Canada Day: March 9, 2013
Mark that date down. It is a short history given the Montreal Impact are in their second year in the league, but yesterday marked the first time that all three Canadian clubs won on a single day / weekend in league play. The Vancouver Whitecaps edged the visiting Columbus Crew 2-1 and host Toronto FC surprised the defending US Open Cup and Eastern Conference regular season champion Sporting Kansas City by the same score.
Then, the Montreal Impact recorded a second consecutive win on the road, matching last year's entire win total away from home. The Impact, who stayed on the west coast after downing Seattle, 1-0, last week posted a 2-1 victory against the Portland Timbers.
Looking back at last year, the probability of all three having complete the feat was unlikely with only 28 wins between the three sides as Vancouver, a fifth-seed, was the only team to reach the postseason. The closest the trio came to getting a sweep last year was Wednesday, July 18 when Toronto and Montreal earned 2-1 victories against Colorado and New England (two other non-playoff sides), respectively, while Vancouver earned a 2-2 draw against eventual league champion Los Angeles. Check out all of the other scores, stats and video links via the NASR Today recap.
For those who have seen the ongoing reports of political unrest in Egypt and the soccer-related headlines about violence over the year, mostly due to the fact that former US coach Bob Bradley is at the helm for the Egyptian MNT, this is a must-read report from Associated Press about new violence sparked Saturday. Riots sprang up, not surprisingly given the passion for the sport and the political backdrop, Saturday when verdicts at a trial for numerous defendants were released. Among them were nine police officers, seven of whom were acquitted of their allegations of negligence.
The announcements quickly aggravated fans - though that was likely to occur by one side or the other - and led to an attack on the Egyptian Federation headquarters, which was set on fire by the protestors.
So what led to today's events? It started 13 months ago when a riot broke out between fans at a league match in Port Said that led to 74 fatalities. The allegations, however, went beyond just fans not liking one another to accusations that the police allowed the fans of Al-Masry (Port Said) to attack visiting Al-Ahly (Cairo) supporters, exacerbated by the lights going out on the Al-Ahly fan section during the unrest and accompanied by claims of fans not being searched and a gate being locked. Meanwhile, Port Said residents, many of whom have been displaying resistance to the current regime, think politicians are looking the other way in favor of Al-Ahly.
For the full run-down of events, read this AP report…
Bringing Youth to Pros
I completely agree with Glenn Davis, the voice of the Houston Dynamo. More youth coaches need to expose their players to professional games and training more often.
'Soccer with Breakfast' is a quick recap of interesting, underreported, or top soccer news items - sometimes accompanied by some commentary - to give readers in the Inland Northwest area (or beyond) a brief look around the North American news scene.
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