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I read the press release on the Caps site yesterday and it alluded to Fonseca being removed as head coach to take on this new position... a new head coach? No wonder Captain Shamrock has left the building, it all makes sense nowGordon McIntyre said:Caps, BCSA join forces to improve local soccer
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
The scene at the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame on Monday looked almost like John Kerry and George W. Bush promising to let bygones be bygones as they agreed to share power for the common good.
Instead, it was the Whitecaps and the B.C. Soccer Association making official a ceasefire that will set in motion what both sides hope is a lasting peace to their drawn-out civil war.
"Absolutely it's about time," said Bob Lenarduzzi, director of soccer operations for the Whitecaps. "It's been a long time coming."
Added Victor Montagliani, president of the BCSA: "Yeah, it is a no-brainer. But sometimes the simplest things are the hardest things to realize. It's no secret soccer in B.C. has suffered from the perils of fragmentation for too long."
Several things came together to finally put all of soccer officialdom in B.C. on the same page but the last straw was Canada's continued embarrassment on the international stage, especially the Canadian men's pathetic World Cup qualifying efforts.
By joining forces the BCSA and the Whitecaps hope to not only improve local talent but, one day, make Canada a proud player on the international soccer scene.
"You're not going to see results next week," Montagliani said. "It's going to take years, but hopefully one day somebody will pull this archive up and say, 'Remember when that happened?'
"It's the catalyst of the Whitecaps getting better, of us getting better and the national team getting better."
As a result of the coming together of the warring sides, nine district development centres will be set up in the province: One at the Whitecaps new SFU training centre (Whitecaps men's coach Tony Fonseca will be the technical director), three in the Okanagan, two up north, one on the Sunshine Coast and two on the Island.
"I'd like to think what we're doing here in B.C. will be a model for the rest of the country," Lenarduzzi, a former Canadian star and coach of the national team, said.
"You can bring in the most qualified coach in the world, if he doesn't have the players to work with then he's handcuffed.
"In order to provide our national teams' coaches with better players, we need to provide a better delivery system."
I still say the players are out there for Canada to have some better success. The problem seems to be that there are not enough 'scouts' to be looking for the talent.
But I suppose this is a good start.
~Regs.