Jim Brennan's day was Tuesday. Wednesday belonged to Dale Mitchell.
The Canadian men’s soccer coach dealt with Brennan's comments calmly and with conviction. The coach says he had several chats with the TFC captain over the last few months but never really made any progress in terms of seeing eye-to-eye on Brennan's role with the World Cup qualifying team.
It may be academic anyway, since Brennan has vowed not to return under Mitchell, but the head coach came out with a firm "no" when asked if he would select Brennan again. In response to a question regarding his own future with the team, Mitchell said the “no” word again when asked specifically if he had ever considered resigning after the Honduras loss in Montreal.
Mitchell has enough on his plate without worrying about a player he didn't call up anyway. With Julian de Guzman injured and Dwayne De Rosario and Adrian Serioux suspended for the Honduras match, he has some big holes to fill. That's the focus of the training sessions in Florida right now. He's simply trying to make sure he gets the mix right between his choice of midfielders and forwards.
By all accounts none of this has affected team morale. Training sessions have been up tempo and positive. But the players know that this is a huge mountain to climb. That's another thing Mitchell picked up on. It’s his contention that so many people in this country think this should be easier than it is, without any real understanding of the dynamics of a World Cup Qualifying campaign. That opinion is hard to argue with.
This is the atmosphere surrounding a match Canada cannot lose or risk being eliminated with two matches remaining.
Mitchell says his starting eleven is in his head. Lars Hirschfeld will start in goal. The rest we'll have to wait for.
