Archive for September 26th, 2011

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Ho hum… De Rosario wins MLS Player of the Week, again

By
Steven Sandor
– 09/26/2011

Dwayne De Rosario

Both Dwayne De Rosario and Juan Pablo Angel scored four times in the past week. But, in the end, the Player of the Week balloting wasn’t close.

The Canadian beat the Colombian handily, taking 13 out of 16 first-place votes from the membership of the North American Soccer Reporters. It’s the third time the Scarborough native has won the Player of the Week since a mid-season trade sent him from the New York Red Bulls to D.C. United.

Angel scored twice as Chivas USA rallied from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw with D.C. United, and then scored twice in a 3-0 win over Toronto FC; meanwhile, De Rosario scored in that 2-2 draw with Chivas and then scored the fastest hat-trick in MLS history in a 4-1 shellacking of Real Salt Lake.
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Di Chiara to get his first Canadian national-team call-up, says club

By
Steven Sandor
– 09/26/2011

Joseph Di Chiara

Joseph Di Chiara could get his first Canadian national-team cap when the senior squad travels to St. Lucia for an Oct. 7 World Cup qualifier.

Di Chiara’s club team, Kryliya Sovetov, announced on its website Monday that the teenage midfielder from Thornhill, Ont. had received the call from national coach Stephen Hart to join the squad for its Oct. 7 visit to St. Lucia and its Oct. 11 date at BMO Field to face Puerto Rico.

Di Chiara had played in three top-tier Russian league matches this season, for a grand total of 167 minutes.

For Canadian fans, it will provide the first chance for many to see Di Chiara in action. Despite being a phenon with the Spartacus program in north Toronto and playing for Howard University, he never appeared with any of the various youth national sides. In fact, being born in 1992, he would have been OK to play with the U-20 team that failed to qualify for the U-20 World Cup earlier this year.
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FIFA head of women’s competition gives Edmonton stamp of approval for WWC

By
Steven Sandor
– 09/26/2011

Stephen Mandel with the new slogan, "Edmonton Always Game"

A FIFA delegation that inspected Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium said Monday that it is delighted with the progress the city has made as it prepares to be one of the host cities of the 2015 Women’s World Cup.

“It’s absolutely acceptable to us,” said Tatjana Haenni, FIFA’s head of women’s competitions, in a press conference held Monday in the Alberta capital.

And the former Swiss national teamer said that there is no issue with Commonwealth having an artificial surface.

“The discussion between artificial turf and natural turf is completely open,” she said.
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Women’s teams to play high-profile friendlies at WWC venues; men’s qualifiers left up to Hart’s discretion

By
Steven Sandor
– 09/26/2011

CSA v-p Victor Montagliani: "If we need the three points, we’ll play in the Yukon.”

Where will the Canadian men’s and women’s teams play their games over the next several seasons? Well, according to the Canadian Soccer Association, that depends.

The Canadian national women’s team will play a schedule of high-profile friendlies ahead of the World Cup, in the stadiums that will be selected to host games for the 2015 event.

“We’d like to take advantage offered to us and take on top competition,” said CSA General Secretary Peter Montopoli in a joint press conference with FIFA and Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel Monday. “We’d play in the stadiums at the different host cities.”

FIFA executives visited Edmonton over the weekend to check the city’s progress as a hosting candidate for the Women’s World Cup. They left Monday to visit Winnipeg.

And, if the Canadian men’s continues on its track in the first round of World Cup qualifying and makes it to the next round, where those games are played will be left entirely up to coach Stephen Hart.
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Local hero Decaire recalls his NASL days with the Montreal Manic

By
Mike Wyman
– 09/26/2011

Brian Decaire, in his days with McGill University

With a stellar amateur career behind him, Brian Decaire signed with his hometown team in 1982, becoming the first local talent to enlist with the NASL’s Montreal Manic. He spent two seasons with the team and, now almost 30 years removed from the pitch, looks back on his time in the pro ranks with mixed emotions.

It was gratifying to play at the top level to which a Canadian kid could realistically aspire, meeting and competing with childhood idols and earning as much or more than the average NASL player does today, but for much of his time in the professional ranks Decaire felt as if he was the outsider, not the native son.

Growing up in a suburban bedroom community near Montreal, young Brian took part in each season’s offerings but soccer always held top spot in his affections.
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