Archive for Canadian Game
Milltown FC On Top In CSL
Milton, ON – Despite ominous skies and the threat of thundershowers, a large and enthusiastic crowd gathered at Bishop Reding Field in Milton on Friday night in support of Milltown FC as they attempted to close out a run of six straight Friday night home games on a high note.
Hot on the heels of a thrilling 2-1 victory over FC Hamilton Croatia last Friday, which put them all alone in 2nd place in the Canadian Soccer League standing, Milltown FC prepared to face North York Astros, a team they had defeated by a score of 4-2 back on June 27. MFC and North York came into the game going in opposite directions, with Milltown riding an eight game undefeated streak while Astros had lost four in a row after a very good start to the season.
Toronto FC Ties Dallas
TORONTO, ON – Maicon Santos and Milton Rodriguez exchanged goals in the second half as Toronto FC and FC Dallas drew 1-1 Saturday to keep both teams’ streaks intact.
Something had to give with both sides sporting streaks. However, the result extended Toronto’s unbeaten run at home to nine games while extending Dallas’ record of undefeated games on the road to seven.
Maicon Santos gave Toronto the lead in the 61st minute before Milton Rodriguez tied the game in the 77th minute.
With the draw, Toronto improved to 23 points, but more importantly they moved out of the precarious eighth playoff seed and into a tie for sixth with Colorado and San Jose.
More MLS Results
Seattle 2 Colorado 1
Salt lake 1 Chivas 1
Columbus 3 Houston 0
Los Angele 2 San Jose 2
The Art Of Late-Game Capitulation
John Molinaro
writes and broadcasts at CBC Sports
Late goals continue to hurt TFC
Toronto FC made a liar out of Preki on Saturday.
The Reds’ coach assured us that his players learned their lesson after conceding an injury-time goal in a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the expansion Philadelphia Union last week.
“They understand [that game] was maybe a good warning for us at this part of the year [and] that we can’t things for granted,” Preki told reporters ahead of Toronto’s crucial home contest against FC Dallas.
CSL Youth Development System More Than Somewhere To Play
CSL To Kickoff Youth Development System
The Canadian Soccer League is taking a further serious step to link promising young players to professional soccer and it will all begin this coming November.
The CSL Youth Development System will kickoff an indoor schedule mid-November to start an all-year round academy-style program structured to provide competition, high calibre skills training and professional development for promising players wanting to accelerate their progress in the sport. A CSL policy introduced for the first time this season requires new CSL clubs to be connected to youth soccer in the professional team’s community, and the CSL will work with community based clubs to deliver this new exciting and progressive program while adhering to the CSA’s Wellness to World Cup, Long Term Player Development framework.
“The CSL Youth Development System is intended to be more than just somewhere to play,” said Domenic Di Gironimo, commissioner of the CSL, who for some time now has emphasized a need for Canadian soccer to bridge the gap and provide that missing next step for promising young players who find themselves with nowhere to go. ‘The Gap’ – a long-standing impediment to producing players for higher levels, including Canada’s national teams, has been identified as a reason Canada has fallen behind in world soccer. “Canadian soccer should be producing many more good young players from the ever-increasing number of registrations across the country,” says Di Gironimo.
Recent discussions with CSA National Teams’ scouting staff centered on improving the role of CSL coaches in identifying athletes, and creating a formalized link between the two organizations. The CSL intends to work with the OSA and other provinces to establish a similar relationship to assist with the development of players for Provincial Teams.
CSL league administrator Pino Jazbec, who will oversee the CSL’s year-round program, will have the new league operating both indoor and outdoor competitions, boys and girls, young men and young women. The year-round program is intended to address the longstanding criticism from high level coaches that compared to most other countries, the Canadian outdoor season is too short.
The league is announcing an indoor program that will have teams in four divisions from U12 (9 vs. 9) and U14 years through U18 (11 vs. 11) playing one game each week from November through April, followed by a break before the outdoor season takes over.
All players, non-playing staff and the competition will be under CSA/OSA rules of governance, while league rules will be in accordance with the CSL Rules and Regulations.
The CSL, with teams in Ontario and Quebec and which at the beginning of this year came directly under CSA governance, presently has 13 teams in its First Division and 10 in the Reserve Division and is planning expansion to other parts of Canada.
Bob Iarusci, a former Canadian national team player who gained prominence with Toronto Metros-Croatia and New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League, who has maintained high interest in Canada’s progress as a soccer-developing nation over the years and who has followed CSL games closely this season, was pleased when advised of the CSL’s plans for professional youth development.
“I am very impressed with the CSL standard of play and the quality of the player base. The emphasis on developing young Canadian talent through the CSL clubs is so important. Special mention should go to the new clubs like Milton, Brantford and Hamilton Croatia . It will be exciting to follow the results over the next few months. I believe we are in for some great games towards the end of the season,” he said.
