Crash and Burn? This Baby Never Took Off

A recent topic of discussion on CBC's Cross Country Checkup - for you Americans out there interested in Canadian affairs between 4-6pm on Sunday's this is a great program - covered soccer. As hosts of the FIFA U-20 tournament, the question was whether Canada will ever be a soccer power in the sport.

Dream on. It was a silly question to ponder for reasons I'd rather not get into lest the piece becomes a long-winded soliloquy.

The media, who barely pay attention to soccer, has taken a sudden interest in the misfortune of the Canadian team. Those unfortunate youngsters bowed out with the whimper of a dying loonie losing all three of its matches. Not to mention they could not score a goal. The usual (and not entirely unjustified) calls for vision, restructuring, better development and coaching and so on followed.

Speaking of media, the CBC decided to show games on an affiliate channel most people have to pay to view. Great way to sell the game, eh? Most - if not all - of the games should have been on the CBC main feed. End of story.

Anyhow, the reasons for Canada's continued poor performances at the international level are many and not the point of this post. Remember, I'm trying to avoid rambling rants here.

Suffice to say the the Canadian Soccer Association deserves every criticism hurled its way. I don't blame the players. I blame the CSA. The players do what they can with what they have. We tend to do this in Canada. That is, send our athletes into the lion's den against better oppostion. It was no different with the under- 20 men's soccer side.

The recent debacle surrounding prospect Daniel Fernandes showed things don't look as though they will around any time soon at the CSA. As current CSA president Colin Linford put it. “We’re not obviously recognizing a lot of these players.”

You think?

It's never a good thing when other countries spot your talent before you do. Worse, it makes us look second-rate when we try to get them back. If Canada is not busy failing to spot talent, they make that up by not being able to retain its world class athletes. Think Alex Baumann, Greg Rusedski and Lennox Lewis - to name a few.

As for Fernandes, it's Owen Hargreaves redux.

So Canadian.

For years, we in the soccer community wondered why we never saw any CSA officials snooping around trying to sniff out some soccer super kid. There was such a gap (though it has closed somewhat) between the grass root talent available and the roster selection of the Canadian side. I remember years ago one guy saying that he could put together a soccer team that would give Team Canada a run for its money. Maybe even defeat them. I must admit, that wasn't an exaggeration.

Canada is a place of misspent soccer opportunities.

In 1986, I was 14 years old when Canada qualified for the World Cup for the first and only time.The feeling of promise we had in the soccer community surrounding the success of that team was met with unbridled Canadian pride. We thought it was going to be the momentum finally needed to propel the sport forward. To make it all the more memorable was that I was given the MVP by Team Canada Bruce Wilson following a game at a tournament. It seemed like we were all on our way to soccer glory.

Our boys nearly became sports gods. I'm sure many of you will remember Ian Bridges feverishly hitting the cross bar in the opening moments of their first game against tournament favorites France. France managed to eke out a 1-0 and Canada went on to lose the next two mathes against the Soviet Union and Hungary. Oh, and they too failed to score a goal.

Just as quickly Canada qualified for the 1986 World Cup they fell into soccer obscurity soon after. Our ranking and stature has been in steady and perpetual decline ever since.

By 1987, we were becoming frozen soccer tundra while the United States - a country Canada used to perform very well against - began its ascent. Canada hasn't even begun to reverse that trend.

Time for the CSA to regroup, refocus, commit and deliver.