The Footie Fool » World Cup

Shaky win to start WCQ

The Footie Fool — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 08:59:32 +0000

Yeah, well, my Masters thesis is finished, just in time for another WCQ cycle, so I now have time to do some blogging (as if anyone is still listening to my mindless blather after 2 years of silence).

Well, so we got 3 points tonight against St. Lucia so I guess I should feel happy about that. And I certainly feel happier after watching the second half than the first. After 45 I was thinking we would be lucky to make it out of this minnow group.

I can only think that that Hart started Jazic and Beaulieu-Bourgeault because he is saving his A game of Peters and Klukowski for the “tougher” opposition of Puerto Rico on Tuesday. Not that Jazic is out of place (I still have warm fuzzy memories of him as an integral part of the 2007 Gold Cup squad and he is a steady presence for Chivas) but JBB looked woeful, defending and going forward.

Positives for me. Josh Simpson continues to impress, and I think playing in Turkey has done his game a world of good. He was in play to go back to Germany this fall, but I’m happy he is sticking around in Turkey. Whatever is happening at Manisaspor is doing him good. Interesting to see his best goal of the night coming from the middle as opposed to the left side where I’m used to seeing him. Oh, and Sportsnet – naming DeRo the player of the game ahead of Simpson was just wrong. The guy scored 2 goals and caused problems for St. Lucia all night, and DeRo gets the glory? Bah.

Will Johnson scoring his first goal for Canada. Good for him. I’m a big fan & nice to see him get a goal.

Toisant Ricketts came on with energy and pace. Oh the pace, killing tired St. Lucia legs. Was robbed just before Johnson scored.

Andre Hainault. Tough & made some good tackles. Another young player who is getting better with each outing. With Dejan Jakovic I think we’ll have a decent back line for the future. And with Edgar, I’m thinking we’ll have some depth in the coming years.

Atiba Hitchinson. The real heart of our midfield. Would like to have seen Hart pull him a bit earlier considering his shaky injury status and the rash tackles St. Lucia was unleashing in the second half as they got tired and desperate.

Those were the positives. But lots of negatives.

Lars Hirschfeld. Many years ago, I was a Lars fan. But years of rotting on the bench at sub-par European teams has me reconsidering whether Hirschfeld is the second coming of Greg Sutton – always answers the call, can do a journeymans duty, but chokes at the worst possible time.

DeRo. The man we all love to hate, and tonight I hated him. WTF is he doing taking every friggin corner when every friggin corner was a duff? Do we not have a person who can deliver a ball into the box???? Ahem KLUKOWSKI? I know I shouldn’t be so hard on DeRo – I think he feels the pressure that he has to do EVERYTHING BY HIMSELF when really, if he just relaxed and let those moments come he would be so much easier to like.So many times I think he is a liability as his erratic behaviour must make it so tough to play with him. What the hell is he going to do? Who knows?

JDG. So frustrating to think that his best years were 4 years ago. Oh, how we need the JDG of 2007/08 to show up.

Simeon Jackson. Oh man, if you want to be the guy up front, you gotta finish. Gotta finish.

Iain Hume. Same thing.

How many opportunities did we waste? When we get to the Hex, those opportunities are going to happen once per game, and those are the opportunities that will make the difference between qualifying and having the 2014 campaign end like the 2010, 2006, 2002, etc.

That said, I do take a lot of positives from tonight, and from this round. I’m pretty happy that this new CONCACAF qualifying format gives us the opportunity to play extra games against these smaller clubs so we can fine tune the team and get things right for the rounds that matter later on. Getting a cohesive group of players who know each other will pay off as we move deeper into the qualifying rounds.I’m convinced that the reason we have had problems qualifying over the Hondouras of the world is because the core of our team isn’t playing together week in and week out like many Central American teams are in their domestic leagues. So the more opportunity our players have to play together only helps us even out that Central American advantage.

Okay. Onto Puerto Rico.

It’s all over (but the firing)

The Footie Fool — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:49:27 +0000

The dream for South Africa 2010 is officially over, with Canada dropping a 3-0 decision to Jamaica last night. The CSA blow by blow details are here.

The only small detail left is for Dale Mitchell to be replaced. Please, CSA, instill some confidence in us lowly fans – replace the coach.

Even you have to realize the power in this symbolic gesture. Show us you realize that SOMETHING is broken. Perception is everything, and right now you are being perceived pretty piss poorly, due in no small part to your reluctance to deal with the coaching situation.

The players have obviously lost the confidence of Dale Mitchell. How can we hope to reconcile and rebuild for any other campaign if our key players have no faith in their coach?

You have said it in your strategic plan – World Cup qualifying is a priority for the MNT. Prove it, because right now I do not believe you.

God, this is painful. Oh, wait. I forgot. This is Canadian soccer.

Is anyone going to be able to watch Canada vs Jamaica? Some weak potentials for die hards

The Footie Fool — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:12:41 +0000

Sportsnet has bailed. They won’t be showing Canada vs Jamaica tonight, Neither will the CBC, Setanta, GolTV, TSN or the myriad of other sports networks in this country. I could rant about how this is another example of why we are a third world soccer nation. Regardless of the situation we find ourselves in, this is still a World Cup Qualifying match. For cripes sake, can’t someone stream the bloody thing?

Hello, CSA? You know what? I would PAY to watch the MNT. Yes, I would gladly hand over $10 to watch a game like this. And I am sure many others of us would as well IF you gave us the option. Even if you only get 1000 people in the entire country to watch the stream, that is 10 grand, in your pocket.

Okay, enough said. Onto possible solutions as weak as they are right now.

There is a channel on uStream called Canada vs. Jamaica. I have no idea if this could be a source for the game – the channel is blank right now, but check it out.

Watch this thread on the Reggae Boys forum. It may have some sources.

And here is the thread on the Voyageurs forum. If you find something, please post it, either here in the comments or, preferably, there.

Good luck.

New faces aplenty in the squad for Canada Jamaica WCQ Wednesday

The Footie Fool — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 06:17:36 +0000

The roster has finally been released for Canada’s final World Cup (non) qualifying game against Jamaica. This is a vastly different team than we have seen for the past 2 years with a lot of youth getting the call. Not surprising since we really have nothing left to play for, except pride, and many key players of the squad are out due to injury (Patrice Bernier, Julian de Guzman, Adrian Serioux and Iain Hume) or suspension (Michael Klukowski and Tomasz Radzinski). Oh and then there are Friend, Brennan and DeRosario…oh, wait a sec. Yeah. Guess they won’t be showing up.

Montreal Impact midfielder Sandro Grande gets a deserved cap after a great season with the Impact. And Simeon Jackson gets his first cap, appropriately against Jamaica where his parents and grandparents are from. Last time I saw Jackson play was against the Brazilian U20 team in both Edmonton and Victoria. The Edmonton game was particularly memorable as we beat Brazil 2-1.

Another player I saw in those games that got the call is Will Johnson, although there is a catch. If his MLS side, Real Salt Lake beat the New York Red Bulls tomorrow in their MLS semi-final match then Johnson will be staying behind to help prep for the MLS final.

No Gerba in the lineup has Joe Ross at The Score speculating Mitchell is trying to protect his status as Canada’s #1 international goal scorer. Gerba has 11 in 23 caps to Mitchell’s 19 in 55. Hmmm, Joe maybe onto something. Is this the real reason DeRo didn’t get the call as well, despite the fact that Houston has been dumped from the MLS playoffs. He is sitting at 15.

Atiba Hutchinson looks to be sitting this one out.

All right, so it has been a craptacular qualifying round. But I am still looking forward to the tilt Wednesday night, at least to see some of the young guns in action who may finally break the curse for us in 2014.

Nothing from Sportsnet on whether it will be broadcast, but I won’t hold my breath. Watch the V’s board for internet feeds.

At the very least, I will be looking forward to the end of the night at which point I will raise both my glass and middle finger and salute Dale Mitchell, wishing him adieu and best of luck in the future. Let’s all hope that, come Thursday morning, we are finally done with Dale.

Canada vs Jamaica WCQ and no one really gives a shit

The Footie Fool — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:12:30 +0000

Gawd, this is depressing. Less than a week before this nightmare WCQ campaign ends (Wednesday in Jamaica) and still no roster from the CSA. I guess they are having trouble finding players who will actually don the shirt for the MNT. But some good investigative work perusing club sites by OOT has revealed a few callups.

Meanwhile, I have been in a self imposed soccer cone of silence for the past few weeks as I tried to catch up with normal life. Since I have been gone, a hell of a lot has happened, including a horrible head injury to Iain Hume. Hume took and elbow to the face during a Barnsley game over the weekend and is in serious condition. Best of luck to Iain. If he is half the scrapper off the pitch as he is on it then he should be up and at it soon.

Julian De Guzman is also out injured with a muscle micorupture. Too bad as I am sure he would have enjoyed the trip to Kingston with the team, if he would have even decided to make the trip.

Then there is the whole Rob Friend kerfuffle. Did he get all froofroo over Dale Mitchell and quite the MNT in a huff, or was it all just taken out of context – a bad translation of a German language article? Really, I am having a hard time caring right now.

Will this be on TV? Sportsnet has nothing right now. Canucks are playing on Wednesday night at the same time so I am not holding my breath for coverage.

Let’s just be done.