Frank Yallop Resigns

[Dude]

The game is so competitive...at 12, if a kid decides he wants to switch over to the ice, it is way too late. In the summer, we see kids attending Power Skating that are 10, 11, 12, and have just decided they want to play. Those kids can't even come close to keeping up with a 6 year old who's been skating all year with his team. Honestly, the kids are identified RIGHT NOW! Kids 5-8 are placed in either Hockey 1,2,3 or for exceptional players, Hockey 4. That's 4 levels of ability for coaches to place the kids in over their first 4 years. And, there is a significant difference in both skating ability and puck handling- not to mention size of the player- for all four levels.

Since my son has been in Hockey 2 the past two years, and now moving into hockey 3, he has also had 2 Power Skating sessions available EVERY WEEK during the season. Do most take advantage? No. In fact, it isn't encouraged to have kids there all the time. Burn out. It is encouraged to have them attend once / week. But, the fact remains that the Power Skating is there, and available, at no extra costs, as part of the development program.

Now, compare that to Surrey United and the soccer factory. Great programs, but at the end of the year, if I have Mini Dude in all the extras that he'd get w/ Hockey all inclusive, I'd pay more for soccer. Seriously, w/ Mini Dude playing regular season, and his sunday FDS classes w/ Geoff, soccer does cost me more over the same time frame.

As for choosing, again, by 12, in hockey, way too late. Only the very special athlete could switch over and still make a career out of it, ie: Ed Jovonoski (a player soccer lost to hockey). It is easy for kids to switch from Hockey to other sports, but the skating element eliminates it from being a viable option the other way around.

 

[knvb]

Christ wearing fishnets... A few more posts from you and I'll have enough information on 'the Dude's' to start a proper A&E style biography. I think the only things you left out to make it truly complete is your wife’s undergarment preference - silk, cotton or commando and do you or do you not shave your arse with a pink lady Bic.

Never mind. I’ll ask Notty.

 

[Dude]

Need to give you a point of reference.

1. Around me, cotton long johns.
2. When the milk man comes over, pretty sure she breaks out the silk.
3. Never mind, ask Notty if you must.

 

[canucklehead]

From the Globe and Mail:

Former head coach decries lack of CSA planPETER MALLET

Globe and Mail Update

A lack of focus by the Canadian Soccer Association on the men's national team led to his resignation as the head coach, Frank Yallop says.

“I needed to have a vision with the national team,” Yallop said in a telephone interview this week. “I felt that I was living day to day with the team and we never had a long-term plan for the country.”
Yallop announced his resignation on June 7, but he spoke this week in the wake of national technical director Richard Bate's announcement that he, too, was leaving the CSA.

Bate was hired in October of 2005, but announced last week he was leaving to take up a similar position with Watford, the recently promoted London club in the English Premier League.

“We have some great people at the CSA who are devoted and dedicated to their jobs and my purpose here is not to dump on any of them,” Yallop said. “Our program [senior men's team] was not the No. 1 program in the grand scheme of things. I would guess for the teams that made the 2006 World Cup, developing their senior [national] team was their main focus.”

Yallop also cited the limited number of international exhibition matches and training camps as a big reason for his departure.

This year, Canada's national team will play four exhibition matches; last year, it played eight.
Yallop said Canada needs at least 20 games a year to prepare itself to try for qualification for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

“The next coach is going to need a plan and he is going to need to say, ‘These are the games I need and the players I want,' ” Yallop said. “He is going to have to tell the CSA point-blank that he needs five games just to get the team functioning as a unit and a minimum of 20 games per year. That is what everyone else who we compete against in CONCACAF [Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Associations of Football] gets.”

Kevin Pipe, the CSA's chief operating officer, said that Yallop's call for 20 games a year isn't possible, given the limited number of dates available on the international soccer calendar — days when professional clubs are mandated to release players for international duty.

“I am surprised Frank would say 20 games per year,” Pipe said. “There is no way to play that number of games, due to the FIFA international calendar. What is realistic? Ten or 12 games is a realistic target.”

Pipe said Canada spends $12-million a year on its 17 national men's and women's programs. He said that international dates and player availability, not money, are the real reasons behind the small number of games the men's national team plays.

Yallop had started to rebuild Canada's struggling senior men's team since taking over for Holger Osieck in January of 2004. He guided Canada to a respectable record of 8-9-3.

Before taking the job of Canadian coach, Yallop led the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer to two league championships and was voted as the coach of the year in 2001.

Even though Canada didn't qualify for a fifth consecutive World Cup, there was a sense among players and fans that things were starting to improve after the team defeated Austria 2-0 in March and tied the United States 0-0 in February.

Canada rebounded from its lowest world ranking in history, 91st in March of 2004, to its current level, 54th, when new criteria for ranking national teams was put into play this month.

Yallop has since taken over the coaching reins of the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS from former U.S. World Cup coach Steve Sampson after the team had stumbled out of the gate with a 3-10-2 record.

Since his arrival in Los Angeles, the Galaxy are on a four-game undefeated streak, after a 0-0 draw with Chivas USA last Saturday.

Pipe said that interim Canadian team coach Stephen Hart will receive some assistance from under-20 team coach Dale Mitchell for Canada's home-and-home series with Jamaica: in Montreal on Sept. 4 and in Kingston on Oct. 8.

He indicated a permanent replacement for Yallop likely won't be announced by the CSA executive committee until next year. He also said the hiring of a national technical director won't take place until December.

For now, Pipe said, the focus of the governing body should be preparing the under-20 national team for the under-20 World Cup next year — Canada is the host — and readying the women's team for the Gold Cup in November, a qualifier for the Women's World Cup in China next year.

What is stunning in this artcle is how Pipe states that the senior men's team is not a priority??? I understand that there are other teams (and that U-20's is a huge event) within the program but WTF??? If money isn't the problem, then they should be able to take care of all of their priorities. The Senior program is the focal point of all national associations. Women's Gold Cup???? Only in Canada!

 

[trece verde]

...and we wonder why Canadian soccer is in the state it's in with a moron like this at the helm. I'm positive that if this was Hockey Canada in this state, there'd have already been a royal inquiry into the way this sad sack is running the show.

 

[SCP]

pipe only cares about himself and his salary comes first...moron is a under statement...

 

[djones]

We're down in Oregon right now for the Beaverton Cup with my U-13 team and we were watching the MLS game between the LA Galaxy and the Columbus Crew this afternoon. Word out of the states is that Frank is one of the front runners for the US men's National Team Head Coach. Wouldn't that be kick in the teeth if that comes to fruition!

 

[Dude]

We're down in Oregon right now for the Beaverton Cup with my U-13 team and we were watching the MLS game between the LA Galaxy and the Columbus Crew this afternoon. Word out of the states is that Frank is one of the front runners for the US men's National Team Head Coach. Wouldn't that be kick in the teeth if that comes to fruition!

Maybe that's the kick in the ass they need. That, I would hope, get more media coverage, and get people's backs up a bit.

Speaking w/ a few soccer savy friends in the States- guys who've played at the University level, and follow the sport- and Frank is very well known and highly respected down there. Obviously, all to do w/ his success in MLS...

The MLS may be a shite league, but it is a shite league that is quite a bit better than the best league up here.

 

[Dude]

In fact, these were Will's comments exactly when I e-mailed him. Sadly, he's bang on:

Yallop is one of 4 coaches being considered. Number 1 on that list is Juergen Klinsmann. Klinsmann lives right near where the US team trains. He was often criticized over the last 4 years by German press because he spent more time with his family in California then he spent with his team in Germany.

In any case, the US needs a non-North American born coach. They need someone like Klinsmann or Pareira (the last coach of Brazil) because the US needs a coach with great technical skill. The US players are as athletic as any squad in the world, but they need to be sharper in the technical areas.

Canada will not be good until there is a domestic league that is better then the USL.

 

[johnnybluenose]

Canada will not be good untill they get MLS franchises in Vancouver and Montreal to go along with the club in Toronto.

It's too bad that Vancouver city council to date has stunted the growth with the whole Stadium run-around. Vancouver will not get an MLS team untill they are out of Swangard.

 

[SoccerPaper]

^ Good point, except that the new stadium is being built by the Whitecaps. Unless the Caps moved to the MLS, why would they let a team competing with them for a fanbase use their stadium?

 

[canucklehead]

^ Good point, except that the new stadium is being built by the Whitecaps. Unless the Caps moved to the MLS, why would they let a team competing with them for a fanbase use their stadium?

They've (Whitecaps) have been very clear that their intention is to move into the MLS. The stadia is part of the proccess.

 

[Captain Shamrock]

MLS or not, professional football in Vancouver will not take off......and never has since the REAL Whitecaps folded.....along with the NASL

That's the reality and thinking that a new stadium will rekindle those glory days is very optimistic thinking......

The MLS will be tits up in a couple of years as the attendances are dwindling every year.........

 

[SoccerPaper]

Personally, I think the MLS is expanding too fast. Also, the model they have (with no relegation and promotion) bugs me. I'd love to see the USL linked with the MLS so that teams from the PDL would, over a number of years, have the chance to move up to second division, first division and finally the MLS, but that will never happen because revenues in North America aren't big enough.

Plus, the USL doesn't even have it's own relegation model internally, which I think is odd. There should be a motivation for teams to invest and get better... along with a lesser team's run for promotion comes added fan support and more investment!

 

[SoccerPaper]

PS: a quote from Lenarduzzi regarding the 'Caps joining the MLS is found in this article at the Georgia Straight.

 

[johnnybluenose]

Fact: Kerfoot has the money to play with the big boys of MLS ownership
Fact: The Caps proposed stadium falls in line with attendance figures of the MLS. Source: http://www.kenn.com/soccer/mls/team_averages.html
Fact: Vancouver is a fickle sports town. The fans will support a succesfull team in a top flight league ie Canucks, everything else falls by the wayside ie "A" Canadians Baseball, CFL (Second or third tier Pro American Football) Junior Hockey Giants.

IF the Caps build a strong enough team to compete for a MLS title within 5 years of their being in that league, with a new stadium to draw the fans for the first year or two, untill the skill of the team can replace the newness of the park to draw fans, they will have a very competitive attendance in comparison to the rest of the MLS When they get into the MLS.

 

[Dude]

John,

Lions average somewhere in the vicinity of 28,000 fans. If the Cap's get the stadium done, and if they could secure an MLS franchise, they would be tickled to draw in half what the Lions do at a similar ticket price.

Lions may be CFL, but they are doing pretty well at the gate these days. Agree w/ Vancouver being fickle, though. Need to be a winner, otherwise loyalty goes out the door.

 

[Regs]

I'd question the support for the Giants as well... they seem to be very well supported by fans in Vancouver. No?

 

[Dude]

Maybe it is Vancouver's soccer fans that are fickle.

In fairness though, the Giants play in arguably the 2nd or 3rd highest caliber league in the world, with maybe the AHL a notch higher (please don't come on here and tell me any Euro league is better than the CHL). Major Junior, along with being great skill on display, is highly entertaining.

Easy sell there...

 

[johnnybluenose]

28,000 fans is roughly 45% of their capacity. That is shameful.
Giants are supported as well as they ever will be, but after the MEM Cup being here, and them hosting it, they will do well if they don't mortgage their future and be a shite team for the next 5 years after...
The CHL is not even close to the 3rd highest calibre league in the world.
1. NHL
2. AHL
3. Russian Elite
4. Swedish Elite
take a look at rookie Euro's stats while playing in those leagues as 17 year olds, and then look at what their north american counterparts are putting up for numbers in the Dub, the Q, or the OHL.