Successful Canadian footballers?

Tonight, having already qualified for the 2011 World Cup in Germany after their semi-final win over Costa Rica, Canada's Women's National Team has the chance to clinch the Concacaf championship tonight.  They're favourites as well, as rather than taking on the heavily favoured US team, they'll actually be playing Mexico who lost 3-0 to Canada in the group stages, before stunning the US in the semi-final.  You can watch the game on CBC Bold, or if you're not one of their approximately 12 subscribers, online here.  Congratulations to Carolina Morace and her team for a successful qualification, and hopefully they can finish the job tonight and cap what's been a busy and enjoyable weekend of football.

In the MLS playoffs, San Jose destroyed the "dream final" by knocking out Thierry Henry and the Red Bulls, and you've got to say that the first half-season of the Henry experiment was a bit of a failure really.  Not a Mista level failure by any means, but he's going to have to improve next year to justify the big bucks.  Columbus also lost, in a shootout to Colorado, and San Jose-Colorado really is an appropriate final for what was a very bad year for Eastern Conference clubs.  In the Western Conference, Dallas beat Real Salt Lake, before a higher seed finally won, with LA knocking out Seattle.  So either David Beckham or Jeff Cunningham will be playing and potentially lifting the the cup at BMO field, it's safe to say I'll be supporting whoever comes out of the "East".

Back in England, it was a mixed weekend for the small clubs in the FA cup.  Tipton Town and Hythe Town both got hammered, though Hythe did at least score.  Dover upset Gillingham, getting revenge against all the management and coaches who went from Dover to Gillingham this summer and FC United of Manchester got a 94th minute winner against Rochdale.  Darlington beat League one side Bristol Rovers 2-1, though even when they win, they can't win, as computer problems in the ticket office led to very long waits to get in and quite a few people apparently giving up, so that's a good chance to win some new converts, or win back some old fans wasted, but still, an excellent result.

Throw in Chelsea and Arsenal both losing to EPL minnows, and it's been a really good weekend, Canada being champions would be a great way to finish it.

Edit:  And they did finish it off, a 1-0 win giving them the title, 5 games, 5 wins, 0 goals against, a really good tournament all round.  Well done Ladies.  Campeonas! Campeonas! olé, olé, olé!

Weeeee love you! But we hate you. You too. And especially you!

With the MLS playoffs about to start, and TFC's lockers already cleared out, it's time to decide who to be following, and who to be prepared to cheer for or against when the final is played before all TFC's eager season ticket holders (everyone's going right?  there were no problems with that?).

If you're undecided and it's uninformed opinions, partisan sentimentality, bitterness and petty prejudices you want to make a decision on, then you've come to the right place.  Here's my reasons to boo and cheer for the 8 teams still playing.

Colorado.
Reasons to cheer.  Marvell Wynne, his flailing arms and lack of positional sense annoyed me, but I hold no grudge with Wynne and would have no problem seeing him with the trophy.  No sponsor, I'm officially jealous of their jersey, simple, no sponsor or obnoxious North American style logo, classiest in MLS by far.
Reasons to boo.  Conor Casey, the poor man's Danny Dichio.  You don't like Toronto?  We don't like you either, so there!  Success would probably increase their commercial value and lead to a jersey sponsorship offer they can't refuse.
Verdict.  Meh!

Columbus.
Reasons to cheer.  Their consistency over the last few years is an example of...Nah, can't do it.  Seriously, it's Columbus.
Reasons to boo.  Schelotto, Lenhart, Padula's terrible hair, their taser happy cops, the fact that TFC still hasn't beaten them.  Seriously, it's Columbus.
Verdict.   Fuck those guys!  booooooo!

Dallas.
Reasons to cheer.  I seriously can't think of any, though I suppose in a "good for the growth of the game" kind of way, being champions might help them actually sell some tickets.
Reasons to boo.  Jeff Cunningham.  Milton Rodriguez's obnoxious fan-baiting celebration after scoring at BMO field this year.  The bouncy castle.  Did I mention Jeff Cunningham?
Verdict.  Booooo!

Los Angeles.
Reasons to cheer.  The Riot Squad supporters group standing up to Beckham last year was a great moment.  That's about it.
Reasons to boo.  Beckham.  Landycakes.  That's all the reasons I need.
Verdict.  Fuck those guys!  Boooo!

New York.
Reasons to cheer.  Robbo, it`d be good to see him raising a trophy at BMO.  Greg Sutton, ditto.  They`ve built themselves a fantastic stadium, and it`d be good for the league for it to be filled on a regular basis, winning would help with that.
Reasons to boo.  Thierry Henry.   Changing the team name to Red Bulls?  Awful.  5-0 last year.  That Red Bull Energy Zone or whatever it's called that sprung up outside the North stand at BMO towards the end of the season is terrible on so many levels.
Verdict.  Sorry Robbo, booooo!

Salt Lake.
Reasons to cheer.  Will Johnson, good Canadian kid.   Their turnaround from consistently terrible to very good gives some hope for TFC.
Reasons to boo.  The dirty hippy.  Real Salt lake is still a stupid name.
Verdict.  Meh!

San Jose.
Reasons to cheer.   Canadian Frank Yallop, showing the benefits of patience and sticking with a plan.  Sam Cronin.  A pacific coast team representing the Eastern conference would be amusing.  Supporters had their original team ripped away from them, so karma wise, they've earned it.
Reasons to boo.  None that I can think of, they're a pretty inoffensive club.
Verdict.  Against New York and probably Columbus?  Rock the Casbah!  I hope they make it.

Seattle.  Reasons to cheer.  Before TFC's game in Seattle, I unknowingly ended up in the home pub of Seattle supporters group Gorilla FC.  "Anti-racist, anti-Fascist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic, but pro-party!!"  Now that's a slogan I can get behind.  They were unfailingly friendly, many of them very sincerely thanking me for travelling.   It was a great day for lucky drinking, I ran into some of Chad Barrett's family at a bar near the stadium pre game, and later that night Danny Dichio and Leo Percovich showed up at the same Irish pub I was in. The atmosphere at the game was great, and the ambition the owners have shown is something that I really hope TFC are going to try and emulate. 
Reasons to boo.  They`ve already had way too much success, I`m jealous.
Verdict.  I hope they win it all.

So here it is in order who I'll be cheering for, or more likely, not cheering against.
1. Seattle
2. San Jose
3. Colorado
4. Salt Lake
5. New York
6. Dallas
7. LA
8. Columbus.

7 and 8 was a really tough call.  I hope they don't both make it to the final.

Beautiful friend, the end.

Alright, well at least we can relax now, and just concentrate on the Concacaf Champions League instead.  The brief hope we got after De Rosario's 2 free kicks saved a crappy performance and got us 3 points against Houston is now gone, after another home defeat, this time against San Jose. 

There's a lot of different things running through my head, so this post is going to be a collection of individual thoughts that when put together may come together to be more then the sum of their parts, or may be a bit of a disjointed mess, I'm not really sure.  So kind of like TFC then.

This game really shows that Preki the coach wasn't really all that bad, things certainly haven't improved since he left.  It also shows that Mo the GM and Preki the co-GM really have left behind a squad that just isn't good enough. 

What's going on with Mista?  Dasovic is trying to play a more attacking style, he's theoretically our most talented forward and he's left on the bench, after not playing at all in the last two games?  If Preki had made that choice he'd be getting all sorts of questions about why he can't get along with the talented players. 

After Mista came on in the second half, and towards the end when we were desperate and basically playing 6 upfront, why was Mista one of the few left back to defend.  I get that we had the tall defenders forward for the desperation long balls, but wasn't Mista supposed to be a targetman with a bit of skill?  Surely ideal for that purpose.

Jacob Peterson actually looked like a winger again.  Not a really good one, but he got in a few crosses and played quite wide, he definitely seems improved under Dasovic.  Having said that, in my opinion, after the season he's had and the thin ice he must already be on, that awful late miss put the definitive stamp on his flight out of town at the end of the season.

The north end elite did a good job with their silent protest and simple dollar signs banners.  Tom Anselmi and Paul Beirne were a lot less conspicuous than usual in that corner of the stadium.

Chad Barrett was probably our best player out there, he was all over the place, in a good way, getting on the end of long balls, and creating chances, really showed what we missed while he was injured.

De Rosario?  Didn't have a great game, but clearly gave it his all in his own way out there, and scored a great goal.  His "celebration" miming writing a cheque as a way of protesting that he feels underpaid was a bit crass and horribly timed though, given that he's the captain and we're 2-1 down in a crucial game.  Does he deserve more money?  He's got a very valid argument, and with the club looking to avoid negative publicity at season ticket renewal time, it's probably a very good time to be making that argument, but in the middle of the game?  Awful.

So now we need to win our last 4 games.  What are our chances?  The body language of our two best players at the final whistle will tell you all you need to know about that.