London
Free Press: City, Wizards Trade Shots
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
City, Wizards trade
shots
By Morris Dalla Costa, Free Press Sports
Columnist
They do this at prize fights.
You know, when the two
opponents hold press conference and talk about how much they dislike each other
and how they are going to kick each other's butt. It's usually done to sell
tickets.
It doesn't happen often in other sports because coaches believe
there is some psychological advantage derived by an opponent when anything
derogatory is said about that opponent.
Football coaches have become famous
for this. Their opponent may be a team that's 0-5 and lost every game by double
digits, but that doesn't prevent a coach from coming out with some inane comment
about how dangerous that team is and how their 0-5 record doesn't reflect the
type of team they really are.
That's offensive to anyone with a modicum of
intelligence. No one really believes that stuff anyway.
So it's kind of
refreshing when someone actually tells the truth about how they feel about an
opponent.
This Friday at Cove Road field, in the opening game of the Canada
Cup soccer tournament (the Canadian Professional Soccer League's league cup),
London City will play Ottawa Wizards.
The winner will move on to Saturday
and play the Brampton Hitmen. The other game Saturday will have Toronto Croatia
against Vaughan Red Devils.
It seems Ottawa has begun to get on City coach
Harry Gauss's nerves. Not that Gauss has many nerves left.
Having taken this
tournament three weeks ago, he doesn't have much of time to prepare. He's been
in Toronto three times since Wednesday and has had his hands full attempting to
make sure the tournament runs without a hiccup.
So on Sunday morning at a
league meeting, when Ottawa began to complain about the scheduling, Gauss began
to seethe.
City is in the tournament only because it is the host team.
Ottawa will finish first in the CPSL first division and likely will finish with
the best record overall. When it comes to tournament competition, though, none
of that matters.
Ottawa also is smarting from the fact that when Hamilton
couldn't hold the tournament, the CPSL executive gave it to the capital city,
only to have that decision overturned by the team owners and the event given to
London.
"I'm listen to them ranting and raving about having to come to
London and why do they have to play the wild-card team," Gauss said. "And they
have to travel the furthest and they'll have to stay in hotels all weekend and
look how expensive it is.
"Well, I've got news for them. They won't be
around for the weekend."
It would be a massive upset, but if nothing else
the animosity will make the tournament's opening game very interesting.
"I
had to listen to them go on about how they had the best facilities and the best
team. Arrogance is fine but don't keep shoving it down people's throat. Shut up
and prove it," Gauss said.
The game is at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, with the next
day's games beginning at 5:45 p.m.
"There's always a lot to do but there's
going to be some good soccer," said Gauss, who always has been willing to risk
money to bring good soccer to the city.
This time he's getting some
help.Tourism London recognizes that not all events will make money but that it's
important to bring in events so that more teams and individuals become familiar
with the city. The city owns bleachers that it loans to non-profit groups like
the University of Western Ontario Mustangs for their home games. Technically,
Gauss's is a professional team but an event of this sort is not going to make a
lot of money. The city has come to an agreement that would allow Gauss to pay
for the bleachers only if he makes money.
It's a smart compromise.
Tickets bought in advance are $15. Otherwise it's $10 for the City game
against Ottawa on Friday and $15 for the two games on Saturday.
If the
action on the field is as hot as the war of words, it will be worth the price of
admission.
.
.