March 17, 2025
I Went To A Vancouver Whitecaps Match. Here Are My HONEST Thoughts.
December 09, 2024
Random Thoughts: Canada vs. Suriname
February 09, 2024
What Is My Next Step? How Can I Evolve?
November 27, 2023
2023-2024 CONCACAF Nations League Quarter-Final - Canada vs. Jamaica (Post-Game Thoughts)
April 07, 2023
The Lakeshore Terrace
March 07, 2023
Random MLS/Toronto FC/Canada Soccer Thoughts - March 2023
I have a few random football thoughts that I do not want to fit in a series of tweets, so I will lay all of it out in a blog post before I either forget everything, or it is too late in the MLS season.
December 11, 2022
More World Cup 2022 Musings and Hot Takes
November 28, 2022
World Cup 2022 Musings + A Weekend in Tampa Bay
November 16, 2022
My World Cup 2022 Bracket
March 05, 2021
Montreal's MLS Rebrand: My Thoughts
I know this happened a couple of months ago, but the Montreal Impact's rebranding to Club De Foot Montreal had been weighing on my mind periodically between the time of the announcement and now. MLS rebrands are interesting to me. I am not for or against them, and my opinion of each MLS rebrand varies wildly. I think the best MLS rebrand was Kansas City's rebrand (from the Kansas City Wizards to Sporting KC). Kansas City's MLS rebrand felt like a complete attitude change from a club that presented itself so humorously (in my opinion) to a club that feels professional. The worst MLS rebrand was the Chicago Fire's unnecessary logo change in 2019 that ripped the colors from Real Salt Lake's logo.
October 22, 2019
Canada 2-0 USA: Why An Outlet Is Necessary
The Canadian men's soccer team have not beaten the USA men's soccer team since 1985, until last Tuesday, October 15, at BMO Field. Canada sent the supporters home in delirium with a 2-0 statement win over the USA. I will not dive too much into the particulars of the match itself. Instead, I want to talk about what this result meant to me on an emotional level.
April 29, 2019
The Dawn Of The Canadian Premier League: Forge FC vs. York 9 FC
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@CPLSoccer |
April 27, 2019 is a day that will live in Canadian sports infamy.
March 17, 2019
Engraved On A Nation: The Northern Touch (Thoughts)
TSN created a documentary about Toronto FC's fan culture as a part of their "Engraved on a Nation" series, which profiles interesting stories in the history of Canadian sport. I could not watch the initial airing of this documentary due to other responsibilities, but I did manage to catch a repeat airing a couple of days later, and so I am ready to give my thoughts. I did not have any high expectations going into watching this documentary, but I hoped that everything presented about the club's fan culture is in a fair and balanced way. I will be watching this documentary in the lens of someone who has been entrenched in the Toronto FC fan culture since the beginning.
I will keep this in bullet-point form. Therefore, here are my thoughts:
February 25, 2019
A Look Back at Belize 1-1 Canada From September 9, 2015
October 17, 2018
Canada 5-0 Dominica: CONCACAF Nations League Qualifying
July 25, 2018
The Incident in Ottawa: What Are The True Intentions of TFC / MLSE Regarding Supporters?
August 28, 2016
Toronto FC 0-1 Montreal Impact: Welcome to the Circus
.@torontofc A big banner of a woman on her knees implying fellatio and the phrase "Montreal you suck" is a disgrace. pic.twitter.com/KuXDbEbhi9— blackbetty07 (@blackbetty07) August 28, 2016
Hey @BMOField why are you funneling about 8000 people through a 15 ft wide gate? pic.twitter.com/pTilRYa3vq— Steve Billinton (@SchteveTown) August 28, 2016
July 15, 2015
The 2015 Gold Cup Matches in Toronto
I went out to BMO Field to watch a couple of Gold Cup Group B matches, which were Jamaica vs El Salvador and Canada vs Costa Rica. As someone who regularly goes to Toronto FC (and some Canada) matches, this would serve to be a rather unique experience for me, especially watching the Jamaica/El Salvador match, where I was a neutral.
It was a poor start to my evening, as I missed my train to the stadium and showed up in the 20th minute of the Jamaica/El Salvador match. The first thing I noticed was the amount of El Salvador supporters in the stadium. They vastly outnumbered the Jamaica supporters and they made a lot more noise. The stadium attendance itself was a bit sparse, but the El Salvador supporters made sure that they made their voices heard. I got the feeling that making noise came naturally to the El Salvador supporters, and they made more noise than Toronto FC supporters did on some TFC match days.
Speaking of the Canada supporters, I think it was the loudest I have ever heard the Canadian supporters at BMO Field, in which the periodic, pounding rain and the Canadian team's "must win" situation contributed to it. I always thought going to Canadian national team matches produced a much stronger atmosphere than going to Toronto FC matches, and this match reinforced that thought, even though the attendances are much smaller. That night was something special, because everyone in the sections came together to create unified support. One particular moment from the supporters section came before halftime, where someone decided to let off a smoke bomb in our section. Personally, I have nothing against smoke bombs, even though it is against the rules, but it ended up being more of a nuisance than anything else. I was not able to watch the rest of the half because of it!
Overall, it was a unique and interesting night to go watch some football on a Tuesday, from El Salvador supporters fighting among themselves, to the smoke bomb incident in the Canada supporters section. I hope that there are more events like this in the future, because I had a lot of fun.
September 10, 2014
Canada 3-1 Jamaica: Post-Game + Media Gallery
The Canadian Men's National Football Team finally returned to action at the National Soccer Stadium (usually known as BMO Field) where they faced off against Jamaica, who came up short in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup and were looking to start off on the right foot themselves. It was a spirited match, and Canada ran away 3-1 winners, which was their first win in about two years, and their first multi-goal game in a long while as well.
There were two things I noticed as soon as I entered the stadium. The first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of empty seats at the stadium. I felt like the match could have been promoted better, as I didn't really hear about the match a whole lot through the different types of media. However, the match did have some challenges when it came to attracting people to come out, such as the fact that it was a weekday match (Tuesday evening), and that they had to compete against the Toronto Blue Jays, who were playing in the Rogers Centre at the same time. It also didn't help that the Canadian team wasn't very good.
The second thing I noticed was that there was a strong contingent of Jamaican supporters at the stadium. Canada matches that take place in Canada (especially in Toronto) always had the issue where the team that they were playing had more supporters in the stadium than the Canadian fans. That always bothered me, and I made the joke that all the Jamaican supporters were actually Jamaican-Canadians, and I have a suspicion that I might actually be right. Name me one person that flew from Jamaica to Toronto just to go watch this friendly, I don't think you will be able to.
As for the match itself, I was pleased with Canada's performance. Canada were understandably a bit rusty at the beginning stages of the match, but the Canadian midfield imposed themselves and were in control (Hutchinson and De Guzman had solid performances). The Canadian defence were quite composed and even though they had some scary moments when Jamaica threatened the goal, they were able to shut them out. Milan Borjan had a stellar performance, making great saves and not being afraid to come out for the ball. The Canadian forwards had a tough time putting the ball on target, which echoed previous struggles whenever Canada played, but luckily for them, the scoring came from other sources.
It's worth noting that the response from Canada after Jamaica scored the first goal was something I have never seen from this team. They would usually wilt under the pressure of going behind, but they instead roared back quickly, and then put the game out of reach. Much credit to the coach, Benito Floro, for his role in inspiring the team.
The Canadian supporters in sections 112-114 were absolutely fantastic. They didn't stop singing for the entire duration of the match, and they brought an atmosphere that was sorely lacking whenever Toronto FC played at BMO Field. It was without a doubt, the best atmosphere at BMO Field this year, and the supporters deserve a lot credit for that.
Lastly, I have a couple of videos. The first one was taken immediately after the match ended where the Canadian players thanked the supporters for coming out to watch them beat Jamaica. The second video was taken outside Gate 3 after the match where more singing and chanting ensued.
Overall, it was an awesome time out. I met various supporters from here in Toronto, from Ottawa, and beyond. The match was also quite entertaining, and it was good to see Canada prepare for their World Cup qualifying with a win. This may be wishful thinking, but I hope this win lays the ground work for shaking off the "loser stench" that has plagued the Canadian National team for so long.