Canada Soccer has become a power in our country. But as that power grows, you have to be very careful with how you wield it. Following plenty of backlash, Canada Soccer had to cancel a friendly vs. Iran scheduled for next month. (donnovanbennett)
Canada Soccer has become a power in our country. It has steadily carved out a foothold in our sporting landscape with the program’s overall likability, diversity, youthfulness and recent success. The goal is for Canada to become a power in world football.
Canada Soccer says it called off the match against Iran because it “became significantly divisive.” The stance is a reversal after originally defending the game under the guise of sports as an ability to unite.going to be divisive. To state otherwise is suggesting that there were two polarizing sides to this issue at one point.At the end of the day, the families of the Canadians that were killed
“We thought it was best that maybe this game would not be played,” Osorio said Friday after Toronto FC training. “My feeling is that around the federation, it ended up being the same feeling as well.” That essentially put the players into two camps: Those that were uncomfortable with the message it would send to play in a game against Iran, and those that were uncomfortable with the fact it wasn’t their decision, yet they’d be left to answer uncomfortable questions about it.
Which begs the question: Given Canada Soccer’s growing visibility, is it time to cast a wider net for feedback when making such decisions? Its statement seems to indicate that’s the case: On paper, the game made sense as the Canadian men’s team looks to taper up its level of competition en route to the World Cup. Iran, one of Asia’s best football nations, is 21st in the FIFA rankings, ahead of Canada, which is 38th.The lesson here is that everything — including big-time, high-performance sports — is political. That is why Russia won’t be participating in the upcoming World Cup. The irony is that the game vs.