The Soccer Thread (Version 12) — Revenge of the Backup GK

I really can’t see Ole surviving this. The team has been chaos.

 

This hasn’t even been remotely competitive. They might as well have sent fans to play this game for as well as it’s going and United would be in the same shape it currently is now thanks to Pogba being an idiot

 

You can’t play 2 d-mids and constantly be torn open. United are a couple of late goals from being in 12th place and bottom of the UCL group.

that’s on the organization.

 

They might not let Ole on the coach back to Carrington.

 

Tough day to be a Jets and a United fan.

 

Koeman out. Not even close to a shock. I wonder who is willing to take the Barca job given their financial restrictions.

 

The Canada WNT and Canada Soccer are also going through the abusive coaches wringer.

Ciara McCormack, the retired soccer player who was the first to publicly accuse a former coach with the Canadian national program of inappropriate conduct, says she was pleasantly surprised to hear that the Canadian women’s national team took a stand against Canada Soccer.

On Friday, the players sent a letter to the governing body of soccer in the country, asking the federation to help fight a culture of abuse and silence in sports. Canada Soccer, the governing body of the sport in this country, pledged that commitment in a statement released on Saturday.

“It's been a very long road. But it does feel like we've hit a tipping point, and I'm more than happy to add as many people onto the bandwagon that want to join in, because there is power in numbers,” McCormack told TSN earlier this week.

McCormack first brought attention to Bob Birarda, the former coach for the Canadian women’s under-20 team and the Vancouver Whitecaps women’s team, in a blog post in 2019. Birarda is currently facing nine sex-related charges in British Columbia court: six counts of sexual exploitation, two counts of sexual assault, and one count of child luring.

He is expected to appear in court on Thursday after proceedings against him were postponed for a ninth time earlier this month.

The letter of demands sent Friday by the national team includes an independent and transparent investigation into Birarda, as well as an apology “to those who have been victimized while playing the sport they love.”

Canada Soccer released a statement on Saturday, before the Canadians were set to play New Zealand to kick off the team’s Celebration Tour, saying that the federation stands with the players and that it will meet all three demands, including implementing measures to better protect players in the future.

A spokesperson for Canada Soccer said Tuesday that the promised investigation into Birarda is “in progress,” but no further details are available at this point.
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‘Tipping point’ from national women’s team spurs Canada Soccer to investigate coach - TSN.ca

 

I can see the argument that this is yet another concession to The Big Teams (TM), and it's not without merit, but I'm OK with this. Clubs aren't going to start playing fewer games and it doesn't look like national teams will either, so something has to give.

 

A quiet night at The Office? Didn't expect that.