Archive for August, 2011

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Still plenty of seats left for Canada’s Friday qualifier

By
Steven Sandor
– 08/31/2011

When we in the media don’t have a real indication on how well an event is selling, we use one of most obvious methods in the book.

And that is, we do a search for tickets ourselves. How easy is to find a large number of seats together? When you search for “best available,” just how good are the seats? While it doesn’t give us an idea of just how many tickets have been sold, it does give us a sense of how easy it is to get large numbers of seats or great seats — a good indication of demand.

So, with that in mind, I did several Ticketmaster searches Wednesday for tickets for the Canada-St. Lucia game on Friday. And it was troubling to see just how easy it was to get large numbers of seats. Want eight seats together in the Canada supporters’ section? Was able to find them in section 117, at the south end of the stadium.

When it came to the top seats, was able to find eight together in section 123 (those seats are pricier, at $83.75 each), right at midfield — 15 rows up.
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Whitecaps bid adieu to defender Wes Knight

By
Steven Sandor
– 08/31/2011

Wes Knight

The Vancouver Whitecaps have waived defender Wes Knight.

Knight had been part of the Whitecaps since 2009, playing with the club for two Div-.2 seasons before making the move to MLS with club in 2011.

“We want to thank Wes for the contributions he made to our club over the past two-plus seasons and wish him all the best for the future,” said Whitecaps’ President Bob Lenarduzzi in a release.
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Shorthanded Islanders get draw with FC Edmonton

By
Steven Sandor
– 08/31/2011

Michael Cox

The Puerto Rico Islanders lost five of their seven Puerto Rican national team players for Tuesday night’s date with FC Edmonton in Bayamon. But it was a Dominican Republic international who did the damage.

Jonathan Fana capitalized on a defensive error from FCE centre back John Jonke, allowing the Islanders to come out of the match with a 1-1 draw.

With the draw, Edmonton moves into sole possession of fourth place in the NASL standings; NSC Minnesota is a point behind, Fort Lauderdale is two points behind. The Montreal Impact, out of the playoffs at the moment, is five behind FC Edmonton. Each of the three chasing teams has a game in hand on the Eddies.
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With Turkish season stalled, Borjan looks forward to games with Canada

By
Steven Sandor
– 08/30/2011

Milan Borjan

Milan Borjan’s debut season with Turkish side Sivasspor is on hold; but the Canadian national goalkeeper is excited to get Canada’s World Cup qualifying campaign off to a winning start.

Borjan and the 18 other members of the Canadian national team are in Alliston, Ont., training ahead of Friday’s World Cup qualifier against St. Lucia at Toronto’s BMO Field. The team then plays in Puerto Rico on Sept. 6.

For Borjan, it’s a chance to play competitive soccer… finally. After a great season with Serbian side FK Rad, Borjan transferred to Sivasspor, which finished just above the relegation zone in the Turkish league. But, just like Canadian teammates Mike Klukowski and Josh Simpson, who also play in Turkey, Borjan has had to ensure an enforced extension of training camp. Turkey is reeling from a match-fixing scandal, and the season won’t start until Sept. 9. Fenerbahce has already been banned from the Champions League.

“It has been difficult, training twice a day for the last two months,” admitted Borjan. “We (Sivasspor) have played a lot of friendlies; we have just finished a tournament in Antalya. All of us are really looking forward to our first match. The team didn’t do that well last season and we want to do better. The club has made a couple of signings and I think we will be a good team this year. As for the league, I wasn’t here last year. So I can’t say much, I don’t know a thing about it. But people tell me that Sivasspor are a good club, that it isn’t one of the teams that would take money, that it’s a clean team.”
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Injured Adrian Cann wants to rally Canadian fans

By
Steven Sandor
– 08/30/2011

Adrian Cann

Adrian Cann’s knee injury has transformed him from Canadian national team hopeful to superfan.

But the Toronto FC central defender is happy to do what he can to rally fan support ahead of Canada’s Friday home date with St. Lucia — the opening of World Cup qualifying.

“This game is my passion my life,” said Cann. “But I will do whatever I can to rally support for the team.”

On Friday, Cann and retired national teamers Jason DeVos and Jim Brennan will lead a march of fans from Lamport Stadium, located at 1155 King St. W., a couple of blocks south to BMO Field at 7 p.m. Friday. Fans can gather at the Umbro headquarters at Lamport at 5:45 p.m. for some very pro-Canadian festivities.
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Sportsnet One to carry 4 of Canada’s 6 WC qualifiers

By
Steven Sandor
– 08/30/2011

Four of Canada’s six opening-round World Cup qualifiers will be available on Rogers Sportsnet One.

The Canadian Soccer Association announced Tuesday that all three qualifying games at BMO Field will be broadcast live on Sportsnet One, while the Sept. 6 away match to Puerto Rico will also be carried live.

But Sportsnet will not be picking up the Oct. 7 away match to St. Lucia and the Nov. 11 trip to St. Kitts and Nevis. This isn’t unusual; in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, Sportsnet didn’t pick up the broadcasts for Canada’s early-round away fixtures in the Caribbean, either.
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Neagle’s hat trick earns him Player of the Week nod

By
Steven Sandor
– 08/29/2011

Lamar Neagle

Some Mondays, it’s easier to select players of the week than others. This was one of them.

In what was a major statement game for his club, home-state product Lamar Neagle scored a hat trick for the Seattle Sounders in a 6-2 win over Eastern Conference leaders Columbus — and earned the Player of the Week nod from the membership of the North American Soccer Reporters.

Neagle was the biggest star on a day when Seattle ran roughshod over another MLS contender in Manchester United-Arsenal fashion.
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Puerto Rico’s World Cup callups will have major effects on FC Edmonton, Impact

By
Steven Sandor
– 08/28/2011

The Puerto Rican national team might just have a massive say in the NASL playoff fortunes of both the Montreal Impact and FC Edmonton.

The Puerto Rico Islanders are undefeated at their Bayamon fortress this season, and have one of the top two spots in the NASL standings — and a first-round playoff bye — salted away. They kept their home streak alive Saturday, as the Islanders got a last-gasp goal from Jay Needham to beat FC Edmonton 3-2.

The two teams face each other again Tuesday; FCE is still in fourth place in the NASL standings, but is only four up on the red-hot Montreal Impact, who currently sit in seventh.

FC Edmonton will face a full-strength PR side on Wednesday.
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Missed marking assignment costs TFC two points against San Jose

By
Mark Polishuk
– 08/28/2011

Chris Wondolowski

It was deja vu all over again for Toronto FC. For the second time in less than three days, the Reds were victimized by leaving a man unmarked on a throw-in that led to a goal. Against FC Dallas on Thursday morning, it cost TFC a 1-0 defeat, and on Saturday at BMO Field it was Chris Wondolowski’s late-game equalizer that led to a 1-1 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes.

The Reds went ahead on Eric Avila’s 33rd-minute goal and then held steady despite being outshot by a 14-6 margin by the Earthquakes. In the 87th minute, however, a throw-in from the corner was deflected right to a wide-open Wondolowski on the right side. The San Jose striker barely had to touch the ball for his ninth goal of the season.

The fact that the 2010 MLS Golden Boot winner was left unmarked at such a critical point could only leave the Reds shaking their heads after the match.
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FC Edmonton loses heartbreaker while Impact keeps charging

By
Steven Sandor
– 08/28/2011

Kyle Porter

FC Edmonton gave up a heartbreaking injury-time goal in 3-2 loss in Puerto Rico, while the Montreal Impact cruised to a 2-0 victory in Minnesota.

The result? The Impact is still in seventh place in the NASL standings, but has closed the gap between itself between fourth-place FCE and itself to just four points. It trails fifth-place NSC Minnesota by four, and the sixth-place Fort Lauderdale strikers — holders of the final playoff spot — by just three.

All of the teams have five games left in their seasons.

So much for the Impact being out of the race.

“Montreal seems to do this every season,” said FC Edmonton forward Kyle Porter of the Impact’s late-season hot streak. “But we can’t worry about Montreal. We have to worry about ourselves.”
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