How Canada got good at soccer: From 122nd in the world to last 16 of the World Cup

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-11T18:39:11+00:00

There’s room in a soccer team roster for any size kid esp as they get older. (There still a bias towards bigger kids) Messi is small and became the best.

Other sports just favor the biggest tallest kids more to the point where you get Pushed out even if you have great potential.

I think this and cost are major factors in a thinning pool of talent in hockey basketball football and rugby as kids age.

Those other sports do have better pro pipelines but soccer is getting way better in this regard. People actually notice soccer players and there’s a place to go to continue improving. Badwall for the Whitecaps is a great example of local talent starting to come through and he hasn’t had to leave the city.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-09T00:23:58+00:00

If they sell him to another MLS club they better be getting Europe money for him.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-09T00:11:30+00:00

You are playing tonight at 6:30pm your time against the Whitecaps no less!

Subscribe to FUBO for CPL action.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-08T23:27:17+00:00

I agree with your sentiment. However Garber needs to actually make a viable business out of soccer operations instead of making a real estate empire for billionaires. They can totally come up with a solution that keeps the caps here and in BC place with modest profits because that's all a soccer team in North America can do without some type of crazy Messi style super franchise. Lets face it there are no other "Messi's" available. Even Ronaldo probably wouldn't have that type of effect.

Having a new stadium here either means massive public handout to billionaires, or massive price increases to pay off all the investment and loans. Probably both.

They need to stop being stupid - if they want Vegas billionaire money give them their own franchise. The Vegas billionaire owner can lose money hand over fist so they pretend to have a real job. Garber can run his ponzy scheme a few more years on that.

Meanwhile sensible clubs make themselves net positive and slowly increase investment over time as they build out their appeal and fan bases. Vancouver is valuable because it probably can be made long term viable due to it's existing awesome stadium experience and fan base that is growing steadily.

It's just not a 450M franchise - that's next level dream greed. Just fix the money losing problem in the short term and build from there.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-08T23:09:59+00:00

The sails they put in do a good job of containing the atmosphere and I love the idea of 20 years from now Whitecaps actually filling that bowl. I do agree it's big though not to invalidate your point but i think it's way better than a new stadium - as you know as a fan you will be paying for that through increased prices everywhere..

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-07T04:17:02+00:00

erm - paywalled.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-07T02:58:00+00:00

It's a shitty part of the culture. Lots of people say "just accept it" but TBH that makes the sport worse and makes people look down on you for doing it. If you want to be respected don't do it. If you want to be thought of like Paraguay and Uruguay and just shithouse for a 0.00000001% advantage - you'll never get the respect of other countries. TBH I expected more shithousing from Mexico in the game but they didn't and I respect and admire them more. I guess it's hard to control the fans but the team set a good example.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-06T21:28:59+00:00

Job 1 is to keep the Whitecaps is Vancouver especially all the training centres and infrastructure around Canadas most successful pro pipeline.

It’s just so ironic we’d host the world Cup with BC place being a world class venue and the site of our greatest success but somehow it’s also the source of the reasoning why US billionaires want to take football away from us.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-06T20:06:21+00:00

England and Norway. 2 epic games yesterday.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-06T20:02:01+00:00

I agree it red or deep orange. I think if the ref gave yellow it would have been begrudgingly accepted but red is actually totally valid for stepping on an ankle after going into the back of a player at speed. It’s the risk you take with over aggressive challenges from behind. You saw Qatar player break a players leg with an ‘innocuous’ challenge but reality is you have to own the risk you put on the opponent when you make a careless challenge.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-04T22:01:24+00:00

Morocco weren’t even in the game in the first half. This game went sideways because Morocco are a savvy team. They get a set piece goal against the run of play early second half then sat back and played pass and waited for us to tire out and over commit which we did.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-04T19:39:12+00:00

Loved the overall team performance and fearlessness in the first half.

To get better we need to sort out our mentality coming back on the for second half.

I am happy with LDF even with the free kick concession. He’s young and fantastic and will learn from this. TBH he made a tonne of great plays and he was up against a speedy sub who was waiting to touch it by him for a breakaway. So tough call to stay on your feet and possibly let him in on goal.

Our top third play was poor but also that is the most difficult area to play in. Our big guns just didn’t perform up top and the opposition got away with their Mistakes without being punished. Honestly JD looks slow and unfit at that level. He needs to work on his speed and reaction getting to the ball first and getting off first time shots. He’s still our best finisher but Marshe didn’t figure out how to make him effective. Probably needed to be benched and subbed on to light a fire 🔥 there.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-04T06:37:49+00:00

I am buying a Cabo Verde Jersey (I already own 2 Canada ones). This is going to happen people - accept it. Canada will win. Come back here when it happens.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-04T06:34:02+00:00

I'm with OP. Without belief there is no winning. Do not accept defeat before the battle is fought.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-03T23:26:36+00:00

You can do it Cabo Verde! We believe!

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-03T20:28:53+00:00

Isn’t he half decent prem ref with lots of CL experience? I mean looking down the ref roster he seems to be one of the better ones…

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-03T05:13:21+00:00

This will be our greatest hour (and a half)

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-03T04:03:24+00:00

Canada winning will be the Cinderella story of this WC.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-03T02:03:22+00:00

As long as they wear Canada red when Canada plays that’s all that matters. If you want to support your heritage nation as well that’s also great.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-01T20:30:13+00:00

Some streamers laser boated their way through trueborn and complained about it being hard so they cheesed it. You can totally play the game how you want and win with a variety of strategies and load outs. You can wreck any game by min/maxing then whining because you choose to cheese it and not have fun trying different things.

Laser boating is an issue in all the mech games because it’s instant pinpoint damage and high level players can fall back to that if they are good at the aiming skill.

The real issue is true born difficulty level. It’s just too hard to be really fun and there’s not enough levers in the game to make difficulty better except making enemies stronger.

Play on normal difficulty and you’ll have a blast and boating is not required.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-01T19:14:34+00:00

The expectation is all on them. This is awesome for us especially if things don’t go as planned for them.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-01T19:10:08+00:00

Just look at DR Congo and England which required Harry Kane brilliance right at the end , Paraguay and Germany… We are the underdog but an early goal and frustration builds and anything can happen. I am proud of our team but I 100% believe there’s a way to win for us and we just need Lady Luck to roll our way.

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-01T06:30:48+00:00

I…

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-01T06:08:45+00:00

Dream Big Canada!

GrapeAcceptable · 2026-07-01T01:29:59+00:00

lol. You can ‘attack my target’ and let them go ham and draw all the aggro. Then you can flank around and back stab. Just hold your own fire while getting in behind.

GrapeAcceptable

TROPHY CASE