Time For Vague Answers Is Passed

By Ben Knight Globe & Mail On Soccer

Mitchell vs. Brennan
In the matter of Toronto FC captain Jim Brennan vs. Canadian national soccer team head coach Dale Mitchell, not all the facts are in evidence.

We know that Brennan didn’t pick up a lot of playing time in the first three World Cup qualifying matches, and was not called for this weekend’s trip to Honduras. We also know he has loudly and publicly said he will never play for this particular Canada coaching staff again.

But when he did, he didn’t name Mitchell specifically – not in any initial release I read, anyway. He did, however, praise assistant coaches Stephen Hart and Nick Dasovic by name, so I suppose we’re all free to draw our own conclusions.

Mitchell, for his part, said yesterday he will not pick Brennan again, criticizing the player for turning down three Canada call-ups in recent times.

Hanging over all of this, of course, is the long dark shadow of the Canadian Soccer Association, and the ongoing howls from us unwashed, unworthy outsiders that Mitchell should not have been given the director’s chair after that sad and soggy goalless outing his Under-20s put in at last summer’s FIFA youth World Cup.

In fairness, I wish to raise two points.

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