Jump to content


  • Content Count

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won


Everything posted by Ozzie_the_parrot

  1. Honestly have no idea what you are talking about. The optics of the Pacific vs FCE game on CBC on Saturday must have been horrific for you, if you still think there is some sort of rivalry for supremacy going on between the two leagues and that's where you are coming from with that. Personally, I'd like to see both leagues thrive in the years ahead and Canadian soccer go from strength to strength on that basis. CanPL is in a bit of a trough right now but there have been enough positives this year for there to be optimism that they can turn it around. Playoffs to keep almost every team having something to play for through to the end of the regular season is one of the things that MLS gets right and hopefully that will be a lesson learned for year 2.
  2. Think the Score and Sportsnet had some games as well back in 2007, and CBC was only doing Saturday home games. It was always going to be challenging to get CanPL onto coast-to-coast sports highlights coverage because they don't tend to cover minor leagues and that's how it will be viewed by a lot of people regardless of how the CSA sanctions it as long as MLS is around in the three major markets. Winding things back to the subject of the thread hopefully they don't have too much of an identity crisis over what they are trying to be and contrary to rumours keep expansion fees low so they can get into lots of mid-sized markets similar to Halifax over the next decade or two where local media coverage can make it work.
  3. We truly are into George Orwell's Ministry of Truth territory at this point.
  4. He definitely gets the job done in CanPL but not sure his first touch and athleticism are where they need to be to ever be likely to cut it at the highest levels. Time will tell. He's still young, so time is on his side.
  5. Link to York 9, no number yet: https://ca.soccerway.com/matches/2019/09/15/canada/canadian-premier-league/york-9/valour/2991898/ https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/5e6552cfhize1wrtn1985u6p6/highlights But there are people on the far side (York students?), so might be higher than usual.
  6. They would have had the MLS dates when that was being decided so somebody actually must have thought that was a good idea. Will be interesting to see if York U students can be enticed in numbers now they are back on campus.
  7. No sign of a crowd number so far for the Forge game, but will leave the links so it is easy to check: https://ca.soccerway.com/matches/2019/09/15/canada/canadian-premier-league/forge/hfx-wanderers/2991897/ https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/5dzgbpowfq3bfc0jp50nxi0yy/highlights Could post more screen grabs with more depressing evidence of there being acres of empty seats rather than packed sections of fans, but I'm sure you all saw that on the Onesoccer coverage. Hopefully the Wanderers are going to provide reasons to be upbeat over the coming week and to believe this league can actually work. Edit: 6016 announced
  8. Two more players for the Forge with one on of them on a development contract. No prizes for guessing their last club: https://forgefc.canpl.ca/article/forge-fc-signs-midfielder-stoddart-and-defender-oyegunle
  9. Sept 11th has been revised upwards. It was showing as 1200 the day after the game after 2043 had initially been the number released to the media including the Times Colonist. Hope you are not going to try to seriously claim that the stadium was around half full for that game and the FCE one as it was when numbers like that were being announced earlier in the season. The problem for the league right now is that there have been a whole string of games where attendance has looked unusually sparse. That's what happens when you neglect to have playoffs and you have a runaway leader for that second championship place and no relegation to keep things interesting at the bottom. Winding this back to the subject matter of the thread given that sort of backdrop and how difficult it is to find suitable stadia having more than 16 teams and how to accomodate them is unlikely to be an issue the league will face any time soon. I suspect they are a lot more concerned right now over whether season ticket holders who have stopped showing up will renew now the novelty factor and the initial wave of enthusiasm have worn off.
  10. No number so far for the Pacific vs FCE game: https://ca.soccerway.com/matches/2019/09/14/canada/canadian-premier-league/canada-pacific-fc/fc-edmonton/2991896/ https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/5dn16vvqaa96vbba40es3uq22/highlights
  11. Ryan McCurdy getting a start is a bit of a surprise, because he looked out of his depth during the spring season.
  12. How to structure two tiers is a long way off as an issue. In the past week or so we have had some disheartening things happen including, (i) the Forge appearing to cut back active capacity in 2020 to less than their announced average in 2019 basically confirming that said average probably involved a generous portion of freebies, (ii) an announced crowd of 1200 in Victoria that if anything looked smaller, (iii) a well-connected Y9 fan posting on here about rumours circulating concerning their short term future, and (iv) a dismal looking barely into four figures actual as opposed to announced crowd in Edmonton for the Al Classico fixture that was supposed to make things so different from the NASL era there. Hopefully the season ticket renewal rates are going to be healthy (especially with the league's poster child on viable levels of attendance in Halifax) and this is just a small temporary wobble due to the self-inflicted problem of having no playoff race to keep fans excited when the weather gets colder and wetter, or interest in expansion from credible as opposed to Walter Mitty type would be investors is likely to cool considerably. They really need to get team #8 announced for 2021 at the CSA's AGM next May at a minimum to keep the momentum going from their launch and the Cavalry beating the Whitecaps.
  13. Are people really arguing vehemently about the difference between 4231 and 433? They are variations on the same theme tactically (235 -> 424 -> 442 -> 352 -> 433/4231 was roughly the historical development of prevailing orthodoxy since WWII). The game is fluid enough that there will often be little practical difference between a 4231 and a 433 making it possible to see what you want to see.
  • Create New...