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Posted-09/04/2006: 22:24:02 
<HR noShade SIZE=1></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top height="100%"><SPAN class=spnMessageText id=msg>Just got back from the post game drinking 
. We had a contingent of about 20-25 Voyageurs from Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, London and Winnipeg and managed to be fairly loud despite our low numbers. Attendance seemed quite decent and the announced attendance of 6500 seemed a bit low to me as the General Admission section was pretty much full and the other side was about 2/3rds full. I have been to several sold-out Impact games where the attendance is announced as 13 500 and there is maximum 1000 more people in the stadium than there were today. The Impact do include given away tickets in their calculations whether the people show up or not (I don't think I have ever seen the other side more than 2/3rds full even in sold out games) but the disparity seems too extreme. The crowd was definitely pro-Canadian (well over 90%) with a smattering of Jamaica fans throughout. The Jamaican fans were actually pretty cool and very gracious in defeat. The negative was that there was no merchandise booth and unlike Impact games they only opened one concession stand which had a huge lineup, ie. one could not buy Canada shirts/scarfs and beer/food was only to be had if one didn't mind missing a significant portion of the game standing in line. A big loss in revenue for the CSA.
Someone suggested that field conditions affected the game but I don't think this was the case. There was a very light misty rain at times but never a significant rainfall. If anything favoured the Jamaicans it was that the CCR field is a bit on the small side which favoured the less technically gifted side. The Jamaicans reminded me a bit of the Belize team although certainly a step up from them, ie. physically quite gifted but lacking in technique. Yet they were very well organized and seemed well prepared and well coached. This was in contrast to our team, far superior technically yet totally disorganized, unprepared and poorly coached. We had 6 days of practice for this friendly and I certainly question what was accomplished. Certainly not a lot of time was spent on team tactics. All in all considering who we called and that most of Jamaica's top players were not there this was a very poor performance, victory or not. Teams like this we should be beating 3-0 yet this game could have easily been 1-1. Add in CONCACAF reffing which today was poor as usual, not biased but incompetent and not in control of the game and we just can not afford to perform like this. I think today's game shows that no matter who we put on the field and where they are playing we still need a very good coach. Once again like so many times before we were outcoached and were only fortunate
Posted-09/04/2006: 22:24:02 <HR noShade SIZE=1></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top height="100%"><SPAN class=spnMessageText id=msg>Just got back from the post game drinking . We had a contingent of about 20-25 Voyageurs from Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, London and Winnipeg and managed to be fairly loud despite our low numbers. Attendance seemed quite decent and the announced attendance of 6500 seemed a bit low to me as the General Admission section was pretty much full and the other side was about 2/3rds full. I have been to several sold-out Impact games where the attendance is announced as 13 500 and there is maximum 1000 more people in the stadium than there were today. The Impact do include given away tickets in their calculations whether the people show up or not (I don't think I have ever seen the other side more than 2/3rds full even in sold out games) but the disparity seems too extreme. The crowd was definitely pro-Canadian (well over 90%) with a smattering of Jamaica fans throughout. The Jamaican fans were actually pretty cool and very gracious in defeat. The negative was that there was no merchandise booth and unlike Impact games they only opened one concession stand which had a huge lineup, ie. one could not buy Canada shirts/scarfs and beer/food was only to be had if one didn't mind missing a significant portion of the game standing in line. A big loss in revenue for the CSA.Someone suggested that field conditions affected the game but I don't think this was the case. There was a very light misty rain at times but never a significant rainfall. If anything favoured the Jamaicans it was that the CCR field is a bit on the small side which favoured the less technically gifted side. The Jamaicans reminded me a bit of the Belize team although certainly a step up from them, ie. physically quite gifted but lacking in technique. Yet they were very well organized and seemed well prepared and well coached. This was in contrast to our team, far superior technically yet totally disorganized, unprepared and poorly coached. We had 6 days of practice for this friendly and I certainly question what was accomplished. Certainly not a lot of time was spent on team tactics. All in all considering who we called and that most of Jamaica's top players were not there this was a very poor performance, victory or not. Teams like this we should be beating 3-0 yet this game could have easily been 1-1. Add in CONCACAF reffing which today was poor as usual, not biased but incompetent and not in control of the game and we just can not afford to perform like this. I think today's game shows that no matter who we put on the field and where they are playing we still need a very good coach. Once again like so many times before we were outcoached and were only fortunate
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