Mitchell to remain CMNT coach for foreseeable future
During an interview with Ed Swain of the Voyageurs, CSA General Secretary Peter Montopoli was asked “Can you say whether Dale Mitchell will be the coach of the Canadian Men’s Team at the Gold Cup?” His response: “Yes, Dale will be in charge.” Not that he might, or we’ll see. The CSA has absolutely no plans to replace Mitchell in 2009… which probably means they don’t have any plans to replace him until the time when his contract runs out.
So, you can pretty much forget about seeing Dwayne DeRosario, Julian de Guzman, Tomasz Radzinski, Rob Friend or Jim Brennan in a CMNT kit this year (or longer). Yikes.
January 10, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I think Brennan is done with Canada for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that his skills are made obsolete by the superior abilities of Klukowski and, arguably, Marcel de Jong.
As for the players you name, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them play for Canada in ’09. Radzinski and de Guzman, at least publicly, have aired beefs with the CSA but not Mitchell in particular. Neither has refused a call when healthy. Radzinski is old enough to retire from international play anyway. De Rosario may not be able to maintain his principled stand when he realizes his only chance to upstage his manager’s career goal scoring record for Canada is to put personal issues aside. Friend, also, could be persuaded back into the fold.
January 10, 2009 at 7:18 pm
[...] squizz comes the absolutely fabulous news (insert dripping sarcasm here) that Dale Mitchell ain’t going nowhere and will be in charge for the Gold Cup. With the amount of goodwill between Mitchell and the [...]
January 12, 2009 at 2:22 am
Jono… you make some pretty good points. I think I just needed a dramatic ending to the post. Even so, the Gold Cup will definitely be interesting. I’d like to see some of Mitchell’s U20 alumni (particularly Edgar and Jackson) get a shot with the big team. And hey, it’s the Gold Cup, so who the hell knows what could happen… we won the damned thing with Martin Nash as our team engine, so we’ll just have to wait and see how ’09 comes together.
January 19, 2009 at 6:03 pm
[...] until the amateurs at the CSA get their shit together and fire him (which, as we learned last week, won’t be anytime soon and, most likely, won’t happen at [...]
January 22, 2009 at 10:17 pm
I mentioned this following the interview we did with Dale Mitchell. I think with the current CSA format, and the fact that they have a very limited budget, firing Dale Mitchell and having to pay out his contract and at the same time, hire someone new would put strain on the CSA’s already strict budget. So don’t look for Mitchell to be let go at any point until his contract is almost finished, then an interim coach will be appointed and someone else will be hired when they are not paying Mitchell anymore. My two cents anyway.
January 22, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Everything you say is obviously correct, Tyler. It’s just disappointing that this is the situation that we, as Canadian soccer supporters, must live with.
January 23, 2009 at 1:17 am
It is sad, Squizz… but at the same time, I think the CSA is somewhat handcuffed… and I’m not sure the people that want to take over the CSA would run things any better. I honestly believe if they were in charge, the budget would be spent in the first 6 months and I don’t think the results would be any better. With everything said though, Canadians do deserve better! and I hope to be alive when Canada makes the World Cup again.