Archive for January 17th, 2011

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FC Edmonton loses midfielder van Gessel to Japan

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/17/2011

Sander van Gessel.

First, the coach and assistant coach exercised out clauses in their contracts to leave FC Edmonton for more money in Japan. Now, Dutch midfielder Sander van Gessel is leaving the Alberta capital, too.

Like former coach Dwight Lodeweges and assistant Hans Schrijver, van Gessel had a clause in his FC Edmonton contract that allowed him to leave the club if a better offer came along. So, he is following his former coaches to Japan, FC Edmonton announced Monday.

“Part of our mission as a club is to develop players and encourage them to further their professional careers,” said general manager Mel Kowalchuk in a release. “Sander was one of our first signings. He came to Edmonton with an open mind and a willingness to help develop our younger players. He’s done that and now he has an opportunity to sign a much bigger contract. We wish him all the best.”
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Canada to wear Umbro kits for next four years

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/17/2011


I still have it in my closet. Heck, I still wear it here and there. A white Umbro Canadian national-team jersey. Picked it up at Commonwealth Stadium before a Cuba-Canada qualifier, on the road to the 1998 World Cup — a road our national team wasn’t able to successfully navigate.

On the jersey is a red maple leaf, on an angle, on a thick black bar. In the white jersey, you can find the emblems of all the provinces and territories.

It was from the last set of Umbro jerseys Canada had — until Feb. 9 that is.

After a relationship with Adidas that lasted over a decade fell apart, Canada has come back to Umbro, and will wear the new kits when the men’s team plays Greece on Feb. 9. And, of course, the women will wear the Umbro jerseys when they play at the upcoming World Cup.
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Canada and Zimbabwe in the running for 2015: A bad sign for women’s soccer

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/17/2011

Canada will compete against Zimbabwe for the right to host the Women’s World Cup in 2015 and the U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2014.

FIFA announced Monday that the Canadian Soccer Association and Zimbabwe’s football federation were the two countries committed to sending official bid books to Switzerland by the Feb. 11 deadline. FIFA will vote on a host March 2-3.

The pro is that Canada heads into the vote as the clear favourite. Australia was rumoured to have been submitting a bid, but it is clear that country’s focus is the 2015 Asian Cup.

But, the fact that just two countries — one of which is a nation run by Robert Mugabe, a despot so internationally reviled, that his country has been the subject of sanctions by the EU and the United States — have continued with the bid process for 2015 must be troubling for FIFA. Zimbabwe has been censured for alleged match-fixing.
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FC Edmonton hopes to bring out 50,000 for TFC matchup

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/17/2011

Can a Nutrilite Canadian Championship game generate enough interest to sell 50,000 tickets?

That question will be answered in May, when FC Edmonton hosts Toronto FC at Commonwealth Stadium. If successful, it’ll be the biggest single match in the history of the Canadian championship. If not, the empty seats will reflect badly as the tournament stretches its reach outside of this country’s three largest centres.

Because Foote Field, the intimate stadium FC Edmonton will call home this season, has permanent football (as in, Canadian football, not the football we cover in this webmag) lines, it can’t host Nutrilite Canadian Championship games.
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