[MUSIC] >> Fan Morning Joe Sportsnet 5.9 of the fan, Ben Aniston, Yalei, Franceski. So Canada, spectacular performance of the Copa America. Just no notes, well done. They lost Argentina. What a travesty, twice, okay? No big deal. They did only score two goals in the five games as we mentioned. So Alfonso Davies asked to perform in a different role than he had been under John Herdmann, John Herdmann. There's some spectacular Alfonso Davies moments in the run up to the World Cup, the Panama goal, Ho Ho, Doctor. >> World class, yeah. >> And then the one goal they scored the World Cup? >> Yeah, blocked him. >> Pretty good. >> First, it was fitting quite honestly that he was the goal scorer for the first ever Canadian goal at the World Cup. >> No results though in the World Cup. >> No results. Okay, so yeah, so I have very mixed feelings about that stuff. Because one, frankly, there should never be expectations of them winning multiple games at a World Cup routinely. Like I hope we get to that level and we are trending in that direction. But the manager just said it. There needs to be more talent in the side. There needs to be a greater depth of field that they can select from in terms of players. And that is the priority. So I think he hit the nail on the head there in his postgame reflections that part of the growth is we got to we got to expand this talent field and then go from there. >> Yeah, and part of that might be coming from the Canadian Premier League, speaking which 4GFC against Toronto FC tonight in the first leg of the Canadian championship, semi final, 7 o'clock at Tim Hortons Field, tickets available at the 4GFC website. Speaking of 4GFC, let's talk to David Edgar, current 4GFC assistant coach, former Canadian international and joins us all on. Good morning, David. How's it going? >> Good morning. It's going good, thank you. >> So how fun was it for you and your association with Canadian soccer to watch the last couple of weeks for this team? >> Yeah, it's been incredible. I mean, even just last night I drove to my sister's, we had the game of the big screen out back on the way there, seeing Tejan Buchanan jerseys and honking at people. It just feels, it doesn't feel real at times from the past, so it's been a really incredible experience. >> David, you've played for this team, you've accumulated more than 40 caps at the senior men's national level and you've also seen a lot of lows. Like there have been many lean years and unfortunately you were involved in that process and you were part of that journey and I always think back to the 8-1 loss to Honduras 2016 and you were part of that team, you experienced that. To think of how much the program has grown to get to this point, I guess, what do you attribute in your many years of being involved in professional soccer, international soccer, what do you attribute to some of the biggest attributes that have allowed Canada to sort of evolve into where they are currently as a soccer country? >> Well, a good question. I think first and foremost would be the growth of the game in the country, obviously the participation levels and the pathways for players to start playing here and playing professionally in their own country, whether that be CPL or the MLS. You've got players developing abroad and the player pool itself is getting bigger for the international team. It obviously continues to get bigger and we need to continue to grow it. That obviously and then the growth of us in CONCACAF and what the group did under John Herman last qualification round and to qualify for 2022 is kind of set us on a worldwide stage and people are expecting things from Canada. Now you've got the likes of Alfonso Davies and Jonathan David and Taeja who are big name signings in world football so we're on the map now and I think we're kind of living up to those expectations of the players and the performances. >> How impactful could this run right now be for the young players that could be factoring in to the national team program in the next decade? David, because the players that are playing right now that they didn't have a lot to go back on and realize this proof of concept, playing for this national team, we always talk about the Vince Carter effect but the Raptors and basketball in this country. What kind of an impact could the last couple of years of growth with this national team have to the next generation of Canadian soccer players? >> I know, like I said before, it sounds cliche but really truly, I lived in England for 15, 16 years and just come back here and see people with Alfonso Davies, his kids with Jersey, Canada jerseys, England jerseys, Portugal jerseys, but Canada jerseys. That's a huge deal and that's a huge shift in the growth of the game here. So we got that with the World Cup and it's just that we're really building towards that with the group we have. >> I posed this question, David, yesterday and this is along the same lines of that point there in referencing how nowadays you can go out on the street and especially this is right now we're in the peak of summer and you've got the European Championship happening, you've got the Copa America happening and you're probably going to see equal amounts of Canadian jerseys in the streets and versus other nationalities which ten years ago wasn't the case. You'd go out and you'd probably see more Italian jerseys, Spanish jerseys than you would ever see Canadian jerseys and I think an added layer to that is the fact that now you can actually even ask the question. If you had to pick a player to put on the back of a jersey, there are options. It's not just Alfonso Davies and Jonathan David, I think that actually speaks even more to the overall growth of the program and the caliber of players. Clearly, there's more work to be done and I think we heard Jesse Marsh mentioned this, we heard Steven Eustachio mention this. You are heavily involved obviously with the Canadian Premier League and they alluded to the importance of that league in particular yesterday night after the match against Argentina. Why is it so important for us to have a strong, robust, domestic league and a system like this that will help create enhanced developmental pathways for younger players and help expand that pool of players that are eligible to be a part of the Canadian men's national program? Well, it's massively important, you look around the world, every successful nation has got their own successful domestic league and then you look at the national team there. You got arguably one of Canada's better players in the tournament in Jacob Schofelberg has played in the CPL, Joel Waterman in the squad, it's come from the CPL and it's going to take time and as players developing it at certain rates at this league and the league is growing. Obviously, we were with COVID hitting, it was in a tough period, we got through it and the players are developing and learning most importantly what it takes to be a professional, the day in, day out of the job and the joys of it, the ups and downs so it's, you have to have that league and it has to continue to grow here so kids from Kitchener like myself don't have to grab a suitcase, get an airplane ticket and hop across a pond to try and make a living in the game that they love so much, they can do that in the front door, they can have Kyle Becker jerseys, they can choose to have a tajon, Buchanan jersey or a Stephanie Mustacchio on the back of their jersey like you say and slowly but surely that changes the culture and I think changing the culture of the game here is hugely important, I think that's what the players and the staff are touching on is that shift in culture gets players, younger players into the game which when they have an outlet in the pathway to develop at home room soil it's just, it's a knock on effect and it's a cycle so hugely important and again with it it's a huge important game tonight to again put the CPL in the map and go off the back and unbelievable performance for the national team. Yeah, again if you want to get your soccer action fill tonight you got like one of the Canadian Championship semi-final between four GFC and TFC at Tim Hortons Field at seven o'clock so I'm ready to think big now, I guess Canada they're going to be the favorite the Gold Cup, like are we the best nation in CONCACAF now? I think right now we are, I think the way we're playing and we're going to have that conference, we're going to have that chip on our shoulder, it's about time we've earned that right I think the past couple of years so but it's now it's what we do next, it's what we do next, the games we get next leading it to the gold cup and yeah, let's go and win it, let's go and win the gold cup. David, just to piggyback off of that point, I think something that has maybe sort of invigorated people with this run in particular in this international window is the fact that it came against teams that weren't CONCACAF countries, like we're so accustomed even in the run to the World Cup to reach the World Cup and qualify, you're going through a lot of familiar faces and teams that you have, that we've all seen for years and years and years because it's CONCACAF competition but this is different, like now you're seeing and of course they saw the, you know in the belly of the beast, they're playing Argentina twice but not just them, you're playing Venezuela, you're playing Peru, you're playing Chile, you're seeing different competition, how important is that element of it, that you're exposing yourself to other teams, other countries, other styles of play that will now in turn even help Canada moving forward as they have an eye towards ultimately the 2026 World Cup. Yeah, and I'll probably add to that other refereeing as well, it's all encompassing. Oh yeah. It's all encompassing, right? You've got an unbelievable opportunity there for Canada to play against, well if you've been watching the Euros in the Copa, it's two different games completely, right? So Canada's got to play against France and Holland in that have played the European game that are different, it's a different style at the minute and then you come and play against the Commonwealth teams, like you say against Chile, Argentina and you, it's a completely different style of game so it's going to set Canada in good stead for the future in terms of who you're going to have to play against in the World Cup and teams like that. It is a different sound, football's evolving and it's always evolving so, but yeah, like freeing styles from CONCACAF and Commonwealth to the European Championships to the World Cup so it's amalgamating all those experiences for the national team in these next couple of years to really give us a shot at the World Cup and doing something special. Yeah, they're not done at the Copa either. The third-place game coming up on Saturday, we don't know the, they'll learn their opponent tonight, what does third-place mean for the team? I mean, Jesse Marsh talked about a very different looking squad for that match, some tired legs probably by the end of the full 90 yesterday. What does third-place mean for this program? It's huge, it's huge, I mean, they're going to go into this game obviously, yeah, he's going to make changes, but that's for the future of the program you've set as well, not just for this and the tired legs, like it's the seed players and performing in big stages and again, China wins some silverware there for the national team and it's been a hugely successful start for Jesse Marsh and staff and long way to continue. David, I really appreciate you taking the time today. Again, leg one of the semi-final of the Canadian Championship tonight for Jeff C, Toronto FC at Tim Hortons Field, seven o'clock. Thanks for doing this, appreciate it. No problem, thanks guys, have a great day. Yeah, I do. David Edgar, former Canadian International currently for Jeff C assistant coach. Oh, I've enjoyed watching this team obviously as have many sports fans in this country. I'm 40 years old though, I don't think I have a future playing for the Canadian national team. I have an eight year old son. Yeah. Like there, who was watching with me, got to stay up late on a Friday night last week, which is very exciting. He was sitting with me yesterday and the second half he eventually went his own way because I think he saw the result was apparent. But Friday night was one of the most excited he's ever been to watch a sporting event, to see Canada beat Venezuela in penalty kicks and advance to a semi-final of a Copa America. This is not the same as like Vince Carter, I guess, you know, hanging from his arm in the net in a dunk competition and the raptor is making it to an Eastern Conference final. But we talked about the Vince Carter effect and, you know, the impact it has on this current generation of NBA superstars and a guy that finished second in MVP voting who's going to lead Team Canada to the Olympics, starting at the end of this month. Like this is happening now with no previous record of success. Yeah. All these guys know is epic failure, like no offense. That's true. Like 2012. Yep. 12 years ago, but that was the biggest disappointment in this organization's history, but that's was the most notable moment in its recent history. It's the World Cup appearance in the 80s. Now if you're a young person playing soccer in this country, of which there are many, there's more youth participation in soccer than there is in hockey in this country. You can dream of being on the national team and being a part of a moment like we saw on Friday, or playing against Messi and being one of the lucky guys that gets to get as Jersey at the end of the game. I think in the first match it was Alfonso Davies that did do the Jersey exchange, but somebody else got the. I think it was Derek Cornelius. Oh, okay. They should. I don't know how he figured out. Like he, I guess. He wants to jump on that. Oh, yeah. Because Messi at the end, like there's a couple of guys that went up to his like, I've already brokered a deal and I don't know, no offense in Cornelius, but like, I don't know what Messi's doing with that Jersey. Like where do those go for Messi? Like, does he have a big collection? Yeah. I do. I do. Probably a very select few that he ever keeps and has like framed in a house. So where do they go? Like in the garbage? Like, you know what? That's a great question. Somebody's got to do some digging. Research this and find out what happens to those jerseys, especially if you're doing a swap with like Ronaldo or Messi. What happens to them? Good question. Yeah. Well, for the player getting the messier Ronaldo jersey, I think that's pretty clear. They get framed and put in the den. Anyways, if you're a young person playing soccer again, you're one of the many in this country. Yeah, you're thinking about playing for Barcelona and Real Madrid, but you're also thinking about playing for your country that you are you are thinking about appearing in a world cup and bringing glory to this national team because it's possible now totally. You know, again, I know we reference proof of concept, but look at look at how impactful it is to actually be able to point that somebody else or something else achieving a goal being in that position. Of course, it's a source of inspiration, and it is a source of proof that it can happen. And for many years, and this is part of what contributes and has contributed to the to the proliferation of basketball in this country is being able to look at Vince Carter as an example. But not just that. We can even go a decade ago and then you start seeing this steady stream of players getting drafted in the NBA year over year, Canadians year over year, first overall, lottery picks. That has an impact. Your kids, Ben, for example, are at prime ages for this. They are the perfect testing case study in this. How will what they've seen with Canada soccer this year and two years ago, the process leading up to a world cup, the first and more than three decades, how will that impact their perception of the program, whether they are actively involved as players, or even if just as fans as they grow older, how will that alter their interpretation, their impression of what the program means? And I think having an example, it goes for anything in life, but having examples that you can point to, of course, it serves as a meaningful source of inspiration and reality that that is realistic and within the realm of possibilities. Because for decades, if you played soccer in Canada, as much as it was a high level participation based sport, like the numbers were always pretty good. It's at a robust level now, but they were always good because it's the global game. But who could you point to as the beacon of hope in terms of a pro level athlete, nobody, right? Pathways for development and for opportunity to even progress. Where could you point to? You didn't know there were eight different doors and you had to try and choose the best one. If you were a player that was any good, whereas in other sports, it's more clear. It's more crystallized in terms of the path forward. It's not the same in soccer. It is a big deal that now you have real role models in this sport that you can point to and say they're doing it at the highest of levels, the most elite levels. And we can inspire the future generations because that is what you need. If this program is ever going to be in a position where they are advancing out of group stages at World Cups, if they're winning knockout games at World Cups, well, guess what? It's not about two years from now because in two years, are you going to develop another three Alfonso Davies? Probably not. But in 10 years, can you develop another three Alfonso Davies maybe? And quite frankly, that's where they are. Like just look at the sheer number of world class talent and players that they have compared to other countries. They should not be in the position that they're in. It's remarkable that they've done it, but that is what it's about. It's about 10 years from now, 20 years from now. Can they develop, get to the point where all 11 of the guys on that pitch are all we can legitimately say, world class players, because the best teams in the world have that. And Canada's not there yet, but that's the goal and that's the idea. And it all rooted back into the culture that has been established by the guys that are currently doing it. I am a patriot. Okay. Like I just want to preface this next comment with that. Love this country. It's great. Super. Love supporting the flag, especially when it comes to sports. But 10 years ago, if you were a person that had a choice, you were a high level soccer player. You got a choice of choosing a national team to be capped to. I couldn't blame you for choosing to go elsewhere other than Canada. Definitely. Because one, like all they'd known was embarrassment and two, like the exposure to the world, if you were looking to improve your club status, there wasn't any. They didn't even get to the final round of World Cup qualifying in Conchicap. Yeah. Now, you play for the national team. You get to play on the biggest stage in the world, the World Cup in the Copa America. You get to advance. You get to be one of the darlings. And you get to be Ishmael Kone, who's moving from MLS to Marseille in Liga. Like was that Alistair Johnson at the World Cup, playing in the Scottish league? Yeah. Even Tejan, we forget about it because he's hurt, but he went from playing in the span of one year then, went from MLS all the way to CRD, playing for Inter Milan in one year, 12 months. He changed teams twice and went to three different levels of competition. Speaks to that. Yeah. I mean, there's just, there's a different level of not just pride to playing for the Canadian national soccer team, but there's like, if you want to improve your professional standing as a soccer player, playing for one of the most exciting young up-and-coming national programs, you can't argue with the results. It's Canada right now. We'll continue the conversation with Jimmy Brennan, former Canadian internationals, well, part of the footy prime podcast next, as the fan morning show continues, Ben Nes, Danielle Lefranjeski, Sportsnet 590 The Fan. Fan morning show Sportsnet 590 The Fan, Ben Nes, Danielle Lefranjeski, we're number three, or could be. I'm fine with that. It's all mine. I think it means something. I can't even believe Jesse Bar's trying to like downplay, it's like sick. I would be. I'm not interested in this. It's like usually the fans in the media, like nobody, you weak, I care. I cared about the United States and Canada battling for third at the FIBA World Cup. And I assume there's like a medal that you get for finishing third at the Copa America Wiles, but they have a third place game, maybe, maybe it's like a plaque or show at least something. Yeah. Something. I don't know why we've as a sporting society decided that top three, that's deserving of something and four, you're a bum, but that that's the way it's gone. That's the way it is. There's nothing more heartbreaking than the person the Olympics that finishes like one trillionth of a second behind the third place finisher. Away with nothing. Nothing is like. I know. Maybe a t-shirt, but like no. Empty feeling. Yeah. I mean, it would be an incredible accomplishment for this Canadian national team to come away with something from the Copa America as debutants and it would also be like kind of sweet. Again, looking back at the other concacaf nations, specifically the United States, but also Mexico, not getting out of the group stage. Even just if you want to look at any silver lining, they were the last concacaf team standing. Yeah. That's incredible. Fourth team ever from the concacaf, obviously in Federation, to reach the semi's been. Yeah. That's an incredible accomplishment. Yeah. That's pretty good. We're quite good. All right. Let's talk to Jim Brennan, former Canadian international footy prime podcast co-host. How's it going, Jim? Good. How you doing? Doing all right. All right. Well, it's an incredible couple of year run for this national team qualifying for the World Cup, scoring a goal at the World Cup qualifying for Copa America and then making it all the way to the semi finals. Like, where does your mind go as far as, like, what the future holds for this program? Well, I think we're in a good spot right now. I think everybody realizes that, you know, there's a lot of progression with this, this organization. Now, I think Jesse Marsh coming in has brought a different tactic philosophy and approach that you can see moving forward to be very, very good with this side. I love the fact as well that we've got all these young players now that, that are playing overseas in big teams now, you know, Jonathan Davis, probably the next one that's going to get another big move, but Beto's just gone over to over to France and Coneys in France now and Buchanan and Inter Milan, Bayern Munich. So the more we get these players playing at these high profile clubs, the better it is going to be for our national team because we're gaining valuable experience playing in the top leagues, but then at the same time, we're playing international games against France and Holland and Argentina, we're only going to be getting better for the experience that we're gaining here. Jimmy, we can even throw Derek Cornelius, his name in there, like he's been at least even in the hours of proceeding yesterday's game, there were reports about him attracting interest from potential clubs out in France as well. So I think obviously, and Ben made this point earlier too, in terms of the overall exposure that these players are receiving now, there's massive incentive to obviously represent your country, but it also helps them on a domestic level when they're playing professionally with whatever club, it's just, you know, that we're sort of seeing this perfect blend and the melding of, you know, competitive, meaningful international competition. But now with the added incentive of you also benefiting from it individually at the domestic level, I mean, you know, just, and somebody that's been a part of this program in the past, you were a veteran of this team, you were more than 40 caps in your career. What does it mean to you to see the program in this state? Like, did you ever feel like there was enough momentum that we could get to this point where Canada is now in contention at different events and they've put themselves in a position where it feels like, and I think the most crucial takeaway might be, they belong in this environment. You know what they do, they absolutely, they deserve it, they deserve it, you know, it's a good bunch of players, I love where the, where this team is, and they're exciting to watch, you know, on the fact when we played back in, you know, '99, 2000, 2001 where we won the gold cup, we went to the confederations cup, and then we got invited to the co-op America. So we had a little bit of a global generation back then where we were playing in these big tournaments, winning championships, and then it kind of went stale for a long period of time, but it seems like we've got this, this move back where it should be, and competing in these big tournaments. And now you see these players make a name for yourself, and it's great that we've got that core group, but it's vital now that we work with that youth and the generation, the younger generation now, because we need those players coming through the system as well, because as these players that we have now continue to get older, we need that next fresh group that's going to come in and create that nice blend with the older experienced players, with the experience that these guys are getting right now in a couple of years, come the World Cup, but we still need that, those younger players coming through. So there's got to be investment in the youth program now to make sure that we do have a good conveyor about the players coming through the system now. So unequivocally successful co-op America for Canada, and it's such a bright time for the national team program. To me, the next step will be looking for bigger and better things, and maybe winning another gold cup would be at the top of that list, and as far as timeframe, that would be the next thing that we're looking at, but part of that is also viewing this team now critically. It's like they're not just, the analogy I made earlier is my kid, I don't care about the results, as long as he has fun, and it's just nothing but sunshine and rainbows for him as far as me talking to him after his games. This is now a team that, yeah, by virtue of the success they've had, now has expectations. So they only scored twice now in the five matches, they played incredible defensive soccer and locked it down and came through and kicks on Friday. How do we finish better at these things? Jim, how do we convert some of the opportunities, because they were there yesterday as well, how does this team convert some of those opportunities into actual goals? Well, that's when we need to be more clinical, clinical in the box, and the good thing is we're actually getting into that final third, we're getting into good spaces, and then it's just that final pass and then just being more precise and being clinical in and around the box. And it's not like that we don't have players who've got Jonathan David who's one of the best scorers in Europe at the moment, but we just have to be more and more clinical. And I think that double, you know, the other thing is what you've got to look at is, Jesse March hasn't had too much time to work with this team. And 58 days. Yeah, already you can see a difference the way that we're playing. We've improved drastically in our defense. Our defense before over the national team wasn't great at all, and you can see already it's a lot better and more organized. Our approach is more disciplined. And I think it will just take a little bit more time, you'll see that he has spending with his national team, and I think you'll see a lot more productive in that final third eventually in time. And you're right, the World Cup is the next big challenge, and I don't see why we can't go into that World Cup thinking we're going to win this now. You mentioned the defense, Jim, and I think it's very accurate. I think this is where it's a massive testament to the structure and organization of Jesse Marsh. Moise Bonbito and Derek Cornelius had never formed a back line pairing before. And their first test came against the Dutch. They started with the Dutch. Game two was France. Game three was Argentina. And yet, slowly but surely throughout this process, now they look like you're thinking yourself, okay, there's no other tandem we can ever see on a Canadian back line again because that's how good they've looked and how fast they've grown into their roles as the two center backs for this team. This is, I think, a topic that's going to continue to give us plenty of ammunition and tons of oxygen as the years go on, and that's pertaining to the deployment of Alfonso Davies. And we saw him occupy more of a traditional sort of left back role, which is something that he does with his club team. But in the past under John Herbmann and playing for Canada, we've seen him have more license to potentially impact the game offensively in your estimation. And obviously, there's something to sacrificing a little bit in order to benefit in other areas. But what do you see as the ideal deployment for a guy like Alfonso Davies? Look, I like Alfonso Davies coming from deep. You forget often that he shines when he's at Bayern Munich, but you're playing with a team that's got a majority of possession in a match. Now the majority of possession means that your patterns of playing moving forward, things tend to open up where the wide player comes off, he opens up the runway for Fonzie to get down the line. So your patterns become more effective when you do have a lot of possession. And sometimes, you know, if you're going to play that way where you're defending a little bit, you're going to try to catch a team on a counterattack. And there's not too much space at times for Fonzie. So it's all about the rhythm of the game and the patterns that's going to open up that lane that Fonzie loves. And I think you slowly start and see it in quite a few of the matches where especially with Miller and him, I thought they had a good partnership because Miller liked to come inside. He liked to get in his middle pockets, which drew the defender in which opened up the space now for Fonzie to get forward. So it's just those patterns and especially when we're playing teams where we do have a little bit more possession, then these areas start opening up and I think you'll be able to get more out of Fonzie in those types of situations. And because I don't think he's the guy that is explosive off the mark, I think he needs that little bit of three, four yards to get his legs going and then he's gone. So for me, I like him coming from deep. So again, it's fewer than 60 days that Jesse Marsh has been in charge of this national team program. He already has a result against France in a friendly leading into the scope America and then he has a chance to finish third at the freaking Copa America. It's unreal that the start he's had to his Canadian managerial career like for the layman, Jim, of which I am one, like, can you identify the differences tactically that this team is playing under Jesse March compared to the World Cup say with John Hurdman. Yeah, I think there's a lot more discipline in the squad. I am just the movement. I like the way that they're on the front foot. They want to attack. They want to go forward. And they just seem to complain with a lot more confidence. And I think defensively you watch how much more organized we are. I felt, you know, under Hurdman, it was way too open, way too open. And you felt that every time we lost possession, you thought, Oh, no, we're in trouble with you here. Something's going to happen. And I didn't feel that way watching this NASA team over the last number of games. I mean, look at it, even against France, we shut out France and no, no, that's fantastic result. That means that your defensive work is really starting to work. But I do like on the other side where he wants to press. He wants to win the ball in good areas. And when he does get it, how quick can we get to go? So you're definitely seeing a good brand of football that I'm actually enjoying. And I think you guys are as well because every time we got the ball, we were going forward. You can see everybody standing up thinking, OK, something might be happening here. And I didn't really feel that when we want some in the World Cup at times. Jimmy, I've been trying to discern sort of the overall impact of this weird quirk that we saw at the Copa America and how it even translates going forward for Canada. The pitches at the Copa America were smaller, which is very weird, unorthodox and untraditional because they were both in terms of length and width, smaller than what we see in traditional international competition. It was essentially the equivalent of an extra penalty area being removed from the field of play. It felt that way certainly at times, especially with the physicality. And I know it's a different like the Copa America's game is different than what we see at the Euros, for example. But I do wonder, like, even as we project forward to future competition, do you think the advent of having even more space out there plays potentially positively or negatively into Canada's favor? Like, how does that impact the way in which they play? And do you think that's going to maybe work favorably in the hands of Jesse Marsh and his team? Well, I mean, look, it's a good question, but the fields were actually regulations, regulation size, right? Now there's a variation of sizes that you can have within, for the pitches. And yeah, they were a little bit smaller, but they were still regulation size, right? So you can have 105 yards or you can actually have 115 yards or you can be with them 75 or 82. So like it's, it's up to you doing how you have your pitch. And some some pitches are smaller, some are bigger, not all pitches around the world at the same size. So at times when the pitches are a little bit smaller, yeah, you do tend to have to adjust the speed of play comes a little bit more quicker as well, because there's not as much space that you feel as you would in a bigger pitch. So depending on the pitch, it also dictates the tempo of the game. It's going to be played. Yeah, it seemed to work for Canada at this event, and still one more to go third place game coming up on Saturday. Jimmy, thanks so much for this. Appreciate it. Okay, thanks. Thanks for having me, guys. Thanks, Jimmy. Jim Brennan, former Canadian International, part of the footy prime podcast. So that's like a key when he identified the major difference between Jesse Marsh and John Herdman, yeah, tactically, that kind of that registers with me. And maybe it was just I was a more nervous person during World Cup and they're, you know, certainly going into yesterday's match. There was like a health money element with team Canada. Definitely. Yeah, I when you said the thing where it's like, Oh, yeah, when the team was on the counter previously, you felt it was going to end up in the net. Yeah, that's so true. And you just you didn't feel that way under Jesse Marsh. Would you like save it was as simple as, Hey, I know it was effective, but you didn't score many goals. Would you sacrifice the defensive acumen that Jesse Marsh is apparently imparted on this team for more goal scoring, and if it wasn't you weren't guaranteed the results. No, no, because at the end of the day, it's all about results. That's what it's about. Go ask France. I know they lost yesterday. So it's a bad example. But did he a day shop who's been their coach for the last handful of international cycles and has helped them win a World Cup and be one of the most successful nations in the world. His philosophy Ben is they score first and then they park the bus. Yeah, and people hate watching France because of it. And look at the talent he has. Look at the talent. He's got Killian Mbappe arguably one of the best goalscore. I mean, he's certainly up there in terms of the elite of the elite and goal scoring, but just overall the depth of talent and he parks the bus. So no, I think I do think structure is important. And actually, it's I'm glad he mentioned the defensive organization component of it, because I felt like there was maybe one moment where they lost their their shape, their defensive structure and shape. And it was actually the messy goal where he deflects it. Besides that, even the breakdown on the counter on the first goal, they were pretty solid. And I think that speaks to Jesse Marsh identifying how they need to play. Like even if we go back to the first match against the Dutch, where they lost four nil and all four goals came in the second half. They looked like a vastly different team. They were trying to be more aggressive and on the front foot and high pressing. And that's what Jesse Marsh is known for. It didn't work. So what did he do? He adapted his philosophy. He adapted his approach and he found a recipe that works. And I think it's a it's a it's a very astute observation. It's bang on in suggesting that, yeah, you at least had more confidence watching this team in terms of how they defended compared to that team in the World Cup, where it did feel like if there was any breakdown, they were screwed and it was going to end up costing them in a big way. Yeah, even Argentina after scoring their goal against Canada, who they were massive favorites against, like immediately they didn't start they they kind of laid back. And there were a couple of possessions where it was just keeper to like the defender for 15, 20, 30, what seemed like 60 seconds. Yeah, that's the sport, man. It is a sport. Yeah. Defense wins championships and also having elite level scoring like the greatest player of all time who finally scored for the first time in the Cup of America. Alright, a couple of other things before we depart here. Sure, Cat Friendly has departed. I know. It's officially over. I thought we would just go to like you load up Cat Friendly one of these days and there just be like an error page. No, they have like a thank you message. Farewell note. Yeah, sports and getting a shout out. Yeah, one. So I guess that's that's us. Yeah, so like, I'm indirectly getting a shout out because I worked for Sportsnet. Yeah, Jason Bugala getting a shout out. I need somebody to tell me what we're all using because we all need to move to the next thing. And I've seen some of the other ones that are around. Nothing's as user friendly as Cat Friendly agreed. Somebody needs to tell me what like the go to is here. And I guess, you know what, there is no there is no go to when it comes to player stats pages because I like to use hockey reference, but hockey DB has a lot of oh, yeah, it goes beyond your NHL stats. But yeah, somebody needs to tell me because it's you can't have a hockey roster conversation without talking about the cap breakdown. Somebody needs to tell me what the default site we're all using is. Okay, it doesn't have to be now because we're in the fallow period where like all the insiders are at the cottage, right? Yeah, everybody's relaxing. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But by that, I'll give you a deadline. September 1st, I need to know what website we're using. We all need to come to an agreement here. You know what, we can even have the CEOs or the people in charge of these websites. Come on, maybe this and we got a whole big summer of radio programming ahead of us. Perhaps Jeff as a party producer, we can have a round table discussion. All the leaders of the contending websites make their case as to why their website should be the go to for NHL cap statistics. But I need to know that we're all on the same page. We're all using the same thing. Yeah. I know even even I do like cat friendly, I did like cat friendly. Spot track is the one I always go to because I like the way you were doing it. You weren't like cat friendly was not the default for you? No. Well, what's this called? Spot track. I enjoy. I enjoy spot track because it chronicles the contracts in a more digestible form. And I find so I've always enjoyed that. So anytime I search up ex player, you know, player ex contract and see sort of what they're even in baseball. It's the I find it's the most friendly because of yeah, but then I think that the other sports, you're right. I use that website. But I think our hockey is a little different. Slightly so specific. It was okay. The interactive component of it is what is your own roster? Well, that's what's missed. Yeah. It's the ability to like hypothetically, if I cut this guy or this guy moves off the roster or we we shift this contract until TIR. What does it do to our cap? There's got to be somebody's got to replace that. Like there's got to be a fun someone that comes up with a new interactive system to help replace that because yeah, it'll be that'll be missed. That'll certainly be missed. There are other options out there in terms of like breaking down cap and contracts, but not to the degree of having the flexibility to do it in that in that sense. No offense to spot track. It's it's it's we need to do better than that for the NHS is like, okay, you can search between you can or you can view cap hit or cash, but you can't see signing bonus. You can't see. No, it's not good enough. I need something more hockey specific. Yeah, it's fair. Yeah. Okay. So it's a spot track and have my my baseball attention, but not my my hockey one. Somebody else has to tell me what what hockey cap website we're going to. And we forgot to mention it. I forgot to mention it early in our conversation about the Blue Jays and the disappointment of the loss in game. One of the series of the Giants, the match have been give us like a little bit of an insight into how things went down with his free agency and specifically when the Blue Jays came back around to trying to retain him at the last second. Here was his quote to Shida Vidi. It was a really strange offseason. I didn't get as many calls or as many offers as I thought I would. Just kind of a weird market, weird year. I didn't talk to the Blue Jays a whole lot. They kind of had contact with us. I think they had me in mind, but I wasn't sure how serious they were. I think they had other things that were on their mind before like show Hayo Tani and some in some of those things. So it was slow progressing for me. And then by the time the Giants came and we had something going, the Blue Jays kind of came in there around at the end. Is that a little bit too late? Unfortunately. So okay. Is Matt Chapman take the Blue Jays and them being nine games under 500 make them a 500 team? I don't think so. No, I'm full agreement there, Ben. I think he might have helped though. Of all of the guys. Would it have been worth it? If you could have him on the same deal that the Giants have him on, I think that would have been worth it. I think the reason I thought that they would not go down the Matt Chapman path is because I thought like Cody Bellinger like Blake Snell, all these guys are going to get bad deals. Yes. He ended up getting a very palatable one and one that he can opt out of and probably will. He'll probably be hitting free agency again this offseason. But if that was or something similar to that was on the team, like my understanding of this whole thing was that Matt Chapman was like, I'm making a clean break. Like all things being equal. I'm moving on and I'm going back to California despite the fact that I'm a Southern California guy played in the Bay Area before I'm going back. I know that. I mean, if he was, in fact, more open to joining the Blue Jays and they just didn't make him enough of a priority earlier enough or early enough. That was a big screw up because he actually could have helped. He definitely could have helped. But they clearly, for whatever reason, prioritized IKF over Matt Chapman. Yes, silly. And IKF has been a nice story here. Sure story. Have them both. Dude, why not do why not do both? No Kevin Kirmer, why not do both? Matt Chapman playing third base and IKF is like your 26 man utility. There was this crazy stat I did see yesterday in advance of the opener. You know, he would rank second on the J's and like a litany of offensive categories, including home runs, RBI. And that's for a guy that's in 240. So yeah, you know, it tells you how poor the J's offense has been. But when you factor what he's done offensively with the defense that we know is there, yeah, of course it would have helped. But in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? Like, would it have really mattered? Actually, it probably would have been worse, quite frankly, because they would have still been sitting here trying to talk us into them being a quasi buyer. I'm telling you, I think it would have been worse because they would have been better, but not good enough. Exactly. Been closer to the middle instead of obvious sellers. I guess. Haunted murky middle, man. Yeah, he's the one guy that you could have at the time seen a fit in a return to the blue J's. And he was a guy I thought was going to get overpaid, considering the season he had at least the last five months of it anyways. All right, blue J's and Giants again tonight. We'll be back tomorrow with another edition of the Fan Morning Show, Ben Ennis, Danieli Franceski's 4759 of the fan. [Music]
