Gronk!
Senior Member
Please tell me that they'll replacing the turf with real grass?
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Canada Soccer
- Thread starter realkevbo
- Start date
MattPT
Active Member
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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EdmTrekker
Senior Member
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.
realkevbo
New Member
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?
TAS
Senior Member
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?
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.
Gronk!
Senior Member
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.
realkevbo
New Member
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
northerntribune.ca
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 final whi…
edmontonsun.com
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
Gronk!
Senior Member
Stephanie Labbe announces retirement
globalnews.ca
Canada goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe surprises by announcing retirement plans | Globalnews.ca
'I really truly feel at this point that I've given everything to the game and I've invested my heart and soul into it and I just don't feel that I have anything left.'
globalnews.ca
archited
Senior Member
Worldly...
nationalpost.com
Canada edges closer to FIFA World Cup after win against the United States
Canada all but booked a spot in November’s World Cup with an impressive 2-0 win against the United States in front of a boisterous crowd of more than 12,000 at Tim …
nationalpost.com
MattPT
Active Member
No rumours yet about where Jamaica game in March will be? I wanna go…
Kaizen
Senior Member
^ Here's hoping its at Commonwealth 
TAS
Senior Member
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.
TAS
Senior Member
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.
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.
ChazYEG
Senior Member
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.
realkevbo
New Member
I was at the game in Hamilton on Sunday, what an amazing atmosphere, the entire stadium was buzzing and it felt like way more than 12,000 people.
