Miscellaneous
Introduction This is the Northern 90 Podcast with Pat Sweet, Episode 22. Welcome to the Northern 90 Canadian Premier League Podcast, covering the beautiful game in the great white north. For more Canadian Premier League content, head over to Northern90.ca. That’s Northern Nine Zero dot ca. Welcome Hello, Canada, and welcome to the Northern 90 Canadian Premier League Podcast! I'm your host, Pat Sweet. In this week's episode: Recent signings A recap of three wonder strikes this week OneSoccer's Crew calling it an early night Main content: the problem with the CanPL schedule Announcements AMA with Kurt Larson - https://Northern90.ca/AMALarson What it's about 100 seats July 25, 8PM EST This way, we can watch the Canadian Championship Matches Results League Play Jul 17 - Wednesday Forge 2 - 0 HFX Wanderers Tim Hortons Field Jul 17 - Wednesday York9 2 - 1 Pacific York Lions Stadium Jul 17 - Wednesday Edmonton 0 - 0 Valour Clarke Field Jul 20 - Saturday Forge 3 - 1 Valour Tim Hortons Field Jul 20 - Saturday Pacific 3 - 1 HFX Wanderers Westhills Stadium Jul 21 - Sunday Cavalry 1 - 0 York9 Spruce Meadows Canadian Championship Starts again this week Jul 24 - Wednesday 8:30 pm ADT CanChamp Ottawa Fury vs. HFX Wanderers TD Place Stadium TICKETS Jul 24 - Wednesday 8:30 pm ADT CanChamp Montreal Impact vs. York9 Stade Saputo TICKETS Jul 24 - Wednesday 11:30 pm ADT CanChamp Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Cavalry BC Place Stadium TICKETS News Transfers Valour FC make another signing in Italian Striker Michele Paolucci Played most of his early career in Italy's Serie A Most recently in the Maltese Premier League with Tarxien Time will tell if Paolucci is the answer to Valour's scoring woes Northern Tribune reporting that FC Edmonton is about to make a big signing https://northerntribune.ca/fc-edmonton-signing-july-2019/ OneSoccer FC Edmonton/ Valour FC game on Wednesday delayed due to severe thunderstroms One hour delay, then eight minutes of play, then another 2 hour delay No explanation right away Eventually came out that the call was made to keep OneSoccer staff safe Hard to reconcile that with the fact that players and fans were allowed to be there. Really hope that this is part of growing pains. If you like the headlines, check out the Northern 90 Supporters Group! Next up - tackling the issue of game congestion. Game Congestion in Canadian Premier League After Forge FC's dismantling of HFX Wanderers last Wednesday, coach Hart had some pretty blunt observations to share (courtesy of The Merchant Sailor): We know things we need to work on from an individual and collective perspective, but we have no time to work on it because you have to give players time to rest, and then you have maybe a half of a training session the day before you play a team like Cavalry–or any team. So we need to sit down and talk about it. The schedule is way too compact. There are three teams that play nine games this month and one that plays ten.” We've seen plenty of players go down to injury over the last several weeks, and the fall is just getting started. Hart isn't the first to raise a flag about fixture congestion. The concern also has some sound science behind it. A 2010 study in the American Journal of Sports Medicineinvestigated the effects of playing 2 matches per week compared to one The study showed no real impact on gameday performance, but didshow an injury rate over six times higher when playing two games a week. So if we can agree that injuring players is bad, what do we do? Three ideas Make the season longer Eliminate mid-week games Eliminate back-to-back midweek games Longer season Pros Keep the same number of games - no lost entertainment or revenue Improves rest Cons Risky to push earlier than end of April or past early November. Wet/ cold weather would be hard on players and on grass How to make it work Focus games on artificial surfaces MLS starts in March, ends in December, though with limited games in Canada Eliminate mid-week CanPL games Pros Only 4.4 midweek games per team - not much lost gameplay 24 week season with 28 season games Creates room for CanChamp Effect of reduced attendance is minimized - poor showing during the week anyway Makes for a more balanced schedule Cons Fewer games = less revenue, less entertainment Mitigation: maybe the weekend games would be even better attended Eliminate back-to-back midweek games If we eliminated two mid-week games for each team, you could eliminate, for the most part, teams playing on short rest twice in a row. Pros Minimal impact on the season Better rest Cons Fewer games [caption id="attachment_577" align="aligncenter" width="934"]An analysis of rest between games for the CanPL 2019 season.[/caption] I'd like to know what you think: is the schedule a problem? How would you fix it? Write me to let me know! Next up, the mailbag: Mailbag You know how this works - you send me mail and messages and I read every single one of them. If what you send is extra good I read it on the podcast. Last week's question: What should the Canadian Championship and Canadian Premier League trophy be called? Lots of votes for the Voyageur's Cup - Alex and Febrian Michael Miller of the Premier Podcast suggested the CanPL trophy be called the Joe Kennaway Trophy. Look him up - very cool bit of Canadian soccer history Best suggestion I heard was from Jeff who wrote me an email suggesting: Can Champ: Voyageur's Cup CanPL Champion: Canadian Shield This week's question: Who's the best attacking duo in CanPL? Leave a comment at northern90.ca/episode22 Write to me at pat at northern90.ca Fire me a note on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram @northernninety The Week Ahead Jul 24 - Wednesday 8:30 pm ADT CanChamp Ottawa Fury vs. HFX Wanderers TD Place Stadium TICKETS Jul 24 - Wednesday 8:30 pm ADT CanChamp Montreal Impact vs. York9 Stade Saputo TICKETS Jul 24 - Wednesday 11:30 pm ADT CanChamp Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Cavalry BC Place Stadium TICKETS Jul 27 - Saturday 2:00 pm ADT Valour vs. Cavalry Investors Group Field TICKETS Jul 27 - Saturday 4:30 pm ADT York9 vs. HFX Wanderers York Lions Stadium TICKETS Jul 27 - Saturday 7:00 pm ADT Edmonton vs. Forge Clarke Field TICKETS Announcements AMA with Kurt Larson is now on July 25 at 8PM Eastern. https://Northern90.ca/AMALarson Outroduction That's all we've got for the show today. If you liked the show, don't forget to subscribe to it, and when you do leave an honest review. That helps me make the show better and others find it. Also, if you've been enjoying this show, you should join my supporters' group. When you join you get a weekly newsletter with curated CPL content, access to a members-only Facebook group, contests, giveaways, fantasy leagues, all sorts of good stuff. And it's free. Check it out at northern90.ca/join. Thanks so much, Canada. Have a great week. Credits Featured Image Photo by Curtis MacNewtonon Unsplash Intro music Move Like This by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Texas Radio Fish, Alex Beroza, and Snowflake CPL Headlines Music Calm the F*** Down by Broke for Free (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Main Content Intro Music 260809 Funky Nurykabe by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Mailbag Music I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque Outro music Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Morusque, Jeris, CSoul, Alex Beroza