Why Edmonton was left out in the cold as a host city for the 2026 World Cup - Sportsnet.ca | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Sports

Why Edmonton was left out in the cold as a host city for the 2026 World Cup – Sportsnet.ca

Published

 on


Canada Soccer’s reputation took it on the chin recently after a pay dispute involving the sport’s national governing body and the men’s team went public.

That led to the cancellation of a friendly vs. Panama in Vancouver, thus hampering the side’s crucial preparations for this November’s World Cup in Qatar. It also led to more questions being asked about the competency of those in charge of the governance of Canadian soccer.

After the debacle played out in the national media, the sport in this country badly needed some good news.

FIFA came to the rescue Thursday during a press event in New York City where it announced the host cities for the 2026 World Cup that will be held in Canada, the United States and Mexico: Toronto and Vancouver are among the 16 locations that will stage games for the biggest sporting event on the planet in four years’ time, giving Canadian soccer a shot in the arm.

But spare a thought for the city of Edmonton, which at one point seemed a shoo-in to be named one of the Canadian hosts for 2026. Instead, it didn’t make the cut. This will be a bitter pill to swallow for the city and its legions of soccer fans, including hometown hero Alphonso Davies. Edmonton has a rich history of supporting the sport, so Thursday’s announcement on some levels must feel like a betrayal.

Commonwealth Stadium hosted matches during the Canadian men’s team’s recent World Cup qualifying campaign, drawing attendances of 48,806 and 44,212 for wins over Costa Rica and Mexico last November. The Alberta capital was a key host city during the 2015 Women’s World Cup when it staged two of Canada’s group stage matches, a pair of round-of-16 contests, a quarterfinal, a semifinal and the third-place game.

Edmonton also has a long tradition of staging Canadian friendlies — the Reds famously battled Brazil to a 1-1 draw in a 1994 game before 51,936 spectators — and Commonwealth Stadium was where a teenaged Christine Sinclair first broke out as an international star and announced herself to the world during the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Cup.

So, what happened? Why has Edmonton been left out in the cold for the 2026 World Cup?

In soccer parlance, the goal posts moved on Edmonton last August when Montreal dropped out of the bidding process after the Quebec provincial government withdrew its support over concerns about cost overruns. Then in April, Vancouver threw its hat into the ring after it originally bid in 2017 to host games, only to withdraw the following year when B.C. Premier John Horgan cited the unknown costs of bringing the World Cup to his province.

B.C. native and Concacaf president Victor Montagliani is one of the most powerful men in world soccer, and he had a hand in bringing his home province back to the table. Edmonton-based soccer journalist Steve Sandor argues that when that happened, it was essentially game over for the Alberta capital.

“When you hear that Montagliani had personally gone back to Vancouver and dragged them back into the bidding process, that was the writing on the wall for Edmonton. It was sort of like, you’re a starting player, but now the coach is warming up a substitute to replace you,” Sandor told Sportsnet. 

 “There isn’t any bitterness from people in Edmonton directed at Vancouver; there’s bitterness at the process of how Vancouver was brought back in after they backed out. You don’t blame the sub who comes off the bench to take your spot, but you can be angry at the coach for making that change.”

With rumours swirling about Vancouver wanting back in, the Alberta provincial government took bold action in March when it committed $110 million in public money to the city of Edmonton to help cover the cost of hosting games in 2026. However, the funding was contingent on Edmonton getting to host five of the 10 games that will take place in Canada in 2026, including two matches in the knockout round.

That proved to be a miscalculation that hurt Edmonton’s bid. FIFA is like the mafia — it isn’t used to having cities make demands of it like that. You don’t hold them up at knife point and try to dictate terms to them, which is essentially what the Alberta government did. The fact that the financial support from the province came with strings attached hurt Edmonton’s chances, even though it won political points.

“People have to understand that outside of the soccer community, that move by the provincial government played really well here. People wanted a guarantee from FIFA with so much public money at stake, so that really hit home within the community,” Sandor explained.

The current condition of Commonwealth Stadium probably didn’t help Edmonton’s cause, either. It’s an aging stadium that has seen better days and would need to undergo costly upgrades in order to modernize it and bring it up to FIFA’s standards, beyond just replacing the artificial surface with a natural grass pitch.

“Edmontonians have a real sense of inflated pride over Commonwealth Stadium. It’s hosted a lot of big games and events, but we’re looking back at them now through technicolour glasses. Compared to modern-day venues, Commonwealth looks like an old Communist stadium from the Cold War era. It’s a concrete monolith without the creature comforts that most new stadiums have today,” Sandor said.

“It was a really great stadium when it opened [in 1978], but some of these new stadiums in the U.S. that are getting World Cup games make Commonwealth look like a venue out of the Stone Age. I think we need a bit of a reality check about that here in Edmonton. We have a vaunted sense of pride about it, but we have to understand that time has passed the stadium by.”

Sandor watched Thursday’s FIFA event from New York City with Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and other local city officials at Commonwealth Stadium, and described the atmosphere before the announcement was made as “strangely optimistic.”

“There were a lot of people in the room, despite all the recent headlines and reports that Edmonton was going to get shut out, that still believed. There was still this hope, and people politely applauded when Vancouver was announced, but then when Edmonton didn’t get called, the reality set in. There were some tears and lots of long faces,” Sandor said.

“It was like if your team was down 3-1 late in the game, and you have this faint hope that if you can score one that maybe you can get another, and then the inevitable happens and you give up a fourth goal. That’s what it was like in the room.”


John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 20 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. TFC Republic can be found here.

Adblock test (Why?)



Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

After 20 years at the top of chess, Magnus Carlsen is making his next move

Published

 on

 

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Few chess players enjoy Magnus Carlsen‘s celebrity status.

A grand master at 13, refusing to play an American dogged by allegations of cheating, and venturing into the world of online chess gaming all made Norway’s Carlsen a household name.

Few chess players have produced the magical commodity that separates Norway’s Magnus Carlsen from any of his peers: celebrity.

Only legends like Russia’s Garry Kasparov and American Bobby Fischer can match his name recognition and Carlsen is arguably an even more dominant player. Last month, he beat both men to be named the International Chess Federation’s greatest ever.

But his motivation to rack up professional titles is on the wane. Carlsen, 33, now wants to leverage his fame to help turn the game he loves into a spectator sport.

“I am in a different stage in my career,” he told The Associated Press. “I am not as ambitious when it comes to professional chess. I still want to play, but I don’t necessarily have that hunger. I play for the love of the game.”

Offering a new way to interact with the game, Carlsen on Friday launched his application, Take Take Take, which will follow live games and players, explaining matches in an accessible way that, Carlsen says, is sometimes missing from streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch. “It will be a chiller vibe,” he says.

Carlsen intends to use his experience to provide recaps and analysis on his new app, starting with November’s World Chess Championship tournament between China’s Ding Liren and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju. He won’t be competing himself because he voluntarily ceded the title in 2023.

Carlsen is no novice when it comes to chess apps. The Play Magnus game, which he started in 2014, gave online users the chance to play against a chess engine modeled against his own gameplay. The company ballooned into a suite of applications and was bought for around $80 million in 2022 by Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website.

Carlsen and Mats Andre Kristiansen, the chief executive of his company, Fantasy Chess, are betting that a chess game where users can follow individual players and pieces, filters for explaining different elements of each game, and light touch analysis will scoop up causal viewers put off by chess’s sometimes rarefied air. The free app was launched in a bid to build the user base ahead of trying to monetizing it. “That will come later, maybe with advertisements or deeper analysis,” says Kristiansen.

While Take Take Take offers a different prospect with its streaming services, it is still being launched into a crowded market with Chess.com, which has more than 100 million users, YouTube, Twitch, and the website of FIDE the International Chess Federation. World Chess was worth around $54 million when it got listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The accessibility of chess engines that can beat any human means cheating has never been easier. However, they can still be used to shortcut thousands of hours of book-bound research, and hone skills that would be impossible against human opponents.

“I think the games today are of higher quality because preparation is becoming deeper and deeper and artificial intelligence is helping us play. It is reshaping the way we evaluate the games,” especially for the new generation of players, says Carlsen.

At the same time, he admits that two decades after becoming a grand master, his mind doesn’t quite compute at the tornado speed it once did. “Most people have less energy when they get older. The brain gets slower. I have already felt that for a few years. The younger players’ processing power is just faster.”

Even so, he intends to be the world’s best for many years to come.

“My mind is a bit slower, and I maybe don’t have as much energy. But chess is about the coming together of energy, computing power and experience. I am still closer to my peak than decline,” he said.

Chess has been cresting a popularity wave begun by Carlsen himself.

He became the world’s top-ranked player in 2011. In 2013, he won the first of his five World Championships. In 2014, he achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2882, and he has remained the undisputed world number one for the last 13 years.

Off the table, chess influencers, like the world No. 2, Hikaru Nakamura, are using social media to bring the game to a wider audience. The Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” burnished chess’ unlikely cerebral sex appeal when it became one of the streamer’s biggest hits in 2020.

And in 2022 Carlsen’s refusal to play against Hans Niemann, an American grand master, who admitted to using technology to cheat in online games in the past, created a rare edge in the usually sedate world of chess. There is no evidence Niemann ever cheated in live games but the feud between the pair propelled the game even further into public consciousness.

Whether chess can continue to grow without the full professional participation of its biggest celebrity remains to be seen.

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Top figure skaters ready to hit the ice at Skate Canada International

Published

 on

 

Canadian pairs team Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps along with ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier headline a strong field at Skate Canada International. The Canadians say they’re excited to perform in front of a home crowd as the world’s best figure skaters arrive in Halifax. (Oct. 24, 2024)

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Nico Echavarria shoots another 64 to lead the Zozo Championship by 2 shots after the second round

Published

 on

 

INZAI CITY, Japan (AP) — Nico Echavarria shot a 6-under 64 on Friday — matching his 64 on Thursday — to lead by two shots over Taylor Moore and Justin Thomas after the second round of the Zozo Championship in Japan.

Thomas shot 64 and Moore carded 67 with three others just three shots off the lead including Seamus Power, who had the day’s low round of 62 at the Narashino Country Club.

Thomas has twice won the PGA Championship but is winless in two years on the PGA Tour.

Eric Cole (67) and C.T. Pan (66) were also three behind heading to Saturday.

Nick Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C., is the top Canadian at 5-under and tied for 16th.

Ben Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont., is two shots back of Taylor and tied for 31st.

“I’ve never had a lead after 36 holes,” said Echavarria, a Colombian who played at the University of Arkansas. His lone PGA win was last year in Puerto Rico.

He had a two-round total of 12-under 128.

“I’ve had it after 54, but never after 36, so it’s good to be in this position. There’s got to be some pressure,” he added. “Hopefully a good round tomorrow can keep me in the lead or around the lead. And how I said yesterday — the goal is to be close with nine holes to go.”

Rickie Fowler, a crowd favorite in Japan because of his connections to the country, shot 64 to go with an opening 68 and was four shots back going into the weekend. Max Greyserman was also four behind after a 68.

“It would be amazing to win here,” said Fowler, whose mother has Japanese roots. “Came close a few years ago.”

Fowler tied for second in 2022

Fowler described his roots as “pretty far removed for Japan, but I’m sure I have relatives here, but I don’t know anyone. Japanese culture’s always been a fairly big part of life growing up. I always love being over here.”

Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama shot his second 71 and was 14 shots off the lead.

Defending champion Collin Morikawa shot 67 and pulled within eight shot of the lead, and Xander Schauffele — British Open and PGA winner this season — shot 65 and was 10 behind after a 73 on Thursday.

“I feel like I’ve got a good game plan out here,” Morikawa said, another player with Japanese connections. “I just have to execute shots a little better.”

“I am the defending champ, but that doesn’t mean I’m immediately going to play better just because I won here,” he added. “It’s a brand new week, it’s a year later. I feel like my golf game is still in a good spot. I just haven’t executed my shots. When that doesn’t happen it makes golf a little tougher.”

Schauffele turned 31 on Friday and said he was serenaded before his opening tee shot. He also has ties to Japan. His mother grew up in Japan and his grandparents live in the Tokyo area.

“Nice way to spend my 31st birthday,” he said.

___

AP golf:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version