Soccer in Canada

[toronto_soccer]

this Canadian forum is complete rubbish compared to Big Soccer's Canadian forum and North American forums in general. The info here is top notch but the discussions are totally lacking, and very uninteresting. far more Canadians are active posters there also.

[Joe MacCarthy]

this Canadian forum is complete rubbish compared to Big Soccer's Canadian forum and North American forums in general. The info here is top notch but the discussions are totally lacking, and very uninteresting. far more Canadians are active posters there also.And your point is? The BS Canadian forum (where I was formerly a mod before I left to try and rebuild this forum) isn't as good as Vs which is also better than Xtratime.

If half the people who have Canada as their locations posted here it would be a much better forum. But they either don't care for or have no knowledge of Canadian soccer. This forum attempts to remedy the latter.

Unlike BS this forum doesn't have a soft core women's thread but chooses to have a thread devoted to the Canadian women's game. And while I'm blasting other sites this forum credits all sources of info whenever possible. I'm not into stealing someone else's research as is liberally done at other sites.

This forum had to be killed and rebuilt. Trolls and baiting both of which plague Vs and BS at this moment were and are eliminated toute de suite. The same guy trolling at Vs was eliminated quickly here.

Earlier posts here consisted of Canada sux and one idiot who kept posting Do Canadians have split heads like in South Park. Nuked!

I can't make people be knowledgeable about Canadian soccer. If they want to follow old world allegiences and not at least lend some support to their adopted country there is nothing to do. I find it reprehensible personally.

The Vs themselves were founded on the principle that Canadians playing at home shouldn't feel like it is an away game. Canadian players were being booed by some at home. Truly scummy behaviour by some who avail themselves of what this country offers.

I try not to respond to many posts lest it looks as if I am dominating the forum. I try to stick to posting news. Believe me, I'll feel better when I see my name less and less but that won't be at the expense of trolls and anti Canada posts. It is after all a Canadian supporters forum.

To this forum's credit I would say it is the most concise source of important info on the Canadian scene. One stop shopping, all arranged in easy to follow threads, not in four or five different ones.

It has the most up to date version of Canadians Playing Abroad on the net. Whenever info at another site is updated it is also posted here and proper credit given along with what is found elsewhere.

[supersjd]

I would post a lot more in the Canadian forum because I am Canadian and I do have a lot of Canadian pride but there are a few problems. Most Canadians barely have any knowledge of Canadian Soccer even though they're Canadian and they love soccer. I don't know a lot about Canadian soccer but I would like to learn more about it. It's hard to post in this forum when you don't know a lot about Canadian soccer and you don't want to seem like an idiot. The posts in most of the threads are just too long with too much information for one to handle. It's very hard to get yourself to read the entire article. Don't get me wrong, the amount of information you can find here is amazing but it's just not very attractive. Joe has done a great job with the Canadian forum and trust me I know how hard it is to keep up a forum that barely anyone contributes (Portuguese Forum). Maybe if we just simplify some of the topics we can have more discussions that everyone can contribute.

[tino_lettieri]

Most Canadians barely have any knowledge of Canadian Soccer even though they're Canadian and they love soccer. I don't know a lot about Canadian soccer but I would like to learn more about it. It's hard to post in this forum when you don't know a lot about Canadian soccer and you don't want to seem like an idiot.

Not just that, but if the level of play was much higher, there would be much more interest. Just look at how US has grown since the 94 World Cup. Not saying we need to host a World Cup to grow, but let's try and take a lesson or two from our neighbours to the south. Look, our women's team is top 3-4 in the world and there is no coverage. When they play a game, barely anything in the papers here in Québec and the only chance we have of catching them on TV is thru SportsNet. And the saddest part? A lot of the Canadian Women's team is made up of Québec girls.

On the men's side, we need to transpire the effort put forth in encouraging our youth to take up the sport and extend that to the next level. They need to know there is a career to be had playing soccer, whether it's overseas, MLS or even with the Canadian teams in the north american leagues.

You will find Canadians posting in soccer forums concerning teams overseas, the World Cup, anything, cuz they know about the team, players, etc, there is exposure over there, but to get them to be interested in Canadian Soccer, we need a better product on the field, a consistently better product, and maybe one or two teams in MLS

[Joe MacCarthy]

You will find Canadians posting in soccer forums concerning teams overseas, the World Cup, anything, cuz they know about the team, players, etc, there is exposure over there, but to get them to be interested in Canadian Soccer, we need a better product on the field, a consistently better product, and maybe one or two teams in MLSI have to take issue with a few comments. To hope for a higher level of play just to get more interested spectators doesn't say much for the knowledge or longevity of the spectators wanted. A true fan of the game will support what they wish to support be it U15, the Montreal Impact, or Toronto FC.

While I'd like our women's team to be in the top three or four, Fifa rank's them 11th but I think we are more likely in the top seven.

Not sure where you're looking for coverage but there are two dedicated threads here for articles from newspapers and the CSA on women's soccer. Aside from the Olympics, the women's national hockey teams don't get as much TV coverage as women's soccer in Canada. When was the last time you saw a U19 women's national hockey game? There are at least seven good forums for news and discussion of Canadian soccer and we're getting our news from somewhere.

Getting kids to take up the sport isn't a problem as soccer is the largest participant sport in the country (bigger than hockey) but as you said keeping them in the game is difficult. The problem is not about the professional career but the transition years between youth and professional where there are fewer places to play for late bloomers and those who are not yet good enough to be scouted professionally or scholastically.

It is truly a chicken/egg situation. If half of the soccer fans who live in Canada and supported foreign teams put some effort into marginal support for local and national teams in Canada, the increased visibility and revenues would greatly help Canadian soccer.

Canadian soccer will always suffer from an "auld country" mentality where fans will never admit we could match up with the auld country. Never mind that we could likely be competitive with the auld country and in the not to distant future start to win on a regular basis I don't think it would matter. For some, we will never be good enough.

It's the same thing with the US. There are those who just can't admit how good the US have become.

By the way, welcome to the forum. Good to see that you took the time to look around and find this thread. :)

[tino_lettieri]

I have to take issue with a few comments. To hope for a higher level of play just to get more interested spectators doesn't say much for the knowledge or longevity of the spectators wanted. A true fan of the game will support what they wish to support be it U15, the Montreal Impact, or Toronto FC.


I have to disagree. Canada has lost 2 major sports franchises in the last 10 years. And you're talking baseball and basketball, not World Team Tennis. There are dedicated fans here in Montreal, but it's hard to measure. A lot of the Impact's fans here are leisure fans. The Impact just didn't draw indoors. Montreal fans want a winner more than anything else. Toronto is about the only exception. Expos left cuz of a lot of factors, Grizzlies left cuz attendance and fan interest was low. There are tons of soccer fans in Canada, but there are not many true fans, fans who will follow these guys like crazy. And face it, it's a reality.

[SiN]

I say give it some time. Soccer in the US let alone Canada is a relatively new recognised sport. People need to actually adjust to it and accept it. This will take some time due to the fact that the majority of the public enjoy supporting either: Basketball, NFL or Baseball over there. If the US does good in the WC 2006 or the League in the US or Canada starts to turn heads then that is defenitley a good thing. I hope that the interest for this beautiful game will start rising over there and that people will start accepting it even more but maybe in a few more years time. Other than that, welcome to the new canadian soccer supporter, hope to see you around here posting so stick around buddy :)

[Joe MacCarthy]

I have to disagree. Canada has lost 2 major sports franchises in the last 10 years. And you're talking baseball and basketball, not World Team Tennis. There are dedicated fans here in Montreal, but it's hard to measure. A lot of the Impact's fans here are leisure fans. The Impact just didn't draw indoors. Montreal fans want a winner more than anything else. Toronto is about the only exception. Expos left cuz of a lot of factors, Grizzlies left cuz attendance and fan interest was low. There are tons of soccer fans in Canada, but there are not many true fans, fans who will follow these guys like crazy. And face it, it's a reality.The Grizzlies didn't leave because of low attendance. They left because the owner wanted them moved south. There is a guy on BS with all the statistics on this and he gets upset when people make the statement about low Grizzlie fan attendance and interest.

Montreal was somewhat similar as the fans gave up on a franchise that owner Jeffrey Lurie wanted moved and after the new stadium plan fell apart that was pretty much the end. So you can't really blame the fans in either case although in Montreal attendance fell and in Vancouver it didn't.

Leisure fans are important to any sport. There is a core of hardcore supporters and then there are soft supporters, you get that with any sport.

Are you posting from Montreal?

[Joe MacCarthy]

I say give it some time. Soccer in the US let alone Canada is a relatively new recognised sport. People need to actually adjust to it and accept it. Actually soccer goes back in Canada and the US at least 150 years. Note at the top of the page the Gold Medal for Canada at the 1904 Olympics (granted it wasn't much of a tournament).

Soccer lost whatever public following it had during the pre war years (pre 1939) with other sports surpassing it in popularity and soccer never recovered.

As a participant sport in Canada and the US it is near the top in player registrations but as a spectator sport it is far down the ladder. Aside from the big three American sports there is NHL and Nascar. I don't have the numbers at hand but believe it or not I think Nascar is the number one spectator sport in the US.

[tino_lettieri]

The Grizzlies didn't leave because of low attendance. They left because the owner wanted them moved south. There is a guy on BS with all the statistics on this and he gets upset when people make the statement about low Grizzlie fan attendance and interest.

OK, but they didn't exactly sellout, and fans weren't exactly enamored with the team. Ownership and management was in shambles too.


Montreal was somewhat similar as the fans gave up on a franchise that owner Jeffrey Lurie wanted moved and after the new stadium plan fell apart that was pretty much the end. So you can't really blame the fans in either case although in Montreal attendance fell and in Vancouver it didn't.

you are dead wrong here. We did not give up on the franchise, the franchise gave up on us. Montreal was among league leaders in attendance in the late 70s, early 80s, then ownership traded Gary Carter away, let Andre Dawson leave cuz they didn't want to pay him, and traded Tim Raines in his prime for two lugs, then when the team was on a roll in the early 90s they traded away ALL their stars for prospects, only because the shareholders did not want to keep the players but rather make a profit. Claude Brochu could have made this happen but he didn't so he sold to an art owner because he got bluffed when Jeffrey Loria (not Lurie) said he'd build a new stadium. Fans were excited, then Loria pulled out and said he wanted to move the team, so fans just had nothing to root for. We would've drawn 50K a game and the Expos would've still moved because none of the rich guys in Quebec would step forth and put money up to save a sport which was in the city's roots all the way back to the Royals. Jackie Robinson played his first pro baseball game two street blocks from where I used to live.


Leisure fans are important to any sport. There is a core of hardcore supporters and then there are soft supporters, you get that with any sport.

That's true, but when the hardcore base is minimal, it's tough. Most of the hardcore fans are immigrants who have brought a passion for the sport from their homelands. That is very true in Montreal. Most of my Quebec-born friends with Quebec roots don't give a rat's arse about the sport. I remember the NASL days, there was a passion for soccer from everybody, I loved 'em as much as the Expos, but unfortunately that didn't last...


Are you posting from Montreal?

Yes :tea:

[Joe MacCarthy]

You are absolutely correct about the Expos, my wording was unclear. The fans did give up on the franchise, but after a lot of terrible mismanagement. I doubt they would have drawn 50k a game but then again with the sporting revival in Quebec after losing the Nordique and the Expos, who knows what could have happened. Of course the Expos would have to have been still there. :)

Personally I am a big fan of Montreal and its grasp of modern sporting realities. The way Montrealers have supported the CFL and the Impact is way ahead of the curve and is something Toronto will need to learn the hard way.

The Alouette revival has become a case study in sports management.

Just reading the other day how an NFL franchise would cost one billion dollars, yes one billion dollars. And MLSE could barely justify scraping 10 million together for MLS.

Exactly why do some see the need for this other than the NFL is a license to print money. But how long will that last before a new reality? ie Olympic television rights and the NHL collective agreement.

JMO but I think NFL in Toronto is the same pipe dream the 60's lost generation hippies in Toronto have in common with the separatists in Quebec. An idea whose time has come and gone.

[tino_lettieri]

Personally I am a big fan of Montreal and its grasp of modern sporting realities. The way Montrealers have supported the CFL and the Impact is way ahead of the curve and is something Toronto will need to learn the hard way.

The Alouette revival has become a case study in sports management.

The Alouettes have thrived ever since they moved to an outdoor stadium. In their first 2 years, they were drawing an average of 12,000 fans at the Big O. Montrealers love the outdoors cuz thanks to the weather we can only enjoy it 3 months during the year. And it's why I think the Expos could have thrived in a new downtown park...


Just reading the other day how an NFL franchise would cost one billion dollars, yes one billion dollars. And MLSE could barely justify scraping 10 million together for MLS.

Only major sport who could really work in Montreal is the NBA. Lots of youth in Montreal would definitely associate themselves with an NBA team. We have a USDBL team here that draws 1,200 in a 1,400 seat arena. USDBL! :-)


JMO but I think NFL in Toronto is the same pipe dream the 60's lost generation hippies in Toronto have in common with the separatists in Quebec. An idea whose time has come and gone.

I'm a pure-bred French-speaking Quebecer, but separation is the worst idea since American Idol let William Hung sing... We're Canadians dog gone it

[Joe MacCarthy]

Let's get professional!
It may be a dream but three Canadians offer the same solution to Canada's international struggles
By DAVE 'CRASH' CAMERON -- Edmonton Sun
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/Canada/2006/06/08/1620816-sun.html

There's already a Canadian Football League.

Having a Canadian football league of another sort, would be the dream scenario for getting Canada back into football's - aka soccer's - great showcase, the World Cup.

In three separate conversations, three Canadians with slightly different backgrounds in soccer have similar thoughts as to what it would take to elevate Canada in the in the international game.

And all three see the problem right now for the national team.

An elite regional player, Ross Ongaro had to leave his hometown to pursue the game he loved.

"We're in exactly the same state we were in, in the '70s. If you want to make it, you have to leave Edmonton at 16 or 17 years old.

"Where were we in 1977 when I left Edmonton? There was only Vancouver and Toronto (in Canada). If you wanted to play professionally you went to the States or you go to Europe," said Ongaro who returned to become a fixture in the local soccer community as a player, coach and educator.

While the system has produced the elite, the problem continues to be depth and availability to the national team.

"The players that are leaving at 13 or 14 years old are becoming professionals in the hands of another country. It's not like we are developing these players.

"They are good athletes ... but they have to go somewhere else and become a professional by using their coaches, their higher level of training, their higher level of competition and structure," said Ongaro.

"Let's look at the positives we have in Canada," said Paul James from Toronto. The Welsh-born midfielder was a key component on Canada's last and only World Cup squad in 1986. "We have the participation rate ... the provincial bodies and the Canadian Soccer Association (have) channelled more money into youth development.

"It creates a good learning environment for players. Those are positives and we shouldn't forget that.

"(It's) that final step, that final level ... the only way a player can continue to play, to either make a living out of the game or chase that dream of playing for your country, they have to go out of the country, in most circumstances."

And re-assemble - sometimes - from all the faraway places and form a team for Canada.

Pat Onstad has chased those dreams.

The Vancouver-born goalkeeper remains active at 38 with Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo, and with Canada's national team.

That's how the U.S. has done it, he said from Houston.

"They qualified with a team predominantly made up of MLS players. They are playing at the same level, with and against each other, week in and week out, so everybody knows each other.

"That's the problem for (Canada coach) Frank Yallop, completely.

"There's times that I've been on the team, when you're calling in the best players, but there's three or four guys you've never met before. And you're supposed to go out and qualify for a World Cup. It makes it very difficult.

"That's no fault of the coach or the organization, that's just logistically the way it is right now," said Onstad, who played in Edmonton in 1996 for the indoor Drillers.

James concurs.

"It creates problems, creates obstacles and hurdles in terms of jet-lag, players getting hurt, players getting pressured by their clubs to not come across."

The new Toronto franchise in North America's Major League Soccer is viewed as a great start.

"MLS, I think, is a right step," said James. "It becomes a motivator for players, coaches and administrators. You improve your depth pool. A professional infrastructure fuels attitudes and behaviours."

"The Craig Forrests, the Paul Peschisolidos, the Tomasz Radzinskis are success stories," said Onstad. "But it's few and far between.

"I think now that Toronto is getting a team, hopefully Montreal and Vancouver follow quickly. And once kids have something to strive for, that's when you see the growth of the game, then on the international level we'll be much more competitive."

All agree that the buzz from the World Cup is a key to creating interest in North America.

"I've always found throughout Canada, particularly in the big urban centres, there's been a huge undercurrent of interest in the sport.

"(In Toronto) the ethnic diversity, first of all, definitely helps. So does the huge participation of the youth game."

Said Ongaro: "Anybody who knows anything about soccer has been counting down the days

[Joe MacCarthy]

TEN THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CANADIAN SOCCER
By Greig Dymond
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/worldcup2006/features/canada.html

I've spent a lifetime cheering for Canada in international soccer. And I don't have a lot to show for it. Let me assure you, this isn't one of those cute, fan-attaches-self-to-loveable-loser situations that sprung up around the 1962 New York Mets, the 1977 Toronto Blue Jays, and the Jamaican bobsled team.

No, this is often just a flat-out depressing relationship - propelled by a mix of masochism and my (perhaps misguided) patriotic desire to see Canada excel in the only truly global sport. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, Keir Dullea spends an inordinate amount of time alone, floating around aimlessly; sometimes, that's how I feel supporting Canada. It can be a lonely pursuit, as I discovered at a packed Varsity Stadium in 1993, during a World Cup qualifying match against Mexico. Although we were smack-dab in the middle of downtown Toronto, it felt like an away match. Thousands of Mexican supporters danced the afternoon away as the "visitors" racked up a 2-1 victory. I was one of perhaps 500 disoriented supporters of the Canadian side.

And every four years, the ultimate soccer showcase rolls around to remind us of our perennial wallflower status. Once again, we haven't qualified for the biggest sports event on the planet.

As the World Cup unfolds in Germany, here are 10 things you should know about Canadian soccer:

1) Where does Canada rank as a soccer nation?

At best, we're a middling force. The latest FIFA world ranking places Canada's national men's team at #83. Chant it together now, sing it out from the highest hilltops: "We're Number 83! We're Number 83!" Togo, the lowest-ranked team to qualify for this year's World Cup, is #61. That's right. Togo - with its population of 5.5 million people - is 22 spots ahead of us.

Still, not to worry. We're only two positions behind Panama (#81) and one behind Oman (#82). And we completely outshine Iceland (#99), Luxembourg (#152) and Guam (#203). Besides, if push came to shove, I really think we could take Oman.

2) Why isn't Canada in the 2006 World Cup?

The short answer is, we flamed out of the CONCACAF (a.k.a., North and Central America) regional semi-finals in spectacular fashion, winning just one match out of six against Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras.

Canada's first two games were particularly soul-crushing results at home - early indicators that the World Cup qualifying process would, yet again, end in heartbreak.

First, a 2-0 loss to Guatemala in Burnaby. Losing to Guatemala at home isn't really the best way to convince anyone that you belong in a showcase of the world's soccer elite.

Then, in Canada's second game - a disastrous 1-1 draw against Honduras in Edmonton - a dubious call against defender Mark Watson enabled the visitors to equalize on a penalty kick in the 88th minute. In the final seconds, an apparent winning goal by the home side was nullified because of another questionable foul.

Balloon deflated. Hope vanquished.

3) Has Canada ever qualified for the World Cup?

Once. The Canadians lost three straight games in the 1986 tournament in Mexico, and went home without scoring a goal. The 1,000-to-1 longshots scored a significant moral victory against France, holding the legendary Michel Platini and his teammates scoreless until the 79th minute. After his side's 1-0 win, Platini confessed, "We were doubting ourselves a bit after the first half. We knew that Canada had nothing to lose." He was right; Canada proceeded to lose 2-0 to both Hungary and the USSR. Twenty years later, the match with France remains our sole World Cup highlight.

4) Do Canadians even enjoy watching soccer?

There is massive interest in soccer in Canada; there just isn't massive interest in the Canadian national men's soccer team.

5) Who is the most famous Canadian soccer player of all-time?

Probably Owen Hargreaves, the Calgary-born midfielder who plays for German powerhouse Bayern Munich. Due to his parentage, he could have chosen to play internationally for Canada, England or Wales. Despite spending his formative soccer years on a junior team called Calgary Foothills FC, Hargreaves decided in 2001 to suit up internationally for England, not Canada. Perhaps this was the right decision; he's now a member of England's World Cup roster.

Other contenders: Brian Budd played with a host of teams in the North American Soccer League between 1974 and 1980, including the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Toronto Blizzard. He also played internationally for Canada. His fame, however, had little do with soccer; it was the result of his multi-year dominance of a 1970s TV competition called Superstars, which saw him run, sprint and swim against other (better-known) pro athletes.

Craig Forrest: Goalkeeper played in 56 matches for Canada; also played in England for Ipswich Town and West Ham United.

Charmaine Hooper: All-time Canadian women's leader in games played for national team (124) and goals scored (64).

Bob Lenarduzzi: A member of Canada's 1986 World Cup squad; subsequently a constant presence on our soccer radar, as a coach of national squad (1993-1997) and more recently as a television commentator.

Tomas Radzinski: Currently a striker for Fulham in English Premiership; used to play for Everton.

Christine Sinclair: 22-year-old forward, well on her way to becoming the best-ever Canadian woman player. Made FIFA's 2005 short list for women's player of the year. Already second all-time in goals scored for national team.

Longshot contender: Steve Nash. Well, he is famous, he is Canadian and he's played soccer. In fact, he was once judged the best high school player in British Columbia. Plus, his dad played pro soccer in South Africa and his brother Martin has earned several caps for our national team. Unfortunately, Nash decided to forsake the sport to become the NBA's Most Valuable Player. The rest is Canadian soccer non-history.

6) What is the greatest Canadian soccer moment of all-time?

THE MEN: Apart from the aforementioned noble defeat against France in the 1986 World Cup, it's got to be the 2000 Gold Cup tournament - the men's team's first win in a significant international competition included victories over non-slouches Mexico, Colombia and Trinidad-Tobago. The victory appeared to augur well for a solid run at qualifying for the 2002 World Cup; it didn't.

THE WOMEN:On the women's side, the highlight reel runs a lot longer. It includes a second-place finish at the 2002 Women's World Under-19 Championship (a remarkable run that ended in a 1-0 overtime loss to the U.S. in front of more than 47,000 rabid fans in Edmonton); a second-place finish in the 2002 Women's Gold Cup; fourth-place at the 2003 Women's World Cup and virtually any time Christine Sinclair touches the ball.

7) What is the worst Canadian soccer moment of all-time?

The men's team's 8-0 loss against Mexico in the 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup must rank as the all-time low. Eight-goal margins of victory are rare in hockey; they are almost unheard-of in soccer.

8) What does Canadian singer Nelly Furtado have to do with soccer?

Two years ago, as Portugal hosted the Euro 2004 soccer tournament, Furtado released Forca, the official theme for the Portuguese team. (Sample lyric: "It is the soundtrack of your ever-flowing life/ It is the wind beneath your feet that makes you fly/It is the beautiful game that you choose to play/When you step out into the world to start your day.")

"They asked me to write a theme song for the team," the Portuguese-Canadian singer explained at the time. "'Forca' means kickass, go for it, woo-hoo! - that kind of thing. Soccer's a beautiful game, and there's a romantic nature to it that I wanted to capture."

Pop stars record soccer-themed ditties all over the globe. In 1990, electronica pioneers New Order released England's World Cup theme, World in Motion - a tune that featured an off-kilter (yet oddly appealing) rap by Liverpool midfielder John Barnes.

Sadly, this practise hasn't taken hold in Canada: Furtado has yet to record a song in honour of the Canadian men' s soccer squad.

Neither has Gordon Lightfoot, The Tragically Hip or Avril Lavigne.

9) How does Canada compare with the U.S.A. in international soccer?

In the FIFA world rankings, the U.S. men's team is at #5 - probably an overestimation of their talent, but a clear indication that their star is shining a lot brighter than ours. They will be in Germany, competing in Group E against Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic.

It's easy to forget that in 1986, Canada made it through the CONCACAF group to qualify for the World Cup; the U.S. didn't.

In the past 20 years - largely because of the massive impact the 1994 World Cup had on U.S. soccer's infrastructure - the Americans have become increasingly credible on the international stage.

10) Will the Canadian men's team qualify for the 2010 World Cup?

Er, maybe.

The historical obstacles are still there: the lack of a viable domestic pro league, home grown soccer's inability to resonate with Canadian audiences, daunting travel considerations that make it difficult for players on European sides to nip across the Atlantic to represent their home and native land.

Still, on May 19, Canada's men's under-20 team scored a historic victory over Brazil, 2-1. It was the first time any Canadian men's team had defeated the legendary soccer nation. Perhaps there is hope.

Having watched that Canada-France match on TV in 1986, I can verify that it would be awfully nice.

Greig Dymond is the Senior Producer of CBC Arts Online. In the 1980s, he played soccer - as a rather tepid, ineffective forward - for both the University of King's College and Lincoln College, Oxford.

[Joe MacCarthy]

Sorry, World Cup fans – Soccer will never be No. 1
CBC News Viewpoint June 9, 2006 Martin O'Malley
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_omalley/20060609.html

Martin O'Malley - Editor, CBC News Online At least one generation of Canadians knows the line, "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation." Pierre Elliott Trudeau made it famous, but the line belongs to Martin O'Malley, who wrote it when he was with The Globe and Mail. He's written eight books, on topics such as the Canadian North, medicine, murder, media literacy and baseball.

The world is going to be soccer-mad for the next four weeks.

Even people who don't know how many players there are on a team will be yelling their faces off for Brazil, Germany, England, Argentina, Portugal or France. Some will even be yelling their faces off for the United States, which will be among the 32 countries competing at the 2006 FIFA World Cup from June 9 to July 9 in Germany.

I will get more grief from my good friend who bet me $50 two years ago that soccer will be the number 1 sport in North America within 10 years. She listed the litany of arguments for soccer's supremacy that I've heard for the past three decades:

* Kids love soccer.
* It's inexpensive, requiring only a round, inflated ball and an empty field.
* It's the most global of all sports.
* It is the "Beautiful Game."

I agree with all the points my friend makes, but – if I'm still around in eight years – I expect to collect my $50 because soccer just won't make it on a grand scale in North America.

In the big, competitive professional leagues in North America soccer will never prevail as an audience-grabber over basketball, football, baseball, auto racing or golf.

Hockey? As a TV attraction in the United States, it ranks with women's high-school basketball, but remains a frenzy in Canada, even for the kids, despite the enormous cost in equipment, arena rentals and gas for the family car.

North America has tried. Remember 1975, when the famous Pele of Brazil signed to play soccer for the New York Cosmos? He was a little beyond his peak at the age of 34, but surely his presence in New York would put soccer on the North American map. It didn't. What about 1994, when soccer's World Cup came to the United States? Surely this would do it. It didn't.

North Americans prefer their scores big, like 118-114 in basketball, or 36-28 in football. Even most baseball fans, despite how they rhapsodize about the cerebral and artistic elements of their game, prefer a slugfest to a pitchers' duel.

Which brings me to a pet peeve – sports snobbery. Why do people belittle sports they don't understand? I have an Irish friend, a bright man – intellectual, author, editor – who always puts down North American football.

He even comes close to calling them cowards because of all the protection they wear.

It matters not when I tell him that without that protection there would be dozens of cracked heads, broken arms and legs and probably two or three deaths a game, even at the high-school level, because of the intense, head-on nature of the game. Another friend, a Brit, tells of a time when a team of cricketeers played a major-league baseball team and whupped their asses. I do not believe this, and my Brit friend never backs up his claim with a place and a time.

I enjoy soccer, but I do not understand it. It may well be the most beautiful game in the world and the most physically demanding. But I do not love it. Not the way I love baseball. Maybe if I had got caught up in the culture of soccer in grade school, maybe if there were genuine hometown soccer heroes – but I didn't and there weren't. We played baseball at recess and street hockey after school. Baseball takes the most lumps from sports snobs who don't get the game and think it is slow and boring. In this regard, I treasure the likes of big John Kruk, who played first base for the Philadelphia Phillies. A fan once caught him smoking by the dugout during a game and scolded him, saying, "You should be ashamed of yourself, young man, a professional athlete smoking a cigarette."

Kruk replied: "I ain't an athlete, lady, I'm a baseball player."

Macleans magazine once sent me to northern Ontario to write about a world wrist-wrestling championship. I remember in particular a thin young man from Southern California who flew up to Timmins with his dad, who happened also to be his trainer. The kid might have weighed 80 kilograms. He kept winning, with remarkable ease. He won in his class, then took on bigger competitors and beat them too.

Between bouts, he hunkered against a wall eating carrots and oranges – he was a vegetarian – and he explained how he did it. He psyched out his opponents with a stoical, menacing glare. As for training, he used bicycle inner tubes, which he tethered to a post and pulled with his arm in the wrist-wrestling manner, concentrating solely on the muscles that mattered most.

In the final contest, when he was up against a man 15 kilograms heavier, the atmosphere in the arena was so tense not a sound could be heard except the strained grunts of the two competitors. When the kid from California put down the big man there was a nanosecond of astonished silence, then the place erupted like it was midnight on New Year's Eve.

When I accepted the assignment I knew nothing about wrist wrestling as a serious competition, but after a week in Timmins surrounded by bulging biceps and Popeye forearms – and that kid from California – I returned home thrilled by the sport.

[Joe MacCarthy]

Where's Canada?: Lack of direction a problem
By ROB LONGLEY -- Toronto Sun
Tue, June 20, 2006
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/WorldCup/News/2006/06/20/1643178-sun.html

http://i5.tinypic.com/152lxc0.jpg
Team Canada soccer coach Frank Yallop stands infront of (left to right) Mark Watson, Jason deVos, and Pat Onstad during a press conference held in Edmonton in 2004. It has been 20 years since Canada last participated in the World Cup. (Edmonton Sun/Sean Kilpatrick)

FRANKFURT -- They hang from windows of hotel rooms and cars and from the walls of restaurants and bars.

They are draped around shoulders, waved wildly in the stadiums and in the train stations.

There are the tricolours of Mexico, Italy or Portugal, the Stars and Stripes of the U.S. and 28 more.

For two decades now, the Maple Leaf has not flown at the quadrennial celebration that is soccer's World Cup.

Since the country made its lone appearance in Mexico in 1986, the closest our flag has gotten to the action is on luggage tags of Canadian visitors lucky enough to get tickets.

If you are a fan of Canadian soccer (and not just a soccer fan living in Canada, there is a difference), our ongoing failure is a saga of underachievement and incompetence.

From failed qualification attempts, to coaching changes to the widespread belief that soccer lacks proper infrastructure in our country, there is no sign of it ending.

"If the United States can qualify, I don't see why Canada can't," said Holger Osieck, who is head of technical development for FIFA technical but is better known to Canadians as the former head of our national team.

"I enjoyed living in Canada and am not in touch with the people there any longer. But yes, at times there was a sense of frustration of not moving forward. Everyone knows there are thousands of youngsters who play the game. But they need to be developed to have success internationally."

Even when there is a glimmer of hope, it seems, Canada can't make big enough steps forward.

Calgary's Owen Hargreaves is expected to start for England today against Sweden, a poor example for the youth of this country, but who could blame him for jumping ship?

The story has been told often, of Hargreaves being cut from our under-17 team but deemed talented enough to develop into a regular at midfield for powerful Bayern Munich here in Germany and eventually the England national side.

Taken a step further, Osieck's point about the U.S. now playing in its fifth consecutive World Cup is one thing. But tiny Togo and tinier Trinidad and Tobago are both here as well. Surely Canada can get to the dance once in a generation?

Osieck insists he isn't bitter about parting ways with the Canadian program in 2003, and landing a plum job with FIFA was a nice consolation. He said he loved the country and saw potential in the program. But he became increasingly frustrated at the lack of vision.

"My ideas were not a mystery, you can look it up," Osieck said yesterday during a break from his duties with FIFA. "I had come up with a very detailed blueprint for how to develop the sport in Canada.

"There were recommendations for a national training centre and other technical ideas to help develop players. Unfortunately, there wasn't always support."

Though he was often painted as being hard on his players, Osieck got results. In 2000, he led the Canadian men to what many considered a breakthrough victory.

A 2-0 shutout over Colombia in the CONCACEF Gold Cup was a shocker but a sign that the program was headed in the right direction.

But neither Osieck, who was let go in 2003, or his replacement Frank Yallop, who left earlier this month to take a job with the Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS, were able to take the next, biggest step.

So now the program is without a coach and once again, it seems, direction.

Yallop had opted to go with a younger squad in the failed attempt to qualify for this year's event, a strategy that was hoped to yield big results for 2010.

If it us back to square one, how many more years might Canada struggle, especially a country already generations behind the powers of Europe and South America.

"I think we are still in our infancy," Brian Robinson, a former Canadian international star, said."Yes, we have players who go to Europe to play but we don't have enough of them.

"We don't have our own league here to develop more so I'm not surprised we don't see more talent coming through."

Canada's lone trip to the World Cup in 1986 was hardly a success -- three shutout losses and an early exit.

But few expected a return visit would take 20 years -- and counting.

There is a belief, perpetuated jointly by the Canadian Soccer Association, and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., that the arrival of an MLS team in 2007 will be a big boost.

Feel free to be skeptical, given how many times we've heard this drum pounded, but the hope is young players will somehow be inspired by the presence of a pro team.

"We see it as a great boost for the development of the sport," Kevan Pipe, the Canadian Soccer Association's chief operating officer, said in an earlier interview. "The under-21 World Cup (to be held in Canada in 2007) will do the same.

"We are not in as bad shape as some of the doom-and-gloomers would like to predict."

It's one thing to have role models. It's quite another to take advantage of those already at your disposal.

Alex Bunbury, for years one of Canada's top players and a professional star in Portugal, wonders why he hasn't been asked to give back to the sport in his homeland.

"I never went asking or knocking on doors, but I can tell you this, no one ever approached me and said, 'Alex Bunbury, with your name and what you've done in the game you should come back here and give back to the young people.'

"I have lots of friends in Europe who have done well and their name and activity in the sport is huge. It is an inspiration for the young people.

"It would be an honour and maybe it would inspire some young kids. But the passion and love we see for the game in other countries, we don't see from Canada."

Little wonder then, that players such as Hargreaves and Toronto's Jonathan De Guzman (who is part of the Dutch program), have had trouble pledging allegiance to the flag of the country in which they were raised.

Considering there is a window of opportunity of two, maybe three chances at a World Cup in one's career, players are unwilling to wait for Canadian soccer to get its act together.

"I still think we have a long way to go," Robinson said. "Still, we should be able to handle the United States and Mexico one of these years."

Osieck wishes luck to the next man who tries to make it happen. And warns that it will take more than talent.

"I spent some time there and tried to push things forward," Osieck said. "I thought for whatever reason we made some strides. That's history for me, but it seems there are still more strides that are needed to be made."

[Joe MacCarthy]

Poll: Canadians love World Cup
By DAN RALPH
Wed, June 21, 2006
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/WorldCup/News/2006/06/21/1645770-cp.html

(CP) - Canada may not have a team entered but that hasn't stopped millions of Canadians from being bitten by the World Cup bug, a new poll suggests.

The poll, conducted by Decima Research and provided exclusively to The Canadian Press on Wednesday, indicates more than seven million Canadian adults are interested in the tournament, which began June 9 in Germany and concludes July 9.

"I think this absolutely speaks to a bright future for soccer in Canada," said Bruce Anderson, the chief executive officer of Decima Research, a public opinion and marketing research company. "The World Cup is an international spectacle, a sport that people seem to find increasingly appealing.

"The thing about the long-term potential is if you look at the nature of the audience, you see young, urban, higher income, more highly educated people and those demographics are obviously going to be quite appealing to advertisers and they'll be more inclined, I think, to get behind the game in the future."

The poll found 23 per cent of those surveyed said they were somewhat interested in the tournament while 15 per cent were very interested.

Decima said its figures, applied to the country as a whole, suggest seven million Canadian adults are interested in the World Cup.

Decima polled 1,023 adults via telephone from June 16 to June 18. Its results, when considered as a reflection of countrywide attitudes, are accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Television ratings suggest World Cup interest is on the rise.

On Wednesday, the Globe and Mail reported that through the first week of games carried on TSN averaged 426,000 viewers while Rogers Sportsnet drew 343,000 fans.

The last time World Cup games were carried during the day in Canada was 1998, and the average audience then was 259,000 on TSN.

"I think these numbers suggest interest in soccer is growing," Anderson said. "If we look at how many people say they're hockey fans, and we find that's about 40 per cent of the public, these numbers suggest soccer has had a growing fan base within Canada."

Earl Cochrane of the Canadian Soccer Association was pleased to hear details about the poll, but was cautious in his interpretation of the results.

"I think it says far more about the appeal of the game worldwide than it does about the interest in Canada," he said. "I think we'll see the support we have for soccer in Canada next year when we host the under-20 World Cup.

"I think it (poll) is an indication the game in Canada is growing but I think the World Cup is also an event that transcends sport a bit."

He said participation in soccer is growing each year, with the majority of participants being under the age of 12.

"Ten years down the road we could have an enormous base of people who grew up playing soccer and loving it much like we have with hockey and that will definitely help the state of soccer in Canada," Cochrane said.

Not surprisingly, the biggest Canadian World Cup fans are men under the age of 25 but also those who have higher incomes and more education. Students, however, are the most enthusiastic group, according to the poll.

Isaac Ling, a 17-year-old high school student from Toronto, would seem to support that finding.

Ling, sporting a yellow Brazil jersey, was trying to sell pals Basil Metcalfe, 16, and Robert Allen, 17, on the virtues of buying such a shirt as the three sifted through various World Cup gear at a downtown Toronto sporting goods store.

"Brazil is going to smoke everyone," Ling boasted. "Brazil all the way."

Brazil, the defending World Cup champion, sits atop Group F with an unblemished 2-0 record and has secured a spot in the second round.

Allen, however, isn't so sure.

"I watched Spain win (a 3-1 decision over Tunisia on Monday) and they looked like they could be a dangerous team," he said.

The Spanish are definitely a World Cup contender, having already qualified for the next round after two straight victories to stand first in Group H.

Canadians surveyed were divided when asked which team they wanted to see win the World Cup. The poll suggested 15 per cent supported Brazil while 13 per cent favoured England.

Italy was a distant third with eight per cent support, followed by Germany (six per cent), Argentina (four per cent) and France and Portugal (both with three per cent).

Canadian female soccer fans also have a favourite team. The poll suggests women were three times more likely than men to root for Italy, and Anderson said their interest wasn't necessarily based solely on the Italians' play on the pitch.

"I'm not sure I could make the case based on these numbers that women have really studied the differentiated soccer skills of the teams," Anderson said with a chuckle. "I think they're pretty happy how that team comes across overall."

[Joe MacCarthy]

The beautiful game ... of life
Adulovic brothers find greener pastures in Canada fleeing Bosnia during war
By DON BRENNAN -- Ottawa Sun
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/Canada/2006/06/25/1652570-sun.html

There's a tremendous, gut-wrenching pressure on many professional athletes to perform -- maybe it's in a Stanley Cup final, a World Cup soccer game ... or lining up a putt at the U.S. Open golf tournament.

And yet it really all is fun and games compared to the actual, do-or-die situation faced by local soccer referees Mahmut Adulovic and his brother Ahmet 14 years ago.

Their chilling task was an October dash 400 or so yards across a frigid river from Bosnia to the safety of Croatia.

The distractions were the machine gun bullets being fired at them by Serbian troops.

"I remember seeing some people sink," Ahmet, now 37, said while sitting at the dining room table of his stylish Kanata home.

Were they victims of the gunfire or their swimming inadequacies?

"I'm not sure," said Mahmut, 41, who lives only a few houses down the street. "I was just focused on saving my life."

Just as the Adulovics were by fleeing their homeland in the first place.

The war in Bosnia from 1992-95 saw 200,000 innocent people killed, with more still unaccounted for. Ahmet and Mahmut lost at least 10 close family members and many friends.

It would be nothing for Serbian soldiers to bust into someone's house and open fire, they said.

"We didn't witness any (murders), but we did come to the house later and see family members (dead)," said Ahmet. "If we were there we would have been killed as well. It's just luck that we weren't."

The sanctuary of Slovenia was no paradise, either. There, the Adulovics spent the better part of three years as refugees.

"It was a life of hell, very difficult," said Mahmut. "We worked very hard for almost nothing."

"We'd do anything," said Ahmet. "We worked for food, to survive."

One day an acquaintance suggested the brothers apply for immigration into Canada. A great idea, they thought. They took the initial steps of the process, but nothing was heard back for months. Just as they had almost lost all hope, they received notice a formal meeting with Canadian council had been granted.

Unable to speak a word of English, the brothers attended the interview then began another long, seemingly endless wait.

Then, out of the blue, came a letter. The young family -- Mahmut, Ahmet, their mother Rasema, Ahmet's wife Dinka Cutic and their eight-month-old daughter Rasema were granted acceptance into Canada.

"For sure," said Mahmut. "It was one of the happiest moments of my life."

Had it not been for the war in Bosnia, Mahmut and Ahmet would probably still be there -- and the former could very well be a ref at the World Cup. He was young and considered one of the best in his country, working Division II games in front of 20,000 fans. The next step in his career seemed obvious. FIFA appeared to be in his cards.

But starting a new life in a new country also meant starting at the bottom rung of soccer referees. He has progressed from Level 4 to Level 1 in Canada -- "a small miracle," he calls the rise -- and now oversees university games as well as various men's and women's leagues in the city.

Ahmet, also a ref, has his Level 3 qualification, and rarely a night goes by when one or both isn't doing a game somewhere.

Ahmet says "people are very happy" when they see an Adulovic is going to officiate their game.

"The teams, the people who play soccer ... they know us and they really like us," said Mahmut, who also coaches the Under-18 Kanata Lightning.

"IT'S AN EXCELLENT FEELING"

"It's an excellent feeling. We show people we are there for them."

Naturally, Ahmet and Mahmut are watching the World Cup with interest and they agree that the refs are doing a very good job.

They can only imagine what it would be like to be one of them.

"For each ref, what they're getting paid to do those games is not important," Ahmet said when asked what he guesses to be the wage. "They're not even thinking about the money. To be the ref in front of that many people ... it's like some people dream about travel. It would be a dream."

Ahmet, who was in the hi-tech industry as a fibre-optics technician for six years, now owns an upgrading and maintenance company. Mahmut is a maintenance man at a small private school in Carp.

"We are proud Canadians and we are very thankful to be in this country," said Mahmut.

"We have Bosnia and Herzegovina in our heart," Ahmet said of his beat-up and recovering homeland, "but this is our country now."

There are plans for a visit next year, however. To see the house they own together, to see the friends and family that are still in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And to get back on a soccer pitch, made of the soil they played on as children.

A friend in power, the president of the referees' association, has promised the Adulovics some games when they come back. Ahmet will probably ref a Division II game. Mahmut, though, will be given a Premier League match. "That will be a huge experience," he said.

How huge? Well, there could very well be 80,000 fans in the stands. "It'd be very exciting," said Mahmut.

But no pressure.

At least, nothing like he and his brother have already been through.

No dodging bullets this time.

This would be all fun and games.

[Joe MacCarthy]

Canada lacks know-how: Osieck
By NEIL DAVIDSON -- Canadian Press
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/Canada/2006/06/29/1660197-cp.html

BERLIN - Former coach Holger Osieck doesn't follow Canadian soccer much anymore, but he still believes Canadian players have much to learn before they join the big boys at the World Cup.

Osieck, now head of FIFA's technical department, left the Canadian job in September 2003 after a poor Gold Cup campaign that saw Canada lose 2-0 to Cuba and fail to survive the first round.

The German native officially resigned, but it's believed his departure followed a meeting with senior Canadian Soccer Association officials where players complained about Osieck's hard-nosed, my-way-or-the-highway approach to coaching.

"I don't feel bitter about it," Osieck told The Canadian Press in an interview Thursday. "I've got my style. I have my philosophy and I always had my clear vision of what to do. And I can assure you I know what's required to make a team.

"And of course, if you want to step up even as a player, in a way you have to sacrifice. And if you want to just take the easy way, you never get anywhere. I tried to convey the message but some obviously didn't like it. So what can you do?"

Osieck took over the Canadian team in September 1998, inheriting a side ranked 88th in the world. He helped lift the team to a high of No. 55 in 2000 when Canada won the Gold Cup and earned a berth in the Confederations Cup.

Osieck, an assistant coach to Franz Beckenbauer when Germany won the World Cup in 1990, had a 20-17-9 record with Canada. The team was ranked 79th when he left.

Canada is currently ranked 83rd.

Asked if he thinks Canada will make it to the World Cup in the near future, Osieck was blunt.

"First of all people have to know what it takes to get there. And then they can express their wish to be there, to be part of it.

"I tried to convey the message what is required," he added. "It's a lot of sacrifice, it's a lot of personal effort to get there. But I think what is more important is the know-how. You've got to know what it takes."

Osieck also doesn't believe that an MLS franchise in Toronto will be a cure-all to Canadian soccer's ills.

"Well it remains to be seen," he said. "One team doesn't make a football culture or a country. Knowing the system, everything is based on success. And if that team doesn't do well, people won't show up. And you cannot consider this team a development team for Canadian talent. That's definitely an illusion. If people go that road, I think they go in the wrong direction."

That's because Osieck believes the Canadian MLS team will need some big names. He feels Canadian content will not top the bill.

"It's good but it's only going to be a handful (of Canadians). You need people from elsewhere. You need probably names. People from the Italian community, Portuguese community, they may show up if there's a Portuguese or an Italian player. But if you don't find any in this team, let's say the general interest will be pretty low."

Osieck spoke highly of former CSA president Jim Fleming, who hired him. "We pushed a lot of things forward. He was a great guy for Canadian football."

As for the poor showing in the 2003 Gold Cup, Osieck blamed a lot on the tournament's mid-July timing. Players were worried about losing their jobs with their overseas clubs, who were in pre-season training.

"The entire constellation of this event was not positive," he said. "Otherwise the players, I always had a good rapport with them. We got along."

He says he has fond memories of Canada, although travelling in his current job prevents him from following the soccer scene there.

"I don't look back with any negatives. I experienced such a great time in Canada. I still have a lot of contacts with people .... It was a very, very essential part of my life."

His son Bjorn remains in Canada where he is executive director of B.C. Soccer.

"The only person I follow in Canada is my son," said Osieck.

The Canadian Soccer Association is currently looking for a new coach after Frank Yallop resigned to take over the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS.

[Xizor]

Hey Joe I got a quick question for you, why do teams from Canada play in the United States? For example the Toronto Blue Jays of the MLB, or the Toronto Raptors of the NBA, I don't get why this is. Can you explain?

[tdr]

Are you guys worried that Begovic mught be invited to Bosnian Senior NT if he is any good?

[Joe MacCarthy]

He is going to be good and why would we be worried?

[tdr]

Well if Bosnia's NT coach notices him he might invite him.

[Joe MacCarthy]

Why would he accept?

[tdr]

He would if he is bosnian?

[Joe MacCarthy]

Why?

[tdr]

Why what?? Why is he bosnian?

[Joe MacCarthy]

If you want to continue this discussion let's take it to another thread as this one's about Canada's U20 team and not a bunch of useless posting for spam's sake.

[tdr]

If you want to continue this discussion let's take it to another thread as this one's about Canada's U20 team and not a bunch of useless posting for spam's sake.
This whole thread is spam. And I was not aware that I was spamming your thread, since this is a relevant discussion.

I bet you that if Begovic is determined that he is any good he will be joining Bosnian NT.

[Ero]

I bet you that if Begovic is determined that he is any good he will be joining Bosnian NT.

BiH do need a better goalie ;) ... i'm 100% sure he would join BiH NT if they ask him

[tdr]

BiH do need a better goalie ... i'm 100% sure he would join BiH NT if they ask him
he would, i mean who wouldn't

I will have to send Bake an e-mail and tell him about this. :D

[Xizor]

That sucks! :sad:

[tdr]

Yeah that bosnian keeper messed up for Canada. Why is he even a captain of the Canada's U-20 team??

[Xizor]

Don't know?

[tdr]

Did some1 erase my and Ustasa's previous posts in this section?? What was the reason behind that?

I'm not talking about the sig edit.

[Ero]

Did some1 erase my and Ustasa's previous posts in this section?? What was the reason behind that?

I'm not talking about the sig edit.

our posts are here:

http://forums.soccerfansnetwork.com/showthread.php?t=41208&page=3

[Xizor]

Hey Joe I got a quick question for you, why do teams from Canada play in the United States? For example the Toronto Blue Jays of the MLB, or the Toronto Raptors of the NBA, I don't get why this is. Can you explain?

Hey Joe, you never answerd my question man! Look up if you don't remember.^^^^^^^^