Canada-centric linkspam

• First up, some (moderately) good news for those of us in Canada: Setanta Sports is going to be launching a Canadian soccer channel in partnership with Rogers Cable. There aren't a lot of details yet, but they're hoping to have it up and running by the time the Premiership season starts on August 11. It'll probably be a premium channel, costing about $15 a month. Which is pretty steep, but I'm going to suck it up and pay so I can get my fix.
  
  Basically, what's happened is this: The Score bought the Canadian rights for Premiership games, and is going to be sub-licensing them to Setanta. The Score will carry the 11am Sunday games, while Setanta will have most of the other games. Rogers Sportsnet, which was previously showing three games on Saturdays, will now only have one: the second-choice 10am match. FSWC, I think, is going to be left out in the cold.
  
  
• The police inquiry into the incident with the Chilean U20 team has exonerated the officers involved. Hopefully that'll be the end of that.
  
  
• The Canadian women's team came home from the Pan Am Games with the bronze medal, beating Mexico 2-1 in the third-place game. It was kind of a so-so tournament for Canada: they dominated their first two group games but then lost to Brazil 7-0 (or, really, losing to Marta +10) in the final round-robin match and went down 2-1 to the USA in the semi-finals. (The USA, represented by an U20 team, went on to lose 5-0 to Brazil in the final.) They've got a couple weeks off now, and then it's back to training for the World Cup in September.
  
  
• Toronto FC are finally back at home, but still struggling. They lost 4-2 to Aston Villa in a friendly last week -- although at least that was a decent performance, with TFC going down 2-0 and then coming back to tie it up before losing to a couple of late goals. On Sunday, though, they lost 3-0 to the Chicago Fire, and they were terrible.
  
  The team, unfortunately, is carrying a lot of injuries, including both their first- and second-string keepers. (Jose Mourinho is almost feeling sympathetic right now.) They actually had to start an 18-year-old rookie in net this week -- but the problem was less the goalkeeping and more the rest of the team in front of him. They had nothing going forward and even less defence. I know the MLS isn't the greatest league in the world, but come on. You can't let players just walk into the box unmarked.
  
  Up next: A home game against the LA Galaxy (aka David Beckham And His Man Crumpets). Still no word on whether Becks will play, but if he does, I'm sure he'll get quite the reception the first time he goes to take a corner.
  
  
• I forgot to mention this before, but the 2008 MLS All-Star Game is going to be held in Toronto.
  
  
• Why soccer isn't hockey. Not a bad clip from the CBC, with a reporter venturing into the stands during a Toronto FC game. Actually, this reminds me that I have a theory that part of the reason why soccer has been (relatively speaking) welcomed here is that hockey, rather than a "summer" sport like baseball or football, is our number one sport. And soccer -- despite the insanity of the Stanley Cup finals being played in June -- doesn't conflict too much with the hockey season.

U20 World Cup Wrap-up

I thought about doing some kind of tournament recap, but it basically boiled down to this: Argentina won, Canada sucked, I didn't hate the US tinies as much as I thought, Spain got my hopes up only to choke as usual, teenage boys are hot-headed idiots, tasering people is bad. The end.

The incident with the Chilean team, as far as I know, still hasn't been resolved. I suspect the truth is that both the Chilean players and the Toronto police were partly to blame. But FIFA's going to be investigating it, which means we'll probably never hear what actually happened.

Apart from that controversy, though, it was a very successful tournament, setting attendance records -- 1,195,299 spectators, ahead of the 1,155,160 in Mexico in 1983 -- and getting some decent TV ratings. (This despite the fact that the CBC shunted a lot of the games off to Country Canada rather than showing them on the main network.)

Encouraged by this, the CSA are considering bidding for the Women's World Cup in 2011. But if they do that, I hope there are a few more proper stadiums -- I mean not necessarily soccer-specific stadiums, because putting down a new pitch isn't such a huge problem, but stadiums that are the right size. This time around, the venues ranged from Swangard Stadium in Vancouver, with a measley 10,000 seats, to the 60,000-seat Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, which was usually about half-full. They need some kind of happy medium, because even if they're selling 30,000 tickets or so to games, the crowd looks lost rattling around in a gigantic stadium.

While I'm being critical, let's talk about the CBC, who were the host broadcasters. The commentators, for the most part, were fine -- probably because the majority were organized by FIFA instead of being drawn from the CBC. As for the in-house guys, Nigel Reed and Craig Forrest did a decent job on their games (although I could have done with slightly less preaching from Forrest about Argentina's diving in the final; I don't like diving any more than you do, Craig, but I don't need to be beaten about the head with it in the commentary either). The other team, Steve Armitage and Paul Dolan...not so much. Dolan's a former national team member, so he knows his stuff, but Armitage is clearly not a soccer guy, and I couldn't get away from the impression that he was meant to be commentating an NHL game instead ("He shoots...he scores!").

They also seemed to have a problem synching up their satellite feed for some of the games, because the audio was slightly ahead of the video. Most of the time it wasn't a big deal (the commentators just seemed unusually on top of things), but you really don't want to hear them announcing a goal before you've actually seen the ball hit the back of the net.

The CBC did have a pretty good website, for the tournament, including a comprehensive rundown of all the groups, with team-by-team analysis. Probably the best part of their coverage was that all the games were streamed live on the website, or available to watch later.

On the other hand, the CBC site was far from perfect. If they want to feature commentators' blogs, for example, then they need to be updated more than once a week. My biggest quibble was that they didn't have the most basic thing: a page where you could see all the fixtures and results at once. It's not that hard; both Sportsnet and TSN managed to put one together, and the Sportsnet page even has links to individual match reports.

Okay, I know that most of y'all are probably bored by now. But the Women's World Cup is coming up this September on the CBC, and I live in hope that somebody from the Mothership may actually take note of some of this for their coverage down the road.

U20 World Cup Finals

Czech Republic 1-2 Argentina
So Argentina won, as you might have predicted. But although they dominated possession, the teams were very closely matched, in a replay of their scoreless draw from the group stage. The opening goal didn't come until the 60th minute, and it was the Czechs who struck first, with Martin Fenin holding off the defender to swivel and power his shot in at the far post.

Argentina responded almost immediately -- you're always more vulnerable when you've just scored a goal -- with a perfect through ball from midfield that split the defence for Aguero to run onto and slot past the keeper. The winning goal for Argentina was late in the game, Miguel Zarate beating Radek Petr at the near post and making his team six-time world champions at this level. The commentators seemed to think that Petr was slightly out of position for the shot, and he did look wrecked after the game, but if so, it was harsh on him, because he'd he'd been outstanding throughout the tournament up till that point.

Also outstanding: Sergio Aguero, who won both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball, and of course is now going to be constantly referred to as the new Leo Messi. (Can you even have a new Messi if the old one's only 20?) And Maxi Moralez, who is literally easy to overlook but has been fantastic in every game I've seen, even when, like in this one, he's running around with his head all bandaged up. Finally, I have to give kudos to the referee; when he pulled out his card for an early booking, I was afraid it was going to turn into a repeat of Argentina-Chile, but although there were plenty of fouls, he seemed to keep things under control. Yay for avoiding another international incident.

In the third-place match, Chile managed to cobble together 11 fit players to beat Austria 1-0, the only goal coming from a free kick in first-half injury time that defender Hans Martinez volleyed acrobatically into the net. The third-place finish is Chile's best ever and will hopefully console them somewhat for losing out to Argentina in the semis. As for Austria, they did well to make it this far, and I'm going to give them (collectively) the final Bad Hair Award of the tournament, for all painting the Austrian flag on the back of their heads.

That's it for the U20s, although if I feel really ambitious I may do some sort of overall tournament wrap-up. Depends how bored I am by all the pre-season friendlies: quite a bit, or a really staggering amount?

U20 World Cup: Semi-finals

Austria 0-2 Czech Republic
Chile 0-3 Argentina.

Well, that was ugly.

I'm referring mostly to the post-game scenes at the Argentina-Chile match last night. Some of the Chilean players, understandably not happy about two of their teammates having been sent off, squared up to the referee, who had to be escorted off the pitch by the police. And it got worse after that. It's not really clear what made everything kick off -- there's supposed to be another press conference later today -- but basically, some of the Chileans got into a scuffle with the police as they were boarding their team bus outside the stadium. (There's a fuzzy YouTube video here, but if you can tell what's going on, your eyes are better than mine.) It ended up with one of them getting tasered, several being handcuffed, and the team taken back into the dressing room to be detained. Nice.

As for the game itself? Well, that wasn't too pretty either. It started well enough, with chances for both sides, before Argentina's opening goal: a through ball to Angel di Maria, and a beautiful first-time finish that crashed in off the inside of the post. But a few minutes later it got worse for Chile, as Gary Medel was sent off for kicking out at Gabriel Mercado.

After that a little bit of football actually managed to break out, but basically the game was a flurry of fouls, yellow cards, and players rolling around in feigned agony. The Argentines were particularly good at this -- I'm sure the senior team would be very proud of them -- but the Chileans weren't exactly innocent victims either. Here is the thing: you can play hard, possibly even dirty, or you can bitch and whine about being fouled. You cannot do both. No, you can't. Because I said so, that's why.

I think the referee, Wolfgang Stark, really didn't help matters. He set a precedent by pulling out a yellow card for practically the first foul of the night, and once he'd sent off Medel (a debatable call, because Mercado kicked out at him as well; Mercado just happened to be the one on the ground pretending he'd got hit in the face), it was all downhill from there. Chile had another player sent off in the 77th minute for picking up two yellows -- it's hard to tell, from the cluster of players around the ref, but I'm assuming the second was for dissent. And, yes, that's a stupid thing to get booked for, but you can kind of understand their frustration by that point. The one Chilean player who stood out for me was the goalkeeper, Toselli, who's also their captain and did his best trying to keep his team calm. Oh, but he got booked for his troubles as well.

There were a couple other goals for Argentina -- Claudio Jacob converting a cross from Maxi Moralez, and then Moralez adding another one in stoppage time -- but the whole game just left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Austria-Czech Repulic match on Wednesday night was relatively calm by comparison. But then again, it also bored the crap out of me. The Czechs were up 2-0 after 15 minutes, with goals from Tomas Micola and Martin Fenin, and were happy to just sit back and fend off Austria for the rest of the game. The Czech Republic had the advantage of having stayed in Edmonton after their quarter-final match, while Austria had flown in from Toronto and were also missing a bunch of key players through suspensions and injuries. Erwin Hoffer started up front for Austria, but all he did was prove that he's much more effective coming on as a sub.

Anyway, I've decided that I'll be cheering for the Czech Republic in the final on Sunday. I can't support Argentina after all the nastiness yesterday, not to mention, well, they're Argentina. Plus, how can you not love the Czechs for celebrating their victory by (1) making a train across the pitch and (2) putting on deely-boppers?

And speaking of ugliness, yes, it's the Bad Hair of the Day award. I was going to give it to Chile's Christian Suarez for his half-cornrows, but then I saw his teammate Mathias Vidangossy, who has managed to combine a fauxhawk-cum-mullet and a few straggly rattails with a really unfortunate dye job that makes him look like he's got a rust-coloured opossum on his head. A truly stellar achievement.

U20 World Cup: Quarter-finals

Austria 2-1 USA (aet)
Spain 1-1 Czech Republic (3-4 on penalty kicks)
Chile 4-0 Nigeria (aet)
Argentina 1-0 Mexico

I finally got to see one of the games live: I went to USA v. Austria on Saturday. It was a great game to watch, too, aside from the fact that it rained the entire time. This is not fun in an open stadium. I'm sure the guys outside selling rain ponchos made a fortune that day.

Anyway, I sort of feel like I should apologize to YNBA and goalscoring robot for cheering for Austria and jinxing their team, but I really didn't think the Austrians were going to win. Especially not after they gave up a goal in the first 15 minutes. They pulled one back just before halftime though, with the US keeper spilling a shot (blame it on the rain, as both Milli and Vanilli would say) and Ruben Okotie pouncing on the rebound. That was pretty much the only useful thing I saw Okotie do all game; he had a terrible first touch, and I can't figure out why he started the game instead of Erwin Hoffer, unless it was deliberately planned so that Hoffer could do his super-sub thing once again.

Hoffer came on as a sub in extra time (and I should point out here that he has his nickname shaved into the side of his head, which is an excellent reason for y'all to make fun of him), and just as he did against Gambia, he bagged the winner for Austria. It had been a very physical game, with a total of 41 fouls and 12 yellow cards -- and two of those yellow cards went to the US left back Anthony Wallace, who was sent off in the 103rd minute. The resulting free kick pinged around the box before Hoffer scrambled it into the net, sending his team into the semi-finals.

I only saw bits and pieces of the other matches, but I did catch Spain reverting to form (i.e., choking) against the Czech Republic on Saturday night. Both teams failed to score in regular time, although Spain's Adrian Lopez missed a tap-in on an open net near the end of the game. In extra time it was much the same, with the score level at 1-1 and Spain again wasting a great chance to win the game. Instead they went to penalty kicks, Manchester United's Gerard Pique had his shot saved, and the Czechs won their second straight game on penalties.

Chile and Nigeria were also scoreless after 90 minutes, but then the game exploded in extra time. Jaime Grondona scored what would be the winning goal for Chile just five minutes in, but the Chileans also scored a penalty in the 114th minute and followed it up with two more goals, just to pour salt in the wounds, as Nigeria pushed forward desperately in search of a goal.

Argentina v. Mexico was the only quarter-final match that didn't go to extra time. The two teams largely nullified each other, with the decisive goal coming from the pocket-sized Maxi Moralez (seriously, he's shorter than I am; that is short) just before halftime. These were two of the best teams in the competition so far, and the Mexicans may feel they were unlucky to meet in the quarter-finals. But it'll be Argentina v. Chile in Toronto on Thursday, while Austria fly to Edmonton to take on the Czechs on Wednesday.

U20 World Cup Round of 16: July 12

Chile 1-0 Portugal
Zambia 1-2 Nigeria
Argentina 3-1 Poland
Mexico 3-0 Congo

All the quarter-final matches I've seen have been fantastic, but for about 80 minutes, I thought that Portugal v. Chile was going to be the exception. I don't know if the Portuguese team was missing their injured captain Bruno Gama or what, but they just weren't on their game yesterday. Chile took the lead just before the break, Arturo Vidal scoring off a free kick, and although Portugal got it together a bit in the second half, they never really looked like they thought they could win. And then it all deteriorated into a farce in injury time, with Mano sent off for scuffling with on of the Chilean players, Zequinha trying to prevent it by snatching the red card out of the referee's hand and being sent to the showers as well, and then Chile losing Vidal a couple minutes later after a second yellow for time-wasting. It was sort of reminiscent of Portugal-Holland at the World Cup, except with extra hot-headed teenage idiocy.

In the other game I saw, Poland jumped out to a surprise lead against Argentina, with Dawid Janczyk beating the offside trap and finishing coolly. But Argentina took less than 10 minutes to equalize, through a gorgeous flowing move created by Maxi Moralez, who scurried past a couple of defenders, played a one-two with Sergio Aguero and then squared the ball across the net for Angel di Maria to sweep home. The Argentines dominated possession all game, with Aguero scoring again just after halftime and then adding a third late on. The result sets up an intriguing quarter-final against Mexico on Sunday -- a rematch of the semi-final between the senior teams in the Copa America.

Finally, in the other two matches, Congo conceded a penalty to Mexico in the first half and then had a player sent off, but held on bravely before giving up two more late goals, while Nigeria edged out Zambia in a tight contest between the two African teams.

So here's how the quarter-finals shape up:

Saturday
Austria v. USA
Spain v. Czech Republic

Sunday
Chile v. Nigeria
Argentina v. Mexico

U20 World Cup Round of 16: July 11

Austria 2-1 Gambia
USA 2-1 Uruguay (aet)
Spain 4-2 Brazil (aet)
Japan 2-2 Czech (3-4 on penalties)

Yay, Spain! I was sure I'd jinxed them when they gave up two goals in about two minutes in the first half. But the U20s apparently haven't learned how to choke yet. They pulled one back before halftime, as Gerard Pique bundled a free kick into the net with his arm (but let's not dwell on that), and got a late equalizer from another free kick, taken quickly by Javi Garcia to catch Brazilian keeper Cassio off guard.

Brazil had a couple good chances in extra time, but it was Spain who scored first, and the Brazilians then went down to 10 men as Lima was sent off for dissent. With the numerical advantage, Spain kept pressing and wore Brazil down, scoring again in the 120th minute to kill them off and ensure that I still have somebody to cheer for.

Actually, all four of the games yesterday were pretty entertaining. The USA went behind to Uruguay early on, but tied it up with an own-goal late in the game, and then Michael Bradley scored in extra time to refute the accusations of nepotism and almost make me like his team momentarily. (And then there was a brawl after the final whistle, because it seems that Uruguay are really, really bad losers.)

Austria took the lead against Gambia, who once again had a man sent off but still managed to equalize, before Erwin "Jimmy" Hoffa* came off the bench to clinch the win for Austria. And Japan was up 2-0 against the Czech Republic, but then gave up two spot-kicks in three minutes and went on to lose on penalties, in an enthralling battle of shaved heads versus extravagant anime hair.**

* This is really what they call him. Hee.

** Best hair of the day, though, goes to the USA's Andre Akpan, although sadly I can't find a decent picture of the giant burnt sienna fro he was rocking. EDIT: Thanks to YNBA, here it is, in all its dubious glory.

Mid-Week Randomness

• I've been sporadically watching the Copa America, but it's slightly weird because I don't like any of the teams that are left in the semifinals. I think at this point I'm cheering for Not Brazil. And for people to kick Leo Messi.
  
  
• Now that Canada's been knocked out of the U20s, I've decided to throw my support behind Spain. It'll be interesting to see if the tinies choke as badly as the senior team does. And they're up against Brazil tonight, so all signs point to yes.
  
  
• An interview with Dale Mitchell, the Canadian U20 coach, where he analyzes what went wrong for them at this tournament and basically says, "We weren't good enough." It's kind of refreshing to see that sort of honesty, but I'd like it even better if he also offered some suggestions about how to fix it.
  
  
• Oh my god, I am so sick of the Tevez to United saga already. And you just know it's going to drag on for ages. I wish I could wake up in August and have it be over.
  
  
• I've been scoping out new cleats and the thing I keep wondering is why so many of them are so phenomenally ugly. I'm somewhat reconciled to the white boots now, but not the gold ones. Or pea-soup green. And there's certainly no excuse for these monstrosities. I also hate these ones, which I keep seeing everywhere, usually in yellow so it makes you look like a platypus. Possibly the worst, though, are these, which appear to come in different colours for each foot, presumably for all those footballers who still haven't learned their right from their left. (As YNBA said, Rio Ferdinand needs shoes too.)

Woe, Canada

Canada have crashed out of the U20 World Cup, losing 2-0 to Congo yesterday. They needed not only to beat the Congo but to score at least three goals to have a chance at qualifying for the round of 16, which was always going to be tough, considering that they hadn't managed to score in either of their first two games. This makes Canada officially the worst team in the tournament, because even New Zealand and Scotland, who also lost all three games, at least managed a goal or two along the way.

It's an incredibly disappointing result for the hosts, and you could see how devastated the players were last night. (I want to bake them all cookies, especially David Edgar and his stubble of manly angst.) But at least they played better in this game than they did against Austria. They put pressure on Congo right from the start and were creating a lot more chances; instead, the problem was lack of finishing, combined with a couple defensive lapses to let Congo in. And to make matters worse, they had goalkeeper Asmir Begovic sent off for a handball outside the box in the 73rd minute -- and having already used all their subs, had to put midfielder Jonathan Beaulieu-Bourgault in net. You have to give them credit for fighting it out, all the way to the final whistle, but I can't help wondering if they'd still be in the tournament if they'd played like this last week.

The other key game yesterday was Gambia upsetting Portugal 2-1. Portugal had already booked their place in the last 16, so they chose to rest a bunch of players, but unfortunately captain Bruno Gama wasn't one of them, and he's now out with a broken bone in his foot. Gambia also had a man sent off, but they went on to win the game and leapfrog Portugal into second place. That means that all four African teams have qualified for the next round, which is something to think about for all those people who keep predicting that an African team will win the World Cup by 2010.

So, here's the lineup for the next round of games:

Wednesday
Austria (A2) v. Gambia (C2)
Uruguay (B3) v. USA (D1)
Spain (B1) v. Brazil (D3)
Japan (F1) v. Czech (E2)

Thursday
Zambia (B2) v. Nigeria (F2)
Argentina (E1) v. Poland (D2)
Mexico (C1) v. Congo (A3)
Chile (A1) v. Portugal (C3)

U20 World Cup

We're into the final round of group games, so I thought it was time to get caught up. Groups D and E have already finished; the final games in Groups B and F are today, while Groups A and C finish tomorrow. Even for the teams who've wrapped up play, though, their fate hasn't necessarily been decided, because of the format of the tournament: the top two teams from each group will move on to the round of 16, along with the four best third-place teams.

Group A
Chile (6; W2, D0, L0)
Austria (4; W1, D1, L0)
Congo (1; W0, D1, L0)
Canada (0; W0, D0, L2)

Chile sit on top of the group after 3-0 wins over both Canada and Congo. Austria, in second place, drew with Congo and then squeaked out a narrow win against Canada. The final round of games will be Chile v. Austria and Canada v. Congo. Congo could finish in second place with a win against Canada, while the Canadians desperately need a win to keep their hopes alive.

The Canadians' performance has been really disappointing, unfortunately. I didn't see the game against Chile, and the Chileans are obviously a good team, but I still expected a slightly better result after watching them against Argentina back in May. I did see the Austria match, and it was just not good. I didn't think the Austrians really outplayed them (as you can tell by the scoreline: 1-0, with the only goal coming from a set-piece), but Canada never looked likely to score. They only managed one shot on target over the whole game, with Simeon Jackson missing a sitter in injury time. That's going to have to change if they have any chance of beating Congo. Watching on Thursday, it looked like their more technically skilled players, like Jaime Peters on the wing, were getting shut down to easily, and either didn't have players to support them or couldn't pass accurately when they did. I'd be tempted to bring Andrea Lombardo back into the lineup on Sunday, get him to hold the ball up and bring his teammates into the play. Route one football may not be pretty, but when they played that way against Argentina, it was at least more effective.

Group B
Spain (4; W1, D1, L0)
Uruguay (4; W1, D1, L0)
Zambia (1; W0, D1, L1)
Jordan (1; W0, D1, L1)

Spain faces Jordan while Uruguay take on Zambia in the final group games. Spain and Uruguay, who drew against each other in their opening game, both need only another point to be sure of advancing, while the other two teams need a win to have any chance of moving on.

Group C
Mexico (6; W2, D0, L0)
Portugal (3, W1, D0, L1)
Gambia (3; W1, D0, L1)
New Zealand (0; W0, D0, L2)

Mexico v. Portugal was expected to be the key game in this group, and the Mexicans took the honours -- and assured themselves a spot in the round of 16 -- with a 2-1 win on Thursday night. Portugal will play Gambia tomorrow to see who takes second place in the group, but both teams probably have a good chance of moving on. New Zealand will just be hoping to come away from their match against Mexico with dignity intact.

Group D
USA (7; W2, D1, L0)
Poland (4; W1, D1, L1)
Brazil (3; W1, D0, L2)
Korea Republic (2; W0, D2, L1)

The big surprise here is the USA at the top of the group, and Brazil down in third place, after the Americans beat them 2-1 yesterday. The USA started slowly with a draw against Korea Republic (that's South Korea, to save you looking it up), but followed that up by trouncing Poland 6-1. Poland beat Brazil and drew with the Koreans to book their place in the next round. But Brazil still have a chance to qualify too, depending on how the results shake out in the other groups.

Group E
Argentina (7; W2, D1, L0)
Czech Republic (5; W1, D2, L0)
Korea DPR (2; W0, D2, L1)
Panama (1; W0, D1, L2)

Argentina top the group, and they've looked like the class of the tournament so far, despite starting with a scoreless draw against the Czech Republic. They won their next two games, including a 6-0 spanking of Panama, while the Czechs also beat the hapless Panama to assure their spot in the next round. Korea DPR still technically have a chance to qualify, but it doesn't look likely.

Group F
Japan (6; W2, D0, L0)
Nigeria (6; W2, D0, L0)
Costa Rica (0; W0, D0, L2)
Scotland (0; W0, D0, L2)

Japan and Nigeria face off to decide first place in the group, both having already beaten Costa Rica and Scotland and qualify for the knockout stages. Those two teams have yet to earn a point, but either one could have a chance of advancing if they can beat the other today.

Home Field Advantage

Toronto FC won again on Wednesday, beating defending champions Houston Dynamo 1-0. Ronnie O'Brien's free-kick headed home by Andy Welsh. (Does two wins in a row count as a streak yet? Probably not.) They've even managed to drag themselves off the bottom of the table -- and their next game, on Saturday, is against last-place DC United.

The game wasn't a sell-out, but they still pulled in more than 19,000 fans for a cold, rainy mid-week match, which I think is pretty impressive. It's very cool seeing a sort of soccer renaissance happen here in Toronto -- I do tend to live in sort of a soccer bubble, but I've been noticing that even the people I know who don't play are talking about the team.

Some other news from the Great White North:

After a long, drawn-out process (did we have to imitate the USMNT in this? bah), Dale Mitchell has been officially appointed as the new head coach of the Canadian senior men's team. He's currently the coach for the U20 side, and he'll remain in charge there for the duration of their World Cup this summer, though, with U17 coach Stephen Hart overseeing the senior team at the Gold Cup.

Cathal Kelly over at the Toronto Star isn't too happy about Mitchell's appointment. His argument, basically, is that they needed to choose a big (or bigger) name to attract more attention from the media and potential fans.

"Canada's men lack that poster-boy player who draws people to him. Jonathan de Guzman might yet be that player, but that's another sad tale. Without that player, we needed someone in charge of the team with a history of success holding out the promise of more to come. We needed someone with foreign experience and the air of mystery....

What Canadian soccer needs even more than top-flight managers or breakthrough players are supporters. There is a woeful snobbery that afflicts the sport in this country, made worse by the casual disdain of the once-every-four-years fan. But those who care should be actively courting those people who enjoy soccer, but don't think much of the Canadian brand."

I'd argue that if you want to draw in supporters, the best way to do that is by putting together some good performances on the pitch. Unless you bring in someone like Jose Mourinho (which, no matter that he seems to have lost the plot recently, is never going to happen), the casual fan isn't going to give a damn about who the manager is. How many of the people at BMO Field had heard of Mo Johnston before he was appointed as TFC coach, do you think? But that matters way less than the team playing well. So if Dale Mitchell can do the same for the Canadian team -- both with the U20s this summer and the senior team after that -- then more power to him.

And speaking of the U20 tournament, FIFA has announced that the final in Toronto on July 22 has already sold out. (Not good news for people like me who've procrastinated about getting tickets.) There are still tickets available for most of the other games, though.

Canada 1 - 2 Argentina

This was the first U20 match I've seen, so I didn't really know what to expect. But I thought it was a great game -- I was a bit surprised at how close it was -- and I'm really looking forward to the U20 World Cup now.

Argentina opened the scoring in the first half with a goal from Alejandro Gomez that had keeper Asmir Begovic rooted to the spot. Canada tied it up just five minutes later with a penalty awarded after Simeon Jackson was pushed over in the box. It looked as if the game was going to end in a tie, but Argentina finally broke the deadlock in the 88th minute, winning a disputed corner from which Gabriel Mercado scored with a header.

The scoreline was disappointing for Canada, who I think played well enough to deserve at least a draw. Although their only goal came from a penalty, they'd created quite a few good chances and contained Argentina for most of the game. They can be proud of their performance against the defending U20 world champions -- even considering that Argentina was missing quite a few key players who are still with their clubs at home and in Europe.

Argentina are definitely going to be one of the favourites for the tournament this summer. They're obviously very skilled, and they played the smooth passing game you'd expect, with lots of two-touch passing through midfield. They're also quite apt to fall over at the slightest hint of contact. Canada, in contrast, played a more, um, robust game. They're a much bigger team and they used that to their advantage. Yay for national sterotypes.

A few Canadian players who stood out for me:

• David Edgar at centre-back. His was the only name I recognized before the game, and that's mainly because he scored against Manchester United for Newcastle. He coolly took the penalty for Canada, and kept his back line well organized throughout the game.
  
• Jaime Peters on the right wing. He's got loads of pace, and good skill on the ball -- he was giving the Argentine defenders trouble all night.
  
• Andrea Lombardo, the target man up front. He was very good at holding up the ball and bringing his teammates into the play; worked his butt off for 90 minutes.

The game was part of a pre-tournament cross-country tour for the Canadians. They've already played Scotland in Vancouver and Victoria; after this they play two matches against the United States (June 3 in Kingston and June 6 iin Ottawa) and then face off against the Czech Republic in Edmonton on June 18.

Ahhh, spring...

That time of year when a young girl's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of...new soccer gear. Right now I'm browsing longingly through the Adidas website and trying to convince myself that I don't really need a new pair of boots. Although I did just notice yesterday that the stitching around the laces on the ones I have now is coming apart. And look how shiny!

Other stuff occupying space in my brain this week:

• The United-Chelsea game: I haven't actually seen it yet, and it's probably not worth watching unless you're interested in the reserves kicking the crap out of each other for 90 minutes. Mostly I wish there were more pictures of John Terry's kicked-puppy-dog face, because that gives me an unholy amount of glee.
  
  
• Speaking of Chelsea, I am kind of bemused by the story that Michael Ballack brought home a piece of bone in a jar to prove that he really did need an ankle operation and wasn't just undergoing surgery to piss off Mourinho or because he's got a thing for anesthesia or whatever. It also makes me wonder what Andriy Shevchenko is going to bring in for Stamford Bridge show-and-tell after his operation.
  
  
• The ongoing saga of Michael Owen and Newcastle. The latest episode involves a reported ₤9 million escape clause in his contract and this quote from Freddy Shepherd:
  

  "I'm telling Michael he has two choices. He either comes out and tells our fans, who have taken him to their hearts, that he is happy here or I tell him that not one of the big four clubs, Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool, are interested in him."

  
  Feel the love. He's basically taken a page from The Abusive Boyfriend Handbook: "No, you can't leave me! And nobody else would want you either! *backhands across face*"
  
  Personally, I would love to see him back at Anfield again, but sadly I'm not sure that Rafa wants him. I know there's still a lot of uncertainty about his fitness, but on the other hand, if he is fit, he could be just the type of player that they need: Bellamy's pace and Fowler's instinctive finishing, all wrapped up in one convenient little package.
  
  
• While we're on the topic of prodigal Liverpool strikers, it's official: Sunday will be Robbie Fowler's last game at Anfield in a Liverpool shirt. It's sad, but it's the right decision. And I suppose this means those MLS rumours are going to start up again.
  
  
• And (look at that segue!) in MLS news, Toronto FC may not have managed to score yet, but they're winning big when it comes to merchandise sales. They've already sold out of replica shirts, which is way ahead of any other MLS club. I expect to see a lot of people in team jerseys at the match against Chicago on Saturday. If we're lucky, we may even see a goal for the home team.
  
  
• It's a very soccer-intensive week for me (even more so than usual, I mean), because I'm going tonight to see the Canada v. Argentina U20 match. Should be an interesting preview of the U20 World Cup this summer. I'm going to have a proper write-up of that up here eventually, but in the meantime, check out this blog, by the Canadian U20 team manager, Dave Nutt, which is a pretty good read.

U20 World Cup Draw

The draw for the upcoming U20 World Cup was finalized yesterday in Toronto. It was broadcast live on the CBC, who are doing their best to promote the tournament since they'll be televising it this summer. They even broke away from their regular Saturday afternoon programming (a scintillating mix of speed skating, cross-country skiing and curling) to cover the draw, and they hauled out such Canadian luminaries as Donovan Bailey, Christine Sinclair, Marnie McBean and Curt Harnett to pull the balls out of the bowls.

Group A: Canada, Chile, Congo, Austria

Group B: Spain, Uruguay, Jordan, Zambia

Group C: Portugal, New Zealand, Gambia, Mexico

Group D: Poland, Brazil, South Korea, USA

Group E: Argentina, Czech Republic, North Korea, Panama

Group F: Japan, Scotland, Nigeria, Costa Rica

The full tournament schedule is here.

There isn't really a group of death, because of the way the teams were distributed into the pots (FIFA's arcane procedures are here, if you're interested), coupled with the fact that the top two teams from each group plus the top four third-place teams will all go through to the round of 16.

Canada will open the tournament against Chile in Toronto on July 1st, but then move to Edmonton for the rest of its group games. I was a bit surprised that they'd allocated the Canadian team to Edmonton rather than Toronto, but on second thought they'll probably get more fan support out there. Toronto will be hosting most of the Group C matches instead -- which means I expect to see a lot of people here cheering for Portugal.

Canadian head coach Dale Mitchell did his best to downplay the team's chances, claiming that they'll face three tough teams, but they actually got off fairly lightly in the draw and should have a good chance of making it out of their group. But in the knockout rounds it'll get a lot tougher. Teams to watch for: Argentina (the defending champions), Brazil (winners of the South American U20 championship), and Spain (who won the last European U19 tournament).

Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough

Toronto FC is holding open tryouts next month. Think you've got what it takes? Go here to sign up.

The catch is that it'll cost you $110 to sign up, but you'll get an Adidas jersey and vouchers for two Toronto FC games.

If you don't want to play for the team, you just want to watch, tickets for Toronto FC games go on sale to the public November 15. Tickets are expected to cost $15-$65. Club members get first dibs on season tickets, in return for their $50 membership fee.

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In other Canadian soccer news, the Canadian women's team played recently in the finals of the Peace Queen Cup in Korea, losing 1-0 to the U.S. It's still a great achievement for them, as they beat a couple of higher-ranked teams to make the final. Next up for the team is the Gold Cup, November 19-26. Finalists in the tournament will earn a spot at the 2007 World Cup in China, and the Canadians have a good shot, because they've got an automatic berth in the Gold Cup semi-finals, facing either Panama or Jamaica.

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Tickets are also on sale now for the FIFA U20 Tournament being held in Canada next summer. (And I'm putting the information here mostly because I keep looking it up and then forgetting about it.)

The tournament begins on June 30, 2007, with the finals on July 22 in Toronto (full schedule here).

Tickets are only available in packages right now -- with the exception of the Edmonton games, although I'm not sure why. No word on when you'll be able to buy single-match tickets for the rest of the venues. Package prices range from about $50 to $500, depending on how many games you want to see and how good the seats are (details here). There are also deals available for the "soccer community," whatever that means.

The situation with the Toronto tickets is a bit confusing, partly because the way the packages are described on the FIFA website isn't quite the same as on the Ticketmaster site, but basically how it works is that you have a choice between three packages:

• Package A (four match days) - Opener plus three double header preliminary round games
  
• Package B (five match days) - Opener plus two round of 16 games, one quarter-final and one semi-final
  
• Package C (eight match days) - Opener plus three preliminary round games, two round of 16 games, one quarter-final and one semi-final

Each of those packages also comes with the option to buy tickets to the final and the third-place match, for an extra $40-$100, depending on which seats you have.