Soccer in Canada | Canada Hosting the 2026 World Cup

[elly63]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Also good to see Eustaquio getting minutes with Porto. Couple late subs in the last few league matches.

I think I may have underestimated how good a team Porto is but Stack is starting to get some minutes and it's beginning to look like the stars are aligning for him to get even more minutes. Unfortunately, he will be interrupting that progress in another month for WCQ. I doubt it, but seeing we are so close to qualifying he might be allowed to stay at Porto to solidify his spot. We'll have to see what is going on there in the next month.

Richie Laryea is also a concern, where I criticized the US team for having many players on big clubs (who weren't playing) I hope that same thing doesn't happen to us when our players move to bigger clubs, such as Larin and David. I am learning more and more how important it is to have players playing competitive games vs sitting on the bench for a big club.

Saw an article that had the Portuguese league ranked ahead of France at number 5. True or not, it is still good to see that they are close and we have players in each until we can get more in the Big Four.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Great to see Henry back in North America. Was tough to get viewings when he was playing in Korea

After a very suspect history, MLS is starting to be very good for Canadian players. Montreal seems to be especially all-in for Canadian talent. Will also be good to see the day when the CPL is regularly supplying talent to MLS. ie Lukas MacNaughton

[Hawrylyshyn]

Originally Posted by elly63

Maybe as many as he has had with the NT under Herdman. None.

Or as many as his TFC days? A lot.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by elly63

After a very suspect history, MLS is starting to be very good for Canadian players. Montreal seems to be especially all-in for Canadian talent. Will also be good to see the day when the CPL is regularly supplying talent to MLS. ie Lukas MacNaughton

Nice. And I just counted 9 Canadian players on the Vancouver Whitecaps roster.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

Or as many as his TFC days? A lot.

Or as many as your trolling or negative BS posts. A lot.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Nice. And I just counted 9 Canadian players on the Vancouver Whitecaps roster.

Yup, all three teams doing much, much better, especially at the keeper position.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Originally Posted by elly63

Or as many as your trolling or negative BS posts. A lot.

I rarely post here. Not my fault you get incredibly butt hurt when someone says something that isn't 100% cheerleading fanboy rhetoric.

Henry has shown in the past he's a liability in the back. He's the weakest link on the CMNT in my opinion, so it'll be interesting to see if history repeats itself at LAFC

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by elly63

After a very suspect history, MLS is starting to be very good for Canadian players. Montreal seems to be especially all-in for Canadian talent. Will also be good to see the day when the CPL is regularly supplying talent to MLS. ie Lukas MacNaughton

I'd rather the 3 MLS teams join the CPL and we'd have a real Canadian League instead of having a trio of handmaidens to the US.

But then that's the Canadian way right?

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

I'd rather the 3 MLS teams join the CPL and we'd have a real Canadian League instead of having a trio of handmaidens to the US.

What do they gain by doing this? They'd be sacrificing significant financial benefit from merely existing within MLS.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by JHikka

What do they gain by doing this? They'd be sacrificing significant financial benefit from merely existing within MLS.

Pride in wholly Canadian League.

And once the Canadians get good enough and are promoted to European Leagues then they'll get paid for the Canadians.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Pride in wholly Canadian League.

We can have pride in the CPL without having to include the MLS teams.

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

And once the Canadians get good enough and are promoted to European Leagues then they'll get paid for the Canadians.

The CPL does this already without the help of MLS and its clubs.

[Hawrylyshyn]

There's also already the Canadian Championship which includes the MLS teams as well as teams from the CPL, League1, etc.

[WhipperSnapper]

I don't get it. How is having 3 teams in a top tier North American league worst than a wholly Canadian league that is no more than a farm system for European leagues.

[VANRIDERFAN]

^^

Is MLS better than the Mexican LIGA?

Anyway, Canadians only seem to support teams that are in leagues controlled by the US.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

I'd rather the 3 MLS teams join the CPL and we'd have a real Canadian League instead of having a trio of handmaidens to the US.

But then that's the Canadian way right?

If we are trying to grow the game and inspire Canadian kids to pursue soccer into adulthood, we need MLS in Canada.

The last time Canada made it to the World Cup was 1986, and that was because we started producing good players because we had big league soccer in the NASL. It's no coincidence that we are on the verge of going back to the World Cup 15 years after MLS came to Canada. And it looks like MLS is here to stay, so there's no telling how far Canada will evolve as a Soccer nation. Right now we are playing better international soccer than the 12th and 13th ranked countries in the world.

WC 2026 should be very interesting. Of course Canada will host some games, and I hope Vancouver gets a good chunk of those, but the team itself should be even better than 2022. Alphonso Davies and Jonathon David will be in their primes, and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty will be 21 and playing top level soccer in Europe. And surely there will be others who develop into top flight players. Exciting times for soccer in Canada.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Is MLS better than the Mexican LIGA?

Doesn't really answer their question.

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Anyway, Canadians only seem to support teams that are in leagues controlled by the US.

A handful of the CPL teams are already well-supported, in particular Halifax. Perhaps another way to frame this is that the biggest, most important sports teams all play in American leagues, so it's no surprise that Canadians support them the most. Provide a good enough product and people will come out to support, American league or not.

[logan5]

MLS won't allow it, but having a larger base of Canadian teams would provide a stronger foundation for the league, much like the NHL. Should at least have the next 3 (Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton) in there.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

^^

Is MLS better than the Mexican LIGA?

Anyway, Canadians only seem to support teams that are in leagues controlled by the US.

What does the Mexican Liga have to with you preferring Canada to be a farm system for European teams over having teams in a top international league?

Soccer to Mexico is like hockey to Canada. They have nearly 4 times the population in a fraction of the area. It makes sense logistically for Canadian teams to flourish in a league (like the NHL) shared with US markets. Vancouver also has more in common with the west coast of the US than it does with Halifax. There's patriotism and then there's just patriotism for the sake of patriotism.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Is MLS better than the Mexican LIGA?

Funny you say that. Liga MX was always ranked as a better league but I looked yesterday and one site I went to had MLS above it. Looking at a bunch more sites right now and there is no consensus on anything let alone MLS and MX.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Amazing how quickly how the US lovers come out when you dare to suggest Canadians support Canadian based leagues over US based leagues.