Red Herring

Full Time has reported that Canadian National Team coach Dale Mitchell would rather not have his team play in Toronto due to the artifical turf.

But I think that "the pitch is the same for both teams and down the road could even prove a big advantage for Canadian teams attempting to qualify. For me the turf issue distracts too much from the performance issues surrounding both Canada and TFC. The big story for me is Canada not getting the critical three points against Jamaica. Same goes for TFC - who in my mind should be focusing more on a play-off spot than on the turf. Re TFC/MLS - in what other league in the world do you see a team transfering one of their best players (Edu) in the middle of the season - during a play-off run - and then saying they'll use the money to buy a field rather than new players? It's absurd. So - while it is an issue - the turf is really more of red herring. Canada and TFC have other fish to fry."

Better football - but a poor result

National team coach Dale Mitchell doesn't seem to be as worried as I am about Canada not getting three points in their first World Cup qualifying match at home to Jamaica:

"And I think it's the same start as we had in 1986, when we qualified...That's what we told the players after...If we can play like that in the next five more games … I think we'll have a chance in every single game. I think the games will be close ones."

I guess it's his job to be positive. He wouldn't have much to gain now if he started publicly expressing his disappointment. But the reality is that Canada's chance to qualify took a huge hit with their loss of two points.

I can be positive about something though - Canada is playing the best style of football it's ever played. Could it be true then that "Canada plays the beautiful game".

Parents out there - keep sending your boys abroad. They learn about beauty. They bring back beauty. And that's good for Canada.

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It's the way I like to play

Canadian national team player Dwayne De Rosario, prior to the team's absolutely critical World Cup qualifier against Jamaica:

"It's the best (Canadian) team I've played with...I enjoy playing with them because it's the way I like to play...the ball is mostly on the ground. We like to create great chances. Defensively we're solid. The guys want to play, they enjoy playing the game and they play at a high level."

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BMO "Football" joke

We shouldn't get to worked up about this - or should we ?

The Toronto Argonauts "football" team of the Canadian "Football" League wants to get in on the action at BMO Field.

I don't see this happening in the end. Perhaps Argo owner, Howard Sokolowski, is simply using BMO as a bargaining tool of some sort.

Here's what he says:

"The mayor has been very helpful...He wants to please soccer and football fans together. There's no reason they can't coexist. This isn't the Hatfields and the McCoys, but I'm not sure [MLSE president] Richard Peddie feels that way."

Of course Peddie doesn't. Nor do those of us who live for the beauty of our beautiful game. For me it would be utterly unacceptable to see "fooball" lines on BMO Field and to have the configuration of the pitch altered - except for the purpose of housing more "soccer" fans.

My prediction? If the Argos are actually serious about their attempt to ruin BMO Field - they actually won't survive long enough to see the changes happen and TFC will be such a strong pressence on the Toronto sports scene that they will simply buy-out the stadium partners (municipal-provincial-federal) and expand for the sake of "soccer" alone.

In what is looking more and more like a soccer-future in Canada - "Canadian football" - poses no serious threat.

It is to be laughed at. A joke.

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This debate won't be the equivalent of the Hatfields and the McCoys because that implies that both sports franchises - like the two families - are equal rivals. And that simply isn't the case.

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Possession

I really like Jason De Vos as a soccer commentator. He is perhaps better as a commentator than he was as a player. And he wasn't too bad a player by Canadian standards. Though he did play a lot of his footie with what could be considered less than "technical" UK teams - not to mention really poor Canadian national squads. Maybe it is his playing experience that caused his recent outburst against Canada's Women's Team manager Even Pellerud - an outburst that really impressed the Globe's William Houston:

"It's an outdated style of football...Against the best teams of the world, it doesn't work...Pellerud's team plays a direct, long-ball game rather than a possession game...If you play against teams that are maybe tactically naive, who are in their infancy... that will work for a period of time..But against the best in the world, the likes of Sweden, the United States, Norway, Germany and Brazil, that's not going to work...I don't for a second believe that the Canadians aren't good enough to play a possession style of football...It all comes down to the philosophy of football they're being coached to play."

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A beautiful opportunity

Jonathan De Guzman is famous/infamous in Canada for having turned his back on the Canadian national team but we have always supported him and other Canadian players who have done for themselves what Canada could not do for them.

And now - with the Olympics here - and De Guzman playing a part in it - his decision appears to have been a wise one. Here's how he feels about playing for Holland at the Olympics:

"This is a step right onto the A selection...I think every time you get the chance to show your skills, you have to show it, and these are the tournaments to show them because not just Holland's watching, the whole world is watching. It's not just a great opportunity ... it's a beautiful opportunity."

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