FixTheCSL and London City

Last night, CBC's The National ran the first part of a conversation that has been long over due in taking place.  It is a conversation about the fact that it is becoming increasingly evident that match fixing has taken place in Canadian soccer matches.  The league in question in the Canadian Soccer League which plays in Ontario and Quebec and includes a team that is local to myself in London City.  The league also includes the academy sides for both Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact so protecting the league and its credibility is important to myself as a member of the London community and as a fan of Toronto FC.

The documentary on CBC last night focused on a match that took place in Quebec which according to German court findings was fixed by overseas bettors.  If you are interested in that story then you can find it here.  It was the comments from a player on Canadian Soccer News that brought things closer to home.  In this interview between Ben Rycroft and an unnamed CSL player there is one part that really stands out to me:

" WHAT OTHER INSTANCES HAVE YOU HAD WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN APPROACHED BY PEOPLE TO FIX GAMES?

Um, I’d say the London game last year.

SO WALK US THROUGH THAT ONE AGAIN. THEY APPROACHED YOU WHERE?

At the field. Like I was warming up, as I say, I was warm. Last guy to come off the field and a gentleman stopped me you know and say “Like I know the odds for London to beat you guys is a lot, is it possible, do you want to make some money?” and I go 'No.' And then he was just telling me that 'Listen, even if you score three goals I will, you’ll still make money' or whatever the case may be. I said I don’t want nothing to do with it. I’m a soccer player. If I go out there and I score three goals I score three goals. If I score 4 goals I score 4 goals. If I don’t score, I don’t score. So it’s just that’s just the way they do stuff. And I guess this year I got approached in Ottawa about the same thing."

That did not sit well with me as both Ottawa and London are places I have been a part of the soccer community in and seeing that people connected to match fixing could be present there was like a punch to the gut even though it was naive of me to think it could not happen in my own back yard.

Now I do take this report at face value and do not wish to question any of the work that Ben or CBC has done to uncover cases of match fixing but it should be made clear that at this point there is nothing to suggest any London City player has accepted money to throw a game.  What is being suggested is that visiting players were approached at their field with offers to fix matches.  That actually makes sense in a lot of ways as London City have been a development club in recent years and have experienced a number of rough season where they lost a lot more games than they won.  That means that many times London were faces very long odds on the betting sites so if you could get their opponent to throw the game that would really open the door for a bigger pay day.

This report led me to spend some time looking over the club's results from previous seasons to see if any of them really stood out to me as being odd.  I went back to the start of 2008 and came up with this list of games worth looking at just a bit harder.

15/08/08

London City

2 - 2

SC Toronto

26/06/09

London City

1 - 1

Serbian White Eagle

28/09/10

Toronto Croatia

0 - 2

London City

30/09/11 Serbian White Eagles 1 - 2 London City

11/05/12

Serbian White Eagles

2 - 2

London City

This list is by no means evidence of anything and in fact is just a list of London City's more impressive results.  Just because a game goes against the odds does not mean that you should start to question the result.  What did bother me was the fact that Serbian White Eagles kept showing up on the list despite being a top club in the CSL year after year.  I was at that 2-1 win back in 2011 and I could tell you with complete confidence that London City had to fight for every bit of that result.  They had to clear the ball off the line a number of times and won off a top quality finish.  If that is evidence of Serbian throwing a match they were doing a terrible job of it.

I was not at any of the other matches on the list but from my limited knowledge of betting I would imagine that even a surprise draw is not the best way to get a big payout.  I am left to conclude that their is no real evidence in any of London City's results to suggest that a match involving the club has been fixed.  There is even less evidence to suggest that they themselves have ever been involved in the throwing of their own game.

I am not Declan Hill or even Ben Rycroft when it comes to knowledge about match fixing but having done my own digging through results I feel a lot more ease about London City and their possible involvement in anything to do with match fixing.  That is important to me because not only is the club part of a soccer community I care about greatly but the club has also been home to people I consider to be my friends in recent years.  I don't know anyone on the team this year but that does not mean I have stopped caring about them.

I would hope that unless some real and concrete evidence comes out people will not take these match fixing reports and paint all teams in the league with the same brush.  It would be a shame to have some bad apples in the CSL taint a club that the Gaus family worked so hard to build into a major part of the London community without any evidence.  That said, if these reports cause us to look at how the CSL is run and improve the league it will be good for everyone including London City.

This is just one side of the conversation and I will post my thoughts on how this might impact Toronto FC academy on Waking the Red this afternoon as well so look out for that.

At Least it was Exciting

I have come up with a new moto for Toronto FC.  It is that if you can't be good you should at least be exciting.  They lived up to that moto against DC United in what had to be one of the most exciting games in recent memory.  The game was a 3-3 draw in the end but along the way to that final scoreline there were talking points left right and centre. 

The game kicked off with DC United's keeper being sent off in the 7th minute thanks to a nasty two legged tackle that sent Avila flipping through the air.  After chatting with his assistant the ref decided that the right move was to send Hamid for a very early shower, if he even needed one after only 7 minutes played, and I think it was the correct move.  Watching the game I knew that things were only going to get more lively from there.  The stage was set for TFC to go on and get their first road win of the season but we all knew it was never going to be straight forward like that.  TFC found a way to commit three major mistakes, one by Frei and two by Iro that allowed Dwayne De Rosario to net one of the easiest hat tricks you will ever see.  TFC answered back with goals from Marosevic, Koevermans, and even one from Julian De Guzman.

If you want a nice summary of the match then you came to the wrong place.  Instead I want to focus on the emotional roller coaster that TFC took me on last night.  Coming in to the game I just had that feeling that DeRo was going to put in a performance and i guess he did just that last night even though one of his goals was a penalty, one was misplayed by the keeper, and the other was basically gifted to him by Iro.  I will give credit where credit is due and say that DeRo did well to take advantage of the gifts that were being given to him by his former side.  I do not agree with the sentiment that I am coming across today that this game shows why TFC should have paid up and kept DeRo.  Instead I still think that letting him leave was the right move for a club that is looking to rebuild.  He is a very good MLS player and a proven goal scorer but Toronto needed to take that one step backwards so that they might one day to able to move a lot further forward.  The fact that DeRo scored a hattrick left me with a bad taste in my mouth but the one positive that I can take from it would be the fact that if DeRo is on form come the fall it will be a massive boost for the CMNT.  So I guess we can thank Andy Iro and the rest of TFC for giving him a confidence boost.

At the exact other end of the emotional roller coaster that was this match was watching Julian DeGuzman score a screamer of a long range goal.  The only thing wrong with his first goal for TFC was the fact that the ref should have never allowed it to happen since DCU were in the midst of making a change when JDG decided to take a quick freekick.  Again if you look at this from a Canadian perspective it is great news.  JDG will be a key member of the team and if he discovers any sort of his form from before he joined TFC then Canada will be in much better shape.  The end result of JDG's goal was DCU coach Ben Olsen being dismissed from the sidelines having just flipped his lid in reaction to the goal being allowed to stand.

The last part of the game that I want to cover is how I felt about Iro and his performance.  He was complete shit but I do not give him the entire blame for that.  TFC played much of the second half with basically only 2 actual defenders on the field and Iro was not getting much help at all.  He is a decent MLS defender but he needs to have a stronger partner in centre back.  He is not strong enough or confident enough to control the middle of the pitch without somewhere better there to help him.  He needs to play better then he did last night as the second goal was all his fault with him failing to clear the ball but the penalty he conceded was a real team effort.  He was not the only one in the box that was failing to clear the ball, just happened to be the one who got caught bringing the man down.  So blame him for one goal if you will but blame the entire team for the lack of defending that was going on in this game.

So like I said if you can't be good at least you should be exciting and at the moment TFC seem to have that covered.  I like the fact that they are scoring more goals, I have been impressed by some of the new additions to the side, not just Frings and Koevermans either and I think that even if the results are not coming in yet the team is going to be better once things settle down.  Games like this are giving me lots of reasons to be excited for 2012 and the chances of the team being in a position to be more competitive but before that I am just pleased that TFC are going to be a more entertaining team to watch down the stretch even if the playoffs are quickly fading from reach.

Let there be no Excuses!

So yesterday I posted about how supporters tickets are going on sale now and that regular ticket sales for Canada's home games will begin sometime early next week.  With tickets about to go on sale it is time for the people who care about the Canadian men's national team to stand up and do there part.  The CSA has done there part by promising that they will be turning all of their spare focus to contacting clubs and other organizations to try and market the game.  This move seems to come as a direct response to the calls that came out from a lot of Canadian fans, including the guys over at Canadian Soccer News, following the friendly against Ecuador.  At that match, also in Toronto, there was a clear lack of youth soccer teams at the game.  Personally I only noticed one team and they came from Oakville which is a club where Jason DeVos is heavily involved so the fact that they were at the forefront was no surprise at all.  This time around there should be no excuse for more clubs not coming out.  Yes only one of the three games is going to be on a weekend night with that being a Friday so there will still be the excuse of being unable to make it.

So the CSA has promised to do there part, they even tweeted me saying: "No worries, we got that covered! we'll be turning our office into call central so that we can reach as many cubs as humanly possible!"  This tweet came in response to my slightly cynical remarks about the CSA announcing that it would be offering discounts and group packages for clubs.  I for one might have felt well that is nice but the problem is that who is going to tell that clubs about this since last time many of them claimed to know nothing about the match and their options.  This time the CSA has gone on the record and promised that they will do everything in their power to promote this game and I am ready to applaud them for that but will wait until September 2nd when we get to see the fruits of this labour.

The commitment of the CSA is nice and that is a great start but lets face it at the end of the day a lot of pressure is still coming to be on the people who call themselves supporters of the national team.  I am not just referring to the normal names and faces who do their best to promote the games any time they happen since that is not where new fans are going to come from.  They are all ready fans and in a lot of cases they have already exhausted their friends and family with attempts to win them over.  I trust that despite that though they will all once again do their best to fill up at least the south end of BMO for each game.  The pressure now will actually fall on the more casual fans.  The ones that say they support the team, or want to support it,  but have yet to do anything really tangible about that.  These are the fans that we need to get on board if we are going to fill the rest of the stadium, at least part of the way.  I am not going to be the first or the last person to make a plea to these fans and I acknowledge that most of them will not be reading this post since my audience is generally the more hardcore fans.  So I hope that people with a much bigger audience and reach then I have will also echo what I am saying.  Today i was glad to hear that on Tim and Sid Uncut (A Score program) Sid Seixeiro
 gave a very impassioned plea to fans to get out and support the team.  If you want to check it out head over to:
http://blogs.thescore.com/timandsid/2011/08/04/tim-and-sid-uncut-august-4/

The podcast is basically an hour long and talks about all kinds of sports but the important part is how fired up Sid gets about this issue.  The thing is though that The Score is already among the leaders in promoting CMNT and the sport of soccer in general around this country so I am not sure how much more they can do.  They worked hard to increase the profile of the Gold Cup and the friendly leading up to it.  So maybe this plea from Sid is just going to end up reaching people who have already heard it all before and decided not to respond.  I hope though that it does reach at least  few people and gets just a couple more butts in the seats.

Let me add to what Tim had to say and stress that if you have the chance to get to Toronto for at least 1 game, can afford a 20 or 30 dollar ticket, and care about sports in the country over even just like soccer then you have no excuse here.  You can spend all day trying to reason with me about why you wont be at these games but I will be hearing none of it.  I have no excuse for not trying to bring the people that I know to the game and promoting it where I can so you have no excuse to not try your best to be there.  If I get to BMO on September 2nd and the crowd is as disheartening as it was earlier this summer I will be more then a little disappointed.  I know that people who really care about the CMNT are putting in the effort and now I just want to see some sort of reward for that!  So please get out and do something real to support your national soccer team.  We won't be in the World Cup with out it!

CSA confims WCQ Schedule

Earlier today the Canadian Soccer Association confirm what most of us were already assuming to be true.  That is that all 3 home games in the second round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying will be played at Toronto's BMO field.  The games are St. Lucia on Sept. 2, Puerto Rico on Oct. 11 and St. Kitts and Nevis on Nov. 15.  These dates and locations come as no real surprise since it had been speculated for weeks that the games would all be at BMO and following the drawing of the groups the dates had been released on the CSA site.  Now there is no speculation left and we all know how the road to Brazil is going to look for at least the first round of matches.


This news was greeted by a very mixed reaction by loyal fans across the country.  The fans in Toronto were of course very pleased by the news that all 3 games will be taking place in our back yard.  The issues came from the fans across the rest of the country who felt that this was some sort of snub to them and favoritism towards the GTA area.  I am not going to get in to the wild debates that were taking place on my twitter feed throughout the afternoon but instead I will try to lay out why I think that this is the best move for the national team and will actually help the team in the long run as well as the CSA.


1. BMO field is the only stadium in Canada that is good enough to host these matches.  It is up to date, has over 20 K seats, and most importantly it has a grass surface.  That along with the fact that having the games in Toronto puts it in the middle of Canada's largest population area increases the chances of getting a large pro-Canadian field.  Cities like Montreal, Edmonton, and Vancouver would also be more then capable of hosting a game but they do not have grass fields and at this stage putting down a temporary surface for one match is not worth the hassle that it brings, just ask Whitecap fans.


2. It is what the players want.  A lot of them are from the GTA area, they like spending time in the city of Toronto and again it comes back to the issue of playing surfaces.  If you did a survey of the players I guarantee that they would all say that playing on a grass surface is one of the most important factors.  The players are the ones who go out and play the game, not the fans, so it is key to keep the players happy since last I checked that helps them to play better.


3. It is the easiest thing for the CSA to do.  By having all the games in one city they have less to do in terms of making arrangements for player travel, training grounds, and promoting the games.  At this stage I think that anything that makes the CSA's job easier is a good thing since they have proven to struggle when they try and do to much.


4. Having all the games in one place will allow the Canadian players to develop a comfort level on the field and in the stadium which is a big part of a home field advantage.  That advantage might not be as crucial in this first round but if Canada is going to push far into qualifications then it will eventually be crucial.


5. This debate is not about what we want as fans.  It is about what is going to give the team the best chance of advancing to the next round and eventually moving on to the World Cup.  That means that we have to accept that it might not be convenient for some of the fans, it might not help to grow the fan base, and it may even make Toronto a bit more hated but at the end of the day none of that matters when this is a World Cup qualifying campaign.  At the end of the day this is not a fan making campaign and the best way for the CMNT to make new fans will be having success.  Who knows where the games will be in the third round but for now this is the best move.


For all those reasons I think that the CSA has done the right thing by placing all the games in Toronto.  IT is all about making the World Cup and this gives us the best chance to do that.  I will though admit that if the shoe had been on the other foot and all the games were in other places I would have been very annoyed so I understand how fans around the rest of the country are feeling.  All in how you look at it at the end of the day.

Another Day, Another Deal

So this afternoon Toronto FC made yet another players move.  This time it was a trade with FC Dallas that saw TFC swapped Maicon Santos for Eric Avila.  At first look many might wonder why TFC have moved Santos as he has basically been the teams top scorer all season but that fact of the matter is that for the most part Santos has failed to live up to his price tag.  He was one of Toronto's top paid players and as such the club should have expected an even better return from him than 10 goals in his 32 matches for the club.  Avila on the other hand represents another move towards youth and potential for Toronto but he is also capable of jumping right in to the starting lineup.

So let me now introduce you to Eric Avila.  He was drafted in the second round of the 2008 MLS Super draft having come out of UC Santa Barbara a year early.  He ended up with FC Dallas where he was in his fourth season and made 58 appearances.  As an attacking midfielder he scored only 3 goals for the club but what he has to offer goes beyond the stat sheet and his goal tally.  Avila is a dynamic player who has the ability to create space in the center of the field as well as being able to create chances for those around him.  At only 23 years of age Avila still has some time to mature and develop his game so he may yet reach his scoring potential.  Avila showed that potential when he was in college where as a junior he was nominated for the Hermann trophy.  While at UC Santa Barbara he played in 66 games scoring 15 goals and collecting 18 assists. That is an impressive scoring record for a midfielder at the college level and it is just that kind of potential that TFC will be hoping he begins to show in the MLS.

Avila is an American born player who comes from California.  He played for the US national team at both the U-17 and U-20 levels a total of 30 times.  He was also a part of the US residency program that was set up in Bradenton, Florida which he joined in 2003.  Avila is very much one of the players who shows the fruits of the US national teams efforts to develop young talent and TFC will now be hoping that he continues to develop and reaches the level where he can play at the senior level. 

So Toronto have gotten younger and a bit more potential which is the point of a rebuild.  For that reason I think that this is a great deal for them.  It continues to develop the team in the way that Winter has said he wants to since Avila is a creative player who is capable of playing something similar to Total Football.  The other good part of this deal from a TFC point of view is that they are saving money on salaries as well as adding another international roster spot.  All in all it was a good move for TFC and hopefully it sets the stage for a good result tonight.

Interesting facts:
1. The addition of Avila brings TFC within one player of breaking the MLS record of 36 players used in a single season.

2. Aside from home grown players only 5 players are left on TFC from the 2010 squad and two of them are keepers (thanks to Luke Wileman for that one)

TFC in the Champions League

So it was another busy week for TFC, which by this stage is not even the slightest bit of a surprise since they all seem to be busy ones, as they played their opening game in the CONCACAF Champions League and made a few more player moves.  I am going to start with the CCF match though as it was clearly the highlight of the week for me.

TFC were taking on Real Esteli FC in the home leg of their qualification round.  Many fans were hoping that TFC would go out and field a full strength side in hopes of making a real run in this competition as the league seems to be a bit of a lost cause at this point with playoffs getting further away.  TFC are already champions of Canada so why not give it a good honest try to get somewhere towards being club champions of CONCACAF.  I know winning the CCF is a bit much to ask for TFC but beating Real Esteli is very much something that they are capable of.

They showed just that in the opening round game as they continued their good run of results in games that are not related to the MLS.  Having done so well in winning the Nutrilite Championship TFC continued that midweek with a win over Real Esteli.  Things would have been a lot better if they had not conceded late on in the match to make the final score 2-1 but by winning the opening leg TFC are in just the position they want to be before going on the road later in August to play the second leg.  The hero of the game for Toronto was Joao Plata who netter a brace to make it 2-0 for TFC. 

In the first half Toronto was creating a number of chances but Soolsma and Johnson were frequently unable to convert them.  It was not until the second half introduction of Plata that things started to go the right way for TFC.  Plata was brought on in the 49th minute and made his impact felt almost immediately as he worked the keeper with a long range effort with basically his first touch.  That effort was just a warm up and a sign of things to come from the small Ecuadorian who came in from the left and managed to sneak a low shot in beside the left post to make it 1-0 for the hosts.  Plata would add a second goal as he again found the left side of the net but this time it was from a very nice free kick.  Plata showed that he has the skill to take a great free kick with his right foot and his second of the match in only 23 minutes of playing time seemed to have Toronto on course for a comfortable and much needed win.

The defensive problems showed up yet again though as TFC once again proved that they are just not capable of keeping a clean sheet no matter who they are playing against.  A defensive end turnover from TFC keeper Kocic all but gifted a goal to Esteli in the 81st minute.  That single away goal gives them a way back in to the match for the second leg as now even a 1-0 home win would be enough to see them advancing.  For Toronto though you have to be happy with the display and the fact that the job is now at least half done.  Another good showing in a weeks time will be enough to hopefully earn their place in group C of the CCF.  The winner of the tie will go on to join Pumas UNAM of Mexico, Tauro FC of Panama and the winner of the FC Dallas-Alianza qualifier (FC Dallas won 1-0 in the away leg). 


So in at least one competition things are going well for TFC.  Hopefully this win will give them a boost in form that will carry over in to MLS play as the team take on Portland this weekend.  

In other TFC news they of course added a couple of new players in the past week.  Both players failed to really impress at their old clubs but TFC will be hoping that giving them a fresh start will let them live up to their potential. The first move saw Toronto ship out struggling defender Dan Gargan to Chicago Fire in exchange for Dasan Robinson.  On the surface this move is basically a straight swap of one defender for the other with both clubs hoping that the player they are getting does better for them then they did for their previous club.  With the way that Gargan has been playing of late I am sure that this move will be an upgrade as long as Robinson proves to be competent.  He only started 2 games for Chicago this season but will hopefully add further depth to Toronto's back line which is hurting for that at the moment.  The second move of the week was another one that I am a fan of as Toronto picked up some more depth for their attacking unit by signing Peri Marosevic.  The 22 year old forward was never able to lock down a spot with FC Dallas and was eventually let go by the club.  He was drafted 5th overall in the 2009 super draft and boasts a lot of potential having represented the US at almost every youth level including being a member of the U-20 squad.  He only played in 4 matches for FC Dallas and failled to get on the score sheet before being waived but if he can find a way to live up to the potential he showed as a member of the Michigan Wolverines then Toronto might still be able to develop him in to a decent forward.  To me the move adds depth, is low risk, and could have a fairly decent reward if he can get on track.

The Time is Here

Brazil 2014 might seem like a long ways off but the fact of the matter is that 32 teams have already been eliminated from the running for qualifying.  The teams already out include the likes of India, Philippines, Yemen, Palestine, Hong Kong, Laos, and Maldives.  So they are not the traditional powers in the sport by any means which is why they had to take part in the earliest round of qualifying but as Grant Wahl pointed out the 32 teams already knocked out compromise 29% of the world's population.  So for a quarter of the people living on planet earth the dream of making the World Cup ended before it ever really began.

For the other 175 nations that are competing for the 31 spots up for grabs in Brazil (the hosts have the 32nd spot already) the dream will begin in earnest today.  So in case you did not know the World Cup qualifying draw is upon us and by the middle of the afternoon (EST) we will know the CONCACAF draw shakes out and that includes who Canada will take on in its opening round.  So from here on in this post we will shift our focus to CONCACAF since that is all that matters in Canada's road to the World cup.

It really is not the easiest thing to try and explain the qualifying road and how the draw is going to shake out but I will do my best to try and highlight the basics.  If you want some more info that is probably laid out better then I could do feel free to check out http://www.tropigol.com/2011/07/30/world-cup-qualifying-draw-procedure-for-concacaf-teams/

So CONCACAF has already had one round of play for the lowest ranked teams in the confederation.  This round saw Belize, Dominican Republic, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Aruba and Bahamas all advance as winners.  They will now join the next 19 teams in terms of rank in the second round of play.  It is in this second round that Canada enters the fun and will be drawn in to a group with 3 other teams.  As one of the higher ranked teams in this round of qualification Canada will be looking to get a favorable draw that will allow them to advance.  For round 2 CONCACAF has the 24 teams drawn in to 6 groups of 4 teams each with one team coming from each of the pots, which are determined based on FIFA rankings.  The winner of each group will advance to the third round where they will join the top 6 teams that have advanced straight to this stage.  The second round matches will all take place in the fall.

So Canada gets involved in things before the confederations top teams and we will just have to hope that they do not mess up and actually make it to the third round.  If they do they will be drawn into one of three groups of 4 from which the top two teams will advance.  This is the point in qualification is going to be tough as some of the top teams will start getting knocked out.  By the end of the third round there will only be 6 teams left.  The round will again be drawn based on pots, they will again be based on FIFA rankings but this time based on the ones coming out in March as this round will not take place until the spring.

So assuming that your team is able to get past the third round by finishing in the top 2 of its group then you can really start to dream as making the World Cup as at least 3 of the final 6 teams will be going on to play in Brazil.  For the final round there will be only one group and all 6 teams will be placed in it as they compete to finish in the top 3 spots and automatically advancing to Brazil.  For the fourth placed team their fate will be decided by an intercontinental playoff while 5th and 6th place will have to join over 100 other countries dreaming of 2018.

So for Canada who start play in the second round the road is going to be a long one.  They will have to win their group in the second round, come top 2 in the third round, and top 3 in the final round if they want to be playing in Brazil but one thing is clear to me now.  Today is the kind of day where you just can't help but hope that some sort of miracle happens and come 2013 Canada will be in that final group.  Just that would be a great achievement in my eyes as actually making the World Cup is still probably a distant dream.  Just want to see them take a step forward and do well against teams that they should be doing well against.

The other big news leading in to World Cup qualifying is that Bob Bradley is out as the American head coach and has been replaced by Jürgen Klinsmann who was the clear favourite to land the job and will now almost certainly have more control then any of his predecessors.  It was thought that the chances of Klinsmann taking over were becoming slim as he had a fair few differences with the US governing body as he wanted almost total control but someone must have caved for this hiring to be allowed to take place.