2009 Nations Cup

[J_B]

Congratulations on going as far as you did. I was absolutely amazed with you beating Italy since you basically played with 10 men the entire game and it caught up with you in the final. After seeing you play Germany & Ireland like you did, it was an absolute shiter of the bed on the executives behalf in the playoffs.

The 49 year-old looked exactly his age playing with and against 20 year-olds. He was completely out of place - geriatricly slow and never touched the ball, even as a central midfielder. I am absolutely amazed that no one said anything. It was, in all due respect, I repeat, in all due respect, the absolutely worst coaching fcuk-up/favourtism I have ever seen in a competetive soccer game. Here you have a 21 year-old VMSL Premier player sitting on the bench, along with other young players, watching this useless, relatively old man trying to play soccer. If they had any shread of self-respect they would not come back to play again.
Can anyone give me a 1/4 decent reason why he played over any one of the guys on the bench? At least the young guys could run. Please don't give me the excuse that he can play a position better than the kids - put a damn pylon there.

WAB,

I am not going to get into the decision that a coach makes about who should be playing and who shouldn't, because as you well know you will have one coach that thinks someone is the good player and another who thinks that you shouldn't even be on the park, it is about individual perspective.

It seems to be a trend these days with the younger kids that when they don't get something they run to mommy who is going to fix something, in this case happened to be some of the Sapperton guys on the sideline to bitch and complain about how he isn't playing and how much better he is then others.

Should this player not be mature enough being 21 to speak to the coach or team captian about what he can do so that he can get on the park or maybe just wait out is opportunity to come and when it does take it and show the coach that he was wrong by not playing him sooner.

It tells others a lot about his character and his maturity to deal with the situation the way he did.

Cheers
JB


P.S. What premier team did this player play on last year?

 

[Ankle Breaker]

Great tournament put on by the executive. Clearly, this is the best tournament in BC.

Geordie...with all due respect, team India's supporters are unbelivable. In the first game against China, we were playing on the turf so not sure where you want the supporters to watch the game. I would say that team India has the largest supporter base. Action taken against the indian team for their supporters???????. How could the team be responsible for the 200 plus people who show up. Dont' think your comment is fair. I know from talking to a number of different players, they love the support that is shown by the Indians. In 2006, when they made it to the semi and finals you could not find a seat anywhere for both games and the atmosphere was unbelivable. Everytime India plays the field is surrounded by supporters.

In the end, congrats to England and well done to the executive.

 

[knvb]

I hate the Nations Cup, I really do...

No other Monday of the year would I choose a bullet to the brain than the one immediately following this tournament. Is there a chiropractor in the house? My back feels like one of those bendy pens you give out at the mall.

My suggestion for next year:

Kushy is not allowed to play. Massage therapists are on site. (Happy endings optional) And a light rain mandatory for all Scotland matches. Lean, Willy make it happen.

Congrats to ZGermans on probably the luckiest bounce I’ve ever seen.

 

[mackers]

I too want to thank the Nations crew for an awesome weekend and a very smoothly run tournament. An added feature this year, was the taxi service they provided, cheers Senior

I want to thank the Canada women for a great tournament, you girls were a pleasure to work with and an absolute delight to watch play. Congrats to all the other teams we played against and watched, saw some huge improvement in the Indian team, was very impressed with the First Nations team against Ireland and of course to Burnsie's Irish team giving us a very good game in the final, your girl's worked extremely hard and were unlucky to not pot 1 or 2.

CANADA - THREE PEAT BABY !!! Can't wait to defend next year !

ceers, mackers.

 

[trece verde]

McHleuka:

Stop whining...

zzzOld Germanz got jobbed by the (ahem) official in our first game against the Scots, with a blown offside non-call that cost us by giving Scotland the winning goal in the last minute. Downhill from there. Full credit to Scotland, Fiji, and Poland for entertaining footy even at our advanced age. All I can say about Fiji is that Zico better show up like that for our cup game next Sunday...

Finally got a chance to put some more faces to some more of the other deranged wingnuts who populate this place. Did Dickens ever actually get on the field for anyone? Did Captain Shamrock's bait bike on the beer garden fence get picked up? Will the hottie in the pink top who pinched my ass while I was talking to No. 2 in the beer garden ever come back and explain herself?

Enquiring minds want to know...

Cheers all,

Trece

ps: 1. His name is Lapa.
2. He's not 49 yet.
3. food was not better from the scary unidentifiable fried objects ($12 for that?) that I saw Coolhead with.

 

[gomesy_jr]

McHleuka:

Enquiring minds want to know...

Cheers all,

Trece

ps: 1. His name is Lapa.
2. He's not 49 yet.


Trece, you got things mixed up. Yes, Lapa is not 49 yet, but he's not the 49 year old that was playing with us on Saturday and Sunday. That honour goes to Joe DeMello, and it was a great being able to play with someone I used to watch all the time growing up.

Great tourney and congrats to all the English lads!

Cheers,
Gomesy

 

[gomesy_jr]

WAB, another thing regarding the 21 year old you are speaking of that didn't get in our last two games. Apparently he was unhappy with only playing 15-20 min. against Germany on Friday night, so he wasn't going to show for the rest of the tournament. I hear this from a bunch of Sapperton guys Friday night and Saturday morning, and knowing we were already short players, I called him to find out what was going on and had to convince him to come out for the game against Ireland. He showed up late, so did not get into the game right away, but played some decent minutes. Then he walks away from the team in the middle of the Italy game?!?!, a game in which we were playing well, so why make any subs unless needed? I was very impressed with him in our exhibition games before the tourney, but his attitude over the weekend was shocking.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[trece verde]

Gomesy:

Actually not my mixup. Burnro had referred to a player as "Lapas" - I know George and Lui, so corrected his reference. Not having seen that game, I didn't know that it was actually Joe he was referring to (believe me, if I had, I would have been able to tell the difference). My mistake was in assuming that Burnro knew who he was talking about.

Trece

 

[lean]

Another year done and another really good sunburn to go with it

I have updated the website with the final results.

Congratulations to England - Men's Open, Canada - Women's Open, Germany - Over 30's, Fiji - Over 38's and Scotland - Over 45's

There were many great games, at least the 5 mins of each game that I got to watch, and it looked like the Beer Garden was ok We appreciate the unbelievable support for this tournament and you guys and gals make the effort worth it.

We are always looking for suggestions to improve the tournament and have worked hard to incorporate new ideas. If you want to email us at info@thenationscup.com we would appreciate it. If anyone has pictures or videos of the tournament that they would like to share it would be great.

I would like to thank my fellow committee members who work so hard to make this a great tournament and to our leader, Jeff Wilson who has taken up the job that Geoff Penniston started.

I look forward to seeing everyone next year,

Cheers,
Lean

 

[NOVA]

ENGLAND ENGLAND ENGLAND

Portugal didn't have any gas left for the final. We could see it the first 5 minutes into the game. If it was the first game of the tourney...different score line and way better game... but same result (insert bias).

It almost felt like a Sporting vs Sporting final with 5 guys from Sporting on the England squad actually 6 - with Matt O once upon a time. Having said that, when you can add a mix of Sporting-West Van-Metro Ford into one team plus add Ollie I think your chances look pretty good. This gave us the advantage with a strong bench /lots of subs we actually had 2 lines- one going for each half or so it seemed.

So all and all great tourney Finally England WINS!!!

Sort of a small consolation for all Sporting players involved (sorry JB) with the demotion to div.1 next year ...still shake my head on how?????

Congrats to Portugal to make as far as they did with 13 guys vs our 24.

Milad was great for us, but the MVP who gave his heart and soul and was more deserving was Mike Gomes -great tourney buddy!


PS- with all this 49 year old talk there was a player in his 30's who to me deserved some playing time but didn't see him on the pitch in the final especially after 3 -0 courtesy of you know who....DF ?????


Cheers

Little Dormer

 

[Regs]

Enough about all the has-beens that never played or didn't get subbed in, isn't someone going to talk about all the outstanding talent pinging about this year?

Impressive.

 

[club_i_champ]

Cheers to the whole Nations Cup Executive for another great tourney!

Congrats to the England Open squad, fully deserved over the course of the weekend. Gutted to have not gotten out of the group stage, the early Sunday morning game makes or breaks your tourney i'm finding out Thanks for coming out First Nations... Portugal was fortunate IMO, but credit to them, they battled the entire way, well done to you all to get to the final.


Cheers,
CICwithnovoiceandamassivesunburn

 

[Rangerforever]

You mean the talent in the beer gardens Regs?
Impressive indeed...

I thought the 49 year old for Portugal everyone was on about was Sliver.
He's always been a butcher.

Needless to say with all the other kudos on here but just wanted to give a shout again to the tourney organizers.
Thank you all for everything you do - It is truly a great experience to be involved at the Ethnic Tournament.
First class and extremely well run.

From a spectators point of view (If you can ever see over the India fans ) it's so cool watching and mingling.
Little bit of oggling...
Lean and I were chatting yesterday how lucky we always get with the weather each weekend - Amazing.

Cheers and congratulations to all winners,
RF

 

[whataboutbob]

Then he walks away from the team in the middle of the Italy game?!?!, a game in which we were playing well, so why make any subs unless needed? I was very impressed with him in our exhibition games before the tourney, but his attitude over the weekend was shocking.

Cheers,
Mike

Mike, the guy flat out is a shitty player at this level. Period. If he's so good, is he going to be playing with you guys next year? Perhaps sign him for the cup run? No fcuking way in hell and you know it. Why, as your central midfielder, did you not pass him the ball when he was 15-20 yards open? In the final 50 minutes of the game against Italy, he touched the ball 2 times; and one was to throw the ball in.
We are not talking about a guy questioning whether or not he is better than a 18-38 year-old. We are talking about a 49 year-old here. Hell, I played with Joe Alvano when I was 15, but he wouldn't play now in a competitive match - a friendly or charity perhaps.
A good and smart player/person can only take so much bull shite before they walk. I know this was an acceptable situation. What is shocking is being snubbed over a player like that at that age.

BTW, I would have still had the same position even if it was not a Sapp player. I really felt sorry for the 3 other young guys sitting on the bench. Anyone of them were better. Why? Because they could have at least run! It was so obvious that the old-timer was way, way out of his league that I actually felt sorry for the guy.

I know he's a old family friend and defending him the position you will take, but you and I both know he was the 22nd best player by a mile on the pitch in every second of every match. I look forward to your defense of his play.

BTW, like I said, you guys did great to battle Italy like you did. Congratulations to you and the battle you showed.

 

[Polska]

Mike, the guy flat out is a shitty player at this level. Period. If he's so good, is he going to be playing with you guys next year? Perhaps sign him for the cup run? No fcuking way in hell and you know it. Why, as your central midfielder, did you not pass him the ball when he was 15-20 yards open? In the final 50 minutes of the game against Italy, he touched the ball 2 times; and one was to throw the ball in.
We are not talking about a guy questioning whether or not he is better than a 18-38 year-old. We are talking about a 49 year-old here. Hell, I played with Joe Alvano when I was 15, but he wouldn't play now in a competitive match - a friendly or charity perhaps.
A good and smart player/person can only take so much bull shite before they walk. I know this was an acceptable situation. What is shocking is being snubbed over a player like that at that age.

BTW, I would have still had the same position even if it was not a Sapp player. I really felt sorry for the 3 other young guys sitting on the bench. Anyone of them were better. Why? Because they could have at least run! It was so obvious that the old-timer was way, way out of his league that I actually felt sorry for the guy.

I know he's a old family friend and defending him the position you will take, but you and I both know he was the 22nd best player by a mile on the pitch in every second of every match. I look forward to your defense of his play.

BTW, like I said, you guys did great to battle Italy like you did. Congratulations to you and the battle you showed.

what if he only had a couple weeks to live and one of his last requests was to play in the nations cup?

 

[whataboutbob]

WAB,
Should this player not be mature enough being 21 to speak to the coach or team captian about what he can do so that he can get on the park or maybe just wait out is opportunity to come and when it does take it and show the coach that he was wrong by not playing him sooner.

It tells others a lot about his character and his maturity to deal with the situation the way he did.

Cheers
JB

P.S. What premier team did this player play on last year?

Played Sapp for the last 3 years, played roughly 1/2 games in Premier with no complaints and scored 6 goals. Played mostly full minutes in Div1. Great kid.

JB, name me one half decent player who would sit there and accept being snubbed by a 49 year-old who is incapable of playing in a game of that magnitude. I know you wouldn't. What does that say about your character? Paul Favs would never take it - and we all know how highly regarded he is. I can name/show you 300 players around the league that would not take the blatant old friend favouritism. The bottom line is it says nothing about his character.

You can argue about other things that happen and what it says about a player, but not this.

 

[whataboutbob]

what if he only had a couple weeks to live and one of his last requests was to play in the nations cup?

Ain't I the asshole............go play O30's,38's, 45's, 5 minutes in Open.

 

[Rangerforever]

It's nice to see you back to your usual self.

I was getting worried...

 

[whataboutbob]

BTW, JB, after the Nation Cup 2008, this player was asked by Sporting to go play with them last year in Premier. If he was suitcase player who thought that he was the greatest, why did he tough it out in Div1 with Sapp and commit to getting us back in Premier? He committed to an entire season of dedication and hard work.

Now that I'm on this topic, what does it say about the character of young players leaving teams that are now in Div1, and going to Premier teams after being part of the reason why the team was relegated?
That must not sit well with some.
(Older guys I can understand.....reasons I can get into another day.)

 

[whataboutbob]

It's nice to see you back to your usual self.

I was getting worried...

As one Abruzzo manager used to love to say:

"Call a Spade a Spade"

I'm just waiting for the personal attacts to start flying.