here is the broadcast schedule:

• Canada vs. Jamaica (at Los Angeles) Friday, 3 July @ 8 p.m. (ET)/6 p.m. (MT) Sportsnet Ontario and West
• El Salvador vs. Canada (at Columbus) Tuesday, 7 July @ 9 p.m. (ET)/7 p.m. (MT) Sportsnet East, Ontario and West
• Costa Rica vs. Canada (at Miami) Friday, 10 July @ 7 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (MT) Sportsnet East and West

Soooooo, unless you have a digital package, you’re downloading torrents after the fact or resorting to our regular habit of finding Carribean and Central American web streams from broadcasters in countries that actually care about their national team.

Two things. First, CSA can you please sign with a broadcaster that will actually air these games coast to coast? I mean, you do have some power here.

The second thing, dear CSA, is that I WOULD PAY MONEY TO WATCH THESE GAMES ONLINE. Not sure if you heard that, so let me repeat. If you stream them, I will come. Smiling, with a Visa card in hand. And I suspect I wouldn’t be the only one. Just saying.

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Okay, I don’t know the machinations of international confederation soccer so maybe this type of thing happens all the time and I have never really noticed. But Tuesday’s CONCACAF ruling that allows the US to call 7 more players to their already established Gold Cup squad feels dodgy.

In a nutshell, CONCACAF changed the rules on Tuesday to allow a country that participates in both the Confederations Cup and the Gold Cup to call a roster of 30 players, as opposed to 23. This means that the US, who already had named their 23 man roster, will now be able to call an extra 7 players.

Now, I don’t necessarily have a problem with the ruling (although it does once again highlight why the Gold Cup should be on a 4 year and not 2 year cycle), but I do have a problem with the timing. To make this change less than a week before the start of the Gold Cup when all the rosters have been submitted seems to me to give a distinct advantage to the US. As Lord Bob put it in his tweet yesterday;

Just in from CONCACAF: To make games more exciting, the Americans will start all group stage matches with a 1-0 lead.

One has to wonder why this change was made? Apparently, the US didn’t ask for it. It was just something CONCACAF decided to do. So a roster that last week was missing the likes of Jozy Altidore and Conor Casey has now been bolstered.

Maybe this change has more to do with selling tickets on US soil than with establishing a fair playing field for the competition. When the 23 man US roster released last week many saw it as pretty weak, with only a handful of players having more than 5 caps. Now, in the wake of the US run at the Confederations Cup, soccer has been given a bit of a popularity boost in the US. Interest in the game by the mainstream media has picked up, including a mention last week by Stephen Colbert. So, is the roster boost an opportunity to get a few more “name” players onto the pitch to sell a few more tickets to matches?

But forget the crass commercialization theory. I don’t mind that so much. What I do mind is that this rule change will help the US in the Gold Cup. An advantage has been given to the US, long after all other teams had to have their rosters solidified. Calling players after the fact a few days before the start of the tournament just seems wrong.

So, fine, CONCACAF, go ahead and make the rule change. But could this have not waited until AFTER the Gold Cup?

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Quick note that J at Out of Touch is organizing a Gold Cup goal pool. Pick 2 players from each team and the person who picks with the most goals wins. Cost is $3.

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