When Canada played a fixed match
There have been recriminations lately surrounding the match-fixing scandal engulfing the CSL, with critics pointing to the league and the CSA’s inaction on a story that first emerged last year. It’s easy to forget that Canada’s men’s national team has been involved in match-fixing scandals of it’s own — both willing and unwilling.
The kids are alright: 2007 U-20 World Cup revisited
In 2007, football fans in Canada got to witness some of the rising stars of world football at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. A local soccer magazine asked me to compile a tournament Best XI, and in the absence of an official all-star team, my list stands as one of the few of its kind.
From the archives: de Guzman, Nsaliwa and Haber in 2008
Back in 2008, I wrote for “Canucks Abroad” with North American football guru Al Clark profiling Canadian talent playing overseas. At the time, I set out to get to the bottom of the international situations of two potential Canadian national team players, Jonathan de Guzman and forgotten man Tam Nsaliwa.
When Canadian soccer results are too good to be true
When I first saw CSL fixtures available for betting online, I was a little surprised. It all seemed too real. No longer were the available bets restricted to top-level European football half a world away, but I could put large amounts of money on matches happening just a short drive away at places like Centennial Park and Lamport Stadium in Toronto.
Doom and gloom in Central America
Canada’s 2-0 loss in Panama last night, while hardly a surprise, has put the men’s national team’s hopes of advancing to the next stage of World Cup qualifying in serious doubt. If this were a soccer-mad country, some of the more reactionary newspapers might be questioning head coach Stephen Hart‘s credentials. It’s not.
Canada’s head coach pictured in front of his last two employers
Major Ligue Soccer 