The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
World and Local Soccer Scene What a week in the world of soccer. The title races in the various European leagues are reaching their climaxes. Chelsea looks unbeatable in the English Premier League, Barcelona are running away with the Spanish Primera Liga, Juventus are once again the powerhouse in the Italian Serie A, with Lyon and Bayern Munich leading the French and German leagues respectively. This could lead us to think that North America is playing second fiddle to Europe and the rest of the world as we lead up to the World Cup of soccer played in Germany this coming June. FIFA, the worldwide governing body of soccer last week released the latest standings, and to no ones surprise the USA are now ranked 5th. The other top 10 men's teams are, Brazil, Czech. Republic, Netherlands, and Argentina. Canada is ranked 85th. For the women, the top five rankings are, Germany, USA, Norway, Brazil and Sweden. Our team has slipped just out of the top 10 to 12th. How can this be? Surely in the land of NHL, NFL and MLB, soccer could not rank as one of the leading sports. Yet soccer is the leading participation sport both in the US and Canada. It is also the fastest growing sport in both countries, attracting more players each year. Canadian and US players feature in all the European leagues, with most teams having at least one North American star in their squads. During the upcoming season I will be reporting on our local and northern Manitoba soccer scene. I will also give a "coaching tip of the week". Plus answer any questions that you may have. I hope to interview leading players in Flin Flon, bring you news from our very own world of soccer, and keep you updated with the efforts to bring a full size soccer field to our city. Next week we will start with some of the plans that the Phantom Lake Soccer Club have for the upcoming season. Of course the World Cup will be a feature, I already have my new soccer shirt, flag and cap for the first game! I cannot help but become English again! Don Kirkham's column Kick It With Kirkham will be published every Monday.
