This is the US Thanksgiving version of Down-the-Line.  Canada had theirs in October.  Don’t ask me why.  I’m sure there is a logical reason for it.

We’ve got a great line-up for you.  New contributors Rick Celebrini and Michael Rose look after the Injury and Fitness sections.  I would encourage you to look at their websites to learn more about them.

Regular contributors Warren Mersereau of Soccer Solutions, Keith Hardisty in Australia, Chris Groot of ITSportsNet keep churning out their quality articles.

You must look at Bob Evans take on the new way of refereeing.  Is he serious?  You be the judge.

Rob Walker gives us a real insight into the pressures of being a world-class goalkeeper.

Thanksgiving is not only a time for celebration, but also one of reflection.

From a soccer perspective, looking back (not-so-far) we saw another very successful American-staged Women’s World Cup following the transfer of the tournament from China due to the SARS problems.  What it didn’t produce was another world championship for the US women, but it was always close.

More problematic than the 3^rd place World Cup situation was the folding of WUSA, the first fully professional women’s league in the world.  Many people are working very hard to resurrect the League.  It is important to the game in North America that they succeed and we should all add our weight to the task in hand.

The Canadian women’s team surprised many with their strong finish to the tournament.  With a young team it bodes well for women’s soccer in Canada and that is being reflected in the dramatic increase in female registration – both girls and women.

Even Pellerud has proven himself on two continents.  As the former Canadian national coach who took Canada to its only appearance in the men’s World Cup Finals (Mexico 1986), I gladly concede that Even is the most successful national coach in the history of Canadian soccer.  He knows what it takes to win games. 

However, his greatest challenge, and the American women’s greatest challenge, is coming up.

For the US women, without a league of their own, will they be able to sustain the high level of competitive international play that they have since 1991 (and before)?

Will the W-League be good enough to provide that competitive experience?

Will many of the star US players look for opportunities in Europe and other parts of the world?

As the Canadian men’s program knows only too well, without a national domestic league, players are scattered to all the four corners of the earth.

Without a domestic league and no outlet for Canadian female players in a professional league in the United States, Even Pellerud, has a much bigger challenge than the one he has already answered.

His tactics both with the Canadian U19 team (Head Coach, Ian Bridge) and with the World Cup team, was to play a very direct style of soccer with the midfield often by-passed by long balls into the front players.  It works, but will probably have to be modified in future years. 

With the halo effect of the women’s team, will coaches working with players in their early development years believe that is the way to develop players?

England won the world cup in 1966 when Alf Ramsey schemed a very successful team system that suited his best players.  Some said it was a 4-3-3, but for most of the time it was a 4-4-2.  Others (the cynics) called them the  “Wingless Wonders.”  But the England players at the time all have world cup winners medals to show it was very effective. 

However, it set the English game back 20 years because of the incorrect assumption that it was the way to play at any level.

Back to the “leagues of our own.”  If the Canada men (and women) do not have a domestic league of at least 8 – 10 teams it makes it an extremely difficult task for the national coaches.

The American men made all of us involved in soccer in North America proud with the level of their performance and accomplishment in World Cup 2002.  Two thirds of that team came from or though the MLS.  Of course, Bruce Arena (a winner at every level) had much to do with that, too!

The next men’s coach of Canada, due to be appointed in December of this year, will have to face 18 to 20 qualification games over an 18 month period to win a place in the 2006 world championships.

The task for the coach is first of all to persuade the star Canadians in Europe to come and play on this continent.  Then to motivate them to give their last drop when batting the Salvadorans in San Salvador or the Hondurans in Tegucigalpa or at 6000 feet, the Mexicans at Azteca Stadium.

With a lucrative career back in Europe will they give body and soul to the Canadian cause?  Many will without hesitation.  But it only needs one or two to have doubts and there is a team weakness.

So a challenging time for the game of soccer at the highest levels in North America.  One thing is for sure.  The game is not going away and continues to increase its numbers of participants.  Eventually, it will establish itself as a truly professional game, men and women, both sides of the border.  Unfortunately, that does not resolve the short-term situations.