some canadian guys writing about soccer

If you listened to the entirety of last week’s podcast, you probably came across a cheap little piece of humour ripped from The Simpsons in which we said that a particularly lame piece of CBC archival footage should “hold the little SOBs.”

Those little SOBs being you, our listeners and readers. But if you thought that was stooping low to create something out of nothing, then get a load of this. Due to extenuating circumstances – ie. one third of our group being in Nova Scotia for the next 10 days – our podcast schedule may be somewhat patchy over the next few weeks. (Although we are working on one special guest.)

In desperate need of summertime filler, we bring you the Some Canadian Guys summer trivia challenge.  The first person to email us at canadiansoccerguys@gmail.com with the the correct answer wins…. an autographed picture of us. You give us a mailing address, and we’ll send you the picture.

Our question honours North Korea’s against-all-odds qualification for the World Cup last week. The Norks have only qualified once previously, in 1966. Unless a member of their squad flees across the De-Militarized Zone into Seoul between now and next June, that will mean the North Koreans have twice gone to the World Cup with a squad made up solely of players based in their own domestic league.

There is only one other country (at least based on our moderately painstaking research) that has gone to the World Cup more than once and never once brought a player based outside of its own domestic league.

What country is it?

A Look Back At My Sunday
A Report By: Squizz
Sunday, June 21, 2009

My name is Squizz. I like soccer. I like soccer because it is fun and it is a good way to get exercise. My favourite team is Toronto FC. They play at BMO Field. You say it like this: BEE-MO. Mo is the man who runs the team, too. He is from Scotland, which is far away. Men wear dresses there. They’re called kilts. On Sunday here is what I did.

What I did on Sunday:

• I woke up at 6:30 a.m. I put coffee in my mouth but didn’t really taste anything. Then I went to a soccer field. Then I ran a playoff soccer tournament for boys and girls for 8 hours. Sometimes I got coupons for free hot dogs and pop. That was fun. Sometimes I had grown ups yell in my face, and some other times I watched little boys and girls cry because they lost. That was not fun. Mom told me to put on sunscreen. I didn’t listen. Now my skin hurts.
• I turned on the TV and watched the Confadurashuns Cup. Brazil won 3-0 against Italy. People like Brazil because they have yellow shirts and they play really good. People don’t like Italy because they wear shirts that are too small and they traditionally employ a stultifying, defence-and-simulation oriented style of play.
• I went to BEE-MO Field and refereed four games in an adult recreational league. The grown ups didn’t have matching jerseys, or shin pads. Some of the grown ups had big mouths and liked to fall down. Those grown ups couldn’t kick the ball very good.

What I didn’t do on Sunday:

• Record a podcast.

This is my report about why I like soccer. Thank you.