NextPod Soccer Podcast for September 26

Duane and James are joined by CS Saint Laurent's sporting director Rocco Placentino. Rocco talks to us about the difference between development today and when he was a player, building the Quebec League1 championship roster, how much he's looking forward to competing in the Canadian championship and how Quebec needs more professional teams -- he even tells us that he's been working the phones to find investors to bring the CanPL to Montreal! Also, we look at the MLS NextPro playoff picture, talk CanWNT Olympic qualifying and update the CanPL u21 minutes.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome to Next Pod, your weeklylook at North American soccer prospects and US
next Broke campl M beyond. Theseare your hosts, Dwayne Roland and James
Gross. Hey, welcome to NextPod. Dwayne Rolands here on the line,

(00:28):
is always joining me from his studioin beautiful Toronto, Interario, Canada.
It's James Grassy. Hi doing James. I don't know about beautiful,
man, It's pretty dusty this onthe east side of town. You know,
US senders not the most popular sizesthrow onto these days, the West
end things. It's so high andmighty. But things are good. It's

(00:49):
another another busy week in Canadian soccer. We got win his national team.
We've got TFC with the Triple game, like we got TFC two wrapping up
there on the US Next Pro season. We got this CPO race eating up.
We got soccer all over the place. So lovely to sit down with
you again and chat about a littlebit of it. I live in a
funny part of Toronto where you cancall it both east and west or it's

(01:12):
more central than anything. But Ihave to cross the Dawn Valley to if
I take the subway to get abus north, but I'm actually west of
the Dawn Valley because of the wayit runs, so it's very confusing.
I think I'm slightly east. Butanyway, I agree with you, it's

(01:32):
too many hipsters over there on thatwest side. It's the east side is
the true grittier side of the city. Anyway, That's that's our story,
our geography conversation about the city ofToronto. You mentioned the women speaking of
Toronto, they're in town. They'rein town tomorrow at the time of recording.
This is being recorded on Monday.They are playing a key game in
their Olympic qualifying situation against Jamaica.After getting a good result. I think

(01:57):
it's fair to say a good resultof two nail win. As always with
the women, they might have beenable to score a few more if they
had a little bit sharper finishing,but nonetheless they got that late goal.
Leng and jam Long got the goallate to give them the two nail lead
heading into the second leg, andJamaica didn't really threaten threat that, so
I think it is a fairly safelead in what is an absolute key game.

(02:20):
I know this isn't necessarily development conversation, but I do think that the
national team has enough interest in herenough Ben Diagram out there to have a
little chat about that. What wasyour thought on the women getting the two
nail results against Jamaica and the leadup to the game that many of you
will maybe be at right now,maybe going to as you're listening. Yeah,
you know, the thing that struckme about that first leg on Friday

(02:42):
was just how different Canada looked fromfrom the team that we saw at the
World Cup not that long ago.You know, I joked in in a
text conversation to a friend that youknow, I think Canada has had more
chances at in the first eighty minutesof that game than they had in the
three games that they played in Australia. And it was just a completely revamped
side. There was a little bitof a tactical change, you know,

(03:02):
or back three midfielders starting fullback tomake it a four at certain points.
I really liked that. But Ithink what caught my eye most was that
it was a team that was playingwith some belief, and there was some
confidence in them, and there wassome some desire to get forward and to
make things happen, and to takechances and all of those things were radically

(03:23):
missing at the World Cup. Soyou know, to see what BEV has
done in the past three months toshake off that disappointment and sort of put
their best foot forward and what wasset up to be a really challenging a
challenging test, you know, goingdown to Jamaica, one of the teams
that really impressed at the World Cup, and to sort of bat away that

(03:43):
challenge score two role goes over yourown and sort of put yourself in whole
position to secure that Olympic birth waswas pretty impressive. Yeah, for sure,
a relief when they got the earlieshgoal there that that had to be
quite the relief to a lot ofcampl or a lot of came the national
team fans for sure. Look,getting this this birth is key. I

(04:06):
know there's some people out there,some Devil's advocate for people out there that
thought maybe it might be a kickin the bottom to not qualify for the
Olympics. But the reality is,and this has been reported widely by myself
and others, that that they area lot of their funding over the years
comes from the Canadian Olympic Committee andthey own the podium program here in Canada
and to lose that would have beenreally disastrous for the program. So so

(04:27):
let's hope that they can get thejob done. On Tuesday night, Jamaica
is going to have to come out. That's going to open things up.
So get a goal there, easethe ease the nerves early, and just
do the professional performance that you knowyou're capable of. This is the Olympic
gold medalist. You know, theOlympics is a weird tournament and all if
you do is get to it is. We've learned the last three and you
have a real chance at a medal. You know, get a couple of

(04:50):
wins at the right time and you'reright there. So they've done well in
the Olympics and past. That's hopethey can get back. They can become
the darlings of Canada and get anothermedal, because that's what we'll up this
about, and that would be agreat way to put the disappointment of Australia
New Zealand behind them. James,speaking of behind us, the MLS next

(05:12):
pro regular season is done, andunfortunately for Toronto and Vancouver, I'd just
done for both of them. Theyhave not qualified for the playoffs. I'm
like TFC last year, who didget into to play Columbus in the Eastern
Final. Give us a little wrapup, what does it look like the
playoffs? Hedean and is there anyCanadian content out there? First of all,
yeah, it was Decision Day onthe weekend. I'm not sure if
they're using that branding anymore now thatMLS has weeted away from it, but

(05:35):
I was always a big fan ofDecision Day. And in the East we
have our seven teams. It's CrownLegacy, who are Charlotte's affiliate, New
England Revolution, to Columbus Crew,to the New York Red Bulls two Orlando
City. Because Orlando City decided tobe different and go with the declaration,
Chicago fired two and the Philadelphia Uniontoo. In East on the final day,

(06:00):
there were four teams battling for twospots. Chicago Fire and Philly get
in NYCFC and Huntsville are out,which is a bit disappointing, but a
bit disappointing because with Isaiah Johnston andKrisnavicken saw with Huntsville it would have been
a good chance to get a littlebit more Canadian content in that postseason.
Chicago drew their final notch two twoagainst sub Huntsville in Huntsville and then went

(06:23):
on to win the shootout four twoto secure that extra point. That was
probably the most bit of drama thatwe saw on that final day. All
four goals in that game are scoredin the first half, and Chicago converted
all four of their penalty kicks,whereas Huntsville missed their last two to inside
that one out. West, we'vegot Colorado two, Tacoma defiance where Seattle's

(06:44):
affiliate Sporting KC two and Austin FCtwo, Saint Louis two, San Jose
two, and Houston Dinamo two.And now those are a variety of Roman
funerals, and standard's the word forthose where they Arabic memory. I guess
that's the way for those. Anyways, on the final day, there were

(07:06):
three teams battling for those last twospots. San Jose and Houston ended up
fogging over in Minnesota to take thatfinal birth in Houston neither the first tiebreaker,
which was wins to get into thatfinal spot. And so the interesting
thing is, even though we knowthe field right now, we do not
know who will be playing who inthis first round and that's because MLS Next

(07:27):
Pro has adopted a pick your opponentrole to the playoffs this year, which
is a little bit of a stunner, which we'll get into momentarily. And
just a note. You know Coloradowho took the first overall seed, which
will guarantee them home field advantage allthe way through MLS next Pro Cup on

(07:47):
goal difference on goal difference versus CrimeLegacy. The two seams were tied and
points and records going into the finalmatch, and it comes down to goal
difference. Who's gonna take that topseed overall? So pick your own opponent
made the controversial a little bit naughty, But the first place sides from both
conferences will get to buy to theconference semifinal, so that's Colorado and Crown

(08:11):
Legacy are not involved in the firstround. I love second and the second
and sorry, I was just gonnasay, I love the nastiness of it.
It's fun. I remember a pickyour own The only time I've ever
seen it out is way back whenwhen I was but a wee little boy
watching the HL They had a pickyour opponent option for a while there,

(08:33):
and it was a lot of funfor a couple of years, but like
everything, they went away with itbecause the teams didn't want to make anyone
angry. So you know, thisis great. They shouldn't put it up
there, and hopefully they are testingit for the for the main MLS because
that is some fun little drama there. Anyway, continue your update, James.
Well, you know we talk aboutbolton board material all the time,

(08:54):
and like this is the ultimate bulletinboards. Like this team had a choice
so four other opponents and they chillwas you yeah, like that's just if
they don't even if they don't pickthe last place like the team that they
would have drawn with two, Likethat's even more right, Like the safe
thing will be to pick whatever ifit's one four, to pick the four,
but to go no, no,no, I want you number two.

(09:15):
That's great. Anyway, Yeah,we'll report back next week on how
that played out. We're expecting notto be announced as early as tomorrow Tuesday,
September twenty six, as a possibility, so we'll keep an eye out
for that. But so first placeteam gets a buy, second and third
place teams will choose their opponents fromthe teams that are ranked four through seven.
So you have your choice of fourteams. I'm guessing second gets first

(09:37):
choice, third gets second pick,but we will see how that all plays
out, and then the remaining twosides will face each other in the conference
quarterfinal. And following that first round, which is expected to be playing this
upcoming weekend, Colorado and Crown Legacy, the two teams that got to buy
will then choose their opponent from thetwo lowest remaining seeds in their conference.

(10:01):
So it's a bit of a doubleyour opponent situation we've got going on here,
So that'll be fun to keep iton animals see how that plays out.
As you mentioned, I wouldn't beshocked if teams just picked who they
would have ended up playing against basedon standings in the table. But you
know, there's always wrinkles as toteams that you feel you match up better
against, and so we'll see howthat plays at and report back. And

(10:22):
as you mentioned, TFC two andwhite Caps FC two will not be involved,
but there will still be some Canadiancontent out there for people that want
to to in. You know,judging from the experience of watching these playoffs
last year and a fair bit fromwatching the league in general, there are
some cracker matches. In these games, they're young players, are inexperienced players.

(10:43):
There's a lot of goals, alot of mistakes, and so you
ratchet that all up a little bitwithin the pressure of a playoffs situation and
should make fair pretty fascinating month ofactions. You ahead of us in the
East as far as Canadian content goes, we've got Brandon Cambridge, Chuu odons
A and German Sanghat are all withCrown legacy. Cambridge has tended to play

(11:07):
a little bit more with the firstteam, but he was he was with
them when they defeated TFC two onthe weekend for nothing. And o'duns a
is a really fascinating you know,triple international goalkeeper qualifies for Canada, for
the US and for Nigeria, andhe recently returned to Analyst next Profram a
spell with the Leicester City Academy.He's a big, tall, young goalkeeper,

(11:28):
so somebody to keep an eye on, and I'm sure we'll be talking
about him going forward in terms ofwhich country he's going to choose to represent.
So hopefully Marrow Biello and the restof the folks at Canada. So
after I've already you know, proformedcall in and I had a couple of
words with him. So three guysto look out for him Crown legacy at
New England. You've got Nobel Keller, who's fit again after missing a chunk

(11:50):
of the season with injury, andthe Kai green Age Duncan. Columbus have
three players who are Canadian eligible.This is a little bit tricky. I
sort of combined my own knowledge withthe nationality flags on class from market,
so I'm a little bit limited becausewe don't have quite quite the visibility into

(12:11):
some of these guys life experiences toknow exactly who qualifies for what. So
I'm basing it off for that.But Jordan Night, Mateo Bundury familiar name
and Canadian soccer circles, and theyoung man by the name of Jake Morris,
who is Aidan Morris's brother, areall Canadian eligible with the Columbus crew.

(12:31):
I'm assuming that whatever it was thatmade Aiden eligible for Canada for his
brother as well. So three guysto keep an eye with Columbus and Vante
Mullins with Red Bulls two is aguy that we've seen take some big steps
this seri. He has been abig performer for them and has even had
a couple of chances with the firstteam, So that wraps up the Canadian
content in the East. And inthe West we've got a West n FCS

(12:56):
Savatorian Masafaro center back. We've beena real key contributor for them, who
appeared in almost every match Colorado.And this holds true for a couple of
these next few names, is thatit's not uncommon guys on first team context
to come down to the second teamsevery once in a while, So both
Ralph Frizo and Mois Bombito have madeappearances done with Rapids too. And there

(13:18):
is a young man named Harris Mitchellwho's also got a little Canadian play next
who his profile to keep an eyein Colorado for Sporting KC two. Steven
Afrifa, who was writing in theMLS Super Draft, has made a few
appearances down there, and they Seemo, who was with Valor last season or

(13:39):
the season before, I believe,has made some appearances for Sporting and then
on Houston second team. A youngman named Charles August was a midfielder from
Montreal and so a fair bit ofCanadian content for for us to keep an
eye on throughout these MLS Next playoffs, and I wouldn't be shocked when I
was looking through all the rosters andguys who had made appearances this year.

(14:00):
You know, Michael Baldisimo or Matssorry, Matthewball dcimo popped up, Luca
Petrasho popped up, as guys thatare on first team deals would have spent
some time down with the second teamwhen when playing time wasn't there for them,
but when they were were covering fromthings. And you know, given
that this is the playoff time ofthe year, you shouldn't be too surprised
if we see some of those guysget drafted intact to pick up some minutes

(14:22):
with their clubs. So plenty offootball to watch there. And then one
last thing on MLS Next Pro wasthere was a bit of drama in the
Golden boot race this year was athree way tie, with Colorado's Renny Cabral,
Orlando's Jacqueline and ny CFC's MV Meyersall level on nineteen goals this season,
which is it's pretty stunning. I'mhoping that they got a got an

(14:46):
amount discount when it comes to buyingthose golden boots or however it is that
they bought these guys for the trophy. Lynn and Meyers scored their nineteenth goals
on the final day and Cabral scoreda twenty two minute had to draw level
with in Colorado's match. So sosome very interesting stuff. It's a league
that's it's a lot of football.It's a lot to keep an eye on.

(15:07):
But uh, you know, we'regoing to be seeing the next generation
of home grown stars in the NLScutting their teeth in this league. In
the playoffs are as good a chanceas I need for guys to really raise
their stock and to draw some attentionto them. So so should be should
be fascinating. It'd be great ifthe Apple would put those games on demand,
particularly in the playoffs first, towatch them. But we'll make an

(15:28):
effort to watch a few of them, as the playoffs rule had always more
fun when the playoffs get in there. All right, James, we're gonna
take a quick break and then we'regonna bring back and I'm gonna have Rocco
Placentino on. He is the sportingdirector of CS Saint Laurent, the League
one Quebec champions. He's going totalk about development there, but that club,
how he built it, a littlebit about his playing career a little.

(15:50):
In fact, Rocco as a Canadiancap and he played a very big
team. So stay tuned and findout who he played in his one Canadian
cap and what he's doing to seeus Saint Laurent after this quick break and

(16:18):
welcome back to next pot. Joiningus on the line is Rocco Placentino.
He is the sporting director of CUSSaint Laurent. The Quebec League won champions
this year. I still want tosay p LSQ every time I talk about
the league, Rocco, but thankthanks for taking some time for joining us.
It's my pleasure to be on theshould your days great congratulations first off

(16:40):
on the championship this year. Butbefore we do, I wanted to take
a time machine back a little bitand ask you. You, of course,
had a long playing career, playedall over the place, a lot
of lower divisions in Italy. Youplayed for the Impact they called the Impact
at the time, so you playedwith them for a while. I run
that twenty eight team, which alot of my friends here in Toronto didn't

(17:00):
like very much, but nonetheless,you got one over that year. But
when you were coming through this system, we were staying off. Are you
kind of came through in a deadera where there wasn't much opportunity for you
at that time? Can you justcompare and contrast what the development system is
now to when you were coming through. Well, it's a very good question.

(17:21):
You You really can't compare. It'sit's really a great opposite to what
it was back in the day.Like you said, it was a dead
era. Uh, with a lotof talent. I think if back in
the day we had with kids afterday, there would have been a lot
more you know, players playing abroadand maybe have a stronger system here in
Canada. But you know, thepast of the past, and I was

(17:42):
thinking about the future. And youknow, for us back in the day,
it was you know, it wasreally by yourself. You didn't have
you know, paid coaches and paidtech on directors and supporting directors. It
was really you know, the fatherand a new soccer. He would take
it to the field and it wasreally just us, you know, going
through the park and doing extra hoursand guys like myself. You know,
I finished, I finished secondary fiveand I decided to leave and go to

(18:03):
Italy, right, so, andit was it was the right decision because
that's what I want to do.And and today the kids have you know
the opposite where they have pay coaches, they have sporting directors, they have
took on directors, they have facilitiesthat's put it said, they have a
you know, all kinds of differentprograms that could have them, you know,
excel in the sport. And andyou know, so they're they're very

(18:25):
they're grateful for like I talked aboutthe players, we haven't sent Aro and
you know they acknowledge that because wekeep our reminding them that we never had
this when we're young. So ourour dynamics in our club is a you
know, a bit different others becauseI try and bring what I lived as
a kid to them, but onon a larger scale. Welcome, thanks
so much for joining us. I'mfascinated about the stories of the trials and

(18:48):
tribulations that you guys had to gothrough back in those days going over to
Europe as a young man to tryand graft a career for yourself. Hopefully
we can have you back on andwe'll have some more conversations about those days
in the future, But I guessI want to start out with with after
your playing career, did you alwaysknow that you wanted to be involved in
football going forward, and how didyou navigate that transition from off field to

(19:11):
becoming a sporting director and give usa bit of an outline of what your
duties are now as the sporting director. So when I was playing, I
always had in the back of mymind that I want to work with kids.
I want to work in a ina club locally here in Montreal.
I never had the aspiration I stilldon't have the aspiration to become like a

(19:33):
professional coach and to be part ofthat pro environment. I really want to
work locally. So when I whenI retired in twenty and twelve, I
took the technical technical director role atbill sent Ron where I'm where I'm currently
at right now, and it wasa very small club, like we were
maybe seven hundred fifty members where itwas five hundred and fifty members where we're
boys and the other two hundred girls. There was barely any competitive teams and

(19:57):
there was no structure. So forme it was it was a good way
to see if I would have likedit, because you know, I get
to build something by myself, anduh, you know, I took the
club along with you know, mycurrent staff that's been with me. I
have a couple of guys have beenthere since. They went also to having
almost twenty four hundred members and havingseventy competitive teams with fifteen elite teams,

(20:18):
so a boys and girl. Sothe number of boys and girls, I
would say now is like more likesixty forty percent, which is pretty good.
And I moved on from technical director, which was a lot on field
with the kids and you know,with my forming my coaches, and then
I moved up to Sporting director.Well, now I overlooked the whole program,

(20:38):
take care of sponsorships, which Ido a very good job on and
which because you know, we livein a community where there's kids in need,
so I have no choice to goknock indoors. And you know,
I take everything, so you know, everything that happens in the office,
everything happens on the field. Youknow, the Semi pro program, it
was a launch where I put someonein charge and he's been doing a fantastic
job even though he's a volunteer.Ye so you know, we came a

(21:02):
long way to where we were intwenty and twelve. So my question to
myself every day is how can wemake this club better? So, and
you know there's always room for improvement, but I think that you know we're
we're on the right track, excellent, excellently. One of the themes that
we hit on a fair bit onthis show is how you know, when
you look at the map of thecountry and you put the the logo of

(21:23):
all the clubs across the country onthat map, there's a lot of drank
spaces and so anybody who's doing thework to fill in those spaces and to
raise up the game at the grassrootslevel is is doing good work in my
books. At least, this isjust your second season playing in League one
Quebec, if I'm not mistaken,and the boys, the boys have lifted

(21:44):
their first title, getting ready forthe League one Cup which is going to
get underway at the start of October, and book yourself a spot in the
Canadian Championship for next year. SoI was hoping you could tell us a
bit about the group of guys thatyou put together there, so you know,
the semi pro program, the Leagueone program for us, it took
a while to get to get started. The reason why is when I do

(22:07):
something, I want to do itproperly, where it's not half done.
I know that there's a you know, there's a For us, there was
a you know, financial issue wherewe want to make sure that you know,
it wasn't just the club for workingout the money. So I went
out there and I found two differenttwo different partners that do it with us.
And so once that was done,which took a you know, at
least four to five years to convincepeople to put in some money. Uh,

(22:30):
then it was you know, becausewe had some generations two thousand and
one, two thousand and two andhere two thousand that were very strong,
but we couldn't offer them semipro whenthey turned like seventeen eighteen. So I
told them, guys, go away, go play somewhere else, and when
we're ready, you'll be the firstone is that I'm gonna, you know,
be called back to come back toour team because they're locally from Sell.
And that's exactly what happens. Sotwo years ago and we launched the
League one Pro project, I puta person in charge. The name is

(22:52):
Matteo cabinets, which is a hardworker and a guy that really cares for
the club. And you know,we invested in a staff where we felt
was the right decision for the clubat the time and it still is.
And I honestly believe that last yearwe could have already won the title in
the first year, but you know, you make certain mistakes in the first

(23:14):
year in terms of it, maybethe players selections and stuff like that.
But we came close until I thinkthe last five six weeks to the season
we still had a chance and thenwe had a little slump. But this
year, I knew from day onewhen we started pre camp with the players
that we had added to our team, the chemistry getting a lot stronger than
it was last year. I wouldsee it in their practices where the intensity

(23:36):
level and the and the skill andquality level was extremely high for this level,
so for this league, actually forthe one in Quebec, and they
proved it right there. They there'stwenty two, twenty three starters. There's
no we leading starters, like youreally gotta go to practice and show the
coaches like that you want to starton Saturday or Sunday. And they proved

(23:57):
it and they won the season withthree games and events. I wanted to
to touch on the change from thePLSQ to League one back and whether you
from in a bit of a perspectivethere can tell us whether that makes any
difference in terms of how that leagueoperates and what being part of that umbrella,
that national umbrella does to support whatyou're doing. So yeah, I

(24:22):
think that you know, right now, if we have a national guideline where
these three leagues have to follow,it's a it's the best thing because right
now what it was and you know, like I've followed the league for the
last over decades since it existed,actually played in it the first the first
year, came out and wanted withSean o brassa soccer. So there needs

(24:42):
to be some change. And Istill think today, uh, you know,
it's got to get better in termsof you know, having quality teams
because these young players will only getbetter if we have good quality games.
Right So I find that right nowin the in the in the p LSQ
and now League one, the PILsQ, back in the day, you

(25:03):
always had the same two or threeteams that were, you know, destroying
everybody else. And I think that'syou know, the League one has to
find a way how we could havemore of a balanced season where if you're
not good enough to be in theLeague one, you shouldn't been the League
one, right, So we reallyhope that, you know, the league
takes a turn in that aspect becauseI want our players to compete against good

(25:25):
players, not you know, notagainst teams. And it's not no offense
to any things are in our league. But you know, when you're winning
game six, seven, eight zero, it's it's you know, it's not
you. You're not learning anything,You're not going anywhere, right, So
I think on that front, it'sit's going to be at the better because
unlike the other two MLS teams inCanada, uh, the CF Montreal does

(25:45):
have a greater role in the Leagueone level and and certainly are trying to
do their own path when it comesto development. What's your perspective of CF
Montreal's role in League one, Qback and what they're your relationship and the
ship of the league is to theprofessional club in the province. So our
club CSR on we have a verygood relationship with the CFM, just the

(26:07):
fact because they we give them alot of players throughout the ranks of the
let's say generations two thousand and eightall the way to two thousand and four,
two thousand and five. Every yearthere's you know, we have quite
a few players that go to theCFM. And for us, you know,
it's you know, we're limited ina way where we say, okay,
we're an amateur club. The nextstep is CFM. That's all there

(26:30):
is here, right, So wethink it's our it's our dooty to make
sure that we put a player inthe right, you know, a position
possible to excel and that's why wesend them to CFM. Sometimes they decline
and they stay within our club becauseyou know, even though we're an amateur
club, I think that we havea lot of qualified coaches that are doing
justice to these kids developing. Butthe CFM being in League one, it's

(26:51):
cool, right, you have areserve team of the first team and sometimes
some of the first players I goplay in reserve. They have a very
very young squad that are you know, I think two thousand three, two
thousand and fours and also thousand andfives, so it's a very very young
team. But you know, again, when you when you go play against
Larong's it's you see a big gapin terms of quality, and it could

(27:12):
be because we have a bit moreexperience in terms of players. I've been
playing at a higher level for quitesome time now, right, so it's
good for the league to have theCFM in there. I personally would love
to see Montreal playing the MLS nextpro to be honest, that's my personal
opinion because I'm a Montreal Impact fCFM fan. I'm sorry to say,
but but yeah, it brings theleague a bit prestige because of the name.

(27:34):
But on the field, like Isaid, it's a very young team,
so it's it's you know, whenthey face the more experienced teams,
they struggle. They're much better thisyear than they were last year, so
I saw a big improvement and likeI said, for us to play against
a professional academy, it's it's prettycool. And of course by winning the
league one keyback title, you getto play likely a CAMPL team in next

(27:56):
year's Boryser's Cup. But I wonderwhat your thoughts are in the lack of
a CAMPL presence in the province ofQuebec right now? How important is it
for there someone to emerge in thatprovince, to start a program up there
that that can create that level ofthe professional game in Quebec and just quickly
onto that. Do you see itcoming anytime soon? So you know,

(28:18):
I've been saying it for years nowwhere we have so much talent in Quebec,
and I as signed me, Imight sound a advices from Quebec,
but there's so much talent here.And if I just speak about our club
and our team, there's some playersthat are definitely seek the all players.
Yes, we need a CPL teamin Quebec, and you know, I've

(28:40):
been you know, working hard thelast couple of years to try and you
know, convince investors to maybe wantwhen they have a team here because it's
needed. And I really believe,you know, I follow CPL league also,
and I really believe that our currentroster instantly wrong just about just what
the players we have I believe couldcompete in the CPL. Maybe not be

(29:03):
a big team in it, butyou know, we have all Montreal,
Quebec based players that could that couldprobably play this league. So I really
hope that you know, in thenear future, we could find some comments
ground to to give not only theplayers in Saint Rome, but the players
in Quebec a chance to have thatexposure, to be showcased at a higher
level and that one day make itpro with the MLS or in Europe or

(29:26):
somewhere else in the world, youknow. So it's very unfortunate. It's
very unfortunate that we can find youknow, I believe we should have three
teams in Quebec. We should have, you know, at least seventy eighty
players every year being looked at everyweekend, week out, you know.
But that's not the case right now. So hopefully in your future that mentality
changes. The sooner the better,in my opinion, Rock, So it's

(29:48):
it's a bit of a shame thatit hasn't happened quite yet. Four or
five years into the league's existence.One of those talented players that that you've
helped along in his career was asmall con and excuse me. One of
the things that struck me most ofthat point it was was how he kind
of appeared out of nowhere at thetime for people like me who who don't

(30:08):
have the view into the lower levelsthe way that we would like to.
And you know, we're in atime where we're hopefully the best talent in
the country is getting funneled to thosethree MLS academies, and between them and
the national programs, we were supposedto be doing a better job of identifying
players with talent. Maybe I shouldn'thave been quite so surprised. I think

(30:29):
Jonathan David sort of emerged similarly.We started hearing whispers about him before he
went over to Europe, and ofcourse all fonds that we've been hearing about
since he was you know, thirteenfourteen something like that. Are there more
conis? And how do make surethat those players are giving the chance to
be recognized and to move up?So are more cons I think there is?

(30:53):
You know, you just said it. You know, it all depends
on what a professional academy is lookingfor, right and Coney's perfect example of
that, where he was not threetimes from the CFM right for various reasons,
whether it was his grades when hewas younger or whatever case may be,
but he was definitely a diamond roughAnd when we when we got Cony
from NYG Soccer, which is anotheramateur club, he came to our club

(31:15):
because he wants to have a chanceto be showcased at the National Championships,
which he did, and that's wherehe really for us. You know,
we saw on a daily basis andwe would say, like even with Nick
the Santis, we would say,oh my god, this kid is different,
you know, and and then youknow, everything happened so quickly for
him, and you know, hedefinitely stood out each and every time I

(31:36):
watched him playing. And you know, for me, you know, he's
an inspiration for all the other youngathletes that are around us here in Montreal,
Quebec. And you know, ifI think about, you know,
players that could be the next Corning, yeah, I think there is I
think that, you know, workinghard, we could definitely find more of
them. But I really believe thatjust having one professional team in Montreal is

(31:57):
hurting us because of that, rightbecause not on purpose, but the CFM
won't always have the best player,right because maybe they're looking for something,
you know, that fits their philosophyand sometimes there's a kid like you know,
it's not a Coney where you know, maybe a bit more raw,
unstructured, and that's something you needto work with, right And and then
I think that when he went tothe CFM the last time. He was

(32:19):
with Jason Ditulio with the reserve teamfor a bit, and then you know,
the first team with Wilfred he tookhim away for three months because they
were in a bubble in Florida,and maybe that was meant to be like
during COVID being away with the teamand getting that three four month trial.
And and now you know, he'splaying in Watford, which we're all grateful
for it, and I'm actually excitedbecause I'm I'm going to sweet to watch
him play for the first time andin his professional career in Watford. So

(32:44):
it's a crazy story. And yeah, for sure there's more Coney's. I
believe that on R semi protein there'sfour or five players that could, you
know, make that jump, maybenot right away to the Coney level,
but at least to be in theCPL or an MLST, you know.
And there's another great example with MoiseBambito. Moise came to our ranks and
was never seen by the CFM ever, and now he's playing in Colorado's Turctic.

(33:06):
Overall in twenty twenty three sold thereis there is some local talent that
you know, sometimes they miss andwe have to try and get them out
there. Yeah, well, firstI'll have a lovely time in Watford and
then cheer and I smile on AndI'm always sort of struck by how much
how much in this development game,So much of it comes down to opportunity
and timing and stuff like that.And the idea that you know, Wilfred

(33:29):
brings brings this mail into the bubble, and that's a good chance to be
around him and to work with himevery day, and that's sort of the
catalyst for his career. Is justanother reinforcement of this idea that I'm sort
of toying with in the back ofmy mind from my mistaken You played in
the Canadian Championship way back in thosefirst years of the competition. I think

(33:50):
I remember seeing me out there backin those first couple of years of being
an actual competition instead of just piggybackingon the league results between Montreal and Vancouver.
How much are you looking forward togetting back involved next year? And
we've seen guys usually as a springboardbefore. What does it mean to your
players to get that chance? Soyou know, you asked me that question,

(34:12):
and I literally got goose bumps becauseyou know, I had a great
experience with the Montreal Impact. Atthe time, we had a we had
a fantastic soccer team and and weyou know, we as a USL team,
we passed the first round. Webeat Toronto of C and then we
put in in the qualified ground andwe can all the way through quarterfinals against
Santas Laguna, which was incredible.You know, I really believe. And

(34:37):
this is what the day we wonthe championship with my sail around team.
The same day I called the culture, I said, start preparing for April,
and he's like, what do youmean. I'm like, you know
what I mean, and he's like, rock already started guesting. So like,
we want to be the first club, amateur club in Quebec to try
and pass the first round. Itwas never done. Blaine bill King closed

(34:57):
a couple of years old against Halifax. But I honestly believe that if this
group of players could stay focused andstay healthy until April and get a good
preparation done with maybe two or threenew key players, I really believe.
And people think I'm crazy, butI really believe. Like, just like
I said, we're gonna have asemi poll team and we're gonna win quick,
and we did so. I reallybelieve that we we we stay healthy,

(35:21):
and we get the right pieces,and we get the right preparation done
and invest a bit of money intoour preparation. I think we could pass
the first round well, lovely.We look forward to seeing you guys get
out there and give it a go. One last question before before I let
you go here. Our mutual friendwho put me in touch with Dan Ross,
told me that I should look upthe team you played against the year

(35:45):
one Canadian national team cap against Spainin two thousand and five. I believe
it was the likes of Peppe Ramo, Javi Alonzo, Sergio Ramos Jav,
Fernando Torres, Raoul, Fernando Morientez. You could can see us, Carlos
who Ol and Michelle Sagato on thebench. Uh, maybe just your recollections
from that day for Y. Youknow, I was very grateful, and

(36:10):
you know, at the time,frank Yallop was the coach and I never
had a sniff for the national teamand he invited me to this camp in
Spain, and I, to behonest, I was in I was in
second division in Italy and I wastwenty two years old. I was young,
and I went to Spain saying,you know what I get, I

(36:31):
get to, you know, enjoyMadrid and enjoy sunt and there the sun,
the beautiful field, the facilities likethat was my, my, my,
my going in there, right.And then once I got there and
I was with players like you know, the Rosario, Patris Burnie, Sandra
Granti, this, you know this, Thomas Jinsky, like big Canadian players
at the time. Uh. Andthen you know, you look at the

(36:52):
roster came out that four days before, and I saw the Spanish roster.
I'm like, but these are guysthat I would play against PlayStation, right.
So for me, I had toyou know, work my bum off
to try and get a couple ofminutes. And I was grateful that Frank
for me on the last fifteen minutesand actually came close to goal and played
against all these stars. Soul forme it was, you know, that's

(37:12):
why I killed kids all the time. Never give up believing your dreams.
Work hard, and you know,things do happen if you believe in them.
You know. Rocco, thank youso much for joining us. We'd
love to have you back on anothertime, it would be my pleasure.
It was. It was nice talkingto you guys. Hey, welcome back.

(37:45):
Thanks kid, Rocco, passionate guy, like that Montreal accent. I
always like here in the Montreal Axent. It reminds me of some fun days
back in my youth. Anyway,So so thanks for Rocco for joining us
and and for giving us some stuffto dig in there a little bit too,
some some subtle stuff, but somestuff there. Nonetheless, I like
his confidence when it comes to theCanaan Championship next year, saying that he

(38:05):
feels that his Sat Lawn team cancan win against the campl team. That's
pretty pretty daring there, James,anything else jump out at you? Yeah?
Well, I mean you got tostart there. We had our first
example of a cup set this yearwith tss Rovers knocking Valorate, and so
Rocco's roccos confidence that, you know, the group that he's assembled with,

(38:27):
you know, perhaps a key additionor two can can head into next years
and regardless of who the competition they'regoing to face is give them a run
for their money. Is is excellentto hear. I think the thing that
I liked most was was, youknow, as I mentioned to him,
we need as many clubs are inthe country doing the exacting kind of thing
that he is doing, and thatthe thought of taking your time on the

(38:49):
front end to make sure that allyour ducks are in a row and that
what you're building is sustainable and healthyand going to be good for the kids
that you're taking under your wing.But then one here on the scene once,
once you're at that once, theonce the whistle blows, I guess
you're not intimidating, You're you're you'renot afraid by the new venture, you're
not overawed by the new surroundings,and you're able to attack it with the

(39:15):
right attitude. And I think youknow from from our conversation with him,
it seems like a guy who's who'sput ten years into building this club and
has done a lot of it theright way. That was impressive. But
also it's not too often that youhear a coach or a sporting director or
a technical director or anybody at aclub say that, you know, they

(39:35):
went to their players and told themlike, look, right now, we
can't give you what you need,so go out and find that somewhere else.
And when we can give you whatyou need, you will be the
first one that we welcome back.So that's it's pretty rare that you see
that kind of selflessness in youth soccer, where where a club really wants what's
just for the best for those playersand isn't too concerned about dominating at their

(39:58):
their active levels. So I appreciatedthat, and I also liked I liked
how open he was about being willingto share with Montreal if that's the right
place for their players to go tobe in that professional environment to further themselves.
And then he wants to get asmany players in that Montreal academy as
possible. And so all those areare signs to me of a guy who's

(40:21):
in this for the right reasons andwho's doing good work for a Canadian soccer.
Yeah, for sure, the passionis pretty clear. And what I
like about it is really, ifyou listen behind, listen to him carefully,
what are he's talking about his standardsbased stuff. This is a guy
that wanted to build a club upusing the proper standards, using the proper
development pathways, building slowly, notaggressively, in a sort of fly by

(40:45):
the seat of their pants. Youknow, burnout quickly kind of way that
we've seen in some places in thepast. I think that, you know,
when that fits into the new modelof Quebec League one and then move
away from the PLSQ, which Ithink is more of a you know,
in some ways that's a branding change, but it means more. I think
it speaks more to a development standardsfocus that that league is going to have

(41:08):
moving forward, and clubs like SaintLaurent, you know, which are sitting
on some heavily talented areas right likethey have a gold mine that they're sitting
on there, but nonetheless you stillhave to mine that gold and he is
and it really will speak to thetalents and the abilities of the people that
are running programs like him. Theone thing that did jump out to me,

(41:30):
it's also how he referenced when Iasked him about the CAMPL and Quebec.
And this is a question I've askeda lot of people before at various
levels, either in Quebec or otherparts of the country, and usually you
get a pretty pat non answer whenyou asked them about CAMPL aspirations, and
he gave one if you listen carefully, which it sounds like he's been working
the phones to try and get investmentsto start a team, which is not

(41:52):
something I expected to hear today,to be quite honest, whether that is
a team that would be labeled SaintLaurent or whether he's just looking in general
to start a CAMPL team several investorsand call it Montreal something or what have
you. We didn't ask them furtherin that, but I think that that
is good to know that there arepeople in the province in Quebec that our
work in the phones, that arelooking for investment, that are trying to

(42:13):
get things started, ties into existingprograms, because we even haven't found confirmation
on that before. We've heard somepeople out there that have been linked to
Quebec launched like Bradberry, but notnecessarily anyone specific attached to a club.
So to me, that's a promisingpan. I know it can't be all

(42:34):
as fans listening to this maybe hopingfor greater stories and greater news hooks when
it comes to expansion in that province, but that's going to be harder to
come by. The money involved issignificant, is a risk no matter how
much we want to slice it.I mean, we're still looking at a
league that is running one of theteams right you know, York United does
not have an owner right now,so there are lots of issues and lots

(42:54):
of roadblocks to getting a team inQuebec. But it is good to know
that there are folks out there thatare working towards that, you know.
He also said in an interview thathe was hurting Quebec to only have one
pro team in the province and hewas hoping that there should be more of
that. So he gets it.You know. We just need him to
get the right six forty nine numbersnext month, I think, and then

(43:16):
we can maybe really bill to buildon this. But in the meantime,
if anyone out there with some moneyis listing, there's a guy that wants
to wants to work with you,so so get on the call, call
him, we get the number,we can maybe hook you up. We'll
work on that, James. Butanyway, he's not a campl problem podcast
here. But it sighs into whatwe're saying and we are going to wrap

(43:37):
up with the under twenty one minutesin a minute, James. Before we
do that, any final thoughts onwhat I just said or what Rocco had
to say. Yeah, just juston League one and the need for their
not to be these six seven eightmeal matches and and sort of raising up
the standards. You know, Leadone Ontario is going to this two tiered
system where there's that relegation split thatwe've talked about, and they'll have promote

(44:00):
and relegation in the future. AndI think a good bit of the impetus
towards that was improving the quality frommatch to match for all these players.
You want your best players playing againstthe other team's best players, and if
if those games are only every threeor four weeks on the schedule, then
you're not maximizing this time for thoseplayers that you hope can move on.

(44:21):
And lastly, just if there aremore conies out there in the province of
Quebec, can somebody please go andfind them and bring them to the national
team because we're going to need allall the bodies we can for Canadian talker,
hopefully a defender or two as well. A begrate. Yeah. Look,
I've been doing this for a longtime and one of the common stories
that comes up time and time againis whether we overlook Quebec There's lots of

(44:45):
reasons why that might be the case. Some of them might be prejudicial,
for sure, but I think theyin more cases than not, are simply
just ignorance right of what's there.And then a lot of it has to
do with language barriers. So weneed to have people that are working that
and we need to be you know, turning over those rocks and are part
of all parts of the country.And that's why more professional programs, more

(45:07):
semiprop programs, just more open mindednessand more gigging is needed to make sure
these things happen. All right,let's gonna wrap up. We've been following
the under twenty one minutes in theCAMPL for a while. Now. Congratulations
to Calgary. By the way,Calgary clinches the regular season title, they
get a trophy for that. Nowthe Montoy played is now being repurposed for

(45:28):
the for you know, campl's answerto the Sports Shield and more interesting.
More to the point, though,Calvary does claim that first spot of a
CAMPL team in the Champions League nextyear, which means MESSI could play on
a horse jumping field next year.I'd like to hear that wouldn't not be
amazing anyway, but to congratulations toCalgary and with that James are gonna throw
to you and get an under twentyone minutes update. Yeah, it's It's

(45:52):
one of the first things I doevery morning is refreshed the twenty one minutes
plays to make my copy of it, to see how everyone's doing and see
track everybody's numbers. And it's beena it's been a pretty wild conclusion of
the CPI of the playoff fields justabout set. There's two matches remaining,
and I just not to damp Calvariescelebrations, but there's a little bit of

(46:14):
an asterix right next to their nameas well. They've qualified for the playoffs
because they've got to get some newtwenty one minutes and before that's confirmed.
But no worries. There's four teamsthat are still yet to cross that threshold.
Four teams have across the two thousandmen of mark, where you've got
Vancouver and Valor who've been over forquite a while now in Pacific, and
Athletical Ottawa have both crossed that markas well. Since we last did these

(46:37):
updates, forge roughly one hundred andfifty minutes away. Give your take,
which is easy enough to see outof these two remaining matches, York and
Halifax, the two laggards, havemade up significant grows since we last spoke
about this. They've both gotten aboveseventeen hundred minutes, which is nice given
where they were a couple of weeksago. When we last touched on this,

(46:59):
Forge said at seventeen eighty seven,which means they need two hundred and
thirteen minutes unless my mask skills havedeteriorated two a concerning level, that's roughly
two full starts in thirty three extraminutes in these last two matches, and
Halifax need two hundred and eighty fiveminutes. They've got seventeen hundred and fifteen
minutes. That's roughly three starts andwinning launch or fifteen minutes over these last

(47:22):
two games. It's gonna be alittle bit tricky. You know. We've
seen a DCA devers area go backto TFC. I think Hamarra I don't
know how to say the last m. Morris has seen some actions for York
in recent week. So they've gota couple of the youngsters that have have
come onto the scene and are pickingup a little bit of time, and
Halifax is still running with the samesmall group of youngsters. You've got Thomas

(47:44):
Harralder, it's got a really nicegame winner of late in Seagle Cornbra eating
up the majority of those minutes.But they're probably gonna need, you know,
the likes of Rmond Wilson or somebodywho hasn't seen a time of action
yet to pick up some minutes inthese last few games. It's a little
bit concerning that it's been left thislate. Teams you know that are both
clearly still battling for their playoff lives. I think Halifax currently sits in fourth

(48:07):
and York currently sits outside in sixth. So now that one of these two
teams is is going to be happythat they have to or is going to
be pleased that they put themselves inthe situation where they have to make decisions
based on anything other than what's absolutelybest to get the result. But that's
that's a function of the league's rulesand how they've handled things to this point.

(48:27):
So we'll be a fascinating last twoweeks of the season, and something
that I think you and I willwill touch on a little bit later,
you know, once the season isover and we've had some time to sort
of digest this a little bit.Is I'm not sure if I should be
concerned or not that the bottom twoteams are the two teams that have racked
up the most minutes under you twentyones. You know, Valor started Vancouver

(48:49):
past the five thousand minute mark,which is just impressive on this past weekend,
and Valor are just ten minutes shyof a four thousand U twenty one
minutes in both of course, we'rethe first two teams eliminated from playoff contention.
I'm not sure that it's causation orcorrelation or exactly how it works out,
but something that I think we haveto keep an eye on because it's
been a bit of a trend overthe last few years. I think that

(49:14):
to answer that question, we're goingto need to watch what happens with those
young kids moving forward. Right It'sone of those things that we can't get
an answer to until several years after. If Vancouver is, you know,
playing that heavy a heavy minutes withan idea that they're going to build it
in two years time going to bea championship contending team, then that's a
different conversation than if they're just strugglingand just having to use those kids because

(49:36):
they don't have anyone else that canfeel better fill in. And when it
comes to Valor, I mean they'reat a very much at a show me,
don't tell me stage of their development. Valor has struggled in this league
since they came in. Other clubshave figured it out. Halfax certainly figured
it out this year and are muchmore competitive and with similar disadvantages to the
WINNERPEG clubs. So so a lotto answer for and Valor and a team

(49:58):
that really needs to and support.All Right. On that note, we're
gonna wrap it up for this week. I hope you enjoyed the conversation with
Rocco. I certainly did. Ican't wait to have more conversations like that.
We have a Simcoe Rovers interview setup for next week, so we're
gonna be talking about all the championsdown the road here for the League one
season this year. Looking forward tothat, looking forward to watching more young

(50:19):
players play this week, including maybeJequie Marshall Ruddy. So on that note,
we're gonna say goodbye for another week. Congratulations on finding the hidden tracks

(50:52):
little pieces of stuff that happened inthe development world this week, Hello Hello,

(51:15):
On this week's edition of Hidden Tracks, We've got two clips courtesy of
Canada Soccer from Van Friestman's recent squadannouncement press phone call on September twenty one.
First one regards Olivia Smith, whosince we last checked in, has
made her European debut with Sporting Lisbon, scoring a goal and setting up another.

(51:35):
And the second is just a littlesnippet on Nabel Trulu joining the squad
as an injury replacement. The lasttwo clips are courtesy of TFC and TFC
two respectively. The first one isTerry Dunfield on seeing nine TFC players between

(51:57):
the academy and TFC two called intoandrew all of the areas you're seventeen squad
for the upcoming series against Brazil inBrazil. The second one is Johnny Tominiolazai
Stefanovic in thel regardless, two ofthose players who've seen a lot of actual
TRC two this season in MLS.Next bro and then yeah, we brought

(52:23):
in young Annabel Chuck Woo, whohas performed brilliantly for both the seventeens and
under twenties and has a bright futureyeah, I think listen, Olivia.
Probably, I don't know if itwas well normal she had a knock and
only just played actually and got aball because she's been you know, getting
back to fitness and there's also hada little bit of illness and out cap.

(52:45):
But you know, I'm hope andthat she'll be, you know,
good to go. But I thinklike big talents, you get the nail
on the hedge. She can shoot, she can She's got a bit of
a rocket in a and to me, it feels a little bit feeless,
and I think that's that's what weneed, you know. I felt she

(53:06):
did brilliantly when she went on ina very very tough game and the circumstances
it was in and arguably could havefeatured more than what she did in the
World Cup. So I think it'slike massive part of the future and proud
she's went away, she's worked hard. She's now proul like you say,
and I think it's only going togo up from here. I think the
step up into a pro environment isgoing to professionalize everything Olivia does. She

(53:29):
looks confident, she feels confident andyeah, I can see her player you
right, anyway, across a frontlinein an attacking midfield role. She's dynamic
and I think that's really exciting tohave as part of your future. I
mean, you know, it's interms of the playing the best players around

(53:52):
the world on that stage, representingyour country. Those types of experiences are
critical for the development. So they'reso lucky to have that. And I
think, you know, the yearplaying an MLS next pro as sixteen year
olds really will hopefully help them inthat event and the tournaments will really proud.

(54:13):
Yeah, it's a it's a specialgroup of players are TFC two thousand
and six group. They really cametogether last season. They were the best
MLS academy in North America and there'suh yeah, it's just it's so cool

(54:35):
to see such a nucleix form forfor our Canadian under seventeen national team.
I think Andrew Olivieri has done afantastic job too to find a way to
have a camp leading into the WorldCup as well under some of the physical
constraints of the Canada software facing