This is kinda old news now. As Duane Rollins first reported at the 24th Minute, the Canadian Soccer Association has parted ways with men's national team coach Dale Mitchell. The Canadian soccer fan in me says this is awesome news. The Dale Mitchell fan in me...well, he doesn't exist. That was just an overdone way of saying, "Good work CSA!"
There wasn't really any other option aside from letting him go. We saw we he could do (or, couldn't do) in World Cup Qualifying. We were terrible. He took our Costa-Rica-beating-Guatemala-thrashing-almost-USA-beating 2007 Gold Cup team which was lead by Stephen Hart, and made them losers. Really though, our nats aren't losers. Compared to other CONCACAF teams, we're pretty good on paper. Paper isn't where the games are played though, and guys like Dale Mitchell really aren't helping our cause.
I'm not sure what was on his resume that stood out to the CSA. Maybe it was his old NASL career - after all, former players have to make good coaches, right? (wrong). Perhaps it was the his performance as coach of our U20s at the 2007 U20 World Cup - the one we hosted. Yes, 0 wins, 0 points, 0 goals...that must have done it.
Was this whole Dale Mitchell thing a disaster in the making from day one? Probably. We're entering a new era with our men's national team now though, and hopefully the CSA can get it right this time - after all, that 2014 World Cup is just around the corner*...
*No, it's not just around the corner. Anyone else still bitter we aren't in the hex?
There wasn't really any other option aside from letting him go. We saw we he could do (or, couldn't do) in World Cup Qualifying. We were terrible. He took our Costa-Rica-beating-Guatemala-thrashing-almost-USA-beating 2007 Gold Cup team which was lead by Stephen Hart, and made them losers. Really though, our nats aren't losers. Compared to other CONCACAF teams, we're pretty good on paper. Paper isn't where the games are played though, and guys like Dale Mitchell really aren't helping our cause.
I'm not sure what was on his resume that stood out to the CSA. Maybe it was his old NASL career - after all, former players have to make good coaches, right? (wrong). Perhaps it was the his performance as coach of our U20s at the 2007 U20 World Cup - the one we hosted. Yes, 0 wins, 0 points, 0 goals...that must have done it.
Was this whole Dale Mitchell thing a disaster in the making from day one? Probably. We're entering a new era with our men's national team now though, and hopefully the CSA can get it right this time - after all, that 2014 World Cup is just around the corner*...
*No, it's not just around the corner. Anyone else still bitter we aren't in the hex?
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2 comments:
about time i've been waiting for this moment since he started his concacaf campaign, he put onw of the most talented (if not the most) team in the trash can. I know are founds aren't great so an amazing coach is out the question but someone rmotly better will do and is easy to find.
its a shame to see such an amazing canadian player fail so terribly in coaching the team he loves.
there are a lot of mitchell (the coach) bashers out there -and rightfully so. it's simply too bad that the mitchell (the player; arguably one of the best players canada has ever seen) has been forgotten in the dusts of time.
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