Why you need to appreciate Christine Sinclair.....now!



Canada's captain, and one of the top 10 strikers in the world Male or Female.

 With her four goal performance against Guyana in the Women's World Cup qualifiers on Sunday, Burnaby B.C's Christine Sinclair proved why she is Canada's best soccer player Male or Female. Now lets put aside the quality of the opposition for a second and look at the big picture within her performance.

Which other Canadian player male or female can you name that can put in a performance like that? Do you know of any Canadian international regardless of sex that could say that they are the undisputed face of Canadian soccer? Can you name a player in Canadian soccer history that has answered that call for his or her country and produced at a high level almost every single time they are called upon?

Christine is the only player that comes to mind for me, consider the stats at the senior level including Sundays game she has made 142 caps for Canada, she has 106 senior team goals. Think about that for a second...if your good at math figure out the average. She score in 74% of the matches she plays for Canada, that's one of the highest strike rates in the world even when you stack it up against men. Many of those goals have also been massive ones to either put Canada into the Women's World Cup, or into the Olympics. She is a 5 time (probably soon to be 6 time) Canadian player of the year, she is still the all time single tournament goal scorer for the FIFA U-19 tournament in which she scored 10 goals, and she got her 100th cap for Canad at the age of 25. These feats are unheard of at any level of the game but the fact that she's Canadian should make her one of our country's biggest sports stars.

So why is it that I believe that the majority of you who will be reading this have absolutely no idea who she is, especially those of you right here in Canada.

The issue here is two fold, the first one is the most obvious. Women's soccer gets little respect by the male dominated soccer media, therefore the population at large give the game little respect.

The second and a bit more disappointing issue is the lack of support Canadians give it's non major professional sports athletes. Amateur athletes get their love every two years, Hockey players get it 24-7, but soccer players get little coverage or time here. It leads to a situation where a large part of the nation never hears about Christine's great performances for Canada, and this is not at a small time level. This is at the international level, against some of the best female players in the world. However few people know her, I doubt she's met the Prime Minister or is in the mentioning for those Canadian athlete of the year awards. Yet year after year she puts up the performances to warrant the consideration. What gives?

If it helps FIFA in its annual player of the year lists has shortlisted Christine as one of the top 10 female players in the world. Brazil's Marta has taken the award the past few years now and I believe she will take it again this year. However being mentioned in a list with all those great players should get Miss Sinclair some love back home.

The question is will we take it a really appreciate that as Canadian soccer fans we are witnessing one of the greatest soccer players in the world today do their thing? In our shirt! Or will we do what I fear will happen, ignore it and tout Justin Bebier as our best export of talent.

I just threw up in my mouth a bit!

Cheers,
Mike

A response to Paul James article "Foreign coaches bring fresh ideas to Canada"

Frank Yallop (On the right) head coach at San Jose Earthquakes.
One of the few Canadian managers at the pro level.

Earlier this week former Canadian International Paul James floated the idea that foreign managers bring a much needed tactical and physical expectation with them to Canada. He pointed out two managers in particular, The Vancouver Whitecaps Teitur Thordarson and Toronto FC's Preki.

James mentioned that the foreign managers bring a higher level of play and teaching styles. They stress on technique and defensive responsibility, and are not afraid to drop Canadian internationals that do not fit the bill so the speak. To quote James "In 2008, Thordarson cut loose Jeff Clarke, Steve Kindell, and Alfredo Valente. Within a few months of signing a contract at TFC, Preki jettisoned Canadian internationals Ali Gerba (now with the Montreal Impact) and Adrian Serioux (now with the Houston Dynamo). His main assertion was that these managers will make the tough decisions on players that cannot match the the level of play required. This in turn will filter down to Canadian youth players who will work to improve their skills to make their first teams.

I agree with James that both coaches have brought a higher level of play to their squads and that they have brought fresh ideas to the Canadian game. However my concern is with the development of Canadian managers and where they fit in. Granted Mr.James's comments are correct in the sense that managers from abroad bring a different level of knowledge and expertise to the Canadian game, but the question that remains is how can this be translated to home grown coaches?

An argument I've read states that when foreign coaches come to Canada they hire Canadian assistants. Through their experiences with the head coach those Canadian assistants learn the craft, and one day will be good enough to be managers. The idea is that things like tactical discipline, technique and skill coaching will be picked up by the assistants and eventually they will be able to lead teams at the professional level. Of course all managers, save a few, started out this way. However in the world of professional football the result is everything. If you as a club owner can win more games with a foreign manager, then you'll spend the extra money in most cases and hire him.

This is where the home grown manager gets squeezed out in most cases. You see it a lot in England's top league, where it is more "attractive" to bring in a foreign manager than take a chance on a "fresh" home grown talent.

It is true that in the early stages of the modern game coaches from England mainly would travel all around the world and spread football knowledge to the masses. In turn, those who were thought became professors of the game themselves. The reason such a scenario would be hard to replicate these days is down to world connectivity. It no longer takes foreign talent weeks to arrive by boat anymore, top talent can travel within hours, and due to the Internet and other media services it is much easier to live abroad. All of which makes home grown management talent an after thought in most professional cases.

Now I'm not asking or advocating for a home manager quota or anything like that, at the end of the day you're either good enough or you're not regardless of nationality. What I'm hoping to see is clubs in Canada taking a proactive stance on developing Canadian coaches. I know the MLS really tries to emphasise this with the U.S based clubs, mainly for the purposes of the U.S national team of course, but the CSA could do the same for TFC, Vancouver and Montreal as they enter MLS play.

It will take awhile before Canada produces the Manitobian Jose Mourinho, but with the growth in the professional game right now we can defiantly get started on that path.

You can find Paul James Original post here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/foreign-coaches-bring-fresh-ideas-to-canada/article1659927/

Cheers,
Mike

Things looking up for the CSA?

Recently I wrote about the past stagnation of soccer development in Canada. One of my main criticisms was that the CSA (Canadian Soccer Association) lacked the organization and vision to lead Canada to a World Cup birth. In May of this year the governing body set up a new governance framework in order to address some of the long term issues there have been around the CSA.

This framework calls for an elected president, 6 appointed directors, 6 elected directors and most importantly none of them can be members of their provincial or territorial associations. This point may seem useless to casual observers, but for someone who knows how provincial power plays within the CSA has stymied progress in the past this is a huge deal. It in theory eliminates the provincial bias out of the decision making process. Time will tell if this will be true, but it is a positive first step in building credibility in the decision making process for soccer Canada.

Another positive aspect that came out of the new framework is its emphasis on gender in the top decision making group. The stipulation that there must be at least 3 directors of each gender is a first step in truly making women a part of the national team process. Given the success of our Women's Senior, U 20 and U 17 teams this step was long overdue.

What this also spells out is the clear roles of each of the branches of the association. Each branch understands and knows it role in helping to produce not only the best talent we can, but also to attract more sectors of corporate Canada who can help pour more money into player development. This will help Canada move away from member fees an dues which is the association's financial life blood, and into a more cost effective relationship with corporate Canada.

However what I hope this really does is send a message to the players and supporters of the national program that change is coming and that it is worth staying in Canada to reap the rewards. In the past players like former TFC captain Jim Brennan, current TFC captain Dwayne De Rosario and others have questioned the decision making of the CSA. This has lead to players retiring early from the national set up like Brennan, to players out right choosing other nations to play for due to the FIFA linage rules. Although this is only a first step in building a stronger CSA, this can instill a bit of belief in players that the national team will be moving in the right direction.

• If you want some excellent insight into what these changes mean I suggest you read former Canada and Ipswich Town Captain Jason De Vos's take on the governance changes (Click Here)
• On Saturday Michael Grange wrote and excellent article on Canadian Soccer and youth development through the club level here in Canada, and how it works in some other nations, I highly suggested read. (Click Here)

Cheers,
Mike