The Footie Fool

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 Victory Strategy - Moon the Keeper

The Footie Fool — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:46:23 +0000

Okay, I might be becoming a fan of Serie A because of whacky stuff like this.

Serie A side Catania has come up with a creative way to score from a free kick: block the goalkeeper’s vision by having players drop their shorts down in a wall. It worked on Sunday, as Giuseppe Mascara scored in Sunday’s 3-2 win over Torino. Three Catania players dropped trou and screened Torino goalkeeper Matteo Sereni.

The video is a bit tough to see, and the dropping is pretty subtle, but watch the wall close to the keeper. Gotta be hard to concentrate with that much Italian ass staring you in the face.

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.

Iain Hume online petition

The Footie Fool — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:42:27 +0000

The more I read about Iain Hume’s head injury in Barnsley’s recent game v Sheffield United, the more I realize this is a potentially career ending injury. A cracked skull from a brutal elbow to the head by Chris Morgan.

Barnsley manager Simon Davey visited Iain and said he is now out of the high dependency unit after receiving an operation for his head injury.

“The operation went well but he is very down and very angry. He has a scar that runs from his forehead in the shape of a horseshoe right round to his ear.

There are currently many demands for action to be taken against Chris Morgan, as well as an online petition being circulated asking the police to investigate the matter. So far, over 2100 have signed. If you are a fan of Iain, or are just sick of seeing this kind of deliberate brutality in the game, consider signing this. Let’s hope the event gets investigated fully and some justice is done.

Most videos of the incident have been pulled from YouTube, but here is a (very poor) quality vid of the incident.