Stumbling Forward

By Bill Ault CanadaKicks

It appears Dale Mitchell has failed at his attempt to lead Canada to the promised land of a World Cup berth. Barring a miracle in Mexico he will join an ever growing list of coaches who have given their best but fallen short in the effort to get this country back on the world stage and he will pay the price with his job.

Mitchell will be fired if his team fails to score the massive upset they require tonight and maybe even if he does. He will likely be replaced on an interim basis by Stephen Hart who many say should have been given the job in the first place and Canadian soccer will spin its wheels looking for traction on the way to 2014.

The cliches flow easily in times like this – “Coaches are hired to be fired,” or “Well you can’t fire the team so the coach had to go,” or “We need to look forward,” or the ever popular “It’s the nature of the business.” The cliches ultimately serve the purpose of distancing us from the person involved and allow us to gloss over any emotional feelings when someone’s life work is yanked from beneath them.

I was and am a supporter of Dale Mitchell as head coach of the Canadian national team – I believed that he had as good a chance as any and better than most Canadian coaches to succeed with this team. Obviously things did not go the way I anticipated as the results have nto come and we appear ready to carry on with the carousel of coaching changes that has plagued our program for more than two decades.

Would have another coach have done better so far or do better over the final three games of this qualifying round? Perhaps, although comparing the next three games to the first three games will not be a fair one because essentially all the pressure will be off and like this fall’s resurgent Toronto Blue Jays the games are much easier to play when there is no pressure to succeed and every win is a bonus.

Pressure is defined as an oppressive condition of physical or mental or social or economic distress – in other words a coach killer. Watching Dale Mitchell, a confident, hard working student and consumate servant of the game in this country has been a case study in the pressure of coaching.

The pressure of being a professional coach at any level is beyond the understanding of most sideline observers – every move, every decision, each word and each thought are scrutinized and analyzed by the media, the fans, the management and the players. Magnify that scrutiny tenfold for the international soccer coach. There are few other ways of making a living in this world that force as much introspective thinking and second guessing.

Even in a third world soccer nation like Canada the pressure on the coach to succeed, especially a Canadian born coach, builds at each training session, with each result and every press conference. Most people will never endure this or understand the effect this kind of day to day pressure has on the individual and how it begins to undermine your confidence in yourself, your players, your beliefs and influence your ability to make decisions.

The fans and the management are the first to distance themselves from you and finally your team does as well. Wins become ties, ties become losses and the “if only” phrase enters every conversation you have with and about your team. Finally there is no tomorrow and your life long professional pursuit is reduced to – “Well he was a great guy but you can’t fire the players…”

Win or lose or draw tonight in Mexico Dale Mitchell is a great guy and a good coach he will recover, grow from this experience and move on to better things.

Canadian soccer will brush him aside, mutter it’s not our fault and stumble on towards the promised land because that is what it does best.