Canadian men's team wants Montreal to be home pitch

The Canadian men's team wants to make their first world cup appearance since 1986 and they think playing at Montreal's Saputo Stadium is the way to do it.

Tonight sees them take to the Saputo grass pitch for the first time as they try to finish off St Vincent & the Grenadines in the return leg of a two-game series and many players think this field will give them what they need to win.

"Everyone has agreed this is the best pitch there is in Canada, but the CSA (Canadian Soccer Association) and whoever works for the CSA want us to play in (Toronto's) BMO Field and Edmonton as well," midfielder Julian de Guzman said Thursday. "Stuff like that will affect us immensely going toward the World Cup. We feel very comfortable right here."

So, what seems to be the problem? The players feel they play better on the real grass and like the facility. Well it turns out the CSA has a deal with BMO field to play at least six national team-related games there every year. Also, the CSA refers to BMO as 'Canada's national soccer stadium.' The good news, those six games 'are not limited to the national senior men's squad' and as far as BMO's label, what's really in a name?

This is just the latest in the back-and-forth between national team players and often tone-deft CSA. Hopefully someone in management will listen to their players and the coach and not force them to play the biggest games on a synthetic surface.