Canada does not have a rich men’s soccer history. Yes, they won the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City and won the 2000 Gold Cup in Los Angeles. But after that, Canada’s success in men’s soccer has been rather bleak.
In professional league play however, one of Canada’s greatest moments was when the Vancouver Whitecaps won the 1979 Soccer Bowl by defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-1 at New York’s Giants Stadium to win the North American Soccer League Championship. In a humurous moment, according to the Vancouver Sun, ABC commentator Jim McKay addressed the Whitecaps victory with the comment, “the people in the village of Vancouver will be excited.”
The NASL folded in 1984, and Vancouver had great success as the 86ers in the old Canadian Soccer League from 1987-1992, being the champion four times. Vancouver also played in the A-League and United Soccer League over the last two decades.
Dwayne De Rosario (Paul Frederiksen, Wikimedia Commons)
If Team Canada hopes to qualify for the final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, they will have to do so without Dwayne de Rosario.
On Thursday it was reported that de Rosario, Canada’s top attacking midfielder, suffered a sprained MCL while colliding with a player from Panama Tuesday night and will miss the next three months. Canada lost the game 2-0.
De Rosario, will miss Canada’s game against Cuba on October 12 and Honduras on October 16. To date, Team Canada is 2-1-1 in Group C action after 1-0 victories to date over Cuba and Panama.
It was De Rosario that scored the game winning goal for Canada in the 77th minute to beat Panama 1-0 in Toronto last Friday night.
De Rosario will also miss the rest of the season for D.C. United in Major League Soccer.
After the Canadian women’ soccer team had such a bright summer at the 2012 Olympic Games in London in capturing a bronze medal, it appears the Canadian men’s soccer team, currently ranked 73rd in the world, have significant work to do of capturing similar attention by Canadian fans.
This week on 15 Minute of Fame: the BC Lions take the 99th Grey Cup, Sidney Crosby makes his return to the NHL, Montreal’s Max Pacioretty could be in line for a suspension, Edmonton’s Taylor Hall goes down with an injury and Sam Gagner starts to turn it around. As well, the NBA reaches a tentative deal with its players to save the season.
In the GABBYs: 15MOF hits 4K, Jerome Messam, Paul Deutsch, Brian Ching, SM-liiga and Ndamukong Suh. This week’s Punchline is Samoan rugby coach Mathew Vaea.
The preseason fundraisers, I mean tournaments, continue around the world this week for many of Europe’s top soccer teams, and it seems to have been an especially bloopery few days!
To give you an idea of where some of the big clubs are playing at the moment: Manchester United, Man City and Real Madrid are three of the teams taking part in the Herbalife World Football Challenge, a tournament that pits some of the top sides in the world against a handful of Major League Soccer teams. Barcelona is about to join the WFC after winning the Audi Cup over in Germany, while Chelsea is spending the summer over in Asia, battling for the Barclays Asia Trophy.
Sure, fans around the world have been treated to some great soccer so far, but they are also getting to see their fair share of flubs as well! Why don’t we let Chelsea’s Yossi Benayoun kick things off for us…(After the Jump: Crazy soccer bloopers!) (more…)
“Nice Guys Finish Last / If You Catch a Jeter Blast / Don’t Let The Taxman Know That, He’ll Tax Your Behind!”
What a whirlwind week it must have been for NY Yankees fan Christian Lopez!
He’s the guy who caught the home run ball that made Derek Jeter the first ever Yankee to reach 3,000 career hits last weekend, and it’s safe to say his life hasn’t been the same since. Rather than hold the ball ransom and try to sell it for hundreds of thousands of dollars (which he would have gotten), Lopez gave it right back, and his generosity was rewarded…and then some!
The team apparently gave him luxury box tickets for the rest of the season (including the postseason) and some team swag, but the story doesn’t end there. A few news organizations reported this week that Lopez could (and probably would) end up being taxed on the gifts he received from the Yankees, a bill that might total as much as $14,000! Like the good sport that he clearly is, Lopez was quoted as saying that he’d pay the taxes if he had to, and “the IRS has a job to do, so I’m not going to hold it against them.”
Well, it turns out that the cell phone salesman won’t have to hold it against the IRS, because someone’s got his back! (After the Jump: More on Lopez, plus a SICK hockey goal & MLS goalie scores in debut)(more…)
We saw the best and the worst of things on Wednesday night in Vancouver as the Stanley Cup Final came to an end – on one hand, a phenomenal series threw us another curve ball with the Boston Bruins finally beating the Canucks at Rogers Arena…but then, of course, all hell broke loose afterwards.
Seeing the pictures and video of the destruction in downtown Vancouver after that loss sends chills down my spine – it’s scary to watch a city turn into a madhouse like that, where regular people are flipping (and torching) cars or smashing windows and robbing stores. Let’s get a couple of things straight though – first of all, it was probably going to happen whether or not the Canucks won that game. Secondly, this isn’t just a Vancouver thing – it can (and does) happen in any big city! (After the Jump: More on the riots, Strangest goal of the NHL playoffs, Name That Team and Eric Hassli’s MLS wonder goal!) (more…)
Edmonton’s newest pro sports team takes centre stage on Wednesday night in a high-stakes home debut in the city’s biggest barn!
It’ll be a “baptism by fire” of sorts for FC Edmonton in their first taste of Nutrilite Canadian Championship action with MLS-side Toronto FC swinging through town. After a summer of strictly exhibition matches, FC Edmonton kicked off the inaugural North American Soccer League season this month with wins in Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta, before coming up short in Cary, North Carolina.
To quote rocker Meat Loaf though, “two out of three ain’t bad,” especially when we’re talking about three road games to start the season! (more…)
I’d like to start this blog with a riddle: What weighs 3,500 pounds, happens 57 days before the Edmonton Indy and will probably be the coolest thing you’ve ever seen?
Oh, I don’t know – maybe a NASCAR-sized truck zooming down a real-life Hot Wheels track before the Indy 500, hoping to break a world record for the longest jump by a four-wheeled vehicle? Yeah, I said it.
About an hour before the May 29th race, an unidentified driver will hop into an 850-horsepower truck, which will be sitting at the top of a 100-foot-high structure somewhere in the infield area of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The driver will then take the vehicle down a steep drop and launch it into the air, hoping to glide the 302 feet required to set a new world record. (After the jump: Who is the Hot Wheels mystery driver? Plus – St. Louis Rams LB talks WWE and a soccer player shows off some unique skills!) (more…)
Now that the NFL has officially locked out its players, one guy is putting football aside to try his hand at…football!
Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco is taking this opportunity to give a childhood passion of his another go, suiting up for a four-day trial with Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City. Yes, the man who once raced (and beat) a horse is now trying to make it in soccer!
Here’s the crazy part: Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star says he’s actually a pretty good player!
According to reports, his first day on the pitch didn’t blow anyone away, but as he works off the rust and gets more comfortable, Ochocinco is starting to look like he belongs out there. Coach Peter Vermes commented afterwards that he’s “alright” at some things and “far behind” at others, but either way they’ll probably decide this weekend what to do with him. (more…)
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame, the boys talk about the NHL and the general manager meetings they had where they talked about curbing head shots and concussions in hockey.
They go over the NHL’s five-point plan for concussions and then ask, “is it enough?”
In this week’s GABBYs on the good side – NCAA basketball upsets, Steve Stamkos telling the truth and Jarome Iginla. On the bad side – the NHL only gives Patric Hornqvist a $2500 fine, Man City’s Mario Balotelli has some trouble putting on a pinny and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche goes into a tailspin.
In Quick Hits: the Vancouver Whitecaps play Canadian rivals Toronto FC for the first time in the MLS, and should Halifax have a CFL team?
Check it out:
There’s a lot more after the jump. Click “continue reading.” ———————> (more…)
Do you think UFC president Dana White ever wishes he could move his entire production up to our side of the border?
Every time the UFC comes to Canada, records are set and that’s a trend that continued this week with a couple of new ones ahead of UFC 129 in Toronto – the organization’s first Ontario-based event. If Las Vegas didn’t have the deep connection and history with the fight game that it has, I’m sure more cards would find their way up here given our country’s track record.
In less than one hour on Thursday, more than 42,000 tickets (valued anywhere from $50 to $800) were sold for the April 30th event! That’s right, the “pre-sale” for the Toronto date almost doubled Montreal’s UFC attendance record of 23,152! (more…)
The Karma Police are working overtime this week trying to keep up with the goings on of the National Basketball Association…
On Tuesday, after the Cleveland Cavaliers lost by more than anyone should to the LA Lakers, former Cavs star LeBron James pointed out on Twitter that “Karma is a b****.” He has since come out to say that the tweet wasn’t about the game and wasn’t even a comment from him.
Either way, King James and his Heat lost to the lowly LA Clippers on Wednesday, capping a run of 21 wins in 22 games. To make matters worse, he sprained his ankle and missed his first game of the season on Thursday in Denver. To make matters even worse than that, without LeBron the Nuggets beat the Heat by almost 30 points! (more…)
Canada does not have a rich men’s soccer history. Yes, they won the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City and won the 2000 Gold Cup in Los Angeles. But after that, Canada’s success in men’s soccer has been rather bleak.
The preseason fundraisers, I mean tournaments, continue around the world this week for many of Europe’s top soccer teams, and it seems to have been an especially bloopery few days!
Nice Guys Finish…
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