CSA has no real plan for beauty

The CSA has announced a new strategic plan:

"The strategic priorities have been established to help the Association achieve specific milestones for 2013. Those milestones include greater revenue streams (a $25-million annual budget), triumphs for the national teams (FIFA World Cup qualification for the men and a FIFA or Olympic podium finish for the women), the promise of another FIFA tournament (FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015), and the registration of more Canadians playing the beautiful game (a million players by 2013)."


But to us the new plan sounds just like the old plan. The organization is not risking anything of it's own or creating anything of it's own. It is once again piggy-backing on others: on registered players, on revenue from a FIFA tournament, on revenue from qualification.

Bumping the budget up to 25 mil sounds great but how do you do that when the men's and women's teams have never "trimphed"? The way it works in the real world is that you risk something up front in order to create the quality you need to win or achieve something.

In recent years, the only groups that have been willing to risk anything for the sake of the "beautiful game" have been Canadian players who have correctly sought their training and opportunities abroad and Canada's emerging professional teams (TFC, Impact, Whitecaps).

The fact of the matter is that given the current and future lack of courage from the CSA - the only thing that will make the strategic plan work is if the young Canadian men playing abroad come home to lead Canada to Brazil in 2014.

But even that seems like a pipe dream given the CSA's unwillingness to splash-out the cash for a big time manager.

My advice to Canadians? Completely ignore the CSA.

If you're a player - dream about playing in Europe or for an MLS team (not for the Canadian national team).

If you're a fan - support your old clubs abroad and your new clubs in Canada, and quietly applaud our boys who are bravely and bolding pursuing the beautiful game on other frontiers, instead of paying lip-service to the phrase that captures the essence of soccer.

What Jim Brennan is talking about

Dale Mitchell is a nice fellow. Bobby Lenarduzzi is also a nice fellow. Both have managed Canada. There have been many nice fellows - as well as not so nice fellows and not so competent fellows - in the CSA coaching and management ranks over the years.While the entire country is currently gushing about the marketing success of Toronto FC (not the on-field success though) and the prospect of Vancouver and Montreal joining the MLS - people forget that apart from the arrival of the MLS - very little has changed in Canadian soccer. The only meaningful development has been the long-awaited flowering of Canadian soccer talent abroad - which has given us almost a false hope about our national team prospects. False hope could turn into real hope rather quickly if the CSA invested in the management of it's national team. It really would be a small investment - even if they hired an expensive, internationally renowned manager - compared to the pie-in-the-sky idea of building success through grassroots. We have to face the fact that at both the grassroots level and the national team level our coaching and managing of players is at a very low level. To endure this at the grassroots level - given how immature our soccer culture is here and how expensive it would be to develop players here properly - is one thing. But to waste the improving national team talent - that has been developed abroad - is simply lacking in vision and courage. Having spent time in various capacities in the Canadian soccer system - I can imagine what Jim Brennan is talking about. Mitchell is not a bad fellow - he just isn't good enough to lead Canada to the World Cup. Nor are most of the people in the Canadian soccer establishment. What Canada needs to do is invest in a proper coach and give him the money to run a World Cup qualifying campaign properly. Otherwise - things could get worse quickly. Yes - there is something worse: players like Brennan and the more talented ones abroad could start to retire from the cause in droves. And then we'd be back to square one: a soccer hinterland occupied by a bunch of aimless footballers who - admitedly - love the beautiful game but who never have the real opportunity of achieving one of the great footie dreams: winning a World Cup.