Think it all in

Finally a new Podcast

2011-07-12T08:48:00.003-04:00

With Matt back from his holidays, along with overcoming some technical difficulties we have been able to record a new podcast. This time we discuss the Women's World Cup, the Copa America, and the Canadian Soccer League. We also have a special treat for you, an exclusive interview with Capital City FC captain Clint Irwin! If you are in the Windsor area make sure to attend The Subs Bench Derby on Saturday with Matt wearing his new Capital City shirt.

The Podcast.

The NASL is Coming to Ottawa

2011-06-20T15:50:00.003-04:00

The news that broke late last week is now official. The NASL has awarded a team to the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG). The yet to be named team will play at a redeveloped Lansdowne Park. They will join the league once the stadium is complete, likely in 2013 or 2014. The NASL currently has eight teams, and will stay at eight next season with San Antonio replacing Montreal, who are joining MLS. John Pugh, the owner of the Ottawa Fury and the newest member of OSEG, has been named the team's President.

I was able to attend this announcement and had a conversation with Mr. Pugh. He told me that there would be fan involvement in choosing the team's name and colours. He also spoke of his desire for Ottawa to have a supporter group similar to the Southsiders or the Red Patch Boys. He hoped the games would be fun and noisy. I asked him if he was going to move the Ottawa Fury Women's team to Lansdowne, and he said that was unlikely. He also said there are no plans to bid for a WPS (Women's Professional Soccer) team. During Mr. Pugh's statement to the press, he mentioned that Ottawa would be participating in the Nutrilite Canadian Championship, or as I prefer to call it, the Nutrilite Voyageurs' Cup. I asked him if he thought the NVC should be expanded to include teams in the CSL and other leagues across Canada. He said that is the way the FA Cup & US Open Cup are run and, though more logistically difficult, it is a great treat for fans and he wouldn't mind seeing something similar in Canada.

I also had the opportunity to talk with William Shenkman, another member of OSEG, who has previous football experience as he is part owner of Millwall in England. Shenkman talked about how Millwall came quite close to being relegated from League One in his first season at the club and of their later promotion to the Championship. I asked him if he thought a system of promotion & relegation would work in Canada & the United States. He replied that it wouldn't. He mentioned that clubs here, even established MLS ones, don't have the support to keep a club afloat if they were relegated. He mentioned that even in England some large clubs face a lot of problems if they are relegated and used Millwall's archrivals West Ham as an example. We discussed how difficult it would be for a league to lose a market like New York, LA, or Toronto through relegation. I also talked about expanding the NVC with Mr. Shenkman; he hopes it happens and would look forward to an Ottawa derby with Capital City FC. He told me he is glad there is another team in the city that is getting the community out to watch soccer. He said he doesn't think of Capital City as competition for the soccer dollar, more that both clubs are creating interest in local football and that will help everyone.

The final person I spoke with this morning was NASL Commissioner David Downs. We started by talking about stadiums. He thinks the redeveloped Lansdowne will be a great stadium, however he fears that its 24,000 capacity could be too big. He stated that somewhere between 5,000 & 15,000 seats was about right for the NASL. I asked him if he had a maximum number of teams that he would want to have in the NASL, in light of the MLS likely stopping at 20. He said that anywhere between 12 and 16 teams would be great, adding that eight is too few. Ottawa will be the ninth team when they join the league. He mentioned that the League is in talks with other cities, but wouldn't comment on who they are. He also said that it is important for his league to grow prudently. That said, he did expect there would be more growth now that the MLS is likely to add only one more side. The Commissioner said that everywhere there is a successful first tier there is also a successful second tier. He is confident that the NASL will be successful, as will a team in Ottawa.

Though I tend to share the Commissioner's fears about the 24,000 seat stadium being too large, I am excited to see what will happen next, and will be in the stands when Ottawa's newest professional team takes to the field. I should add that the City, OSEG, and CSA are in talks about having Ottawa as a host city for the 2014 U20 Women's World Cup and the 2015 Women's World Cup. Obviously, the redeveloped Lansdowne would host the matches. Hopefully the construction is finished before 2014 so we can have both NASL and the Women's u20 World Cup here in 2014.

Thoughts on Villa's manager search

2011-06-10T11:58:00.004-04:00

Aston Villa's search for a new boss is a getting a little crazy. The news today was that Wigan boss Roberto Martinez opted to stay at Wigan rather than join Aston Villa, which it must be said is a blow to Villa and their fans. The plus side is that with the relegation of Birmingham, Wigan can step in to fill the rival void. So besides Martinez who haved Villa talked to or been linked with?

1. Rafa Benitez -I can not understand why they didn't hire him. He decided not to take the job after requesting a 30M pound transfer kitty, which was turned down by the owner. So a multiple champions league winner was passed over because he asked for 30M? Didn't Villa let Houllier spend 24M on Darren Bent? Last season Villa spent most of the season battling relegation to get into Europe this club is going to half to spend money. Especially since they are getting a rumoured 16M for the sale of Ashley Young to Manchester United. I think that Villa made a mistake by not hiring Rafa.

2. Steve McLaren - The former England, Boro, Twente, Wolfsburg boss was supposed to have an interview, but had it cancelled because of comments from fans. I think that Randy Lerner was right in cancelling the interview. It is important for the boss to get off on the right foot with fans, just ask Roy Hodgson. Also while he impressed at Boro & Twente he was a failure at England & Wolfsburg.

3. Mark Hughes - Hughes was strongly linked with the post, as he left his role at Fulham. Villa have said that they are not interested in Hughes. That said they can't talk to Hughes until the end of June. I don't think that Hughes is the right fit at Villa. He like Steve Bruce has switched clubs numerous times, just he has done it with less winning.

4. Carlo Ancelotti - The former Chelsea boss who has said that he would like to stay in England, has also said that he is planning to take a year off. Which if he means it would rule himself out of the Villa job.

So after passing on Rafa and being turned down by Martinez, who should Villa be interviewing next?

1. Louis van Gaal - I am surprised that the former Ajax, AZ, Barcelona, Bayern, & Netherlands coach has not been interviewed already I think that he would be a good fit at Villa and has been successful nearly everywhere he has gone.

2. Claudio Ranieri - His name was linked to vacancy, but that was the last I have heard of it. Like van Gaal I think that Ranieri would be a great fit at Villa park.

Both of these men are the sort of managers that would succeed at Villa and help them get where they want to go. I think that they should be the top two names on the short list now, and should have been right behind Rafa & Ancelotti in the first place.

Thoughts on Canada - USA round 1

2011-06-08T09:45:00.003-04:00

They were better than us. I thought that Hart's formation was the right choice, it worked well to contain the American wingers which was my biggest concern going into the match. However what seemed to happen was that our wingers would mark their wingers leaving huge amounts of space for the full backs to take advantage of, which they did. The US was at their most dangerous when they had their full backs attacking.

The first goal was unlucky, normally Lars makes that save. I expect that Milos will start the rest of the tournament now barring any further goal keeping errors.

Our marking in the box was poor. Ledgerwood noticed Dempsey was behind him much too late and Dempsey scored because of it. In the first half Carlos Bocanegra was left completely unmarked in the box but managed to miss from a few yards out. That was unlucky for the states so I felt that us being down 1-0 at the half was fair.

Problems in the midfield. Atiba is a good player but he is not Iniesta. Too often Atiba was left with no one to pass to and had to dribble his way past a few people, which he succeeded in doing a couple times. Often we would have players standing and waiting for a pass rather than moving into space and receiving the pass. Dunfield had a poor game. I know that he was starting due to an injury from JDG, his passing was very poor more often leading to turnovers than anything else.

Canada was too cautious in possession. We rarely tried a through ball and opted for a "safer" pass than a pass that put the Americans under pressure nearly every time. Specifically, when Dunfield opted to pass backwards to Ledgerwood instead of to DeRo who was in space and in a more advanced position on the right wing. There was a time when Simpson was making a great run into the box but rather than pass to where he was running the pass went behind him.

Ali Gerba was fantastic when he came on. He forced two great saves from Tim Howard. Speaking of which Howard was brilliant making a number of huge saves to maintain his clean sheet. When Gerba came on, Canada changed its formation and gave the USA more opportunities to attack us but Canada did create more opportunities. I expect that had we started that way the US would have scored more than two goals against us.

Man of the Match: Tim Howard

Play of the day: Clint Dempsey's flying back heel

I expect that Stephen Hart will go with a similar set up next match with changes bringing on Gerba likely for Johnson, JDG in for Dunfield if he is healthy, and switching the keepers.

Playing the way we did against the Americans I think that we should be able to get by Panama & Guadeloupe, but we will need to improve our passing to get through the Quarterfinals.

I am pleased that so many fans traveled to the match, I wish I could have been there. I was disappointed with the tv coverage in Canada. I would like to see Sportsnet move the Jays game to Sportsnet One and put Canada on the main network. If you are the home of Canadian soccer then act like it. The Jays play 162 games every year. This was our first competitive match in two years. I was also disappointed how many bars I had to go to before I found one that was showing it. However I was pleased that about half the Capital City squad turned up to watch as well, even if a few of them were cheering on the Americans.

Links to FIFA sponsors contact information

2011-05-29T13:35:00.004-04:00

Here are electronic ways to contact FIFA sponsors. Some of the locations are defaulted to Canada as that is where I am. All of the websites for the sponsors also provide address and phone numbers where they can be reached.

Here is the link to FIFA's sponsor page.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/partners/index.html

I looked at the sponsors of the organisation rather than the sponsors specific to the World Cup. Here are the ways to contact them. Please do contact them as it only through volume that they will hear our message.

Adidas - http://www.adidas-group.com/en/local/contacts/contactus.aspx

Adidas - corporate.press@adidas-group.com

Adidas - http://www.shopadidas.ca/contactUs/detail.jsf

Adidas on twitter: @adidasUS @adidasUK

Coca Cola - https://secure.thecoca-colacompany.com/ssldocs/mail/eQuery_product.shtml

Coca Cola on twitter @CocaCola

Hyundai cr@hyundaicanada.com

Hyundai on Twitter @hyundai

Kia Motors on Twitter @Kia_Motors

Emirates on twitter @flyingemirates

Sony on twitter @sony

Visa https://corporate.visa.com/utility/contactus.jsp

Letter to FIFA Sponsors

2011-05-29T13:14:00.002-04:00

Dear FIFA Sponsors,

As you are no doubt aware there have been serious accusations of corruption within the FIFA executive. We as fans do not believe in FIFA's ability to investigate itself. We are calling on you to use your abilities as a sponsor of FIFA to pressure them to hold open, transparent, and independent investigations into all of the allegations of corruption.

We also regret to inform you that until you take action on this issue we will be boycotting the products and services your companies provide. We as fans and you as sponsors have a responsibility to hold FIFA to account; we are doing our part and it is now your turn.

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Elder, a fan of football.

The Year of Falling Giants

2011-05-25T14:22:00.001-04:00

This past season has been very bad for a number of big teams. Their downfalls have been confusing and surprising; while some teams managed to rebound and finish in a respectable position, many finished the season near the bottom of the table. First, let's look at those clubs that had an incredibly poor season they wish they could forget.

The most notable club that had a poor season is of course Schalke in Germany. They made it to the Champions League semi-finals and won the German Cup - that doesn't sound like a poor season, does it? Well they also finished the Bundesliga in 14th place, only two places above relegation. They were 2nd last year, 8th the year before, 3rd before that, and 2nd before that. Their average finish in the four seasons before this one is 4th. A drop of twelve places is huge and will signal big changes for the club - in fact, star goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has already announced that he will not be back at Schalke next season.

Schalke weren't alone in Germany as a big club having a poor season. Wolfsburg finished one place behind Schalke - one place above the drop. Wolfsburg were Bundesliga Champions two years ago. They were 8th last season, 5th in the season before they were Champions, and 15th the year before that. Wolfsburg have taken their fans on quite the roller coaster ride from 15th to 15th in 5 years. The back to back seasons of dropping seven places doesn't bode well for these former champions.

In Italy, Sampdoria started this season in the Champions League and will start the next one in Serie B after being relegated. They dropped 14 places this season, from 4th last year to 18th this year. Their average finish in the league for the four years prior to this campaign is 8th, ten places higher than their finish. We will need to watch through the summer to see what happens to Sampdoria's squad to know if they will be able to make a quick return to Serie A.

In Spain, Julian de Guzman's old club Deportivo la Coruna were relegated from La Liga. They finished in 18th place after finishing 10th last year. They were 7th the year before. Depor hadn't been competing in Europe for a while but they were certainly an established La Liga side. Their average finish in the four years leading up to this campaign was 10th. If JDG left the club because of some financial issues there, then those are only going to get worse in the Segunda and it could be awhile before Depor are back in the top flight.

Moving north to France, it has been a bad year for AS Monaco. Granted it has been a while since they were in the Champions League final, but after an 8th place finish in Ligue 1 last year, their fans certainly expected more from them than to be in 18th place with one match left. They need at least a point to have a chance at survival, but are home to 3rd place Lyon who need one point to secure 3rd place and Champions League football. In my mind Monaco are going down. Like Depor their four prior seasons average was 10th.

There were a few other clubs I wouldn't consider to be big clubs, but certainly established clubs in the top flight, that were relegated as well. In England, both Birmingham and West Ham were relegated. Birmingham finished 9th last season and won the League Cup this season, but were only able to finish in 18th this year. The club has been a bit of a yo-yo side with two promotions and two relegations in the last five years; however they looked to put that behind them with a 9th place finish and a League Cup victory. In the end they couldn't avoid the drop. I don't expect them to get promoted back to the Premier League next season unless they invest in a number of new players. West Ham had a dismal season, and after a poor campaign last year as well they aren't in the same category as the other teams. Even with their poor year last year, their prior four years average finish was 13th, seven places higher than the 20th of this year. This club is in a lot of trouble; they need to do a huge rebuild and a number of their star players are leaving. West Ham's main focus should be on avoiding back to back relegations.

A similar story played out in Portugal. Naval 1 Maio were relegated for their last place finish. While not achieving any huge heights, they had an average finish of 11th in the four years before this season. They would have expected to do better this year, especially after they managed an 8th place finish last year.

Let's switch over to some of the big clubs that managed to salvage a poor season. Returning to Germany, Bayern Munich spent a much larger portion of the season away from the top than anyone at the club is used to; consequently, head coach van Gaal was sacked. That said, they did manage to salvage 3rd place and qualify for the Champions League. With German keeper Neuer rumoured to be joining from Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen's coach joining the club, next season should be better for the Bundesliga giants.

In England, Liverpool got off to a horrible start and sacked their manager, too. However King Kenny came in and got Liverpool into 6th place. Also in England, 9th place Aston Villa were involved in the relegation battle until the last month of the season. Their manager left the club at the start and then replacement boss Gerard Houllier was hospitalised and his assistant took over for the last few matches of the season. After the way this season has gone, I imagine most Villa fans are pleasantly surprised with a finish in the top ten.

Moving to Turkey, Galatasaray managed an 8th place finish this year. They spent a large portion of the campaign just above the relegation zone. In fact, they only finished six points out of 14th. This was a huge disaster for the Istanbul club whose last four league finishes were 3rd, 5th, 1st, and 3rd. They had a few injuries this season, brought back Fatih Terim for a 3rd time as manager, and have moved to a new stadium. They have also been linked with Didier Drogba -safe to say that they will likely improve on their 8th place finish next season.

Barcelona what happened?

2011-05-18T10:38:00.004-04:00

Barcelona, mes que un club. (More than a club) This phrase is emblazoned upon the Camp Nou and ties together the players, fans, executive, city, and Catalonia. Barcelona have represented what a football club should be. They play attractive winning football and have an excellent youth academy programme. Until 5 years ago they had nothing on their uniforms except for their logo until they reached a deal to pay Unicef to put the Unicef logo on their kits. In my mind this was a big snub to the millions of dollars of potential sponsorship dollars and a challenge to other clubs to do the same. There were a few other clubs that adopted charities on their kit, but there was no revolution. Barcelona were alone amongst the big clubs again giving the feeling that they truly were more than a club.

Last month there were four match ups between Real Madrid & Barcelona across 3 competitions. As you know by in large the football public was disappointed in what we received. There were a few moments of brilliance that delighted us, but largely overshadowed by general nastiness (on and off the field) and a lot more play acting than we are used to seeing. I am well aware that there is a lot of fake injuries in football today, and I am not going to pretend that this is limited to one club, country, or league. However when you are being mentioned as potentially one of the greatest sides in the history of the game, then you should be able to get past your arch rivals without resorting to faking head injuries in the hopes of getting an opponent sent off. I know that there are worse offenders etc etc, all I am saying is that with the eyes of the football world all on Barcelona they didn't impress, in fact they embarrassed.

The champions league final is still to come, with Barcelona getting a chance to redeem itself with a beautiful performance at Wembley, but another aspect of the club is gone forever. Barcelona unveiled their uniform for next season, no longer is Unicef across the front. It has been replaced by the Qatar Foundation. The Qatar Foundation paid 125M pounds to have their name on Barcelona's shirts for the next 5 seasons. So now they are just like every other club in football. To me it seems that football as well as Barcelona have lost something. I know that in the new financial world money is scarce and the money will no doubt ensure that they can continue to pay inflated transfer fees and wages to remain competitive at the highest level. With a sponsor on their kit, they have joined the rest of the football world as a club. They are still a great club, but they are mes que un club no more.

Thoughts on United's 19th title

2011-05-16T13:08:00.004-04:00

This morning on the Score, Kristian Jack wrote a great article about Manchester United winning their 19th title, and it got me thinking. Here in the land where hockey rules, the mark of quality is the performance in the playoffs and the winning of the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup. However, what would it look like if we re-examined the NHL standings and forgot about the cups and focused on the league crowns. There have been 93 NHL league titles awarded and 112 league titles in England. In the NHL 20 different teams have won the title, in England there have been 23 different winners. Only one of the NHL champions no longer exists, which are the 1925 Champions the Hamilton Tigers. All 23 English Champions are still playing football, with most at the highest level. Of the 20 Hockey Champs 13 have won more than once, with the 23 English Champs 19 have won multiple times. I think we have waited about long enough, lets have a look at the combined list of champions, (number of times won in brackets) and the year of the last league title.

1. Montreal Canadiens (23) - 1978

2. Manchester United (19) - 2011

3. Liverpool (18) - 1990

3. Detroit Red Wings (18) - 2008

5. Arsenal (13) - 2004

6. Boston Bruins (12) - 1990

7. Everton (9) - 1987

8. Ottawa Senators (8) - 2003

9. Aston Villa (7) - 1981

10. Sunderland (6) - 1936

11. Toronto Maple Leafs (5) - 1963

12. Newcastle United (4) - 1927

12. Sheffield Wednesday (4) - 1930

12. Chelsea (4) - 2010

15. Huddersfield Town (3) - 1926

15. Wolverhampton Wanderers (3) - 1959

15. New York Islanders (3) - 1982

15. Edmonton Oilers (3) - 1987

15. Chicago Blackhawks (3) - 1991

15. Leeds United (3) - 1992

15. New York Rangers (3) - 1994

15. Blackburn Rovers (3) - 1995

23. Preston North End (2) - 1890

23. Portsmouth (2) - 1950

23. Burnley (2) - 1960

23. Tottenham Hotspur (2) - 1961

23. Manchester City (2) - 1968

23. Derby County (2) - 1975

23. Philadelphia Flyers (2) - 1985

23. Calgary Flames (2) - 1989

23. Dallas Stars (2) - 1999

23. Colorado Avalanche (2) - 2001

33. Sheffield United (1) - 1898

33. West Bromwich Albion (1) - 1920

33. Hamilton Tigers (1) - 1925

33. Ipswich Town (1) - 1962

33. Nottingham Forest - 1978

33. Pittsburgh Penguins (1) - 1993

33. St. Louis Blues (1) - 2000

33. Buffalo Sabres (1) - 2007

33. San Jose Sharks (1) - 2009

33. Washington Capitals (1) - 2010

33. Vancouver Canucks (1) - 2011

There are a number of interesting stats that I noticed while looking at the lists of champions. First the NHL has had 4 first time champs in the last 5 years, that is remarkable. To give you an idea the last 4 first time champs in England were Nottingham Forest (1978), Derby County (1972), Leeds United (1969) and Ipswich Town (1962). Something else that amazed me were that the great teams of Gretzky & Lemieux won so few titles. Another thing that I noticed when looking at England is that 3 sides won all of their titles in back to back seasons. Portsmouth winning in 1949 & 1950. Huddersfield town winning in 1924, 1925, and 1926. Far away the most painful would be Preston North End winning in 1889 & 1890. The first ever seasons of league football. So North End fans who celebrated back to back titles have endured a wait of 121 seasons for their next title. When you factor in the fact that PNE were just relegated to League One it will be at least 2014 before they can even have a chance to compete for the title again, where they will look to erase a 123 year drought. So Leafs fans who have wondered how bad can things get, you can thank your lucky stars you don't support Preston. Speaking of Leafs fans, the league crowns have done you no favours either with your last title now coming in 1963.

What I found interesting as well was that of the 23 English Champions 13 played this season in the Premier League. 8 Champions were playing in the Championship and 2 were playing in League One. Of course former champions Preston North End & Sheffield were both relegated to League One. Huddersfield are competing in the League One playoffs and could be promoted, while Nottingham Forest are in the Championship playoffs and could be promoted as well. That said it could be former champions Blackburn Rovers or Wolverhampton Wanderers that make room for them in the Premier League. Also if you are curious and think that the Premier League should be for the 20 biggest clubs and do away with relegation. Then using league titles as the criteria those 20 are the 19 teams with more than one title and depending on your tie breaker of choice one of Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, Ipswich Town, or Nottingham Forest.

In the NHL some of the more hapless franchises are the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks both of which have played in most of the 93 NHL seasons but have only 3 titles each. Another interesting stat is that all 6 current Canadian NHL teams have one at least one title.

I hope that you found this interesting. Especially as I have another post coming up looking at football in Europe since the 1954 campaign (the first one where you qualified for European competition) to determine what the most successful football club in Europe is. That article will be posted on The Subs Bench.

Relegation Battles - Update

2011-05-04T09:16:00.003-04:00

As you know we have been watching the relegation battles across England, Italy, & Germany. Here is an update on what has changed in those battles.

In English Premier League both Bolton & Fulham are now safe from the drop. In the Championship Sheffield United & Doncaster Rovers were both relegated, so the relegation battle in the English 2nd tier is over. In League One Plymouth were relegated. In League Two Stockport were relegated, leaving the battle for the last relegation place between Lincoln City & Barnet.

In Italy Fiorentina & Genoa are safe from the drop in Serie A. There were no changes in Serie B. Though Reggina could achieve safety if they win their suspended match against Albinoleffe. Albinoleffe were leading 1-0 in the 1st half when the match was suspended.

In die Bundesliga Freiburg are safe from the drop. FC Inglostadt 04 & SC Paderborn 07 are also safe from the drop in die 2 Bundesliga.

Lots of big matches remaining, especially in the football leagues in England with only one match left in their season. This weekend is also the big match between Cologne & Frankfurt in die Bundesliga.

New Podcast

2011-05-03T20:57:00.001-04:00

Listen to Matt & I discuss a wide range of topics including the Voyageurs Cup, Champions League, & the born again EPL title race.

Click here for the podcast

Relegation Battles - Germany

2011-04-28T22:19:00.005-04:00

As Sunday signals the arrival of May and the last month of club football in most European leagues, lets focus in on the relegation battles raging all over the place. I am putting up one post for each country. This post is about Germany.

First up the Bundesliga.

In the Bundesliga the bottom two sides are relegated to the 2 Bundesliga. The team 3rd from the bottom enters into a playoff against the 3rd place team from the 2 Bundesliga.

Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)

Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.

Italics indicate a local derby.

* - indicates a team can only be involved in the playoff and are safe from outright relegation.

Freiburg* 41p, -8: @Hamburger, @Borussia M'gladbach, Leverkusen

Hoffenheim* 40p, +2: Stuttgart, @Nürnberg, Wolfsburg

Schalke* 40p, 0: @Bayern Munich, Mainz, @Köln

Werder Bremen 38p, -14: Wolfsburg, Dortmund, @Kaiserslautern

Kaiserslautern 37p, -7: St. Pauli, @Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen

Stuttgart 36p, 0: @Hoffenheim, Hannover, @Bayern Munich

Köln 35p -20: Leverkusen, @Eintracht Frankfurt, Schalke

Eintracht Frankfurt 34p, -11: @Mainz, Köln, @Dortmund

Wolfsburg 32p, -7: @Werder Bremen, Kaiserslautern, @Hoffenheim

Borussia M'gladbach 29p, -20: @Hannover, Freiburg, @Hamburger

St. Pauli 29p, -23: @Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, @Mainz

I don't think either of the two teams at the bottom of the table have much hope of escaping the drop. St. Pauli & Borussia M'gladbach will be playing football in 2 Bundesliga next year. The real battle is to avoid the playoff, for me this comes down to one match in round 33. Eintracht Frankfurt - Köln. I think that Wolfsburg will be able to get more points than at least one of these teams. For both Köln & Eintracht Frankfurt this is really there only winnable match down the stretch. As I need to pick someone I think it will be Köln that end up in the playoff against the 3rd place team from 2 Bundesliga.

2 Bundesliga.

In the Bundesliga the bottom two sides are relegated to the 3rd Liga. The team 3rd from the bottom enters into a playoff against the 3rd place team from the 3rd Liga.

Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)

Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.

Italics indicate a local derby.

* - indicates a team can only be involved in the playoff and are safe from outright relegation.

Arminia Bielefeld are already relegated to the 3rd Liga

FC Ingolstadt 04 35p, -5: FC Erzgebirge Aue, @TSV München von 1860, VfL Osnabrück

SC Paderborn 07 33p, -15: VfL Osnabrück, @MSV Duisburg, TSV München von 1860

Karlsruher SC 29p, -26: Fortuna Düsseldorf, @Arminia Bielefeld, 1. FC Union Berlin

VfL Osnabrück 28p -20: @SC Paderborn 07, VfL Bochum 1848, @FC Ingolstadt 04

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen 28p, -26: @Alemannia Aachen, SpVgg Greuther Fürth, @FC Energie Cottbus

It is quite tight, but I think that VfL Osnabrück will not get the points they need away to Paderborn 07. That means that they will take the drop down to the 3rd. Liga. I think that Rot-Weiß Oberhausen will end up in the playoff against the 3rd place side in the 3rd Liga.

Relegation Battles - Italy

2011-04-28T10:48:00.007-04:00

First up the Serie A.

In the Serie A the bottom three sides are relegated to the Serie B.

Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)

Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.

Italics indicate a local derby.

Bari are already relegated to Serie B.

Fiorentina 46, 4: Udinese, @Inter, Bologna, @Brescia

Genoa 45, -1: @Napoli, Sampdoria, @Lazio, Cesena

Cagliari 44, 0: @Catania, Cesena, @Milan, Parma

Bologna 40p, -12: @Milan, Parma, @Fiorentina, Bari

Chievo Verona 39p, -3: Lecce, @Juventus, Udinese, @Palermo

Parma 38p, -11: Palermo, @Bologna, Juventus, @Cagliari

Cesena 37p, -13: Inter, @Cagliari, Brescia, @Genoa

Catania 37p, -14: Cagliari, @Brescia, Roma, @Inter

Sampdoria 35p, -12: Brescia, @Genoa, Palermo, @Roma

Lecce 35p, -20: @Chievo, Napoli, @Bari, @Lazio

Brescia 30p, -16: @Sampdoria, Catania, @Cesena, Fiorentina

Brescia have an excellent opportunity to climb out the bottom with all of their six pointers. Of Course the biggest one is next against Sampdoria. I think that Brescia will just edge Sampdoria and that away win will give them the confidence to find the points and escape the drop. I think that Lecce will join Bari in Serie B next season. Also making the drop out of the top flight I have Ottawa's Sister City club Catania.

Serie B.

In the Serie B the bottom three sides are relegated to the Lega Pro Prima Divisione. The 18th & 19th place sides play a playoff to determine who is the fourth team relegated. Note the playoff doesn't occur if the 18th place team is 5 or more points above the 19th place team.

Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)

Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.

Reggina 53p, +4: @Albinoleffe, Varese, @Grosseto, Ascoli, @Sassuolo

Torino 52p, +1: Piacenza, @Siena, Triestina, @Empoli, Padova

Padova 49p, +9: @Varese, Ascoli, @Sassuolo, Livorno, @Torino

Empoli 49p, +5: @Sassuolo, Albinoleffe, @Portosummaga, Torino, @Vicenza

US Pescara 49p, -2: @Portosummaga, Livorno, @Vicenza, Novara, @Cittadella

Vicenza 49p, -6: Crotone, @Frosinone, US Pescara, @Triestina, Empoli

Livorno 47p, 0: Atalanta, @US Pescara, Piacenza, @Padova, Frosinone

Crotone 47p, -3: @Vicenza, Novara, @Cittadella, Grosseto, @Portosummaga

Modena 47p, -5: @Cittadella, Grosseto, @Varese, Portosummaga, @Novara

Grosseto 45p, -8: Triestina, @Modena, Reggina, @Crotone, Atalanta

Cittadella 43p, -5: Modena, @Triestina, Crotone, @Atalanta, US Pescara

Albinoleffe 43p, -9: Reggina, @Empoli, Atalanta, @Piacenza, Siena

Sassuolo 42p, -5: Empoli, @Piacenza, Padova, @Frosinone, Reggina

Piacenza 42p, -10: @Torino, Sassuolo, @Livorno, Albinoleffe, @Varese

Ascoli 40p, -8: Frosinone, @Padova, Siena, @Reggina, Triestina

Portosummaga 40p, -16: US Pescara, @Atalanta, Empoli, @Modena, Crotone

Triestina 37p, -16: @Grosseto, Cittadella, @Torino, Vicenza, @Ascoli

Frosinone 35p, -17: @Ascoli, Vicenza, @Novara, Sassuolo, @Livorno

With so many games left & teams involved anything could happen here. That said I am clearly wading into the unknown, but armed with the information available, here are my four teams that make the drop: Portosummaga, Triestina, Frosinone, & Albinoleffe

Relegation Battles - England

2011-04-28T09:55:00.000-04:00

First up the Premier League.

In the Premier League the bottom three sides are relegated to the Championship.

Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)

Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.

Italics indicate a local derby.

Bolton 46p +1 @Blackburn, Sunderland, @Blackpool, City

Fulham 42p +4 @Sunderland, Liverpool, @Birmingham, Arsenal

Stoke 42p 0 @Blackpool, Arsenal, @City, Wigan

Newcastle 41p +1 @Liverpool, Birmingham, @Chelsea, WBA

Sunderland 41p -10 Fulham, @Bolton, Wolves, @West Ham

Aston Villa 41p -12 @WBA, Wigan, @Arsenal, Liverpool

West Brom 40p -15 Aston Villa, @Wolves, Everton, @Newcastle

Birmingham 38p -17 Wolves, @Newcastle, Fulham, @Spurs

Blackburn 35p -15 Bolton, @West Ham, United, @Wolves

Blackpool 34p - 22 Stoke, @Tottenham, Bolton, @United

Wigan 34p - 23 Everton, @Aston Villa, West Ham, @Stoke

Wolves 33p - 23 @Birmingham, WBA, @Sunderland, Blackburn

West Ham 32p -22 @City, Blackburn, @Wigan, Sunderland

As you can see there a bevy of important matches down the stretch. The three teams I have dropping down to the Championship are: Wolves, Wigan, & West Ham. Obviously with there still being 4 matches remaining there are a number of different situations. I am certain that West Ham will be relegated. I kept flopping over which teams would join them in going down, in the end I went with Wolves and Wigan.

Now to the Championship.

In the Championship the bottom three teams are relegated to League One.

Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)

Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.

Italics indicate a local derby.

Preston North End are already relegated.

Crystal Palace 47p -22 @Hull, Forest

Doncaster 47p - 23 Leicester, @Boro

Sheffield United 41p - 31 Barnsley, @Swansea

Scunthorpe 41p - 40 @Forest, @Pompey

The chances of either Sheffield United or Scunthorpe escaping the drop are very small. I think it could come down to the last day of the season for Sheffield United & Doncaster. Crystal Palace are safe and Scunthorpe are going down. I would love to see Sheffield United pull off one of the all time great escapes, but I think they left it a little to late. So they take the drop with PNE & Scunthorpe.

League One

In League One the bottom four teams are relegated to League Two.

Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)

Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.

Italics indicate a local derby.

Swindon are already relegated.

Notts County 49p - 13 @MK Dons, Brighton

Walsall 45p - 15 Charlton, @Southampton

Dag & Red 44p - 16 Carlisle, @Peterborough

Bristol Rovers 44p - 33 Wednesday, @Colchester

Plymouth 42p - 17 @Exeter, Southampton, Leyton Orient

I think that Walsall will take the drop along with Bristol Rovers & Plymouth. I just can't see Walsall getting any more points and they run the risk of being lit up by Southampton.

League Two.

In League Two the bottom two teams are relegated to Conference.

Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)

Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.

Italics indicate a local derby.

Morecambe 51p - 13 @Port Vale, Northampton

Macclesfield 51p - 16 @Gillingham, Hereford

Cheltenham 51p - 20 Shrewsbury, @Stockport

Bradford 51p - 21 @Hereford, Crewe

Burton 49p - 14 @Southend, Accrington

Hereford 48p - 16 Bradford, @Macclesfield

Lincoln 47p - 32 @Oxford Utd, Aldershot

Northampton 46p - 11 Stevenage, @Morecambe

Barnet 45p - 18 @Accrington, Port Vale

Stockport 40p - 46 @Crewe, Cheltenham

Stockport are going down. There is no way that they will make up the massive goal difference. They had a golden opportunity to survive on the weekend when they hosted Northampton, but only managed a draw. Coincidentally, I think it will be Northampton that join them in the drop out of League football.

New Podcast

2011-04-26T07:36:00.002-04:00

Happy Tuesday Everyone,

There is a new podcast up at The Subs Bench We discuss all of the action of the weekend, also including a random new bit about Belgium.

Enjoy

New Podcast Up

2011-04-18T08:41:00.002-04:00

Good morning Everyone,

To help you make it through day 1 of a four day week. There is a new podcast up.

Make sure you listen to the song at the end.

The Podcast

Combining the Cups

2011-04-14T10:08:00.001-04:00

Combining the Copas?

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to combine the Copa America (the CONMEBOL championship) and the Gold Cup (the CONCACAF championship)? Just think about it for a minute.

Did you have visions of Canada’s excellent performance against Brazil in Seattle? Or our Victory over Colombia in the Gold Cup final? Or our defeat in Buenos Aires? It is not that absurd a question given that CONMEBOL invites teams from other regions to participate in the Copa America anyway. In fact Mexico is a regular attendee. Canada was invited after we won the Gold Cup, however we declined the invitation due to security concerns in Colombia. As well the Gold Cup has invited CONMEBOL teams in the past too, as I mentioned above we beat Colombia in the Gold Cup final.

What would a combined tournament look like?

I imagine that the tournament would feature 16 teams in four groups. With the top two from each group advancing to the quarterfinals. Based on the current FIFA rankings the top 16 teams in the regions are: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, USA, Paraguay, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Jamaica, Venezuela, Panama, and Canada. So the groups would likely be something like this:

Group 1 – Brazil, Honduras, Colombia, Canada

Group 2 – Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Panama

Group 3 – Uruguay, Paraguay, Costa Rica, and Venezuela

Group 4 – Chile, USA, Ecuador, Jamaica

Looks like a good tournament to me. What do you think? One issue that the new tournament would face, is how often to play. Currently the Gold Cup is every two years, while the Copa America is every four years. I think it is more likely that the combined tournament would take place every four years. That said it would be fantastic if it was played every two years. Each tournament could rotate between North and South America, so it would be four years between tournaments on each continent.

What would qualifying look like?

Currently there is no qualifying for the Copa America. All ten CONMEBOL sides are included and two other sides (usually Mexico and another nation) are invited. At the Gold Cup, Canada, USA, and Mexico are given automatic berths while other nations must qualify. There is no chance of a combined qualifying involving all 45 of the teams. There is no way that Brazil etc would go for it. Brazil make millions playing friendlies around the globe, they certainly wouldn’t want to use an international break to play away to St. Vincent. I think that the most likely scenario is either that the eight highest ranked sides are given automatic berths. The rest of the sides would then compete for the remaining 8 places. That would mean that Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia and Canada would all have to go through a qualification process to make the Cup. Also the 13 lowest ranked sides would compete in pre qualifying for 8 places. Pre-qualifying is already a feature of the Gold Cup Qualification process. That would give 8 groups of 4 with the group winner advancing to the Cup.

This would be a good thing for Canada. Qualification gives us more opportunities to cap-tie players, and also a chance to accrue more ranking points. Qualification matches are worth two and half times a friendly match. I am not sure how Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia would feel about it though. I think that they may go for it, for similar reasons as it appeals to Canada. However if they don’t like it there is another option. All the CONMEBOL teams qualify and CONCACAF sides qualify against each other for the six remaining places. I really can’t see CONCACAF going for this one. It doesn’t really provide the incentive to combine the two tournaments, especially since a number of CONCACAF sides have been invited to the tournament anyway. That would mean giving up their regional tournament for four more places in CONMEBOL’s doesn’t strike me as likely.

Could it happen?

I really don’t know. I think that it would be a good thing for football in the Americas. One side effect that could come from this would be talk of combining the federations entirely. That would mean that there are 8 World Cup places for the Americas. If you are curious the current top 8 from the Americas includes 5 South American sides and 3 North American sides. I think that this combining the tournament would have a positive impact on football in Canada. We would play more competitive matches and a few of them would be against some of the top sides in the World. It would also help to change the perception that Canada is not a footballing country if we are regularly competing with South American sides. Not to mention we may get a chance to host the Cup. That would be a fantastic opportunity for football fans around the country and a definite boost to our football infrastructure.

This article is also published at The Subs Bench

New Podcast!

2011-04-11T08:51:00.003-04:00

Listen as I join @AussieVillain on The Subs Bench podcast. We discuss the Premier League, Champions League, Championship, Serie A, MLS, and Bundesliga.

Enjoy!

What will happen in the last 7 games of the Championship

2011-04-08T10:10:00.008-04:00

Who will be the Champion?

Queens Park Rangers.
Why they are 9 points clear at the top presently. There next three matches are away to last place Scunthorpe and Barnsley, plus home to Derby. I expect them to win all three of these matches which will in essence lock up the title for them. I think they will lift the trophy at Loftus Road when they host Hull on April 25th.

Who will grab the second promotion place?

Norwich.
It will be a very tight race and could easily go the other way depending on a few results. The team that I see pushing them to the end is Cardiff. Norwich's next match is away to Swansea if they lose that then it becomes a 3 team race for second. I think Norwich will do enough to get at least a draw.

Who will be in the Playoffs?

Cardiff, Swansea, Reading, and Leeds.
The two Welsh sides are locks for playoff spots. But the other two playoff places are part of a wide open race involving heaps of teams. I think that Reading will get on a bit of a winning streak and force themselves into the playoffs. While the fight between Leeds and Nottingham Forest will be for the final spot. Unfortunately for Forest fans, I think they will fall just short. No doubt a disappointing end to what looked like a promising campaign.

So... what about Pompey?

10th.
I think that though Pompey are mathematically amongst the heap of teams with a chance at a playoff place, their schedule is too tough for them to win out. That said they will move up a few places and finish with a solid tenth. This will give us a strong foundation to build on for next year. I will be happy with this finish given how much of the season we spent worried about ending up in the relegation battle.

Who will be dropping down to League One?

Scunthorpe, Sheffield United, and Doncaster
Scunthorpe are a lost cause and will finish in last. Sheffield United seem to have lost the belief. They have an absolutely huge game away to Preston in a few weeks. Which you may have guessed I think PNE will win. Preston seem to have found some belief and have been grabbing a lot more points. That said it will be a stiff task to catch any of the teams above them. To do this they need to continue playing with the same belief they discovered in the past few weeks. With Doncaster, they have been far from fantastic and I don't see them getting many points in their final 7 matches. In reality if they get it together and get 4 or 5 points they will survive. However I didn't see them getting that many. When I worked it out, I actually had them taking the drop on goal difference. If you are wondering why I didn't mention Crystal Palace, it is because of their phenomenal home record (36 of 42 points at home). They are a top 10 team at home, so with there 3 remaining home matches they are as good as safe.

Disagree? Agree? Let me know your predictions in the comments.

Cricket Canada statement on ICC Decision

2011-04-06T20:05:00.000-04:00

Cricket Canada statement on ICC Decision

Toronto, Ontario April 6, 2011 - Cricket Canada is disheartened to learn the International Cricket Council has elected to not allow Associate cricket nations such as Canada into the 2015 Cricket World Cup. While it is apparent that the push for a 10 team tournament supports the needs of the sponsors and broadcasters who ultimately fund much of our programs, we were very disappointed to learn that there would be no qualification process for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

From the results of the recently completed 2011 Cricket World Cup in the subcontinent, it is apparent that Associate nations are able to compete at the international level and need more encouragement to develop their high performance teams against the full member nations. Canadian players turned out strong performances in this world cup and the decision will surely mark the end of world cup careers for several of our players in the prime of their careers.

An additional disappointment will be players who gained experience at this world cup like 20 year old Hiral Patel. Hiral, who hit a blistering half century against defending champions Australia, will be closer to the end of his career by the time he gets a chance to compete in the games marquee event again. We have had significant interest and profile generated in Canadian cricket as a result of our participation in the world cup, and this increase in our sport would surely wane if we are not allowed to participate in the world cup for at eight years or more.

The ICC has pointed to the fact that the Twenty20 world cup has been expanded to include more associate and affiliate teams but as many of us know, while Twenty20 is a way to develop the commercial enterprise of the game it is not a way forward to develop the game itself in all its forms. This short-sighted decision also has far reaching effects as it will become more difficult to raise money from governments and corporate partners, both of who strive to be associated with the game at its highest level.

Cricket Canada proposes a conference of all stake holders be called to discuss the path forward for the associates and affiliates. It is important that representatives from all major groups including Full members, Associate Members and Affiliate Members attend this session and put forward their positions in an open and objective manner to arrive at a solution that is fair to all. Only by consulting all stakeholders can we arrive at an amicable solution.

Cricket Canada is very grateful for the overwhelming support that has been received from around the world regarding this decision and we are working with our associate and affiliate partners to bring about a satisfactory compromise. We encourage all followers of the game around the world to continue to lobby your local administrators as well as the ICC to reverse this tragic decision.

How to keep the World in the World Cup

2011-04-06T10:26:00.005-04:00

Welcome to my first cricket post. As you may have heard the Cricket World Cup just wrapped up in India. India won an exciting final over Sri Lanka, however for me what the ICC announced recently has overshadowed what was a great tournament. They announced that the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia & New Zealand would only include full ICC members. In case you don't know what that means, it means that the next World Cup will only feature 10 teams instead of the 14 that competed in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It is also not the top 10 teams, it is only the 10 that are full ICC members. So at the moment the only sides that are going to be competing down under are: Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, England, South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the West Indies, and Sri Lanka. It is my understanding that this change was brought about due to some of the Cricket Boards complaining to the ICC about how long the World Cup took to play, and that they had to play "minnows". Funny thing though, Ireland, one of the so called "minnows", beat England in the World Cup. Not only that, Ireland are actually ranked higher than Zimbabwe, but will not be allowed to compete as they are not a full ICC member.

Let us take a minute to examine why this is a ridiculous decision from the ICC.
1. Cricket is growing around the globe. Stopping all new countries from competing at the World Cup will have a huge impact on the growth of the sport in new areas.
2. It will kill some teams. Ireland have already raised this issue with the ICC: sponsors are likely to leave and with no sponsors and no prospect of attracting new ones of the same level it could kill the Irish Cricket Board; no doubt Canada are in a similar place.
3. Players will leave. The World Cup is a big draw for cricketers, and with no World Cup prospects some players may opt to switch countries. England's side that lost to Ireland featured an Irish player from the last World Cup, along with a few South Africans.
4. It turns new fans off cricket all together. There is nothing like gross injustice to take the joy out of a sport. I am a big cricket fan, but I am having a hard time getting up for the IPL because I am so angry with the ICC. I can see a lot of fans that were gained in the last months just walking away.
5. It will cost them money. With fewer countries involved there will be fewer countries wanting advertising and wanting to buy the TV rights. Plus, by cutting the number of matches nearly in half they are going to reduce their ticket revenue.

So there are five things that likely didn't cross the ICC's mind when they made their ridiculous decision. But let's return to why they made it: the World Cup at 43 days took too long and there were too many matches against "minnows". You had 14 teams divided into two groups and playing a round robin. That takes time - why not ADD two more teams and then have 4 groups of 4? With two groups of 7 there were 42 group matches. With two groups of 5 there are 20. With 4 groups of 4 there are 24. So by adding two more teams to the World Cup instead of dropping four, the net gain in matches played is four. I think that is certainly manageable and the tournament would increase cricket's popularity rather than detract from it.

I think the ICC has been a little too hasty in their re-organisation of the World Cup. Hopefully they re-examine their options with pressure from Ireland, Canada, and other nations. The way to continue cricket's growth in the world is not by closing doors, but by opening them.

Latest Standings for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Draw

2010-10-18T03:50:00.002-04:00

Well first off congrats to Canada for getting a point off Ukraine! That result kept us in the top six, but we are by no means safe with Panama & Jamaica on our heals. Also Dominica needs a mention as they have jumped up into 11th in the table after their strong performances in Gold Cup Qualifying. This should also see Dominica achieve an all time high when the latest FIFA rankings come out in a few days. Without any further delay here are the latest standings:

May 2011 Rank	Country	Points
1	USA	992
2	Mexico	848
3	Honduras	521
4	Costa Rica	470
5	Canada	401
6	Jamaica	398

7	Panama	392
8	Guyana	320
9	El Salvador	273
10	T & T	247
11	Dominica	233
12	Suriname	199
13	Puerto Rico	198
14	Barbados	160
15	Grenada	149
16	Guatemala	142
17	St. Vincent	132
18	St. Kitts	124
19	Haiti	123
20	Antigua	121
21	Bermuda	94
22	Cayman Islands	90
23	Cuba	82
24	Dominican R.	70
25	N. Antilles	57
26	Nicaragua	53
27	Belize	44
28	St. Lucia	31
29	Turks & Caicos	13
30	British VI	12
31	Bahamas	9
32	Aruba	7
33	USVI	3
34	Anguilla	0
34	Montserrat	0

Latest Standings as of 6AM Eastern (8pm Down Under)

2010-10-09T06:01:00.002-04:00

May 2011 Rank	Country	Points
1	USA	963
2	Mexico	835
3	Honduras	512
4	Costa Rica	440
5	Canada	401
6	Panama	359

7	Jamaica	344
8	El Salvador	273
9	T & T	254
10	Puerto Rico	198
11	Barbados	160
12	Grenada	149
13	Guatemala	142
14	St. Vincent	132
15	St. Kitts	124
16	Haiti	123
17	Antigua	121
18	Guyana	105
19	Dominica	101
20	Bermuda	94
21	Cayman Islands	90
22	Cuba	82
23	Suriname	67
24	N. Antilles	57
25	Nicaragua	53
26	Belize	44
27	Turks & Caicos	13
27	St. Lucia	13
29	British VI	12
30	Bahamas	9
31	Aruba	7
32	Dominican R.	4
33	USVI	3
34	Anguilla	0
34	Montserrat	0

The Latest on the Road to Brasil 2014

2010-10-03T20:30:00.004-04:00

Greetings football fans,

Pompey Canuck here again with an update on the Road to Brasil 2014. After the grand spectacle of the World Cup (which required many late nights & early mornings to follow from Australia), I spent two travelling around the Outback, making it difficult to keep up with the all of the football news...but I have found out some crucial info affecting Canada's journey to Brasil.

First off, after the strong performances of our CONCACAF brethren Mexico & the States at the World Cup in South Africa, CONCACAF has seen our Global co-efficient rise from the minimum .85 to .88! That is great news! It means that Canada will now get more ranking points for beating CONCACAF opponents, which should see all CONCACAF teams move up the overall FIFA rankings. It also means that CONCACAF is the third strongest football federation in the World after Europe and South America (which both have the maximum co-efficient of 1). I should also point out that the strong performance of Ghana boosted the CAF to .86 leaving only Asia & Oceania on the minimum.

Second, I have the current standings for the May 2011 FIFA rankings, which as far as I am aware is still when the draw for World Cup Qualifying is likely to take place. The top six are seeded in the draw and should progress to the final stage. So without further ado here are the standings which include Puerto Rico's win over Anguilla on October 2.

May 2011 Rank	Country	Points
1	USA	963
2	Mexico	835
3	Honduras	499
4	Costa Rica	440
5	Canada	366
6	Panama	346

7	Jamaica	344
8	El Salvador	273
9	T & T	254
10	Grenada	149
11	Guatemala	142
12	Haiti	123
13	Antigua	121
14	Puerto Rico	117
15	Guyana	105
16	Dominica	101
17	Bermuda	94
18	Cuba	82
19	Barbados	72
20	St. Kitts	68
21	Suriname	67
22	St. Vincent	58
23	N. Antilles	57
24	Nicaragua	53
25	Belize	44
26	Cayman Islands	24
27	Turks & Caicos	13
27	St. Lucia	13
29	British VI	12
30	Bahamas	9
31	Aruba	7
32	Dominican R.	4
33	USVI	3
34	Anguilla	0
34	Montserrat	0

There you have it: Canada is sitting in 5th place. However we are by no means comfortably in 5th place - Panama and Jamaica are right on our heels. Now with May 2011 just around the corner, the matches we play count for a lot more towards the standings, so it is not out of the question for Canada to catch Costa Rica or even Honduras. To give you an idea of the amount of movement possible, Dominica picked up two wins over Barbados, grabbing nearly 100 points and moving from 26th to 16th. With that in mind, here are the matches coming up for the top eleven teams in October:

USA - Home to Poland & Colombia
Mexico - Home to Venezuela
Honduras - Away to New Zealand, Home to Guatemala
Costa Rica - Away to Peru, Home to El Salvador
Canada - Away to Ukraine
Panama - Home to El Salvador & Peru
Jamaica - Home to Trinidad & Tobago
El Salvador - Away to Panama & Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago - Away to Jamaica
Grenada - No matches scheduled
Guatemala - Home to Belize, Away to Honduras

If Canada manages a victory over Ukraine it will take our points total to 471. That would put us ahead of Costa Rica if they drop both of their matches and just behind Honduras if they lose theirs. It is going to be a close fight to make the top six no matter what happens. That said, because Canada have been playing matches we are going to be a lot better off than we were four years ago, when we were only the 11th ranked side in the region.

I am going to put out the next update at the start of November. Look for a lot of movement from some of the smaller nations as the qualifiers for the 2011 Gold Cup get underway.

Group H Preview

2010-06-09T20:11:00.004-04:00

Finally we get to Group H, home of the European Champions and World Cup favourites Spain, along with Chile, Switzerland, and Montreal's favourite team, Honduras. Each team in the group has had injuries: Chile and Honduras have lost star players in Humberto Suazo & Wilson Palacios. Switzerland have had unlucky striker Frei injured again; Frei also missed Euro 2008 through injury. Spain have a number of slightly injured players: Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas, and Torres.

Here is how the teams' travel, elevation and preparations look:

Spain get going in Durban at sea level, next they travel 569km north to Jo'burg and gain 1753m, and lastly they have the short 62km trip to Pretoria and drop 539m. By way of preparation, Spain played Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Poland. They played Saudi Arabia and South Korea in Austria, winning 3-2 & 1-0 respectively. They wrapped up their preparations with an easy 6-0 win over Poland in Spain.

Chile start in Nelspruit at 660m, followed by a 1410km move to Port Elizabeth and drop to sea level, and finally they head north to Pretoria and gain 1214m along the 1123km journey. Chile had five warm up matches, beating Trinidad & Tobago, Zambia, Northern Ireland, and Israel all in Chile. They also travelled up to Mexico and suffered a 1-0 loss.

Switzerland kick off at sea level in Durban, stay at sea level as they move to Port Elizabeth 950km away, and then they go 664km north to Bloemfontein and gain 1400m. The Swiss played two matches both at home, losing to Costa Rica 1-0 and drawing with Italy 1-1.

Honduras start at 660m in Nelspruit, travel to Jo'burg 345km away and 1093m higher, and wrap up in Bloemfontein 353m lower and 397km east. Honduras have had a disastrous build up, drawing Belarus and Azerbaijan, plus losing to Romania 3-0.

Here is how I think the matches will go:

Honduras - Chile
Chile are too strong for Honduras and get off to a good start with all 3 points.

Spain - Switzerland
Spain don't have many problems breaking down the Swiss and win comfortably.

Chile - Switzerland
Draw. Both teams are going to fight hard but they will split the spoils in this one.

Spain - Honduras
Spain enjoy another easy win and eliminate the Hondurans.

Chile - Spain
Chile reap the rewards of Spain giving their A team a rest and manage a draw against the European Champions.

Switzerland - Honduras
The Swiss complete the sweep of the Hondurans with a 1-0 victory.

Here is how the table will look:

Spain 7 points
Chile 5 points
Switzerland 4 points
Honduras 0 points

Group G Preview

2010-06-09T18:57:00.004-04:00

In Group G we find the Confederations Cup winners and perennial favourites Brasil, along with Portugal, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). There have been some big injuries in this group, with Portugal's Nani & Ivory Coast's Drogba both getting hurt before the tournament starts.

Here is how the teams' travel, elevation and preparations look:

Brasil start in Jo'burg at 1753m, then just like Argentina they stay there for their second match, before moving down to Durban 569km away at sea level. Brasil opted to make some money and played Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Neither of these sides made it to the African Cup of Nations, but I think that Brasilian Football did make $5M from the encounters...both of which Brasil won comfortably.

Portugal are the only team in the tournament to play all of their matches at sea level. They start off in Port Elizabeth, then travel 748km to Cape Town, finishing off 1638km away in Durban. At home, Portugal were held 0-0 by Cape Verde, then beat Cameroon 3-1 before heading to South Africa where they beat Mozambique 3-0 at 1753m in Jo'burg.

Ivory Coast start at sea level in Port Elizabeth, then go 1062km to Jo'burg and gain 1753m, and finally head 345km to Nelspruit and drop 1093m. Ivory Coast drew 2-2 with Paraguay in France, and beat Japan 2-0 in Switzerland.

North Korea kick off in Jo'burg at 1753m, next they travel to Cape Town 1398km away at sea level, and then have the longest journey in the tournament: 1747km to Nelspruit and up 660m. DPRK lost 1-0 to Paraguay in Switzerland, drew 2-2 with Greece in Austria, and lost 3-1 to Nigeria in Jo'burg.

Here is how I think the matches will go:

Ivory Coast - Portugal
Without Drogba, the Ivory Coast are missing their main weapon, but they are still a very strong team and should get the win here.

Brasil - North Korea
It is Brasil - North Korea...really only one winner possible here. That said, if Brasil get overconfident they could be in for a shock. Still, 3 points to the Brasilians.

Brasil - Ivory Coast
Brasil don't have to travel at all and the Ivorians gain 1753m in altitude; this equals a comfortable win for the Brasilians.

Portugal - North Korea
North Korea may have a shot at a point here, but I think the Portugese are too strong and take all three, eliminating "Our Dear Team".

Portugal - Brasil
Portugal need a win here to have a chance to advance; unfortunately for them Brasil is a rival and would love to get a win over the Portugese and eliminate them, which is exactly what the Brasilians will do.

North Korea - Ivory Coast
Unfortunately for "Our Dear Team", the Ivorians also need a win to ensure they advance and they will get it.

Here is how the table will look:

Brasil 9 points
Ivory Coast 6 points
Portugal 3 points
North Korea 0 points

Group F Preview

2010-06-05T19:16:00.003-04:00

Group F is home to the defending champions Italy, as well as Slovakia, New Zealand, and Paraguay. The All Whites of New Zealand are definitely the minnows in this group. Italy aren't attracting a lot of attention to repeat as Champs, and the injury to Pirlo puts more pressure on them just to make it out of the group. Slovakia are my surprise team of the tournament, I think that they have a decent chance to make the Quarterfinals. Paraguay nearly topped the South American qualifying but top scorer Cabañas if out of the tournament as he recovers from being shot in the head in Mexico City. That said the Paraguayans still have a wealth of attacking options including new Paraguayan Lucios Barrios.

Here is how the teams travel, elevation and lead up look.

Italy kick off in Cape Town at sea level. They then have the longest journey in the tournament to Nelspruit 1747km away and 660m higher. The Italians then gain 1093m as they make the short journey 345km journey to Jo'burg. Italy had two warm up matches, both against other teams in the World Cup. They lost 2-1 to Mexico in Brussels, and drew 1-1 with Switzerland in Geneva.

Slovakia start in Rustenburg at 1500m, then they move 502km to Bloemfontein and drop 100m, lastly they travel 397km to Jo'burg and gain 353m. Slovakia also had two warm up matches against World Cup opponents. They drew 1-1 with Cameroon in Austria, and then beat Costa Rica 3-0 in Slovakia.

New Zealand begin their second World Cup campaign at 1500m in Rustenburg. Next the All Whites move to Nelspurit, 436km away and 840m lower. They wrap up the group stage in Polokwane after traveling for 345km also gaining 650m. New Zealand played three warm up matches all against World Cup opposition. They lost 2-1 to Australia in Melbourne, to an injury time goal. They shocked Serbia 1-0 in Austria and put the World on notice. Slovenia paid attention and beat the Kiwis 3-1 in Slovenia.

Paraguay get underway in Cape Town at Sea Level, afterwards they travel up to Bloemfontein and gain 1400m over 1002km journey, finally Paraguay travel to Polokwane 717km away and 90m lower. Paraguay played four warm up matches. They beat North Korea 1-0 in Switzerland, they lost 2-1 to Ireland in Dublin, they drew 2-2 with Ivory Coast in France, and beat Greece 2-0 in Switzerland.

Here is how I think the matches in Group F will play out:

Italy - Paraguay
The strong Italian defense and the strong Paraguayan attack. I see this playing out as a draw, and as both teams see this as a match up between the strongest teams in the group I think they will both be happy with the result.

New Zealand - Slovakia
The All Whites and the Slovaks are both up for this one, and the Kiwis don't get embarrassed but they do lose.

Slovakia - Paraguay
The change in altitude helps the Slovaks and hurts the Paraguayans. Slovakia takes the game in the second half and books their place in the next round.

Italy - New Zealand
The shocks continue as the All Whites fight the Azzuri the entire way and hold on for a draw, securing the Kiwis their first World Cup point.

Slovakia - Italy
The Italians need victory to get them a place in the knock out stages, but find it difficult in the high air of Jo'burg, Slovakia sits back and gets a draw.

Paraguay - New Zealand
Both teams need to win to give themselves a chance of progressing, resulting in a blow out as Paraguay win big and advance behind Slovakia.

Here is how the table would look

Slovakia - 7 points
Paraguay - 4 points
Italy - 3 points
New Zealand - 1 point

Group E Preview

2010-06-05T04:28:00.003-04:00

In Group E we find Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon. I have picked the Dutch to win the whole tournament and I don't think that they will have many problems topping this group. Japan has been poor in their warm up matches, Cameroon has plenty of off field drama, and Denmark is battling injuries. It is all about the fight for second in this group.

Here is how the teams travel stacks up:

Netherlands start in Jo'burg at 1753m, next it is on to Durban 569km away at sea level, finally they move to Cape Town 1638km along the coast and still on sea level. As for warm up matches the Dutch have faced Mexico & Ghana, both of whom I predicted to win their groups, and won 2-1 & 4-1 respectively.

Denmark start in Jo'burg at 1753m, then they travel 62km to Pretoria and drop 539m, and they wrap up the group stage in Rustenburg only 104km away and 286m higher. The Danes beat Senegal and lost to Australia in their warm up matches with one more against South Africa still to come. The injury to Simon Kjaer has been the most serious of the many niggles on the Danish team.

Japan begin in Bloemfontein at 1400m, next they drop to sea level as they go the 637km south to Durban. Japan finish the stage in Rustenburg 693km away at 1500m. Japan's World Cup preparations began with a 2-0 loss to South Korea in Japan. They followed that up with losses to England & Ivory Coast in Europe.

Cameroon begin in Bloemfontein at 1400m, secondly they play in Pretoria a drop of 186m but 459km away, then they go to sea level and Cape Town, a journey of 1471km. Cameroon have had draws against Georgia and Slovakia as well as a loss to Portugal. They have one friendly remaining against Serbia. The off field war of words between former great Roger Milla and current star Samuel Eto'o has grabbed the most headlines in their lead up.

Here is how I see the matches going:

Netherlands - Denmark
The Dutch send a message to the rest of the teams in the tournament with a convincing win and a Robin van Persie hat trick.

Japan - Cameroon
Draw. Neither side has been playing well lately and neither look like finding much form before the tournament starts.

Netherlands - Japan
The Oranje continue their domination of this group with an easy win over the Blue Samurai.

Cameroon - Denmark
The Danes rebound from their loss to the Dutch with a solid win over Cameroon.

Denmark - Japan
The Danes only need a draw to advance if the Dutch beat Cameroon, and they put in a solid defensive performance and grab the second spot.

Cameroon - Netherlands
Another Dutch win, to wrap up the group with all 9 points.

Here is how the table will look:

Netherlands 9 points
Denmark 4 points
Japan 2 points
Cameroon 1 point

Group C Preview

2010-06-04T23:57:00.002-04:00

In Group C we have England, Algeria, USA, and Slovenia. England have just lost their captain Rio Ferdinand to injury in South Africa, they have replaced him with Spurs defender Michael Dawson. While this may affect them in the later stages I don't think it will have a large impact in the group stage. Slovenia are a little bit of a surprise team here, they had an excellent qualifying but were drawn against Guus Hiddink and Russia in the playoff, and they impressed again. USA put a lot of teams on notice with their strong performances in last year's Confederation Cup. Algeria emerged from a difficult group battling it out with African Champions Egypt. I suspect that had Russia & Egypt qualified instead of Algeria and Slovenia this would have been labeled the group of death.

Here is how the elevation, travel and preparations break down for each team:

England start off in Rustenburg at 1500m above sea level. From their they travel the 1423km to Cape Town and drop to sea level. For their last match they go to Port Elizabeth 748km away and also at sea level. In terms of preparations England played Mexico and Japan, they won both matches but didn't really impress in either.

Algeria start in Polokwane at 1310m. They then make a long 1719km trip to Cape Town and drop to sea level. Algeria make their way back across the country with a 1471km journey and an increase in elevation to 1214m. Algeria lost 3-0 to Ireland in their 1st warm up match and will face UAE before the tournament kicks off.

USA begin in Rustenburg 1500m up. The States then have a short 121km trip to Jo'burg and gain 253m. USA wrap up the group stage in Pretoria 539m lower and 62km away from Jo'burg. USA lost badly to the Czech Republic before beating Turkey in their warm up matches in the US, they will face Australia in South Africa before the tournament.

Slovenia start in Polokwane at 1310m. They move 322km to Jo'burg and gain 443m. Finishing things off in Port Elizabeth 1062km at sea level. Slovenia had a comfortable win over New Zealand in their only warm up match.

Here is how I see the matches going.

England - USA
USA come out strong eager to make a good start in the tournament, unfortunately for them England have a lot more talent and are also keen to grab all three points. England wins.

Slovenia - Algeria
Algeria are carrying a few suspensions into their first few matches and haven't been known for their consistency, Slovenia have done nothing but impress. Slovenia wins comfortably.

Slovenia - USA
Both teams have a short distance to travel and have a hard fought battle with neither yielding. I see this one as a draw all the way.

England - Algeria
England need to careful to not get overconfident ahead of this one, Algeria do not travel well and England should win this easily, which I think they will.

Slovenia - England
Slovenia need a point to ensure they advance, England need a point to guarantee top spot, a draw suits both teams, however I think that Slovenia will push for the win. England's reserves will feature in this match and will take their chance to shine, I see this as a scoring draw.

USA - Algeria
USA have a short journey and Algeria have another long one. I see the travel taking its toll and the USA getting the win they need in case the Slovenes slip up.

Here is how the group will finish:

England 7 points
Slovenia 5 points
USA 4 points
Algeria 0 points

Group B Preview

2010-06-02T19:36:00.003-04:00

Argentina, Greece, Nigeria, & South Korea. Argentina are now led by Diego Maradona, who took over last year, and how shall we put it... is crazy. Greece are still lead by the same man that guided them to victory in Euro 2004. Swede Lars Lagerbeck took over the Super Eagles in Feb of this year, while South Korea are on their 7th boss since they hosted the World Cup, but lucky #7 has been in charge since 2007. Argentina are big favourites to win this group, in spite of their manager such is their talent. It is second place in this group that is up for grabs, who will get it? Defensively resolute Greece? The inconsistent Nigerians? The organised Koreans? Lets have a look at the travel, elevation, and preparations of the teams and find out.

Argentina begin the tournament in Jo'burg at 1753m, and stay in Jo'burg for their second match as well. They have to travel the 322km to Polokwane and drop in elevation 190m. By way of warm up matches Argentina played Canada and won easily 5 -0. While it wasn't the strongest side Canada has ever fielded we weren't going to do much damage to Argentina, especially not at their 200th birthday party.

Greece start in Port Elizabeth at sea level, then they head north to Bloemfontein a distance of 664km and an elevation gain of 1400m. Next they make their way north east to Polokwane 717km away and a drop of 90m. Greece played North Korea to a 2-2 draw in May, before losing to Paraguay 2-0 yesterday. Not really the sort of results that inspire confidence in the Greeks progressing.

Nigeria kick things off in Jo'burg at 1753m before going to Bloemfontein a drop of 353m and a distance of 397km. Nigeria wrap things up in Durban at sea level 637km away and 1400m lower. Nigeria were held to draws by Saudi Arabia and Colombia in their two warm up matches and have one remaining against North Korea. The draw against Colombia was particularly shocking, given that the match was in the UK and Colombia had played against South Africa in South Africa only 3 days earlier.

South Korea begin in Port Elizabeth at sea level, then it is off to Jo'burg 1062 km away and a gain of 1753m. South Korea finish the group stage in Durban at sea level 569km down the road from Jo'burg. South Korea's warm up includes victories over Ecuador in Korea, Japan in Japan, as well as a loss to Belarus in Austria. The Taegeuk Warriors have one match remaining against Spain, also in Austria.

Here is how I see the matches in this group going.

South Korea - Greece
The Taegeuk Warriors will break down the stalwart Greek defense and earn a hard fought victory.

Argentina - Nigeria
Argentina cruise to victory but Nigeria get on the score sheet.

Argentina - South Korea
With only having to switch stadiums in Jo'burg, Argentina are well rested and ready, and have little difficulty dispatching South Korea.

Greece - Nigeria
Both teams recovering from opening losses, they will battle back and forth, and nobody will score.

Nigeria - South Korea
With both teams knowing that a win will likely see them advance, there is a good game here and the nobody will take it. I think it will be a scoring draw.

Greece - Argentina
Argentina having already secured first place will field a weaker side, unfortunately for Greece their weaker side is still too strong.

Here is how the table will look at the end of the group stage:

Argentina 9 points
South Korea 4 points
Nigeria 2 points
Greece 1 point

Group A - Preview

2010-06-02T18:15:00.003-04:00

Might as well go back and start with Group A, which is of course made up with the hosts South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, and France. As you are aware no host nation has ever failed to make it out of their group. However no host nation has ever been as weak a side as the Bafana Bafana. With other host nations people have wondered if they had to qualify would they have made it? With South Africa we know that they wouldn't. That is because African Cup of Nations qualifying was tied in with World Cup Qualifying and South Africa didn't make the Cup of Nations.

There have been a few selection surprises with the squads in this group, South Africa left top scorer Benni McCarthy out of the squad, and Mexico dropped Jonathon Dos Santos. With McCarthy he obviously isn't in the best shape of his career, however he was viewed as someone that had to be on form for Bafana Bafana to get something out of this group. Jonathon Dos Santos wasn't expected to start any matches as far as I know, but what was surprising about his omission was that his brother Gio Dos Santos is know talking about quitting the squad. Gio Dos Santos is a starter on the Mexican side and they need to have him if they are going to progress deep into the tournament.

As I mentioned in the Group of Death Preview, I have been looking at the distance that teams have to travel, the elevation that they play their matches at and their build up to the World Cup. Here is how the teams of Group A break down.

South Africa start off in Jo'burg at 1753m. They then travel 62km to Pretoria and drop 539m in elevation. For their final match they move to Bloemfontain which is 459km away and 186m higher. In their buildup a lot has been made of South Africa's unbeaten run. They have had a few good games, particularly the one against Colombia, however a large number of the matches have been against poor teams. I think that the streak has helped with the confidence of the side, but it hasn't really sharpen their match skills.

Mexico start off in Jo'burg at 1753m. Next El Tri are off to Polokwane a distance of 322km and an elevation drop of 443m. Lastly Mexico head to Rustenburg which is 355km away and 190m higher than Polokwane. I really appreciate the matches that Mexico have arranged for their World Cup preparations, they took on England and Holland, and their last match before the tournament is against Italy. While they lost against both England and Holland they put in solid performances and both the English and the Dutch are stronger than any team in their group.

Uruguay begin in Cape Town at sea level. Next they are off to Pretoria which is 1471km away and 1214m higher. They wrap up in Rustenburg a short 104km away and 186m higher. Uruguay have only scheduled one warm up match against Israel which they won by a comfortable 4-1 margin.

France begin in Cape Town at sea level, then they go to Polokwane 1719km away and 1310m above sea level. Afterwards they go back across the country to Bloemfontain 717km away and 90m higher. France's build up has been atrocious they had to come from behind to beat Costa Rica, and then were held to a draw by Tunisia.

Here is how I see the matches in this group happening.

South Africa - Mexico
South Africa will have home field advantage and the crowd will be buzzing, literally. However they just don't have the quality to deal with the Mexicans. Short of food poisoning or dubious refereeing Mexico wins this easily.

Uruguay - France
Uruguay are hungry and have a lot of talented players that are looking for big money moves after the World Cup and need to prove themselves on a bigger stage. Luis Suarez is a perfect example. France have buckets of talent but have been underachieving since the World Cup in Germany. Last place in their group in Euro 08, second in their WCQ group and needed a handball to advance to South Africa. Looking at the teams in a vacuum France is better, looking at them in the real world, Uruguay win.

South Africa - Uruguay

Bafana Bafana take advantage of a much shorter commute and put in a solid performance, however Uruguay cruise to victory. Not a blowout, but a match that could only have one winner.

France - Mexico
Mexico are feeling good after their win over the hosts and now face France who have just made one of the longest commutes in the tournament. I think that after Mexico take the lead the French players will start thinking about Blanc's reign and Mexico win the group.

Mexico - Uruguay
Neither team had to travel a great distance for this match, and both are feeling good having already qualified. Normally you would expect them to field weaker sides in this match, however with the likely opponent in the next round for the second place team Argentina I think this will be one of the matches of the tournament. I have it as a 2-2 draw.

South Africa - France
This is South Africa's best chance of a point. A demoralised French team travelling back across the country and eliminated from the tournament, unfortunately for Bafana Bafana the gap in quality is too great and France win a close one.

So the group finishes thus:

Mexico - 7 points
Uruguay - 7 points
France - 3 points
South Africa - 0 points

World Cup Contests!

2010-05-31T18:45:00.003-04:00

With the World Cup less than a fortnight away, it is time to enter some World Cup contests. There are plenty to choose from, predictors, fantasy teams, classic leagues, and head to head leagues. They are all free to enter and some of them have prizes for the winners. Join one or join them all, here are the ones that I am participating in.

Super Bru - pick the result including the score for every match.

Website: http://www.superbru.com/worldcup
Pool name: Think It All In
Pool code: prodrash

The Score - pick the result (no score) for every match

Website: http://fantasy.thescore.com/thescore/world10/promo
Pool name: Think It All In
Pool code: pompey

CBC - pick the result (no score) for every match

Website: http://soccerpool.cbc.ca/cbc/wc10/portfolio
Pool name: Think It All In
Pool code: pompey

ESPN - build a fantasy team and score points off of players performance

Website: http://worldfantasy.soccernet.espn.go.com/app/tippgemeinschaft.jsp
Pool name: The Subs Bench
Pool code: podcast

FIFA - pick the result (no score) for every match
classic league
Website: http://en.castrol.predictor.fifa.com/
Pool Name: Think It All In
Pool Code: 58163-2790

FIFA - pick the result (no score) for every match
head to head league
Website: http://en.castrol.predictor.fifa.com/
Pool Name: Think It All In
Pool Code: 58163-2791

FIFA - build a fantasy team and score points off of players performance
classic league
Website: http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/
Pool Name: Think It All In
Pool Code: 325748-76493

FIFA - build a fantasy team and score points off of players performance
head to head league
Website: http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/
Pool Name: Think It All In
Pool Code: 325748-76491

Advance Australia? A Group of Death Preview

2010-05-29T08:21:00.003-04:00

No you haven't missed the previews for any other groups, I decided to start with the most interesting group. Which is of course the Group of Death, group D. The teams in this group are Germany, Ghana, Serbia, & Australia. Germany are undoubtedly the strongest team in the group, even with the loss of their captain Ballack. In my opinion Ghana are the strongest African side in the competition, even with the loss of the their captain Essien. Noticing a trend? This group is shaping up nicely for Serbia and Australia.

A few thing that I have looked at a lot in preparation for the matches at the World Cup has been the distance that a side has to travel for their next match, as well as the change in altitude, and their warm up matches. To give you an idea of the altitude in South Africa Jo'burg is 1753m above sea level, Denver is 1609m and Calgary is 1048m. Also by way of comparison La Paz Bolivia is 3640. For distance the longest journeys in the World Cup are between Cape Town and Polokwane, and Cape Town and Nelspruit both over 1700km. Think Toronto - Halifax or Vancouver - Regina.

Here is how Group D shapes up in those categories:

Germany start off in Durban at sea level. Then they travel 950 km to Port Elizabeth to take on Serbia and remain at sea level. For their last match they travel 1062km to Jo'burg and gain 1753 metres in elevation.

Ghana start off in Pretoria at 1214m. They travel 104km to Rustenburg and gain 286m when they face the Socceroos. After that they go 121km to Jo'burg and gain another 253m before their match with Germany.

Serbia begin in Pretoria at 1214m. Following that they travel 1123km to Port Elizabeth and drop to sea level. They wrap up by travelling 1410km to Nelspruit and go back up 660m.

Australia get going in Durban at sea level. They have a 693km journey to Rustenburg and an elevation increase of 1500m. Once they have faced the Black Stars, Australia move 436km down the road to Nelspruit and drop 840m.

Here is how I see the matches playing out.

Serbia - Ghana
Serbia are coming off a loss to New Zealand. While Ghana don't have Essien, they didn't have him for much of the African Cup of Nations either, and they made the final there. Ghana win comfortably.

Germany - Australia
This is a match that the Germans should win, however the Aussies will refuse to give up and hound the Germans all over the pitch and I think it will end in a draw. The Germans will be alright with a point and the Aussies thrilled.

Germany - Serbia
The Germans don't have a lot of problems breaking down the Serbian defense and eliminate them from the Cup with a win.

Ghana - Australia
Ghana will capitalise on their easier journey to Rustenburg and beat the Aussies who are a little worn out after their battling draw with the Germans.

Ghana - Germany
Draw. Ever since the FA Cup final I have thought this will be a draw. The teams are going to come out hard, but I don't think there will be a lot of scoring. Coincidentally a draw sends both teams through to the next round.

Australia - Serbia
Serbia are already eliminated while the Socceroos need a win to keep their hopes of advancing alive. Australia get their win but it is not enough to see them advance.

So here is how I think the Group of Death will finish:

Ghana - 7 points
Germany - 5 points
Australia - 4 points
Serbia - 0 points

The FA Cup

2010-05-18T03:36:00.004-04:00

The match

Chelsea came and brought the pressure, but they were unable to put one in the back of the net. This was through a combination of great keeping from David James and the goal posts. Of course poor finishing played a roll as well. Pompey were not without there chances, they were trying to hit Chelsea on the counter and had some success, but they were plagued by poor finishing as well. Kalou and Piquionne both missed absolute sitters in the first half.

At half time there was a definite feeling that Pompey could grab the victory, manly because there seemed to be some magic preventing Chelsea from scoring. When Pompey won a penalty I fully admit to thinking that we were going to get it done, then came the first of evening's poorly taken penalties. When Boateng missed the game changed, Chelsea felt they caught a break and immediately capitalised. Drogba hit a wonderful free kick and Chelsea won a match that they dominated.

I think that Avram Grant and the Pompey players did an excellent job is what was likely their last performance for the club.

The Pub
I watched the match live at midnight Australian time in the Charles Dickens Pub in downtown Melbourne. Luckily I was joined there by members of Pompey Down Under, all in all there were about a dozen singing Pompey fans, myself included. It was a great atmosphere at the pub, it felt like it was full of Pompey fans, until Drogba scored that is. There were apparently a number of Chelsea fans sitting in the pub, who had previously been as quiet as a mouse. Not one of them screamed out when Kalou missed the sitter in the first half. It was quite a shock to all of the Pompey fans to discover that there were in fact actual Chelsea fans in the bar, but I think it shows that if points were given for fans our league positions may well have been reversed.

Boateng - Ballack
For those that don't know Kevin Prince Boateng recently pulled an Asmir Begovic and switched international allegiances from the country he represented at U21 level (Germany) to another country (Ghana). I wonder where he got the idea... (Begovic and Boateng were teammates for the first half of the season at Pompey) In case you were curious Boateng's father is from Ghana. To continue with storyline's that are all too familiar to Canadian fans... Boateng's brother (well half brother) plays for Germany and is a part of their World Cup Squad. Even more interesting is that Ghana & Germany are in the same group in South Africa. We actually shouldn't be surprised that Ghana recruited Kevin Prince Boateng afterall they tried the same thing in the last World Cup when they tried to recruit Freddy Adu. (USA was in Ghana's group in Germany) This was the situation ahead of what happened in the FA Cup.

Ballack went for a header and arrived late, in the process he deposited an elbow on the head of Aruna Dindane (who won the header) Dindane was awarded a free kick for this. Kevin Prince Boateng confronted Ballack about the elbow, and no doubt said a few things in German, and Ballack replied with a slap to Boateng's face. Had the ref seen it, it would have been a red card. To Boateng's credit he didn't flop on to the ground and roll around to draw the card. However Kevin Prince Boateng is well known for being a hothead, and his fewer red cards this season was seen as an improvement. It was this hothead that came in late and injured Ballack. We now know that Ballack will miss the World Cup with the injury that he sustained as a result of Boateng's challenge. That is a cruel blow to deal to any player.

Final Thoughts
Congrats to Chelsea on their first ever double, Congrats to Portsmouth for a fantastic cup run, and thanks to Avram Grant and the Pompey players for leaving it all on the field. Next season will be full of changes for Pompey as we rebuild from zero. Play Up Pompey!

What is Success?

2010-05-12T17:26:00.003-04:00

I fully admit to being someone who looks at success relatively. If Pompey had finished 17th I would have said that we had a successful season. Spurs finished fourth, they had a successful season. However there are those people out there that believe success is winning things full stop. Granted these people tend to be fans of bigger clubs, who feel they have had an unsuccessful season if the trophy cabinet remains empty. So I thought if success is winning something who are the most successful teams in the past five years? I looked at the Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League and UEFA Cup / Europa League, and this may surprise you, Only 5 premier league teams have won anything. They are Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Portsmouth, and Tottenham. When you look at the numbers there is not so much a "big four" as a big two. Chelsea and Manchester United have dominated English football for the past five years. United have won three League Titles, three League Cups, and the Champions League. Chelsea have won two League Titles, the League Cup, and two FA Cups. Spurs have won the League Cup, Liverpool and Pompey have both won the FA Cup. Pompey and Chelsea meet in the FA Cup final this weekend, which I am confident Pompey will win. So people that like clubs that win things here are the five clubs that have won things in the last five years. Go ahead and say it, Pompey are a more successful club than Arsenal, Everton, Villa any club that didn't make the list.

Wait what are you saying teams should get recognized for making the final, well alright, if we adjust the table so that you get three points for winning something and a single point for being the runner up, here is what the table looks like.

Manchester United - 24
Chelsea - 22 /20*
Portsmouth - 6 / 4*
Liverpool - 5
Tottenham - 4
Arsenal - 2
Fulham - 1
Middlesbrough - 1
Everton - 1
West Ham - 1
Aston Villa - 1
Wigan Athletic - 1

So there you have it, an FA Cup victory would put Pompey as the third most successful team in England over the last five years. It also shows you just how dominate United & Chelsea have been. Also it worth repeating that Arsenal have not won anything in the last five years, and that you can make that same statement about Liverpool if they don't win anything next year.

Of course there are other realities in football that dictate what success is, it is better to finish in the top four of the league and get into the Champions League than it is to win the League Cup. In my mind it all comes down to depth. If you have a deep squad you can compete across many competitions at the same time, if you don't have a deep squad then you will be exhausted and not about to compete effectively in all of them. Case in point Fulham finished mid table but made the Europa League final, the same thing happened to Pompey when we were playing in the UEFA Cup. I think that we would see better matches in the League, FA Cup, and in Europe if the League Cup was scratched as it overstretches most team, and funny enough affects the confidence of the bigger sides when they are knocked out by minnows. To make it through to the final of a Cup Competition or to stay in the hunt for a league title takes a lot of hard work and focus, full marks to the "Big 5" (Pompey, United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Spurs in case you forgot) for being able to win something in the last five years, because there are a lot of expensive trophy rooms that haven't had any new additions recently.

Super Pompey Playing Up and We'll Win the FA Cup!

2010-04-12T17:44:00.002-04:00

G'day Everyone, I am a happy man this morning for two reasons. First off Pompey defeated the Pompey B side to advance to the FA Cup final. Secondly I finally have regular access to the Internet.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the FA Cup semi, but the accounts that I have read said that David James was the hero, along with our goalscorers. Of course the pitch wasn't in great condition at the end of the match and Dawson slipped when attempting a clearance, then Piquionne was in the right place and converted the glorious opportunity. You didn't need to watch a season of Pompey footy to know that didn't happen regularly. I feel that the players are much more up for the Cup than the season, especially since we were relegated earlier this week. But I feel that this has been the case for awhile now. Winning the Cup is an attainable goal, whereas survival in the league has looked dubious ever since we found out Al Fahim was broke. It has also been a rallying point for fans, this FA Cup campaign has been the one thing that we could cheer about throughout the season. So it is a little distressing that there are stories about the lineup that we will be able to field for the final. This is because of the bonus clauses in some of the players' contracts. Luckily Richard Hughes came out and said that the bonuses could be differed until there is a new owner. As a fan I would prefer to see the players waive their bonuses to help the club, but they have certainly earned them. It is key that we are able to field a top side in the Final. Now onto the question of Europe.

In case you haven't heard Pompey are not currently in line for the Europa League place that goes to the FA Cup winner or finalist if the winner is in the Champions League. This is because we did not apply for a UEFA license because we were broke. Our club Administrator is currently looking at ways to fix this as the prospect of a Europa League campaign will certainly make Pompey more attractive to a potential buyer. I think that the chance of an appeal working is quite slim. Platini wants to be tough on debt, and rightly so, I don't think that other clubs' fans should have to endure what Portsmouth have endured this year. Don't get me wrong to be in Europe again would be amazing, the match at Fratton against Milan is probably my favourite Pompey match. If we are able to find an owner there may be a silver lining to not being in Europe. That would be that we play fewer matches. When the new owner does arrive they are going to have their hands full rebuilding a club, and the manager will have their hands full finding players. There are going to be a few sales, plus all of the players that we have on loan will return to their other clubs. Basically at the start of the next season I expect Pompey to have a small squad, at the moment I would say it is unlikely that we will bounce straight back up to the Premier League, in fact I am more worried about us being in another relegation fight. That is why fewer matches could be a good thing, especially at the start of the season.

What is next for Pompey?

2010-02-10T15:25:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Pompey were in the High Court pleading for an extension of their winding up order. There were only two possible outcomes from this, first they could be granted an extension, and secondly they could be liquidated. For those of you that were thinking about administration, Pompey had already gone past the point where that would have been possible. So there is no chance of a 10 point deduction and every thing being sold. Liquidation is exactly like it sounds, without an extension Pompey would cease to exist. There would be no FA Cup match against the Scummers, there would be no more Premier League matches, and the Premier League would finish the year with 19 teams. In such a situation it is likely that results against Pompey wouldn't count.

Luckily for every Pompey fan, a 7 day extension was granted. So there will be an FA Cup clash with our greatest rivals. Unfortunately if things do not improve financially that could be the final match for the club. I think it is highly unlikely that Pompey would be able to secure a second extension. So there is one week for Pompey to prove that it can pay its debts, and for Mr. Chainrai to find a new owner or owners.

The Portsmouth Supporters Trust are poised to make some sort of move, but it will likely be tomorrow in England when we hear what that will be.

Sulaiman Al Fahim still has 10% of the club, perhaps he has finally found his wallet and could inject some cash. Speaking of which if Mr. Chainrai can't find a buyer in the next week he could inject some cash too, just to insure that he has a club to sell.

It is not going to be a fun week, unless Pompey are able to get some money together, but it is a lot better than waking up and finding out that the club you support no longer exists.

Another Day Another Owner

2010-02-04T15:54:00.004-05:00

Pompey now have their 4th owner of the season, which must be a premier league record. If you haven't already heard Hong Kong based businessman Balram Chainrai has taken over the club using a clause in a contract he made when loaning Ali Al Faraj money. Chainrai is not in it for the long term, and already looking for the 5th owner this season. As far as I can tell this is great news for the club. The transfer window just closed so there is no chance of a fire sale that would affect the team for the remainder of this season. Also with the club facing a windup order (essentially the end of the club altogether) hopefully the new owner will be able to pay off the debt enough to avoid the club being wound up. Also if the players are able to get paid, they may have a little optimism return to their lives. This is key to survival as right now they seem a lock for the drop as they are suffering from Newcastleitis, which is the condition of not caring about the play on the pitch.

Moving on, I think that the key thing is the search for the 5th owner of the season. This owner has the chance to easily build a strong relationship with the club and the fans. Add to the fact that the club could likely be acquired for a nominal fee plus covering the debt of about $125M makes buying a premier league team more affordable than most North American sports teams, hell it is only 3 times what the MLS wants as an expansion fee.

Let's have a look at what you get if you buy Portsmouth
1. 60M pounds in debt (perhaps 45M pounds after the transfer window)
2. A Soccer Specific Stadium, but in need of expansion or a rebuild
3. A quality manager in Avram Grant
4. The last place club in the premier league only 6 points from safety
5. One of the most loyal and dedicated fan bases in the sport
6. A Clean Slate

For me number 6 is key, if Pompey are relegated this year no one is going to blame the 5th owner, they are going to blame numbers 1-3. That means that owner number 5 will be a hero if this club stays up, getting all of the credit for that achievement and none of the blame if they go down. All the fans, players, and staff at the club are craving is some stability so if the owner brings that then they will be loved by the fans, which is key to running a successful club.

So who should be the 5th owner of Pompey? I think that it would be a perfect fit for MLSE to break into the premier league market. Avram Grant could be their Mo. I think it would be a good fit for everyone. I know that MLSE are far from perfect, but I challenge any of their critics to show how they would be worse than the gong show that Pompey fans, players, and staff have had to endure already this season.

Canadian Terrace Talk Episdoe 19

2010-02-02T15:25:00.001-05:00

After an extended break we are back with episode nineteen of Canadian Terrace Talk. We cover the Premier League, debt problems across football, the John Terry saga, the transfer market and Canada’s friendly loss to Jamaica.

Next week we’ll be back with the first of many World Cup previews as well so stay tuned!

There are a few ways to listen, we recommend subscribing on iTunes here.

But you can also listen online here.

Enjoy!

Getting Established in Melbourne

2010-01-05T15:39:00.003-05:00

My wife & I have now arrived in Melbourne. We spend most of time looking for work & a place to live at the moment. However I am hoping to get some new posts up soon. Here is what is in the pipeline:

An African Cup of Nations Preview
A closer look at the very bad situation in the Pompey board room and bank account
The latest CONCACAF standings in relation to the seeding for the 2014 World Cup

Cheers

Update from Delhi

2009-11-30T12:50:00.006-05:00

Greetings Everyone,

I am writing to you from New Delhi India. So far my journey has taken from Ottawa - Montreal - Amsterdam - Athens - Cairo - Kuwait - Delhi - Dehra Dun - Delhi. Leaving Ottawa was a little crazy and we were a lot closer to missing our flight from Montreal to Amsterdam than I would have cared for, but we made it without any problems. We then flew from Amsterdam to Athens, as we were flying over Macedonia, the Captain announced on the intercom that everyone had been awarded two penalties. Landing in Athens, I was able to go out sight seeing and enjoy the novelty of watching football in the evening. Unfortunately I was not able to watch Canada battle Poland, but I was able to see Greece make it two the World Cup. The commentary of the match was obviously in Greek, and when Greece scored I initially thought it may have been offside as the commentators didn't get terribly excited, but it was onside and sent Greece to South Africa. I was also surprised that I didn't hear the streets erupt in celebration which was fine with me as I needed some rest as I flew to Cairo the next day. I was able to get online briefly during the Greece match, so I was aware of the Egypt - Algeria before arriving in Cairo. Once there I noticed huge numbers of riot police stationed near our hostel. The taxi driver told us that they were there because of the Egypt-Algeria match. Apparently there were huge crowds in front of the Algerian Embassy burning Algerian flags. This is an aspect of football that bothers me. We have the positive examples of Turkey & Armenia re-opening relations because they had to play each other in World Cup Qualifying, and then we have the negative example of Egypt and Algeria breaking off relations because of there match. First off I think that FIFA was cowardly in not punishing Egypt before their match after fans attacked the bus with the Algerian team on board injuring three players. I realise that there is a certain amount of gamesmanship in keeping a team awake etc. However I feel quite comfortable saying that throwing rocks at the bus carrying the team crosses the line by a considerable distance. FIFA should have acted immediately and played the game in an empty stadium, as they would have done in Europe. The fact that the governments of both countries got involved was a little ridiculous. Algeria had a complaint that the Egyptian security did not do enough to protect their players, but recalling the Ambassador is a little extreme. It was almost comical to see presidents sparing with each other over fights between people at a football stadium. That said, what is most sad is that the people in each country followed their governments example and acted like children, with both sets of people doing considerable damage to businesses owned by nationals of the other country. I think that FIFA needs to come down hard on both countries to prevent this sort of ridiculousness from happening again. Can you imagine what would happen to Ireland if they recalled their ambassador to France, burned French flags, trashed Renault dealerships, and French Restaurants? That aside I had a wonderful time in Egypt and the Pyramids are definitely worth a visit.

From there we went to India, via Kuwait. I was hoping to catch the Stoke - Portsmouth match at the Kuwait airport given that our lay over coinsidered with the time of the match. However there are no televisions in the Kuwait airport. Nor was I able to find a reliable wifi connection. So I was blissfully unaware of what was transpiring at Pompey, until I caught a headline roll across the bottom of an Indian newscast saying that Darren Ferguson was the new Pompey boss. This told me that we had lost to Stoke and were still bottom, and that Pompey had some cash because we wouldn't have been able to sack Hart if we didn't. I thought that Fergie Jr. was a brave choice especially since Peterborough weren't exactly lighting up the Championship. However the next day I was able to jump on the net and saw that in fact Avram Grant had taken over. I feel better with Grant at the helm than with Fergie Jr. Hopefully he will get us to stay up. Though having missed the match with United as I was travelling down an Indian highway at the time. It sounded like Sam & Matt's prediction from Canadian Terrace Talk that Dindane was the Chad Barrett of the Premier League, could be bang on. It did seem like Pompey under Grant was like Pompey under Hart, we played well but we didn't get the result. The way things are going I am worried that people will be saying Portsmouth play good football and they will be a strong Championship side.

Things are going well, I reach Australia in 3 weeks at which point there should be more regular updates, I hope that you are all well, Cheers

Updates will likely be infrequent until the new year

2009-11-15T16:12:00.003-05:00

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading my blog, I have enjoyed writing it. As you have likely heard already my wife & I are moving to Australia. We are taking the slow way to get there, with stops in Athens & Cairo plus a month in India. While I am on the road I will try to get a post or two up, but there won't be any regularity to it. I hope that you have a great time and I will see you again in the new year.

Cheers,

Pompey Canuck

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Seventeen

2009-11-10T11:02:00.001-05:00

On this episode of Canadian Terrace Talk Duane Rollins of the 24th Minute makes a quick cameo as we discuss Canada's upcoming friendlies and we rehash the weekend in the Premier League.

Enjoy,

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode 17

What can Canada expect from Poland on the 18th?

2009-11-09T12:02:00.004-05:00

Once the friendly with Poland was announced I enlisted my friend Michal (who helped with the Polish League Preview) to write his thoughts on the Polish side for the upcoming friendly. Thanks Michal! (The full squad list for Poland is at the bottom of the post)

The upcoming match against Canada will be the second game on the national team level for the new Poland’s coach Franciszek Smuda. His team will play the first match a few days earlier, against Romania. Smuda has been known as a great motivator and his teams have always played attractive, offensive football regardless of who they were facing. He has had some successes coaching the best Polish club teams (Widzew Lodz, Legia Warsaw, Wisla Cracow and just recently Lech Poznan), especially doing well with them in the European cups. Last season he led Lech in the UEFA Cup to advance from the group stage and in the end to lose to Udinese by conceding a late goal in the second leg game. In the group phase Lech with Smuda played against Deportivo La Coruna (1:1). Julian de Guzman played in that match, so now he’ll be back in Poland and again facing Smuda’s team. To make things interesting, another Canadian player, Michael Klukowski, who was born in Poland, also played against Lech in the Europa Cup, early this season.

What are the strengths of the Polish team?

In theory, it is the offense. Poland has some talented offensive midfielders: Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund), Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan), Kamil Kosowski (APOEL Nikozja), Ludovic Obraniak (Lille OSC) and Roger Guerreiro (AEK Ateny). Obraniak has made an appearance for the France U-21 national team a few years ago, however due to having Polish roots through his grandfather and his desire to reconnect with his heritage, he was officially called up for the Poland’s senior team by Leo Beenhakker for the friendly against Greece this year in… Bydgoszcz, where he scored the only two goals in the match.

Up Front

Three forwards are in the squad for the friendlies: Poland U-21 starlet Patryk Malecki (Wisla Cracow), Lech Poznan’s best player Robert Lewandowski and speedy Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre).

Who’s missing?

In the goal we will see either the third Manchester United’s goalie, Tomasz Kuszczak, or the fourth Arsenal’s goalkeeper, 19-year old Wojciech Szczesny. Artur Boruc wasn’t called up, but Smuda says that he will get a chance in the future games. Another controversial decision made by the Polish coach was to not call the Poland’s captain Mariusz Lewandowski from Shakhtar Donetsk who simply didn’t earn Smuda’s trust. Two other first squad players that initially got called up for the coming games are injured. These are the last season Polish Ekstraklasa top scorer Pawel Brozek from Wisla Cracow and a defensive midfielder Rafal Murawski from Rubin Kazan. Right back Marcin Wasilewski has been recovering from his (Eduardo da Silva style) broken leg injury and missed a few recent Poland’s games. Ebi Smolarek is currently without a club and this is the reason (for Smuda) he will not play for Poland in the coming games.

What can we expect to happen in Bydgoszcz on November 18?

Poland will try to play offensively and I see Canada’s chances in counterattacks. Polish defence hasn’t performed well recently and mostly this formation was blamed for conceding key goals in the World Cup qualifiers. As Poland didn’t make it to the tournament in South Africa, their next competitive game will be played during Euro 2012, which Poland is hosting along with Ukraine. This means two and a half years of experimenting with the squad, tactics and playing friendly matches only. If Smuda decides to play experienced players against Romania and put younger players against Canada, we could see a more open game in Bydgoszcz and more chances for goals for Canada. If Tomasz Radzinski plays in that game, he’ll probably be very willing to score a goal, as the venue will feel like home for him. He was born in Inowroclaw which is located just about 40 km southeast of Bydgoszcz…

Poland Squad

Goalkeepers:
Tomasz Kuszczak, 27 years old (currently at Manchester United)
Wojciech Szczesny, 19 (Arsenal London)

Defenders:
Marcin Kowalczyk, 24 (Dynamo Moscow)
Jakub Rzezniczak, 23 (Legia Warsaw)
Michal Zewlakow, 33 (Olympiacos Piraeus)
Maciej Sadlok, 20 (Ruch Chorzow)
Adam Kokoszka, 23 (Empoli FC)
Piotr Brozek, 26 (Wisla Cracow)
Seweryn Gancarczyk, 27 (Lech Poznan)
Kamil Glik, 21 (Piast Gliwice)

Midfielders:
Jakub Blaszczykowski, 23 (Borussia Dortmund)
Slawomir Peszko, 24 (Lech Poznan)
Dariusz Dudka, 25 (AJ Auxerre)
Radoslaw Majewski, 22 (Nottingham Forest)
Janusz Gancarczyk, 25 (Slask Wroclaw)
Kamil Kosowski, 32 (APOEL Nicosia)
Ludovic Obraniak, 25 (Lille OSC)
Roger Guerreiro, 27 (AEK Athens)
Maciej Rybus, 20 (Legia Warsaw)

Forwards:
Robert Lewandowski, 21 (Lech Poznan)
Ireneusz Jelen, 28 (AJ Auxerre)
Patryk Malecki, 21 (Wisla Cracow)

Half Time EPL Table

2009-11-04T21:06:00.003-05:00

You may recall seeing what the MLS standings would look like if matches only lasted 75 minutes. It would have been a very different season for TFC, one that would still be going in fact. But I digress, I was on the Premier League website looking at some statistics (I'm cool like that) and I came across the Half Time Table. It is the same idea as we saw with TFC only instead of 75 minutes they look at what the standings are if matches ended at the half. They could also call the table why it sucks to be a West Ham fan this season.

When I first looked at the table two things jumped out at me. Well actually the same thing jumped out at me twice from different angles. First off I noticed that West Ham would be in 11th place on 14 points - and said something to the effect of What The ____!? They are tied with Manchester United! What The ____! are United doing in 10th! I also noticed that Portsmouth are still in the relegation zone, but that didn't really jump out at me. At the time of writing the table wasn't updated from West Ham's match against Aston Villa. Since they had a 1-0 half time lead they would be in 5th place in the Half time League. Since they managed to win the game they are now 17th in the actual League. In the Half Time lead they would be fighting for a Champions League spot, when in reality they are fighting to avoid another trip to the Championship. All it really tells us is that West Ham aren't that great at holding onto a lead, perhaps they should hire an Italian to coach them, oh wait. It also tells me that as long as they don't have to sell their best players in January they should be fine.

Manchester United are the cardiac kids this season. They are in a very un-Red Devil like mid table position in the half time League. They have a lot of quality and confidence to come back, but they have only led three matches at the half so far this season. I can't imagine that has escaped the notice of Sir Alex. I think that this will start to improve or Sir Alex will go shopping in January. I can't imagine he wants to bust out the hairdryer every weekend.

Other highlights of the Half Time League are Everton one point above Liverpool with the Toffees having a game in hand. Liverpool is also ahead of Manchester United. While the top four are Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Sunderland. The funniest thing is probably all four teams that begin with B in a row. So there you have it, the Half time League.

Looking Ahead to the African Cup of Nations - EPL Perspective

2009-11-04T10:41:00.004-05:00

There is starting to be a lot of talk about the African Cup of Nations, mainly due to the number of players a team may lose for the tournament. But we should talk about it more as one of the top football tournaments in the World. The tournament will be in January 2010, running from the 10th to the 31st. The Nations involved will likely call up their players before the 10th. So far there are 12 of the 16 spots taken with only four up for grabs. The qualified Nations are:

Angola (Host), Cameroon, Gabon, Tunisia, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Benin, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso.

The 8 teams remaining are fighting for third place in their World Cup Qualifying groups and the final spot in Angola. Here are the teams that are battling it out:
One team from each pairing will advance (however in most cases they are not playing each other)

Togo - Morocco
Mozambique - Kenya
Zambia - Rwanda
Malawi - Guinea

Looking at the English Premier League I checked out the rosters from one of the twenty nations I have just mentioned. These are players that are eligible for the African Cup of Nations. Whether they will all be picked it is a matter for their national team boss. Players whose team have not yet qualified are marked with an *. I have also listed the matches that teams will play during the African Cup of Nations.

Fans of Birmingham, Blackburn, Manchester United, and West Ham can all relax because they don't have any players that will be heading to Angola in January.

Arsenal - Song and Eboue (v. Everton, @Bolton, @Aston Villa, v. Manchester United)
Aston Villa - Salifou* (@Wigan, v. West Ham, v. Arsenal, @Fulham)
Birmingham - NONE (v. Manchester United, @ Pompey, @ Chelsea, v. Spurs)
Blackburn - NONE (@ Manchester City, v. Fulham, v. Wigan, @ West Ham)
Bolton - Shittu (@Sunderland, v. Arsenal, v. Burnley, @Liverpool)
Burnley - Bikey (v. Stoke, @ Manchester United, @ Bolton, v. Chelsea)
Chelsea - Essien, Mikel, Kalou, Drogba (@Hull, v. Sunderland, v. Birmingham, @Burnley)
Everton - Yobo, Yakubu, Anichebe (@Arsenal, v. Manchester City, v. Sunderland, @Wigan)
Fulham - Paintsil, Etuhu (v.Pompey, @Blackburn, @Spurs, v. Aston Villa)
Hull - Ghilas, Cousin, Ekra, Olofinjana, Zayatte* (v. Chelsea, @Spurs, @United, v.Wolves)
Liverpool - El Zhar* (v.Spurs, @ Stoke, @Wolves, v. Bolton)
Man. City - Toure, Adebayor* (v. Blackburn, @Everton, @Stoke, v. Pompey)
Man. United - NONE (@Birmingham, v. Burnley, v. Hull, @ Arsenal)
Pompey - Dindane, Belhadj, Yebda, Kanu, Utaka (@Fulham,v. Birmingham, v.West Ham, @City)
Stoke - Sidibe (@Burnley, v. Liverpool, v. Man City, @ Sunderland)
Sunderland - Mensah (v. Bolton, @Chelsea, @Everton, v. Stoke)
Spurs - Assou-Ekotto, Bassong (@Liverpool, v. Hull, v. Fulham, @Birmingham)
West Ham - NONE (v. Wolves, @ Aston Villa, @ Pompey, v. Blackburn)
Wigan - Kingson, Bouaouzan (v. Aston Villa, @Wolves, @ Blackburn, v. Everton)
Wolves - Elokobi (@West Ham, v. Wigan, v. Liverpool, @ Hull)

So there are 34 players from the Premier League that may be participating in the African Cup of Nations. Hull and Pompey may lost five players while Chelsea will lose four big players. Fans of the Manchester club with money will be hopeful that Togo fail to qualify so they can hold on to Adebayor. While Spurs fans will be hoping that King, Dawson, and Woodgate are healthy as they will be without two of their back four.

It is important to remember that as teams are knocked out of the tournament their players can return to England. So not all of the players listed above will be out for the duration of the tournament.

Once the draw is made I will put a preview of the tournament.

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Sixteen

2009-11-04T10:17:00.002-05:00

In this episode we're joined by Matt Wooding of The Subs Bench. We go through one of the best Premier League weekends to date (not just because Pompey won) and we touch on the Canadian friendly with Poland.

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Sixteen

Enjoy

Canada to play Poland on November 18th

2009-10-28T15:10:00.005-04:00

You read that correctly. Canada is playing on both of the upcoming International Dates. We are playing Macedonia on the 14th of November and have now added a fixture against Poland on the 18th. I have no idea if either of these matches are going to be shown in Canada. However I am certain that the Poland match will be available on some of the grey media out there, given that much of it is run out of Poland.

Poland is not an ideal opponent as they have just dropped 20 places in the FIFA rankings to #56. While Poland are the sort of opposition that Canada should be playing (a strong side in Europe, that we have a chance of beating). It is a little frustrating that we are playing them when they are ranked artificially low. I mentioned in my previous post that we are planning to play a lot of matches. This is good for the team, but it hurts our Rankings. I would much rather have the team playing well than a high FIFA ranking. However I think that it is possible to have both. I know that scheduling friendlies is never an easy thing to do. That said Slovakia, who qualified for the World Cup after a disastrous 1-0 win in Poland where they were massively outplayed are ranked 20 spots above Canada. They are of a comparable quality to Poland, but they are ranked much higher. It would be better if we were able to play against them.

Alas what is done is done. And we have Macedonia and Poland coming up. So now the real question is who do we pick in the side? Do we bring European players in the middle of their season? Do we bring North American players who have finished their season? Do we call up some of the people with other national team options to try to sell them on Canada? It will be interesting to see what team Hart selects. Personally I am hoping that every player selected in the side will be able to play in the 2014 World Cup. That said it would be fun to line up both Klukowski and Radzinski against Poland, given that it happens to Canada all the time. So here is my starting XI for the two matches:

Hirschfeld

Ledgerwood - Edgar - Attakora - Klukowski

JDG2* - Atiba - JDG - Hume

Jackson - Hoilett**

*Why not eh? If we don't select him, I would use Will Johnson.
** Why not eh? If we don't select him I would move Hume to striker and play Issy.

Thoughts? What is your XI?

Transfer Ban WTF!?

2009-10-28T07:50:00.003-04:00

Apparently Pompey fans are not allowed to feel happy for very long this season. After our brilliant 4-0 destruction of Stoke in the League Cup. We are hit with a transfer ban. Why you ask? Because we haven't paid clubs or agents in a long long time. Now this is not the first time that we have heard this information. I heard it when Sulaiman Al Fahim was trying to take over the club. Peter Storrie said that a lot of the agents and clubs weren't demanding payment as a personal favour to him. But now we have apparently a rich new owner in Ali Al Faraj. In fact Al Faraj gave 5M pounds to Pompey so they could pay players and staff after it became apparent that Sulaiman Al Fahim didn't have a lot of money. This was not long before Al Faraj bought a 90% stake in the club. So I know that I am not a multi-millionaire but I don't think it is overly complicated that when you buy a club that you settle the outstanding debts. When Al Fahim took over we paid off the South African bank that we owed 30M pounds. Now with Al Faraj we haven't paid for the players that we have on our club. It is flat out embarrassing. Al Faraj has brought in some money from a few people that were a part of his initial attempt to purchase the club. Hopefully this money will be used to pay the clubs and agents that we owe money to.

I should mention that the Premier League deserves full marks. I am pleased to see that they are taking action on debt in their league. My compliant is with the Pompey owners that allowed this to happen.

I, like all Pompey supporters, would just like to know what is going on. Every week we read one story saying one thing and then read a story contradicting it. It is embarrassing and frustrating. It can't be easy on the players either. With the amount of times that we have been in the news this season for embarrassing reasons, I can't see a whole lot of players queuing up to sign with us in January.

So now that we seem to have got the play on the pitch sorted out, it is up to the ownership to get their performance sorted out. Play Up Pompey, Owners PAY Up!

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode 15

2009-10-26T18:31:00.002-04:00

In this episode we're joined by James Sharman of the Footy Show. We discuss the Premier League weekend, the disaster that was TFC, and a Canada match to boot. Plus we discuss whether I may have an influence on the CSA, also Sam tells us why Liverpool will win the League,

Enjoy

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode 15

Pompey Canuck on the Subs Bench

2009-10-23T08:14:00.003-04:00

The boys over at the Subs Bench invited me on their podcast, for a second time no less. We discuss the Champions League results, what is going on at Liverpool, the situation at Portsmouth, is West Ham getting relegated, TFC, and have a lot of fun doing it. Luckily I got out of there before they made me sing,

To listen to the podcast go here.

The curse of the Scorpio?

2009-10-22T08:56:00.003-04:00

It is well known that France coach Raymond Domenech is a little odd. He doesn't like to pick Scorpios in his side. Regardless of how good they may be. Well the World Cup Qualifying draw was made under during the Scorpio window, and it looks like Domenech has another reason to dislike the sign of Scorpio. Franck Ribery is out for the playoff against Ireland. This can only help the Irish cause. Ribery is in my opinion the best player in the French side. I don't know how the French side will respond to Ribery's absence but it does tip the scales a bit in favour of the Irish.

Why Canada IS playing Macedonia

2009-10-22T06:27:00.004-04:00

I know that many of you have read my post about why Canada should not be playing Macedonia. Like you I want Canada to be in the best position going into qualifying for 2014. With that in mind I was prepared to not see Canada take to the field for another 7 months, solely to preserve our high FIFA points totals that we earned in the Gold Cup. As I mentioned on Canadian Terrace Talk when Sam first mentioned that Canada would be playing a friendly in November, I went to talk to the CSA to present my case about why we shouldn't be playing Macedonia. I wasn't able to meet with Peter Montopoli when I went to the office (a perk of living in Ottawa) but I met with his assistant and was able to set up a chance to talk with him. That happened yesterday. I told him that I wanted to understand the other issues that led to scheduling a friendly against Macedonia, and make sure that the CSA was aware of the numbers ahead of a potential qualifying draw in May 2011. What I heard was encouraging. We are playing Macedonia because we need to play matches otherwise we won't be good enough to qualify. We are also going to be playing other friendlies some of them even in Canada! I mentioned that the key thing was to play 5 matches between May 2010 and May 2011 and that didn't sound like it was going to be a problem. Which is great news for Canadian Soccer fans. As I mentioned in my post about the whole process Canada really dropped the ball between May 2006 and May 2007. We didn't play enough matches and we didn't play the right kind of opponent. I told Peter that I would keep him updated with the numbers. If Costa Rica lose their playoff with Uruguay (we should all hope that they do) then Canada is competing for three spots with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Jamaica, & Trinidad and Tobago. Right now we are in second. With a sizable lead over third. Things are looking good for Canada. The main thing for us is to win the matches that we play, and hope that Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama etc lose any matches that they play. This should see Canada seeded as a top six team going into World Cup Qualifying for Brazil 2014. Which ideally means that we will be in the Hex, which would give us a shot at Brazil which I know we could take. Play Up Canada!

Why is no one talking about West Ham as a crisis club

2009-10-21T11:30:00.003-04:00

West Ham are sitting second from bottom on 5 points. They could easily find themselves bottom after this weekend's fixtures. I don't think that many people had West Ham getting relegated at the start of the year predictions so why no talk? Obviously Pompey stole a lot of the headlines with their double ownership switch and losing streak. But West Ham's ownership looks none to stable. With Portsmouth putting in solid performances every week, there aren't a lot of people talking about us taking the drop. I would say that if I had to pick West Ham or Pompey to take the drop this year, I would take West Ham. I know I am a little biased but looking at the fixtures for Pompey & West Ham between now and December 5th. Here is what you get

Pompey
@Hull
Wigan
@Blackburn
@Stoke
United
Burnley

West Ham
Arsenal
@Sunderland
Villa
Everton
@Hull
Burnley
United

Looking at those fixtures I think that Pompey will get more points than West Ham. Also that West Ham could easily stay on 5 points until they play Hull (on November 21st). There also have ownership questions and may need to do some selling in January to keep going. There is a lot of talent on the West Ham squad and if they have to sell it and bring in a bunch of new players, you don't need to be a Portsmouth fan to know how that is going to go.

I think that after this weekend the focus of the media will shift from the South Coast to East London.

A shorter version of this was posted on Pompey Gossip. Apologies for those that read it twice.

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode 14

2009-10-20T07:39:00.001-04:00

On this episode of Canadian Terrace Talk we are joined by Squizz from Some Canadian Guys Writing/Talking About Soccer. We talk EPL, WCQ MLS, USL, the Canadian national team and why there is hope for all you soccer geeks out there.

Enjoy

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode 14

Euro WCQ Playoffs - Updated

2009-10-19T08:23:00.004-04:00

The draw is made, as I understand it the home team for the 2nd leg is listed first.

UPDATE - CBC was wrong and the team listed first is home to start and then away.
Ireland - France: I think that this is advantage Ireland unless the star charts tell Domenach to actually put out a solid French team. Hopefully this loss is what convinces the FFF to let Domenach go.

Portugal - Bosnia: Portugal's to lose, however they have not played well against Balkan opposition. That said I think that Bosnia are the weakest side in the draw. However with strikers like Dzeko anything could happen. Who knows maybe we could see Portugal lose to Bosnia and Begovic not named in the World Cup side, that would make me smile.

Greece - Ukraine: This is a toss up. Greece were in the easiest group in Europe and weren't able to make it, while Ukraine beat out Croatia. With the second leg in Kiev you would think it would be advantage Ukraine with Sheva there is always a chance that he will pull out one more great performance. However the Greek attack is led by UEFA WCQ top scorer and Pompey reject Gekas. This is the most interesting tie after Ireland - France.

Russia - Slovenia, Poor Slovenia. Russia were the strongest team in the draw and were going to beat any team that they were drawn against. Slovenia I think could have had a shot against any of the other three seeded teams. Tough break for the small nation. That said in Playoffs anything could happen. I will be rooting for Slovenia as once Russia are eliminated then Guus Hiddink can take over team Canada. Hey if the Slovenians can dream, so can I.

Canada Ranked #53

2009-10-16T07:22:00.002-04:00

You may have noticed that Canada has jumped 13 places, and is now ranked #53. How did we accomplish this amazing feat without playing any matches? The FIFA rankings are based on four years worth of results. So for the October Rankings it includes Oct 08 - Oct 09 at 100%, Oct 07 - Oct 08 at 50%, Oct 06 - Oct 07 at 30%, and Oct 05 - Oct 06 at 20%. So for a painful yet concrete example that disaster in Montreal has now stopped counting against our 100% average entirely and is now counted against the 50% average. Given that our stellar performance in the Gold Cup is rated 100% we can expect to stay high in the rankings until July or August 2010 when that drops to 50%. At which point we should have already started playing friendlies in May so hopefully to maintain our ranking.

The points for each phase are calculated by average. So if a team accumulates 3000 points in a year. That total is divided by the number of matches that they have played (it must be at least 5, or it is divided by 5 anyway). So if a team only played 5 matches then they would have 600 points that count towards their ranking. But if they played another match and lost 3000 would be divided by 6 leaving them with only 500 points to count.

For the year May 09 - May 10 Canada has just over 2900 points from 6 matches or 484.5 points (at 100%). Any points that we gain will be added to our total and then divided by the number of matches. So it would make sense to play a team that could offer us at least 484.5 points if we won, otherwise we would be guaranteed to drop in the rankings. That means the lowest ranked team that Canada could play would be a UEFA team that is ranked #39 or #38. That means with a win we would stay where we are. To improve our standing we would have to play a higher ranked team and win.

Latest CONCACAF standings for the 2014 World Cup Qualifying

2009-10-15T18:10:00.003-04:00

The good news for Canada is that Costa Rica may miss the World Cup, which would put them in contention with us. Hopefully Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan & co can ensure that the Ticos don't head to South Africa. Here are the latest standings for CONCACAF ahead of the 2014 World Cup Qualifying Draw, likely to be in May 2011. For information on the methods check out my previous post.

1. USA - 541.24
2. Mexico - 489.39
3. Honduras - 444.27
4. Costa Rica - 393.58
5. CANADA - 355.60
6. El Salvador - 269.58
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7. Panama - 242.75
8. Jamaica - 211.52
9. Trinidad & Tobago - 194.99
10. Haiti - 174.21
11. Antigua & Barbuda - 148.41
12. Grenada - 114.54
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13. Guatemala - 111.88
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14. Cuba - 82.96
15. Bermuda - 79.89
16. Barbados - 72.12
17. Suriname - 63.11
18. Nicaragua - 52.66
19. St. Kitts & Nevis - 50.63
20. Guyana - 50.30
21. Netherlands Antilles - 50.18
22. Puerto Rico - 44.24
23. Belize - 22.31
24. St. Vincent & the Grenadines - 21.54
25. Cayman Islands - 19.00
26. St. Lucia - 12.75
26. Turks & Caicos Islands - 12.75
28. British Virgin Islands - 11.90
29. Bahamas - 8.50
30. Aruba - 6.50
31. Dominica - 4.93
32. Dominican Republic - 4.25
33. US Virgin Islands - 3.40
34. Anguilla - 0.00
34. Montserrat - 0.00

Why Canada should not play Macedonia - UPDATED

2009-10-15T17:06:00.004-04:00

Right now Canada have accumulated 242.26 points towards the World Cup Qualifying Draw for 2014 from Phase 3. For more information on the phases check out this post.

If we win against Macedonia (based on their current rank of 56) we would LOSE 3.75 points.

If we drew against Macedonia (based on their current rank of 56) we would LOSE 24.32 points

If we lost against Macedonia (based on their current rank of 56) we would LOSE 34.61 points

So no matter what the result against Macedonia we lose ground. The next FIFA rankings come out tomorrow. They will show us where Macedonia will be ranked when we play them. For their to be a chance that Canada could improve its standings Macedonia would have to be ranked #39. So it is not going to happen.

UPDATE - The Rankings have come out and Macedonia is Ranked #66. So if we win we will lose 5.89 points, if we draw we will lose 25.04 points, and if we lose we still drop 34.61 points. The dropped points are all in relation to the potential World Cup Qualifying draw for Brazil 2014 in May 2011. The effect would be even more pronounced on the current rankings where a win would cost us approximately 12 points.

This was a reckless decision by the CSA that makes zero sense from an organization that should be focused on getting Canada into the strongest position for the WCQ 2014 draw.

I am going to get the latest standings for the 2014 WCQ draw out tonight or tomorrow.

UPDATE - The updated standings are up. You can see them here.

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Thirteen

2009-10-14T10:20:00.002-04:00

Greetings Everyone,

I am back after my wedding, my lovely Arsenal fan & I had a great time. In this episode Sam & I cover World Cup Qualifying, the USL final, TFC, and then discuss Asmir Begovic,

Enjoy

Lucky #13 Canadian Terrace Talk

Predictions for the next week or so

2009-10-02T08:30:00.002-04:00

I am not going to be near a computer for the next week or so. Thus I thought I would put up predictions for what will happen while I am gone, that way you can come back after a match and marvel at my predictions. The one thing that I do know is that Pompey will be bottom.

Bold prediction #1

Pompey will hammer Wolves and people will say "things are going wrong off the pitch but at least they have corrected the results on the pitch"

Bold Prediction #2

There will be a lot of draws this weekend. There haven't been a lot this year, but i feel there will be a lot this weekend.

Bold Prediction #3

Argentina will beat Peru in convincing fashion, but everyone will remain unconvinced about Maradona.

Bold Prediction #4

Russia will beat Germany and advance to South Africa.

Bold Prediction #5

Ghana & Germany will be in the final of the FIFA U20.

Enjoy the football, Cheers

Oktoberfest - Pompey style

2009-10-01T05:39:00.003-04:00

No doubt you are aware that Pompey sit on the bottom of the table, but October brings good tidings for fans of the South Coast club. In the form of Wolves, Spurs, Hull, and Wigan. When I look at these four matches I see 3 relegation six pointers and an intersquad match from last season.

At Wolves:

Wolves are sitting on 7 points but these have come from some of the other weak teams. They got three points most recently in a 2-1 win over Fulham. You may remember that Pompey lost to Fulham when Clint Dempsey's harmless shot took a crazy deflection off Bobby Zamora's back. Wolves picked up a point in a draw with Hull. They got things started with a victory over Wigan. Hull and Wigan are also on Portsmouth's october menu. The Molineaux is not an easy place to play as 4 of Wolves 7 points have come from their three home fixtures. But after the performances that Pompey put in against Bolton, Villa, and Everton I like our chances to get our first points of the season, three of them.

Home to Spurs:

One year ago, Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar, Joe Jordan, and Harry Redknapp were all at Portsmouth, they are now all at Spurs. Needless to say that this one has been circled on the calendar for some time. I am expecting a lot of the former Pompey guys to get a tough time from the crowd, though mainly Redknapp and Defoe. I know that the fans will be up for this match, and I hope that the players are too. Looking at this without the history between the clubs I would say that Spurs should win, especially since Jamie O'hara won't be playing as he is on loan from Spurs. However in games where there is a lot of energy anything can happen and if Pompey are coming off a first win of the season, perhaps we can welcome Harry back with a win just like we did when he was at the Scummers.

At Hull:

The Tigers are sitting on four points at the moment. One from their draw with Wolves, and three from victory over Bolton. Hull have put in a few solid performances this season, but they have be blown out three times. Their confidence is quite low at the moment and Phil Brown looks like he would be sacked tomorrow if their was a different chairman. Before facing Pompey Hull take on Wigan at home and travel to London to take on Fulham. I am sure that these are matches that Hull are targeting for points. If they lose at least one of these two matches I think their confidence will be shot and they will be easy pickings for Pompey.

Home to Wigan

Wigan rank as the most confusing team in England. They have pulled off great victories over Aston Villa, West Ham and Chelsea. But also lost badly to Manchester United, Arsenal, and Blackpool (in the league cup). They also lost to Wolves and Everton. Really it depends more on which Wigan team shows up than which Pompey team shows up. I am expecting that beatable getting relegated Wigan shows up, as I believe those are their true colours this season.

So their you have it, Portsmouth's October pointsfest. I would be disappointed if November started and we didn't have at least 9 points. Though 10 & 12 aren't out of the question. However if we are still bottom at the start of November then we are definitely in a lot of trouble. But there is not a lot of chance of that given the way that we have been playing. I am going for the full 12 points and a flourishing partnership between Piquionne & Dindane. Play Up Pompey!

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode 11

2009-09-29T12:32:00.003-04:00

Be sure to join Sam & I as we talk Premier League, FIFA U20, Francophone games, and TFC. Listen as we discuss the managerial similarities between Phil Brown & Diego Maradona, plus laud Peter Storrie & Ryan Giggs.

and if you haven't already you can subscribe via itunes, just search for Canadian Terrace Talk,

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode 11

Portsmouth lose 1-0 again

2009-09-26T09:44:00.002-04:00

7 played. 7 lost. This has happened in the top flight before in 1930 - 1931, that team Manchester United. Though United were relegated that year, Portsmouth were fourth that season by the way. I am going to keep saying what I have said already. We are not amongst the three worst teams in the premier league. I think that we will stay up. Here are some of my thoughts on the match against Everton.

Both keepers played amazing. David James gave a performance that would have caught the attention of Fabio Capello. While Tim Howard showed some of the form that helped the US make the Confederations' Cup final. They were helped out by solid defensive play around them. Both teams managed to clear balls off the line.

I thought that both teams played well, there were very few moments that we dull in the match. As I mentioned in my previous post looking at the first five matches, we haven't seem able to catch any breaks. The main incident here that easily could have gone our way was when Heitinga pushed over Boateng when the cross was coming into the box. The only reason that I can think of as to why the referee didn't award the penalty was that the cross was a little high, but it likely looked higher than it was because Boateng was on the ground. Penalties have certainly been given for less. Then Mokoena headed onto the bar, it made for painful viewing. The header from Ben Haim was almost directly at Howard, who made a fantastic shoulder save.

This is our fourth 1-0 loss this season and our fifth 1 goal loss. We are not playing poorly we are just not getting results. The way that we are playing we will get points, and finally we get some help from the schedule too. Our next matches are @Wolves, Home to Harry, Defoe, Crouch, & Kranjcar, @Hull, and Home to Wigan. Three of those are quite winnable and one is a match that everyone has circled on the calender. October is going to be a great month for Pompey.

League Cup - The actual draw

2009-09-26T08:41:00.003-04:00

In my previous post - I put forward a potential draw that I would like to see, unfortunately none of the matches that I put forward were drawn. The closest that I came was with Barnsley who I put against Man City, but they got a home tie against Man United. Here is the full draw:

Barnsley - Manchester United
Arsenal - Liverpool
Portsmouth - Stoke
Tottenham Hotspur - Everton
Manchester City - Scunthorpe
Chelsea - Bolton
Sunderland - Aston Villa
Blackburn - Peterborough

The matches will be played on the 27th & 28th of October. I think that Spurs - Everton will be the best match with the Arsenal kids hosting Liverpool the next best. Here are my predictions:

Manchester United
Liverpool
Portsmouth
Everton
Manchester City
Chelsea
Sunderland
Blackburn

Let me know your predictions in the comments.

League Cup - Final 16

2009-09-23T17:34:00.003-04:00

The third round of the League Cup has finished and we are left with 16 teams battling it out for the third most prestigious trophy in England. Here they are according to their current league rankings:

1. Chelsea
2. Manchester United
3. Liverpool
4. Manchester City
5. Aston Villa
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Arsenal
8. Sunderland
9. Stoke
10. Everton
11. Bolton
12. Blackburn
13. Portsmouth
14. Scunthorpe
15. Peterborough
16. Barnsley

Canadian Content in the Carling Cup

There is one Canadian & two possible Canadians remaining in the tournament. Iain Hume of Barnsley is the Canadian International, while Porstsmouth's keeper (for this tournament anyway) is Asmir Begovic who represented Canada at the U20, but has shown a desire to represent Bosnia at the Senior level, though they have yet to cap him. The other possible Canadian is David Hoilett who plays at Blackburn. He has the opportunity to play for us, but it looks likely that he will represent Jamaica instead.

The Next Round

The draw for the next round is random and will take place on Saturday. Here are the match ups that I am hoping for:

1. Manchester United - Peterborough aka the Battle of the Fergies. If you are unaware Peterborough are managed by Sir Alex's son Darren.

2. Arsenal - Spurs. A North London derby always a good match.

3. Liverpool - Everton. A Merseyside derby always a good match.

4. Barnsley - City. A big draw for the Tykes and a potential Cupset too.

5. Scunthorpe - Chelsea. A big draw for the Iron and a potential Cupset too.

6. Aston Villa - Blackburn. I think this would be a great game. Blackburn tend to play more open attacking football in the Cup, should be a lot of goals.

7. Portstmouth - Bolton. A chance for Pompey to make up for their blown points last week.

8. Stoke - Sunderland. Will Sunderland's new high power offense be able to break down Stoke at the Brittainia?

So there are my ideal matches for the round of 16. What do you think of them? Which matches would you like to see?

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode 10

2009-09-22T07:10:00.002-04:00

Join Sam & I as we look back at the weekend's Premier League action, preview the U20 World Cup, and talk TFC. Also we are now properly available on itunes.

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode 10

Here is the link to the CBC U20 World Cup Preview that I mentioned on the podcast.

Sam & I mention our predicted final, we are certainly interested to hear yours, so leave them in a comment.

Cheers

Aston Villa 2 - Portsmouth 0

2009-09-19T11:57:00.002-04:00

It is going to be a long year. Pompey's defense made two huge mistakes and Villa got two goals, coincidence? I think not. For large parts of the game Pompey controlled the play, but lacked the finishing edge. Villa were by no means perfect at the back but Pompey were unable to exploit their mistakes. Cuellar was definitely the weak link at the back, he didn't look comfortable in the right back role. Pompey were able to create a lot of opportunities, but a lot of those ended in a toothless shot at Friedel. We need to be able to convert opportunities if we are ever going to get a share of the points. Portsmouth were helped by the referee in this one, as I was surprised that Brown stayed out of the book, when he easily could have been sent off for two bookable offenses. I think that given how we played in the second half we had a chance to grab a draw, but like our other matches this season our defense errors & lack of finishing undid us.

Up next for us Everton, who we did the double over last year. Hopefully we can grab all three points at home. We also have a possibly moral boosting match in the league cup at Carlisle on Tuesday. Hopefully a few of our players can discover their scoring touch.

A look at Aston Villa from the Crow's Nest

2009-09-19T07:43:00.002-04:00

Yaarrr - It be talk like a Pirate Day today, an' Portsmouth set sail t' Birmingham t' take on th' Aston Villa. (English version located below the pirate)

Villa be havin' seemed inconsistent t' me, as I mentioned on Canadian Terrace talk. Howereexaminin' the'r record they ben able t' grind ou' results without concedin' any goals. Which be a slightly worryin' aspect when Portsmouth be havin' only scored 3 times in 5 matches. Also worryin' be that after Kristian Jack at Th' Score told Agbonlahor t' decide if he be goin' t' be a goal scorer he has scored in aft t' aft matches.

Villa an' Pompey be havin' played two o' th' same teams so far, Birmingham & Fulham. Villa be havin' two wins & Portsmouth two losses. Villa didna be havin' too many problems wi' Fulham, beatin' them 2-0. Portsmouth & Fulham looked pretty evenly matched tho Pompey lost 1-0 t' a Clint Dempsey shot that tookst a deflection off o' Bobby Zamora`s aft. With Birmingham, 't Villa`s heated local Derby, so 't be a tight match, 'tis hard t' make many comparisons t' th' match that Portsmouth played against them. 'ere we lost 1-0 on an injury time penalty.

Gi'en Pompey`s track record this season ye would say that th' likely result be a 1-0 win fer Villa. Howere Portsmouth be playin' a lot better than the'r results indicate, so if Villa hade into t' this thinkin' they be goin' t' be havin' an easy match against a team wi' 0 points they be in fer a bit o' a surprise. Villa be havin' nay scored this season when an opponent scores first, so 't could be a Pompey victory if we be able t' get th' first goal.

Realistically this be as good a chance fer us t' get a point as anytime else, Pompey would be ecstatic wi' a victory an' would gladly settle fer a draw. I think that if Pompey come ou' an' play a solid match Villa would be happy wi' a draw as well. So me official prediction be a draw, tho I would love t' be seein' Pompey leave Villa Park wi' all three points, Play Up Pompey!

Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day and Portsmouth travel to Birmingham to take on the Aston Villa. (Pirate Version above)

Villa have seemed inconsistent to me, as I mentioned on Canadian Terrace talk. However examining their record they have been able to grind out results without conceding any goals. Which is a slightly worrying aspect when Portsmouth have only scored 3 times in 5 matches. Also worrying is that after Kristian Jack at The Score told Agbonlahor to decide if he was going to be a goal scorer he has scored in back to back matches.

Villa and Pompey have played two of the same teams so far, Birmingham & Fulham. Villa have two wins & Portsmouth two losses. Villa didn't have too many problems with Fulham, beating them 2-0. Portsmouth & Fulham looked pretty evenly matched though Pompey lost 1-0 to a Clint Dempsey shot that took a deflection off of Bobby Zamora's back. With Birmingham, it Villa's heated local Derby, so it was a tight match, it is hard to make many comparisons to the match that Portsmouth played against them. Where we lost 1-0 on an injury time penalty.

Given Pompey's track record this season you would say that the likely result is a 1-0 win for Villa. However Portsmouth has been playing a lot better than their results indicate, so if Villa head into to this thinking they are going to have an easy match against a team with 0 points they will be in for a bit of a surprise. Villa have not scored this season when an opponent scores first, so it could be a Pompey victory if we are able to get the first goal.

Realistically this is as good a chance for us to get a point as anytime else, Pompey would be ecstatic with a victory and would gladly settle for a draw. I think that if Pompey come out and play a solid match Villa would be happy with a draw as well. So my official prediction is a draw, though I would love to see Pompey leave Villa Park with all three points, Play Up Pompey!

Canadian Terrace Talk returns - aka Episode 9

2009-09-14T21:47:00.004-04:00

Canadian Terrace Talk has finally returned after numerous technical difficulties. Sam & I talk about the Premier League, World Cup Qualifiers, and a little bit of TFC.

Canadian Terrace Talk - Episode 9

As always you can subscribe to the podcast with itunes etc by clicking a link on the right side of the page. Once you have clicked the link to the Podcast, of course.

I hope that you enjoy the podcast. Don't forget to join my Champions League pool.

Champions League Pool

2009-09-14T18:11:00.003-04:00

Greetings everyone!

The Champions League Group stage is upon us, and for those that are interested I am running a pool.

To join go to the SuperBru website

If you are not already a member (it is free) you have to register first. If you are select join tournament,

and enter the code landpace

it is as easy as that. You will need to act quickly as the first round of group matches is tomorrow.

Good Luck!

It is going to be a long season

2009-09-12T12:54:00.004-04:00

We played a well and didn't deserve to lose. This phrase could easily become Portsmouth's new motto. Five matches played, five matches lost. In four of those matches we played well, in all of them we have been unlucky.

In our season opener we lost 1-0 on a deflected Clint Dempsey shot that went off the back back of Bobby Zamora. In our next match away to Birmingham we were set to record a draw until there was a penalty call in injury time. The commentary that I have read is pretty evenly split but whether it was actually a penalty or not. Both the Fulham match & the Birmingham match were otherwise pretty even affairs.

We then travelled to Arsenal, this is the match that I would say we didn't play well. I wasn't able to watch all of this match (I was with the other four) and in the part that I watched we were giving Arsenal too much space and inviting them on to us. In other words a recipe for disaster. However this match wasn't without it's talking points as well. The main one being John Utaka either being brought down down by William Gallas or tripping over his own feet. If he was brought down by Gallas then Gallas should have been red carded. At the time the score was 2-1 for Arsenal, so a sending off would have changed the complexion of the match, especially since Gallas scored the 3rd goal. Unfortunately I haven't been able to see the incident so I can't offer my opinion, only to say form the parts of the match I was able to watch we didn't deserve anything from it.

The Premier League's first Abu Derby was our next match as we hosted Manchester City. Much like the first two matches this was quite an even contest. However we fell asleep on a corner and let Adebayor head home the winner. This one we can't have any complaints about, we played well and didn't deserve to lose, but the result didn't go our way.

After the International break we hosted Bolton in a match between the only teams with 0 points. This was quite an exciting match. Our defense looked shaky at times , allowing Bolton to get behind which resulted in their first goal. Pompey then came roaring back and equalised through Kaboul. Kaboul & Piquionne both missed great opportunities a few minutes later. It looked like it would go to the half 1-1, with Pompey regretting missed chances. Then Bolton got in behind and if not for a last ditch tackle from Ben Haim would have had a scoring opportunity. Oh wait referee Chris Foy somehow missed seeing the ball go sideways after Ben Haim's tackle and decided to award Bolton a penalty. Former Pompey player (and still fan favourite) clinically struck it to give Bolton an undeserved half time lead. Over the half time break I was telling myself if we want to get anything from this we are going to need to overcome bad calls like the penalty. So I was pleased to see us come out roaring again after the break. Debutant Kevin Prince Boateng netting the tieing goal in the 63rd minute. Pompey had a few more chances that we should have converted, but looked on course for the draw. That is until Bolton got a long throw that was headed on to Cahill who scored. Of course the linesman chose not to raise his flag even though Bolton players ran from offside positions to contest the header. So Pompey played well and didn't deserve to lose or even draw really.

The match this morning against Bolton was the match that I enjoyed watching the most and also the most crushing defeat. There is nothing we can do now except wait for the inevitable apology from Keith Hackett and smile when Chris Foy & his crew are demoted to the lower leagues. Oh and hope that Paul Hart doesn't get suspended for saying how poor the ref was.

Looking ahead to the upcoming matches we are away to Villa and home to Everton. Both are going to be tough matches, it would be great to nick a draw at Villa Park but I wouldn't be surprised if we came back from the Midlands with six played and six lost. We need to get something from the Everton match, hopefully we can continue last year's form as we did the double over the Toffees last season.

But you get the idea it is going to be a long season, we are going to be involved in the relegation battle. I don't think that we will take the drop, but we need to start getting some points before the media starts to get in the minds of the fans and the players. Play Up Pompey!

Latest CONCACAF standings for the 2011 WCQ

2009-09-10T08:18:00.003-04:00

El Salvador's win saw them make up some ground but if they lose their next two matches(@ Mexico & v. Honduras) they will fall back to nearly 100 points behind us. Trinidad & Tobago continue to lose meaning that Jack Warner will have extremely limited options if he is going to manipulate the way that the group is drawn to help them. The only way that T & T could gain a lot of points if they move the date back to include the Gold Cup. Which I believe would benefit Canada as much or more than Trinidad & Tobago. Speaking of which T & T were eliminated from the World Cup yesterday as well. If you would like to know the process that I used or my advice for what Canada should do I suggest you read the post I put up on Monday.

Without further delay here are the latest standings after the midweek International matches:

1. USA - 549.33
2. Mexico - 500.94
3. Honduras - 433.39
4. Costa Rica - 393.13
5. CANADA - 355.60
6. El Salvador - 284.76
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7. Panama - 242.75
8. Jamaica - 211.52
9. Trinidad & Tobago - 178.98
10. Haiti - 174.21
11. Antigua & Barbuda - 148.41
12. Grenada - 114.54
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13. Guatemala - 111.88
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14. Cuba - 82.96
15. Bermuda - 79.89
16. Barbados - 72.12
17. Suriname - 63.11
18. Nicaragua - 52.66
19. St. Kitts & Nevis - 50.63
20. Guyana - 50.30
21. Netherlands Antilles - 50.18
22. Puerto Rico - 44.24
23. Belize - 22.31
24. St. Vincent & the Grenadines - 21.54
25. Cayman Islands - 19.00
26. St. Lucia - 12.75
26. Turks & Caicos Islands - 12.75
28. British Virgin Islands - 11.90
29. Bahamas - 8.50
30. Aruba - 6.50
31. Dominica - 4.93
32. Dominican Republic - 4.25
33. US Virgin Islands - 3.40
34. Anguilla - 0.00
34. Montserrat - 0.00

Looking ahead to World Cup 2014 Qualifying - Version 2.0

2009-09-07T11:00:00.000-04:00

Here we go again. Earlier this year, in July to be exact, I published a post about what Canada needed to do in order to be in the best possible place for the qualifying draw for Brasil 2014. I got some things correct in that post, but I got a lot of things wrong too. Luckily Edgar at Football Rankings noticed my post and decided to help me out. Rather than go over the mistakes I made before, I will lay out the way things should be done correctly and go from there.

First off there are four phases involved in the accumulation of points that will impact the rankings when the qualifying draw is made. For the purposes of this post I have based the phases on the way in which the draw was conducted for 2010 qualifying.

Phase 1 May 17 2007 - May 7 2008
Phase 2 May 8 2008 - May 6 2009
Phase 3 May 7 2009 - May ? 2010
Phase 4 May ? 2010 - May ? 2011

As a quick aside, there was a comment on Edgar's website that suggested the draw could be made in August instead of May 2011. This would mean the Gold Cup 2011 would be included. The commenter suggested the change could be made to benefit Trinidad & Tobago, but this would also be a big help to Canada, as we tend to do well at the Gold Cup. Therefore I will continue under the assumption that things will be done the same way they were in the 2010 qualifying draw. A change from May to August would benefit Canada and place a large importance on the Gold Cup 2011.

Points are accumulated in each phase by winning or drawing a match. The totalled points from the phase are then divided by the number of matches played. For example, if a team had won two matches, drawn one, and lost five, their point total would be divided by eight. However, if a team plays fewer than five matches their total is still divided by five, so it is important to play at least five matches in each phase.

The points from each phase are also weighted differently: you are only able to count 20% of the points from Phase 1, 30% from Phase 2, and 50% from Phase 3. Teams are able to count 100% percent of the points from Phase 4.

Now that you have got all of that, here are the current standings for the points accumulated towards May 2011.

1. USA - 540.79
2. Mexico - 482.03
3. Honduras - 457.00
4. Costa Rica - 412.68
5. CANADA - 355.60
6. El Salvador - 251.68
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7. Panama - 242.75
8. Jamaica - 211.52
9. Trinidad & Tobago - 193.96
10. Haiti - 174.21
11. Antigua & Barbuda - 148.41
12. Grenada - 114.54
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13. Guatemala - 111.88
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14. Cuba - 82.96
15. Bermuda - 79.89
16. Barbados - 72.12
17. Suriname - 63.11
18. Nicaragua - 52.66
19. St. Kitts & Nevis - 50.63
20. Guyana - 50.30
21. Netherlands Antilles - 50.18
22. Puerto Rico - 44.24
23. Belize - 22.31
24. St. Vincent & the Grenadines - 21.54
25. Cayman Islands - 19.00
26. St. Lucia - 12.75
26. Turks & Caicos Islands - 12.75
28. British Virgin Islands - 11.90
29. Bahamas - 8.50
30. Aruba - 6.50
31. Dominica - 4.93
32. Dominican Republic - 4.25
33. US Virgin Islands - 3.40
34. Anguilla - 0.00
34. Montserrat - 0.00

The draw is made and teams ranked 1-13 receive a bye to the Second Round. Teams 14 -35 play each other, with the eleven winners advancing to Round Two. The eleven winners from the first round plus the 13th ranked team then face the top twelve sides for a place in Round Three. Round three is a group stage that consists of three groups of four. When the draw is made the top six ranked teams are placed in such a way that should they advance from Round Two, there will be two members of the top six in each group. The top two teams from Round Three then advance to the final round known as "The Hex". The Hex contains six teams in one group. The top three teams qualify for the World Cup, the fourth place team enters into a playoff against the fifth place South American team.

At the moment we are sitting in fifth, which isn't bad news. The bad news is that USA, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Trinidad & Tobago are still playing in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. This means they each have a minimun of three more matches in Phase 3. Playing lots of matches isn't necessarily a good thing, but as these matches are worth two & a half more than a friendly in points value, these teams can get a lot of points. I think at this point Canada can give up trying to catch any of the teams above us in the standings and should focus on staying in fifth or sixth place. The bonus is El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago are last in the group. It would be ideal for Canada if they lost all of their remaining qualifying matches, which is possible since they have already played both games against each other. Matches at the World Cup will be a part of Phase 4 and count 100% towards the qualification rankings for 2014. Not only will matches at the World Cup be a part of Phase 4 when it is crucial to gain points, they also count four times as much as friendlies - meaning any results gained there will put those teams out of reach, so we need to have El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago miss out on the World Cup in order to give ourselves the best chance at making the next one.

The next piece of bad news is most countries that are chasing are likely to participate in four or five qualifying matches for the Gold Cup 2011. These matches will be in crucial Phase 4 and count two and a half times what a friendly does. This will give an advantage to the countries that are chasing Canada for a place in the top six.

Now for some almost good news. The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) has said there are no plans for any friendly matches for the next 18 months. I am fine with the decision not to play any more friendlies in Phase 3, which ends at yet to be determined date in May 2010. This is eight months from now. However we should start planning to play matches after the FIFA rankings come out in May 2010. We need to target countries that have higher than average rankings so we can get as many points as possible. The earliest opportunity is to play a country that was a part of the African Cup of Nations (ACN). This is the regional tournament of Africa; similar to CONCACAF's Gold Cup, it is played every two years. The matches in this tournament will count three times as much as a friendly. So we will see African teams fly up the rankings ahead of the World Cup, much the same way that CONCACAF teams flew up the rankings in August. Remember Canada jumped up 26 places. It won't matter that the tournament will affect rankings starting in March - as there will be no other competitive matches, the rankings shouldn't change drastically. The benefits are easy to see: if we play a team that is normally ranked in the seventies, but has moved into the forties or fifties, then we could get more than 60 extra points. We should also try to play matches against sides from Europe and South America, as these regions have a higher regional value. This means playing a team ranked 75 in the world from Europe or South America will get you more points than playing a team ranked 75 in the world from another region.

I am trying as much as I can to be realistic about the way this could play out. We had a disastrous Phase 4 in 2006-2007 and gained only 100 points and ended up finishing 11th. I am aware that the CSA is trying to expand the game in Canada, which I am in favour of; this will likely mean a friendly against a team with a big reputation. An example would be our match against Brasil a few years ago. However it would be more beneficial to save that match until after the qualifying draw for 2014 is made. With this in mind, here is my suggested Phase 4 friendly schedule for Canada.

Late May - before World Cup: Play an artificially high ranked African team. This would be a team that did well at the ACN, but did not make the World Cup and should be a side that Canada could beat. Ideally a team with only one star player. Togo is a side that may meet these criteria.

Any time - Play a friendly against Bolivia at sea level - either in Canada or at a neutral venue, but make sure it is at sea level. Bolivia are very, very difficult to beat at high alititude, but they are beatable at sea level.

November or February - Play a highly ranked warm weather team outside in Edmonton. Bolivia & other countries use their altitude to their advantage; we should take advantage of our cold.

Anytime - Play a European country, preferably ranked in the top 100. The match against Cyprus was a good example. How does taking on Bosnia-Herzegovina sound at BMO sound?

After the World Cup - Play a nation we can beat that was at the World Cup. If they managed to get some points there, their ranking will increase dramatically. That means more points if we are able to beat them.

If we follow this plan and win all five friendlies, we should double our points total which would be great. Even if we are able to add 200 more points, this would put us in good stead for claiming a top six place. Here are the points totals for the top six when the 2010 qualifying draw was made in 2007:

1. Mexico - 891
2. USA - 785
3. Costa Rica - 575
4. Honduras - 542
5. Panama - 514
6. Trinidad & Tobago - 463
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11. CANADA - 342

You can see, as Canada are already at 355, we are already doing better than last time. We need to continue to build on our good form by playing at least five matches in Phase 4. In the 2006-2007 we only played four (Jamaica twice, Hungary, and Bermuda). As I mentioned above, the total points of a team are divided by a minimum of five, so only playing four is like losing a match. I should mention that staying at 355 is contingent on us not playing any more matches before Phase 3 ends and the May 2010 rankings come out. Even if we were to win, it would probably lower our points unless we beat a team in the top 40.

The way forward is simple: do not play any more matches until late May 2010. Then play at least five matches we can win before the May 2011 rankings are released and we should be in a strong position for the draw for qualifying. This should ideally put us through to The Hex, at which point we need to play our socks off, and hopefully in fours years' time Canada playing in the 2014 World Cup in Brasil will look like a reality.

No club football no problem - here is what to watch

2009-09-01T15:44:00.003-04:00

Greetings Football fans,

With the International break upon us, there is no club football this week. There is no need to fret though, there are some great matches coming this weekend. Here is a list of the matches that caught my eye, I have put the ones that I am going to try to watch in bold.

Saturday September 5 (all times Eastern time)
Cote d'Ivoire - Burkina Faso (13:00)
Denmark - Portugal (14:00)
Poland - Northern Ireland (14:30)
Bahrain - Saudi Arabia (15:00)
France - Romania (15:00)
Argentina - Brasil (20:30)
Costa Rica - Mexico (22:00)

Sunday September 6
Nigeria - Tunisia (12:00)
Algeria - Zambia (17:00)

All things being equal I would probably watch the Asian Playoff first leg between Bahrain & Saudi Arabia, however I have lunch riding on the outcome of the Northern Ireland match. Before you ask I have no idea if any of the matches are on TV in Canada or anywhere else for that matter, I am going to try to find them on an Internet stream and sit in front of my computer with a beer.

Cheers.

EPL Preview Part 1 - obviously a little late

2009-08-22T18:18:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up. I have decided to not comment on the results of match day 1 or 2 in writing the predictions that I made before the season started. I hope that you will appreciate the honesty and laugh at a few of the predictions.

Greetings football fans. Welcome to the first installment of my three part EPL preview. This installment will look at where I think the clubs will finish and provide some insight into why I put them where I did. I will mention some players to watch and who I think will be the top scorer. The second part of the preview will come out in the first week of September once the transfer window has closed and look at the situation of the clubs now that they can not bring in more players. The third part will be in February looking at the final months of the season after the second transfer window has closed. Without further ado, here are my projected standings for the 2009/2010 EPL season.

Champions - Liverpool
I went with the Reds to win it all after they put up a good fight last season when they were hampered by injuries. If Liverpool can avoid the injury bug, especially to their key players, then I believe they have the squad that can bring home the title. This could prove easier said than done as it looks like the talismanic midfielder (and Phil Collins fan) Steven Gerrard could miss the opening match away to Spurs. They were definitely miss Xabi Alonso in their midfield, but though Aquilani is a different type of player I don't think Liverpool will notice much of a difference. Last season's Portsmouth player of the year - Glen Johnson is a big improvement at right back.

2nd Place - Manchester United
Obviously selling Ronaldo and allowing Tevez to leave will affect the way the Red Devils play. I think that they still have a talented roster and will compete for the title. Liverpool pushed them last season when they were injured, and I feel a healthy Liverpool will be too much for United. It will be interesting to see how United get through the first few months of the season with out their starting keeper Edwin van der Saar. Michael Owen is another player to watch as he seeks to rebuild his career after a disastrous and injury filled time at Newcastle.

3rd Place - Chelsea
On paper they are the strongest team in the Premier League. However having watched them play they are easily distracted. New boss Carlo Ancelotti will have his hands full controlling the massive egos of his new charges. Chelsea aren't exactly a squad of spring chickens either, so I expect the toll of competing in Cups, Europe, and the league to keep the Blues from the title.

4th Place - Arsenal
I have learned the hard way (in past predictions) that Wenger knows what he is doing. He has a young talented squad. I think that if Arshavin is able to continue his form from last season then the Gunners will have one of the top offenses in the league, even with the loss of Adebayor. I think that the Gunners defense still needs some improvement, the addition of Fulham defender Hangeland would do a lot to fortify their back four. There has been a lot of talk that Arsenal need some toughness in their midfield. I think this is largely because their back four are so weak that they need protecting. So if Wenger does make some improvements to his back line or brings some one into protect them, then the Gunners could join the race for the title.

5th Place - Everton
Everton were another team bitten by the injury bug last season. David Moyes has done an excellent job in keeping his squad together. They are without a doubt a strong side, however they do lack the out and out talent of some of the "big 4". I have them finishing 5th again.

6th Place - Aston Villa
Villa have made some strange moves in the summer after their drop in the standings last season. They let Captain Gareth Barry join Manchester City and brought in Stewart Downing from relegated Middlesbrough. I have the Stewart Downing transfer as my worst of the off season. Mainly because Downing is recovering from an injury and won't be able to play until January. I do however like some of the other moves that MON has made such as grabbing highly touted Fabian Delph from Leeds. A lot will depend on whether Villa are able to hold on to Ashley Young and bring in more players.

7th Place - Manchester City
City have been the big spenders this off season. I think that their squad will be a little dysfunctional as all of the egos get sorted out and they find their best squad. But they will definitely be in the hunt for a European place.

8th Place - West Ham
Zola has impressed me since he took over. He has West Ham's young stars playing well and is trying to bring in experienced players like Luca Toni. I think that this will be a good year for Barrack Obama and other West Ham fans.

9th Place - Sunderland
The Steve Bruce whirlwind has blown into the only premiership ground in the Northeast, and it has brought Darren Bent, Loric Cana, & Lee Cattermole with it. Sunderland are a vastly improved squad from last season. Bruce has excelled at getting the most out of his defenders. If Craig Gordon is able to rediscover some of his earlier form then the Black Cats could find themselves competing for Europe.

10th Place - Tottenham Hotspur
Harry Redknapp continued his big spending ways and now has a lot of money sitting on the bench. It remains to be seen if he is going to move any of it before the transfer window closes. I think that this season will go much the same as the past few Spurs seasons where they get off to a slow start over-react and sack their boss.

11th Place - Bolton
Not a lot to say here, beyond what everyone already knows. Bolton don't tend to play attractive football, they are tough to beat and despite a lack of big names on the squad they are in no danger of being relegated.

12th Place - Blackburn
Big Sam is building a side much like he had when he was in charge of Bolton, I expect them to be equally tough to beat and play equally unattractive football.

13th Place - Fulham
I like what Fulham have been doing in the past few seasons, unfortunately for them they remind me a lot of Portsmouth last season, without being up for sale of course. They are in danger of losing their best player Brede Hengeland to a number of interested teams, which would be a huge blow. Also they are in the Europa League and as I know from watching Pompey last year, even if you don't get terribly far in the competition the fixtures do catch up with a small squad that is why I predicting a drop for the cottagers.

14th Place - Birmingham
I think that they will do the best of the promoted sides. They have a quality boss and have made some good signings, most notably England U21 keeper Joe Hart on loan from Man City & Geovanny Patricio Espinoza. Espinoza has been a favourite of mine since I watched him in the 2006 World Cup with Ecuador where he made a number of game saving tackles. Birmingham may be involved slightly in the relegation battle, but I think this will be a good year for Birmingham City fans.

15th Place - Portsmouth
There is a lot of turmoil at Portsmouth off the field and very few players on it. This summer we have seen the departure of Glen Johnson, Peter Crouch, Sol Campbell, Sean Davis... All in all over 15 players from last year are not back this year. With Distin, Kranjcar, & James possible to follow the others out the door, Pompey are in need of more players. There is a takeover on the horizon and if this gets done before the window closes Pompey have a chance to build a stronger squad. The key player at Pompey this season will undoubtedly be Younnes Kaboul as with Distin likely to leave he will be a key part of our defense. Pompey will restock in the January transfer window. The real question will how much work do they have to do in the second half of the season.

16th Place - Stoke
Stoke were difficult to beat at home last season, they will need to duplicate that form if they are going to stay up again this year. They will be in the relegation battle but I believe they have the strength to avoid the drop.

17th Place - Hull (staying up on goal difference)
Hull rode an excellent start to last season to premier league survival. Phil Brown has been very active in the transfer window, though he has not had a lot of success, he has managed to bring in some quality to his side.

18th Place - Wolves
Last season's Championship winners are a lot younger than last time they were in the premier league. I expect them to play good football but it will not bring them victories. And wins are what you need to avoid relegation.

19th Place - Wigan
When have had a number of off season moves. The most notable was Steve Bruce leaving fro Sunderland and taking Lee Cattermole with him. They also lost Antonio Valencia to Man Utd and released Henri Camara and didn't bring back Amr Zaki. They replaced Bruce with Swansea's boss Roberto Martinez. Teams that Bruce leaves have a habit of getting relegated and I expect Wigan to suffer that fate.

20th Place - Burnley
Burnley went on some big cup runs last season and upset a number of big teams along the way. I think that they have a few upsets in them, come May it could well be points dropped to Burnley that decide the title. Much the same way Liverpool's dropped points to Stoke cost them the title last season. I like the team that Owen Coyle is building, however they look like a team that lacks the quality to stay up this season. I think that they will go down and come right back up perhaps with more staying power next time.

Top Scorer - Fernando Torres

Players to watch - Andrei Arshavin, star players on relegation teams; their teams survival could rest on their shoulders.

EPL Preview Part 2 will be up at the beginning of September when the transfer window has closed.

A brief thought on the Portsmouth Takeover

2009-08-21T10:45:00.003-04:00

GET ON WITH IT!

Thanks to Pompey Beast for the idea & Monty Python for the content.

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Eight

2009-08-13T14:48:00.002-04:00

Sam & I preview the upcoming EPL Season. We have a look at the table from top to bottom and of course spend a couple of extra minutes on our favourite teams. Enjoy,

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Eight

Remember you can subscribe to Canadian Terrace Talk via itunes etc by clicking the link on the right.

Also there is still time to join the Premier League Pool!

Ekstraklasa Preview

2009-08-13T10:49:00.007-04:00

For those of you that don't know the Ekstraklasa is the top flight of Polish football. I apologize for the fact that the preview is coming out a few weeks late, I took the chance that the league wasn't going to start on time due to some corruption scandals, but more on that later. As with the Bundesliga & Championship previews I am joined by a special guest in this case, Michal Krakowiak. All of Michal's comments will be in Italics so that you are able to tell them apart. You may also recall that Michal was the winner of the Confederations's Cup pool that I ran.

Before we jump into things here is a little overview of the Ekstaklasa. There are 16 teams in the Polish top flight, with Wisla Cracow last season's Champions. The Champion gets placed in the Champions League Qualifying while teams two and three are placed in Europa League Qualifying. The bottom two teams are relegated. Now that you have some background on the league, let's get right into the big topic in Polish Football, the corruption scandal.

Investigation in the Polish football is under way. Every now and then new players, referees and clubs officials get arrested for corruption that occurred in the past. Jagiellonia Bialystok started the season with 10 negative points as a penalty for corruption. Widzew Lodz who won the 1st division last season were penalized for corruption by relegation to a lower division and as a result they will stay in the 1st division for at least one more season. Thanks to this, Korona Kielce got automatically promoted to Ekstraklasa in favour of Widzew. Another club from Lodz, LKS, who finished 7th in Ekstraklasa last season, got relegated to 1st division due to not getting a license for playing in the highest division in Poland (financial instability). Because of this, last season’s last team in the league, Cracovia Cracow, remained in Ekstraklasa. All this chaos made starting the league on time uncertain. In the end, the league started out, but LKS and Widzew decided to sue the Polish FA for unfair treatment, relegations and loss of income from sponsors and TV…

It sounds to be similar to some of the situations that we have seen in Scotland, England, & Italy. I am glad to see that the league has taken a strong stance against corruption and financial instability as that is a major threat to football worldwide. As a Pompey fan I would fully expect us to be penalized if our takeover falls apart as well. If Leagues don't deal with financial instability strongly then more leagues could end up like Argentina's which has been unable to start. It did look that the start of the season would be delayed but the league pressed on with the scheduled start. So now on with the predictions.

Who will win the league?

Lech Poznan - because the team has matured after last season adventure in the UEFA Cup and although they lost their captain Rafal Murawski, who moved to Rubin Kazan – the Russian champion, Lech managed to kept forwards Robert Lewandowski and Hernan Rengifo, and brilliant central midfielder Semir Stilic on the team. Lech also bought three valuable players: a goalie Grzegorz Kasprzik, a former international - left back Seweryn Gancarczyk and last season 1st division top scorer Krzysztof Chrapek. Having easily won first two matches in the league, and as the only Polish team still playing in Europe, they assured their rivals they will finally go for gold this season.

I am going to go with Wisla Cracow to repeat as Ekstraklasa Champions. They have gotten off to a disastorous start in Europe, by being eliminated by FC Levadia Tallinn of Estonia in the 2nd round of Champions League qualifying. However I think that they will recover from this dissappointment and take advantage of the fact that their main rivals for top spot Lech Pozan will have to play extra matches as they are still involved in the Europa League.

Who are the rest of the top 5?

Wisla Cracow and Legia Warsaw made some good transfers during the summer break. Wisla got three footballers with experience in their national teams: midfielders Lukasz Gargula and Slovenian Andraz Kirm, and right back Pablo Alvarez from Uruguay. If Wisla doesn’t lose their top scorer Pawel Brozek, who’s rumored to be on the wish list of AS Monaco and Hannover 96, they should be the biggest threat to Lech in the race for the championship.

Legia got only one player, forward Marcin Mieciel, who was playing in German Bundesliga’s VfL Bochum, but also released three Spanish players who were a huge disappointment last season and were a heavy burden on the club’s budget.

Polonia Warsaw, GKS Belchatow and Slask Wroclaw will fight for the places behind the podium.

I have Lech Poznan in second spot, in what I feel will be quite a close title race. Legia Warsaw will follow in third to get the last European place, just ahead of their Warsaw neighbours Polonia. Then I have Lechia Gdansk sneaking into fifth spot.

Who will get relegated?

Odra Wodzislaw and Piast Gliwice will be unfortunate and go down to the 1st division.

I agree that Piast Gliwice will take the drop however I think that they will be joined by Arka Gdynia.

Young talents to watch

Great dribbler Patryk Malecki, offensive midfielder from Wisla, should make a debut in the senior national team this season.

Robert Lewandowski and Semir Stilic from Lech Poznan may both get transferred to better leagues in the Winter or after this season. Lech managed to keep them on the team during this transfer window despite solid offers from Borussia Dortmund and Celtic Glasgow. Stilic was also matched with Arsenal London before he moved to Lech.

Adrian Paluchowski and Maciej Rybus from Legia. Paluchowski was supposed to be the fourth striker on his team but turned out to be the best goal scorer in the preseason friendlies and in the beginning of the season. Rybus, left winger, is on his way to the senior national team and soon he should get called up.

Kamil Glik from Piast. This central defender moved to Piast from… Real Madrid. He moved from the C team, and his good form last season caught attention of some top German and Greek clubs. He still plays in Ekstraklasa, but it seems to be only a matter of time when he moves to a bigger club.

Anything Else of Interest?

Franciszek Smuda, last season Lech’s manager, is currently unemployed, but very likely not for long. Polonia Warsaw’s owner Jozef Wojciechowski wants him to take over the managerial position in his club. Smuda also wants to make his dream come true and work as the Poland’s national team manager in case Leo Beenhakker and his team blow it and don’t make it through the World Cup qualifiers.

I am always interested in the transfers that teams make. It will be interesting to see if any of the teams make a move to bring Polish Striker Ebi Smolarek back to Poland. He was released from his contract at Racing Santander after a disappointing season on loan at Bolton. He would be a big boost to any of the teams in the title race.

So there you have it, The Ekstraklasa preview. Thanks to Michal for all of your help. Stay tuned for more Previews. The EPL preview will come out next followed by La Liga & Serie A.

Special Guest on The Subs Bench

2009-08-09T08:00:00.003-04:00

The guys over at The Subs Bench invited me to join them for their EPL Preview Podcast. Listen as we discuss all 20 Premiership teams in preparation for the start of the season, now less than a week away.

Also don't forget to join the Premier League pool!

Bundesliga Preview

2009-08-07T09:40:00.007-04:00

The Bundesliga kicks off this afternoon for those of you in the Americas and this evening for those in Europe. To help me work my way through the upcoming Bundesliga season I recruited the help of a German friend, Jan. All of Jan's comments are in italics so they should be easy to separate from mine. Last season there were a number of great stories in the Bundesliga, the rise and fall of Hoffenheim, Klinnsman & Bayern, and Wolfsburg grabbing the title. There have been a number of coaching changes and player moves over the summer, far too many to list off here, but many are mentioned in the predictions below. Without further ado the Bundesliga preview:

Champion

Bayern Munich. Last year - like any year - they were close to winning even though they had a bad year for their own standards. It seems to me that van Gaal with his strict system with a focus on basics is resonating with the team so far. And the new people they brought in - Branfheid, Timoschuk and especially Gomez should make the team stronger. But more importantly I hope he can keep his word to make the team stronger! They need to operate as a team, a union, and that would be the most important difference to last year when that never happened. Van Gaal said this when he started at Bayern: "The Bavarian lifestyle fits me like a glove. Why? We are we (mia san mia), and I am myself. Self-confident, arrogant, dominant, honest, industrious, innovative, and also warm and family-centred." That sums up Bayern SO well.

Bayern Munich. Van Gaal won the Eredivisie last season with AZ, and now he is at the helm of a much more talented squad. With the addition of Gomez, it makes it very difficult to see anyone but Bayern being crowned Champions at the end of the season.

Rest of the European places

Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, Hamburg, Schalke, Leverkusen (Hoffenheim). Stuttgart - they had a strong team at the end of last season with coach Babbel being a real discovery. They lost Gomez, but they got back Aleksandar Hleb who played there for years and should provide important leadership qualities in midfield. Also, they seem to have signed Progrebniak - very interesting indeed. The keep guys like Hitzelsberger and Khedira.

Wolfsburg - the team stayed intact almost entirely and Volkswagen coughed up more money for the likes of Obafemi Martins. The coach Armin Veh was champion with Stuttgart a few seasons ago and should be able to see them finish strongly again. Win again? Not a chance. But strong contender for the 2nd/3rd spot.

Hamburg - watch those guys. At the end of last season with some injuries they did not have the quantity and slipped in the standing. They now have quantity and quality. Rhozenal from Roma, Elias from the Netherlands, Ze Roberto from Bayern, and then some of the stars of the U21 Euro: Marcus Berg, Dennis Aogo, Jerome Boateng, Ben-Hatira. And all those guys are now a year older and a bit stronger. So I am gonna say they will compete for 2nd/3rd as well.

Schalke, Leverkusen, Hoffenheim - they will duke it out for the rest of the international spots. Leverkusen and Hoffenheim follow the Arsenal model - lots of very talented young guys (like Patrick Helmes for Leverkusen oder Ibisevic Hoff.) and add one or two experienced guys (Lev. signed Sami Hyppia from Liverpool, Hoff. signed Simunic from Berlin). Schalke will compete because they now have Magath who will shake up the club. And they really need that. That club is like Newcastle - fantastic history and drama all the time, but no stability and sense. They do have some good players, but Magath will give them some structure too.

Sttutgart, Wolfsburg, Hamburg & Dortmund

For me Sttutgart, Wolfsburg, & Hamburg are in a class just below Bayern, but above the rest of the Bundesliga. It will be quite an interesting battle to see if any of these teams can push Bayern for the title. As well there will be quite a battle on for the 2nd & 3rd places that carry Champions League opportunities, with one of these teams having to settle for the Europa League.

With Dortmund, they came close to capturing a European place last season, I think that they will better that finish this season by grabbing the final place in Europe.

Relegation Battle

Bochum, Frankfurt, Mainz. Why, just a good feeling.

Mainz. - They have some injuries and I think that they will slide down the standings at the start of the season. I am not confident that the arrival of the "Austrian Beckham" Andreas Ivanschitz on loan will be enough to ensure their survival.

Nürnberg - They are back in the Bundesliga after a great run at the end of last season saw them promoted. They will need a string of good results if they are going to stay up, and I don't see them getting it.

Hannover - They had the leakiest defense last season and I don't think that they have done enough to avoid that distinction again this season. Last season they were successful at getting points at home, I think that with some more scoring at other clubs that could be a difficult feat to repeat, therefore Hannover will take the drop.

Players to watch

Gomez, Bayern: he is a fantastic striker. Give him the chance to play Champions League AND have a support team to take some of the pressure of him AND provide him with the passes to score a lot! Honestly, in one or two years Barca, Chelsea and Madrid will throw €70 Million at Bayern for him.

Adler, Leverkusen and Neuer, Schalke: Those two goalies are among the best of their trade globally. They should play Champions League but won't this year. Still, for the yrs to come they will be the big goalies. When Manchester United needs a replacement for van der Saar those names will come up.

Barrios, Dortmund: good striker they picked up rather cheap. I rate him at 15-20 goals this year.

Özil/Marin: those guys are very exciting and when they understand each other better on the pitch, they'll become one hectic team. Sure, they are young, so they will have lows and bad games too. Still ... give them a season or two and they'll be good. In the Europa League they'll make their mark.

Podolski, Köln: After a disappointing spell at Bayern he is back at his home town club, and I am interested to see how he will fare there.

Berg, Hamburg: After capturing Europe's (and Canada's) attention at the UEFA U21 tournament in his native Sweden he has move from the Eredivisie to the Bundesliga. It is definitely a step up, and it will be interesting to see how many goals last season's second top scorer in Holland will net in Germany.

If this season is anywhere near half as interesting as last season it will be another great year for the Bundesliga. I am looking forward to the start of the season and I hope that you are too.

Premier League Pool

2009-08-06T14:26:00.003-04:00

Greetings Everyone,

As you are no doubt aware another Premier League season kicks out next week. You may have guessed from the title that I am running a pool, like the Confederations Cup pool I will run it through SuperBru. If you haven't used SuperBru before you will need to make an account. Here is the pool information:

Website: http://www.superbru.com/epl
Pool code: bragpare
Pool name: PompeyCanuck′s Pool

The pool is based on picking the results of the matches. If you are interested in a fantasy league where you pick the players then I would direct you to The Subs Bench who are running a points league and a head to head league. I have joined both so you can attempt to topple me there.

Cheers & Good Luck

Championship Preview

2009-08-06T11:13:00.004-04:00

Last season the Championship was the fourth most watched(attendances) football league in Europe, behind only the Premier League, La Liga, & the Bundesliga. They are likely to build off those attendance numbers now that Newcastle have joined their ranks.

In the Championship the top two teams are automatically promoted to the Premier League, while teams 3 through 6 enter a playoff, with the promotion winner also being promoted. These three teams are replaced by the bottom three teams from the Premier League. Also the bottom three sides in the Championship are relegated to League One and replaced by three League one sides (the top two and playoff winner). So joining the Championship this season are relegated Newcastle, West Bromwich Albion, & Middlesbrough along with promoted Leicester City, Peterborough, & Scunthorpe. To help me with this preview I have enlisted The Score's Thomas Dobby. All of Dobby's thoughts will be in italics that should make it easy to tell us apart. Here are our thoughts on the 2009/2010 Championship Season.

Champions

Middlesbrough
It all depends on if they can keep a lot of their players from last season, but as it stands, they are a very strong Championship side. Downing is gone, and that will hurt but there are still plenty of Premiership- caliber players in the squad. Very good chance of bouncing straight back up.

West Bromwich Albion
WBA dominated the Championship in 2007/8, took the majority of the squad to the premier league and got relegated. I think that they have a good team and will be able to gain promotion, I don't think that many premier league clubs will come for their players as last year showed that they are not premier league quality. The challenge for WBA will be next season if they abandon their current squad and yo-yo existence between leagues and try to stay in the Premier League.

2nd Place, Automatic Promotion

West Bromwich Albion
I worry a little about their inexperienced manager, Roberto Di Matteo, but it was time for a change after their very disappointing season under Tony Mowbray in the top flight. Di Matteo did a nice job with MK Dons in his first foray into management last season, guiding them to the playoffs. It may be another case of too soon, though (ie Paul Ince). But West Brom are a very strong Championship side, as seen 2 seasons ago, when they ran rampant over the division. A lot of that core still remains. Very good chance of jumping straight back up. One of those teams that are a bit too good for the Championship, but not good enough for the premiership.

Ipswich
I believe that Roy Keane is a quality manager and at the moment seems to be comfortable in Ipswich. The team responded well to him at the end of last season. He led Sunderland to Championship victory in 2006/7 and I think that he will enjoy a similarly effective run in charge of the Tractor Boys.

The Playoff teams

Sheffield United*, Cardiff, Preston, Ipswich
*Win play-offs this time!

Sheffield United, Middlesbrough, Derby, Queens Park Rangers.
I think that Boro will get off to a great start, but I think that they will eventually end up selling some of their squad, and this disruption to their team will see them drop into the playoffs. With the Blades it will be interesting to see how Ched Evens does, also to see if Paddy Kenny is suspended as that could have a large impact on the squad. With Derby & QPR I have a feeling that these two will sneak into the playoffs likely towards the last weekend.

Relegation

Coventry
Won 1 game after February last season, and if they start with that sort of form, it could be a very long season at the Ricoh. Their FA Cup run didn’t help their league form last season, but Chris Coleman, and the Sky Blues could be in deep trouble.

Watford
Yet another new manager- a 37 year old at that! Malky Mackay takes over a team that had a really nice run to survive last season. Won’t be as fortunate this year.

Scunthorpe
May be a bit out of their depth after coming up from League 1

Newcastle United
I see more heart ache for Magpies fans. They are in the midst of a takeover mess, without a manager, and a squad full of overpaid players who don't want to be in the championship. Newcastle showed no fight in trying to avoid relegation last season, unless there are massive changes at St. James's I think that it will be back to back relegations for the Magpies.

Scunthorpe
I think that Dobby hit the nail on the head.

Doncaster Rovers
They exceeded expectations last season and finished 14th, they have sold a few of their best players and I see them going down this year.

Points of Interest

*How will Nigel Clough and Roy Keane fare at Derby and Ipswich respectively, with a whole season at the helm?

*Will QPR’S money be enough to see them challenge for promotion? They were disappointing in 08/09.

*Swansea were last year’s sexy team, but after missing out on the playoffs, and losing their manager Roberto Martinez and top striker Jason Scotland to Wigan, how will they respond?
My prediction is they finish about 8th, just out of the playoffs once again.

*Could another Ferguson join the top-flight? Sir Alex’s son Darren manages high-flying Peterborough who, with a little bit of luck could push for the play-offs, and back-to-back promotions.

*The obvious: What will become of Newcastle? It was a stunner when they were relegated, but do they have the mettle to come straight back up? I don’t think so…it may be another long season for the Toon Army. I predict a mid-table finish for the Magpies.

*How will Cardiff adjust into life at their new stadium? I think it will take a little settling in and look for the Blue birds to gain promotion next year.

*Who will hold onto their players? The August and January transfer windows will have a huge outcome on the Championship season. Last year Sheffield United sold striker James Beattie and narrowly missed out on promotion. If you are serious about promotion you have to be able to hold onto your best players through the transfer window.

*Who will be the loan wizards? Some clubs can build a squad out of other teams players and make a strong push for promotion. It will be interesting to see who excels at bringing in the right players on loan.

So there you have it, a Championship preview. The season gets underway tomorrow with a match between promotion rivals Middlesbrough & Sheffield United. Thanks to Thomas Dobby for his insightful input.

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Seven

2009-08-06T10:51:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately I was unable to be a part of this podcast after falling victim to the dreaded long weekend cold. My co-host Sam, from the Canadian Stretford End, took the reigns and was joined by Kristian Jack from The Score. They discussed the crazy transfer window, look ahead to the Premier League season, they also preview the Championship starting this weekend and the Toronto FC - Real Madrid match. Enjoy!

Canadian Terrace Talk Episode Seven

Note there is a link to subscribe on the right hand side.

On Facebook & Twitter

2009-08-06T10:45:00.001-04:00

I am now on Facebook & Twitter. You can find me @PompeyCanuck on Twitter, or by clicking on the "follow me on twitter" button on the right hand side of this page. On Facebook you can find me by searching for Pompey Canuck. There are also pages for Think it all in & Canadian Terrace Talk on Facebook.