SoccerA painful journey for Canadian soccer

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I may, or may not, return to one or all of these subjects in due course. In the end they all ended up on the cutting room floor (at least for now) when I remembered it was an important weekend for Canadian soccer. Both the men and women saw action in and around the Caribbean and both teams had something to prove.

The men’s national team, now under the full time stewardship of Stephen Hart, kicked off 2010 with a friendly international in Jamaica. Canada lost by a single goal but the result was academic. The game was significant because it was Hart’s first real opportunity to start laying the foundations towards assembling a roster that can compete for a place at the 2014 World Cup.

While most of the rest of the world is getting excited about the coming summer in South Africa, Hart’s agenda is wholly different. His timetable involves identifying and road testing a group of players who will be mentally and physically prepared for the next qualifying campaign beginning in 2012.

Partly by choice and partly through force of circumstance, the Canadian team was radically different from anything we’ve seen before. Hart deliberately gave senior debuts to five newcomers in his necessary quest to increase the talent pool, including a first cap for Toronto FC’s up and coming centre-back Nana Attakora.

It is sadly too late to bolt the stable door on players such as Jonathan de Guzman, Asmir Begovic and Jacob Lensky. They have chosen to turn their backs on Canada and Hart is painfully aware their departures could have been prevented. The player drain must stop if Canada is to fulfill its potential and re-establish itself as a major player in the CONCACAF region.

No point crying over spilt milk of course, but the lessons must be learned. David Monsalve, currently plying his trade in Finland, acquitted himself well in goal and, at 21, has his entire career ahead of him. Stephen Ademolu caught the eye on the right wing, returning to international soccer following a four-year absence.

Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking these young men are world beaters. But they are young, they’re talented, they’re hungry and, with the right encouragement, could form the nucleus of what Hart is trying to achieve. They don’t have to be ready now but they do need to learn what international soccer is all about. Above all, five promising players are now Canadian internationals and there are more where they came from.

Meanwhile in Guatemala, Canada’s women were trying to qualify for their own World Cup. They too came up short and, for the first time, failed to reach the finals of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup which takes place in Germany, after losing to Costa Rica for the last CONCACAF berth.

At first glance the women’s program appears to be going backwards at full speed. Remember, this is the tournament fans of Canadian soccer still talk about long after the event. It is nearly eight years since close to 50,000 packed Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium for the epic 2002 finale between Canada and the United States.

The Canadian retreat since those heady days has been alarming. In 2004 the team was beaten in the quarter-finals and in 2006 and 2008 it was eliminated in the group stages. This year there will be no Canadian representation at all, even though the team had two chances to qualify and blew them both.

There are, however, reasons for Canada’s demise – reasons not to be confused with excuses. First and foremost more nations are playing and investing in the women’s game, which in turn means greater competition. Secondly, and more significantly, the way we play the game is changing.

Head Coach Carolina Morace is Italian and wants the beautiful game played beautifully. Her mission is much more than producing an aesthetically pleasing brand of soccer. She knows the kick and chase style of her predecessors is a redundant modus operandi and is doing her best to change the culture for good.

It cannot be achieved overnight and Morace is aware Canada’s star, at junior and senior level, may have to fall still further before the road to recovery can begin. It will be a painful evolution but it is absolutely essential if Canada is to compete, long term, in the ever expanding, ever more skilful world of women’s international soccer.

Morace, like Hart, is also discovering the harsh realities of managing a team representing Canada. It galls me, as it must her, to see a former Canadian scoring the title winning goal for the US. Sydney Leroux, born and raised in Surrey, B.C., is a star in the making. Canada’s making – America’s smiling.

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