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Canada Soccer

One major problem is the concourses. It might work fine for CFL with multiple intermissions and stoppages during the game for fans to go for a pee or food/drink. but for soccer, with one half time break, it was a nightmare. At one point there was so many people that you couldn’t walk and people were starting to push from both sides. I have never experienced that in my life! I literally felt like I was being crushed and it was terrifying. I doubt with a million dollar budget there will be anything major done. Or is that budget just for the concept phase?
 
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Matt, I was at the game. We were also hemmed in doing half time. A big cause of the crowd surge had to do with getting some warmth!!. I agree of they need to renovate but I hope the dont cheap out - and instead improve the functionality and looks of our stadium for the World Cup and for every other event.
 
The January 30th match against the States in Hamilton sold out only 4 hours into PRE-SALE.... Probably could have used a bigger venue, but understand they were trying to limit the number of Yanks coming up. Anyone else going?


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realkevbo said:
The January 30th match against the States in Hamilton sold out only 4 hours into PRE-SALE.... Probably could have used a bigger venue, but understand they were trying to limit the number of Yanks coming up. Anyone else going?


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Unfortunately it looks like a lot of scalpers got tickets as a lot of seats are already for resale on stubhub for $100-$400 each.

Screenshot_20211216-195640_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
edmonton.ctvnews.ca

Canadian Premier League takes over FC Edmonton operations, search for new owners underway

The league says it will be involved in the club’s daily business and soccer operations until a new ownership group is established.
edmonton.ctvnews.ca edmonton.ctvnews.ca

The Canadian Premier League has taken over operations of FC Edmonton from the Fath family, the league announced Friday.
Brother Tom and Dave Fath founded the club in 2010. It initially played in the North American Soccer League but joined the Canadian Premier League in its debut season in 2019.
The league says it will be involved in the club’s daily business and soccer operations until a new ownership group is established.
The transition from the Faths to the league is effective immediately and part of the CPL’s plan to “develop new ownership” for the team.
“We have had significant interest in the club from both local and international investors as Edmonton has the potential to be a world-class soccer city,” said CPL commissioner David Clanachan in a news release.
In the same statement, the Fath family indicated it intended to continue on in a minority position with a new ownership group.
The team says that Alan Koch will remain as head coach and work with the league to build a roster for the 2022 season.
Click to expand...
 
Couple more articles on the Faths divesting of the Club. While it's disappointing that it's come to this the Faths should be commended for taking on as much as they did, they stuck their necks out when no one else would and hopefully we can find someone else to take up the mantle. I ran into Alphonso Davies on the weekend but forgot to ask him if he wanted to purchase the club, what a wasted opportunity...

edmontonsun.com

VAN DIEST: New owner sought for FC Edmonton after operations taken over by Canadian Premier League

After more than a decade of trying to make pro soccer viable in Edmonton, losing millions of dollars in the process, Tom Fath and Dave Fath have blown the…
edmontonsun.com edmontonsun.com

northerntribune.ca

Exclusive: CPL Club Owners Chipped In To Pay Eddies Player Salaries - Northern Tribune

Multiple CPL club owners covered FC Edmonton staff and player salaries throughout the 2021 season.
northerntribune.ca northerntribune.ca
 
I'm pretty sure it will be Toronto given the same circumstances as this current 3 game window. The home game in March will be sandwiched between two games in the eastern time zone - Panama and Costa Rica - and with some longer travel days. Playing out west would make that travel even longer and play a bit of havoc with time difference. It's one of the reasons Vancouver wasn't chosen for Canada's game on Sunday.
 
Another huge win tonight (and third 2-0 victory in this window) - so close to officially qualifying for 2022, but will have to wait for late March now.

Given the young age of this team, and its star players, the future is looking so bright for Canadian soccer and future development.

Looking forward to seeing where we are going to be ranked in the world after this window.

We are currently 40th, but with the victory over the US on Sunday, we've now beaten two teams in the top 15 rankings (Mexico being the other).

We could be real contenders in 2026, and even do some damage in 2022.
 
TAS said:
Another huge win tonight (and third 2-0 victory in this window) - so close to officially qualifying for 2022, but will have to wait for late March now.

Given the young age of this team, and its star players, the future is looking so bright for Canadian soccer and future development.

Looking forward to seeing where we are going to be ranked in the world after this window.

We are currently 40th, but with the victory over the US on Sunday, we've now beaten two teams in the top 15 rankings (Mexico being the other).

We could be real contenders in 2026, and even do some damage in 2022.
Click to expand...
Canada is virtually qualified, being 8 points ahead of Panama. So long as Panama does not win their next match, we're in regardless of Canada's results. If they do win, all we need is not to lose.

As for being contenders, not to disdain of Canada's efforts and outstanding results, we do not have the firepower to face the top teams, like France, Italy or Germany, at this point. Even the top teams in the Conmebol qualifiers, Brazil and Argentina, which are just as good as the top European ones, on paper, lack the depth and quality to be considered real contenders, at this point. FIFAs ranking is very deceitful, as the weighting system usually favours the teams already on top (for political reasons), so Mexico and USA being in the top 15 does not mean much (neither does Brazil being top 2, even with the VERY POOR football they've been presenting). Anyone who knows the sport knows that the US or Denmark teams are not better than Germany, for example.

That said, I will be surprised if Canada doesn't at least reach the Round of 16, maybe even the Quarter-Finals in Qatar, depending on the matchup. On a good day, where everything goes our way, say Alphonso and Larin are both on a superb night, or Borjan has the game of his life (not unlike USA's Tim Howard against Belgium in 2014), we might be able to beat an Italy, or a France, but it is highly unlikely that we could beat 3 or 4 of these in a row to reach the finals and win.

I'd say that being in two World Cups in a row, with such a young, talented team, will do wonders for the future of the sport in Canada, and considering the huge inflow of immigrants from places with a strong football culture, this might create enough momentum for Canada to become a top tier contender outside of Concacaf, but I wouldn't get my hopes up of winning a title anytime in the next 16~20 years.

It is hard to beat countries where this sport is so ingrained in the culture that it is basically the only sport people really care about (think how dominant Canadian players are, on Hockey...). The US has been trying to breach the Europe-South America bubble for decades, and their best result was Quarter-Finals. The best result for someone out of this bubble was South Korea's semifinal appearance in 2002 (and Turkey, the same year, if you consider them Asia, although their clubs play in the European continental championships).

Just as an example, out of 21 tournaments, 3 countries have 13 titles, and only 8 have won and only 13 have been in the finals. The probability of Brazil, Germany or Italy being in the finals is of 80% (they were there in 17 out of 21 times) and there has only been two World Cups in which at least of of them was not in the Semifinals (1930 and 2018) and, in 10 tournaments there were at least two of them in the semifinals, with all three being there in 3 occasions. And that's just 3 countries we're talking about. As much as I'd love Canada to prove me wrong and go on to beat all the odds, I don't think it is realistic.
 
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