Out Of Touch

Don't look now, but ...

2009-07-14T12:21:00.005-05:00

THE STEPHEN HART ERA
Date	Opponent	Location	Type	CAN	Opp	Result
09/04/06	Jamaica	Montreal	Friendly	1	0	Win
10/08/06	Jamaica	Kingston	Friendly	1	2	Loss
11/15/06	Hungary	Szekesfehervar	Friendly	0	1	Loss
03/25/07	Bermuda	Hamilton, Ber.	Friendly	3	0	Win
06/01/07	Venezuela	Maracaibo	Friendly	2	2	Draw
06/06/07	Costa Rica	Miami	Gold Cup	2	1	Win
06/09/07	Guadeloupe	Miami	Gold Cup	1	2	Loss
06/11/07	Haiti	Miami	Gold Cup	2	0	Win
06/16/07	Guatemala	Foxboro, MA	Gold Cup	3	0	Win
06/21/07	USA	Chicago	Gold Cup	1	2	Loss
05/30/09	Cyprus	Larnaca	Friendly	1	0	Win
06/30/09	Guatemala	Oxnard, CA	Friendly	3	0	Win
07/03/09	Jamaica	Los Angeles	Gold Cup	1	0	Win
07/07/09	El Salvador	Columbus, OH	Gold Cup	1	0	Win
07/10/09	Costa Rica	Miami	Gold Cup	2	2	Draw
Totals				24	12
		Wins	9
		Draws	2
		Losses	4

Stephen Hart may not be the permanent solution as men's head coach. But he is putting together quite the resumé right now. A fair question: were Dale Mitchell's pre-hiring qualifications for MNT manager (2 qualifications for U20 WC with decent results in the competition, and a miserable 2007 U20 WC after no qualifying) better than Hart's current curriculum vitae?

You can point out that Hart has only been at the helm for friendlies and the less-than-prestigious Gold Cup, but he also wins. Which you couldn't say about Mitchell.

By the by, Hart has now coached exactly as many Canada matches as Mitchell ever did. In those matches, the GF-GA differentials for each: Hart -- 24-12; Mitchell -- 20-25.

Some people have pointed to an improved attacking style of play under Hart, but more impressive has been his ability to organize a back four when given time with the team (Stalteri-Hainault-Hastings-Klukowski at GC 2007; Stalteri-McKenna-Jakovic-Klukowski in GC 2009). Remember that Canada did manage to score in every WCQ game in 2008, but leaked goals all over the place.

I'll say it now: If Stephen Hart is the man in charge at the beginning of the next round of World Cup qualifying (only 3 long years away), I won't necessarily lose my shit.

Gold Cup Goals Pool: After the group stage

2009-07-13T12:30:00.005-05:00

I am returned to civilization, windburnt and sore in the paddling muscles, but otherwise intact. Needless to say, one of my first acts upon returning was to queue up a download of the Canada-Costa Rica match without learning of the result (now old hat for me; leave a post in the comments if you want to acquire this skill).

The weeklong break between the group stage and quarterfinals will allow me (and the headhunter, if he wants to share posting duties for the remainder of the tournament) to stretch out some of my thoughts and numbers.

Entry	Goals
P	11
Kevin Elder	10
Andrew Bates	10
J	9
M@	8

The full details are available in a highly unreadable format here.

After taking an early lead, M@ has stumbled a bit and our grad student friend (and owner of the Radzinski doll) takes the lead. A tight race, to be sure, and unlikely to be decided before the final.

Speaking of the final, it happens to fall on the date upon which I will be making another (work-related) excursion, this time into the semi-wilderness of southwestern Manitoba. If Canada should advance that far, I will be kicking myself harder than usual.

Tomorrow: I'll chime in with some analysis, quantitative and qualitative, of the group stage, and particularly the matches that I actually watched, against El Salvador and Costa Rica.

Hurricane Canada acquires target... Honduras

2009-07-11T23:02:00.011-05:00

Well, I know on the boards around none of us predicted that Canada would come out of the group stages undefeated, and sitting on top of the standings of Group A with 7 points. But look now... that is exactly where we sit at today in the Gold Cup tournament. We have not been in this position since 2000 (remember that year, that year where we won the tournament) and all of a sudden things are looking a little sunny side up.

Calm before the storm

So let's turn this into a storm front or weather related project. I've decided that Canada is like a Hurricane coming into this gold cup and hear me out on why I think this. First off, we had the initial storm that was brewing last year where we failed to qualify for the world cup, after some dubious coaching and in doing so ran a few players off the team. Then it sort of just fizzled away. We had silence, calmness, not much happening for Canadian soccer players in general and in terms of figuring out how to proceed with the men's national team.

Brewing storm

First game in the gold cup and we play a pretty good game against Jamaica and get ourselves a goal in the first half to give ourselves a 1-0 lead. We hang on for the win and gather confidence from the victory and the Team Canada storm has begun to build.

The storm is coming together

Our next game we play the fiesty El Salvador squad, which we play our best game of the round robin, we control the game and this storm gets to form into a tropical cyclone, there is movement.

Finally the big test, versus Costa Rica, we go down quickly when Sutton boots the ball to midfield into the feet of a Costa Rica player, who turns the ball up quickly to the striker, who catches Sutton away from his goal and loops the ball over him as he trips and falls to the ground. We come back and place one of the best crosses in a long time... for a second I thought I was watching the Dutch team cross a ball in, as it was a brilliant cross and a beauty finish to knot the game at 1. Then we score another one and Costa Rica comes back with one more. 2-2 at the end of the 1st half. We keep the score like that to get a draw using a B rated squad. The storm has now fully organized, each member has gotten more comfortable with one another and Hurricane Canada is here.

Hurricane Canada in all its glory

Highlights from the Costa Rica vs Canada Game

So tonight we acquired the target, and it is Honduras. Our vast nation, with plenty of trees and water to dump on Honduras is ready to take the next step and qualify for the semi finals of the Gold Cup.

Target Acquired

The big question in the end is, will anyone be able to see the hurricane coming, or will the boards be up once again around Sportsnet network?

Canada vs Costa Rica Preview

2009-07-10T11:26:00.004-05:00

Concacaf Gold Cup
Canada vs El Salvador (Crew Stadium)

Columbus, Ohio
7 July 2009
7 pm ET / 8 pm CT / 4 pm PT

Live on Rogers Sportsnet.ca
East 8PM Atlantic
West 4 PM Pacific Time
Internet: 24th minute, video feed once found (If you have one, post in comments)

Well tonight is the night where Canada can continue to work on increasing the winning streak that they already have going on. Currently at 4 unbeaten games (take that Dale Mitchell), we can now safely say that Stephen Hart can get more out of his players than Mitchell every did. I would personally like to thank sportsnet to showing the game again only in two zones. I don't care how much you like baseball, sell the bloody rights to either the baseball game or soccer game to someone else to show in that area. It's unbelievable how they can continue to only serve half the public with their shows. That being said, I will not be able to do the liveblog tonight, thank fully I found myself going to watch this two blokes instead.

I promise i will avoid writing about walking 500 hundred miles in my post here, though I am tempted to walk the 500 miles to the sportsnet upper management to give them a good kick in the pants.

Anyways moving on, because of the disaster of a game that was played last night between Mexico and Panama (1-1 score and 4 red cards and a fan throwing contest), we can now officially say Canada has qualified for the quarterfinals. Which has already made this tournament ten times better than our qualification setup for the world cup was. Again it just reminds us that we should be in top 2 of our group when we qualify, or so the Gold Cup tells us.

So tonight we get to determine what place we shall fall, depending on the result, so let's put our prognostic cap on and take a gander at what this may be.

Canada wins tonight or draws: They will finish first in the group. This means they will play the 2nd place opponent in group B (looks to be either Haiti or Honduras), I would suspect it would end up being Honduras as they have the easier last game matchup when they face Grenada, not the easiest of matchups, but one that is do able in terms of getting a victory and moving to the semi finals.

Canada loses by 2 goals and less than what El Salvador makes up against Jamaica: This will push Costa Rica to 1st, Canada to 2nd and El Salvador to 3rd. This would mean we would face 2nd place in group C. Which by the way is a horrible group, Mexico looks terrible and could quite lose to Guadeloupe and set up a 2nd round clash with Canada. While Mexico doesn't look good, i still wouldn't want to face them with a bunch of rabid Mexican fans around. Yes I'm going to give Guadeloupe the win, the scrappy French colony has look liked it wants to win and cause a raucous again, much like 2007.

Canada loses by 2 or more goals, and El Salvador scores a pile: This will drop us to 3rd and give us a nightmarish matchup with the United States. Best to avoid this now and just hope we can meet them in the semi finals and get our revenge from them then.

So really a draw or a win tonight versus Costa Rica would be the best, save the Canadians from worrying too much about the scoreboard in the other game. Finished 2nd would be nice as it would avoid the Americans until the finals, the only team that has looked tough so far. But hey, Canada never likes to do it the easy way.

The matchup issues at hand

I'm just going to go over a couple of points of what might make it trouble for Canada tonight against Costa Rica and leave it like that.

The Turf: For the first time they are going to playing on artificial turf. The players hate it, De Guzman really hates it, and the Costa Rica players practice on this stuff at their facility. Giving them an advantage.
The Fans: The game is in Miami, which will have a very pro Costa Rica crowd out. Though Canada has had to deal with that all tournament, but this may be the loudest it has been yet. Another advantage Costa Rica.
The Players: From Stephen Hart's comments, it seems that their are some injuries at hand in which he will maybe give some players a rest. Again with already being qualified Canada does not have the pressure to go out and get the win... though if they were smart they would go get it, just to keep the wheels turning.
Cards: 4 Canadian players have yellow cards so far, expect them either not play very long, or be very generous with the space they provide Costa Rica tonight. With cards getting wiped at the end of this round robin Canadian players will be extra cautious tonight.

Anyways my prediction for tonight is a draw will take place between the two teams.

If you want more preview information you can always check out this fabulous links
World Cup Canada Blog
Canucks Abroad on Twitter
Voyaguers Website

Just checking in

2009-07-09T10:03:00.004-05:00

I'm back at home base for 24 hours before I head out on another excursion. Time for a few important items:

Gold Cup Goals Pool Standings

Entry	Goals
M@	7
Andrew Bates	6
Kevin Elder	4
P	4
J	4

All of us picked Ali Gerba, so that part was a wash. M@ also had two goals from Romero in El Salvador's win over Costa Rica, and picked 2 of the 6 different Americans to score in the tournament.

Canada in first place in Group A
Awesome. All I saw of the Jamaica match was the one-minute highlight package they showed on Sportsnet which suggested that Canada might not have given a good 90-minute effort. But I managed to download the El Salvador match without learning of the result and was pleased with what I saw.

Canada often tends to play down to the level of their opponents, but against El Salvador they showed that they were a class above. The finishing still needs work, but the midfield display by Julian de Guzman and especially Atiba Hutchinson was dominant. The only players who played a below-average match for Canada, for my money, were Josh Simpson and Greg Sutton.

Because it doesn't get old . . .

Ali Gerba celebrating yet another goal.

I'll be back on Monday with more coverage, a more detailed summary of the goals pool, and hopefully some photos of fish I catch on the weekend.

And again, many thanks to Headhunting Canuck for keeping the place up and running while I'm away.

Canada vs El Salvador Live Blog

2009-07-07T19:30:00.001-05:00

Well click on the link below and join the blog. Bring your best joke, or your drink of choice to the party tonight.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;altcast_code=1485de7617"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Gold Cup Canada vs El Salvador&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Tonight's Beer of the Night

Now the Mill St. Wit Beer is a smooth summer beer and always needs an addition of the following below. Cheers and enjoy the game.

Gold Cup Game 2 Preview

2009-07-07T14:00:00.001-05:00

Concacaf Gold Cup
Canada vs El Salvador (Crew Stadium)

Columbus, Ohio
7 July 2009
9 pm ET / 8 pm CT / 6 pm PT

Live on Rogers Sportsnet.ca
East 10PM Atlantic
Ontario 9 PM
West 6 PM Pacific Time
Internet: Liveblog here, video feed once found (If you have one, post in comments)

Well Canada got themselves a victory to start off these tournament on a strong note and the squad will look to put their best foot forward going into this next match with El Salvador. With El Salvador's win over Costa Rica on Friday night, the two squads expected to do the poorest in the group will face off in a chance to be alone in 1st place and qualified for the next round.

Canada's first game against Jamaica was a well deserved victory, though the play wasn't as clean or offensive as one would have liked to see. The team controlled play at various times, but also broke done a couple of times to allow Jamaica some quality chances. Greg Sutton kept the team in the game early on in the 2nd half, which allowed for Ali Gerba to slot one home for the Canucks for the victory.

Stalteri spoke on Monday with reporters and stated what is needed to be imporved on for tonight's match up versus El Salvador.

"Tactically, we weren't spot on but we were close."

"We will need to maintain possession of the ball, rather than chase the ball defensively as we did a bit too much of that against Jamaica"

Stephen Hart said in practice on Monday that his player are quietly confident group.

"You can see the players are bubbly and enjoying the practices, and for me that's how I judge the mood of everything,"

Canada will be making one roster change for tonight's game against El Salvador as Kevin Harmse is slightly injured and stayed in Los Angeles to work on regaining his match fitness level.

Tonight's matchup will be a battle of the middle field battle, as El Salvador will try to go up the middle against Canada to begin their play. Jamaica tried this last game and was stuck to trying to work the wings and were for the most part slowed down through the middle. Canada will have a destinct height advantage against El Salvador backs and will look to get some quality crosses into the box. Look for Canada to try spring it outside with their 4-3-3 formation and try to get the crosses in.

Canada will need to be careful with their match fitness level, as they still need to play the full 90 minutes, they took a few minutes off in the 2nd half and Stephen Hart noticed it and has addressed it before the matchup tonight against El Salvador, especially since they are an extremely quick squad.
So come join us out of the rain for tonight's matchup against El Salvador... I'll be live blogging it starting around 8:45 EST. We can only hope sportsnet gets over their idea of tape delaying matchups by 5 minutes.

Bringing back the old contest... I have gotten back to the beautiful people idea. This time I did some research, so we have both contestants from the 2008 Miss Universe. You can decide for yourselves what you think.

What they are saying elsewhere on the intraweb.
Sportsnet Preview
World Cup Canada Blog Preview
24th Minute: Interview with Stephen Hart, and de Guzman
Some Canadian Guys: El Salvadorian Straws
The Voyageurs

Liveblog Canada vs Jamaica Gold Cup

2009-07-03T17:30:00.000-05:00

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;amp;amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;amp;amp;altcast_code=d5cb4cf832"&amp;gt;Canada vs Jamaica&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Get your youtube on

2009-07-03T10:59:00.001-05:00

Watch this space.

Top notch coverage of Canada's team at the Gold Cup, and a preview video shot in Winnipeg a stone's throw from my pad by a couple of intrepid reporters.

Gold Cup Game #1 Preview

2009-07-02T20:55:00.006-05:00

Here we go, Canada vs Jamaica, game #1 for Canada in the Gold Cup Round Robin, time to get all the Cool Running jokes out of the way before I continue this post. If you haven't watched Cool Runnings, rent it and watch it, it's what I remember from my childhood as one of my favourite movies of all time to watch. If you have never seen it and don't want to movie ruined, skip the next few sentences. Jamaica doesn't end up winning the gold medal, which makes the story so much more heartfelt than movies like the Mighty Ducks. Now that I've just rehashed that moment out of my head. Here's another little story with regards to the Jamaicans.

I had a professor who taught me, who was in the 1988 Olympics as a bobsledder. He went and told our class how he had been involved in the bobsledding and asked us if we had watched Cool Runnings. Most of us responded with that we had. His response to that; "Well we beat them" , now only because they crashed out but hey, we won't tell the nation of Portugal about that anytime soon.

So let's get into the soccer preview.

Concacaf Gold Cup
Canada vs Jamaica (Home Depot Center)

Carson, California
3 July 2009
8 pm ET / 7 pm CT / 5 pm PT

Live on Rogers Sportsnet.ca
Ontario 8 PM
West 5 PM Pacific Time
Internet: Right here for a liveblog

Stephen Hart gets his troops ready to battle those pesky Jamaicans who have sort of soiled our record against them as of late. We also have a revenge factor to get across here, as the last time we played the Jamaicans... 9 months ago we lost to them 3-0 and were completely knocked out of world cup qualifying. So time to get ourselves some Jamaican patties and get our lucky egg out of underwear and try to get a victory.

Paul Stalteri will be leading the troops into the match, his 75th cap, leading all those who are on the roster this tournament. With the 3-0 victory, all of sudden Canada hopes seem to have been given a big rise, that's if you read the media on sportsnet, tsn and even the score. Ali Gerba will hope to continue his goal scoring ways and finding a knack for the net. While the defense led by J's boy Mike Klukowski will hope to keep the goal sheet clean. Starting goaltending for Canada is unsure at this point, as it's between Sutton and Wagenaar and as of this time no roster updates have been released. Will hope to get them up before the blog starts for the game tomorrow.

Jamaica currently ranked 65th in FIFA rankings, and 5th in the Concacaf region will look to put a beating on Canada who is ranked 92nd and 11th in Concacaf region. They will try get their tournament started much like their world cup group qualifying ended, and that is on a winning streak. Jamaica will have a new coach at the helm as John Barnes has been replaced with Theodore Whitmore.

Jamaica in their two friendlies this month, dispatched Panama 3-2 and the Cayman Islands 4-1 and their young and very local squad is very ready to take on anyone in group A. The Reggae boyz forum seems quite confident that the Canadian squad will be an easy match for them.

Jamaica's Official Gold Cup Squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers- Donovan Ricketts, Dwayne Miller;

Defenders – Ricardo Gardner, Ian Goodison, Claude Davis, Damion Stewart, Tyrone Marshall, Eric Vernan, Rafe Wolfe;

Midfielders – Demar Phillips, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Jermaine Johnson, Jason Morrison, Rodolph Austin, Oneil Thompson;

Forwards – Ricardo Fuller, Luton Shelton, Dane Richards, Nicholas Addlery and Omar Cummings

Courtesy of: The Reggae Boyz

So get ready, get your cowbells out and let's enjoy the ride. Now since I did this last time and J had to remind me, I needed to think of some type of competition between the two nations... I'm avoiding any pagaentry debate this time.

Bob Marley vs Celine Dion

Well this competition has to go to the Jamaicans... only because Bob Marley has a soccer ball and I really wish our top musician was someone other than someone who sang a song for the movie Titanic. Feel free to come up with your own idea and post it into the comments section.

Come back tomorrow for the liveblog, feel free to share your thoughts and bring something cold to drink... I know I for sure will have a beer of choice ready for the match.

What other blogs are saying before the match.
Footie Fool: Backwards Sportsnet
CanadianSoccerBlog: Drink and watch the game at a pub
Canada World Cup Blog: Preview of Game 1 with Predictions

Quick hits

2009-07-02T16:03:00.004-05:00

A few notes before I leave the digital world for a little while:

There are only 3 entries so far in the Gold Cup goals pool. You have until kickoff of Canada's match tomorrow to enter. Follow the link for details.
Canada played Guatemala in a friendly on Tuesday and won 3-0. Headhunting Canuck knocked off the rust and blogged about it. Questions remain about whether it was a full 'A' friendly and whether the 2 goals Ali Gerba scored count toward his already impressive tally. Patrice Bernier scored the other goal.
CONCACAF took the unprecedented decision to allow the USA to declare 7 players in addition to the 23-man roster they had already submitted. Play favourites much?
The Footie Fool is rounding into fine form, with a couple of good rants about the USA roster expansion, as well as Sportsnet's halfhearted coverage of the tournament.

And, to get the blood boiling a bit in advance of tomorrow's match:

Finally, I've blogged on more than one occasion about using the US Open Cup results as a statistical basis in the argument about the relative strength of USL-1 and MLS. MLS teams played in the competition over the last few days.

I don't have time to expand on the implications, but the results from the last two days:
MLS record vs USL-1 sides: 2 wins, 2 draws*, 1 loss

USL-2 sides made a little noise as well
MLS record vs USL-2 sides: 0 wins, 2 losses

* Matches decided by penalties counted as draws

The Guacamole is Served

2009-06-30T23:18:00.004-05:00

Well the keys haven't been given to me yet, but well I decided to add my warm body back into this humble home again. So here we go, let's follow Team Canada, in their attempt to bring respect back to Canadian soccer as they travel into the Gold Cup 2010.

So 3 days before the tournament begins... Canada got themselves an actual friendly to play before the tournament (Cyprus a month ago doesn't count). *Shocking I didn't think they would do this, since they spent the last year avoiding playing soccer*
So last night, or tonight depending on when you are reading this... Canada played Guatemala in a friendly in Oxford, California. Canada defeated the Guatemalans 3-0 in the friendly and will use this victory to build momentum as it goes into the tournament.

Goal scoring for the Canadians was done by Ali Gerba with a pair and Patrice Bernier added another for the squad. Gerba opened the scoring the 4th minute of the match as he used his nogging to put a cross from De Jong into the twine. Both sides had chances in the first half, but neither could convert anymore leaving the score 1-0 at halftime. In the second half Bernier in the 55th minute scored his first international goal with Canada as he slotted one home from the top of box past the keeper low. Gerba scored his second 10 minutes later on a penalty shot after Simeon Jackson was brought down in the box. Canada kept the clean sheet and the score remained 3-0 till the end of the game.

Comment after the game from team Canada man of the match Kevin McKenna

" When we score goals, we score goals as a team. When keep a clean sheet, we keep a clean sheet as a team. We were just a hard unit to beat."

Canada played the game without veterans Dwayne De Rosario, Jim Brennan and Lars Hirschfeld. Even without the big names Canada played a well rugged game with the young bloods showing little fear of being on the pitch.

Starters for Team Canada were, Wagenaar, Stalteri, Jakovic, McKenna, Klukowski, Johnson, de Guzman, Hutchinson, de Jong, Peters and Gerba

Canada's next competition will come in gold cup play when they will face off against Jamaica in their opening match. A preview will be put in place for that before hand, and if I have the time and the tv I will try to lifeblog it as well.
Sources: Sportsnet.ca, Canadasoccer.com, CBC.ca

Cheers, and J... happy camping.

Gold Cup Goals Pool

2009-06-27T16:35:00.011-05:00

ENTRIES TO DATE: 5
POT ($ paid or promised): $15
As of 8 am ct, 3 July 2009.

As promised, readers of this blog will have the opportunity to participate in yet another contest.

This one will be the simplest to date: a total goals pool for players in July's Gold Cup tournament.

The Gold Cup . . . or maybe it's this one:

Here's how it will work:

Download the complete list of players for the upcoming tournament
Select two players from each team
The entry with the most goals scored among its selected players will be the winner. Tiebreaking criteria will be announced at a later date (likely first tiebreaker is that Canada goals would count double).

Prize and how to enter
I can't really afford to keep dipping into my own pocket for these contests, until someone hooks me up with a sweet sponsorship deal. So for this contest, in the true spirit of pools, a cash prize will be offered only if the contest entrants pony up the cash.

So, to enter:

Send me an email with your picks (12 teams x 2 players per team = 24 total)
Use the button below to kick your $3 into the pot via PayPal.

If you don't want to pay to play, you can play for free, but you'll only be eligible for a third of the prize money. If this occurs, one third of the pot would go to the highest placed paid entry, and one third to me for administrative costs.

For those worried I won't pay:

Get over yourself, it's only $3.
Check with my previous contest winners, commenters P and squizz, and they will tell you that I'm good for it.

DEADLINE: Entries must be submitted by kickoff of the first match on 3 July 2009.

Voyageurs Cup wrap-up: Canadian content

2009-06-26T12:21:00.004-05:00

Most patriotic kimono

With our national holiday on the horizon, it seems as good a time as any to get a little more jingoistic with my soccer blogging.

We are currently in a little hiatus between the exciting second edition of the Voyageurs Cup (Nutrilite Canadian Championship) and the biennial Tournament of False Hopes called the Gold Cup.

I'm going to take this time to look back on our little national cup tourney, and specifically the Canadian content contained therein.

Canadian content on the pitch

First, let's take a look back at last year's Canadian content numbers for the tournament:

2008 Voyageurs Cup Canadian Content
*Team*	*CDN Mins*	*Total Mins*	*% CDN*
Vancouver	1962	3960	49.5%
Montreal	1878	3923	47.9%
Toronto	725	3960	18.3%
Totals	4565	11843	*38.5%*

Toronto's measly contribution dragged the overall percentage down significantly. This year, with the additions of Dwayne De Rosario and Adrian Serioux, and the emergence of Nana Attakora, they upped their contribution in a big way.

This year's numbers:

2009 Voyageurs Cup Canadian Content
*Team*	*CDN Mins*	*Total Mins*	*% CDN*
Montreal	1780	3941	45.2%
Vancouver	1595	3960	40.3%
Toronto	1570	3960	39.6%
Totals	4945	11861	*41.7%*

Montreal and, especially, Vancouver slipped a bit in this department, but due to Toronto stepping it up in a big way, the total Canadian content on the pitch nudged up from 38.5% to 41.7% over the first two years of the competition. Here's hoping that trend continues.

Two Canadians played every minute of every game in the tournament: Captain Jim Brennan of Toronto, and fighter-not-lover Charles Gbeke of Vancouver.

Canadians bulging the ol' onion bag

It's important that Canadians feature in the scoring department as well.

Back in 2008, there were 12 goals scored in the competition. Of those 12, either 1 or 3 were scored by Canadian players, depending on whether you count Eddy Sebrango as Canadian or not. He had 2 goals, while Martin Nash was the only bona fide Canadian to score. So call it 9% or 25%, based on your own preference.

This year's goal scoring list featured a number of red and white goal scorers. All the goals from the 2009 competition:

TOP SCORERS
Player	Team	Goals
Dwayne de Rosario	Toronto	3
Ansu Toure	Vancouver	2
Amado Guevara	Toronto	2
Chad Barrett	Toronto	2
Kevin Harmse	Toronto	1
Marcus Haber	Vancouver	1
Charles Gbeke	Vancouver	1
Ethan Gage	Vancouver	1
Tony Donatelli	Montreal	1

Of the 14 total goals, half were scored by Canadian talent (De Rosario x 3, Harmse, Haber, Gbeke, Gage).

A bump from 25% to 50% is nothing to sneeze at.

If you're the kind of person that likes following this Canadian content stuff, pay attention to the sidebar, where I've been tracking the Canadian content for our pro teams in every game this season. The Whitecaps, just like they were last year, are the 'most Canadian' side so far in '09.

Help wanted

2009-06-24T20:37:00.002-05:00

I'll be out of blogging range from July 3 - July 12 or so, which rather inconveniently coincides with the entire group stage of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. By the time I emerge from the wilderness, Canada could be out.

I'm looking for someone to keep my readers apprised of events, by blogging the matches and any important news and notes pre- and post-match. Headhunting canuck, since you've filled in before, I'm looking in your direction, but others are welcome. Drop me a line if you're interested.

Also, stay tuned for a new contest. It will be Gold Cup related.

Canada roster for Gold Cup

2009-06-22T13:46:00.004-05:00

The Gold Cup website published 30-man preliminary rosters for the tournament last week, including one for Canada. I didn't make much of that, as these lineups in the past haven't always had a lot to do with the squads that are actually sent to the tournament.

Today, the CSA announced the 23-man roster that will get together leading up to the Gold Cup.

The players:

#	Player	Pos.	Team	League
1	Greg Sutton	GK	unattached	n/a
2	Adrian Cann	D	Esbjerg fB	Denmark
3	Mike Klukowski	D/M	Club Brugge	Belgium
4	Andre Hainault	D	Houston Dynamo	MLS
5	Kevin McKenna	D/F	1. FC Köln	Germany
6	Julian De Guzman	M	Deportivo La Coruna	Spain
7	Paul Stalteri	D/M	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Germany
8	Marcel de Jong	M	Roda JC	Netherlands
9	Ali Gerba	F	unattached	n/a
10	Will Johnson	M/F	Real Salt Lake	MLS
11	Richard Hastings	D	Inverness CT	Scotland
12	Issey Nakajima-Farran	M	FC Nordsjælland	Denmark
13	Atiba Hutchinson	D/M	FC København	Denmark
14	Dejan Jakovic	D	DC United	MLS
15	Josh Simpson	M/F	FC Kaiserslautern	Germany
16	Simeon Jackson	F	Gillingham FC	England
17	Jaime Peters	D/M	Ipswich Town FC	England
18	Josh Wagenaar	GK	Yeovil Town	England
19	Kevin Harmse	D/M	Toronto FC	MLS
20	Patrice Bernier	M	FC Nordsjælland	Denmark
21	Chris Pozniak	M	Dundee FC	Scotland
22	Kenny Stamatopoulos	GK	FC Lyn Oslo	Norway
23	Charles Gbeke	F	Vancouver Whitecaps	USL

By country/league: Denmark-4; MLS-4'; Germany-3; England-3; Scotland-2; unattached-2; Spain, Belgium, Netherlands-1 each.

The 2 unattached players shouldn't be the cause for too much alarm. Ali Gerba looks to be signing with Toronto soon and has the best strike rate of anyone for Canada. And Greg Sutton, while no great shakes, is a reasonable performer and should catch on somewhere in North America soon.

The most notable omission from the squad, for me, is keeper Lars Hirschfeld. He's looking for work right now. If he is looking to catch on in a place like Germany, as has been rumoured, it is probably wise to skip out on the tournament. Other Germany-based players, including Daniel Imhof and Nik Ledgerwood, as well as the injured Rob Friend and David Hoilett (if he feels Canadian) may have chosen preseason training ahead of this tournament.

The last 5 names on the list do nothing to excite me, so lets hope they remain depth players and not key starters in a Gold Cup run.

Caps and goals

#	Player	Caps
7	Paul Stalteri	73
11	Richard Hastings	54
13	Atiba Hutchinson	40
5	Kevin McKenna	39
6	Julian De Guzman	36
20	Patrice Bernier	36
21	Chris Pozniak	24
9	Ali Gerba	23
3	Mike Klukowski	20
15	Josh Simpson	19
12	Issey Nakajima-Farran	17
17	Jaime Peters	16
4	Andre Hainault	14
1	Greg Sutton	11
19	Kevin Harmse	9
8	Marcel de Jong	7
2	Adrian Cann	5
22	Kenny Stamatopoulos	5
10	Will Johnson	5
23	Charles Gbeke	3
14	Dejan Jakovic	1
16	Simeon Jackson	1
18	Josh Wagenaar	1
	*Total*	*459*
	*Average*	*19.96*

#	Player	Goals
9	Ali Gerba	11
5	Kevin McKenna	9
7	Paul Stalteri	7
6	Julian De Guzman	4
13	Atiba Hutchinson	2
16	Simeon Jackson	1
11	Richard Hastings	1
12	Issey Nakajima-Farran	1
17	Jaime Peters	1
4	Andre Hainault	1
18	Josh Wagenaar	0
22	Kenny Stamatopoulos	0
23	Charles Gbeke	0
19	Kevin Harmse	0
20	Patrice Bernier	0
21	Chris Pozniak	0
15	Josh Simpson	0
3	Mike Klukowski	0
2	Adrian Cann	0
1	Greg Sutton	0
14	Dejan Jakovic	0
10	Will Johnson	0
8	Marcel de Jong	0
	*Total*	38
	*Average*	*1.65*

A welcome announcement would be some sort of friendly before the tournament kicks off in less than two weeks, but I suppose that is unlikely.

Nutrilite Canadian Championship Pool winner is . . .

2009-06-19T16:13:00.003-05:00

Just like the real NCC / Voyageurs Cup final, the pool had to be decided my a tie-breaker. It feels wrong somehow.

These were the tie-breaking criteria that I listed a while back:
Pool winner will be determined by:

1. Smallest total goal difference between predicted and actual results.
If there is a tie based on #1, the following criteria will be applied in order.
2. Total number of correctly predicted results.
3. Entry correctly predicts champion based on predicted match results.
4. Earliest entry.

We had a tie after #1 between M@, squizz, and Lucky Strike.

That's when the remaining metrics had to be applied.

Unfortunately, I was a bit ambiguous about tie-breaker #2. "Correctly predicted results" could just as easily mean "correctly predicted exact score" as "correctly predicted winning team of each match". Fortunately, this error turned out not to be fatal.

Here's how it all worked out:

Entry	Number of exact scorelines	Number of correct results	Winner as determined by predicted scores
M@	2	3	VAN
squizz	2	3	TOR
Lucky Strike	2	3	TOR

In other words, under either interpretation of tie-breaker #2, we still had a 3-way tie. After #3 was applied, M@ was eliminated, and we were left with two entries.

Tie-breaker #4, our version of the coin flip, means that our winner is squizz, of some canadian guys . . .

The prize as initially announced was a Canada scarf from the CSA shop, or any other item from that store of equal or lesser value. So, squizz, drop me an email, or heck, make a post on your blog with your choice of prize.

Voyageurs Cup Matchday 6 Report

2009-06-19T10:06:00.004-05:00

Just the facts:

Scoring Summary:
TFC 0 Montreal 1, Donatelli 24'
TFC 1 Montreal 1 De Rosario 29'
TFC 2 Montreal 1 De Rosario 39'
TFC 3 Montreal 1 De Rosario 49'
TFC 4 Montreal 1 Guevara 69'
TFC 5 Montreal 1 Barrett 83'
TFC 6 Montreal 1 Guevara 90'

Montreal Impact
Srdjan Djekanovic, Stephen deRoux, Simon Gatti, Elkana Mayard, Kevin Sakuda, Leonardo Di Lorenzo, Tony Donatelli (Felix Brilliant 65), Joey Gjertsen, David Testo (Stefano Pesoli 50), Peter Byers, Pierre-Rudolph Mayard (Rocco Placentino 71)

Toronto FC
Stefan Frei, Nana Attakora (Fuad Ibrahim 80), Adrian Serioux (Marco Velez 64), Nick Garcia, Jim Brennan, Sam Cronin, Carl Robinson, Amado Guveara, Pablo Vitti (Chad Barrett 45), Danny Dichio, Dwayne De Rosario

Stupid headline: TFC steals title with six-pack of goals
Because anything that comes in sixes can only be delivered in a six-pack . . .

Obligatory ~~goal~~ trophy celebration photo(s):
I'll have to have one photo stand in for 7 as I can't be bothered to collect them all.

Two paragraph analysis
Shameful.

That is the only word I can use to describe Montreal's lineup choices and level of effort after the first half. A team like Toronto FC should expect to beat an Impact B- squad 6-1. And while the Impact side was depleted, there were plenty of better options on the bench than plenty of the names that started. If all bodies were available, don't you think a line up of Jordan, Braz, Pizzolitto, Pesoli, Jocqueviel, Placentino, Grande, Leduc, Brillant, Sebrango and Brown would have beaten the XI that started tonight? Heck, that group might have won 6-1 as well.

Credit to Toronto FC for giving an honest effort. The exact opposite applies to Montreal, who brought shame to the competition. Dishonourable mention to the tiebreaking criteria that rewards total goal difference before head-to-head goal difference.

One (or two) sentence thoughts

Dwayne de Rosario was named tournament MVP. That seems a bit too much reward for really only showing up for one of the matches, but I can't think of anybody else that deserved it.
Not only did the Impact drop the ball for this game, but so did the Montreal crowd. I know it was a (theoretically) meaningless match and it was raining, but still.
Kevin Sakuda is the worst player getting significant minutes on a Canadian pro team. He was in large part responsible for at least 3 of the Toronto goals.
While there is no excusing Montreal's defense, they could easily have had 3 goals, which would have made it a different story.
I'm not happy about the result, but I can't imagine how the Whitecaps feel. There were some team officials at Saputo last night (the Whitecaps play the Impact on Saturday) and I wouldn't want to feel what they would have been going through. I hope Vancouver lays a beating on Montreal on Saturday.

Canadian content report
Not a lot of Canadian content in this match. The total minutes were second lowest of the matches in the tournament.

MONTREAL IMPACT
Srdjan Djekanovic	90
Simon Gatti	90
Elkana Mayard	90
Felix Brillant	25
Pierre-Rudolph Mayard	71
Rocco Placentino	19
Total Mins	385

TORONTO FC
Nana Attakora	80
Adrian Serioux	64
Jim Brennan	90
Dwayne De Rosario	90
Total Mins	324

The pool report
Just like last week, it seems like few people saw this result coming, or at least didn't see it 2 months ago. A few people predicted a 2-1 TFC victory, which is the closest anyone got to the correct result.

So not only did Montreal's bending over for Toronto bring shame to the competition, it also turned the standings of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship Pool into a real clusterfuck.

There is a three way tie for first, and now I will have to return to my stupid and arbitrary tiebreaking criteria, just like the big boys did.

I'll have a post later in the day to congratulate the winner, whoever that might turn out to be.

MATCHDAY 6
Difference	Entries
10	M@, squizz, Lucky Strike
11	Nuvinho
12	Kevin Elder, zeelew, Kevin Rollins, Joe Soccer Fan, 3Lion Roar
13	J, Rob, Elvis, Serie_AHH
14	P, dyslexic nam, Joe Ross, maxg, Phil D, Simon B, Scott Hegedus
15	Duane Rollins, coxon
16	Dan
17	Lord Bob, nobuzz
18	Sam, Headhunting Canuck, vweyonlah
19	Matt John Gregg

Tables

STANDINGS
Team	W	D	L	Pts
Toronto FC***	3	0	1	9
Vancouver Whitecaps	3	0	1	4
Montreal Impact	0	0	4	0

*** Toronto wins on total goal difference, +5 to +4.

TOP SCORERS
Player	Team	Goals
Dwayne de Rosario	Toronto	3
Ansu Toure	Vancouver	2
Amado Guevara	Toronto	2
Chad Barrett	Toronto	2
Kevin Harmse	Toronto	1
Marcus Haber	Vancouver	1
Charles Gbeke	Vancouver	1
Ethan Gage	Vancouver	1
Tony Donatelli	Montreal	1

Final word: Congratulations to Toronto for winning the tournament. As long as this is a competition between an MLS side and two teams from the inferior USL-1 loop, TFC should be winning at least once every 2 years. They did what they needed to do.

Montreal's approach to this final match needs to be looked at, and hopefully we see a rule change (ie: tiebreaking rules) in the future so such a situation can be avoided.

The next step for Toronto is a home-and-away qualifying series against the Puerto Rico Islanders, which won't be easy. I'm not a big TFC guy, but I'll definitely be hoping for Toronto to advance at least as far as Montreal did, and would love to see a crowd of 50,000 cheering on the Reds at Rogers Centre in the dead of winter.

Voyageurs Cup: Toronto - Montreal live blog

2009-06-18T18:30:00.022-05:00

NUTRILITE CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHDAY 6

TORONTO FC @ MONTREAL IMPACT

18 June 2009

Stade Saputo, Montreal, QC
8 pm et / 7 pm ct / 5 pm pt

Live on Rogers Sportsnet
French online stream at Radio Canada Sports

The Impact site's match tracker has the lineups, though they list 12 players for Montreal. They might need to resort to such a strategy, considering the depletion of their lineup due to injury, especially at the back.

I'll list all 12 players until a more correct lineup appears, here or elsewhere, closer to game time.

TORONTO: Stefan Frei, Jim Brennan, Nick Garcia, Adrian Serioux, Nana Attakora-Gyan, Sam Cronin, Dwayne De Rosario, Amado Guevara, Carl Robinson, Danny Dichio, Pablo Vitti

MONTREAL: Srdjan Djekanovic, Stephen de Roux, Simon Gatti, Elkana Mayard, Kevin Sakuda, Leonardi di Lorenzo, Tony Donatelli, Joey Gjertsen, David Testo, Peter Byers, ~~Alen Marcina~~, Pierre-Rudolph Mayard

Key players for Montreal dressed, but not starting: Stefano Pesoli (returning from injury), Sandro Grande, Rocco Placentino, Roberto Brown. The three players listed as forwards (attaquants) haven't played a lot this year.

The French announcers, quite rightly, are describing this match as a battle between a Toronto A team and a Montreal B team.

Toronto are starting in a 3-5-2 alignment. Montreal have Kevin Sakuda partnering Elkana Mayard in the centre of defense. Expect me to be hard on Sakuda throughout the match.

5th minute: In the first bit of the match, it's been fairly even. Di Lorenzo shot over the bar on the only half-chance so far.

11th: Still not too much happening. De Rosario got a yellow card, and Dichio missed a header. For a team that needs 4 goals, Toronto isn't showing a lot going forward quite yet.

17th: Toronto had a good chance after a De Roux giveaway, but couldn't score. De Roux is the other Montreal player I don't like but I'm starting to come around on him.

PENALTY . . . to MONTREAL. And Donatelli scores. 1-0 IMPACT in the 24th minute.

If Toronto's strategy was to score once in each quarter of the match, they failed to do so in the first 22:30 as well.

28th: Just as Montreal scored in the aftermath of a corner, Toronto gets one back the same way. Dwayne De Rosario finished with a nice bicycle kick after Kevin Sakuda (of course) looked the wrong way.

Toronto still don't look like a team that are going to score 5 goals tonight.

36th: Sakuda is having a howler out there. He can't play with Dichio. If Pesoli is at all healthy, he needs to replace him at half time. Elkana Mayard, on the other hand, looks excellent.

40th: 2-1 Toronto. Dwayne De Rosario again. A deflected shot, and Stephen de Roux didn't do nearly well enough on the play. Nervous time begins already.

44th: These announcers have lost it. They are claiming that De Rosario is the best Canadian player, ahead of even De Guzman. Hint: he's not. Not even that close.

HALF TIME: 2-1 Toronto.

Some thoughts:

2-1 is a fair scoreline. Toronto has had the better of possession and territorial play, and obviously they have the two goals. They have wasted more chance, while there has been a roughly equal number of missed close opportunities, including a nice FK whipped in by Pierre-Rudolph Mayard.
It looks like the title of douche-iest TFC player will be passed from Jim Brennan to newcomer Nick Garcia. I haven't seen as many Montreal games, but of the guys on the field tonight, I'd go with David Testo.
I don't want to be making excuses for Montreal, but if Toronto's best 3 or 4 defenders were out, what would their back line look like?
Nice to finally see Dwayne De Rosario show something.
Pablo Vitti has contributed his usual useless dribbling to the first half.
TFC diehards may want to beat me to death with a tire iron for saying it, but Dichio's finishing this half has been Chad Barrett-esque.

Now a break to stretch my legs, as I've been crouched in front of my computer, which is sitting on an air conditioning grate to keep from overheating. Still, almost 6 years from a notebook, which is a good long life.

51st: Rejoined in progress . . . and it's 3-1 for Toronto. Not sure who scored. Thank fuck, from Montreal's perspective, that Pesoli is on for Testo, and will be taking Sakuda's spot in the centre of defense.

The third Toronto goal was also from De Rosario. Nice game for him.

54th: Not for the first time in the game, the striker Mayard shoots instead of making the pass. Had he gotten the ball through to Byers it would have been an easy goal that only Chad Barrett could have missed.

Speaking of Chad Barrett, he is in the game. For Dichio, perhaps? Seems a strange move if the objective is to score goals.

Barrett came on for Vitti I think. Not much of a difference there.

63rd: Another great scoring scramble chance for Toronto after yet another mistake by Kevin Sakuda.

Adrian Serioux is off for Marco Velez, which can only mean that Adrian is injured, as Velez is utter shit.

Great chance at the other end as De Roux, Mayard and Byers get together. Frei made a good save, as he did earlier on a Mayard breakaway. Match could easily be 3-3 or 4-3 or some other ungodly score by now.

Felix Brillant has come on now, for Gjertsen I think.

67th: Toronto had a 1-on-1 break against Djekanovic, but Impact fans are thanking their lucky stars that is was Barrett that took the shot. Srdjan made a nice kick save.

But shit, Amado Guevara scores on a nice FK, and it is 4-1 Toronto.

83rd: Toronto scores. What a joke of a match. I'm out.

Thank you Marc Dos Santos for disgracing the competition with this ridiculous lineup.

I'm back

2009-06-18T17:30:00.004-05:00

No, I wasn't dead. Instead, the reason for my week-long hiatus is that I was rocking the Canadian shield as only I know how, and paying the price by sleeping it off for a few days.

Le bouclier canadien

For my triumphal return to soccer blogging, I may conduct a live blog of tonight's final Voyageurs Cup / Nutrilite Canadian Championship match at Stade Saputo between the Impact and Toronto FC. This will happen, unless my shit computer overheats trying to handle blogging and a live stream.

In case you've been out of the loop lately, the only result that keeps Vancouver from winning the title is a Toronto victory by 4 or more goals.

Preview: Impact short-handed for tilt with TFC

Prévue: Match batard ce soir au stade Saputo

Voulez vous bloguer avec moi?

2009-06-09T18:04:00.003-05:00

Footballer, blogger, lover.

Patrice Bernier, occasional national team midfielder, has apparently joined the ranks of the bloggers. Or something like it.

A guide for Patrice

If you haven't been frequenting the Radio Canada soccer page over the last month or so, you may have missed the fact that Bernier now writes a (roughly) weekly blog-ish column on a variety of soccer-related topics.

Click on the links if you are fluent in the language of love (French):

28 mai 2009: On est encore le Canada -- Bernier's take on the reasons that Canada isn't involved in the final bit of qualifying for South Africa. Lack of resources for preparation and friendlies is the main one given. He also mentions that the team was hopeful after the relatively successful 2007 Gold Cup tournament.
23 mai 2009: Repartir à zéro -- Preview of the Champions League final.
14 mai 2009: Le mystère et l'attrait de la MLS -- Bernier's take on MLS. Despite the (mis)adventures of David Beckham on this side of the pond, the league continues to enjoy a fairly low profile. It is hard to judge the playing level relative to European leagues because full-strength sides rarely play each other. Patrice suggests that entry into MLS is a logical next step for the Impact, for reasons of prestige and rivalries, and because the USL-1 kitchen will have been seriously raided after 2011 once Vancouver and, presumably, Portland are out of the picture.
30 avril 2009: D'un océan à l'autre -- Bernier talks about his experience in Denmark (young players with lots of technical skill are the norm) and pimps Barcelona for the Champions League title.

I'll be keeping an eye on that space, as Bernier offers a unique perspective.

Ask, and ye shall receive . . .

2009-06-09T15:20:00.004-05:00

The latest edition of the some canadian guys podcast contains, for the second week in a row, a reference to yours truly. The trio of squizz, Grant and Jamie spend some time discussing Jonathan de Guzman (and also a sitcom in which that Jono and this one switch places -- he blogs, I suit up for the Dutch national team).

But the crux of that moment of broadcasting perfection was a question. The question: What's up with Jonathan de Guzman these days? Why haven't I heard anything about him recently? Will he ever suit up for the Oranje?

The question was asked in the discussion about a new FIFA ruling that allows players to change countries after having played official matches with a youth team, after the age of 21.

The story with the younger De Guzman in 2008/09:

He had a pretty miserable season. He was on the fringes of the lineup in the early season due to some minor injuries, making only two appearances. He had knee surgery in January and recently returned to the training pitch for the first time.

He is expected to be ready for the opening of the 2009/10 season. His position with Feyenoord is less clear. Certainly, having missed a season with a major injury, De Guzman has lost a little lustre. I spent some time reading a thread on a PSV fan forum regarding a potential transfer.

Feyenoord fans are now enamoured with a wunderkind with the unlikely name of Georginio Boateng Wijnaldum, who plays a similar role to De Guzman. Wijnaldum is Dutch, and could easily receive a call to the senior Oranje side before Jonathan.

My completely uninformed speculation is that if De Guzman doesn't receive a call up to the Dutch set-up (already qualified for WC 2010 and thus probably more likely to try out new players) in the next calendar year, he may be willing to consider other options. He did spend most of his rehab period in Canada, if that is any sign of where his true allegiances lie.

* * * * *

Other news and notes:

Dwayne de Rosario will be skipping the Gold Cup: I'm not convinced that this is a huge loss to the Canadian team, but it is a bit odd considering Toronto's schedule is pretty sparse in July, and De Ro has a chance to surpass Dale Mitchell's all time scoring record with a few more goals.
Toronto FC cuts Greg Sutton, acquires rights to Ali Gerba: This is probably good for both Gerba and Toronto FC. I'm not sure what the future holds for Greg Suttion, but at the very least he should be available to back up Lars Hirschfeld during the Gold Cup.
Happy birthday to some canadian guys writing about soccer! I don't think they all share the same birthday, but the blog they conceived together (in some kind of three-way Junior scenario) does.

MLS vs USL-1 reprise: The TFC era

2009-06-04T17:04:00.002-05:00

Back in February, when we were all in the throes of CONCACAF Champions League fever, I made an attempt to bring some statistical reasoning to the then heated (and now heating) debate regarding the difference in quality between MLS and the United Soccer Leagues first division (USL-1). Here is that report.

I have a few regrets about the way that I conducted that study (read it for my methodology). First was that I counted matches decided on penalties as wins or losses, rather than as draws, which is how they should be counted. Second, that comparison spanned too great a period, during which time the strength of the A-League/USL-1 has fluctuated dramatically.

From a Canadian perspective, a convenient point to begin analyzing the data is the beginning of the Toronto FC era, namely 2007. The data over that period represents a fairly small sample size, but large enough, I think to begin to draw some conclusions. Here it is:

MLS results vs USL-1 sides
Year	W	D	L
US Open Cup
2007	5	1	4
2008	4	2	2
Nutrilite Canadian Championship
2008	1	2	1
2009	2	0	1
Total	12	5	8

That 7 of the total 25 matches over this period involve Canadian USL-1 sides, perenially among the league's strongest, might seem to skew the results a little. On the other hand, only the top 8 teams in MLS qualify for the US Open Cup, meaning the MLS minnows, if there are such, don't have a chance to get exposed by stronger USL-1 teams.

The record of 12-5-8, in a league table, would be worth 41 points from 25 games, or 1.64 points per game (PPG). In the EPL this season the team that most closely approximated this PPG performance is 6th-placed Aston Villa (17-10-11 for 62 points from 38 games, or 1.63 PPG). Similar comparisons from other leagues yield:

Bundesliga: TSG Hoffenheim (1.62 PPG, 7th)
La Liga: Valencia (1.63 PPG, 6th)
Serie A: AS Roma (1.66 PPG, 6th)
Eredivisie: Groningen (1.65 PPG, 6th)

Does it stand to reason that an average MLS team playing in USL-1 would finish in 6th place (or 3rd or 4th, adjusting for the size of the league)? Of course not!

Does this mean that the gap between an average MLS team and an average USL-1 side is less than the gap between the top team and bottom team in any Euro league? Yes, and I think we knew that all along!

Presumably I will stop caring about this once Montreal and Vancouver are in MLS. Unless Winnipeg has a USL-1 team by that point (I can dream, can't I?) in which case I will be shouting the praises of the Little League that Sometimes Can from the rooftops.

Voyageurs Cup Matchday 5 Report

2009-06-03T09:53:00.008-05:00

Just the facts:

Scoring Summary:
31' - VAN - Ansu Toure
81' - VAN - Ansu Toure (Charles Gbeke)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
1.Jay Nolly; 6.Wesley Charles, 22.Takashi Hirano, 24.Lyle Martin, 27.Jeff Parke; 8.Wes Knight, 16.Ansu Toure, 20.Ethan Gage (18.Mason Trafford 59'), 28.Gordon Chin; 14.Marcus Haber (13.Kenold Versailles 82'), 98.Charles Gbeke

Toronto FC
1.Greg Sutton; 3.Nana Attakora, 5.Kevin Harmse (4.Marco Velez 83'), 11.Jim Brennan (13.Johann Smith 83'), 15.Adrian Serioux; 2.Sam Cronin, 8.Pablo Vitti, 14.Dwayne De Rosario, 33.Carl Robinson; 9.Danny Dichio, 19.Chad Barrett (10.Rohan Ricketts 67')

Stupid headline: I couldn't find any stupid headlines this time, maybe because the Impact weren't playing and headline writers couldn't resort to the obvious puns. Here's a good writeup on the game from the Province:
Win puts Whitecaps one step from representing Canada in CONCACAF Champions League

Obligatory goal celebration photo(s):

Toure

Toure (x2)

Two paragraph analysis
I've only watched the first half and bits and pieces of the second from the downloaded match video (see below). In those parts of the game that I saw, Vancouver was in control. Toronto had moments, but didn't look like the more threatening side, but for a brief run at the end of the first half and beginning of the second. I understand Toronto began to carry the play more as the game went on, but wasn't able to convert this into a goal. Probably the best way to spin it is that the game was fairly even, but Vancouver (read: Toure) had the better finishing on the night.

TFC fans might throw the shots at goal statistics around as proof of their dominance, but supporters of the Whitecaps could easily make a retort with the corner kick stats, a telling sign of territorial supremacy. In the end, though, the team that 'deserves to win' (a pretty pointless phrase) is the one that scores more goals, and tonight it was Vancouver. And until Toronto finds a way to make better use of their chances (and it's not just Barrett, people) they will continue to struggle in all competitions.

One (or two) sentence thoughts

Is it just me, or should Greg Sutton have done better on his save/punch that resulted in the first Vancouver goal?
Gerry Dobson sure makes his share of mistakes: Steve Nash? Vancouver Canucks? Both of those in a 30-second span.
Question to TFC and Whitecaps fans: Who would you rather have for the next 2 years: Danny Dichio or Marcus Haber?
Lots of talk about the gap between USL and MLS. The following Vancouver players, I think, could easily be starters in MLS: Wesley Charles, Jay Nolly, Lyle Martin. Give Ethan Gage and Marcus Haber a year or two (ie: in time for 2011) and they'll make the list too.

Match video download
[1st half] :: [2nd half]

Canadian content report
I'm not in the mood to delve too deep into the records, but Toronto's Canadian content on Tuesday night may have been the most in their club's history. Their 526 Canadian minutes played is second only to Montreal on matchday 3 (546), though some fans will dispute my inclusion of Eddy Sebrango as Canadian.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Ethan Gage	59
Mason Trafford	31
Gordon Chin	90
Marcus Haber	82
Charles Gbeke	90
Total Mins	352

TORONTO FC
Greg Sutton	90
Nana Attakora	90
Kevin Harmse	83
Jim Brennan	83
Adrian Serioux	90
Dwayne De Rosario	90
Total Mins	526

The pool report
It seems nobody saw this result coming. Well, somebody did. maxg nailed the pick, though he's far enough back that it hardly seems to matter for him at this point. We also had our single worst pick of the tournament. Matt John Gregg, the man with 3 first names, missed the pick by a goal differential of 6, as he had Toronto winning 4-0. That pick dropped him from the middle of the pack to last.

A showdown between M@ and squizz looks likely, so hopefully the more arbitrary of my tie-breakers can be avoided. However, with M@ picking Montreal at 2-1, and squizz banking on a 1-1 draw, there are some results that would provide from a draw in the final standings.

For now, M@ is alone in the lead of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship Pool:

MATCHDAY 5
Difference	Entries
4	M@
5	squizz
6	Nuvinho, Lucky Strike, 3LionRoar
7	Joe Ross, Elvis, Kevin Rollins, Joe Soccer Fan, Scott Hegedus
8	J, Kevin Elder, zeelew, Serie_AHH
9	P, Duane Rollins, Rob, dyslexic nam, maxg, Simon B, coxon
10	Dan, PhilD
11	Lord Bob, nobuzz
12	Sam, Headhunting Canuck
13	Matt John Gregg, vweyonlah

Tables

STANDINGS
Team	W	D	L	Pts
Vancouver Whitecaps	3	0	1	9
Toronto FC	2	0	1	6
Montreal Impact	0	0	3	0

TOP SCORERS
Player	Team	Goals
Ansu Toure	Vancouver	2
Kevin Harmse	Toronto	1
Chad Barrett	Toronto	1
Marcus Haber	Vancouver	1
Charles Gbeke	Vancouver	1
Ethan Gage	Vancouver	1

Next match: 18 June 2009: Toronto FC @ Montreal Impact

Tie-breaking scenarios

2009-06-02T11:54:00.004-05:00

I've been getting some hits lately from people looking for the tie-breaking criteria for the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. They may have waited until the tournament was nearly over, but the Canadian Soccer Association did get around to publishing the tie-breaking scenarios yesterday:
The champion will be determined by:

1. Most points in all group matches
2. Greater # of points in matches between the teams concerned
3. Greater goal difference in matches between the teams concerned (if more than two teams finish equal on points)
4. Greater # of goals scored in matches among the teams concerned (if more than two teams finish equal on points)
5. Results from all group matches
a) greater goal difference in all group matches
b) greater # of goals scored in all group matches
6. Drawing of lots

Toronto wins the Voyageurs Cup if they win or draw tonight. Vancouver could put themselves in a good position with a multi-goal win tonight. If I am interpreting these rules correctly, tie-breakers #3 and #4 would be skipped if Toronto and Vancouver end up tied. I'm hoping for a Vancouver win for selfish reasons, but also to maintain some interest for the finale at Stade Saputo.

It may be hypocritical of me to say so, seeing as my Canada soccer fandom really began as a result of a Gold Cup coin flip in 2000, but it would be a real shame if it came down to #6.

Inspired by the CSA's lassitude in getting this tie-breaking info out to the general public, here are the criteria for my Nutrilite Canadian Championship Pool:

Pool winner will be determined by:
1. Smallest otal goal difference between predicted and actual results.
If there is a tie based on #1, the following criteria will be applied in order.
2. Total number of correctly predicted results.
3. Entry correctly predicts champion based on predicted match results.
4. Earliest entry.

I won't be watching the match tonight as I'll be heading in person to some final round hockey playoff action. Not NHL, of course. AHL. If the Stanley Cup finals are like grade 12 graduation, the Calder Cup finals are like grade 9 farewell. Still awesome, just not as important.

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