TDLR - skip to the end and read the article if you like a bit of a longer read on the inner workings of how fucked our FA is in Canada.
Canada Soccer, Canada’s FA are in a shambles. We had a friendly scheduled against Iran at home in Vancouver in the last international window. Vancouver has yet to have CANNMT play in the Qualifying matches, so it was a big deal that they were getting the friendly. The game was then cancelled due to political pressure because Iran shot down a commercial jet via missile in Tehran that was fill of Canadian citizens in 2020. No apology has ever been issued and the Iranian government has stymied all opportunities to investigate the crash, so political pressure was mounting when the game was announced. Tactically, it was the right team to play due to where Iran are currently ranked vs. us but an awful decision to play them otherwise.
The Canadian Soccer Association then in turn rescheduled a game to play against CONCACAF opponents Panama under short notice of two weeks. We’d already beaten many times over in World Cup Qualifying, so while the excitement for the game wasn’t as high from a tactical and beneficial standpoint, at the very least we got a game to be able to tune up the squad against a decent, albeit not great opponent. That’s when shit hit the fan…
Our men’s team went on strike and refused to play the game against Panama due to inequalities in the payment structure surrounding a contract the CSB signed with our then fledgling pro league’s owners. They issued a public letter calling for transparency and the stadium at BC Place that night remained empty - all while the CSA had to foot the bill to Panama’s FA without the benefit of ticket revenues. Both sides then got into a very public shouting match through the media.
Today, TSN - Canada’s biggest sports broadcaster dropped this article and it’s a complete shit show. https://www.tsn.ca/world-cup-bonus-fight-exposes-battles-over-canada-soccer-transparency-governance-1.1824428
All this is happening before going to the World Cup in November. The wheels are coming off and we haven’t even played a group stage game since 1986!
