Plus, U19 Euros ongoing; CONCACAF U20s; the 401 Derby; Muskoka United and Huntsville Soccer Club updates.

The Summer of Soccer is not quite finished just yet – despite some friends of mine feeling “soccer-ed out.”

Our Canadian National Women’s Team is gearing up to defend their Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games, which begin soon.

We’ll touch base on the men’s tournament at a later date, but the women’s football tournament is set to begin on July 25.

The Canadian Women, led by the absolutely fantastic midfielder Jessie Fleming (seriously, I tell my daughter to “be like Jessie Fleming” all the time) and featuring a cast of tremendous talent with top level experience, will certainly give this a real go.

And recent results since crapping out at the last World Cup have been much better, though twice losing on penalties to our US rivals was not enjoyable (in the Gold Cup semis and SheBelieves Cup final).

But, we can definitely be optimistic heading into the tournament as a strong side capable of anything.

It won’t be easy as the US seems to have reloaded, the World Cup champion Spanish are certainly on top of the world, while the host France squad will most definitely want to make a mark. As well, Germany, Japan, and Brazil are full of talent and experience.

I’m more looking forward to this tournament than the men’s Olympic football, which is always watered down and not even as good as the continental youth tournaments (see below).

Canada’s schedule is as follows:

July 25 vs. New Zealand, 11 a.m.

July 28 vs. France, 3 p.m.

July 31 vs. Colombia, 3 p.m.

CBC Gem and TSN+ will be the streaming sources for the Olympic Games. Allez Les Rouges!!!

U19 Euros – Men and Women

Though not many are aware, the U19 Euros for both the men’s and women’s national teams has been taking place the past couple of weeks. And you also probably didn’t know you could watch them for free in Canada on the UEFA.TV app.

On the men’s side, the defending Champions from Italia have advanced to the semi-finals with one game to spare in the group stage and take on Ukraine on Sunday. Ukraine (2 points) can advance with a win or with a draw if the other game the hosts Northern Ireland (one point) and Norway (one point) ends in a draw.  If Ukraine loses, then the winner of the other match goes through, while a draw will then require goal differential to decide who advances. Both matches are being played at 2 p.m. EST.

France have also advanced, and they play second place Spain needing just a draw to secure first place in their group. A win against Spain would open the door for Turkiye to sneak through if they were to beat Norway. Those matches go on Monday at 2 p.m.

Both semi-finals will be played on July 25 with Italia playing second place from Group B at 9 a.m. and the second semi going at noon. The final takes place on July 28 at 2 p.m.

In the women’s U19 Euros, at the time of this publishing, France, England, Germany and the Netherlands were set to advance to Wednesday’s semi-finals with only the positioning in the groups to be determined in Saturday’s and Sunday’s matches.

The semi-finals times were still TBD, while the final is scheduled for 11 a.m. on July 27.

CONCACAF U20 Championship

The U20 regional championship for CONCACAF kicked off on Friday with Costa Rica and Cuba playing to a 1-1 stalemate and the US demolishing Jamaica 9-0.

The tournament continues today with the Dominican Republic taking El Salvador (7 p.m.) followed by Canada against Honduras at 10 p.m.

Youth tournaments are usually full of bravado, attacking flair, and a youthful exuberance that is a blast to watch. It’s true of the Euros and it’s true of CONCACAF.

The rest of Canada’s group stage games are vs. the Dominican on July 23 and vs. El Salvador on July 26 (both games at 7 p.m.).

All Canadian matches can be seen on One Soccer or the One Soccer channel on FuboTV Canada.

401 Derby

The second (and very likely last) installment of the 2024 edition of the 401 Derby between Toronto FC and Montreal takes place tonight (Saturday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m.).

Normally I would have some long, drawn-out post, but it’s evident that this is a must-win for both sides heading into the League’s Cup tournament that starts next weekend.

Toronto FC is coming off a home win over Philadelphia and an away loss to a Messi-less Inter Miami.

Montreal is unbeaten in three games (one win, two draws) and is seeking revenge for an embarrassing loss in the return fixture at BMO Field earlier this season.

All that being said, this is likely going to end up being a draw with some individual brilliance from TFC’s stars cancelling out a solid team effort from Montreal.

The game can be seen on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

Muskoka United FC

When the president of the opposing club comes up to apologize for the way a game ended, you know the ref was bad. That happened to my U12 Girls team in a 1-0 loss at North Bay on Wednesday night.

All involved agreed a 0-0 draw would have been a fair result in a tough match between two teams that played hard from the first until the last minute.

Unfortunately, that last minute (and all stoppage time) was already passed when the ref decided to extend the match for no apparent reason then called a pass back to the keeper on a deflection off a defender’s foot that the keeper caught (nobody other than the ref, not even her AR with a great view believed it was a pass to the keeper).

The resulting free kick saw the ball bounce around, be saved, and eventually fired into the net. It’s not a good look on the HDSL when this type of poor decision happens, but the coaches and players have to suck it up and can’t say anything about it or risk suspension.

It’s too bad, because it was a very poor way to end an otherwise solid game.

On to the other MUFC results . . .

The U11 Girls Blue Team tied 1-1 at North Bay with Poppy Moyer netting the goal for MUFC.

The U14 Girls won 4-1 at McCulley Robertson Sports Complex in Huntsville on Tuesday night. Andi Stevenson scored twice, with Esperanza Coulson and Olivea O’Halloran adding the others for Muskoka.

The U16 Boys travelled to Caledon last weekend and had a strong overall performance.

They opened with a 3-0 loss to the hosts, then rebounded with a 3-2 come from behind win over FC Emery. Theo Briand scored twice, and Aidan Smith added the other for Muskoka.

They then beat Burlington 4-2 to book a semi-final spot on Sunday. Unfortunately, they ran out of steam on a very hot weekend and with minimal subs, falling 2-0 to the same Emery team they beat the day before.

The U16 Boys bounced back strong with a 5-2 win on Thursday, showing their depth as five different players scored: Beckett Raglin, Carter Imrie, Dan Fronte, Al Wilson, and Theo Briand.

The U18 Boys also won this week, but their coaching and management think they’re too important to send in scorers and results.

The U14 Boys were full value for their 2-0 win over Bradford on Tuesday night with Callum Leese and Carter Ferrera scoring and call-up goalkeeper Islette Greib getting the shutout.

And to follow-up on a way late score that was sent in a while ago (sorry all), on June 23, the U14 Boys beat North Simcoe Rangers 4-1 with Callum Leese, Kyliam Coulombe, Tyler Pink, and Wolfgang Kuehnen scoring for Muskoka.

On to the old guys – the Muskoka O45 men’s team – who had another hard fought come from behind 2-1 victory in Innisfil against the Barrie Masters team. This time it was in the HDSL Cup semi-finals and in a few weeks time (on August 18) they’ll play in the cup final at Nottawasaga.

Brendan Rasmussen scored both for Muskoka and Clinton Bliss made some key stops in goal to preserve the lead and the victory. It was another full team effort, and everyone is really coming together well as the season moves along.

Huntsville Soccer Club – Men’s Team and Women’s League

The Huntsville United FC men’s team played to a 2-2 exhibition match draw against the Orillia O35 men’s team on Monday night at McCulley-Robertson Sports Complex.

Also on Monday night, the Women’s League’s penultimate evening of great football took place at Conroy Park.

Muskoka Marshmallo Company and Muskoka Tea Company played out a tough 0-0 draw, while On The Docks Pub squeaked out a 1-0 win over the SportLab.

Players of the Match awards went week to Emily Lamb, Kirsten Donald, Katherine Ahokas and Sarah MacLaughlin, while Andrea Hill was the lucky draw winner of Annie’s Lasagna from That Little Place by the Lights. On Monday, July 22 the 2024 Champion will be crowned at Conroy Park – head out and cheer them on!

That’s it for this week. Stay tuned next week for commentary and updates on the Olympic football tournaments, the U19 Euros, CONCACAF U20s, Toronto FC, Muskoka updates, and more. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe below.

Ciao for Now!