Archive for April 7th, 2011

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FC Edmonton, Impact games to be streamed live this weekend

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/07/2011

The new NASL ball, in play beginning July 4


FC Edmonton and the Montreal Impact both start the NASL season on the road this Saturday — and their fans will be able to stream those games, for free.

NASL commissioner David Downs, a veteran broadcast executive who spent time with ABC and Univision, said the league wants to ensure its fans can follow all of its teams, home and away, this season. Using the Internet is the easiest approach. Talks may happen later in the year with a national broadcaster but, for now, the league has local TV deals in Tampa, Puerto Rico and Montreal.

“The opening weekend, the four matches will be available on the home team’s sites,” said Downs.
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CSA needs to ensure fans can afford Ecuador friendly

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/07/2011

When Canada’s men’s team last played a friendly at BMO Field, an announced crowd of 10,619 saw the home side lose 2-0 to Peru.

But that crowd number, to the observer in the press box, came off as generous. Thhe stadium looked well more than half empty. The north stand was bare, as was the upper deck on the west side of BMO Field. And, a lot of the supporters there came to cheer on the Peruvians, with some busing in from New York state. Take those traveling supporters out of the equation, and the number of local fans who bothered to come and see Canada play is revealed to be far smaller than the official count.

So, how does the Canadian Soccer Association ensure that the national team receives better support for its June 1 friendly against Ecuador? Tickets are expected to go on sale in a couple of weeks, and no price points have been announced.

Canada opens its Gold Cup schedule down the 401 in Detroit on June 7. So a warmup match in Toronto makes sense.

Last time, seats, with service charges, ran from $34.75 to $108.75. That’s right, more than $100 for a friendly to see Canada play a game against Peru, a nation that’s not exactly a South American power. Sure, Jefferson Farfan is a wonderful player, a star in the Bundesliga, but not exactly the kind of household name in North America who you could build a marketing effort around.
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Eric sees red as Whitecaps draw Revs in bizarre match

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/07/2011

Designated Player Eric Hassli: 3 GP, 3 G, 2 RC.

Just days after completing one of the most exhilarating comebacks in MLS history, the Vancouver Whitecaps played in one of the strangest matches in MLS history.

 

It’s not often you see a player sent off after scoring on a penalty kick. It’s not often that you watch a team, down to nine men, try to cling to a one-goal lead. But, if there’s anything Canadian soccer fans have learned through the first month of the Whitecaps’ tenure in MLS, they should expect the unexpected at Empire Field.

And, while the Whitecaps came back in stoppage time to draw Sporting Kansas City 3-3 on Saturday, they surrendered a 93rd-minute last-gasp goal to New England’s Ilija Stolica and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with the Revolution in front of 19,396 fans.

But the talking point won’t be the Stolica equalizer. It will be the bizarre sequence that followed Eric Hassli’s penalty-kick goal in the 56th.
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