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Red and White

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Everything posted by Red and White

  1. From what I've seen purely as a fan looking from the outside, it looks to me that CPL and Fury were presented to each other poorly from the beginning. Fury ownership has little experience with soccer and weren't expecting all this when they took an NASL team years ago. I'm sure switching leagues constantly isn't something they were expecting to deal with. I doubt they did serious research into CPL when it was little more than a concept up to when they were approached. It's purely business to OSEG. If CPL looks solid in its inaugural year, you'll see them soften up and gain interest. It's in CPL's best interest to eventually bring them in, whether the relationship is friendly or just pure business. OSEG have the best stadium and location in the city - setting up competition to this less ideal to just bringing them on board. Its correct that the situation is still relatively 'fresh and hot'. CPL should just start its season for now and do everything to remove doubt that it is a better league than USL - specifically from a money making perspective.
  2. I'm based in Ottawa, so basically neutral. I hope to see a good product and groundwork for Canadian players to have a solid path up to the CanMNT. Also hoping to see Fury convinced enough to join - if the league takes off, it'll look completely foolish not to join. I'm intrigued by Halifax. It's nice to see an east coast team and I like the themes they've gone with. So I'll have a soft spot there and wishing all the clubs success early on.
  3. Fury management's lack of footy experience or insight is starting to show - and that has been the root cause of all the drama from the last few months. I don't think Fury were ever against CPL, they just figured it's too much effort to 'learn' a new league and system when they had a status quo that was 'good enough' in USL. It turned into a battle of egos with unwillingness let CPL change the comfy business situation they had. While CONCACAF's decision makes a lot of sense and is probably correct, its turned a fragile situation into a disaster. Problem is OSEG is tuned to think in North American sports terms, where there's basically no national federations being governing bodies and playing in cross border leagues is normal. Development for national teams is non-existant and the only thing they see is $$$. I don't see them responding to this in a constructive way - this is territory that the vast majority of people in OSEG have little idea how to handle. Situations like this are the major draw back to having North American hockey/gridiron ownership groups trying soccer. It's a completely different world. Fury is now best in CPL next year, but that's far from being simple now.
  4. This may be JDG's viewpoint more than Fury's. For some reason, he doesn't seem supportive of CPL - encouraging players to avoid it and so forth. Fury FO are purely business oriented and have little football knowledge. They'll join CPL when they're convinced it's a safer business venture than USL.
  5. There was a time when Melnyk likely would have been interested in CPL, back when he was pursuing MLS for Ottawa. That's long gone though, and changed drastically.
  6. Congrats Jamie. Thanks for all your hard work - looking forward to a bright future for the V's and Canadian soccer.
  7. Watched him play (on TV) in last night's TFC II match against Ottawa Fury. He is a solid full back. Doesn't seem to make many mistakes, and distribution isn't bad. Decent signing for TFC, and good for him keeping his pro career going.
  8. @Kent I suppose it's down to your level of strictness when you define 'equal' in a competition sense. To me, being introduced in the same round is defined as equal because, if you're good enough, you play the same number of matches as everyone else to win the competition. By default, it's difficult not to put the MLS teams in higher 'pots' for draws in the first year or two, since the expectation is they progress further. Being in a low pot means nothing competitively, since, if you're good enough, you'll beat whoever you get. It's true that having bottom ranked CPL teams in a play in round goes against treating them completely equal to MLS teams. It doesn't have to be the case if there's emphasis of treating CPL teams completely equal.
  9. Working the following year's Voyageurs Cup as a means of adding significance to the standings seems like a good idea to me. If there's an issue of keeping MLS teams seeded equal to CPL sides, standings can be used to set draws instead if giving teams 'byes' to later rounds. Or, bottom two clubs in CPL go through a play-in round with Div 3 teams (L1O and Quebec Premier League) with the winners joining everyone else. Top teams in the CPL standings can also have the benefit of being in the same 'pot' as MLS teams in match up draws, giving them better chance to progress since they face stronger opposition later on. Of course, the top team in CPL standings should get a regular season 'supporters shield' or some sort of silverware. Doing something like this makes CPL standings meaningfull and gives the V's Cup prestige and attention.
  10. He's had a solid career in North American div 2 leagues. For a position with little depth he's an option, but CanMNT level is at least MLS. He hasn't really shown that he can play a level above NASL/USL. He should be given the chance, but, since the CanMNT isn't playing games, no player is getting opportunities.
  11. Red and White

    CPL General

    I'm involved with one of the two Ottawa groups, and I've personally heard nothing like @Olympique_de_Marseille. Whatever Fury intends to do next year, it's a very tightly kept secret. There is no information at all, which is understandable given that they want to respect the USL season. If they announce that they are leaving next year, USL attendance and interest will tank for the current season. If I remember correctly, they announced that they were leaving NASL a few days before the final home game in that league. Based on that, I would expect a similar time-line this time as well. Ottawa's ownership group has a lot to learn about the sport, but their business decisions with Fury have been good so far. Fury is, at the end of the day, a product they own that they want to grow. I wouldn't be surprised if they're still in the process of deciding whether to join CanPL or take a 'wait and see' approach and stick with USL for 2019, potentially joining CanPL in 2020 if they like what they see - this is pure speculation on my part.
  12. I don't post often but I check this site daily, specifically the CanMNT and CanPL forums. I can say that, personally, the V's forum is the primary avenue that got me into Canadian footy and continues to be my primary source for daily updates and excellent discussion. I became interested with the TFC/MLS hype in 2007 and discovered the V's & CanMNT through there. It was/is the forum itself - specifically, getting ongoing info and discussion from relatively intelligent posters - that keeps me going with Canadian footy. I find the ongoing news and conversation in the threads a great way to keep up with the CanMNT and it's players - possibly the best there is in Canada. There are issues. When I joined, it did feel as if a new member needed 'molding' into posting etiquette specifically for the forum. For example, knowledge about Towrads and Sponsons was a big deal. It's fine that there's a dedicated community of hardcores, but, especially in a world where Reddit is emerging and hitting online forums, it's a good idea to make it simple for new members to come in. Perhaps just create a 'V's forum posting etiquette' guideline for new members. The CanPL threads got a bit dicey at times. I think this was mostly a result of a few hardcores excited for the league and little to no information coming out for a long time. As a result, there was circular discussion without much substance while people were edgy waiting for something to happen. Now, each team has its own thread and things are changing a bit. What's essential to get new posters is to make coming in simpler than Reddit and more worthwhile than other social media. We have a forum that easily out classes anything on Reddit, filled with informed users and daily content/discussion. Posters like tg11 can be a good thing with help into getting started. Just a welcome 'etiquette list' and maybe a daily posting limit for everyone would help steer contructive content. There's obviously some fluff that gets posted, but that's simple enough to scroll through. Generally, I find this forum a great source of info on Canadian football that is supported by how long it's been in existence and ties to the national team supporters group. With bit of loose moderation, I can see it being an incredible staple to the Voyageurs.
  13. I'll be there. I'm not sure what kind of attendance we'll get, but I think it'll be relatively low for a couple of reasons. Namely: 1) FIFA World Cup is going on, meaning people are generally distracted away from or not paying attention to local clubs. 2) weeknight match does not help. 3) People in Ottawa are still learning about the importance of the V's Cup - so playing a team one division below is not enticing to locals just yet. It's year one of lower league opposition involved, so this will take time. To people commenting above on the lack of attendance or interest, keep those three points in mind for this year's Voyageurs Cup.
  14. Nice touch that they just went with 'Cavalry FC'. It's the Twitter handle and the name on the crest. It's bold leaving the city name out in North American sports, but they have lots tying them to Calgary and I like the unique concept they're bringing.
  15. It almost has to be like this for a single table Canadian league with equal east and west teams and a balanced schedule. If every team has 2 away games against the rest of the league, lots of travel can be saved by bundling the long away fixtures. Every team could have a couple of three week road trips to cover the other side of the country (Three weekends and one midweek). Edmonton could play Halifax on a weekend, then Ottawa four days later, then York 9 and Hamilton on consecutive weekends. Same with an eastern team in reverse (ex Ottawa plays Edmonton on a weekend, Calgary midweek, then Winnipeg and Port City). If two of these trips are done per team each year, it saves a ton on travel and preserves a single table with only two midweek games per club.
  16. Henry has been solid in his two games. Wins every ball that comes to his area, and skill set is above those around him. His positioning is better than I remember, and he isn't prone to crazy challenges which risk fouls and penalties. He does look really strong compared to players around him, so he may have added muscle. His ball control can still use improvement, but he doesn't automatically hoof balls down the field when he has possesson - this may be because the level is lower and he gets more time on the ball.
  17. Fury always have a slow start to the season. Every year. It's a combination of new players getting accustomed to the team - many of whom aren't even signed until weeks or days before a season starts, a lack of preseason meaning the first few matches become time to get tactics and chemistry straight, and playing the first few matches away every year (due to climate in Ottawa). The year Fury made it to the NASL Final, they played poorly and finished near the bottom of the spring season. This year's group are talented individually, but they look poor as a team. I thought there were positives in the match against NYRB II. Holding them scoreless was one, as they're the highest scoring team in the East. Crapeau played really well and his centre backs were solid. Eddie Edward was explosive as full back. What's missing is the offense. There's not one player who looks like a goal scorer, and 2 goals in 6 matches shows this. It's partly because the midfield are playing like individuals with no chemistry. I do see them improving as the year goes on.
  18. It's not clear why the rule exists (U12 teams and under can not make team trips of this magnitude), at least from the article. It's likely a safety or security rule, but it does come off as strange in this case. What's funny is the level of disorganization this shows at these youth levels. The club informed a body governed by the OSA (EODSA), received a late 'notice of disapproval', took the trip anyway and just paid the fine, and now they're going through some sort of appeal. If basic issues like this can't be handled, it's no wonder why we can't organize CanMNT friendlies.
  19. I'm purely speculating, but I would imagine the reason for fewer friendlies is either financial or the CSA just not willing to put much effort into organizing - possibly because they haven't been asked to by Herdman. If it was about FIFA rankings, we could have scheduled some winnable friendlies instead of nothing. What would be the costs of playing minnows in Nations League? Maybe we are saving up for that bill. Having said that, we may still get a couple of friendlies right before Nations League. It's beyond stupid to go into those games cold and rusty, especially with a new coach and players who don't see each other often.
  20. Huge learning moment. Up 2-0 at home in a friendly is the perfect time for it to happen.
  21. Solid performance. We made an opponent pay for defensive lapses, which is nice to see. Hoilett was solid. Lots of nifty footwork controlling pace and creating chances. Leutwiler played well. Good distribution and some nice saves. Osorio also looked really good. We can still work on creating chances in the final third, but, for the most part, we were playing really well as a team. Atmosphere was amazing and the attendance was impressive.
  22. Jamaica gifted us the goal. Very poor giveaway and lazy defending afterwords. But any way of scoring is more than welcome
  23. Fury played a solid away game last Saturday against Tampa Bay Rowdies. Extremely difficult to break down defensively and had some scoring chances in a 1-1 draw where they controlled the match for large spells. It's a solid start for JDG as a coach, at least in terms of motivating players to buy into a system.
  24. It's almost written to look like a joke against Canadian footy. What they conveniently don't mention is the fact that a lack of coverage from media outlets such as themselves is hugely responsible for empty stadiums at Canada matches. The author is an idiot.
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