There's been an interesting exchange on the Canadian soccer front, with Jason de Vos and Paul James both writing articles about Canadian players who have chosen to play for other national teams, and Duane Rollins responding in kind.
While this might get me into all sorts of trouble, my own view is that while I am sympathetic to those who are angry at players like Begovic and Lensky for switching national allegiances at this late stage, and for misleading Canada fans over their intended decision, I have trouble accepting that they should play for Canada "no matter what," as in "no matter if the CSA actively supports both them and the national program in a meaningful way or not. Click to continue reading...

You can learn a lot about an organization from the quality of their website. Fair? I for example am not a design oriented person, although I would like to be. The idea of changing this template for something unique and original by screwing around with code or risking the download of someone foreign layout gives me nightmares. Click to continue reading...

Santa Cruz, the traditional side of Pernambuco where Rivaldo started his career, is wounded to death. The club faced relegation three times in a row, from first division in 2006 to fourth and last division of Brazilian football in 2009. This Sunday, the suffering was extended even more. The club played at home against CSA to not be eliminated in the first round of the tournament.

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The roster is out, officially, and by the time you have read this the mainstream press will probably have plenty of quotes from Dwayne DeRosario as to why he won't don the red and white kit for the Gold Cup. Heck, they may even have a quote or two from Adrian Serioux as why he also skipped the call.

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By DUANE ROLLINS

When it comes to the Nutrilite Canadian Championships, you really have to live here to get it. Outsiders look at it and wonder why anyone would care about an event that only involves three teams.

Where it is true that the tournament (which will only be referred to as the Voyageurs' Cup from here on out – more on that in a bit) is small, it is far from insignificant to Canadian soccer fans.

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By DUANE ROLLINS

When it comes to the Nutrilite Canadian Championships, you really have to live here to get it. Outsiders look at it and wonder why anyone would care about an event that only involves three teams.

Where it is true that the tournament (which will only be referred to as the Voyageurs' Cup from here on out – more on that in a bit) is small, it is far from insignificant to Canadian soccer fans.

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Speaking today on his Commissioner Speaks blog, "The Don" Garber stated:

Other professional sports leagues and events have incorporated technology into the officiating decision-making process. Whether you are a fan of the NFL's Challenge and Review System or tennis' Hawk-Eye automated line-calling mechanism, technology in certain sports does assist with ensuring the correct call is made.

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The inaugural CONCACAF Champions League is in the books and to nobody's surprise it was won by a Mexican side, Atlante. The club which struggled to attract fans in Mexico City until moving to Cancun less than two years ago now represents the region at the FIFA Club World Cup.

But the tournament has proven to have many flaws.

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And people wonder why football is the favorite sport around the globe. Just follow me. Santos, one of the finalists in the main Brazilian state championship, received CSA from the small state of Alagoas for the second leg of the second round of Copa do Brasil. CSA is fighting relegation in its local tournament.

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Here are some headlines for Tuesday April 21st.

Making the Pitch for Grass [Globe and Mail]

Hart Re-Takes Canada Coaching [CSA]

What is going on with TFC [Mistake by the Lake]

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I have no new information to add to Duane#8217;s post last night at The 24th Minute that #8220;multiple sources are reporting tonight that Dale Mitchell has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Canadian men#8217;s national team and will be assigned new responsibilities.#8221; Except that it would make for a super fantastic week [. Click to continue reading...

Happier Times with the Canadian National Men's Team
A while ago AMSL asked the question: what the hell is actually wrong with the Canadian Soccer Association? Since then I've read blog after blog after blog, finding only a vague nebula of complaints about 'provincial interests' and 'incompetent management' and 'lack of funding. Click to continue reading...

The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) has been under recent fire over their recent failure towards the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Canadian national team coach went on record as saying that the team just isn't good enough. That (for obvious reasons) put player Julian de Guzman into a fury of rage and is now [. Click to continue reading...

It's official. I just cast my vote for Tomasz Radzinski for the CanadaSoccer.com Fans Choice as player of the year. For a lot of the reasons I wrote about last week, but in my email to the CSA I was sure to highlight one of the main reasons I voted for Radz. My vote is Tomasz [...] Click to continue reading...

So on Saturday, I ranted a bit about how journalists have done such a poor job explaining just what is wrong with the Canadian Soccer Association and what we can do to fix it. The very next day, as if deliberately challenging me like some sort of jerk, Canadian soccer journo/blogger/madman Ben Knight helpfully compiled a list of recommended reading in order to understand the myriad perspectives and problems with the CSA. Click to continue reading...

Denis in the Dressing Room
From one point of view, there is nothing to like about Napoli. There's a je ne sais quoi about Levezzi's face -- after every whingey foul, I want to strike him repeatedly with my shoe. Furthermore, the resemblance between German striker Denis and Dolph Lundgren is too disturbing to overlook, and if Hamsik had any more teeth he'd be digging for carrots on the touchline. Click to continue reading...

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 [. Click to continue reading...

Judging by the eggs next to my comment count and the subsequent drop off of subscribers, I'm going to let my NAFF series lie for little bit to bring you some down-home angst about the state of Canadian soccer...
A brief glance at the Voyaguers, Ben Knight's blog (who's looking at this very question right now), or pretty much anything written by soccer pundits in this country in the past fifteen to twenty years is all you need to ascertain that there is something called the 'CSA,' and that that 'something' is inherently evil and the cause of all soccer-related suffering in this country. Click to continue reading...

Quickly wanted to poiint you to a couple of interesting Canadian soccer tidbits I've come across in the past few days. First, there is an interview with Dwayne DeRosario in the National Post where he has some unkind words about, surprise surprise, the CSA. Here's a sample: They are more concerned about trying to make money [. Click to continue reading...

The Canadian men's team wants to make their first world cup appearance since 1986 and they think playing at Montreal's Saputo Stadium is the way to do it.
Tonight sees them take to the Saputo grass pitch for the first time as they try to finish off St Vincent & the Grenadines in the return leg of a two-game series and many players think this field will give them what they need to win. Click to continue reading...

The Canadian Soccer Association is the official governing body of Soccer Canada.
It operates on a shoe string budget of 13 million dollars a year.Two million of which is allocated to the nations senior squad. Two million thats all. Canada is a nation of 30 million people and has well over 800,000 registered players. Click to continue reading...

Twenty-one years ago in Mexico, Canada played in their first and only World Cup: three games no goals. Fast forward twenty-one years and even though there has been little success on the pitch, off the pitch things looked like they were turning around. This summer the country played host to the U-20 World Cup, club [...] Click to continue reading...