Good to see that while I was gone accountability continued to be persona non grata in Canadian soccer.
Admittedly, when I set out for Spain a fortnight ago I had accepted that Canada's road to the World Cup mapped out more like a cul de sac and would so until 2014 in Brazil blipped on the radar.
Little did I know that using cul de sac was being generous.
Now the downside of visiting a country where the entire population is enamoured with the success of its La Roja is that finding the results (in print) of other countries -- England included -- is difficult.
So I traveled in relative soccer ignorance until Thursday when I arrived home and reconnected with world via the internet -- and the Group 2 results page on FIFA.com made me laugh out loud: two points from five matches.
Five points less than group mate Jamaica and just one ahead of Suriname, the acknowledged CONCACAF whipping boy.
A few more clicks and the stories which accompanied the embarrassing results spilled out in front of me. In the Canadian soccer version of TLC's home reno show While You Were Out, national team players called out coach Dale Mitchell; quit the national team; performed well in a meaningless finale before finally wrapping up the whole process with a big bow of apathy.
Two weeks I was gone! And watching the Spanish play a pleasing -- and winning -- style had softened me as I was only able to laugh off Canada's results and go to bed dumbfounded.
Until Friday morning, when I sat back down at the computer and read that Argentine coach Alfio Basile had resigned after a woeful loss to Chile. What a novel concept; a coach stepping down from his responsibilities after a poor result.
Previously I have questioned Mitchell's ability as a leader of men. The former national team player himself is a quiet and sometimes ambiguous man. But he understands the game, and I know this opinion is definitely of the minority.
That being said it is time for Mitchell's understanding of the game to extend beyond the white lines. Former national team defender-turned-broadcaster/blogger Jason De Vos said it best when he wrote that managers live and die by their results. Mitchell needs to fall on the sword. Not because he does not know what he is doing, but rather because it is the right thing to do. Basile did it with grace in Argentina and I am sure the gesture will cool the blood of the demanding Argentine supporters.
While I don't think the blood of Canadian soccer supporters will ever reach a boiling point, their patience will.
In hindsight the expectation of qualifying for South Africa was too lofty. The reality is our national team does not have the talent at the needed positions to play at the game's highest level. It is likely a blessing that for many of the names under Mitchell the recent disappointment will be their last.
As for the talk of dismantling the Canadian Soccer Association it is as productive as daydreaming. Like Winston Churchill once said of democracy: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
