NextPod Soccer Podcast for October 3

CEO and co-owner of League1 Ontario champions Simcoe County Rovers joins us to talk about the success of the club, its place in the Barrie, Ont. market and whether they might have CanPL or Project 8 aspirations in the future. That and James and Duane breakdown all the news in Canadian development circles for the week.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome to Next Plot, your weeklylook at North American soccer prospects and the
West. Next bro Campiel and beyond. These are your homes, Dwayne Road
and James GROSSI d oh, welcometo Next Pot. I'm Dwayne, James

(00:30):
is with me. How a y'alldoing that? How are you doing,
James, Dwayne, I'm doing already. It's uh, you know, another
busy week in the Canadian soccer landscape. I think I think I say that
every week, but it feels likethis summer in particular, every time we
turn around, there's another competition goinghere, There's something else happening over there.
We got TFC not in the playoffs, we got Montreal and Vancouver Ryan

(00:53):
from the playoffs, CPLS entering thefinal week of the regular season, so
tons of tons of football talk andI'm excited to lead here with you today.
It's funny. When I launched this, my only hesitation to do in
this show is I was worried thatwe might not have enough to do a
weekly show. But it truly is. Anytime you do a news based show,
you're always surprised yourself and how muchnews there is, and we have

(01:15):
a lot of that this week,get TFC not in the playoffs. There's
only one MLS team that's been eliminatedfrom the MLS playoffs and you know who
that is. It's the highest paidteam in the league. Questions to answer
there, James, But for adifferent show. All right, Let's have
a bit of a news round uphere to start before we bring on a
great guest. We have a PeterRocco, who's the CEO and cohn or
of the Simple County rovers League Ontariochampions this year. Simple County is a

(01:40):
really aggressive and interesting project that's happingout there. And as Peter tells us
in the interview, you know theceiling is not truly defined and how far
that club can go and potentially evenup to the very top of the game.
We'll see. They're very business focused, very business oriented. It's a
great interview. We did it alittle bit earlier than this. I can't
wait to share you guys. Butthat's going to come up after a bit

(02:01):
of a news round up, James. The m LS Cup Next Pro ser
the MLS Next Pro Playoffs they gotunderway this week. No Canadian teams in
it, but the Rock Canadians givessome a bit of an updated you could.
Yeah. I think last week whenwe spoke and I mentioned that there
was a pick your own opponent elementto this first to this first round and

(02:21):
the second round actually, which we'llget to your ear, sort of peaked
sort of you know, perked upand we had a little bit of drama
in that first pick your own opponentSKC two Benny Felhaber from Erminfield current coach,
surprised everybody with their pick for whothey wanted to play in the first
round of the playoffs. Kansas Cityhad finished second in the West and so
they had their choice of anybody fromseven to four, and they ended up

(02:45):
choosing four. They picked Austin FCtwo and little little would you expect it,
they went on to lose to nothingto do Austin FC to Salem as
a pharaoh at Canadian Defender was inthe lineup for Austin and when Austin won
that match, there was a ratherentertaining celebration from their players flipping some bills,

(03:07):
you know during the palm gesture toreference a comment from Benny Felhaber in
that in that selection process where hesaid that scared money don't make money.
When he was explaining why he wentwith picking the flour place team rather than
the seventh place team, you wouldexpect to be a little bit easier to
deal with, and of course thatblew up in his face. So that

(03:27):
was that was thoroughly entertaining. Sothat was the one match on Friday night,
and then the other five matches wereplayed on Sunday. We saw the
Red Bulls to defeat Chicago Fire twofor one, pretty pretty straightforward stuff.
They scored three goals in the firsthalf, including one from Canadian boy Vonte
Mullens. Mullens I always forget thatg there. I'm thinking of Patrick Mullens

(03:49):
is where my brain is right now. So that was that was one game
in the East. Second game inthese Thomas Crew to defeat Orlando City B
one to nothing. The two sidestraded first half goals and it was decided
by a ninety first minute penalty kick, so a little bit of drama there,
and a trio of red cards aswell. Two of them were straight
and one of them was for asecond yellow, so some fireworks. In

(04:11):
the Eastern Conference, San Jose Earthquakestoo defeated Saint Louis City two two MIL.
Both those goals came in the secondhalf, so a little bit of
late action there. And New EnglandRevolution two defeated Philadelphia Union two three to
two in the other Eastern Conference match. I know we win. Took the
lead in the first half and thenadded two more before the sixty fourth minute

(04:32):
to go up three to nothing,and Philly pulled one back in the seventy
eighth and another in the eighty second, but couldn't find that third goal to
send the match in the extra time. And now we are awaiting the next
round. To pick your on apoint, I'd be surprised if we saw
anybody do anything as foolish as BennyFela Harbard did and and give somebody some

(04:54):
bulletin board material like that. ColoradoRapids two and Crown LEGACYFC will put their
opponents between the two lower remaining sidesin their conference. So for Colorado that
means they can pick between Austin andSan Jose, and for Crown Legacy that
means between Columbus and the New YorkRed Bulls. And then Tacoma in New
England will await the sides that arenot selected by those top two sides,

(05:17):
and those are expected to be announcedlater today. I've been furiously refreshing my
browser to see if we can getthose updates before we recorded the show,
but alas we will not know thoseuntil a little bit later. And so
Bens was just have to tune inand see what's going on, and then
we'll talk about it a little bitmore next week. Yeah, God blessed

(05:39):
Benny, who is a character inthe North American soccer landscape. For sure,
an opportunity to talk from years ago. It's a funny guy anyway,
But yeah, he had a littlelott colored this, you know, was
it Bolton board? Does that matter? But you're right, conservative nature of
sports, it's unlikely that the teamsare going to do that again. I

(06:00):
just said, you know, youknow, I feel that you have to
beat the best team, and Iwant to challenge our guys like would that
have been throwing it back in thisspace then too? But you know,
the scared money come in. Ofcourse he's going to get a bit of
it. But alas added little entertainmentto something that might not otherwise have been
all that entertaining if it has justgone shocked. So I do provision audible.
It'd be interesting to watch over theyears that and it won't really be

(06:20):
able to see this trend developing untilwe have several years of next pro to
know how much winning at this levelmatters, how it can be converted into
winning an MLS proper. I'm notsure it's going to happen that way,
or whether we're going to see lotsof sell sales from this level eventually.
We still don't quite know what thislevel is, so it's always interesting to

(06:41):
watch how teams approach it and we'llwatch it with interest to the defending champion
still in the next Columbus one titlein the first year last year, so
lots of things to watch for inthe days ahead. We have a national
championship going on in Canada this week. It's the club championship at the youth
level. Not a lot to talkabout on this subject, but we thought
would give it a bit of arun. James, what can you tell

(07:03):
us about the national championships that aretaking place this week? Yeah, the
Toyota National Championships to give them theirproper name. We appreciate the sponsorship at
these levels. It's Canada's premier amateurcompetition. They get underwear this week beginning
on October the fourth, and wereseparate competitions they've spread over three locations.

(07:24):
The Challenge Cup, which is forthe men's Amateur, and the Jubilee Cup,
which is the women's Amateur, willboth take place in Halifax. Those
will sature ten teams from across thecountry. You seventeen boys and Girls where
we played in Monthly and the Ufifteen Boys and Girls where we played in
Waterloo, and all those matches willbe available to stream on YouTube. I

(07:45):
remember covering one of these one year. I think it was the U seventeen
girls and boys up at the Ithink it was one U seventeen group and
one U fifteen group I can't rememberwhich was which up at the Ontario Soccer
Center, and it was just agood weekend fotball to a high level action.
It was the first time that Isat at the referees table, so
it gave me a bit of aunique look at the game and it was

(08:07):
thoroughly enjoyable. So if I canfind some time, I'm definitely going to
tune into this one a little bit. Look, I mean, I've worked
at local newspaper level, so youknow, if you go to high level
youth sports, you're going to beentertained. So if you have an opportunity
to get in through these events,by all means do anything, you're not
going to be disappointed by. You'rewatching, you know, kids in this
case that are going after things thatthey've dreamt of all year that they to

(08:31):
them is the biggest thing in theworld for them. I mean I played
sports growing up. James winning youknow against the town one, you know
one county over was a huge deal, let alone a national title. So
so obviously these athletes are are competingto get to notice and get unvers scholarships
and to just get a little doorfor their for their home club, and
we wish them well. It's nodevelopment side of things. But you mentioned

(08:52):
that women's and the men's Senior AmateurChampionship. You know, we've all been
in leagues against teams that are very, very good, and it's always interesting
to watch to see which one ofthese teams can reject and become the national
champion. When at at a seniorlevel, and you know, you're gonna
have a lot of former college athletes, a lot of maybe even former pros
that play at that level. I'vealways felt that it would be money aside,

(09:13):
and it's always difficult to caviate tothis is always the finances around it.
It would be a neat to geta berth to the Boister's Cup for
the amateur champions and hopefully supposure's acouple bless us at the Jender scend,
but certainly in the men's competition now, to give that team an entry into
the to the b Cup would Ithink be something that would be worth investigating

(09:35):
in the years ahead if you couldsort of help them a little bit financially,
because it is a big burden andit's one of the great things with
the US Open Cup. You know, as much as we love the Boryser's
Cup, I'm a little envious ofUS Open Cup when you hear these great
stories out there. There's some liketeam in Seattle called like Sharp Mando FC
or something that's almost going to getto the main draw this year. Like
there's funny stories like that, andit's kind of neat to watch, you

(09:56):
know, amateur men's teams and amateurwomen's teams that go deep in these petitions,
but not really development. Probably ourdevelopment though subject that's not it's worth
mentioning a twelve. James, allright, we got some news on the
national team. New team front.The men's under twenty Conca Calf qualifying draw
is upcoming for our under twenty men. We've talked a lot in this show

(10:16):
about the disappointment we've had over theyears with the men's under twenty program failing
to depth back to the World Cupsince they hosted it in two thousand and
seven, So they haven't qualified sincetwo thousand and five. That was a
long time ago, James, twothousand and five was So how does that
process start for the Canyon. Whatkind of draw should we be expecting.

(10:39):
Yeah, it's as you mentioned,it's been a bit of a dry period
for the men's under twenty group here. That's part of the reason why they
are going to be involved in thisqualification process. Canada will rank twelve in
Conca CALF as of June twenty twentythree, and those were the rankings that
were used for the seating for thiscompetition. So the official draw is going
to be held on October eleventh andare in POP one with Guatemala, Al

(11:01):
Salvador, Haiti, Cuba and Jamaicaand the rest of the teams are distributed
over four pots. Those teams willthen play around robin within their groups between
February twenty second and March second,with the first place team from each group
joining the top rank sides who aregiven a bye to the championship itself in
the summer of twenty twenty four.And those six teams are USA, Honduras,

(11:24):
Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica,and the Dominican Republic. So it's
a little bit disappointing for Canada toeven be involved in this, but I'm
looking at this as a chance forthat U twenty group to get together again
and to use this as a springboardinto that competition next summer. So a
little bit like the qualification process forthe twenty twenty two World Cup, where

(11:48):
you know, ideally you'd not wantto have to go the long route to
get involved, but it's something thatyou can definitely turn to your advantage.
Look, yeah, when you talkabout getting the Katar, I will ever
believe that having to play those gamesin the Cayman Islands and so on so
on was absolutely instrumental to that teamgrowing together and becoming a juvenut Quite frankly,

(12:09):
in concy Cap anyway that they werein qualifying and it was only after
they lost the momentum of those constantgames that they started to you know,
revert the form, so to speak, in the in the year that followed.
But nonetheless, you know, we'vetalked also on the women's side,
the importance of kind of getting thosereps in for those young players. Now,
for a lot of reasons that we'renot happy about, this competition will

(12:33):
be more competitive in the women's game. And what I mean by that is
that federations that are a bit smallerwill funderman's use programs, whereas they might
not do that on the women's side. So you can expect that the Canadian
under twenty men and by very sureof their twelve you said twelve ranking in
Concy Cap, understands this. We'llget tested a little bit more at this
level, but they should still haveenough to get through it. So we'll

(12:56):
watch that with interest, JIMS andwill certainly report on what the draw looks
like that the next week will beable to do that, all right.
We also have the under sevent teamswho have qualified to the World Cup.
They are in preparation games right now, they're down and play Brazilla a couple
of games. As we talked aboutbefore, that's a tremendous opportunity for them.

(13:16):
Any updates or news to share onthe two series game with De Brazil,
Yeah, I did my best totry and find some streams, but
but that that didn't come about,so unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch
them, and I couldn't even reallyfind particularly good information in terms of subs
who came on, what times goalwere scored, or any point at that

(13:37):
Canada. So I can do apretty good job between out the lineups,
the starting lineups and then the finalscores. So we know that Canada lost
three to one on Friday in theirfirst match Brazil's U seventeens, then lost
five nail on Sunday in their secondmatch, Toronto FC Academy's Lucas Ozemac scored
Canada's only goal in that first one, And you know, I think going

(14:00):
we knew this was going to bea big ask, you know, Brazil
or the defending U seventeen World Cupchampions, they went unbeaten through nine matches
in their common Ble qualifying for thisupcoming edition of it. And I did
a little bit of digging just sortof on who is involved in their U
seventeen team, and you know,there's a young man named Kawa Ellis who's
got a fifty two million dollar releaseclause. Pretty much half the team has

(14:24):
made their professional debuts down in thoseBrazilian leagues. I was a young man
who was being scouted by Barsa apparentlyafter he scored twenty nine goals and thirty
four matches. So there's lots oftalent in this Brazilian team. And I
think we knew it was going tobe a big of a big ask,
and I think Andrew Olivier he knewthat as well. His postmatch comments,
as reported by Canada Soccer and theirpress release, were that this was exactly

(14:48):
the type of opponent that the youthteam needed in order to measure themselves and
grow, and he wanted to turnthe learnings into what we need to achieve
our goal of reaching the knockout stagefor the first time ever. At the
piece for U seventeen World Cup.That word learnings is of John herdmanism that
seems to have filtered throughout Canadian soccer, and so it was it was not

(15:09):
unsurprised to see Andrew Olivier using thatas well, and although the results were
a little bit tough for the Useventeens, I can't wait to talk to
a couple of them and find outwhat this experience was like. And we'll
have to wait until later in theyear to see if it pay some dividends
when they had the end Usia forthe World Cup itself. Yeah, the
professional writer in me does not likethe word learning since it's not really work,

(15:33):
but you know what, we understandwhat they're getting at here. They
learned things. Yeah, look,to be the best, you got to
beat the best, and to beatthe best, you got to play the
best. They didn't beat the bestthis time, but they did play them
and that's going to add a littlevalue and a little bit of knowledge to
them, a little bit of learningsto their ability to move forward and love.

(15:54):
Canada is at a point in theirdevelopment at the unter seventeen level,
at prety much any level where they'renot going to a World Cup to win
them. As much as we wantto talk braveley is not really the goal.
They're looking to be competitive and toperhaps get out of the group and
playing the team that might win it, teams that are looking to win.
It is a way to accomplish thateight one igreget. It's not the best

(16:14):
results obviously without knowing what the lineupwas, particularly in that second game,
it's hard to understand or really handicappersay much more than we all rehab.
But we have We watch these guyscarefully and we're going to give the you
seven teams a lot of attention inthe weeks ahead. And James and I
have talked about how the schedule thisshow will go over the next six weeks
or so. We're going to takea bit of a break over the Christmas

(16:34):
period, but we're going to makesure that we give this tournament the coverage
that it deserves when it happens laterthis or just be the late fault this
later this fall. All right,let's wrap this up before we bring Peter
Peter Raco onto the conversation that we'verecorded previously this week, that's the CEO
and Cohner sim County rovers under twentyone minutes in campl we've been following out

(16:57):
closely, James, what's the dayfor this week? The last week,
the ultimate week of the Camball regularseason. Yes, Cavalry joined for four
of their fellow clubs, is crossingthat two thousand minute threshold. Gareth Smith
Doyle scored the game winner against Valor, his first of the season, So
congrats to Cavalry for meeting that markand confirming their spot in the postseason.

(17:22):
Fortunately, just thirty eight minutes intheir final match, so we can consider
them there or thereabouts. And York, despite being leggards a few short weeks
ago, now just need one hundredand twenty three minutes in their final match
and that's relatively easy enough. Givea guy, you know, a full
ninety performance from from one young manand forty five minutes from another and you're
good there. It's Halifax who arewho are bringing up the rear here.

(17:45):
They need one hundred and ninety fiveminutes in their last game of the Season's
that's two full nineties and another fifteenminutes and change from somebody else, and
so we will see if they getacross the line. They've already clinched their
playoff first, so this would bepretty dramatic if they do not manage to
get this one hundred and ninety fiveminutes. And I'm anticipating we'll see Tomas

(18:07):
Heraldo in Thiago Coimbra both start thematch with the plans to go in ninety
minutes, and then Arman Wilson ismost likely to come on to eat up
those last couple of ones. Butyou know, Patrise, Guyser and half
Hats have left this one till lastminute, So a little bit of extra
drama on the final match of theseason. Yeah, Patrice Guyser his first
year in the league. There's somelearnings there as well. I did not

(18:27):
leave it this tight because they'll probablyget over the line, especially with the
playoffs. But book they can juststart three guys basically and deal with it
that way without really worrying too muchabout where things sort out. But what
if an injury happens right then thecampel is in a bit of a top

(18:48):
pickle tape, so they're gonna haveto figure out whether there's an enforce the
rules. Hopefully they will, butnonetheless that's a different topic and we'll cross
that bridge if we have to.Hopefully we don't, because hopefully Olax doesn't
have anything go wrong in the finalday and they're able to get those minutes
and all those teams get it in, but I would suggest that moving forward
you might not want to leave itto the last week, particularly if it
could result in you losing a playoffspot that is a big deal for your

(19:11):
team. Halifax one of the beststories this year in terms of them their
ability to overcome what was really upfour season last year. Within the league
as a whole, you know,a bit of a caveat if they don't
get that they're struggling to get theend of twenty minutes or twenty one minutes
is a little bit concerning from adevelopment standpoint, but you know, that's
a great market for the campl sowe'd like to see them. I'll be

(19:33):
successful and continue to move forward andbuild the sport in the Maritimes, an
area that gets ignored to too often. James that note, we're going to
throw to the break and then PeterRocco is going to be on the CEO
and the coal owner. Try thatagain, the CEO and the co owner
of the Simple County Rovers, theLeague one Ontario champions and a man with

(19:56):
a plant and welcome back to thenext pot. Our week of championships continues.

(20:18):
We had the Quebec League One championson last week. This week it's
the League one Ontario champions Simicle CountyRovers and Peter Rocco, the CEO,
and cohen Or joins us on theline. How you doing today, Peter,
thanks so much, Duyne, Apleasure to be here and thanks for
having me on. Looking forward tothe show. No, no problem,
simple came out of you know,it's sort of a rocket ship being blasted

(20:41):
into space a couple of years agoin terms of their ambition and to see
that come out so aggressively in termsof what you want to accomplish and then
tend to get a championship there,it must have felt really good. Tell
us what it was like to watchthat championship performance a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah, it was a bit surreal. It was, I think not
only for myself, but for thefull ownership and UH and management group.

(21:07):
This is a group of individuals thatput a lot of effort in over the
last three years, from one entryin the league, preparing kind of the
framework of our club and then justbuilding out building out the club from both
a technical perspective and an off fieldperspective. So walking up to the venue,
I showed up about two hours beforethere was about uh two buses full

(21:32):
of Rover supporters there waiting for thegates to open, a full lineup before
the gates were even opened to getin. You know, to have over
five hundred traveling supporters in the Leagueone competition has frankly unheard of. And
you know, for us to achievethat off the field in year in year
two was just phenomenal and surreal andand uh, you know, I was

(21:55):
chatting with James earlier. I meanhe was at the game, and boy
did it did it ever entertain youknow, from a from a football in
perspective, just such a phenomenal match. We take their early lead SCORSOPI come
back to make it a game,and then and then and then we we
bring it home with with with thetwo two goals in the in the and
I believe the last ten minutes.But again, we had a great runway

(22:18):
leading up to this game. Soit wasn't just the final. We had
the semi final match in Barrie.It was our first home game that we've
home playoff game we've hosted. Therewas just over eleven hundred at the match.
I think our final count was elevenhundred. Yeah, sorry, just
over eleven hundred there, which Ibelieve could be a semi final record in

(22:38):
League One. But you know,just to get back to your question,
it was it was a phenomenal,a phenomenal. It's a phenomenal moment for
the club and and something that youknow, we're really eager to build off
of and and use that as asour launchy pad going into twenty twenty four,
which I'm sure we'll get to,but it's going to be quite an
exciting year for the Cinco County Rovers. Yeah, Peter, I found myself

(23:02):
smack Dad in the middle of ahuge section of Simcoe County Rovers for the
first half of that game, andI was very impressed. As you mentioned,
it's now something we see a tonof in one Ontario, that kind
of traveling support. And you know, for all the challenges that you can
control at the head of a clubin terms of putting together the technical side,
putting together the front office side,creating that community feeling, getting the

(23:25):
buy in from the community is somethingthat you can't necessarily plan for. I'm
curious how you guys went about fosteringthat, how it was that that came
about, and in particular, therewas a Cuban element to the festivities that
I noticed with a pair of Cubanplayers on the squad. So I was
hoping you can speak to that alittle bit too. Yeah, I think
that's a really interesting bit to talkabout. You know, what we saw

(23:51):
throughout twenty twenty three season, andI would say, notably the second half
of the season. You know,a lot of our efforts begin to bear
some roots. You know, LikeI mentioned, we not only we had
traveling supporters for for the finals,but if you look back to our game
against Oakville, there was around fiftyrovers supporters that came out to that or
or semi final game, just overeleven hundred eleven hundred fans. But there's

(24:15):
also kind of a little bit moreintangible things that that we noticed happening kind
of organically, kids idolizing our players. We launched our youth camps that were
attended at great at great rates,you know. So so it's a really
interesting bit this question, and Ithink, you know, it comes down
to how we did that. ForFor me, it's it was relatively straightforward

(24:38):
and and simple, but it takestime from individuals a generally terrible building a
community, and you know, forus, it wasn't hey, let's build
this team and and just focus onon a roster at hand, but really,
how are we going to uh buildthe build the community here here in

(25:00):
Barry and and Simco County more broadly, you know, and and I think
that started with having a codependent relationshipwith the Very Soccer Club. So Barry
Soccer's are primary youth affiliate. Youknow, they have thousands of kids that
are registered to that program. Butright off the get go, when Julee

(25:21):
and I started this program or theclub, it was how do we assure
that we are seeing eye to eyeand not just see eye eye, but
walking hand in hand with with aVery Soccer club. They represent, you
know, the large majority of thesoccer community in in Simcoe County. So
so having that codependent relationship was waswas was huge off the get go.

(25:45):
You know. The another areas thatwe're hyper focused on is is uh providing
reliable content and developing really a strongdistribution channels to to to our supporters,
to to to youth players, butassuring that the Simcoe County Rovers are a
known commodity and making us become aneasy partner for local media out and to

(26:07):
partner this. So so this thispast year, we launched a bi weekly
show with Rogers TV Simcoe County.So we have the rovers, players,
coaches, staff being interviewed on aweekly basis, coming out to the games
and and highlighting kind of behind thescenes, and and and again going back
to having the kid idolize our localstars, is that you know, not

(26:32):
only do they see them at thegame, but then they go home and
they flip on Rogers TV and andand there we are again. You know,
we we had week weekly publications andBary Today and three sixty Barry.
Those are two of the major kindof twenty four twenty four hour news type
publications and outlets in the Simco Countyregion. Strong relationship with CTV Barry,

(26:53):
which is obviously probably the largest mediaoutlet in the Committita and and and really
establishing our distribution channels across so socialso Twitter, I G, tiktoks,
et cetera. Facebook, you know, So for us, that was that
was that was part of of howwe're how we're building the community. But
you know, the other the otherbig pieces is and what we targeted for

(27:18):
twenty twenty three was striving to bean accessible club. You know, I
think the day and age of uhof families going to the likes of Trolling
Raptors games or or you know,to lesser NTFC games is quite quite expensive
and and prohibitive for for a lotof folks. And we want to make

(27:40):
sure that that we're accessible. Soyou know, the players are stay on
the pitch after every game, andand there's autograph and picture sessions. You
know, tickets are are essentially accessibleto anybody that wants them. H merchandise
has opening price point items and andwe really make an effort to age community

(28:00):
groups and get community groups out toour home games and building that relationship.
Yeah, we've seen a lot ofteams take miss steps in those early days
in terms of finding it building thoserelationships with the pre existing soccer structures.
And you know, I personally amalways in favor of better and more complete

(28:22):
media access. And it's it's lovelythat you guys are getting as many kids
in those buildings as you can,because, as you say, ticket prices
these days are inaccessible for far toomany people. I think one of the
things that I always go to wheneverI get a chance to talk to somebody
who's in a role such as yourselfis I go back to a conversation that
John Herdman had way back at thestart of his national team tenure with the

(28:45):
Mens, and one of the firstprojects that he did was he did a
pathway analysis of how how it wasthat the players that were in a national
team pool came about being there,and he was fond of saying that there
were so many potential different pathways thata player took, but Canada didn't quite
have enough. There won't enough ofthose pathways to advance players from playing in

(29:06):
the youth structures to playing and Leagueone onto to moving on to CPL,
MLS, whatever it may be.You guys have already found some success there.
I think there's two players, NthanBeckert and Travenus Spree that have moved
under the CPO. I know youguys have a player with the U sevent
teams as they prepare for a twogame series against Brazil coming up this weekend,

(29:26):
and we're tellings off there that youguys have transferred to a young woman
to a league on X side.So I just wanted to get your sense
of how you guys are going aboutstrengthening those pathways and what you see as
the future for the club in thatpass. Yeah, it's a good question.
You know, we're quite ambitious andour vocal about the ambitions that we

(29:48):
want to be known as one ofthe best development clubs in the country.
We've seen the Foothills Sigmas of theworld do it, and they've done it
really well. And you know,I think for us, we want to
be a pathway for individuals, forplayers from the Heronia Districts Simco County area
to have access to that pathway.You know, how we've done it,

(30:14):
I think I think credit first ofall, credit to the technical and Julian
and the sporting staff for for bringingin top talents from across across Ontario to
the program. It takes a lotof commitment, a lot of time and
effort to identify these high potential typeof individuals and and convince them to come
into our program, you know,being a first year club in twenty twenty

(30:38):
two, you know, we actuallysent three players on Clill John to Vancouver
FC. Was was was the oneyou missed? Three onto the CPO and
then two on to to other otherleagues, professional leagues, one in New
Zealand, and then one in Gibraltar. But you know, in terms of
recruiting, and there's a lot ofthat goes into that identifying talent, bringing

(31:03):
in the right talent, that highpotential talent that we think that you know,
can make that next level. Butfor us, we also want to
start developing that internally, developing ourrelationship with Barry Soccer to make sure that
our philosophies are being trickled down toto those younger age groups and and we
start to see players rise up rightright through the kind of vertically through the

(31:26):
club in terms of developing our pathwaysand partnerships onwards. I mean, we're
very fortunate and that was really partof our strategy with our ownership team,
you know, led by Julian deGuzman, that we have an extremely strong
domestic and international network. We workwith you know, a variety of agents

(31:48):
and we we we work with theplayer and I think it a little bit
unusual in some regards for for theclubs to do this much work, but
we really work with our high potentialplayers to identify what that next step is
and then work with that player toto make sure that they're they're set up
to make that move. You know, I think Alan's a great example.
He's uh, he was a fifteenyear old kid when we brought him in.

(32:13):
He's now he's now sixteen, He'she was relatively respectfully unknown on the
landscape and and you know he's nowwith an under seventeen national team in Brazil
preparing for a World Cup. Youknow, I think Alan would have would
have definitely made it there and atsome point of time, but we were

(32:34):
certainly there to help springboard uh thatthat opportunity, uh and give him,
give him the opportunity to express andshowcase himself on a on a very great
platform in the league on Ontario.One of the rewards for winning the championship
beyond you know, the trophy andthe great feelings and just you know,
building him when you culture around yourself. He gets playing championships with Wars Cup

(32:59):
next year that potentially we have amatchup that well, have a matchup fully
professional team, likely a CAMPL teamcouldn't conceivably get a trip down to four
hundred play TFC or something. Howbig that's right? How big is that
for your club? And how doesit help build your brand in simple County
and beyond? Yeah, it's phenomenal. It's phenomenal. We have again,

(33:21):
I mean great support. So somy my hope is that it's a it's
it's your TFC and we can havea pack away section at that game.
But we we saw what tss Roversdid last year on the national stage and
they won their first round beat inValor and then went on and to the
next round. It's just a it'sa it's a great competition, great opportunity

(33:45):
for the players to showcase themselves,for the coaches to showcase themselves, and
and and the club to build nationalbrand of brand awareness. I think the
tournament itself is is you have tobe very careful from a club perspective.
If you look historically at the lastthree participants of the tournament from League one

(34:07):
Ontario perspective, how that impacted theirseason. You know, none of the
three participants had a had a longplayoff run. So you know, we're
we're evaluating this tournament very closely nowand and and trying to figure out what
the best approach is to it.It's obviously, uh, you know,

(34:30):
our our largest domestic tournament. Thenthen you know we're just so excited and
grateful and honored to be representing theLeague Ontario in that So we're taking it
very seriously and we're going to havethe boys ready well in advance, hopefully
for that game in April. Youyou've used the word ambition a lot in

(34:51):
this interview, and it's certainly aword that I would associate with the club
break from from its launch. SoI have to ask, what is the
ultimate ambition this club? Is therea ceiling with the proper growth? Could
you see this team, this clubone day play at an even higher level
than League one Ontario perhaps, Yeah, absolutely. I mean it's it's a

(35:12):
really interesting question because you know,it kind of it really boils down to
how far we can take this.And we intend to continue following the framework
that we developed when we launch.We want to strengthen our brand. We
want to focus on building the necessarilynecessary football infrastructure in the community and and

(35:36):
adding to that sustainable business model,meaning you know, what are reoccurring revenue
streams. How are we going toimprove those? Are we being you know,
hyper focused on and discipline on theexpense sides of things? You know,
of course we have that football firstagain mentality and culture, uh,

(35:57):
but we have to layer in thefinancial control to sure that we're we're going
to be growing this in a sustainableway in terms of our long term vision.
Just going back to your question again, we want to continue growing.
We want to continue attracting new fansthe club, start consistently pulling in you
know, a thousand fans per perper match day or double headers that we

(36:21):
have at j C. Masseyfield andvary, and there's lots to be excited
about. I think there's a lotof unknowns, but there's lots to be
excited about. On the women's front, of course, we uh, we
want to challenge ourselves to be onthe top five women's club teams in the
country right now. Well, ofcourse there's no professional league, but we're
keeping our ear to the ground onon on on future developments and women's professional

(36:43):
soccer and uh there's again we don'tknow exactly what that may look like,
but uh, but but but wewant to continue growing in ensuring that we
have the right infrastructure in place toallow that growth. You know, on
the on the men's side, we'vekind of now set the standard for for
the preceding years. We want tobe going forward. We want to continue

(37:04):
being a strong contender for the forfor the League one championships and and be
that perennial participant in the Canadian NationalChampionship year in year out. You know,
I think I think back, Ithink we've won four pieces of silverware
in two years. So you know, again going forward, we we want
to continue winning winning silverware on anannual basis, and and in creating an

(37:30):
environment where where those other things thatwe talked about, you know, fan
engagement, camps can foster and winningan environment. Peter, you touched on
this a little bit, you know, but we've seen such significant growth in
this sport in this country over thislast decade, and you know, the
question that I always have is ishow do we make sure that it's sustainable?

(37:52):
You touch You touched a little biton you know, being financially responsible
and having the right infrastructure. Iwonder if you could build into that a
little bit more and maybe touch onon the importance of the national teams in
terms of helping individual clubs foster thatattention that that this sport needs in order
to push the collar. Yeah,it's a great question, and I think

(38:16):
what we're seeing in experience now isreally an overall a shift in the league.
I mean, I draw back toto the MLS two point zero when
Toronto c and the Seattle Sounders cameon board, and and for me,
I'm seeing a lot of similarities betweenwhere League one Ontario is now to to

(38:37):
kind of that that shift, thependulum shift to see, okay, MLS
jump from the original kind of versionto the MLS two point zero. So
massive credit to Stino Rossi in theLeague one brain Trust for for really kind
of developing this this League one Canadastructure. We now have a system going

(39:00):
to twenty twenty four that's going tohave motion relegation, that's going to have
league cups across all three divisions,that has participation in the Canadian Championship.
So there's really so much to playfor now. And and these are storylines
and narratives that that now we cango out there and share with our communities.
You know, I think it's it'son the clubs to build that distribution

(39:22):
channel with with with your media outlets, with your sponsors and and your fans
and supporters, be become an accessibleclub. And and you know the league
was able to now sorry, mymy Alexa is going off here. Now,

(39:44):
sorry about that, guys, justgo back to it. But you
know, the league has really givenus the platform now to to do all
these great things, and I thinkyou know we we we now as clubs
and credit to a lot of otherclubs across league in Canada, whether it's

(40:06):
the TSS Rovers of Foothill, We'reseeing Saint Catharine's, London, Gwelph,
Peterborough all doing great things. NorthToronto, the Oak Blue Devils. You
know again, I'm really am seeinga shift in the culture of how we're
managing and how we're approaching semi professionalDivision III soccer. Hopefully that answered Hopefully

(40:29):
that answered some of your questions there. No, that was great. I'm
always we We've talked a fair bitabout the changes that have happened at League
went Ontario and it's it's nice tosee that clubs are are are seizing that
opportunity and seeing opportunity and that tofurther things. I think one of the
one of the things you guys havedone, perhaps better than anyone else,

(40:50):
is bringing on board some of thesoccer luminaries in this country to raise the
profile you've got Julian As we've talkedabout it involved from the start. You've
got a Tiva Hutchinson, Janine Becky, Kyle Laon and Danil Henry. Can
you just speak a little bit aboutwhat it does for you guys having them
involved in and how those conversations toget them on board have sort of gone.
Yeah, I know, this wasa was really a critical piece of

(41:15):
the club. You know, interms of what we were trying to do
is bring together some of the bestfootball minds in Canada and have that group
launch a football club in an areathat was generally considered or I would consider
a blank canvas. So we wereable to build this from the ground up

(41:36):
in an area that has over tenthousand youth players and hundreds of coaches registered
in the region. Having the likesof Julian and Tiba, Kyle Janine,
individuals that have experienced a game forthe better for the worst, not only
nationally but internationally, from League iMXto Champions League too, to the Women's

(42:02):
f A. You know, Geniawas that man city now in the n
w s L. You know,these are a lot of really interesting and
valuable experiences that I don't think manyfolks have in Canadian soccer and and just
to be able to to get thatgroup together and you know, meet periodically
to to chat about, Hey,this is where we're at as an organization.

(42:25):
What do you guys think about this? And and can you can get
some feedback here? Is invaluable andI think the players are that are in
our group are starting to see thatand and and experience that firsthand when they're
able to have conversations with Julian oror Danielle Kyle on a regular basis just

(42:47):
to pick their ear on you know, where should where where should they look
to improve from an on field perspective, from an off field perspective, how
do I carry myself as I gointo this professional environment for the first time
again. One of our models goinginto this whole program was a football first
mentality, and we wanted to rootour decision making and what's best for for

(43:09):
the footballer and what's best to builda real football culture that wouldn't be possible
without the likes of Julian or Tiba, or Kyle or Jeanine, et cetera.
So those those individuals are the pillarsof our organization and something that will
continue to lean onto to differentiate ourselvesand and to really support the evolution of

(43:32):
the football landscape in Canada, becauseI think what we're doing here now is
is is changing Division III football forthe better. Similarly, the tss Rovers
are doing, or or you know, Saint Catharines or Peter Boo, any
of the other great clubs that thatare doing wonderful things here in Division three.
Peter did to wrap it up.I find it interesting you mentioned a

(43:54):
lot of teams that are doing somegreat things here and they all have a
commonality that they're the teams that sideof the GTA it's out of Toronto.
You think there's an advantage on themarketing side, on the on the operations
side to be a team that's ina community that's a little further away from
from the big city. Well,I I think those communities have I have

(44:16):
have individual identities. Like if youif you look at the Berris of Peterborough,
Saint Catharines, London's of the world, those are all very civically pacific
pride h groups that said, uh, you know, if you look at
North Toronto or or or other GTAgroups, I mean they're all backed by

(44:38):
phenomenal youth organizations that have quite alarge community. So I certainly think it
can be done in the g tA. But it goes back to building
that community and how are you howare you investing the time to really actually
established community and not just build thefirst team that sits on top of a
youth organization. So, you know, to be direct, I think it

(45:00):
is in evative sitting in Barry beingthe only League one or high performed soccer
team on both the male or femaleside in that community. And and you
know, we are fortunate that notonly the media partners but also our corporate
partners they they're they're from the communityand that they're interested in working with us

(45:20):
because we are that club, rightthat that that guy or girl club that's
kind of at the top of thepecking order. So you know, I
think it's it's it's going to bethe responsibility of the club to continue building
out that community. And it's greatto see that there's some organizations in the
g t A and some outside ofthe g t A that are that are

(45:42):
getting hold of that. Yeah,well, I think to answer my own
question, we need both models towork, but they are different models.
I think are Peter Yah yeah,exactly. We do appreciate your time and
congratulations and good luck Maket suere inKane Championship. Hope we can maybe have
you back in the days to come. That's right, Thanks so much for
having me. Have a great day, guys, bad and welcome back to

(46:19):
Next pot. Thanks again to PeterPeter rock With, the CEO and co
owner of County Rovers for joining us. Next guy and an excited guy and
an ambitious guy. That word again, ambitious, James. What was your
takeaway on our chat with Peter?Yeah, I was, I was.
We spoke with him a little bitabout this before we went live. Just

(46:40):
how important it is for for allthese new clubs that are coming on in
the landscape did not fall prey tobeing overly ambitious and to make sure that
they crossed their t's and dot theireyes and are doing all the structural things
that they need to do to makesure that the club is sustainable in the
long run. You know, Sincoand on the scene for two years,
and you know, you could makethe argument that as a League one Ontario

(47:05):
club, they probably have the highestprofile of those clubs, and that's that's
super impressive. But the real testwill be will be how they manage that
in year three, year and yearfive, in year ten, and so
to hear that they're thinking about thosethings right now is just it's a massive
advantage for them, but it's alsogood for the health of the game in
this company. Yeah, look,look, I mean I asked him the

(47:28):
question about the campl basically it's beingcute and how I asked it. But
I'm glad he didn't say no tothat. He didn't shoot it down or
he didn't talk around it. Hesaid maybe, which is the right answer.
Maybe is the right answer, Andwe sometimes as sportsmans, don't want
to We want to hear yes andno. We don't want to hear maybe.
But that is correct and simple.County Robbers should build slowly and efficiently

(47:50):
and effectively to the point that theycan, and they have a lot of
high profile owners. I don't thinkthat they've hidden their ambition and I don't
think it's a big news scoop tosuggest that they that they might be thinking
that they could build something up therethat eventually could lead to a full professional
level and interesting on the project datestuff to the way he spoke about that
way they would keeping an eye onit. That might be where they end

(48:15):
up coming first. Right, thereneeds to be teams at that level.
And you know, there's a lotof questions with project date yet and perhaps
that's something we can dive into alittle bit here down the line. But
if it's a development question, Idon't know. We don't have to be
that close to a brief all thetime. But nonetheless, it is just
it's refreshing. And this is twointerviews in a row in which we've had
someone you know, admit that they'velooked into campaign. It's something to interest

(48:37):
them and something that can build on. And you know, we want everything
to happen in that league yesterday.We want expansion teams. But what we
don't need is another Edmonton. Whatwe don't need is another struggle like we're
seeing in New York. We needclubs to come in when they're ready to
come in and to sustain success onthe business side as well as the development

(48:59):
side for a long term growth andlong term uh you know, success in
their markets. And and you andI were talking off there a little bit
too, that we really think thatthat that size the market there is about
one hundred thousand maybe you can drawfrom maybe a quarter a million if you
give it a little bit of adrive into it. But it's a little
bit removed from from fronto, soit has its own identity. Is kind

(49:22):
of perfect. So yeah, thoughtsdid. Yeah, I've long argued argued
in going back to the day's previousCPO launching, that you know, the
future of or one of the stepsalong the way for the future of this
game in this country was was alwaysgoing to be finding a way to bed
yourself in communities that are hungry tobe represented, you know. And I

(49:45):
think what we've seen with the supportthat Simcle County has had is that that
this is an area that that hassome civic cred as Peter mentioned, and
that doesn't have as many outlets forthat as as you know, you would
want. And and as this country, you know, grows, and as
this as the population gets bigger,as the population gets more diverse, as

(50:06):
as those vast stretches of highways betweenthe major centers fill in a little bit,
there's gonna be a lot of peoplewho, yeah, they might associate
themselves with one of those big marketson a sporting level, but there's that's
always different than having that team inyour backyard that's made up of of your
friends and the children of your workcolleagues, that that has a different feel

(50:27):
to it. And so I'm superexcited whenever I see a club pop up
and find a way to weave themselvesinto the network of the community. And
as Peter mentioned, one of thefirst things they did was, you know,
go to the very Soccer Association orwhatever the correct name for them is
and and find ways of how canwe work together, how can we become

(50:50):
a part of what you guys aredoing and play a role in that.
And so you know, as Imentioned to him, we've seen a lot
of a lot of teams make misstepsin that. And so that was that
was on side on the organ onepart on the organ organizational side that I
liked that I heard, But Ialso liked what he said about about how
they're trying to set up the playersthat come to them to find success.

(51:10):
You know, one of the bigthings for me on player development is that
players need that chance, they needthat opportunity, and then the timing has
to be right. And so thefact that you bring a guy in and
you don't just say, oh,just play your games and do your thing
and it'll happen for you, butthat you work on an individualized way to

(51:30):
set them up to succeed them andto quote Greg Vanism, to be the
best that they can be or thebest version of themselves is very interesting to
me. And you know, asI think I'm glad to call myself a
grizzled veteran of governing Canadian soccer thatI've been doing it for like ten years,
to hear a club say that thatthey're trying to be as accessible to

(51:52):
the media and to the fans asthey can be and to create those partnerships,
because that's really what we'll get thebest at the situation is if the
team is working with with the mediathey have at hand to get those stories
out there and to draw interest andto make sure that the games aren't just
happening on a Saturday and nobody knowsabout it. I think that's all super

(52:14):
important. And then just the lastpoint that I would make was, you
know, I think we all weall sort of saw the Atiba and Jenny
and the Kyle and the you knowcoming on board as as co owners as
a big gimmicky at the time.But to hear Peter talk about how they
want to bring those varied experiences thatthat those players have had playing both domestically

(52:36):
and abroad, and keep that andbring that expertise back to Canada and provide
not just a pathway for that knowledgeto stay and to be utilized, but
also to provide mentorship for younger playerswho are just starting their journey. You
know, for the longest time herein Canada, we would we would import
experts from somewhere else and and they'dcome in and coach for a little while,

(52:59):
and then when they left, allall of that institutional knowledge kind of
left with them. Not to goback to the Herdman wheel too many times,
but a lot of one of theearly remarks that he made about Canada
soccer was that when he went inthere, you know, the cover was
bare. There wasn't a scouting setup, There wasn't the sort of historical
stuff that you would expect to bethere in the cupboards tucked away in Canada.

(53:21):
And so, you know, whateverwe can do to make sure that
that all the soccer experiences that arehad by people in Canada are used to
further Canadian soccer growth is the morewe can do that the better. What
are you talking about. There wasno scouting network for the Canadian national team.
It was old man on the Internetfinding third cousins of guys on the

(53:42):
you know, Facebook and telling tosee us that that was the scudding al
prior to to herbman. Basically,that's one for the old laziers out there,
James, but let's move on.Speaking of old glaziers, A lot
of the more a round during thedarker days of the women's national team.
Last night was not one of them, said last night, because we're recording
this on Wednesday to aeron on nextMonday, next Tuesday. Part of me,

(54:05):
so yeah, they came. Womenhave about book the trip back to
France, back to Paris to takeon the world and try to defend their
Olympic gold medal. James and Iwere at that game. We thought we
did with a little bit of achat about what we saw and what we
liked about about Canada's fairly comprehensive twogame wins over Jamaica to book that trip.

(54:27):
James thought, yeah, it was. It's not very often that I
get to watch games from the standsthese days, so I quite enjoyed that
perspective on it, and as youmentioned, you know, I was.
I was sort of standing at theback of section one fourteen with my dad
holding up one of those banners beforekickoff, and I was thinking to myself,

(54:51):
you know, we've come a longway in ten years. I was
remembering back to some of those dayswhere beam morefield was a lot less full
and the support was a lot lessboy citrus and just sort of marveling at
that and reveling in it a littlebit, I think, as sure as
a play on the field goals.We talked a little bit about the first
leg in the last episode. Ithink that two nail lead was pretty massive

(55:15):
to bring that into home and toquell any nerves. I think, you
know, it wasn't as smooth.The second leg didn't feel as smooth as
that first leg felt, but inthe end they get the job done.
There was a little bit of ascare, I think when Jamaica scores that
free kick. You know, Canadahad a lot of those passages to play

(55:35):
go their way, and any timeyou do dominate a game a little bit
and the other team takes a lead, there's that potential for things to go
off. The rails a little bit, but you know, Canada pulled one
back through Quale pass before halftime,and I think that was I think that
was a big goal. We talkedabout how in the first leg scoring that

(55:55):
goal eighteen minutes in or twenty minutesin, to get that early goal to
alleviate in the nerves, and thengetting that late goal to sort of put
the game to bed before Jamaica hadfound that second win. Where we're both
really big times to score goals,I think we're cast. Getting that goal
before halftime was huge because it thelittle bit of wabble that you can see
when when a team scores a goalagainst them, they want to play sort

(56:17):
of dissipated with that, and Canadacan go into halftime with some confidence.
And then now getting that fourth onefrom Jordan Heidemer, not only to get
her involveduse I think she's going tobe a big part of this Canadian side
going forward, but also to putthat game to bed. You know,
three to one on aggregate looks reallynice. It's better than two to one.
That's that goes without saying, butwith the away goals, it's still

(56:39):
really dangerous because as soon as Jamaicaadded their second goal. They're just one
more goal away from filtering the advantageback in their favor. So it's better
to stuff that out before you can. And I think the last thought that
I'd make was, you know,it was really good to see the women
celebrate on that pitch. It's beena tough eighteen months, two years for
the group and for them to havethat moment in front of such a big

(57:02):
and voisterous crowd. Hopefully we canhave the effect of clearing some of the
air that's that's been stagnant around thegroup and you know, heading into Paris
twenty twenty four and a chance todefend their metal, as you said.
And also that booked them the spotin the Cup w Gold Cup, which
is coming up in February as well, So a nice, nice way to

(57:22):
warm up for the Olympics. Solots of lots of good things came out
of these two matches. It wasit was necessary for Canada to have a
bit of a response from a disappointmentof the World Cup, and so you
know, I think everyone should shouldbe pleased with those two matches. Yeah,
no, hard said. And itis nice to have another opportunity to

(57:44):
compete for a championship again at thew Cup. I mean, the Americans
are always going to be the challengethere. Of course, get an opportunity
to play them hopefully, and youknow, an improving cock cap across the
border. I think a moment's thoughtfor Jamaica. Jamaica has had a really
good years, has built that programup to a level they've never been to
before. The more competition we seein conker Caft, the better it will
be for both the American and theCanadian women. So that was good to

(58:06):
see. The free cook kick goalthey scored was world class. That's be
honest with it. Let's give ita little applause we can now because it
didn't matter in the end, buta beautifully taken strike. That was I
thought. We saw Christine Kinstinclaire comeon at the end and play about twenty
minutes, get some looks at goal, but ultimately just not quite able to

(58:28):
get the finishing shot in to geta goal on home soil. Clearly,
you know, plus forty. Nowher days are numbered. There will be
I think a legitimate debate to happenin the next six months or so about
whether she should continue on through theOlympics. I suspect she will, and
I also understand and know that aslong as she wants to play, that

(58:51):
she will have a spot on theroster, probably in the role that she
played last night. I think itis clear that this team is better with
play the Cows starting up top.Now she offers more movements, she offers
opens things up a lot more.I think that you saw that you compare
last night the last two games withthe games in Australia New Zealand, and
you know, it was just prettyobvious that it's time to to find a

(59:16):
new future that maybe involves Christine Sinclairin a less your role for another six
months or so and then then maybewe have a testimonial or two next fault
that's an un Sinclair James, Yeah, I think I think you're right.
But I also think that that Christineplays as long as Christine wants. I

(59:38):
think she's earned that right. AndI think, you know, the longer
that you spend around around athletes,the more the more that that it's important
that they get to choose how howtheir time ends, but also that that
they know better than anybody that thatthey're not the person they were ten years
ago. You know, and soto see Christine come on and not necessarily

(01:00:01):
provide a spark, but but tobe a part of this team taking these
nepstairs I think is important. Youknow, we saw that with the TiVo
on the men's side of how importantit is to have those people that are
the torch bearers and that can walkinto a situation and be and say,
I've done this before and this ishow we go about doing this thing.

(01:00:22):
So you know, whether she's startingor whether she's coming off the bench,
Christine Sinclair will be an important memberof this squad for as long as she
wants to put those boots on andget out there and do her thing.
But at the same time, Canadadoes have to have to look towards the
future. That's the nature of thisgame is that you know what's the same
time is undefeated. And so Christine'sChristine's closer to the end than she is

(01:00:46):
the beginning of her career. ButI don't think anybody involved in Canadian soccer
is going to be eshering her atthe door. No, of course not.
I remember having a conversation with ChristineSinclair the ten years ago now where
we asked her and goes out withRyecroft. I'm not sure which which era
of my podcasting this was, butwe asked her, you know, whether

(01:01:08):
she thought that it was time forher to start to move back in the
pitch, whether she hadn't got arole playing more of a ten role at
that point. We were asking andshe said then that she would play in
goal as long as she kept gettingslower, she kept going back to the
field, and she would go backto goal if she had to to keep
playing because the game mattered that muchto her. She certainly does have a
passion to the game. And wewere wondering in the stands. I was

(01:01:29):
talking with a long term, longtimevoyager and David Bailey and we we weren't
sure whether they had made the fullsubs when Sheridan went down went on the
knee there and late in the secondhalf, and we were joking that maybe
Christine Sinclair should make her her goalkeepingdebut if in fact they were at his
sub So thankfully didn't happen, andthanks you. She finished the game.
No, I think she could doa job. Then it's a brain brain

(01:01:52):
position, man, like, yeah, you can play back there, so
so there you go. The futureof peuture of the king women's soccer keeping
position is Christine Sinclair. You heardit here first time Punch can't get much
further away from a development topic thanthat. But I think that we might
as well just admit fully that we'realso going to talk about the national team
performances on this show. I thinkmost of our listeners are going to be
okay with that, James, andwe do congratulate the Canadian women on getting

(01:02:15):
the Olympics and we look forward towatching them play next summer. All right,
James. On that note, we'regonna say goodbye for today. As
I said, we're pre recording thisconversation the day after that game. We're
going to news wrap this up.You've heard that already, So that note,
I'm just gonna say goodbye and stoptalking unless James, do you have
anything to say by I guess not. All right, bye, guys,