April 26, 2021 • 60 mins
New Premier Podcast: @MikeMillerFC chats with the Vocal Minority's Kristen Knowles about the MLS, the CONCACAF Champions League and more! #TFCLive #CFMTL
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(00:04):
Welcome to the Premiere Podcast, yoursource of information about Canadian soccer. This
is a journey finds us on Apple, Spotify and where everywhere. You're bringing
you new color, new dimensions.You can also chat with us on Facebook,
(00:28):
Twitter and Instagram at CPL podcastle ITrow for Montreal Quebec. Up the
volume, Michael the volume. Miller. Would you mind? Hello, Welcome
(01:04):
to this episode of the Premiere Podcastwith you us always straight from Montreal,
Quebec. You're a host, MichaelMiller, and with me today I have
a very special guest. She isthe host of the Vocal Minority podcast.
Some might say that she's a bloodybig deal. Please welcome Kristen Knowles.
(01:26):
How are you, my friend?I well, thank you, sir,
thank you for the introduction as well. All right, a very very special,
a very out of character weekend,I would say. In the world
of football, wouldn't you say,it's very it's a very odd season,
(01:49):
a very odd year so far forNorth American football anyway, especially if you're
looking focus on MLS, which obviouslyboth of us follow MLS teams. But
yeah, it's just been a weirdtime. It's it's so hard to predict
anything right now, it's all upin the air, you know. Um,
(02:09):
I'm looking at Toronto FC, andobviously Toronto FC is one of those
teams for whom expectations are perennially highbecause of the success that you've that you've
had over the years, especially recentlyand this year, despite the fact that
(02:30):
your team has been absolutely decimated byinjuries, you still managed to do a
lot better than what has been expected. That being said, and when it
comes to Toronto Toronto FC, I'llbe polite and say that I'm an outsider,
but you know how I feel aboutyourself, Okay, you can be
honest. It's all right. Ihate you. I hate your team too,
you know. I wish a coupleof players well, and I'm excited
(02:53):
for your coach. But other thanthat, I want you to lose terribly.
So yeah, that's fine. Thatbeing said, are you are you
pleasantly surprised or do you think thatmore could have been done, especially especially
given the context of the mlscents itself, because I know that the context in
the Conquy Calf Champions League is theexact opposite. It's it's so strange.
(03:15):
Yeah, And like I am delightedand still astonished by the performance in the
CCL because I fully expected then tolose. I had accepted that they were
going to lose once we knew thedepth of the injuries and how many players
are missing, and how many ofthese young guys were going to be asked
(03:37):
to step into roles. That we'reunusual in terms of playing for the first
team and playing against such high,high profile, high level quality in an
opposition. And I love the CCL. The CCL is by far one of
the best things in North American football, and people should embrace it. Get
(03:59):
on board with this people. Butthen you flip over to MLS now the
first weekend when when we lost toyou guys, and deservedly, deservedly.
It was interesting to look at theother results from all the other teams that
played in the CCL leading into theopening weekend, not a single team won
their opening match. There was acouple draws, so a couple fared better
(04:24):
than than our lot did. Andthen obviously yesterday, yesterday a disappointing draw.
Although I think lucky to have it, it's not optimal. Obviously.
We never like to lose. Wehate losing to you. It is awful.
We just hate it. Rips atthe soul and Dan you toy,
(04:49):
like, what is up with thatgoal? Stop it um? So that's
really frustrating. So right now though, you know TFC is going through much
right so almost a starting eleven's worthof injuries in the last few weeks,
and that's been frustrating to know,like what are they doing in the off
season? Is it just how Armistis training them? And they're sort of
(05:12):
coming out and saying, yeah,you know what, I'm pushing these guys
hard. We're changing the system.They've got to play this high press.
You've got a team that's not veryfast, so that's terrifying. But anyway,
so they have a new coach,they have a ton of injuries.
We had a COVID outbreak that stoppedthe training, which probably increase the chance
for injuries. But then on theflip side, you have a coach and
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a general manager and a president becauseI know Manning's on board with this,
but it's mostly Ali and Armists,who obviously worked together before, who are
looking to actively and actually proactively positivelydevelop these younger players, and which is
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something at least myself and my fellowanalysts on the Vocalminary podcast and a certain
subset of TFC fans have been screamingfor for years, like Toronto talks about
their academy constantly, and we neversee the proof of the pudding. It's
never you know, you get acouple Oh good, we've signed this young
(06:17):
player to the first team. Theyplay in three games for a total of
twenty seven minutes, and then younever hear from them again until they resurface
with another club, either within MLSor overseas, where suddenly, oh,
look, did you know they couldplay football? Oh isn't that intriguing?
Huh? I wonder how that happened. And so to have this opportunity injuries
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are not to see these young playersstep onto the pitch and not look out
of place and be able to enjoythat. It's going to take a certain
level of commitment to wanting to seeyoung players do well by TFC fans this
year, I think, and I'mhere for it. I am all about
(07:02):
this. I will take a mediocreseason if it means these players get actual
time, an actual chance to provethemselves. What kind of the way do
you think Chris is getting for thisseason? I mean, I know that
as long as things are going wellin the conquer Calf Champions League, people
(07:25):
aren't going to kind of leave himalone. But despite the despite that,
like, no matter what happens withthe Conquy Calf Champions League, if things
stay the way that they are inthe MLS, how long do you think
he's gonna he's gonna have before peoplestart pointing fingers at him. Well,
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there's always going to be fans thatare going to point fingers right away.
It's whether or not his bosses startpointing fingers. And he's not going anywhere
this year, no matter what.They could fail miserably, and he will
be here next season. And thatis because something like this, if they
are serious about it, is along term project. You need at least
(08:09):
two years to see it through.But with TFC's history, and I've lived
through it because I've been here sincethe beginning, that those years, with
all the turnover, with all thecoaches and all the players, and all
of the nonsense and just ugliness thatobviously directly contributed to how poor the club
(08:35):
was, and then there's a thousandother reasons, but that was a huge
thing. And having any kind ofconsistency, especially at the helm is really
important. And I know, youknow Curtis believes in armist and unless unless
they suddenly unless they lose like thenext twenty matches, which isn't going to
(08:56):
happen, but they have they'd haveto outwork team in the world Aaron Ventor
to have this be something where theypull the trigger this season. So yeah,
it's they can miss the playoffs andhe'll be here next year as far
as that's my opinion. Anyway,what do you make of the performance against
against Club Leon, Because quite frankly, even against a complete squad, Leon
(09:24):
on paper would still be considered abetter team than Toronto FC. I mean,
what the hell happened there? Blindluck in the first match, like
Leon could not finish to save theirlives, the fact that the ball did
not go in the net multiple times. I've rewatched it and I still am
(09:46):
astonished. But they also kept theircomposure, and that is huge to have,
especially with again with such a youngteam, to not panic, to
not give into a need to sortof out conquer calf the opponents. They
(10:09):
really showed this unexpected level of maturity. And then when they played the quote
unquote home match, there was moreof that, and it was just there
was a you know, they hada little bit more you know, they
had a little bit you know,the wind in their sails because they'd managed
to do what they did against Leonaway, so they had that momentum,
(10:30):
that sense that this was possible.The young players were even better in the
second match, and you saw acleaner performance that sort of negated a lot
of what Leon was able to do. Now, Leon was also missing Campbell,
thank the heavens, because wow,was he just the most annoying player
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and the most dangerous player. Really. They had a uple others obviously,
but he was everywhere and involved ineverything, and I think I think they
were lucky that he wasn't there.But that's how football works, right Like,
that's the those of the breaks.Sometimes you're missing half of your squad
and sometimes your best player can't playbecause of COVID quarantine restrictions. So yeah,
(11:20):
they were just you know what theyobviously they had a plan, they
were super organized and somehow saw itthrough. I can't answer better than that
because I'm still astonished. What's yourconfidence level going into the next round against
the CRUSA, Oh, it's low. Oh, I'm terrified. I crusizoul
(11:43):
are having such a good season,a ridiculously good season, defensive powerhouse.
Right now, what have they letin five goals? And TFC have yet
to really figure out their attack regardlessof who's available. And as an until
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you know twenty minutes left in yesterday'smatch that we saw altadoran Akinola as a
you know, I love Patrick Mullins. While that's not true, I don't.
I've come to appreciate Patrick Mullins.He is he is he actually he's
a big reason why they why theywon against Lyon, which is unexpected.
(12:28):
But he has been working his assoff in these matches and veteran presence counts
for a lot. But he shouldnever Patrick Mullins should never be the guy
leading your line ever, no matterno matter what a nice person he is
or the the the knowledge he bringsto the pitch, he is your sub
He is not the guy that starts. And if he is the guy that
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is leading the line for young guyswith Michael Bradley trying to keep up with
everybody, no, just no.And so if that's what happens on Tuesday,
there's there's there's you know valid reasonsfor concern, so I I want
them to win. Obviously. Again, I love CCL. We beat Cruisi
Zul a decade ago, but thisis a far different Cruis Zul and I
(13:11):
think ultimately we're going to come outdisappointed. Yeah, they seem to have
turned a corner because historically speaking,Cruis As is known to be one of
the most notoriously unlucky teams in Mexicansoccer. Oh absolutely, which is why
their performance this season has been unreal. There's something quite unique that is going
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on this year in the CONCA HalfChampions League. There's this feeling that an
MLS side could win it all thisyear. Actually, there were two times
when we actually really felt like wewere coming really really close. When you
guys lost against achieve Us and whenwe lost against Club America. I was
gonna say, you know, whenyour team made the final and when my
(13:56):
team made the final. Yeah,yeah, do you think do you think
an MLA side could do it thisyear? It's you know, it's always
the hope, right And I rememberI remember when RSL made it and everyone
was so excited. It was MLSfor RSL, right, like that was
the hashtag and then you know,we're you know, we're the only three
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teams that have ever done it.TFC has come the closest. That's not
the dig, it's just stating it. But still, to have five clubs
make it out of the first round, to have all the MLS clubs make
it out into the first round issaying a lot. However, with the
exception of Toronto A C, theother four clubs faced maybe lesser clubs,
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So that first round is a littlehard to rate in terms of, oh,
this is the year an MLS sidedoes it, because the next round
and the round after that is whenthey start to face the difficult teams,
the hard club the clubs that arelike, Okay, we've been doing this
for years and who are you.Like, congratulations to Philadelphia Union for making
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it to their first CCL, andI mean that sincerely. I love Jim
Curtin and I love what he's doingwith the Union, but you know,
enjoy it while you can. Boys. Same for you, Columbus. But
I'd love to say yes, butit's so hard to do. It is
so hard to do. There isstill this gap between between MLS sides and
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Mexican sides, right like it's justit's hard to bridge that. And this
next round will be really telling ofall the offseason shuffle that TFC has gone,
true, which departure, which playerwho's moved on will you miss the
most? And which newcomer are youthe most excited to see representing your side
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this year? What newcomers? Soseriously am I like? Am I sad
to see Piati go a little?I think that he was I don't know
if i'd ever I don't think wewanted him back as a DP. It
was a weird offseason for Toronto.It was a really quiet one. Not
(16:18):
nearly as much team blowing up occurredthat I had expected, because this team
is going to need to change oversoon, but one more year with the
core is what they like. SoI don't know that I really look at
many of the departures. It's onlya few and think, oh, that's
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too bad. Like most of theplayers that I enjoy watching or that I
respect are still with the club.They brought Justin Morrow back, which was
to me very important. Even ifhe doesn't start all the time, I
think he's an important presence and animportant voice for that team. I wanted
to see Josie Altador move on,and not because I don't like Josie.
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Josie has been has done some amazingthings for this club, but but he
costs a lot, he gets hurta lot, and there's stuff to think
about. Am I excited about uhSataildo? Um? I don't know yet.
I want to be. I.You know, you hear good things
(17:25):
from Santo's fans and I've seen somewonderful highlight reels and the fact that you
know, we're hearing feedback that youguys are getting a really good player.
Um. So that that that's that'san exciting thing to think about. That
he's got such support, um froma top team you know, who let
him wear Peale's number ten all thosethings right, Like, that's that's a
(17:48):
huge psychological thing. So to havethat is encouraging. And um, we'll
see how he fits in. Youknow, their TFC or Dying for Creativity
and their attack and have been forlike two years. So this is encouraging
thing to have someone for Puzzuelo toplay off of, and that is a
(18:11):
huge key. You know, TFC, we're at their best when they had
beniche Rue and they had Victor Vasquez, two people who could read the pitch,
who were visionaries in that midfield andthey haven't had that And whether this
is his role and I don't really, it's not really, but it allows
Pozzuelo to be that role instead ofhaving to play unfamiliarly up top where he
(18:32):
always plays poorly. So it's,uh, those are sort of I guess
the things that I'm looking at.Lauren Cimon moving on was fine. Missed
the slide tackles, but now hecan teach your lot how to slide tackle.
You know. Chris Mvinga is thekey to the defense and hopefully he's
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healthy soon. Omar Gonzalez I lovehim, but he is He's coming to
the end of his career as faras I'm concerned. So yeah, it's
there was so little. There wasso little happening in terms of comings and
goings. It's, uh, it'sreally evaluating the young players. So Nobel
o'callo super excited to get to seehim play. I watched him playing the
(19:17):
Academy and was very impressed. Andhe has really worked to um to gain
weight because if you saw him playfor the Academy, he's a tall boy.
He was a string being like hewas, you know, a stiff
breeze would knock him over, butdeaft feet like they got the boys got
skills, um. And then JadenNelson and congratulations Luke saying, you know,
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like there's this really wonderful um opportunityto watch the young players. So
I'm excited about them. It's tough, but as you said, it's going
to be it's gonna be kind ofa transition this year. And I mean
the perfect time to young talents isthrough a transition. Right when I look
(20:03):
at my club, when I lookat CF Montreal, and by the way,
I heard what you guys had tosay about the rebrand, and you
know what, call me amongst theones who are actually excited about the rebrand.
Really, yes, you don't mindthe loss of the history and your
club's identity all these years. Wehaven't lost anything. We just turned the
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corner. I mean, I've beenfollowing that club since it's a inception,
since this first season nineteen ninety three. I've seen I've seen the indoor seasons
at the Bell Center. I've seenI've seen the A League, you know,
clude Robill and the Champions League finaland the playoff playoff win against you
guys, and the playoff loss againstyou guys as well, the trophies.
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I've seen it all. Like I'vebeen supporting this club like for most of
my life, right ever since itwas founded, And you know, I'm
of the opinion that perhaps we couldhave even done it before. Okay,
maybe when you came into MLS,Yeah, that would be that would have
been the time, right, Imean, that would have been the time.
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But you know, perhaps even beforewhen Sappuro bought the team back and
we turned the corner and we startedplaying like in the US second Division,
that could have been a good timingas well. I mean, I understand
the rhetoric behind it because, likeI'm from, I grew up in Saint
Leonard, right, which is likea neighborhood in the east end of Montreal,
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and the the Montreal Impact culture reallycame from that neighborhood, right.
So to me, the Montreal Impactwas kind of like my neighborhood club when
it started, and then it becamethis top club playing in the top league
in the continent. But when youthink about out it, can you really
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keep the same identity while you've gonethrough such a shift. I mean,
I understand the ones that are sadabout the rebrand, and I understand why
you kind of want to be thatsmall club that ended up being like a
big club in the continent and playingin Champions League and all of that.
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But when you look at everything withinits context, it's it's not the same
continent, it's not the same situationanymore for that club. And to turn
the corner like that is not somethingthat has happened for the first time in
the history of football. Um.I'll give you an example, an example,
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like a very popular example. Whenyou think about Red Bull Salzburg for
example, Red Bull Salzburg. RedBull Salzburg has changed identities maybe four or
five six times over it's one hundredyear history. And when the Red Bull
group came in and they changed theidentity, it came with new goals,
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it came with a new perspective.And obviously this club is enjoying success that
it's never enjoyed before since then,right, and when I see this rebrand,
that's that that makes me hopeful aboutwhat's to come. And you know,
we've had success before, but perhapsto crack that glass ceiling, that's
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what that's what we needed to do. I mean, only time will tell,
but that's the way I see it. That's why, like I'm so
happy about it. It's because I'mseeing like this new wave of ambition from
my club that I haven't really seensince twenty twelve. Right, we got
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to a level and then from asoccer from a soccer perspective, I don't
want to say that we've been stagnatingfor a while, but once we hit
that MLS Cup semifinal and that ConkyCalf Champions League final, the next logical
step would have been to win somethingright and apart from those ten Canadian championships
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that we have, which is stillnumber one in the country. But I
was going to say, oh,I wonder why you're mentioning that. Either
way, I was there in twentynineteen at the UMO field. We were
you there the year that I gotto present the cup. Though I presented
the Voyagers Cup, I did.That's one of my proudest moments. I
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lifted the trophy over my head asa Voyager. I got to present the
cup. Great, but all thethinking in the last minute on a beautiful
cep A goal, it was wonderfulthat Not all that to say, if
that's what they're trying to achieve.If that change of identity will translate itself
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into major trophies, then I'm allfor it. And like when I think
about all the tangible sporting changes thathave been made very recently at CF Montreal,
like Olivirana, a sporting director,has done wonders so far, intelligent
signings, intelligent trades, and I'mthinking, in the long run, you
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keep you keep at it, it'sgoing to translate itself into something tangible.
And that's what I'm getting behind.As far as the colors, the logo,
these types of things. The Montrealimpact back then has gone through like
four or five rebrands, like we'vechanged We've changed the shield like what four
or five times, like the firstseasons we're playing and in white with blue
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pin stripes, then it became blue, then it became black and blue stripes,
like we've had. We've had changesof identity so many times over the
course of our history, but thename has always remained the same. Now,
the people who are actually the satisfiedwith the rebrand have every right to
be, but let's not treat itas the club's first rebrand in its history.
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The name change is what's really uniqueabout this rebrand. But it's not
our first rebrand, No, it'sit's it's it's great to hear that perspective.
And obviously, like you know,we're just we're just goofs, right,
we just that's that's what we do. Um And obviously you're our biggest
rival, so we have to saysomething. But you know, far be
(26:36):
it for me to tell a Montrealfan how to feel about their club,
right, Like, I wouldn't wantsomeone coming in and talking, you know,
talking, you know, talking tome about how I should feel if
Toronto FC ever rebranded or something.And I've been meaning to ask that question
to a Toronto FC die hard foryears. All Right, when Toronto FC
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was first implement did like created exactlyhow did you feel about the name?
Did you? Were you surprised thatthey didn't bring back one of those historical
names like the Links or the Blizzardor a little bit. It was like
the Blizzard sort of still exists asa as a as a development academy system
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teams. There's a couple of differentteams, So I don't know if there
was the ability to get you know, naming rights that sort of thing,
or if they decided that they wantedto move forward from the past. I
know there was originally talk of givingToronto a very Italian name into Toronto,
I believe was one of them,and where I was just like, no,
(27:44):
please don't. So we were oneof the It's funny and you look
at MLS now and there's so manyblank FC, blank FC, blank FC,
you know, throughout the entire league. But Toronto was one of the
first to do it, and soit was kind of actually a shift away
from other MLS, other MLS namingconventions, right to have something almost unique
(28:07):
for me personally. I almost didn'tcare what the club was called, just
I was just so excited to havea club and to have a local side,
and to finally have a club ofmy own to cheer for, because
I've never had that. And youknow, I don't I don't come from
a background of you know, Englishexpats or anything like that, like that's
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not my history. I came tosoccer on my own. I started playing
it when I was a kid.I got into it and it's stuck with
me ever since, you know,my entire life. I've played, I've
watched obviously, I talked about ita lot, but I didn't have something
that I grew up with. Youknow, I have an English side.
I have a couple of the clubsthat I cheer for, but those are
(28:56):
just you know, I've adopted them, right, It's not family history for
me. It's not bread into me. So um again, I almost didn't
care. And to a certain degree, I love stupid names, right,
Like there's there's there's some great clubnames out there, especially in lower leagues
or in uh you know MLS onepoint zero like I have, well it's
(29:17):
a mock up, but I havea Kansas City Wizards kit. You know,
we we had them made. Wehad them made several years back.
We all have Wizards kits, theguys on my podcast and I and we
love it, you know, likeit's great. It's a brilliant kit.
And what a fun name, youknow, like the Rowdies and uh the
(29:37):
what was the Pittsburgh steel Steelhounds?No, um, anyway, so like
all these yeah, exactly, youknow the Montreal Manic like come on,
like there's there's all this wonderful historyand yeah, like the links in the
Blizzard it would have been I don'tthink anybody would have. I don't think
I shouldn't say I don't think anybody. I think there's a swath of fans
(30:00):
UM and Canadian soccer fans, Torontosoccer fans that would have loved to seen
that carried forward. But I doknow that they wanted to start something fresh
without um a link to that pastum, so I'm okay with it.
I think I sort of wish thatmaybe our kits took a little more of
a nod from that, like alittle more honoring those and they tried it
(30:23):
that one year with the Metro's Croatiakit um, which the more I look
back on it, the more Ilike it. But um, it's it's
it's okay to start a new historyand to start a new page um as
a as A as a club andhopefully resist right now anyway, I don't
(30:45):
think there's a need to to rebrandthis club. It's it's the identity is
pretty set. TFC is easy tosay exactly so why why? Yeah?
They broke? Don't fix it?Final words about the Montreal rebrand. The
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number one thing that I the numberone thing that I appreciate about this rebrand
is the fact that Montreal is atthe center of the brand now. Like
I'll give you an example, likethe other day, I was on the
phone with my parents and the gamewas on national television, so they were
about they were able to watch it, and I'm talking to my mom and
I'm like, what are you guysdoing. She was like, Oh,
(31:30):
We're watching Montreal on television against Toronto. And that that really hit me because
usually it would be like, we'rewatching the Impact, the Impact, which
is which is a local name,right, It's a name that we know
locally. But my parents are Moroccans. Sure, they've been in Canada for
for years and years. They spentmuch more time in Canada than Morocco,
(31:51):
but still there. To them,soccer culture is FC Barcelona, It's the
Moroccan national team. It's that's whatsoccer is to them. And now when
they watch the local team, theyget to say Montreal, which means that
when they call my family overseas theycan talk about Montreal. They're not talking
about the Impact anymore. And theImpact will always exist, it's always it's
(32:15):
always going to be part of ourhistory. But I feel like a brand
like that represents our city even more, which which is exactly what we're trying
to achieve, whereas the impact representedthe club itself. But I don't think
that that name, just the name, not the history, not the club,
not the trophies, not none ofthat, but just the name itself.
(32:38):
Did it represent Montreal as a city. And now we get to say
that our team, the name ofour team is actually the name of our
city, which which I find prettycool. See they needed you as part
of the rebranding launch to say thosewords. To me, that is the
(33:00):
most logical, heartfelt but you knowkind of where I'm like, you know
what he's that's a really really goodpoint, Like I look at if I
look at it that way and thinkabout, yeah, how it's going to
be talked about on a broadcast,which is one of the reasons why most
of the campl team names are terriblebecause it erases their city identities. But
(33:22):
there's to have that you know,that's going to be talked about across MLS
broadcast. Now you know they willsay, they'll say, you know,
it's Montreal with you know doing thisas opposed to it's the impacting that that's
a really cool way of looking atit and one that I absolutely had not
considered. So thank you for theunique perspective that would really probably only come
(33:44):
from Montreal fans. So, bythe way, I love your city.
It's one of my favorite cities.There's a reason, there's a reason why
TFC fans like Montreal away days.It's not just because of the rivalry.
We get to go to Montreal,man, um No, I've family there
and things like that too. Sobut um no, that's a really really
interesting way of looking at it.I really like that. I'm still gonna
(34:07):
make fun of you just because it'sit's part. It's part of the job.
But you'll know that I stick withthe snowflake as opposed to other aspects
that people were trying to push.I just want to put that out there.
The snowflake though. I even useit on my Twitter. Do it
twist it? I know. Isaw that. I love that that that's
on your I thought, I lovethat that's on your Twitter account. That
(34:28):
made me laugh. It's good ownit, Yeah exactly. It's like maybe
maybe one day you'll have a littleclown next to your name. Hey,
none of that, none of that. You guys love that so much.
It's so stilly. Yeah, butit's it's what do you call it,
(34:49):
it's it's harmless fun, it's it's, it's it's it's part of our history.
Now we need it. We needa Canadian history moment, part of
our history, Canadian heritage, heritagemoment. Well, we already have one
for the line drawing, so youknow, you might as well. I
was there. I was there too. I was there absolutely, I had
pictures, I got video. It'sone of my favorite that's one of my
(35:14):
favorite moments in my existence of thewhole time, not just soccer. I'm
so happy that I was there forthat. My friends and I took a
bus at like six o'clock in themorning to get to Mentreal for that,
flew back the next day. Weweren't even I think we were in town
for like thirty six hours or something. That was it. You're like,
all right, great, By theway, I have family in Toronto as
(35:35):
well. I really enjoyed. Ireally enjoyed. Toronto was well. Actually
a couple of years back, Ialmost accepted an offer over there, and
I was disclose to moving to Toronto. Oh wow, yeah yeah. And
then I you know, the salarywas extremely interesting, but living costs over
there is just oh, it's crazy, you know, it's it's it's it's
it's terrifying. Don't do it unlessI get lots of money. Look,
(35:59):
I'd make fifty thousand dollars a yearor less here and I would still live
at a higher standard than I wouldif I moved to Toronto. Yep,
totally get that, trust me,crazy it is. I wanted to talk
to you about the Canadian Championship because, and with all due respect to doctor
(36:23):
Nick Bontis, who is a gentlemanthat I that I appreciate a lot,
when he came to One Soccer andhe had that interview I believe it was
with Andy Petrello, and he wastalking about how the Canadian Championship, the
twenty twenty Canadian Championship would be playedin twenty twenty two. I don't want
(36:50):
to offend anyone, but honestly,it wouldn't have been a worst bitch if
it were given to me by adoor to door vacuum cleaner salesman. Oh
awful, And yeah, I Andit's funny because hardly anybody's talking about it
or has talked about it, includingus. We haven't even really talked about
it on our show because we weretalking. We were busy talking about the
(37:13):
fact that it wasn't going to getplayed this year and that Toronto was given
the spot in the CCL and allthose things. So we were busy talking
about that and you know, arguingwith our friends from Hamilton and stuff like
that. But it's, uh,it's taken a frustrating situation and made it
worse. But it's also it alsodevalues the cup itself. And I understand
(37:43):
from a wanting a big moment anda monetary standpoint, you know, they
want fans in the stands to witness, enjoy, etc. Etc. They
need the gate money, which iswhy you know we're still waiting on campl
And totally understandable. Um, there'sso there's that from like a practical promotional,
(38:08):
all of those things, but oneof the just the way he said
it, like it was casual,like of course people are going to be
fine with us without saying, look, I know this is really messed up
what I'm about to say, andI understand if people get really upset by
it, But you know, it'sit's basically that they've they've because Toronto is
(38:28):
in the CCL, um they've almostdecided that the twenty twenty Cup almost doesn't
matter, and it's really really upsettingand disappointing because the Voyager's Cup is ours
and I don't mean ours is Toronto, see, I mean ours is Canadian
(38:51):
soccer fans. Yes, this isthis is our thing and as a very
proud member of the Voyagers um somethingthat we live for. And yes,
the fact that the tournament was supposedto be expanded and got completely destroyed because
of COVID, but there's still hopethere. But like it means something,
Boysier's Cup nights are again. It'slike CCL. It's a different it's a
(39:15):
different vibe, it's a different feelingand we as Canadian soccer fans get to
be with our own regardless of whoyou're playing against, and it just those
those matches hit harder and to havesomething that takes away from the specialness is
really disappointing and something that we allneed to push back on more and talk
(39:39):
to the you know, send dmsto Canada Soccer. You know, if
you haven't, someone knows Nick bondaswhomever. They've got to find a way
to play it this year, likethey just have to because otherwise, Honestly,
what's the point. I agree?I agree with you about the twenty
twenty one edition. We should doeverything we can to play it. However,
(40:01):
I believe wholeheartedly that the twenty twentyeditions should be canceled altogether. And
here's why. We were supposed tohave a tournament with thirteen teams, and
we ended up scrapping that format andreplace it by a one off game between
Forge and Toronto FC. And thenForge, because of the Ontario government,
(40:22):
I'll say it, flat out,they couldn't play the match, so we
ended up awarding this the Conquercal ChampionsLeague spots to Toronto FC. Right when
that happened, you effectively decided tocancel the twenty twenty edition, in my
opinion, Right, Well, yeah, well that's that's what I was saying,
Like, that's exactly it, Likethey should just do away with this
(40:44):
one and move forward. Yeah,exactly, twenty twenty one. I mean,
we don't know what's going to happenwith the pandemic and everything, but
if there's a way to play it, we should go ahead and play it.
But if the twenty twenty situation repeatsitself, then we should do away
twenty one as well, and justfocus on getting back to a normal world
(41:04):
in twenty twenty two and have areal tournament involving every professional and I mean
every professional team in the country plusthe semi pro champions of Ontario and Quebec,
and go back to the to theto the format which we were supposed
to have in the first place.But to have those makeshift solutions doesn't help
anyone. It becomes a Canadian Championshipwith an asterisk. It becomes pre two
(41:31):
thousand and eight Canadian Championships, whichis something that we still kind of look
back and joke about to this day. Although although pre although I will say
like that was that was the Voyagersdoing their level best to try to bring
some kind of recognition, Yeah,Canadian soccer in this country, right,
(41:52):
and to bring a sense of youknow, majesty is the wrong word,
but a sense of purpose, asense of of you know, we we
we support soccer in this country,so we want them to have something to
play for. Yeah, it wasdifferent, and it's taken like you know,
look how long it's taken for usto get a national league. Um,
(42:14):
so I see what you're saying.I it's all going to depend on
It's all going to depend on thecampl this year and whether or not they
get to play a season, whetherit's a travel across the country season or
if they do another bubble. Andobviously May two four is not happening.
It's just not like there's no way, there's there's you know, there's three
(42:36):
clubs that aren't training right now.Well, yeah, three clubs that aren't
training one right, I was gonnasay once in Madrid. Yeah, but
are they are? There? Arethe Alberta teams training anyway? You know,
there's two Ontario teams that haven't trainedat all. The other clubs that
either only trained a bit. There'sa couple of clubs that are like,
oh yeah, that's all training andgood for them because they exist somewhere where
(43:00):
they can. But yeah, whenyou know, when when the alleged started,
the season is a month away,Obviously that's not happening. Obviously we're
looking at later in the summer andhopefully it'll happen. You know, people
are getting vaccinated, um which isa huge, huge step in order to
to move all of this forward foreverybody, for players, for fans,
(43:22):
for people, um so if there'sa season, and even even if it's
only the CAMPL teams and the MLSteams, they should still do it.
Um. And while I want LeagueOne Ontario and um, I'm so sorry,
thank you. UM. Normally thatrolls off my tongue and my brain
(43:43):
just froze. Um if they're ifthose because I don't even know if they've
announced their training yet for this year. Um, same thing right, Like
League Ontario teams can't train and it'sit's the situation that is give. The
situation in Quebec is very problematic becauseI mean, I don't want to be
(44:06):
all political, but we have agovernment announces something one day and announces the
exact opposite the next day. Sowe welcome to welcome to Ontario. Um.
But yeah, so like there's problemswith both of those leagues in terms
of their ability to do what weyou know, to play right, to
even to train like they and theyhave less of an infrastructure and that sort
(44:27):
of thing than CAMPL or less influencedmaybe anyway, So it's all sort of
it's so hard to pig but ifthey can do it, they should do
it. Um. So it won'tbe decided anytime soon it's going to be
decided sometime. Then it's a coupleof months. Um. But yeah,
the further away they move from evenattempting to play the twenty twenty final,
(44:52):
it's not a final, it's justa match, yea. The more it
should just probably be end um,but we'll see it probably won't be.
But yeah, if they play itnext year, like, it's just it's
so dumb, you know. Isaw that happening in Spain. Athletic Bilbao
played the twenty twenty final against italso see a do and the week the
(45:15):
week after they played the twenty twentysorry, the twenty twenty final, and
then a week later the twenty twentyone final against Barcelona and they lost both.
Yeah, and to me that wasthe stupidest. It was like when
CCL was changing up their format,remember they were finishing up. How can
I forget exactly? How can right? But that was but that was so
(45:37):
confusing and so bizarre that oh we'rehere, oh that's done, but now
we're about to go right into this, and it was just, look,
I don't I don't I know thata lot of a lot of people in
Montreal are kind of and I haveto mention this because I know that a
lot of Montreal has listened to me. One year, the spot was awarded
(45:58):
to TFC because they were the previousyear's Canadian champions Yes, yes, And
this year a lot of aren't youthis year? Exactly? You know?
I mean because because guess Toronto wasthe MLS winner for last season based on
(46:20):
points. That's why. Yeah,I know. But the problem I have
with that, and I'm not sayingI'm not saying Montronto Toronto. I'm just
saying, like the way that thebid, the way that the spot is
awarded, should be made clear beforethe season starts, or at least at
some point during the season, notnot in the off season. Everybody's confused,
everybody's waiting for an answer, andthen I guess someone somewhere flips a
(46:45):
coin and makes that decision, becausethat's not what happened this year, though,
well I know what happened. Whathappened is that we scrapped the Canadian
Championship final. That never that wasn'tno no, no no Torontoc being the
representative for mL US to get versusthe CPL champion that was decided after the
COVID Cup tournament, and everybody knowsthat this wasn't done in the offseason,
(47:08):
This wasn't done in secret. Asmuch as I rail against you know,
secretive things and MLS things and CSAthings, this one thing I will fight
you on because if everybody knew,everybody knew that whoever won, whoever got
the most points out of the threeclubs in their little mini Canadian tournament when
(47:29):
we were all forced to like playhere at nausea, was going to be
the MLS rep in that in thatmatch. Whenever that match happened, everybody
agreed to it. Yeah, that'sjust the way it goes. My point,
does that effectively the Canadian Championship wasnever played. When you go back
to the genesis of it all,not a single ball was kicked on that
(47:52):
tournament. Nope, not a singleball was kicked. You're right, But
the Toronto FC, we're the MLSrepresentatives for that. In all fairness,
In all fairness, we had gonewe have gone through such a shuffle during
the offseason. I mean, theexperts had pegged us as twenty seven out
(48:12):
of twenty seven. I don't thinkthat before the season started we had the
I mean we the fans had theconfidence to even ask for that CCL spot.
And you know what, since thebeginning of the season, we're all
pleasantly surprised. I mean, asyou said, Mason Toy is completely out
(48:34):
of the blue. Broguiari is playingworld class football this season. And you
know, sure, we dropped atwo neil lead yesterday against Nashville. But
if you had told me that wewould have started the season with four points
out of six, I wouldn't.I would have never believed you. I
thought that this season was going tobe one of those transitional seasons and then
(48:59):
next year we would have had likea real project to work with. But
what I'm seeing on the field thisyear, if I can if I can
get more that throughout the season,I'll be a very happy camper. Oh
sure, And I think, like, you know, looking at your club,
because obviously we do. I do. Um. Yeah, you had
a lot of turnover, you losta lot of players, you brought some
players in. UM some that werejust like I'm sorry, who But um
(49:22):
to me, your key is Nancy. And the fact that I am still
astonished, and I know some ofit had to do with timing that,
but I'm still astonished that they wentahead and actually handed him the reins and
it was smart. I called forit. I said that they should.
(49:45):
You have a coach that knows theclub, that knows the players, that
knows the culture, that knows thecity, that can sell the club to
players like this was one of thesmartest things. I think that the impact
sorry, and that wasn't deliberate.It is reflex you know, the official
(50:07):
media does that too. I meanone of the smartest things that Montreal has
done was to you know, hesaid I want the job, and they
went, okay, yeah. Youknow, for whatever reason they decided to
do, whether they believe in hisvision, whether it was the fact that
there was almost no time to gofind a coach, it doesn't matter.
(50:28):
I think it is ultimately a verygood thing for Montreal. Um. And
you know, you've you've got,You've kept, You've retained some strong veteran
players. Having samped on your teamis always the key as far as I'm
concerned. He's a lynchpin for youguys, um in terms of not just
play, but in terms of cultureand leadership. And you can't underscore what
(50:55):
he brings to any team he playsfor. As far as I'm concerned UMA
team. Yeah, I love him, Um, I interviewed him, so
you know, of course I lovehim, but no, no, he's
he's huge, and you know,we we we joked with him and joke
about the fact that he's been aroundfor so long and he's still so young,
like he's been doing this forever andhe's still like in his mid twenties.
(51:19):
It's bizarre. Um. Anyway,So yeah, no, no,
no good, you know, like, good on your your side to come
out strong um this year. Anduh again, I still wish you no
success whatsoever. But you know,I'll try to wash this passionately at other
times. You know, it's important, you know, Like the one thing
(51:44):
that I see about what you seeis that his mentality is very clear,
his philosophy is very clear, andI feel as though this roster is getting
fully behind it. He's almost he'salmost like one of the boys, I
would say, and you could clearlysee it as it's really tangible when you
(52:06):
look at it. And the onething that Piet has said yesterday that that
that that I could really get behindas a as a CF Montreal supporter.
Right before the match. He saidrecently We've been known as a team who
parks the bus, and we don'twant to be that team anymore. We
want to be known as an attackingteam. When he said that, I
(52:28):
was alone in my office and Istood up and I clapped. Because we
want to see we want to beentertained. We want to see beautiful football,
and eventually the results will come.But if if you start with beautiful
football and it's pleasing to the eyesand you win on top of it,
(52:50):
then you get everything that you canask for, you can't ask for anything
else, really, so quickly,um, first of all, thank you
so much for accepting my invitation.Oh, thank you for inviting me.
This has been delightful. And uh, you know, I you know,
I listened to you guys every singleweekend. As I said before, you
(53:10):
guys are my You guys are myguilty pleasure. I'm not I'm not supposed
to listen to related shows, butI can't help myself. We're not only
TFC, you know, we talkabout other things. Well, we just
we're trying to make people understand thatwe don't just talk about TFC. Listen
to the first half of the show. It's other stuff. It's okay,
(53:32):
um, thank you, appreciate youwith John mall Narrow by the way,
Yeah, that was that was atreat. That was Um. We didn't
expect to get have such a candidconversation with him and for him to be
as open as he was. Um, not with the stories. We were
hoping for lots of stories. Thatwas one of our goals because he was
(53:52):
around for the battle days. Buthis his openness about his time with the
campl talking about the players Union,um, talking about the national teams,
the Super League, you know,whether or not he would abandon his beloved
Juventus, which I wasn't really thatsurprised, and uh, yeah, thank
(54:15):
you so much. I'm really gladthat we've been getting some really good feedback
on it, and I'm really gladpeople are enjoying it. We just we
were we were blown away by hiswillingness to talk, so we took full
advantage. Was it recorded one shot, one shot, My god, it's
like almost three hours. We um, we just kept going. We could
(54:37):
have gone longer, but we justit was it was we were like,
okay, we're good, We're good. Um yeah, no, well that's
what we usually do. We wejust record until we're done, and that
those are our shows, which isone of the reasons why our shows are
so long. Um, you know, it's a if you if you ever
(54:59):
drive, if if anyone from Montrealhas to do to make to drive all
the way to Toronto or Toronto toMontreal, listen to the vocal Minority,
and you'll have enough for at leastafter the exactly you'll be fine. It's
good. It's good. It's goodfor it's good for people who are long
haul trackers, people people who aredriving you know, long distances. Um,
(55:22):
if you have a long commute,you have to take the train everywhere,
it's perfect. You'll take you acouple of days. You'll be fine.
But thank you. I really appreit's nice to hear. It's nice
that people outside of the like theToronto bubble, enjoy us as well because
we we we do intend for peoplewho are not just TFC fans to listen
to us, because first and foremostwe're football fans. And that's how we
(55:46):
came together, was just standing togetherin the stands being goofs. You know,
the stuff you hear on the showwhen we go on random tangents and
we pun and we talk about wrestlingand pop culture that is hanging out with
us. This is what we're like. So this is just a slightly more
formal version. Really add vocal minorityc A. And your handle is at
(56:10):
Kazy Knolls right indeed, Oh yousaid z so rare. I know.
No, no, it's fine,no, no, no, hey,
half my family's American people. It'sit's all good. Quickly before we let
each other go out, I'd liketo I'd like to know what format you'd
(56:34):
like to see the Campo go withthis season if there is a twenty twenty
one season, of course, Ohwow, um, like I'd love a
proper you know what they were planning, which was you know that that fairly
balanced home in a way, everyonegets a chance to play each other.
But I fear they're going to haveto do it a bubble tournament again,
(56:59):
which again is it's fine, it'sit's I'd love if they could wait until
there'll be fans in the stands onefor the fans. Two obviously the league
needs the money. Uh, youknow, the league's gonna league is gonna
lose money for the first several years. But if they can lose less money,
then that's better for the future viability. So I would love a home
(57:22):
and a way series. I thinkI don't think they can break it up
now. They can break it upWestern versus Eastern right now, and do
that? Have you know a Westerntournament and Eastern tournament, have a one
game crossover between the two the twohalves of the country, and then have
playoffs because it's North America and wehave to have playoffs. I like your
(57:45):
formats, and I'll do you onebetter, all right. Have healthcare workers
and vaccinated people in the stands.There has to be a reward for people
who took their responsibility and went outthere and got and got vaccinated. Earth
is vaccinated people, whatever, nomatter what the maximum is, if they
allowed one, if they allowed onethousand or two thousand people in the stands,
(58:07):
reward healthcare workers and vaccinated people.I like that. I like that,
And there's a way you do it, because we if you've gotten vaccinated,
I have you get you get areceipt that says you have received Well,
I've got my first dose, butyou have it and it's easy to
carry around. When I get mysecond dose, I'm having that sucker laminated
(58:28):
and I am carrying it with meeverywhere, and I'm not even I'm not
even kidding. I will wear itaround my neck, the badge of honor,
the infamous health fast forward. Heexactly. I hope, I really
really hope we get a campl seasonthis year for so many reasons, for
(58:52):
the players, for the fans,for the viability of the league. It's
you know, for the future ofCanadian song or you know, it's it's
so important. So I really hopethat it happens. And you know,
the Voyagers cup fingers crossed. Ifnot this year, next year, maybe
we'll we'll see each other at amatch. Yeah. And if you come
(59:15):
to Montreal, please send me,send me a d M. I will
go to We'll go to Labankis andwe'll yeah, yeah, exactly. I'll
show you a couple of hotspots thattourists don't know about. Love it.
I love it. Kristen. Thankyou so much for doing this, very
very gracious of you to have acceptedmy invitation and please come back anytime.
(59:36):
Oh, thank you so much forhaving me on. I it was I
really enjoyed this. It's great totalk to you, um fans and podcasters
from another team. I really enjoyit, so thank you so much,
Pleasures Online, thank you and toyou all, dear listeners. We will
catch you next week for another episodeof the premiere podcast I Don't Know,
(01:00:07):
I don't Know.
Welcome to the Premiere Podcast, yoursource of information about Canadian soccer. This
is a journey finds us on Apple, Spotify and where everywhere. You're bringing
you new color, new dimensions.You can also chat with us on Facebook,
(00:28):
Twitter and Instagram at CPL podcastle ITrow for Montreal Quebec. Up the
volume, Michael the volume. Miller. Would you mind? Hello, Welcome
(01:04):
to this episode of the Premiere Podcastwith you us always straight from Montreal,
Quebec. You're a host, MichaelMiller, and with me today I have
a very special guest. She isthe host of the Vocal Minority podcast.
Some might say that she's a bloodybig deal. Please welcome Kristen Knowles.
(01:26):
How are you, my friend?I well, thank you, sir,
thank you for the introduction as well. All right, a very very special,
a very out of character weekend,I would say. In the world
of football, wouldn't you say,it's very it's a very odd season,
(01:49):
a very odd year so far forNorth American football anyway, especially if you're
looking focus on MLS, which obviouslyboth of us follow MLS teams. But
yeah, it's just been a weirdtime. It's it's so hard to predict
anything right now, it's all upin the air, you know. Um,
(02:09):
I'm looking at Toronto FC, andobviously Toronto FC is one of those
teams for whom expectations are perennially highbecause of the success that you've that you've
had over the years, especially recentlyand this year, despite the fact that
(02:30):
your team has been absolutely decimated byinjuries, you still managed to do a
lot better than what has been expected. That being said, and when it
comes to Toronto Toronto FC, I'llbe polite and say that I'm an outsider,
but you know how I feel aboutyourself, Okay, you can be
honest. It's all right. Ihate you. I hate your team too,
you know. I wish a coupleof players well, and I'm excited
(02:53):
for your coach. But other thanthat, I want you to lose terribly.
So yeah, that's fine. Thatbeing said, are you are you
pleasantly surprised or do you think thatmore could have been done, especially especially
given the context of the mlscents itself, because I know that the context in
the Conquy Calf Champions League is theexact opposite. It's it's so strange.
(03:15):
Yeah, And like I am delightedand still astonished by the performance in the
CCL because I fully expected then tolose. I had accepted that they were
going to lose once we knew thedepth of the injuries and how many players
are missing, and how many ofthese young guys were going to be asked
(03:37):
to step into roles. That we'reunusual in terms of playing for the first
team and playing against such high,high profile, high level quality in an
opposition. And I love the CCL. The CCL is by far one of
the best things in North American football, and people should embrace it. Get
(03:59):
on board with this people. Butthen you flip over to MLS now the
first weekend when when we lost toyou guys, and deservedly, deservedly.
It was interesting to look at theother results from all the other teams that
played in the CCL leading into theopening weekend, not a single team won
their opening match. There was acouple draws, so a couple fared better
(04:24):
than than our lot did. Andthen obviously yesterday, yesterday a disappointing draw.
Although I think lucky to have it, it's not optimal. Obviously.
We never like to lose. Wehate losing to you. It is awful.
We just hate it. Rips atthe soul and Dan you toy,
(04:49):
like, what is up with thatgoal? Stop it um? So that's
really frustrating. So right now though, you know TFC is going through much
right so almost a starting eleven's worthof injuries in the last few weeks,
and that's been frustrating to know,like what are they doing in the off
season? Is it just how Armistis training them? And they're sort of
(05:12):
coming out and saying, yeah,you know what, I'm pushing these guys
hard. We're changing the system.They've got to play this high press.
You've got a team that's not veryfast, so that's terrifying. But anyway,
so they have a new coach,they have a ton of injuries.
We had a COVID outbreak that stoppedthe training, which probably increase the chance
for injuries. But then on theflip side, you have a coach and
(05:34):
a general manager and a president becauseI know Manning's on board with this,
but it's mostly Ali and Armists,who obviously worked together before, who are
looking to actively and actually proactively positivelydevelop these younger players, and which is
(05:56):
something at least myself and my fellowanalysts on the Vocalminary podcast and a certain
subset of TFC fans have been screamingfor for years, like Toronto talks about
their academy constantly, and we neversee the proof of the pudding. It's
never you know, you get acouple Oh good, we've signed this young
(06:17):
player to the first team. Theyplay in three games for a total of
twenty seven minutes, and then younever hear from them again until they resurface
with another club, either within MLSor overseas, where suddenly, oh,
look, did you know they couldplay football? Oh isn't that intriguing?
Huh? I wonder how that happened. And so to have this opportunity injuries
(06:42):
are not to see these young playersstep onto the pitch and not look out
of place and be able to enjoythat. It's going to take a certain
level of commitment to wanting to seeyoung players do well by TFC fans this
year, I think, and I'mhere for it. I am all about
(07:02):
this. I will take a mediocreseason if it means these players get actual
time, an actual chance to provethemselves. What kind of the way do
you think Chris is getting for thisseason? I mean, I know that
as long as things are going wellin the conquer Calf Champions League, people
(07:25):
aren't going to kind of leave himalone. But despite the despite that,
like, no matter what happens withthe Conquy Calf Champions League, if things
stay the way that they are inthe MLS, how long do you think
he's gonna he's gonna have before peoplestart pointing fingers at him. Well,
(07:46):
there's always going to be fans thatare going to point fingers right away.
It's whether or not his bosses startpointing fingers. And he's not going anywhere
this year, no matter what.They could fail miserably, and he will
be here next season. And thatis because something like this, if they
are serious about it, is along term project. You need at least
(08:09):
two years to see it through.But with TFC's history, and I've lived
through it because I've been here sincethe beginning, that those years, with
all the turnover, with all thecoaches and all the players, and all
of the nonsense and just ugliness thatobviously directly contributed to how poor the club
(08:35):
was, and then there's a thousandother reasons, but that was a huge
thing. And having any kind ofconsistency, especially at the helm is really
important. And I know, youknow Curtis believes in armist and unless unless
they suddenly unless they lose like thenext twenty matches, which isn't going to
(08:56):
happen, but they have they'd haveto outwork team in the world Aaron Ventor
to have this be something where theypull the trigger this season. So yeah,
it's they can miss the playoffs andhe'll be here next year as far
as that's my opinion. Anyway,what do you make of the performance against
against Club Leon, Because quite frankly, even against a complete squad, Leon
(09:24):
on paper would still be considered abetter team than Toronto FC. I mean,
what the hell happened there? Blindluck in the first match, like
Leon could not finish to save theirlives, the fact that the ball did
not go in the net multiple times. I've rewatched it and I still am
(09:46):
astonished. But they also kept theircomposure, and that is huge to have,
especially with again with such a youngteam, to not panic, to
not give into a need to sortof out conquer calf the opponents. They
(10:09):
really showed this unexpected level of maturity. And then when they played the quote
unquote home match, there was moreof that, and it was just there
was a you know, they hada little bit more you know, they
had a little bit you know,the wind in their sails because they'd managed
to do what they did against Leonaway, so they had that momentum,
(10:30):
that sense that this was possible.The young players were even better in the
second match, and you saw acleaner performance that sort of negated a lot
of what Leon was able to do. Now, Leon was also missing Campbell,
thank the heavens, because wow,was he just the most annoying player
(10:56):
and the most dangerous player. Really. They had a uple others obviously,
but he was everywhere and involved ineverything, and I think I think they
were lucky that he wasn't there.But that's how football works, right Like,
that's the those of the breaks.Sometimes you're missing half of your squad
and sometimes your best player can't playbecause of COVID quarantine restrictions. So yeah,
(11:20):
they were just you know what theyobviously they had a plan, they
were super organized and somehow saw itthrough. I can't answer better than that
because I'm still astonished. What's yourconfidence level going into the next round against
the CRUSA, Oh, it's low. Oh, I'm terrified. I crusizoul
(11:43):
are having such a good season,a ridiculously good season, defensive powerhouse.
Right now, what have they letin five goals? And TFC have yet
to really figure out their attack regardlessof who's available. And as an until
(12:07):
you know twenty minutes left in yesterday'smatch that we saw altadoran Akinola as a
you know, I love Patrick Mullins. While that's not true, I don't.
I've come to appreciate Patrick Mullins.He is he is he actually he's
a big reason why they why theywon against Lyon, which is unexpected.
(12:28):
But he has been working his assoff in these matches and veteran presence counts
for a lot. But he shouldnever Patrick Mullins should never be the guy
leading your line ever, no matterno matter what a nice person he is
or the the the knowledge he bringsto the pitch, he is your sub
He is not the guy that starts. And if he is the guy that
(12:48):
is leading the line for young guyswith Michael Bradley trying to keep up with
everybody, no, just no.And so if that's what happens on Tuesday,
there's there's there's you know valid reasonsfor concern, so I I want
them to win. Obviously. Again, I love CCL. We beat Cruisi
Zul a decade ago, but thisis a far different Cruis Zul and I
(13:11):
think ultimately we're going to come outdisappointed. Yeah, they seem to have
turned a corner because historically speaking,Cruis As is known to be one of
the most notoriously unlucky teams in Mexicansoccer. Oh absolutely, which is why
their performance this season has been unreal. There's something quite unique that is going
(13:35):
on this year in the CONCA HalfChampions League. There's this feeling that an
MLS side could win it all thisyear. Actually, there were two times
when we actually really felt like wewere coming really really close. When you
guys lost against achieve Us and whenwe lost against Club America. I was
gonna say, you know, whenyour team made the final and when my
(13:56):
team made the final. Yeah,yeah, do you think do you think
an MLA side could do it thisyear? It's you know, it's always
the hope, right And I rememberI remember when RSL made it and everyone
was so excited. It was MLSfor RSL, right, like that was
the hashtag and then you know,we're you know, we're the only three
(14:18):
teams that have ever done it.TFC has come the closest. That's not
the dig, it's just stating it. But still, to have five clubs
make it out of the first round, to have all the MLS clubs make
it out into the first round issaying a lot. However, with the
exception of Toronto A C, theother four clubs faced maybe lesser clubs,
(14:43):
So that first round is a littlehard to rate in terms of, oh,
this is the year an MLS sidedoes it, because the next round
and the round after that is whenthey start to face the difficult teams,
the hard club the clubs that arelike, Okay, we've been doing this
for years and who are you.Like, congratulations to Philadelphia Union for making
(15:07):
it to their first CCL, andI mean that sincerely. I love Jim
Curtin and I love what he's doingwith the Union, but you know,
enjoy it while you can. Boys. Same for you, Columbus. But
I'd love to say yes, butit's so hard to do. It is
so hard to do. There isstill this gap between between MLS sides and
(15:30):
Mexican sides, right like it's justit's hard to bridge that. And this
next round will be really telling ofall the offseason shuffle that TFC has gone,
true, which departure, which playerwho's moved on will you miss the
most? And which newcomer are youthe most excited to see representing your side
(15:56):
this year? What newcomers? Soseriously am I like? Am I sad
to see Piati go a little?I think that he was I don't know
if i'd ever I don't think wewanted him back as a DP. It
was a weird offseason for Toronto.It was a really quiet one. Not
(16:18):
nearly as much team blowing up occurredthat I had expected, because this team
is going to need to change oversoon, but one more year with the
core is what they like. SoI don't know that I really look at
many of the departures. It's onlya few and think, oh, that's
(16:41):
too bad. Like most of theplayers that I enjoy watching or that I
respect are still with the club.They brought Justin Morrow back, which was
to me very important. Even ifhe doesn't start all the time, I
think he's an important presence and animportant voice for that team. I wanted
to see Josie Altador move on,and not because I don't like Josie.
(17:03):
Josie has been has done some amazingthings for this club, but but he
costs a lot, he gets hurta lot, and there's stuff to think
about. Am I excited about uhSataildo? Um? I don't know yet.
I want to be. I.You know, you hear good things
(17:25):
from Santo's fans and I've seen somewonderful highlight reels and the fact that you
know, we're hearing feedback that youguys are getting a really good player.
Um. So that that that's that'san exciting thing to think about. That
he's got such support, um froma top team you know, who let
him wear Peale's number ten all thosethings right, Like, that's that's a
(17:48):
huge psychological thing. So to havethat is encouraging. And um, we'll
see how he fits in. Youknow, their TFC or Dying for Creativity
and their attack and have been forlike two years. So this is encouraging
thing to have someone for Puzzuelo toplay off of, and that is a
(18:11):
huge key. You know, TFC, we're at their best when they had
beniche Rue and they had Victor Vasquez, two people who could read the pitch,
who were visionaries in that midfield andthey haven't had that And whether this
is his role and I don't really, it's not really, but it allows
Pozzuelo to be that role instead ofhaving to play unfamiliarly up top where he
(18:32):
always plays poorly. So it's,uh, those are sort of I guess
the things that I'm looking at.Lauren Cimon moving on was fine. Missed
the slide tackles, but now hecan teach your lot how to slide tackle.
You know. Chris Mvinga is thekey to the defense and hopefully he's
(18:55):
healthy soon. Omar Gonzalez I lovehim, but he is He's coming to
the end of his career as faras I'm concerned. So yeah, it's
there was so little. There wasso little happening in terms of comings and
goings. It's, uh, it'sreally evaluating the young players. So Nobel
o'callo super excited to get to seehim play. I watched him playing the
(19:17):
Academy and was very impressed. Andhe has really worked to um to gain
weight because if you saw him playfor the Academy, he's a tall boy.
He was a string being like hewas, you know, a stiff
breeze would knock him over, butdeaft feet like they got the boys got
skills, um. And then JadenNelson and congratulations Luke saying, you know,
(19:41):
like there's this really wonderful um opportunityto watch the young players. So
I'm excited about them. It's tough, but as you said, it's going
to be it's gonna be kind ofa transition this year. And I mean
the perfect time to young talents isthrough a transition. Right when I look
(20:03):
at my club, when I lookat CF Montreal, and by the way,
I heard what you guys had tosay about the rebrand, and you
know what, call me amongst theones who are actually excited about the rebrand.
Really, yes, you don't mindthe loss of the history and your
club's identity all these years. Wehaven't lost anything. We just turned the
(20:26):
corner. I mean, I've beenfollowing that club since it's a inception,
since this first season nineteen ninety three. I've seen I've seen the indoor seasons
at the Bell Center. I've seenI've seen the A League, you know,
clude Robill and the Champions League finaland the playoff playoff win against you
guys, and the playoff loss againstyou guys as well, the trophies.
(20:52):
I've seen it all. Like I'vebeen supporting this club like for most of
my life, right ever since itwas founded, And you know, I'm
of the opinion that perhaps we couldhave even done it before. Okay,
maybe when you came into MLS,Yeah, that would be that would have
been the time, right, Imean, that would have been the time.
(21:15):
But you know, perhaps even beforewhen Sappuro bought the team back and
we turned the corner and we startedplaying like in the US second Division,
that could have been a good timingas well. I mean, I understand
the rhetoric behind it because, likeI'm from, I grew up in Saint
Leonard, right, which is likea neighborhood in the east end of Montreal,
(21:37):
and the the Montreal Impact culture reallycame from that neighborhood, right.
So to me, the Montreal Impactwas kind of like my neighborhood club when
it started, and then it becamethis top club playing in the top league
in the continent. But when youthink about out it, can you really
(22:02):
keep the same identity while you've gonethrough such a shift. I mean,
I understand the ones that are sadabout the rebrand, and I understand why
you kind of want to be thatsmall club that ended up being like a
big club in the continent and playingin Champions League and all of that.
(22:25):
But when you look at everything withinits context, it's it's not the same
continent, it's not the same situationanymore for that club. And to turn
the corner like that is not somethingthat has happened for the first time in
the history of football. Um.I'll give you an example, an example,
(22:45):
like a very popular example. Whenyou think about Red Bull Salzburg for
example, Red Bull Salzburg. RedBull Salzburg has changed identities maybe four or
five six times over it's one hundredyear history. And when the Red Bull
group came in and they changed theidentity, it came with new goals,
(23:08):
it came with a new perspective.And obviously this club is enjoying success that
it's never enjoyed before since then,right, and when I see this rebrand,
that's that that makes me hopeful aboutwhat's to come. And you know,
we've had success before, but perhapsto crack that glass ceiling, that's
(23:32):
what that's what we needed to do. I mean, only time will tell,
but that's the way I see it. That's why, like I'm so
happy about it. It's because I'mseeing like this new wave of ambition from
my club that I haven't really seensince twenty twelve. Right, we got
(23:53):
to a level and then from asoccer from a soccer perspective, I don't
want to say that we've been stagnatingfor a while, but once we hit
that MLS Cup semifinal and that ConkyCalf Champions League final, the next logical
step would have been to win somethingright and apart from those ten Canadian championships
(24:15):
that we have, which is stillnumber one in the country. But I
was going to say, oh,I wonder why you're mentioning that. Either
way, I was there in twentynineteen at the UMO field. We were
you there the year that I gotto present the cup. Though I presented
the Voyagers Cup, I did.That's one of my proudest moments. I
(24:38):
lifted the trophy over my head asa Voyager. I got to present the
cup. Great, but all thethinking in the last minute on a beautiful
cep A goal, it was wonderfulthat Not all that to say, if
that's what they're trying to achieve.If that change of identity will translate itself
(25:00):
into major trophies, then I'm allfor it. And like when I think
about all the tangible sporting changes thathave been made very recently at CF Montreal,
like Olivirana, a sporting director,has done wonders so far, intelligent
signings, intelligent trades, and I'mthinking, in the long run, you
(25:25):
keep you keep at it, it'sgoing to translate itself into something tangible.
And that's what I'm getting behind.As far as the colors, the logo,
these types of things. The Montrealimpact back then has gone through like
four or five rebrands, like we'vechanged We've changed the shield like what four
or five times, like the firstseasons we're playing and in white with blue
(25:48):
pin stripes, then it became blue, then it became black and blue stripes,
like we've had. We've had changesof identity so many times over the
course of our history, but thename has always remained the same. Now,
the people who are actually the satisfiedwith the rebrand have every right to
be, but let's not treat itas the club's first rebrand in its history.
(26:12):
The name change is what's really uniqueabout this rebrand. But it's not
our first rebrand, No, it'sit's it's it's great to hear that perspective.
And obviously, like you know,we're just we're just goofs, right,
we just that's that's what we do. Um And obviously you're our biggest
rival, so we have to saysomething. But you know, far be
(26:36):
it for me to tell a Montrealfan how to feel about their club,
right, Like, I wouldn't wantsomeone coming in and talking, you know,
talking, you know, talking tome about how I should feel if
Toronto FC ever rebranded or something.And I've been meaning to ask that question
to a Toronto FC die hard foryears. All Right, when Toronto FC
(26:57):
was first implement did like created exactlyhow did you feel about the name?
Did you? Were you surprised thatthey didn't bring back one of those historical
names like the Links or the Blizzardor a little bit. It was like
the Blizzard sort of still exists asa as a as a development academy system
(27:22):
teams. There's a couple of differentteams, So I don't know if there
was the ability to get you know, naming rights that sort of thing,
or if they decided that they wantedto move forward from the past. I
know there was originally talk of givingToronto a very Italian name into Toronto,
I believe was one of them,and where I was just like, no,
(27:44):
please don't. So we were oneof the It's funny and you look
at MLS now and there's so manyblank FC, blank FC, blank FC,
you know, throughout the entire league. But Toronto was one of the
first to do it, and soit was kind of actually a shift away
from other MLS, other MLS namingconventions, right to have something almost unique
(28:07):
for me personally. I almost didn'tcare what the club was called, just
I was just so excited to havea club and to have a local side,
and to finally have a club ofmy own to cheer for, because
I've never had that. And youknow, I don't I don't come from
a background of you know, Englishexpats or anything like that, like that's
(28:33):
not my history. I came tosoccer on my own. I started playing
it when I was a kid.I got into it and it's stuck with
me ever since, you know,my entire life. I've played, I've
watched obviously, I talked about ita lot, but I didn't have something
that I grew up with. Youknow, I have an English side.
I have a couple of the clubsthat I cheer for, but those are
(28:56):
just you know, I've adopted them, right, It's not family history for
me. It's not bread into me. So um again, I almost didn't
care. And to a certain degree, I love stupid names, right,
Like there's there's there's some great clubnames out there, especially in lower leagues
or in uh you know MLS onepoint zero like I have, well it's
(29:17):
a mock up, but I havea Kansas City Wizards kit. You know,
we we had them made. Wehad them made several years back.
We all have Wizards kits, theguys on my podcast and I and we
love it, you know, likeit's great. It's a brilliant kit.
And what a fun name, youknow, like the Rowdies and uh the
(29:37):
what was the Pittsburgh steel Steelhounds?No, um, anyway, so like
all these yeah, exactly, youknow the Montreal Manic like come on,
like there's there's all this wonderful historyand yeah, like the links in the
Blizzard it would have been I don'tthink anybody would have. I don't think
I shouldn't say I don't think anybody. I think there's a swath of fans
(30:00):
UM and Canadian soccer fans, Torontosoccer fans that would have loved to seen
that carried forward. But I doknow that they wanted to start something fresh
without um a link to that pastum, so I'm okay with it.
I think I sort of wish thatmaybe our kits took a little more of
a nod from that, like alittle more honoring those and they tried it
(30:23):
that one year with the Metro's Croatiakit um, which the more I look
back on it, the more Ilike it. But um, it's it's
it's okay to start a new historyand to start a new page um as
a as A as a club andhopefully resist right now anyway, I don't
(30:45):
think there's a need to to rebrandthis club. It's it's the identity is
pretty set. TFC is easy tosay exactly so why why? Yeah?
They broke? Don't fix it?Final words about the Montreal rebrand. The
(31:07):
number one thing that I the numberone thing that I appreciate about this rebrand
is the fact that Montreal is atthe center of the brand now. Like
I'll give you an example, likethe other day, I was on the
phone with my parents and the gamewas on national television, so they were
about they were able to watch it, and I'm talking to my mom and
I'm like, what are you guysdoing. She was like, Oh,
(31:30):
We're watching Montreal on television against Toronto. And that that really hit me because
usually it would be like, we'rewatching the Impact, the Impact, which
is which is a local name,right, It's a name that we know
locally. But my parents are Moroccans. Sure, they've been in Canada for
for years and years. They spentmuch more time in Canada than Morocco,
(31:51):
but still there. To them,soccer culture is FC Barcelona, It's the
Moroccan national team. It's that's whatsoccer is to them. And now when
they watch the local team, theyget to say Montreal, which means that
when they call my family overseas theycan talk about Montreal. They're not talking
about the Impact anymore. And theImpact will always exist, it's always it's
(32:15):
always going to be part of ourhistory. But I feel like a brand
like that represents our city even more, which which is exactly what we're trying
to achieve, whereas the impact representedthe club itself. But I don't think
that that name, just the name, not the history, not the club,
not the trophies, not none ofthat, but just the name itself.
(32:38):
Did it represent Montreal as a city. And now we get to say
that our team, the name ofour team is actually the name of our
city, which which I find prettycool. See they needed you as part
of the rebranding launch to say thosewords. To me, that is the
(33:00):
most logical, heartfelt but you knowkind of where I'm like, you know
what he's that's a really really goodpoint, Like I look at if I
look at it that way and thinkabout, yeah, how it's going to
be talked about on a broadcast,which is one of the reasons why most
of the campl team names are terriblebecause it erases their city identities. But
(33:22):
there's to have that you know,that's going to be talked about across MLS
broadcast. Now you know they willsay, they'll say, you know,
it's Montreal with you know doing thisas opposed to it's the impacting that that's
a really cool way of looking atit and one that I absolutely had not
considered. So thank you for theunique perspective that would really probably only come
(33:44):
from Montreal fans. So, bythe way, I love your city.
It's one of my favorite cities.There's a reason, there's a reason why
TFC fans like Montreal away days.It's not just because of the rivalry.
We get to go to Montreal,man, um No, I've family there
and things like that too. Sobut um no, that's a really really
interesting way of looking at it.I really like that. I'm still gonna
(34:07):
make fun of you just because it'sit's part. It's part of the job.
But you'll know that I stick withthe snowflake as opposed to other aspects
that people were trying to push.I just want to put that out there.
The snowflake though. I even useit on my Twitter. Do it
twist it? I know. Isaw that. I love that that that's
on your I thought, I lovethat that's on your Twitter account. That
(34:28):
made me laugh. It's good ownit, Yeah exactly. It's like maybe
maybe one day you'll have a littleclown next to your name. Hey,
none of that, none of that. You guys love that so much.
It's so stilly. Yeah, butit's it's what do you call it,
(34:49):
it's it's harmless fun, it's it's, it's it's it's part of our history.
Now we need it. We needa Canadian history moment, part of
our history, Canadian heritage, heritagemoment. Well, we already have one
for the line drawing, so youknow, you might as well. I
was there. I was there too. I was there absolutely, I had
pictures, I got video. It'sone of my favorite that's one of my
(35:14):
favorite moments in my existence of thewhole time, not just soccer. I'm
so happy that I was there forthat. My friends and I took a
bus at like six o'clock in themorning to get to Mentreal for that,
flew back the next day. Weweren't even I think we were in town
for like thirty six hours or something. That was it. You're like,
all right, great, By theway, I have family in Toronto as
(35:35):
well. I really enjoyed. Ireally enjoyed. Toronto was well. Actually
a couple of years back, Ialmost accepted an offer over there, and
I was disclose to moving to Toronto. Oh wow, yeah yeah. And
then I you know, the salarywas extremely interesting, but living costs over
there is just oh, it's crazy, you know, it's it's it's it's
it's terrifying. Don't do it unlessI get lots of money. Look,
(35:59):
I'd make fifty thousand dollars a yearor less here and I would still live
at a higher standard than I wouldif I moved to Toronto. Yep,
totally get that, trust me,crazy it is. I wanted to talk
to you about the Canadian Championship because, and with all due respect to doctor
(36:23):
Nick Bontis, who is a gentlemanthat I that I appreciate a lot,
when he came to One Soccer andhe had that interview I believe it was
with Andy Petrello, and he wastalking about how the Canadian Championship, the
twenty twenty Canadian Championship would be playedin twenty twenty two. I don't want
(36:50):
to offend anyone, but honestly,it wouldn't have been a worst bitch if
it were given to me by adoor to door vacuum cleaner salesman. Oh
awful, And yeah, I Andit's funny because hardly anybody's talking about it
or has talked about it, includingus. We haven't even really talked about
it on our show because we weretalking. We were busy talking about the
(37:13):
fact that it wasn't going to getplayed this year and that Toronto was given
the spot in the CCL and allthose things. So we were busy talking
about that and you know, arguingwith our friends from Hamilton and stuff like
that. But it's, uh,it's taken a frustrating situation and made it
worse. But it's also it alsodevalues the cup itself. And I understand
(37:43):
from a wanting a big moment anda monetary standpoint, you know, they
want fans in the stands to witness, enjoy, etc. Etc. They
need the gate money, which iswhy you know we're still waiting on campl
And totally understandable. Um, there'sso there's that from like a practical promotional,
(38:08):
all of those things, but oneof the just the way he said
it, like it was casual,like of course people are going to be
fine with us without saying, look, I know this is really messed up
what I'm about to say, andI understand if people get really upset by
it, But you know, it'sit's basically that they've they've because Toronto is
(38:28):
in the CCL, um they've almostdecided that the twenty twenty Cup almost doesn't
matter, and it's really really upsettingand disappointing because the Voyager's Cup is ours
and I don't mean ours is Toronto, see, I mean ours is Canadian
(38:51):
soccer fans. Yes, this isthis is our thing and as a very
proud member of the Voyagers um somethingthat we live for. And yes,
the fact that the tournament was supposedto be expanded and got completely destroyed because
of COVID, but there's still hopethere. But like it means something,
Boysier's Cup nights are again. It'slike CCL. It's a different it's a
(39:15):
different vibe, it's a different feelingand we as Canadian soccer fans get to
be with our own regardless of whoyou're playing against, and it just those
those matches hit harder and to havesomething that takes away from the specialness is
really disappointing and something that we allneed to push back on more and talk
(39:39):
to the you know, send dmsto Canada Soccer. You know, if
you haven't, someone knows Nick bondaswhomever. They've got to find a way
to play it this year, likethey just have to because otherwise, Honestly,
what's the point. I agree?I agree with you about the twenty
twenty one edition. We should doeverything we can to play it. However,
(40:01):
I believe wholeheartedly that the twenty twentyeditions should be canceled altogether. And
here's why. We were supposed tohave a tournament with thirteen teams, and
we ended up scrapping that format andreplace it by a one off game between
Forge and Toronto FC. And thenForge, because of the Ontario government,
(40:22):
I'll say it, flat out,they couldn't play the match, so we
ended up awarding this the Conquercal ChampionsLeague spots to Toronto FC. Right when
that happened, you effectively decided tocancel the twenty twenty edition, in my
opinion, Right, Well, yeah, well that's that's what I was saying,
Like, that's exactly it, Likethey should just do away with this
(40:44):
one and move forward. Yeah,exactly, twenty twenty one. I mean,
we don't know what's going to happenwith the pandemic and everything, but
if there's a way to play it, we should go ahead and play it.
But if the twenty twenty situation repeatsitself, then we should do away
twenty one as well, and justfocus on getting back to a normal world
(41:04):
in twenty twenty two and have areal tournament involving every professional and I mean
every professional team in the country plusthe semi pro champions of Ontario and Quebec,
and go back to the to theto the format which we were supposed
to have in the first place.But to have those makeshift solutions doesn't help
anyone. It becomes a Canadian Championshipwith an asterisk. It becomes pre two
(41:31):
thousand and eight Canadian Championships, whichis something that we still kind of look
back and joke about to this day. Although although pre although I will say
like that was that was the Voyagersdoing their level best to try to bring
some kind of recognition, Yeah,Canadian soccer in this country, right,
(41:52):
and to bring a sense of youknow, majesty is the wrong word,
but a sense of purpose, asense of of you know, we we
we support soccer in this country,so we want them to have something to
play for. Yeah, it wasdifferent, and it's taken like you know,
look how long it's taken for usto get a national league. Um,
(42:14):
so I see what you're saying.I it's all going to depend on
It's all going to depend on thecampl this year and whether or not they
get to play a season, whetherit's a travel across the country season or
if they do another bubble. Andobviously May two four is not happening.
It's just not like there's no way, there's there's you know, there's three
(42:36):
clubs that aren't training right now.Well, yeah, three clubs that aren't
training one right, I was gonnasay once in Madrid. Yeah, but
are they are? There? Arethe Alberta teams training anyway? You know,
there's two Ontario teams that haven't trainedat all. The other clubs that
either only trained a bit. There'sa couple of clubs that are like,
oh yeah, that's all training andgood for them because they exist somewhere where
(43:00):
they can. But yeah, whenyou know, when when the alleged started,
the season is a month away,Obviously that's not happening. Obviously we're
looking at later in the summer andhopefully it'll happen. You know, people
are getting vaccinated, um which isa huge, huge step in order to
to move all of this forward foreverybody, for players, for fans,
(43:22):
for people, um so if there'sa season, and even even if it's
only the CAMPL teams and the MLSteams, they should still do it.
Um. And while I want LeagueOne Ontario and um, I'm so sorry,
thank you. UM. Normally thatrolls off my tongue and my brain
(43:43):
just froze. Um if they're ifthose because I don't even know if they've
announced their training yet for this year. Um, same thing right, Like
League Ontario teams can't train and it'sit's the situation that is give. The
situation in Quebec is very problematic becauseI mean, I don't want to be
(44:06):
all political, but we have agovernment announces something one day and announces the
exact opposite the next day. Sowe welcome to welcome to Ontario. Um.
But yeah, so like there's problemswith both of those leagues in terms
of their ability to do what weyou know, to play right, to
even to train like they and theyhave less of an infrastructure and that sort
(44:27):
of thing than CAMPL or less influencedmaybe anyway, So it's all sort of
it's so hard to pig but ifthey can do it, they should do
it. Um. So it won'tbe decided anytime soon it's going to be
decided sometime. Then it's a coupleof months. Um. But yeah,
the further away they move from evenattempting to play the twenty twenty final,
(44:52):
it's not a final, it's justa match, yea. The more it
should just probably be end um,but we'll see it probably won't be.
But yeah, if they play itnext year, like, it's just it's
so dumb, you know. Isaw that happening in Spain. Athletic Bilbao
played the twenty twenty final against italso see a do and the week the
(45:15):
week after they played the twenty twentysorry, the twenty twenty final, and
then a week later the twenty twentyone final against Barcelona and they lost both.
Yeah, and to me that wasthe stupidest. It was like when
CCL was changing up their format,remember they were finishing up. How can
I forget exactly? How can right? But that was but that was so
(45:37):
confusing and so bizarre that oh we'rehere, oh that's done, but now
we're about to go right into this, and it was just, look,
I don't I don't I know thata lot of a lot of people in
Montreal are kind of and I haveto mention this because I know that a
lot of Montreal has listened to me. One year, the spot was awarded
(45:58):
to TFC because they were the previousyear's Canadian champions Yes, yes, And
this year a lot of aren't youthis year? Exactly? You know?
I mean because because guess Toronto wasthe MLS winner for last season based on
(46:20):
points. That's why. Yeah,I know. But the problem I have
with that, and I'm not sayingI'm not saying Montronto Toronto. I'm just
saying, like the way that thebid, the way that the spot is
awarded, should be made clear beforethe season starts, or at least at
some point during the season, notnot in the off season. Everybody's confused,
everybody's waiting for an answer, andthen I guess someone somewhere flips a
(46:45):
coin and makes that decision, becausethat's not what happened this year, though,
well I know what happened. Whathappened is that we scrapped the Canadian
Championship final. That never that wasn'tno no, no no Torontoc being the
representative for mL US to get versusthe CPL champion that was decided after the
COVID Cup tournament, and everybody knowsthat this wasn't done in the offseason,
(47:08):
This wasn't done in secret. Asmuch as I rail against you know,
secretive things and MLS things and CSAthings, this one thing I will fight
you on because if everybody knew,everybody knew that whoever won, whoever got
the most points out of the threeclubs in their little mini Canadian tournament when
(47:29):
we were all forced to like playhere at nausea, was going to be
the MLS rep in that in thatmatch. Whenever that match happened, everybody
agreed to it. Yeah, that'sjust the way it goes. My point,
does that effectively the Canadian Championship wasnever played. When you go back
to the genesis of it all,not a single ball was kicked on that
(47:52):
tournament. Nope, not a singleball was kicked. You're right, But
the Toronto FC, we're the MLSrepresentatives for that. In all fairness,
In all fairness, we had gonewe have gone through such a shuffle during
the offseason. I mean, theexperts had pegged us as twenty seven out
(48:12):
of twenty seven. I don't thinkthat before the season started we had the
I mean we the fans had theconfidence to even ask for that CCL spot.
And you know what, since thebeginning of the season, we're all
pleasantly surprised. I mean, asyou said, Mason Toy is completely out
(48:34):
of the blue. Broguiari is playingworld class football this season. And you
know, sure, we dropped atwo neil lead yesterday against Nashville. But
if you had told me that wewould have started the season with four points
out of six, I wouldn't.I would have never believed you. I
thought that this season was going tobe one of those transitional seasons and then
(48:59):
next year we would have had likea real project to work with. But
what I'm seeing on the field thisyear, if I can if I can
get more that throughout the season,I'll be a very happy camper. Oh
sure, And I think, like, you know, looking at your club,
because obviously we do. I do. Um. Yeah, you had
a lot of turnover, you losta lot of players, you brought some
players in. UM some that werejust like I'm sorry, who But um
(49:22):
to me, your key is Nancy. And the fact that I am still
astonished, and I know some ofit had to do with timing that,
but I'm still astonished that they wentahead and actually handed him the reins and
it was smart. I called forit. I said that they should.
(49:45):
You have a coach that knows theclub, that knows the players, that
knows the culture, that knows thecity, that can sell the club to
players like this was one of thesmartest things. I think that the impact
sorry, and that wasn't deliberate.It is reflex you know, the official
(50:07):
media does that too. I meanone of the smartest things that Montreal has
done was to you know, hesaid I want the job, and they
went, okay, yeah. Youknow, for whatever reason they decided to
do, whether they believe in hisvision, whether it was the fact that
there was almost no time to gofind a coach, it doesn't matter.
(50:28):
I think it is ultimately a verygood thing for Montreal. Um. And
you know, you've you've got,You've kept, You've retained some strong veteran
players. Having samped on your teamis always the key as far as I'm
concerned. He's a lynchpin for youguys, um in terms of not just
play, but in terms of cultureand leadership. And you can't underscore what
(50:55):
he brings to any team he playsfor. As far as I'm concerned UMA
team. Yeah, I love him, Um, I interviewed him, so
you know, of course I lovehim, but no, no, he's
he's huge, and you know,we we we joked with him and joke
about the fact that he's been aroundfor so long and he's still so young,
like he's been doing this forever andhe's still like in his mid twenties.
(51:19):
It's bizarre. Um. Anyway,So yeah, no, no,
no good, you know, like, good on your your side to come
out strong um this year. Anduh again, I still wish you no
success whatsoever. But you know,I'll try to wash this passionately at other
times. You know, it's important, you know, Like the one thing
(51:44):
that I see about what you seeis that his mentality is very clear,
his philosophy is very clear, andI feel as though this roster is getting
fully behind it. He's almost he'salmost like one of the boys, I
would say, and you could clearlysee it as it's really tangible when you
(52:06):
look at it. And the onething that Piet has said yesterday that that
that that I could really get behindas a as a CF Montreal supporter.
Right before the match. He saidrecently We've been known as a team who
parks the bus, and we don'twant to be that team anymore. We
want to be known as an attackingteam. When he said that, I
(52:28):
was alone in my office and Istood up and I clapped. Because we
want to see we want to beentertained. We want to see beautiful football,
and eventually the results will come.But if if you start with beautiful
football and it's pleasing to the eyesand you win on top of it,
(52:50):
then you get everything that you canask for, you can't ask for anything
else, really, so quickly,um, first of all, thank you
so much for accepting my invitation.Oh, thank you for inviting me.
This has been delightful. And uh, you know, I you know,
I listened to you guys every singleweekend. As I said before, you
(53:10):
guys are my You guys are myguilty pleasure. I'm not I'm not supposed
to listen to related shows, butI can't help myself. We're not only
TFC, you know, we talkabout other things. Well, we just
we're trying to make people understand thatwe don't just talk about TFC. Listen
to the first half of the show. It's other stuff. It's okay,
(53:32):
um, thank you, appreciate youwith John mall Narrow by the way,
Yeah, that was that was atreat. That was Um. We didn't
expect to get have such a candidconversation with him and for him to be
as open as he was. Um, not with the stories. We were
hoping for lots of stories. Thatwas one of our goals because he was
(53:52):
around for the battle days. Buthis his openness about his time with the
campl talking about the players Union,um, talking about the national teams,
the Super League, you know,whether or not he would abandon his beloved
Juventus, which I wasn't really thatsurprised, and uh, yeah, thank
(54:15):
you so much. I'm really gladthat we've been getting some really good feedback
on it, and I'm really gladpeople are enjoying it. We just we
were we were blown away by hiswillingness to talk, so we took full
advantage. Was it recorded one shot, one shot, My god, it's
like almost three hours. We um, we just kept going. We could
(54:37):
have gone longer, but we justit was it was we were like,
okay, we're good, We're good. Um yeah, no, well that's
what we usually do. We wejust record until we're done, and that
those are our shows, which isone of the reasons why our shows are
so long. Um, you know, it's a if you if you ever
(54:59):
drive, if if anyone from Montrealhas to do to make to drive all
the way to Toronto or Toronto toMontreal, listen to the vocal Minority,
and you'll have enough for at leastafter the exactly you'll be fine. It's
good. It's good. It's goodfor it's good for people who are long
haul trackers, people people who aredriving you know, long distances. Um,
(55:22):
if you have a long commute,you have to take the train everywhere,
it's perfect. You'll take you acouple of days. You'll be fine.
But thank you. I really appreit's nice to hear. It's nice
that people outside of the like theToronto bubble, enjoy us as well because
we we we do intend for peoplewho are not just TFC fans to listen
to us, because first and foremostwe're football fans. And that's how we
(55:46):
came together, was just standing togetherin the stands being goofs. You know,
the stuff you hear on the showwhen we go on random tangents and
we pun and we talk about wrestlingand pop culture that is hanging out with
us. This is what we're like. So this is just a slightly more
formal version. Really add vocal minorityc A. And your handle is at
(56:10):
Kazy Knolls right indeed, Oh yousaid z so rare. I know.
No, no, it's fine,no, no, no, hey,
half my family's American people. It'sit's all good. Quickly before we let
each other go out, I'd liketo I'd like to know what format you'd
(56:34):
like to see the Campo go withthis season if there is a twenty twenty
one season, of course, Ohwow, um, like I'd love a
proper you know what they were planning, which was you know that that fairly
balanced home in a way, everyonegets a chance to play each other.
But I fear they're going to haveto do it a bubble tournament again,
(56:59):
which again is it's fine, it'sit's I'd love if they could wait until
there'll be fans in the stands onefor the fans. Two obviously the league
needs the money. Uh, youknow, the league's gonna league is gonna
lose money for the first several years. But if they can lose less money,
then that's better for the future viability. So I would love a home
(57:22):
and a way series. I thinkI don't think they can break it up
now. They can break it upWestern versus Eastern right now, and do
that? Have you know a Westerntournament and Eastern tournament, have a one
game crossover between the two the twohalves of the country, and then have
playoffs because it's North America and wehave to have playoffs. I like your
(57:45):
formats, and I'll do you onebetter, all right. Have healthcare workers
and vaccinated people in the stands.There has to be a reward for people
who took their responsibility and went outthere and got and got vaccinated. Earth
is vaccinated people, whatever, nomatter what the maximum is, if they
allowed one, if they allowed onethousand or two thousand people in the stands,
(58:07):
reward healthcare workers and vaccinated people.I like that. I like that,
And there's a way you do it, because we if you've gotten vaccinated,
I have you get you get areceipt that says you have received Well,
I've got my first dose, butyou have it and it's easy to
carry around. When I get mysecond dose, I'm having that sucker laminated
(58:28):
and I am carrying it with meeverywhere, and I'm not even I'm not
even kidding. I will wear itaround my neck, the badge of honor,
the infamous health fast forward. Heexactly. I hope, I really
really hope we get a campl seasonthis year for so many reasons, for
(58:52):
the players, for the fans,for the viability of the league. It's
you know, for the future ofCanadian song or you know, it's it's
so important. So I really hopethat it happens. And you know,
the Voyagers cup fingers crossed. Ifnot this year, next year, maybe
we'll we'll see each other at amatch. Yeah. And if you come
(59:15):
to Montreal, please send me,send me a d M. I will
go to We'll go to Labankis andwe'll yeah, yeah, exactly. I'll
show you a couple of hotspots thattourists don't know about. Love it.
I love it. Kristen. Thankyou so much for doing this, very
very gracious of you to have acceptedmy invitation and please come back anytime.
(59:36):
Oh, thank you so much forhaving me on. I it was I
really enjoyed this. It's great totalk to you, um fans and podcasters
from another team. I really enjoyit, so thank you so much,
Pleasures Online, thank you and toyou all, dear listeners. We will
catch you next week for another episodeof the premiere podcast I Don't Know,
(01:00:07):
I don't Know.
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