Day -404 WorldCup2018
I may be all over the place.
The Canadian Soccer Association announced the formation of a Canadian Premier League. The CSA is working towards raising the profile and level of football in Canada (that is their reason for being after all, no?) as they look forward to a hopefully successful joint bid for the 2026 World Cup. My question for the CSA would be: will the winners of the Premier League represent Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League? They would, presumably, be known as the Canadian champions. But currently the winners of the 5 team Canadian Championship play in the Champions League. Three Major League Soccer teams (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver) compete with the winners of the preliminary round between FC Edmonton of the North American Soccer League and Ottawa Fury who play in the United Soccer League. If a Canadian team wins the MLS Cup (MLS Champions) they don't qualify for the Champions League as the winners of that league but their spot is allocated to an American MLS team. The MLS gets three spots.
I was going to compare this to Welsh teams playing in the English leagues and qualifying for Europe through their performance in England, not by winning anything in Wales. But the Canadian/MLS/NASL/USL situation seems way more complicated as I write it out.
To something different. Watching English football this morning I thought of two things. They are not new thoughts, just something else that irks me watching professional football.
An attacking player runs at a defender, knocks the ball past the defender, sees the ball go too far and runs right into the defender. The attacking player then falls to the ground as though somebody has, well, just blocked him from running ahead at full speed. Obstruction! The attacking team fans yell. Obstruction! The fans watching on TV in the pub yell. Obstruction, the man says knowingly to his son as they watch on TV at home. The referee awards a foul to the attacking team 9.9 times out of 10. He shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders at any protests as though to say, "how can I not give that? You stopped him from running ahead." And 9.9 times out of 10 when it happens I shake me head and think exactly what the commentator said so rightly said this morning, "what is the defender supposed to do, all of a sudden become invisible? The other player ran right into him." Thank you.
Ross Barkley's shoulder (it may even have been his chest) had a collision with Jordan Ayew's forearm today as they tussled for the ball. Barkley lost the ball and, predictably and sadly, fell to the ground clutching his face. Seen it alll before, right? Terrible play acting from a footballer. Then he did what they all do next. Seeing that he was not getting any sympathy from the ref, Barkley got up and repeatedly put his fingers to his face, doing the old checking for blood routine. "Look, he cut me. There's blood, Look....hold on...hold on...if I keep touching my face blood will appear. Look. Ah, screw it, you're not going to send the other guy off and the cameras are probably off me now. Everybody will forget that I acted like an idiot soon enough." If Ayew had been sent off, or yellow carded the poor victim, Barkley, would have gone through the same routine to falsely emphasize that blood had been drawn and the ref's decision was justified.
Again I say, this is so much more fun and harmless than arguing about politics.
I may be all over the place.
The Canadian Soccer Association announced the formation of a Canadian Premier League. The CSA is working towards raising the profile and level of football in Canada (that is their reason for being after all, no?) as they look forward to a hopefully successful joint bid for the 2026 World Cup. My question for the CSA would be: will the winners of the Premier League represent Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League? They would, presumably, be known as the Canadian champions. But currently the winners of the 5 team Canadian Championship play in the Champions League. Three Major League Soccer teams (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver) compete with the winners of the preliminary round between FC Edmonton of the North American Soccer League and Ottawa Fury who play in the United Soccer League. If a Canadian team wins the MLS Cup (MLS Champions) they don't qualify for the Champions League as the winners of that league but their spot is allocated to an American MLS team. The MLS gets three spots.
I was going to compare this to Welsh teams playing in the English leagues and qualifying for Europe through their performance in England, not by winning anything in Wales. But the Canadian/MLS/NASL/USL situation seems way more complicated as I write it out.
To something different. Watching English football this morning I thought of two things. They are not new thoughts, just something else that irks me watching professional football.
An attacking player runs at a defender, knocks the ball past the defender, sees the ball go too far and runs right into the defender. The attacking player then falls to the ground as though somebody has, well, just blocked him from running ahead at full speed. Obstruction! The attacking team fans yell. Obstruction! The fans watching on TV in the pub yell. Obstruction, the man says knowingly to his son as they watch on TV at home. The referee awards a foul to the attacking team 9.9 times out of 10. He shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders at any protests as though to say, "how can I not give that? You stopped him from running ahead." And 9.9 times out of 10 when it happens I shake me head and think exactly what the commentator said so rightly said this morning, "what is the defender supposed to do, all of a sudden become invisible? The other player ran right into him." Thank you.
Ross Barkley's shoulder (it may even have been his chest) had a collision with Jordan Ayew's forearm today as they tussled for the ball. Barkley lost the ball and, predictably and sadly, fell to the ground clutching his face. Seen it alll before, right? Terrible play acting from a footballer. Then he did what they all do next. Seeing that he was not getting any sympathy from the ref, Barkley got up and repeatedly put his fingers to his face, doing the old checking for blood routine. "Look, he cut me. There's blood, Look....hold on...hold on...if I keep touching my face blood will appear. Look. Ah, screw it, you're not going to send the other guy off and the cameras are probably off me now. Everybody will forget that I acted like an idiot soon enough." If Ayew had been sent off, or yellow carded the poor victim, Barkley, would have gone through the same routine to falsely emphasize that blood had been drawn and the ref's decision was justified.
Again I say, this is so much more fun and harmless than arguing about politics.
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