Martinique mess shows we’re a long way off

Benito Floro has two years to assemble a team Canadians can be proud of

Because European leagues still dominate the thinking for soccer fans, summers often appear to drift by, allowing many to blissfully ignore the game.

Don’t be fooled, though. There may be neither English Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A nor La Liga, but there is always a mass of brain-tickling news out there. Let me take you on a summer ride.

Last week Canada named Benito Floro to the national team coaching job, vacant since Stephen Hart bowed out following that Honduras World Cup drubbing. It was a terrific move to land a man who once coached Real Madrid and something positive to take into Game 1 of the Gold Cup against Martinique last weekend. This East Caribbean island is an overseas department of France, not even a country and consequently not recognized by FIFA. Its total population is a fraction more than 400,000, or less than half that of Ottawa.

Easy meat for Canada, you would assume, even if it had been decided to use the tournament as a breeding ground for our national team of the future. We left out Dwayne de Rosario and Patrice Bernier, stalwarts still playing at the highest Major League Soccer level, presumably because they would be too old by the time we try to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Floro, who was taking no part in coaching until the Gold Cup is over, probably thought he could get a good assessment of some of the players he will have in his stable. He probably thought wrong.

Dreary Canada was outplayed, out-thought by Martinique and deserved to lose. We were forced to ask why a bunch of youngsters all failed miserably to take advantage of the chance to impress the new boss. There was insufficient skill and almost no fighting spirit, as if the Canadian jersey wasn’t worth honouring. Predictable media bashing followed even if the optimistic among us hunted for positives: like they can’t possibly be this bad.

Fast forward to Thursday evening and Game 2 against Mexico, a perennial CONCACAF force. I am unhappy to report we lost 2-0. I’m happy to report the fight returned, the tactics were refined and there were glimpses of players with potential.

I want to single out Kyle Bekker, a Toronto FC midfielder who deserves more MLS playing time than he has been getting. He is calm on the ball, spirited off it and a player who can create dangerous moments because he can actually complete accurate passes. I also like defender Marcel de Jong, who plays club soccer in the Bundesliga with FC Augsburg and who has fought his way back from injury woes, and let’s not forget Will Johnson, the Portland captain who was sick and could not turn out against Mexico.

I know, that’s only three, but Floro has a year or two to find and develop talent into a team we can take pride in, and I refuse to talk the team down before it has been formed. Take a look at our men playing their final game against Panama on Sunday.

The Confederation Cup rode into Brazil to give the world an early taste of what to expect during the World Cup finals next summer. Despite major demonstrations against government spending to host the World Cup (and the Olympics) in a struggling country, what happened on the fields was a feast.

Even more, Brazil won the darned thing by outplaying mighty Spain 3-0 in the final. That’s a massive achievement against a team that had gone 29 competitive matches without losing.

There was insufficient skill and almost no fighting spirit. We were forced to ask why a bunch of youngsters all failed miserably to take advantage of the chance to impress the new boss.

Brazil has always lived for soccer and used to be among the favourites in every tournament. Not in recent years, however, so winning at home suddenly turned it into a genuine contender for World Cup 2014, especially with the loudest, most musical, most raucous 12th-man fans imaginable. It has certainly whet my appetite for 2014.

Now, what about the FIFA U-20 World Cup, almost concluded in Turkey. Who would have thought the minnows of Iraq would still be standing when it came to the semifinals? No matter, the pundits said, Uruguay will thrash them. Iraq did lose, but it took 7-6 in penalties after extra time. Not much of a thrashing, you might say.

France, which has looked slicker and slicker as the tournament has progressed, eased past another surprise semifinalist in Ghana. The African team was strong and speedy, but could not muster quite as much skill or firepower and fell 2-1. Make a point of watching the FranceUruguay final on Sunday.

It may not be at the same level, but Canada actually had a winning team playing in Kazan, Russia. It’s the World Universiade, and many of the big soccer countries are in that tournament.

So let’s lift a glass to our Canadians, one of whom is Carleton University’s Joey Kewin. This team tied France 1-1, then beat Peru — which had two men sent off — 2-0. That set up a third game against the Brazilians. A tie was needed to make the last eight and the Canadian men ground it out 1-1.

That meant a Friday night special against Russia, which won 4-1 before what was expected to be a full house of 15,000.

Finally, we can’t complete the week without mention of John Pugh, the man behind the Ottawa Fury for more than a decade and the main man behind Ottawa Fury FC, which is to begin its professional existence in the North American Soccer League at Lansdowne Park next year.

Pugh’s dedicated contribution to the game he loves was honoured Wednesday before a W-League game at Algonquin College by Canadian Soccer Association President Peter Montopoli, Ontario Soccer Association President Ron Smale, EODSA President Paul Dobson and some 400 fans. Organizing the affair was a secretive event maybe because, had Pugh known what was coming, he might have found a meeting to go to. As things turned out, probably the thing he liked the least was a massive cake to celebrate the moment. I understand he is not into the cake thing.

Pugh bought the Fury in 2002 and since then has turned a single W-League team that has been a leading North American team for years into a totally rounded club. There’s a grassroots program that starts with four-year-olds, an academy for players from ages eight to 20, the club’s men’s Professional Development League team and the W-League women. Quite an achievement for a man who has always followed the worthy credo of “It’s for the kids.”