Canada vs Brazil on Sportsnet and other random notes
Getting ready to hope the ferry to Seattle to catch Canada Brazil tonight at Qwest. Just ahead of the game, here’s a few notes.
First off, great news that Sportsnet will be showing the Canada Brazil game (tape delay) at 10am Eastern Sunday, June 1st. Looks like Soccer Day in Canada will actually be a soccer weekend. CBC is taking a (well deserved) drumming in the Voyageurs forums for not making this game a part of their national Soccer Day in Canada broadcast.
As for the game itself, in addition to missing Kaka due to injury, it also looks like Gilberto Silva and Anderson won’t arrive from England in time for the game. Still, it’s Brazil, who have (in the words of Dale Mitchell in the National Post yesterday) “a conveyer belt of soccer players who can start at the international level”
Lots of Canucks in the press talking about the game. Paul Stalteri is saying that Canada needs to be sharp for the full 90 minutes and is taking inspiration from his great season ending run at Fulham to help that team fight of EPL relegation. The article from the Canadian Press also says 40,000 tickets have been sold for the game.
The CBC website has some lineup speculation, and some quotes from Dale Mitchell and Dwayne DeRosario. The article mentions that Canada has one of the most talented lineups in a long time and that there is an air of confidence to the team these days.
Mitchell also says that the intimidation factor of playing giants like Brazil won’t be huge as many of the Canadians have played against these players before. And DeRosario reiterates what he said earlier in the week. “It’s portrayed as a friendly, but there won’t be anything friendly about it.”
Speaking of DeRo, he and Julian DeGuzman (who has just been named Deportivo’s Player of the Year) are letting fly at the CSA saying the association is not supporting the MNT as much as they need to in order for Canada to qualify for 2010. Not enough international matches, lack of funding and poor transportation and accomodation are some of DeRosario’s points. The Globe’s Ben Knight is calling on more players to do the same.
Okay, I need to run to catch the ferry. If you want to read more, there is quite a bit of buzz in the media about the game. Happy reading and see you in Seattle tonight.
