Tony Waiters, who coached Canada in its only appearance at the World Cup and led the Vancouver Whitecaps to the North American Soccer League championship, has died. He was 83.
Waiters will be forever linked to one of Canada’s biggest soccer memories — the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The Canadian men failed to score a goal or register a point but held their own against mighty France, Hungary and the Soviet Union.
Canada has been trying to get back to the World Cup since.
“It’s with heavy hearts and much sadness that we must inform of the passing of our beloved Tony,” his family said in a statement Tuesday. “He achieved a great deal in his life, his legacy speaks volumes. Our family is beyond devastated with the loss of a wonderful husband and a hero of a father.”
Canada Soccer called Waiters “a tremendous ambassador for the game.”
“His passion for football and the people he touched throughout his career is unparalleled in Canada,” added former Canadian international goalkeeper Craig Forrest.
“This one hits hard. He gave so much to Canadian soccer and so much to me personally,” said former Canadian ‘keeper Paul Dolan.
“Tony was a gentleman, leader, mentor and one of the most significant people in Canada football history,” said HFX Wanderers FC coach Stephen Hart, a former Canada coach himself.
Whitecaps became sensation
Waiters, a former England goalkeeper, is also remembered as a coach who always had his teams organized and prepared.
Waiters came to Canada to coach the Whitecaps during the 1977 NASL season after being fired as manager of Plymouth Albion. At the time, he thought he might only stay for a few months.
But Canada became his home, with the Whitecaps becoming a sensation after defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the 1979 Soccer Bowl.
In his first full season with the Whitecaps, Waiters led the team to a 24-6 record and the conference semifinals, good enough to earn the NASL’s Coach of the Year honours.
The ’79 championship team featured Whitecap icons Bob Lenarduzzi and Carl Valentine and big-name imports like Alan Ball, Roger Kenyon and Kevin Hector.
The Whitecaps dispatched the rock-star New York Cosmos in the ’79 playoff semifinals and then sealed the deal with a 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay at Giants Stadium before 50,699, thanks to two goals by former England international Trevor Whymark.
A crowd of 100,00-plus welcomed the team home. Vancouver was in love with the Whitecaps. But it was to mark Waiters’ swansong with the team.
“Changes were made. I ended up being the president and general manager which didn’t suit me. And so I resigned and went working for the Canadian Soccer Association.”
Family affair at World of Soccer
Waiters lived most recently on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast where he built a home three years ago.
He remained closely involved with the game. He was president of the National Soccer Coaches Association of Canada at the time of his death and served as an adviser to soccer organizations on both sides of the border. He worked with Cliff Avenue United FC, a team in Burnaby, B.C., looking for ways to bring inner-city kids to the game he loved.
He also operated World of Soccer, a long-standing company that offered a wide array of coaching manuals. It was a family affair, with wife Anne overseeing the operation and daughter Victoria handling the graphics.
“It keeps me out of mischief,” said Waiters, who also has a son, Scott
Waiters was born Feb. 2, 1937, in Southport, just north of Liverpool, on the English coast. He served in the Royal Air Force and earned his teacher’s certificate in physical education from Loughborough College.
He started his playing career as an amateur with Bishop Auckland in 1957 before moving to Macclesfield Town. But he spent the bulk of his career with Blackpool, making more than 250 appearances from 1959 to 1967.
He won five caps for England in 1964 under Sir Alf Ramsey at a time when Gordon Banks was early in his career as England No 1.
Waiters retired at 30, eventually working for England’s Football Association.
Canada reached 1984 Olympic quarter-finals
He was hired as Canada’s head coach and manager on Dec. 4, 1982, helping Canada qualify for the 1984 Olympics just 16 months later.
The Canadian men had a good run at the Los Angeles Games, eventually losing to Brazil in a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals after the game finished tied at 1-1. Waiters never forgot an offside call that cost the Canadians the go-ahead goal.
Colombia was originally slated to host the 1986 World Cup but gave way to Mexico. The U.S. failed to reach the final three-team round of CONCACAF qualifying, finishing runner-up to Costa Rica in its group.
So Canada was the only CONCACAF team to qualify, booking its ticket with a famous 2-1 win over Honduras in St. John’s, N.L., on Sept. 14, 1985.
Waiters stepped down as Canada coach after the World Cup but returned for a second stint from October 1989 through the 1991 Gold Cup. He was influential away for the pitch, using his coaching expertise with both CONCACAF and FIFA.
Waiters was awarded the Aubrey Sanford Meritorious Service Award in 1996 for outstanding service to Canadian soccer. He was inducted into the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001, the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Soccer Hall of Fame in British Columbia as part of its inaugural class in 2019.
He was also honoured as a Canada Soccer Life Member in May 2019.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.
The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.
Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.
At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.
Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.
Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.
The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.
“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.
“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”
Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.
The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.
“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”
It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.
Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.
“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”
Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.
He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.
Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.
“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”
Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.
“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.
Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.
Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.
“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”
Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.
Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.
Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.
Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.
Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.
“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.
