Kara Lang is a legend in Canadian soccer. The record-holder for the youngest player ever to score in a full international in women’s football (15 years old, against Wales in 2002), scorer of one the more memorable goals in Canadian soccer history, against Sweden in the semi-final of the 2003 Women’s World Cup, her retirement this past January at the age of 24 was bittersweet. Bitter, because Canada was deprived of it one its great soccer talents, her career cut short by injury. Sweet, because she joins us now as an expert pundit, decidedly NOT in the Alan Shearer mould of former-player-turned-analyst. She adds another valuable voice in Canadian soccer.
As a former Canadian international, Lang, perhaps more than most, knows the ins-and-outs and successes and failure of the Canadian development set-up. So, following Canada’s disastrous performance in Germany for this past FIFA Women’s World Cup, I asked her a few questions about what went wrong.
1) It seems everyone in Canadian media is looking for someone or something to blame for Canada’s performance at the FWWC. Was this a problem in pre-tournament planning, with Carolina Morace’s approach, with Canada’s player development set-up, or just a simple pair of poor performances? All of the above? None of the above?
There is a lot of finger pointing going on right now, that’s for sure. I don’t think there is one single person or thing to blame. It was definitely not a matter of poor pre-tournament planning. While it wasn’t 100% ideal, it was the best situation under the circumstances. The residency in Rome allowed the team to play more international matches leading up to the WC than any other major tournament before. Had the team been located in Canada, they never would have been able to secure games against anyone other than the US. That being said, it was not ideal. If there was good competition in Canada, obviously a residency camp in Canada would have been better, but who would they play against? The biggest lesson we learned as a program in the past after failures at major tournaments was that to compete against the best teams in the world, you need to play against them consistently throughout the year.
Canada’s player development set-up (which is virtually non-existent) is definitely a big-picture issue and something that needs to be addressed. However with the players Carolina Morace had selected, she still managed to have the most successful year in Canadian soccer history leading up to the World cup. There absolutely needs to be a bigger player pool to choose from for the future, and long-term player development is the only solution to that—but not something that will change overnight. And at the end of the day—lack of player development or not—this team was a contender going into the tournament. It wasn’t unrealistic to expect them at least to make it out of their group.
So above everything else, I would have to say that this was a matter of two poor performances on the day. I believe this team had and still has all the tools necessary to at least compete with the other teams in the top 10. The only explanation that I can think of is that it was a mental toughness thing… lack of focus. They were prepared—they just didn’t execute.
2) More on that point—why do you think Canada performed so well in the pre-tournament lead up, but faltered after an encouraging loss against Germany?
Pre-tournament they performed up to their potential. They were training and thinking like sophisticated soccer players and had a confidence that this program had never had before. Again, during the tournament they choked. It’s not an excuse, it’s not okay, but it’s also not a new concept in sports. It’s possible that the expectations got to them, that they allowed the pressure to affect them. For the first time ever the Canadians weren’t the under-dogs at the WC… it’s an unfamiliar position for this program and I can only speculate since I wasn’t a member of the team—but perhaps the expectations were too much for them to handle.
3) To what extent do you think Carolina Morace is responsible for Canada’s performance? It seems some of her more pointed critics have had it out for her for a while, criticizing the CSA’s pursuit of her this past winter, and claiming she has not fulfilled her promise to advise the Canadian girls program here at home. Do you think Canada’s 0-3 performance have lent their claims any credibility?
I think the team needs to accept responsibility as a whole for their performance—so that does include coaching staff, yes. But I don’t think you can claim it’s all Carolina’s fault. She brought this team to a new level. I believe she did everything she could with what she had . The CSA needs to accept responsibility as well. Where have they been since the fall-out? Why aren’t they even commenting on the situation? You would expect that the federation would at least have something to say…
4) On that note, many prominent bloggers, journalists and players have long criticized the Canadian Soccer Association’s sluggish approach to implementing nationwide player development reform. What are the primary problems you see with Canada’s national soccer program? What do you think ordinary fans, journalists and others can do to help encourage change?
There is no leadership in Canadian soccer. Our biggest problem is that we have a governing body that doesn’t govern anything- but that’s a whole other issue on it’s own. But if there was leadership there would be a push from the top to change the way we develop our youth. We need a comprehensive player development program that everyone in Canadian soccer understands and accepts and agrees to implement collectively. Surprisingly, the CSA actually has already created one—and it’s even quite good. (http://www.canadasoccer.com/wellness/Wellness_CoupeDuMonde.asp)
But much like everything else in Canadian soccer, it doesn’t get any exposure—no one has heard of it. It has to be adopted at the youth level by every coach in Canada. We don’t have a soccer culture in Canada—at least not yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t create one. We have to start teaching our youth how to be soccer players, not just athletes that happen to play soccer. We have to demand a higher level from our coaches and our clubs—everyone needs to be on the same page if we’re ever going to move forward.
I think that part of the problem is that the game has evolved to the point where you need athletes to play it, not soccer players. I know of many great soccer players in this country that just aren’t athletically gifted and would need to spend so much time training for fitness that they have little time left to improve their skills.
But that’s why we have rec leagues, I guess.
I totally agree with you FinnStarr! However have a look at some of the best footballers in today’s world and potentially in the future:
Iniesta -short, weighs around 145, not to fast.
Xavi- short, weighs around 145, not to fast.
Wilshere – short, weighs around 150.
Neymar- short, weighs around 130.
Dani Alves – short, weighs around 140.
Sneijder – short, weighs 140-150.
All these players are some of the best, and could potentially be the best in the world in the future. And what sets them apart is their skill. I think the evolution of football has come full circle. At first, super fast and strong athletes were required to dominate the more skilled players. Now that the game is more dominated by ‘athletes’, the true footballers are making a comeback because alot of the athletes in football are just that, athletes first, footballers second. As much as players like Neymar dive, it’s the most refreshing thing to see a player who isn’t 6 feet tall and 180 pounds making a fool out of oppositions defenses…Messi =)
Oh and I forgot about Christian Erikkson!
At times he’s the smallest and the ‘weakest’ player on the field, but it’s him dictating the pace and flow of the game.
add Joao Plata to the list?
that guy gives defenders crazy fits and defends like a mad man.
why do people keep looking for Kara Lang’s opinion on things? And when did she become a legend? Or an expert? She was a one footed player who had her best moments at the U19 tournament when we was like 15 or 16 years old because she was as big as someone 5 or 6 years older.
one thing Kara is right about is that Morace did bring the program to a new level. She failed to qualify a team for the U20 World Cup – which is a first for Canada – and she led the team to its worst finish in World Cup history, all while making more money than any women’s coach has ever made and spending more money than any women’s coach (or men’s for that matter) has ever spent. as Morace said to the cbc the other day “those are no my opinions, is facts”. congrats on that Carolina.
how tall a player is and how much he weighs has absolutely nothing to do with how good an athlete he is.
wow, the first comment is in favour of athletes over skill??? – did you even read the article or saw Canada play at the WC or any other competition???
we just don’t have the skill, baby! but we plenty of athletes who touch a football as if it was the pointy ball version.
Interestingly enough, some of the least skilled players on the CWNT roster were also very disappointing in the athletic department, especially in the second half vs Germany, getting outmuscled or beaten for pace/quickness/speed. Some of them looked a divison or two below the international level. The thing is that these were the best players we had available, and that’s that.
There is no good answer for the poor performance. But remember: France has gone home in round robin in men’s World Cup, as well as Argentina and many other big teams. A few mistakes (errors in passes in the front of the box!), and a team that is not psycologically prepared to come back from a goal against in the first 20 min of the game can kill a team. Also, Canada insisted on the same strategy – trying to penetrate through the midle against strong teams, and not trying what Lang was very good at – using the deep ends, with ball being crossing back – was anothe mistake.
Canada had no player deep on those positions, right or left forward. Another issue was.not taking advantage of the momentum against Germany when Sinclair scored the single goal, making the 2×1, and played a slow game as if it was a win,,, that was hard to watch. They played as if Germany was already a loss before the game.
Oh shut up Kara! FFS the CSA went to the wall for this team and gave into every demand so stop with the lame excuses.
Where to start?
We need more qualified coaches and we need to get parents out of the way and let them coach!
You NEED technical players. You can get a great player fit much faster than you can get a fit player great. Concentrate on the technical ability ASAP, and then teach them how to train.
In other words, follow the program developed by the CSA that Kara mentioned, and tell parents to STFU when it comes to insisting that 8 , 10 and 12 year olds should play 11 v 11 because it’s the “real game” they see on TV.
SB
I’m always intrigued by the comments from people claiming that the development system and lack of skill is the reason for this team’s poor performance.
And who is Kara to know anything about performing at an elite level, under intense pressure in front of thousands of fans? No experience at all….
Thanks for an objective view by someone who actually can speak as an expert on the subject. Unfortunately, the team just picked the worst possible time to lack focus and execution. It happens.
Unless FIFA’s system is completely flawed, how does a team with no skill get to a number six world ranking?
Did our 2006 Olympic Men’s hockey team, comprised of the best NHL players in the world, fail to medal because of a lack of skill?
We’re working to teach our young athletes that it takes more than just skill and athleticism to win. It takes focus, discipline, composure, heart and a whole host of other ingredients that only the best coaches emphasize.
http://ow.ly/5AzSA
FIFA ranking is backward looking and not indicative of future performance. Plus, Canada just made it to #6 before the WWC. It’s ranking over the past 3 years has been more in the range of 10-15.
Looking at also the breadth of history of Cdn football teams’ performance at the international level, skill is the most deficient area – we’re not even close to median level on either the men’s or women’s side. Lack of skill is a development issue of kids when they are 8-12 and also a lack of football culture in Canada. Mental strength would be our second greatest flaw, we constantly choke on the big stage and never seem to recover when down a goal or lose a game in WC qualifying or tournament play. Only exceptions were 2003 women’s team at the WC and the 85 men’s team that qualified for the 86 WC.
Aside from a couple of matches, Mexico in qualifying and Brasil in Brasil, the #6 ranking was built on low intensity friendlies and/or against opposition ranked below them.
They also played a lot matches to prep for the WC – I believe only one other country who qualified played more than Canada. Now these matches were needed as Morace was throwing out the long ball style that the previous regime and Cdn women’s soccer employs from the youth level upwards.
But in effect, these were like meaningless regular season matches that North American sports leagues are infamous for. And Canada finished first in its division but couldn’t elevate its game when the other teams picked up their intensity that is THE World Cup. Not exact;y surprising as they have only been playing the possession style for 2 years; so, there was nothing left to elevate. They went to back to what they learned as kids at the feet of babysitter youth coaches who might have been well-meaning but probably never attended a professional football match let alone a national team match. They only the sport as soccer and think it’s a kid sport.
Skill without context is useless. If you teach a player to trap the ball but don’t teach them to trap the ball under pressure then it’s useless. If you teach players to pass accurately but not how to move then your team is easily beaten.
Players and teams need to be taught the skills to play posession football under pressure without resorting to hoofing the ball out.
And this needs to be taught from a young age. Lionel Messi was picked up by Barca at age 12 because he already exhibited the skill level required but from there Barca showed him how to play as part of their style.
Morace is probably a good coach but her mistake was thinking that she could take players who played long ball and teach them to play posession. It doesn’t come as second nature and it showed in this world cup. It will take years of development before the younger players come through into the senior Canadian womens team.
Developing better skills and style of play is commendable but expecting the senior team to become Barcelona overnight is too much.
Look at England, they have Capello and he’s struggling to make them competitive becuase it is not second nature for them to possess the ball under pressure.
This is in contrast to a coach like Hiddink who goes to teams, sees what the culture of their football is and tweaks it ever so slightly so that he is not asking too much of their skills but is still able to be successful.
Player development should continue but it has to start from the ground up not from the top down.