Ben Knight
Globe&Mail On Soccer
Knight: Buddy, can you spare a corporate partnership?
I am writing this before the Canada-Guatemala men’s Olympic qualifying game. I do not know the result, or any details of the match.
If Canada wins, and gets a favourable outcome from the Mexico-Haiti match, our lads will be on to the semifinals. A win there, and they are off to Beijing regardless of what happens in the final. A loss, a draw or an unhappy break out of town, and they will have been eliminated.
I’m writing this before the game, because I have a question that may get different answers, depending on how today turns out. It shouldn’t. The following point matters, and should not be ignored if Canada qualifies, or negatively over-reacted to, should we lose: Is there enough money in Canadian international soccer?
If Canada’s medal chase ends today, the fact that the Canadian Soccer Association only has about $13 million dollars to pay for all its teams – and settle its lawsuits – will cause great anguish. Why wasn’t more spent on the Olympic team? Why did our lads have to play warm-up games against college squads, instead of their under-23 international peers?
If we win, this won’t seem as big a problem. It is, though. New methods of fund-raising have to be created. When the CSA finally gets around to releasing its alleged and pre-maligned new strategic vision, how will the issue of funding be handled?
No comments yet.