NextPod Soccer Podcast for July 18

James and Duane are joined by League1 Ontario's Pierce Lang to check back in on how the 2023 season is going, talk about the league's top pro prospects, how Pro/Rel is shaping up, the magic of Vaughan SC and more. We even squeeze a little CanWNT talk into the mix!

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome to Next Pop, your weeklylook at North American soccer prospects and US
next Broke Camp and beyond. Theseare your homes, Dwayne Roland and James
Grassy and welcome to Next Pod.I'm Dwayne Roland's joining me as always is

(00:31):
James Grossy. James, how youdoing today, Dwayne. It's another exciting
week in Canadian soccer. I'm doingall right, getting braced for those Women's
World Cups startup and doing all myall my preview research and everything. So
just when you thought with MLS takinga little break going into the League Cup,
all that messy, all that messyhubbub going on, we might have,

(00:55):
you know, a little bit ofquietness. There's just another competition for
us to keep our eyes on,looking forward to a busy month name day
minus two when it comes to theWomen's World Cup. As we record this,
James, I gotta tell you thisdevelopment shows so I will be labor
this too much. I'm always reluctantto like give in to the MLS hype.
But you know, as people know, I have a sub stuck out

(01:17):
there twenty fourth minute if you wantto follow it. Um So I normally
write about TFC or LAGU Ontario orthe Cannon National team or whatever. But
I decided I joined the party andwrite a messy story twice interviews like you
can't ignore it, like instantly.I've told the story before two on other
shows that of all the stories I'veever written, this story that I has

(01:40):
been read the most was a littlethrow la line that David Beckham gave me
in a press coump Well gave usin a press conference that I happened to
pick up on and report MLS Soccer, And apparently no one ever had heard
that MESSI was signing for another yearin twenty thirteen with the Galaxy, and
I was the one who break thatstory. And they called me the next
day to say that where you geta million views overnight? So that doesn't

(02:01):
happen on my sub stock. Iwish it did, but it doesn't.
The stars sell sell the game,but the star has got to start somewhere,
and they start at the development level, and the development level that that
matters a lot to us. Hereis League one Ontario, and we're gonna
have a League Ontario conversation today withPierce Lang. He's going to join us
after break here but but teams,you'd been doing a little research to sort

(02:23):
of set us up. We're nearingthe home stretch of the League one Ontario
season. Just let us know whatyou found out today, what we've been
looking at over the past little week, and where League one Ontario is right
now. Yeah. So on theMed's side, there are about three quarters
of the way through this season.They'll play twenty matches and that wraps up
on August twentieth, So we're inthat old stretch right here. It's pretty

(02:43):
tight at the top of the table. You know, Scruppy Stoppe Scrappy first
with thirty six points. The BlueDevils are pretty hot on their heels with
thirty three. Those two would getbyes to the semifinals if the season were
to end today. But the papi'm them is pretty tight. You know,
You've got Gwelfth United on thirty one, Electric City FC on thirty Vonasouri

(03:05):
and North Torona Night Uries Level ontwenty nine in those five and six positions
heading into this last little stretch.But then there are four more teams that
are pretty hot on their heels.Sinko County rovers A Lions FC on twenty
eight points, Burlington SC on twentyseven points, Sigma FC on twenty four
points. That's sort of where thatpath ends for me and Sigma have two
games in hand on a couple ofthose teams, and with uneven matches played,

(03:30):
there's going to be a fair bitof movement in that in that top
ten group as these next few weeksplay out. And on the women's side,
they're playing nineteen matches this season andwe're already into that last home stretch
their season wins a little bit earlier. The final match day is set for
this Sunday, but there are afew matches that were postponed earlier in the
year that have been scheduled for nextweek that will wrap up the season.

(03:53):
The top four sides have already clinchedtheir playoff berths. On the women's side
of Vonasouri NDC, Ontario North,thron Or Night Rows and Woodbridge Strikers are
all already in the playoffs. SomeCoke County Rovers are just a little bit
off of them. I think there'ssix points off with the three matches remaining.
And then there are four teams absolutelyLondon, North, Mississauga Blue Devils

(04:14):
FC and Electric City who are stillin that hunt for those last two spots
on the winning side, So it'sgoing to be a pretty exciting close to
the campaign. At A lot tostill be decided in these remaining matches,
And as I mentioned with the men'sside, both both semi both top two
teams in the men's and women's sidewill will advance directly to the semifinals.
Third place will play sixth places andfourth place will play fifth place in the

(04:39):
quarterfinals. No matches have been saidup yet, so we'll just be keeping
an iron results this weekend and seeingwhat guys ahead. And of course,
the Ultimate champions League one Ontario willgo on to represent the league at the
Canadian Championship that we talked about withthe Razzi a few weeks ago, that
sort of final four format that they'relooking at getting to the men's side as

(04:59):
well. Look forward to that happening, all right. With that said,
we're gonna bring Pierce Lang on theline. Now. Pierce has a lot
of great insight. He covers thegame as a color of playbook play guy.
I knows this league very well,has been been watching it closely since
twenty seventeen. No better voice,no better knowledge of the league overall than
than Pierce, So we're gonna takea quick break, come back Pierce to

(05:20):
be on the line, and we'regonna talk about League one Ontario Men's and
Women's twenty twenty three, and welcomeback to the next spot. Joining us
on the line is Pierce Lang.Pierce is, of course one of the

(05:41):
biggest voices, one of the mostknowledgeable people out there on League one Ontario
Men's and Women's Division, so wethought we'd have pierced back on again to
sort of check in to see whereLeague one Ontario is right now, and
we're happy to have him. Howyou doing today, Pierce, Well,
the League one seasons winding down,so I'm fantastic because it's great to see
all the playoff spots filling out andwe're figuring out who's going to be promoted

(06:05):
and relegated. So it's exciting times. I couldn't be better. Awesome.
Yeah, and we're gonna keep thisreal little high level to give people a
primer if they want to jump inand watch the end of the season or
get out to a game. Hopefullyif you're on Ontario. Started with the
men's side, tell us a littlebit about what we're seeing at the top
of the table and give us alittle bit of an outline of what the

(06:27):
top top players in this division ortop teams are in this division right now.
Well, I think, certainly whenyou look at the men's division,
the biggest surprises Chris sap EFC atthe top of the table. They joined
the league a couple of years backand kind of floundered about, and then
they brought in John Yaku, whohad a phenomenal season last year coaching Pro

(06:48):
Stars, taking them into the playoffsfor the first time in their club's history.
And he continued the trend here witha lot of players who are familiar
to people around the league. They'vegot Thomas Shoo Black, who needs no
introduction to fans of the CPL.He spent some time with Halifax. They've

(07:09):
got Farris so Mary who's actually goneoff to Portugal, but he was having
a phenomenal season. He came overfrom Pro Stars as well. But that
team's got a lot of players thathave come over with history with like Welph
United and Blue Devils FC, andthey've just been absolutely dominant. But the
one player I think he was reallystuck out for me is Andrea Speikler,

(07:30):
their goalkeeper who was with FC Edmontonlast year and he's been absolutely outstanding.
And probably Manny Gill actually I shouldsay, a player who is on the
comeback men from knee operation that hehad two years ago was told he might
not ever play again. It's probablythe most dominant defensive midfielder in the league
right now. And then I guess, if you want to keep going and

(07:51):
looking at the other teams in theleague, Blue Devils FC, you're having
a pretty surprising season, to behonest. They lost a lot of players
in the off season two Scrissoppi andto other teams, and they've got a
very young team. They've lost twoin their last few games here. Certainly

(08:13):
they lost to Hamilton United on theweekend, which is a bit of a
shocker, and then Woodbridge two weeksago, I want to say, But
then you've got Guelph in there,who are who are doing pretty well.
They won the league in twenty twentyone if you all recall. And then
Electric CITYFC, who were that bignew entrant with aspirations of making it to
the top flight. They've been abit of a surprise, I think to

(08:35):
a lot of people as has Guelphreally because you look behind them and there's
Vaughn, who are the reigning champions, but we all know they lost to
fair few players to Halifax and theylost their head coach pre Gresher to her
guys. Sorry, sorry, Ialways have so much trouble pronouncing his last
name for no real apparent reason toHalifax. And then yeah, it's kind

(09:00):
of just figuring out who's going tomake the playoff spots behind North Toronto really,
because it's up to Single County roversAlliance in Burlington fighting for that sixth
place to knock out North Toronto,and they're all within like it's twenty nine
points for North Toronto, then you'vegot twenty eight for Single County and Alliance,
and then Burlington's in at twenty seventh. And Burlington probably had the easiest

(09:22):
route to finding a way into thatplayoffs if they can sneak it in that
playoff spot. But the problem isthey did so poorly last year they could
make the playoffs and still get relegated. And then I guess if you're looking
over at the women's side, lotsto talk about there. Vonner probably one
of the best teams I think we'veever seen in this league right now.

(09:45):
They played the NDC her in secondlast weekend, and I don't know that
I've seen a women's team in thisleague play so comfortably out of the back.
And I've been following this league sincetwenty seventeen, so it's been about
six years now, and they justwere incredibly impressive moving the ball forward.
NDC R NDC. There's not muchto talk about there if you want to

(10:09):
keep it super high level. It'sour women's youth national team and they're doing
what you would expect them to doand going out and playing their specific style
of play and holding most teams intheir own end and dominating them really.
And then from there it's North Torontowho are a bit of a surprise because
they haven't had Olivia Smith on theirroster. We all know that she's about

(10:30):
to make a big name move toEurope. And then the Woodbridge Strikers who
won everything two years ago are sittingand fourth with Alliance, Simcoe FC,
London, North Missauga and Blue DevilsFC all kind of battling it all out
for that final two playoff spots.Really, you're so glad you could join

(10:52):
us again, I'm glad to hearthat my clothes found himself a nice spot
and do them well. He's aguy that I kept close when he was
with FCN and he was on loanfrom Toronto FC if I believe when I
was curious where he ended up.So glad that he he's he's doing well.
Um, as you mentioned, we'renearing the end of the season for

(11:13):
both the men's and women's divisions,and you know, I hate to put
you on the spot, but ifyou had to pick right now, who's
who's your champion? Who are theteams you're expecting to see in that final?
In the final? Man, ifit's not Vaughan in the final,
I'd be surprised. I don't knowhow like von NDC, that game the

(11:35):
other day was a championship game.If I've ever watched one on the women's
side, I North Toronto or good. They've got some great players. Woodbridge
are always going to be good.They've got such a strong core. But
in a in a one and doneplayoff round, I don't see anyone taking
it to Vaughan as as strong asthey are and NDC, there's no reasonable

(11:58):
explanation for why they wouldn't be there. They obviously have had some disappointing results
in the last couple of weeks,but not nothing to say that, like
they've only got one loss on theyear, you know what I mean,
Like if they don't make it,it's a crying shame. And then over
on the men's side, it's gettinginteresting because like Skrisoppy look unbeautiful. Really,

(12:20):
they are very very strong top tobottom. They've got just players that
if you're familiar with League One,you're familiar with the Canadian Premier League,
you'll recognize some names on there.And then it gets tricky from there on
out because Vaughan are so good.Electric City have probably the best keeper in

(12:41):
the league other than maybe Undrea SpiClay and spy Tech Artomenco and then Guelphy
United, who I mentioned already wonthe league three years ago, and really
they're just on such a streak rightnow. It's it's hard to see them
not pushing past Blue Devils right now, who are really struggling. As of
Layton. Really, I think they'rein a position that they probably didn't expect

(13:05):
to be in having lost as manyof the players as they did, so
I would I wouldn't dare to hazarda guess even who's going to be facing
Scrissoppi in the final, And Ithink it'll be Scrissoppi in there because they're
just too big, too fast,too strong, excellent. I know it's
always tricky there to get into theprediction game. I always shot away from,

(13:26):
so I appreciate that I'm going togo there Golden Boot Race. You've
mentioned a couple of other names already. Thomas Stu Black, former Halifax Wanderers
players, is in the top threeover on the men's side. But I
was hoping you could give us abit of insight into Adam Truzowski of the
Blue Devils. He's leading the men'sside and on the women's side. Jada
Thompson, the seventeen goals, isdoing well for Woodbridge and Jess Police her

(13:50):
teammate, and Woodbridge has twelve.So Adams probably one of the most interesting
stories in the league this year,and I'm not saying that lately from a
biased position. If you look backto when Masters were in the Voyagers Cup.
After they won the league in twentynineteen, he was awarded Defensive MVP

(14:11):
of the season. He's been captainof most every squad he's ever played on
as a center back, and thisyear, for whatever reason, during training,
Blue Devil's head coach Duncan Wild wouldpush him up in training and realized
he's just such a handful that noone could could hold him. And he's

(14:33):
gone out and he's got fourteen goalsin fifteen games, and that puts him
level with Thomas Scublack, who It'sso funny because he played in the Blue
Devil's academy growing up as a centerback and moved out and became a forward.
So the interesting conversation I've had witha couple of coaches was, how
are they going to match up witheach other when they played each other in

(14:56):
that game's coming up on August second, when they'll meet for the first time,
It'll be just a fireworks, I'msure, because those guys are both
big physical. I want to saythey're both six three, two hundred pound
just masses of muscle, you knowwhat I mean? And then be on
that you've got Orlandis Beneita Hernandez onSimcol County Rovers, whose phenomenal player was

(15:18):
with Bawn last year, scored afantastic goal in the playoffs for them,
and Benjamin Weishaft is creeping up thegoal scoring charts right now for Electric City.
He's got five in the last twogames. So it'll be interesting as
far as that goes. Then onthe women's side, you're curious about You'll
have to give me a second tohave a quick look at who's at the

(15:39):
top of that list because it haschanged so much. I know Stephanie Young
was up there at one point forthe Blue Devils and she's been reeled in
as of late by Jada Thompson onWoodbridge, and she's really come out of
nowhere. I have to imagine justlooking at her last several games here.
Yeah, she scored a hat trickin their last game against Water lou four

(16:00):
against Guelphy United. She's really comeup out of nowhere. But that part
of the course for Woodbridge, they'vegot so many players that come up through
that system that they can slip intospots and then to have them playing in
alongside the players that they have inthere already, like your Diamond Simpsons,
your Cat Rogers, those sort ofplayers who have been in the league for

(16:21):
so long. Kier bertrand Benefiori they'vebeen around forever that the core on that
team is just so strong that it'snot surprising that they could slip someone in
and her move up the scoring chartsas she has, and Jessica Leasy being
up there is the exact same thing, right, Like, these these young
women get slotted in there. AndLisi's been a little bit more consistent throughout

(16:41):
the season. But you look atthe game she's played and it's two goals
here, three goals there, twogoals here. Like it's it's fascinating to
watch because they're not even like they'vegot the two top scores and they're not
even what in the top top three, right, So think can happen in
these there's what tonight's going to beabsolutely pivotal on the women's side. I

(17:03):
think there's probably three games going onthat or at least today and tomorrow.
They're about three games with major playoffimplications, and we'll see how those play
out, because it's it's really comingdown to the wire for the last two
playoff spots on the women's side.I want to stay with the women's side.
You mentioned Von a minute ago,and maybe we could take a bit

(17:25):
of a closer look at that Bondwomen's team and the VON program in general.
What is it that makes them sucha special team right now? And
if you could follow that up withyour thoughts overall and why VON on both
sides is always so good. Well, what is it that they do so
well that makes them one of thedominant clubs in this country. I think

(17:45):
part of it is just they havea structure and a system and a style
of play that they always want topush forward throughout their entire system, whether
it be from the kids coming inat four years old playing timbits all the
way up to League one. Andit certainly helps having Karmaia Soko the godfather,

(18:07):
coaching the men and the women becauseyou know that that consistency will play
out from the mandate of the clubon how they're going to be everywhere every
day, every minute of that day. And that's they know their positions,
they know what they've got to do, and there's just a level of consistency.
But I think the thing with bothprograms is they get all these players

(18:30):
that go off to university, areabout to go off to university, and
then they come back to play Leagueone because they know how fun it is.
They know the experience they're going tohave, and then for a lot
of them, it's a chance toplay with players that they have a quality
that they might not get at anyother level. Really like, because you
look at that men's side and they'vegot Dylan Carrero out there as a center

(18:51):
mid there's man I could go throughlike four or five players on the men's
side who've got professional experience at verydecent levels. But looking at their women's
team, man like Leah pay isphenomenal. She was playing against NDC is
a kind of a more central rolein the midfield, but she's more naturally
a left sided player on the wingand she just bombs up and down that

(19:11):
wing, creates chances. She wasat the Universe City of Pittsburgh with Amanda
West and they were absolutely dominant forquite some time there. And then you
look at someone like Victoria Foster whoplays at Quinnipac University. She's a right
sided defensive player and she just controlsthat back line so well. But man

(19:33):
like, there's you can go throughthat roster and there's there's high quality players
that are just coming up as youngplayers. Even like Kathy Kiemons has played
fifteen games for them. I thinkshe's nineteen years old. She's got to
be like five ten, maybe fiveto eleven, just solid central defender nih
Fleming Thompson again, I think nineteenyears old, fifteen games played, ten

(19:56):
goals, absolutely lights out, handfullike, so technically skilled, so fast
reads the game well, can runonto a ball and find her teammates in
great spots. It's just they're alot of fun to watch. And to
back that up, they've got ohoh, why can't I think of her

(20:19):
name now? I feel so silly. Anna Karpenko in goal, who's had
national team camp call ups. She'sbeen around the national team for a bit.
I posted a clip on Twitter lastweek after that NDC game that was
very early on where the NDC waspressuring Bonn off of a throwing deep in
their own end, and the audacitythat Carpenco had to shield the ball and

(20:44):
invite Rosa maloof In to come pressureand try and win the ball offer and
then evades her with a look awayand leaves her run into the concession for
a hot dog and then makes thesimple pass. It's just something we're not
used to seeing at this level.If I'm totally honest, So I think
that's part of what makes them somuch fun to watch this year. Fair
Enough, when we last tid youon now just before the season started,

(21:08):
a promotion relegation battle was something thatwas going to happen for the first time
ever this year, we speculated onhow that might impact what the league looks
like. Now that we've seen itplay out, how has it affected the
league? Well, what are yourthoughts on what it's done for the games
this year? And then set outset it up a little bit to those

(21:29):
who are unaware of who's sort offighting for those to stay up to potentially
go down. So yeah, foron the on the women's side, it's
it's interesting to see because like whenyou look at the standings, Blue Devils
FC will finish in eleventh this yearor in the total standings, but they've

(21:52):
finished their in ninth physician right now, but because they finished in fifteenth last
year, they're probably going to missout, which is a similar situation to
like what we're seeing on the otherside where Burlington are in position to fight
for a playoff spot top six,but regardless, they're going to be sent
down, So it doesn't even matterhow well they do, the odds are

(22:12):
they're not even going to stay up, So it's tough, right, But
I think one of the interesting thingson the women's side is it's the teams
you kind of expect to be thereover the last two years are going to
be going through because like Vaughan finishedfirst both years, NDC second both years,
Woodbridge third and fourth both years,and then you get down to like
North Runto we were seventh and thirdbetween last year and this year, Alliance

(22:36):
we were six and fifth, CincoCounty Rovers fifth and six. Like there's
not been a ton of movement inthe table that way, whereas on the
men's side it's a little bit different, like you're going to see teams going
down who have a ton of historylike Woodbridge or Saint Catharine's, Roma Wolves,
FC London Masters who won the leaguelike it's it's and then you've got

(23:00):
pro Stars who because of their strongseason last year, are going to go
up strictly and then have done absolutelynothing this year. And it just it's
not saddening or disheartening, it's justunfortunate that that's how it's played out for
some of these teams that they've hadreally successful seasons this year, but because
of how everything was weighted that maybethey're not going to get through, which

(23:22):
is fine, it had to bedone some way. But you really feel
for a team like again Burlington,who could very well make the playoffs and
still get relegated. Yeah, it'salways kind of tricky when you when you
draw a line in the sand andsay from this point on, we're going
to make a decision like that,and you know, you sort of hope
that as the years go on,that'll that'll balance out and the teams that

(23:45):
that need to rise up the divisionto advise up, and the teams that
you know, we're better suited tobe in the second division, we'll find
their way there as well. Well. I think that if you look at
someone like Union the Milliken for example, like they just got their first win
in the Sea and the other day, but they're playing with an incredibly young
team, right. So I wastalking to their coach Philipe Bento before the

(24:06):
match and he said, you know, like we've sent seven players to Europe
on trial this year, so likehow do we gauge success from there?
Because if you've got seven players underthe age of twenty two, who have
gone on to get a look inEurope, but you're still sitting at the
bottom of the table. Has itbeen an unsuccessful season? I don't think

(24:26):
so to most people, Like what'sthe ambition of your club's success or what's
the marker of your club's success?And it should be like we see with
the comments from TSS Rovers and theirstaff when they get through into the second
round of the Voyagers Cup, likethis is what it's about, getting these
guys to the next level. Sofor the team like Unionville who are going
to go down, their aspiration islike we're gonna go down, but we're

(24:48):
gonna fight to get our way backup. So it's not a bad thing.
It's just how things have played out, right. Yeah, yeah,
definitely, And I'm glad you tookit in that direction because that's what I
was building into. Was now thechallenge for this league is going to be
finding that balance between having quality onthe pitch and developing that next generation and

(25:10):
where you draw certain lines can havesuch an impact on that on that decision.
Is are there any conversations about therebeing an age limit or having a
limited number of overage players per eachsquad, or or how is that how
is that generally viewed amongst some ofthe clubs and or Well, there is
a requirement for under twenty one minutes, so you do have to get a

(25:30):
certain amount of minutes in for youryouth players, so that generally handles that.
So for a lot of the teams, if you can get a couple
good starters who are younger, it'sa real good benefit. But I think
where the problem lies is that,like I don't know, I heard on
a broadcast recently for the Canadian PremierLeague where it was referred to as the

(25:53):
Canadian Premier League was referred to asa development league and I said there and
I kind of went, no,Like, it's the Premier League, it
should be the Premier like product.This is not to be considered moving forward
a development league. And I feelkind of the same way about League one.
Sure it's a place for players togo who are coming back from university

(26:17):
or on their way to university,but for the most part, if they're
seventeen eighteen, that's when they shouldbe getting a look up to going on
trials in Europe and playing at thenext level. That's where your development should
be taking place. I think Leagueone is a place where you've already got
rivalries built in. These are clubsthat have forty fifty years of history behind

(26:37):
them. People hate people just becauseof the fact they played for a different
club in some of these instances,you know what I mean, Like there's
real intense, genuine rivalries. Iknow from talking to people over the weekend.
They said, growing up in Brampton, we used to just want to
come to Oakville to beat them justbecause of the eco socionomical I didn't even

(27:00):
say that, right, Like youknow what I mean though, right,
like financial yeah, yeah, Likepeople just go, oh, there are
neighbors, we hate them, whichbuild builds a sense of this means something
to these people in certain instances.But there's still a ton of work to
go. But I don't know thatit's the right place for just consistently trying
to bring through young kids for thesake of bringing through young kids, because

(27:22):
at the end of the day,there are standards to be upheld, right
and so like to create a competitivebalance, to create a product that people
want to watch, you need towin, You need to be competitive.
You need to bring in those toptier teams which are going to need top
tier players really. So if thatanswers your question, I hope it helps.
If not, I don't know whatto tell you, James. I

(27:48):
was gonna say, when you talkwith the rivals, I when I did
the match stake ordinated stuff I didwould buy and Brown a couple of times,
and that that can get hot tooif you don't know they're in the
same city. Basic what they basicallyI never understand some and I say it
every broadcast because the Ontario Soccer Centeris supposedly located in Vaughan on Martin Grove

(28:10):
Road, but play at Vaughan Grove, which I can see from the Bird's
nest there where I'm calling the games, I can see their home field.
Like, where is the border betweenVaughan and Woodbridge. Thanks, it's one
of those imaginary board it's it's it'sit's spiritually, it's it's within you,

(28:32):
I think, if you're in Woodbridgeor not. But but nonetheless that there's
a lot of great players from upin that part of the part of the
city country. It's incredible. It'sabsolutely incredible. Yeah. No, Nick,
and you get into the Brampton situation, We're all familiar with that and
the storylines there, so that's all, and that that basic area for those
outside the province. I think socioeconomicwas the word I was looking for.

(28:55):
Absolutely wise, I was gonna letyou get there and again um speaking of
of developing and moving on though that'sended with this. I ask him in
the lead off if you can maybeidentify a couple of players that might be
ready to take a stat ready togo up a level, ready to maybe
go to Cape Promer League, perhapseven higher. If you were to pick
a couple of names, would theybe in terms of their pro potential right

(29:17):
now? I think Camilo baskin Saloson Guelph is someone who it shouldn't come
to as a surprise to anyone.He's already had a look from Halifax and
from York United in recent weeks,and I first saw him at the FtF
Combine back in twenty twenty one.And he's just technically gifted, reads the

(29:40):
game well, makes a crisp pass, everything you'd ask for in an attacking
player, and I think he's prettyversatile and where you can play him,
then I would say you've got someonelike Jacob's Pizzeri on Woodbridge who's playing at
Cape Breton University right now, who'sa right wing, attack minded player.

(30:06):
I think he could probably drop himback into an attacking left back or right
back. Did I say left Imet right side, right back role or
right wing anywhere up that side.He's just got speed for days. He's
at Brock Right now. You've gotAnthony Austron On Guelph is also very good,

(30:27):
very young player. Peydon Bennett andAdam Belquest from Unionville. Milliken Hayden
scored probably one of the best goalsI've seen this year. The other on
Saturday night when they were taking onWaterloo right foot to left foot and then
pop the ball into the side meshon the right side of the goal.

(30:52):
Keep in mind that Waterloo had losttheir keeper to while he'd lost two or
three teeth I believe in a collisionabout five minutes earlier, so there was
an outfield player and goal. ButI don't think it was his fault that
that ball went in. No onewas going to stop that. It was
one of the most beautiful goals I'veseen. Adam bell Class, who's another
player at Unionville. Again, they'rein second from bottom right now, but

(31:15):
he's gone off to play with Chavezin Portugal, which I think is where
Stephen Vittoria is correct me if I'mwrong, And then yeah, there's there's
so many like the list really goeson. To be honest, there's that's
the thing about watching the league,Like the guys will come up, they'll
play one or two good games andthen they're off to a trial, right,

(31:37):
So you've really got to watch andpick out the gems because there's so
many of them, to be totallyhonest with you. And then on the
women's side, like I know,right off the top of my head,
Molly Race, the goalkeeper for BlueDevils FC, who I have said this
many a time I think is probablythe best female keeper we've seen in this

(31:57):
league just with her agility or ballstopping ability, has gone off to play
in Denmark. So she was awayfor their game against London this past weekend
and it really showed that they weremissing her. And Stephanie Young, who
I think I mentioned at the beginningof this show, is someone that's really
worth while. But there's on thewomen's side, there's like Kiomi McCaslin and

(32:21):
Isabella m Asafaro on North Toronto whohave really filled in for Olivia Smith while
she's been away, Miranda Badano Vatsand Madison Marianni on Alliance. Oh,
I should actually mention one kid whoreally stuck up was Anthony Morano, who's
like sixteen years old, who wasplaying for North Mississauga. He's he's on
the provincial team as well. Ibelieve looks really really good. But then

(32:45):
like you can go to the NDCon the women's side and probably every single
one of those players is good enoughto professionally like Zoe Marcussini is an absolute
like workhorse as a center back,right back, wherever you want to stick
her in. She does a job, She commands the back line, leads
the team. Absolutely outstanding. JadaColin, I don't think it's enough credit.

(33:07):
She's an OH six, Like you'vegot two O sevens in Bianca,
Hannah Stitch and Nicolina Stocky playing forthat NDC team, who just they're playing
against grown women like this. Thisopportunity for them to express themselves and develop
and grow is unmatched. I don'tknow if there is a better way for
them to get this kind of experiencethan how they're doing it right now with

(33:30):
this NDC program. And we've seenin Quebec the Impact NDC more or less
and then the Whitecaps NDC program.Both have won their leagues as well.
So true to form kind of,I guess for the development of this programming
for a women's youth national team notready for oh sevens I talked about in
croll potential care set. That's makingme feel a little too old before I

(33:52):
say goodbye. This isn't development question. But I know you follow the women's
program quite closely. We're on theconstable world. How do you think we're
going to do in Australia? Ohgosh, it's I I gave you a
prediction earlier. Come on now,tournament. Anything could happen. You could

(34:14):
lose your keeper in the first round. How hopeful are you? That's you
deliver with that? Oh, let'slet's go on out on the limb and
say we win the whole thing.Because I'm a homer, but like,
let's be realistic here, Like ourwomen's program is struggled for over a decade
and scoring from open play that's problematic. He can get buying a knockout round
tournament by winning close games, scoringoff of headers and corner kicks and set

(34:38):
pieces. But the lack of scoringupfronts always going to be a problem.
I'm surprised we haven't seen Chloe lacassand Clarissa Larissi step up or Evelyn van
who some of us have been shoutingabout since twenty eighteen. Like I think
fundamentally we might have an issue instyle. I love play and trying to

(35:00):
fit players into a certain style ofplay rather than creating a style of play
based upon the players we have.But I still think we can win it
because our back lines phenomenal, likeVanessa shell Is probably and Kady should be
Cannon or have to be the mostdominant center back pairing in the world right
now. Yeah, it's world classdefense, a defensive game that if they

(35:22):
could find some scoring, I willlightning in a bottle. Then you never
know, and they have a nicelittle path if they win the group.
Gotta beat Australia. You gotta beatthat Australia game. That's the whole terms,
all right, Um, tell thelisteners how they can follow you before
we see goodbye. You can findme on Twitter at pierced Lang Underscore and
other than that, leamu alone,all right, We'll leave you alone with

(35:45):
that to the day and uh,we'll say goodbye on that. Thanks person,
all right, fantastic, thanks forhaving me and welcome back, Thanks

(36:09):
getting Piers for joining us. Anytakeaways from that, James, Just how
I'm saying it is that there's somany young players sort of making names for
themselves at this level and getting theirchance to either show what they can do
here or opening up doors for youknow, opportunities in Europe, opportunities in
the Canadian Premier League clubs. Youknow, I still think that that that

(36:31):
question of finding the balance between havinga quality product on the field and forcing
the team's hands when it comes to, you know, going more developmental than
maybe you know, guys in theirmid to late twenties thirty year olds.
However it may plout, I liketo find. I like to hear that
there's a twenty one minutes requirement.That's always a good thing to hear.

(36:54):
But you know, I I appreciatethe whole concept of their clubs that have
rivalries and these are old clubs andyou don't want to water it down to
the point where where that passion leavesthe situation. But you know, for
me, I wonder if that justmeans that that maybe there should be CPL
teams in those markets in the future, and maybe that can be that representation

(37:16):
with the League one team being morefocused on the development side. But you
know that's a we got a prettyblank map here. No, that's not
fair. We have a we havea pretty incomplete pyramid here when it comes
to the game. And so whathappens in the next ten, twenty,
thirty, forty years, there's alot to be is a lot to be

(37:36):
decided. So it's always good tohear from Pierces. His knowledge of the
league is spectacular. Yeah, look, it's interesting what you just said here.
I'm going to go a little bitoff the rails here for a second.
When York United or York nine atthe time, was announced, I
always have my doubts about its abilityto find an audience precisely for what you
just said, precisely for what Piercesaid there. There's there's a lot of

(37:59):
rivalry within the r region. Itis so talent rich, it truly is.
But they all kind of are battlingalready, and it would just to
me I hope maybe a Vaughan mightemerge one year and have a professional side
on the top of that pyramid.Wouldn't that be nice to have a Von
up there. But that's just thethought I have. UM one does fascinating

(38:19):
that that always excites me to hearabout them and how successful they are,
and even when they lose half oftheir players, they still end up being
pretty competitive. On the men's side, they're not at the top this year,
but they're right there nonetheless to buildtowards another championship level team and they're
just just always there and on eitherside of the gender doing good stuff.
And the fact that you can haveclubs like that that can compete year after

(38:40):
year after year and develop talent aftertalent after talent, moving them up and
moving them through, that's just phenomenalfor the system as a whole. We
have a lot of problems. Sorry, go ahead, and James, I
was just gonna, I was justgonna cooleheartedly agree with you enough. Yeah,
yeah, absolutely, And look,and that's what excites It's interesting too,

(39:00):
and I like that we have differenttypes of clubs here. We talk
about Sigma a lot. If youlook at Sigma's results at the League one
Ontario level, they're not usually competingfor a championship because they're they're focuses elsewhere
and here sort of alluded to thiswhen he was talking about milk and right,
well, so yeah, you cancan do that. You can just

(39:22):
got to find this level and thisis part of what the pro rale thing
is about. Meanwhile, a teamlike Von, they want to be the
top dogs in the league, andthey wanted to all players too, but
they want to be top dogs.So it's kind of a nice balance that
we see this and we see Ijust like that there's this these identities.
These clubs now have identities that peoplethat are soccer fans across this country understand.

(39:43):
If you say Von soccer club,that is meaning now, that means
something. You know that that's aquality team that's going to compete with the
can on the team championship, isgoing to play head to head with with
the professional teams. He's gonna putplayers in the pros, is gonna put
the coach in the pros, rightand then and take some of their players
and start to after a tough start, start to get rolling within the CAMPL

(40:05):
with a team that largely not largely, but a good part of them comes
from that that set up before proofsproof concept proofs it's working. It's exciting
to see it. Oh and I'mno piece like Daniel Henry, not a
topic for this show, but abit of a news item for today.
We'll only do only do good thingsfor what they've got going on down there
in Halifax. And and yeah,I mean, you know, I think

(40:28):
when we spoke at the beginning ofthe year and looking at looking at the
CPL rosters and looking at the Leagueones as a source of players. As
the country fills out and this webcovers the whole country, you're going to
hope that every CPL club has ascout for every one of those leagues and
is keeping their eyes on the nextwave of talent coming through, and that

(40:50):
when they're ready, they get theirchests to move up and show what they
can do. So um, yeah, I always feel a bit overwhelmed when
we get into the League one stuffbecause it's so much, such a volume
of a water hose of names andteams and things to keep on top of
that, I always feel miserably atBut I'm just glad that it's happening and

(41:10):
that we can have Pierce on toshare some of the highlights with us,
and we hope that we can helppeople navigate that a little bit through the
show like this. But yeah,even for those of us to try and
follow it as close as you can, it can be you know, word
solid. Sometimes the name solid itsright, like the name after name and
her name. But it's good tohear those names because you hear them enough
times, they start to sink inand you start to understand the understand what

(41:34):
you should be looking for and whatto get excited about. All right,
speaking to get excited, I'm excitedfor next week's show because we're going to
do a similar thing with the BCLeague one. And then you had a
little look today and you have preparedsomething for us to tell us a little
bit about what BC's looking like,to set us up for next week's conversation
with Michael McCall. Yeah, Leagueone BCS and into the final weekend up

(41:58):
here and the men's side, allthat remains is to sort of you know
who's first and who's second. PSSRakers and Victoria Islanders are neck and neck
tie on twenty nine points with identicalresults, So tide breakers are sort of
starting to dig down the list interms of tide Breakers who sided nine NS
to draw two glasses. Rovers havea significant goal scored and gold differential egreins

(42:21):
advantage. But it turns out thatthey play each other on Saturday at three
thirty pm local time in Victorias andPennial Stadium. So you know, along
with the with the Blue Devils scrubbymatch that that piist mentioned, I'm gonna
be trying to tune into that oneto keep an eye who emerges on top
and the winner. The winner ofthat match, who finishes first will face

(42:43):
Unity the FC on one semifinal theone person four semifinal, and the other
team will face Whitecaps Academy in thetwo three semifinal match. Those semifinals get
underway at the end of the monthto twenty eight, twenty ninth, and
then the final is set for theweekend of August fifth through seventh. And
that's on the many side. Onthe women's side, of the top three
spots have already been decided, withwhite Caps FC Girls Elite in the top

(43:06):
spot, not Simont FCR in second, and Unity FCR in third, And
when it comes to that fourth place, TSS Rovers again and Harborside FC are
neck and neck heading into the finalweekend of the season. Rovers are on
eighteen points and Harborside are on seventeen. TSS visits Highlanders on Saturday, a

(43:27):
little bit before that men's game.They'll play at one pm local time.
A win would put them out ofreach the Harborside, who will will host
Altitude FC on Sunday afternoon. Andthen one of the interesting things that have
over there is the Wonderfu play.That's the title a ordered to the club
with the highest combined total between themen's and women's points and not two is
down to the final two sides.White Caps FC have a five point lead

(43:49):
on TSS Rovers and both have onegame left each on the men's and women's
signs, so two games overall.TSS have those two clashes that I mentioned
with Hilanders on Saturday, and bothWhitecaps sides we'll travel to face Rivers FC
on Sunday. It looks like Whitecapsare going to get get away with this
one with that five point lead,TSS wanting to win both matches, and

(44:14):
for simplicity's sake, I'm sure there'ssome complicated gold differential draw situation we can
get into. Button For the simplestcase, TSS have to win both and
White Caps have to lose both.So yeah, I'm excited to get Michael
back on the show and give usa little recap of how those matches turned
out, how the season and setus up for those playoffs. Yeah.
Absolutely, and you know it issuch an important level. Will be moving

(44:37):
our coverage more towards college and theuniversity sport in fall, so we'll be
looking for August to wrap up thethese this important level, this D three
level. For this, I askedPierce about the Women's World Cup. You've
been doing a lot of research.You know, this isn't the development topic.
We say this famishly, but youknow we're a soccer show. So

(44:58):
um, quickly before we go,what's you're feeling. You've done a lot
of research. What's you're feeling headinginto a Women's World Cup as defending of
the championship in Canada. Well,what's your thoughts? It's it's I think
what Pierce said about being a tournamentand anything can happen is such an important
fast to keep in the back ofthe mind whenever you're looking at something like

(45:20):
this. That's you work, youwork, you know, you qualify for
the tournament, the summer before,and then you have a year where it's
in the back of your mind andeverybody's trying to get in the squad and
the coach trying to figure out thebest group, and then you finally get
to Australia and none of that stuffthat's circling around the team, whether it's
you know, France making the switchfrom current director to herder in art,

(45:44):
or whether it's the Canadian Federation andthe the financial difficulties that they're having right
now, which which is very mucha theme around the world in a lot
of these ways. And whether it'sEngland missing you know for the starters that
lifted the heroes for them last summer. All of those things drift into the
background and it really comes down tothe eleven women on the pitch, the

(46:06):
rest of the other twelve women inthe squad and the coach and what can
they do on the day. Asyou mentioned, Canada's path has the potential
to be to be neat. Yougot to finish first in that top group
and avoid England and around the sixteenthat clash against Australia is going to be
massive. And you know, forme, the question with Canada is always
can they put what's what's been what'sbeen bothering them for the last year with

(46:31):
all the financial troubles We've talked alittle bit about with the CSA, just
just can that just be noise thatthey leave at the door and just focus
on the match and play their gameand be that hard to beat team that
they know they are. But asPierce mentioned, find a way to get
those goals. And I thought itwas interesting that they've brought in Olivia Smith,
a young lady who talked about anawful lot of as a surprise to

(46:52):
that squad, because if there's onething she knows how to do, it's
it's score goals. And sometimes,you know, I've heard a lot of
coaches say this, Um, sometimesyou want somebody who's young and has that
naive of youth to be there andand all of your older players who are
busy thinking about all those big things, all those big worries in the background,
sometimes the young player just brings themback to we get to kick them

(47:15):
all around and let's go out andwait. And so I'm not gonna wager
a prediction, but I was lookingat some of the odds for Canada and
it's A. It's a it shouldbe a fun one. I think it's
the best way to put it.Yeah. Um, I started the year
pretty actually high on their chances togo deep in this tournament, based on

(47:36):
the draw, based on their successagainst some of the teams that they would
face in the lead up to that. You know, I've had a hesitation
and the results that have played outthis year then played a lot. They
seem distracted by the issues more thanthey seem motivated by them. I don't
want to I'm judging that when Isay that, I'm just observing what I

(47:58):
see. But if they can findthe internal motivation and get rid of those
distractions, they are a very toughteam to be I look at the group.
I think you know obviously there theAustralian game is huge because winning that
group is a big significant advantage,and you would assume Australia would be the
team competing for there. They'll havepressures at home, but they'll have some

(48:20):
advantage resout as well. But tome, the key is that Nigeria game.
And I'll go and break that infurther. It's the first like fifteen
minutes of that Nigeria game. Youneed to create and draw some confidence the
longer that game goes with them strugglingthe score. And we have seen those
time and time again. As kiddingwomen's fans, they will just do the
same thing over and over. Youknow, we've all seen it. Play

(48:42):
over the wing, useless cross Sorry, useless is maybe harsh, but that's
kind of what it looks like.It's just overcross out, overcross out constantly.
They don't seem to have ideas andthey just get into a rot or.
They're trying to force the ball intoSaint Clair and it doesn't work and
it just becomes nil nil forever againstteams that they are much better on then
technically in every other way except forwe're putting the ball in the back of

(49:05):
the goal neither. If they getresults against those teams, and even if
they were to gard out of onenil or something against Nigeria, I think
they need to play loosely, confidentlyand score some goals in that game if
they're going to go deep, ifit's a struggle to get through it that
I have concerns about what that Australiagame with a home crowd and all that's
going to look like too. ButI've always been negative, Nelly. When

(49:25):
it comes to the women's dash team. I've predicted them to have terrible tournaments
and they've gone on to win thembefore, so so who knows. Maybe
it's better when I say that I'mworried about how they're going to play James.
We'll see it all play out andwe'll keep an eye on the young
players around the world and the tournamentas a whole. Actually, if I
wrap it up quickly, because I'mtalking about it now, I'm most excited

(49:46):
by some of the narratives they're gonnacome out of this tournament as a whole,
not just involving Canada over the nextmonth, because it is women's football
isn't a unique interesting place right now? Is Europe ready to find finally make
that breakthrough that we've been talking aboutfor a long time and become the dominant
force. A lot of signs pointedout, But then you look at the

(50:06):
US team and they still are thatjug or not and it is hard to
see them losing this tournament. Andlet's not forget about you know, your
Japan's and Eurasian teams which have hadsuccess here as well the host Australians.
So it truly is in many waysa wider open tournament at the women's side
than the men's side in terms ofwho you will see as a potential winner
at the end, except for thefact the of the US which looms over

(50:27):
everything. So it's going to bean exciting month. I'm looking forward to
watching it out. I'm hoping tsn's replace situation is going to be pretty
easy for me to click out inthe morning without getting spoiled. So that's
a little request if anyone from Jamesis listing out there wants to quickly design
their out just for me, allright, Jameson on that note, I
will say goodbye. I'll let yousay and wrap the show up too well.

(50:52):
Thanks for thanks for joining USUS thisweek. And yeah, wake up.
Really watched those women's stay up lateTSM, said Dwayne. Nobody likes
to know the score of the gamethat they're watching on delay. And uh,
we'll talk to you in a weekwhen we come back and do the
same with the one DC. Andthanks to Pierced for joining us up