Basketball in Canada...... (living in, clubs, friendly)
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Another major issue is the lack of a real National Youth Academy in Canada as well. If you look at Australia as you mentioned they have a strong youth development program that stretches Nationally.
In Canada you have the CSL, which is almost exclusively based in Ontario and Quebec. You also have the MLS teams academies, but once again it is regional and tied to a US based league. With no Youth development system Nationally, you will not see development into a real footballing nation.
Canada is currently ranked 9th in the CONCACAF and 79th by FIFA. Which places it behind even a developing country like Haiti (8th in CONCACAF, 72nd by FIFA) So it shows that the opportunity is there to make a move into the top tier of the Conference. Yes Mexico and the US will always be 1 and 2, but the next two qualification slots are wide open if Canada decides to make a commitment to National Soccer.
I think it will be tougher and tougher for Canada to move up the list. Soccer's popularity is exploding around the world and even non-traditional soccer countries are beefing up their domestic leagues and national programs. Three pro clubs for 34 million people across thousands of km of geography, even if MLS is a decent league, probably isn't going to contribute that much to Canada competing with the big boys - or even the small boys.
Has anybody attended a game yet this season (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver?) If so how was the atmosphere. The Toronto FC and Montreal home openers looked very well attended.
Has anybody attended a game yet this season (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver?) If so how was the atmosphere. The Toronto FC and Montreal home openers looked very well attended.
Did not attend but Montreal's home opener was attended by 60,000 people and got saturation coverage in the media.
Thanks Acajack, great video. I admittedly was very late to the MLS party, as someone who grew up watching Premiership and La Liga football I did not have much interest when the product was poor at the beginning. I am definitely on board now and it is great to see it so well supported.
Do you think the support in Montreal will be short lived? Or is this a team people will consistently get behind. You could tell from the early stages that cities like Seattle and Portland would have incredible fan bases, I hope its the same in MTL.
Thanks Acajack, great video. I admittedly was very late to the MLS party, as someone who grew up watching Premiership and La Liga football I did not have much interest when the product was poor at the beginning. I am definitely on board now and it is great to see it so well supported.
Do you think the support in Montreal will be short lived? Or is this a team people will consistently get behind. You could tell from the early stages that cities like Seattle and Portland would have incredible fan bases, I hope its the same in MTL.
It's hard for recently arrived immigrants to get into sports such as Hockey or Football (CFL) I know personally that as an immigrant I had a hard time understanding all of the rules of Hockey (and I still have some problems! ) but I immediately got pulled into the MLS.
Do you think the support in Montreal will be short lived? Or is this a team people will consistently get behind. You could tell from the early stages that cities like Seattle and Portland would have incredible fan bases, I hope its the same in MTL.
Support for the Impact has grown throughout the years -- they're new in MLS but they aren't a new team to fans. And as sad as losing the Expos was, Montreal is now the largest metro area in North America (excluding Mexico) without an MLB team. From now until the Alouettes' season begins in July, they're the only show in town (especially since the Habs suck so bad, lol). And there are plenty of non-Alouettes fans too.
It's hard for recently arrived immigrants to get into sports such as Hockey or Football (CFL) I know personally that as an immigrant I had a hard time understanding all of the rules of Hockey (and I still have some problems! ) but I immediately got pulled into the MLS.
I am with you there Mexi! I had a very hard time watching hockey when I first emigrated as well. I came from a country where we played Soccer and Cricket growing up as kids and the next most popular sport was Basketball. Hockey still is very low on my list, but I do try and follow the Habs (I liked Patrick Roy as a kid)
I agree that the demographics of Montreal lend itself to support the Impact.
Quote:
Originally Posted by barneyg
Support for the Impact has grown throughout the years -- they're new in MLS but they aren't a new team to fans. And as sad as losing the Expos was, Montreal is now the largest metro area in North America (excluding Mexico) without an MLB team. From now until the Alouettes' season begins in July, they're the only show in town (especially since the Habs suck so bad, lol). And there are plenty of non-Alouettes fans too.
Good point about The Impact being a brand that is familiar to people already. I wasn't sure if the change in roster would affect the support, but common sense does say that they will be supported even more since the competition and players are now of a higher caliber (Players who play regularly Internationally)
Thanks Acajack, great video. I admittedly was very late to the MLS party, as someone who grew up watching Premiership and La Liga football I did not have much interest when the product was poor at the beginning. I am definitely on board now and it is great to see it so well supported.
Do you think the support in Montreal will be short lived? Or is this a team people will consistently get behind. You could tell from the early stages that cities like Seattle and Portland would have incredible fan bases, I hope its the same in MTL.
L'Impact's official home stadium will seat around 20,000 when it is completed in a few months. I would expect that it will be filled to capacity for almost every single game, and that the team will do like the Alouettes do, and play "big" the occasional games at Olympic Stadium in front of huge crowds.
They have a few more games at the Big O scheduled this spring until they move back into Sa**** Stadium. It will be interesting to see what kind of crowds they get.
L'Impact's official home stadium will seat around 20,000 when it is completed in a few months. I would expect that it will be filled to capacity for almost every single game, and that the team will do like the Alouettes do, and play "big" the occasional games at Olympic Stadium in front of huge crowds.
They have a few more games at the Big O scheduled this spring until they move back into Sa**** Stadium. It will be interesting to see what kind of crowds they get.
Yeah it seems like 20k is the "sweet spot" for MLS stadiums. Only Seattle has a larger (aprox 40K) soccer specific stadium. All the others are around that size and seem to consistently draw 15k plus a night.
Have you heard any rumblings about any of the big European teams planning to tour Canada this summer? specifically Montreal? Inter,Chelsea, Liverpool, Celtic and AC Roma are scheduled to be in the US this summer.
Also, LOL at how the site censors the stadium's name because part of it is a bad word in Spanish Sa****.
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) but I immediately got pulled into the MLS.
Sa****.
