Canada Calls Toronto Home - NYTimes.com There were a lot of angry, red faces up in the Great White North this week after the Canadian Soccer Association announced that all four men's national team games this year - a friendly against the United States in a special centenary match in June and three World Cup qualifiers - would be played at BMO Field (home to that city's entry in Major League Soccer) in Toronto. The decision was especially galling to soccer fans in Vancouver, British Columbia, after that city hosted the recently completed Concacaf women's Olympic qualifying tournament in front of big crowds. The United States defeated the hosts in the final, but both nations advances to next summer's Olympics in London. "I think for Vancouver and people outside of Toronto, there's quite a bit of disappointment that the games weren't spread around," Brett Graham, vice president of Vancouver Whitecaps supporters group the Southsiders, told MLSsoccer.com. According to Stephen Hart, the coach of the men's national team, the dealbreaker was the artificial turf at BC Place and in Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta. He told a news conference Thursday: The reality is that it made sense to play the games in Toronto, to minimize the travel as much as you can, and not have the players crossing time zones. We felt that in Toronto, the dressing room, the field, everything feels like home. In discussion with players and with staff, we thought the best thing to give us an advantage would be to actually play in Toronto. The players are accustomed to the surface [at BMO Field] which is very, very important. We would love to be in a position to play in Vancouver or Edmonton or even Moncton, but logistically it's just not possible. To play on turf would put us at a disadvantage. Most of the players don't play on turf on a regular basis, so it doesn't make sense. Out in the Canadian Northwest, the Vancouver Sun's blog, Soccer Shorts, saw matters a bit differently: Maybe the decision to play the World Cup Qualifiers at BMO Field will turn out to be an inspired one but the decision to not even offer a friendly to Vancouver, Montreal or anywhere else for that matter comes across as short-sighted and parochial, and helps to perpetuate the idea of a Toronto based bias that many fans find difficult to shake off be it true or not. Canada will host the U.S. on June 3; then play World Cup qualifiers against Honduras (June 12), Panama (Sept. 7) and Cuba (Oct. 12). The game against the United States will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the C.S.A. Canada's first international, also against the U.S., was played on June 27, 1925 in Montreal. Canada has not qualified for the World Cup since 1986, when the tournament was played in Mexico. Midfielder Julian de Guzman, who plays regularly at BMO in M.L.S., told The National Post that he expected the fans to support the home team in the games. I think it's going to be a different experience as to previous years where playing at home you were dominated by the opposing team's fans But I think that's going to change around, we're celebrating 100 years this year. I think a lot of fans are going to come out and support that cause and at the same time it will follow up with success. They know how important this round is and we're going to bring out a lot of attention. But just when you think the C.S.A. might be tone deaf, on Friday it unveiled the national team's new Umbro jerseys that includes a graphical depiction of the sound wave from the national anthem, "O Canada." Back here in the U.S. of A., where to play national team games is also a topic of debate, mostly centering on how to minimize the impact of playing games in cities will large expatriate communities who are more likely to support the visitors. And Canada will probably face the same situation in a cosmopolitan city like Toronto. Other than playing all home games in Anchorage, what are the alternatives? Up in Canada (as in the U.S.), the national team wants to play on grass. Is that a valid argument? And as Canada again begins to rebuild the game up north (Montreal joins Vancouver and Toronto in M.L.S. this season), should the C.S.A. try harder to spread the wealth around the country with men's and women's national team matches?