BEHIND THE PLAY #56

I think I’ve manage to constrain my urge to write about the current political environment being foisted upon Canada by our neighbour and just continue to focus on soccer but we’ll see…

I’ve done a couple of issues that break down an issue or a quote into it’s “text”, “context” and “subtext.” This is along those lines and may be something I come back to again. Hard to say as the planning that goes into most of these newsletters may best be described as being somewhere between non-existent and off-the-cuff.

Anyways, it’s been an interesting week or two in the game and there’s been some stuff to celebrate, to decry and to scratch your head about. Those fit neatly into the Good, the Bad and the Ugly which is much catchier anyways.

The Good

The Vancouver Whitecaps have, for me, been a difficult team to support. There’s been strange signings, stranger starting elevens, lots of really dreary play and a lack of identity beyond the coach’s personality in past years. This season, though it’s early, feels quite different.

New coach Jesper Sørensen has come in this season and seemingly changed all that without changing much personnel.

The MLS season opener in Portland was a statement. Mainly by Jayden Nelson but also as a team that had somehow found incredible confidence in the attacking third. Nelson, along with Brian White, Ryan Gauld and Sam Adekugbe torched the Timbers in their own stadium, winning 4-1 and then beating the LA Galaxy on a late goal by White in their home opener.

A professional 2-0 dispatching of Montreal on the weekend has taken them to their first ever 3-0-0 start to an MLS season and what looked, in the first game, to be a reliance on the four players mentioned above has already proved to not be the case. Their confident, aggressively precise attacking has now survived Adekugbe being injured in the 32nd minute of the Galaxy game, Nelson being injured in the 5th minute of the CONCACAF Champions Cup game vs Monterrey and now Gault being injured in the first half of the Montreal game. All are out for at least three weeks from non-contact injuries suffered on BC Place’s turf.

You’d think losing those three players would be crushing but others have stepped in. Despite only getting a draw against Monterrey on March 5, the Caps were dominant even without Adekugbe (entire game) and Nelson (almost the entire game). It’s clear that the confident attacking play extends to more than just these four players as Ahmed Ali looked sharp against Monterrey as well Pedro Vite, Andre Cubas and White when they came on later in the game. The Caps eight goals in their three MLS games have come from seven players. Interestingly, three goals have come from players in the left back position. Could be a fun team to watch this season.

The Bad

I’ve tried to wrap my head around this new CSA “Foundation” program that has at its heart the following Canada Red membership tiers:

This is a substantial extension of the program used ahead of the 2022 World Cup. That one also indicated, vaguely as this one does, that membership in the higher tiers increased your chances of getting tickets for Canada’s games. The most expensive tier then was $100 which I signed up for. I did get tickets for all of Canada’s games…but I also got tickets to see Brazil, Holland, France, Portugal, England and Uruguay. So I’ll never really know how much that subscription helped.

I understand the CSA has financial concerns and needs to leverage all aspects of this aspect. I spoke recently to someone who is close to what’s going on at the CSA and what most surprised me was how much they are still in financial strife despite the hefty pay day from the Copa America last summer. That and the approved increased fees flowing through from youth soccer registrations has still not created financial stability.

So there is still a credible need to raise funds where possible.

But when I see packages that go from $500 to $5000 that are essentially soft promises of getting World Cup tickets for Canada’s games, I really struggle with the legitimacy of this plan. Here’ the CSA’s wording:

“Tickets through Canada Soccer’s FIFA World Cup ticket allotment lottery are sold through a weighted random draw based on your CanadaRED tier. The higher the tier, the higher the chances.

Active CanadaRED+Gold and CanadaRED+White members will receive an email update on how their membership will transfer into the new program.”

Who deserves to see Canada play in a World Cup? Is it the right approach to try to even use ‘fairness’ when it comes to World Cup ticket distribution?

Those who have supported them for many, many years including going to games? Those who have travelled to see them play in other countries in the bleak years/decades? Those who went to Qatar to see them in the last World Cup? Those who contribute financially to the CSA to help them through a difficult financial period?

I will say that I doubt there’s much correlation between those who can afford and will purchase the $5000

Ideally, everyone who feels a deep connection to the team and the game should get the opportunity to see them play in a World Cup. For me, I’d always said if they qualify I was going. I will be trying to go again in 2026 but I will not be participating in this membership scheme beyond the Premier level.

I said in a previous BTP newsletter that the game is increasingly in the hands of MBA’s who view their role as that of an asset manager without any custodial sense of safeguarding the game as if it’s a public good. Managing an asset is a kind way of saying mapping out how to extract as much revenue from it as you can. Even if that demeans and ultimately devalues the asset.

So while I understand the relatively short term need to leverage Canada’s participation into meaningful revenue for the CSA, there is no doubt that a significant portion of the core supporter demographic is going to feel alienated by the fact that those who can “contribute” $5000 per year “Icon” level and the most ardent supporters who tick all the boxes I suggested above.

I can tell you from my experience at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the 2016 Euro in France and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar that the seats occupied by VIP’s are the last to fill up before the game and as the second half starts. There’s a prawn sandwich joke in there somewhere.

The game here in Canada, at this moment, needs financiers and it seems it will come at the expense of supporters. The degree and duration of the damage of this decision is hard to gauge. And when it comes time to marketing the men’s national team to the more rank and file element of those who support them, likely in the form of selling World Cup jerseys, it’s going to be hard to accept that we’re good enough to sell kit to but we don’t need you in the stands.

The Ugly

Two narcissists desperate for fame and attention. I hate everything about this photo taken on the weekend to celebrate the embarrassment that is the FIFA Club World Cup coming to the United States this summer.