Archive for January 18th, 2012

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Canada won’t panic when faced with defensive tactics: Sinclair

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/18/2012

Christine Sinclair

The biggest matches of the upcoming CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers won’t be the group stage games or the final. It’s the two semifinal games that are the biggies.

Both finalists get berths to the 2012 London Games; so winning the semifinal is the important task for the Canadian women’s national team. Winning the tournament as a whole would just be gravy.

So, as team captain Christine Sinclair indicated Wednesday in a conference call, everything move coach John Herdman and the team makes is with eyes toward the semifinal.

Herdman hinted that even Sinclair, the best women’s player, heck, the best soccer player, our country has produced, may get some bench time during the group stage, which begins Jan. 19 when Haiti faces Canada at B.C. Place.
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Toronto FC parts ways with Belgian midfielder Yourassowsky

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/18/2012

Mikael Yourassowsky

Mikael Yourassowsky’s short stay with Toronto FC will be remembered for one shining moment; the goal that gave the Reds the 2011 Nutrilite Canadian Championship title. His inspired far-post run resulted in the marker that allowed the Reds to defeat the Vancouver Whitecaps in the final.

Unfortunately, that might just be the high-water mark for the Belgian’s North American soccer career. Toronto FC announced Wednesday that the club has waived the 28-year-old midfielder.

Yourassowsky was pushed to the fringes of the team as the squad improved in the second half of the season. And, really, a 28-year-old is too old to be a depth player on an MLS squad. With so many Academy and youth prospects to develop, there is better ways for the club to use its bench space.
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Impact will make regular returns to the Big O

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/18/2012

Montreal Impact vs. Santos Laguna, 2009 CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final, first leg

The Montreal Impact won’t be moving out of the Olympic Stadium for good in 2012.

The Impact will play at the Big O until the Stade Saputo renovations are done during the 2012 campaign. But the team struck a deal with the Olympic park, which guarantees games will be played at the Big O in 2013, 2014 and 2015 as well. These games, two or three a year, “should” (the word used in Montreal’s press info) include home openers.

Really, this kind of deal follows suit to what Toronto FC is doing with Rogers Centre. With the MLS season being stretched, now going from early March to a final in December, there are more chances for games to be played in inclement weather in inhospitable northern climes. TFC is playing its early March CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final indoors rather than weatherproof BMO Field. And, in years to come, if an event is too big for BMO Field — or the weather forecast is too dismal — the games can be moved inside.
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Did Whitecaps inherit Montreal’s headache, or the NASL MVP?

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/18/2012

Etienne Barbara, bottom, takes on Montreal's Nevio Pizzolitto in 2011 NASL action. PHOTO: MONTREAL IMPACT/PÉPÉ

Can Martin Rennie sell the charm of playing with the Vancouver RailHawks, er, Whitecaps? Will it be enough of a calling card for Etienne Barbara?

After the MLS Supplemental Draft was completed, the Montreal Impact traded its Discovery claim on reigning NASL MVP Etienne Barbara to the Whitecaps. In exchange, the Impact gets Gienier Garcia, the Cruz Azul youth team product who the ‘Caps took with the second overall pick in the Supplemental Draft.

Rennie, who coached Barbara with the RailHawks last season, already has former Carolina players Matt Watson and Brad Knighton in Vancouver. But can he get the jewel in the crown?
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U-23 keeper Misiewicz in FC Edmonton camp

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/18/2012

Michal Misiewicz

FC Edmonton could carry four goalkeepers in the 2012 season.

In camp this week is former Canadian U-17 and U-20 keeper Michal Misiewicz, who most recently played club football in Poland with Polonia Bytom. He also spent time with Sunderland’s U-18s. He’s currently part of Canada’s U-23 player pool.
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