Archive for Sounds
U20 WC Ottawa: Day One
Panama forces Korea DPR to a goalless draw
By Tokunbo Ojo
Ottawa – In the opener of the Group E FIFA U-20 World Cup, Panama forced Korea DPR to a goalless draw.
But Panama has its goalkeeper, Luis Mejia, to thank for the result. Without his brilliant goalkeeping, Panama would not have survived the onslaught of Korea DPR.
“He was our best player, no doubt about it,” said coach Julio Dely Valdes. And he deserves special praise because he’s only 16. He was brilliant in the first half and, while he had less to do in the second half, he still saved us on two or three occasions. We’re very happy for him.”
The Korean offensive plays were so well-executed that the Panama’s defensive line was caught off-guard several times. But Mejia, who is the second youngest player in this tournament, stood firmly behind the Koreans and goals. He was his team’s rock of Gibraltar on the day that Panama played for pride and honour in the U-20 World Cup.
Saturday game was the first time that Panama picked a point in its U-20 World Cup appearance. The country’s two previous appearances in the U-20 World Cup were disaster because it lost all its games.
From the blast of the whistle, the Koreans who are making debut in the U-20 World Cup were out for goals and victory. Playing 4-3-3 formation, the Korean striking trio of Kum II Kum, Chol Min Pak and Chil Min Jong played 1-2 touch soccer that forced Panama midfielders to lend helping hands to their defenders who made a catalogue of mistakes throughout the game.
With the midfielders playing more defensively and cautiously, the supporting striker Pablo Gonzalez had to drop to the midfield to pick ball and then force long ball to his striking partner, Gabriel Torres. But those efforts did not yield any tangible result because the Korean midfielders and defenders were quick in closing down any gap that could be used by their opponents.
However, with the second opener game of group between Czech Republic and Argentina also ended in a goalless draw, the group is now open for any of the team to pick up a space in the second-round.
The double header games of Tuesday will determine which team might make it out of the group.
Czech, Argentina prefer natural grass at Frank Clair stadium
By Tokunbo Ojo
If both Czech Republic and Argentina had the choice to choose the artifical turf and natural grass for their Group E FIFA U-20 World Cup opener on Saturday, they would have chosen natural turf instead of the artificial turf at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa.
“Although we know the turf and we’ve also played on the similar turf before, the natural grass would have been better,” said Pavel Frybort, the technical leader of the Czech Republic. He pointed out that the artificial turf did not have negative impact on his team’s game against Argentina, which ended goalless goal, because of their previous experience on the synthetic turf.
Argentines felt that the artificial turf at Frank Clair stadium could hinder a free-flowing soccer if the weather was hot as it was when they first trained on the turf before their Saturday encounter with Czech.
Argentina’s striker Pablo Piatti walked away with bruises from the first practice on the turf in Ottawa. But Argentina’s coach, Hugo Tocalli, said that he is not complaining about the turf because all teams would play on the same turf.
“If FIFA says it is okay, I am not making any noise about it,” he said repeatedly after the game on Saturday. “But natural grass is better for ball movement and flow”
Highly disappointed Tocalli would not comment on whether the field was responsible for his team’s goalless draw against Czech. Nonetheless, he said “no coach in the world would be happy with a tie.”
At the inspection of the stadia for the U-20 World Cup last year, FIFA gave the turf at Frank Clair Stadium 2-star rating, which is the highest rating that a stadium could receive by the FIFA rating standard.
About a half millions dollar was spent in installing the turf, which is made of a monofilament fiber that is aimed at maximizing pace and speed of the players as the natural grass turf would have provided.
Baby Blue And White Army Goalless
By Kris Fernandes
Ottawa – The dark clouds and heavy rain did a number on traffic and the artificial pitch at Frank Clair stadium today in Ottawa as the FIFA U20 World Cup finally got underway, although you would’ve thought otherwise when staring at the large number of travellers that came out to support Argentina’s squad against the Czech Republic.
The jubilant supporters came brimming with excitement with cheek-to-cheek smiles while singing catchy Spanish tunes. Almost all carried, at least, a miniature Argentina flag complimented by the famous baby blue and white striped jersey that has become extremely popular worldwide, except in Brazil for obvious reasons.
The fans had endured a surprisingly exciting 0-0 draw between group rivals Panama and North Korea and were in full spirits, and full of beer, before kickoff. Many had travelled from Argentina directly while the majority were ex-pats now based in Southern Ontario.
One of those who drove up from Toronto was Vlad Lukan, a Ukrainian who lived in Argentina for 5 years.
“It’s one of the biggest games of the tournament and just one of those games you have to be here live to get the full experience. I am going for Argentina all the way as I feel like it’s in my blood. If Canada played Argentina in any round I honestly wouldn’t want to answer who I’d cheer for.” said Lukan.
One person, who would cheer for Canada, is 13 year-old Spencer Smithers, who plays left striker for the U13 boys of the Ottawa Youth Soccer Club. Though the stadium was packed with more than its fair share of Argentina supporters, Spencer represented a significant amount of young Canadian players that came out in droves with their parents.
“Oh yeah I’m cheering for Canada. My dad bought us tickets but couldn’t make so I’m enjoying the game with my brother and some friends, it’s great here. I hope everyone keeps playing soccer in Canada.”
Surely that is the music that the CSA is hoping to hear.
Listen to Your Nana
By Kris Fernandes
Get the inside scoop on what it’s like to play for Team Canada at the U20 World Cup right from one of Canada’s brightest young players, defender Nana Attakora-Gyan. Share his thoughts on what it’s like to play in the World Cup at home and what the team does to prepare for games.
Great Canadian Soccer Road Trips: Take Me To Boston
By Kris Fernandes
Listen To Kris’s Pre-Game Report On Inside Soccer Radio
Another Great Canadian Soccer Road Trip
On a Friday night, most people usually go out for dinner or take in a movie. Some even head out to a club for a drink and dance it out. But for a group of 60 die-hard soccer supporters in Southern Ontario, they decided to add all those elements of a fun night out and put it on a bus where they engaged in a raucous 11-hour journey to the Boston area to catch the Toronto FC vs New England Revolution match.
At midnight, folks leaving movie theatres were left wondering what on earth was going as they saw these super-supporters decked out in red scarves and jerseys, banging on drums and unraveling gigantic flags in the middle of the parking lots.
The trip was thrown together by the USector, Toronto FC’s largest supporters group. They have gone on trips before but never of this size and never for TFC who had played their first ever match only the previous week.
The bus cruised along towards the border at Buffalo as the fans boisterously sang songs while indulging in more than a few drinks. One fan in particular missed the stop in Mississauga, ON but drove his own car across the border to catch the bus. He left his car in the middle of a parking lot not knowing if it would be towed away. Hailing from Japan, the fan simply known as Tac barely speaks a lick of English, yet showcased as much dedication as any of the Canadian-born fans.
When asked why he made the extra effort to get on the bus he proudly proclaimed, “I go on bus to Boston for TFC, yeah!”. Even the traditionally-strict US Customs officer mustered out a laugh as he heard what Tac had done.
Like Tac, a lot of the U-Sector road trippers had never met one another before but were all connected and united in their undying love for the beautiful game through the fan website. Daily, they spend hours on the site talking all things soccer, and after generating enough members they ended up selling over 200 season tickets in section 113 of BMO Field, Toronto FC’s newly built home stadium.
After partying hard – and treating Tac like royalty – until the early hours of the morning, they arrived in Boston with baggy eyes and cracked voices. The first order of the day was to have a pint at the famous bar, Cheers. Their excitement was short-lived however as the bar bore little resemblance to the one featured on the popular 80’s TV sitcom, and even with three floors it was still too small for the entire group.
The group then trekked around Boston on foot, taking in the gorgeous scenic route along the main river marching towards another famous Boston landmark, Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club. Locals frequently stared them at as the possibility of soccer fans emerging in their baseball town seemed rather outrageous.
One observer bellowed, “Aren’t you supposed to be watching the Blue Jays?
“Naw, we don’t like watching slow sports,” replied one U-Sectorite. The local then looked at him as if he were an alien; shocked that one would call baseball boring in ‘Beantown’.
With the soccer game only a few hours away, they fuelled up on beer while bowling at a tremendously oversized bar overlooking the “Green Monster”, the legendary outfield wall inside Fenway Park.
After throwing a few strikes and downing a few pints of Sam Adams, it was back to the now semi-destroyed bus to head to the TFC match.
The faces of many dropped and pressed against the windows as they approached the gigantic Gillette Stadium. Home to the New England Patriots of the NFL, it still hosts the Revolution until a new stadium is built for the team. MLS is focusing on developing soccer-specific stadiums to enhance the atmosphere at games but sharing facilities built for American football with NFL teams is still common throughout the league.
The bus unloaded as the crew marched around the stadium, singing in unison, to the tune of “Jesus Christ Superstar”; “T-O-R, O-N-T, oh oh oh oh TFC!”; or my personal favourite, “We don’t pay for healthcare na na na na.”.
Like the fans outside of Fenway, this shocked the soccer locals that were only used to witnessing this display of passion for the Patriots and Red Sox. Many pulled out their cell phones and cameras to take pictures and videos as they grudgingly nodded in approval.
The game itself was a bust for Toronto FC as they were dismantled 4-0. But that didn’t stop the fans, oh no. To travel so far and sing for a few minutes would have been a waste of time and money. From before kickoff to the final minute they sang joyfully at the top of their lungs, as more than 18,000 fans from around Massachusetts were simply astonished. Many watched the Canadians instead of the game itself; waiting to see which witty chant they would conjure up next. Quite a few invited the visitors for a beer afterwards and even the New England television commentator expressed his deep admiration for such an enthusiastic and devoted following.
After the match, Toronto FC striker Alecko Eskandarian made his way over to the corner to thank the supporters and apologized profusely on behalf of the team for such a dismal performance. Instead of berating him and the team the group applauded his honesty and thanked him for a hard day’s work.
So as the bus rolled back towards Toronto, the look of satisfaction on the faces of the TFC loyal was evident. Indeed they were sad about the loss, but confident that this trip was the beginning of something special, something grand and desperately needed in the Toronto sporting scene.
Whether kickoff starts at 3PM or 3AM, you can bet your last dollar that the boys and girls of U-Sector and the other Toronto FC supporters groups will be there to cheer on the team, win or lose. There is no question that that kind of loyalty will inspire a team hoping to make professional soccer a staple in Canada and a city dying for a major sports championship.
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