THE SOUTH STAND REPORT Special Edition : Canada v Ecuador... or Opposite Night at BMO Field!

Liberally stolen from CBC and Chris Young/Canadian Press. Sorry but this is beautiful.

I need a forum for this and I'll keep it brief and do my best to tie it into our beloved Robins (that's TFC folks).

The match was an electric affair where a combination of sublime luck and timing earned a draw against relentless pressure and natural skills. 2-2. Canada up by one, concede two then tie it up in injury time. What an absolute cracker.

So here's what I don't get:

• 20,000 show up for the mediocre TFC yet only 12,000 show up for the more technically superior in every which way (except defensive midfield - yeah you deGoo) Canada.
• did the CSA actually believe that they'd sell out the place?
• when they realized that the mythical 8,000 person walk-up could never happen, did they not think to paper the ground with local kids teams and show them what the future can be
• TFC can overpay for apparent talent but somehow think Tosaint Ricketts is out of their reach (or does Politehnica Timişoara really pay competitive wages in the Romanian top flight)
• better atmosphere with fewer supporters? Yeah, it's possible.

It was easy to poke fun of the "Canadians in Yellow" regarding how their side lost to Canada by virtue of not actually winning, and it's even easier to call out the convenience of supporting, on paper or by FIFA ranking, the better side. But it is embarassing to see more people supporting the country they left/abandonded/forced from than the place they actually call home. And it's more embarassing that the CSA couldn't do enough to turn that number.

If TFC would like to bring back the exhibition matches, bring in "Canada vs [name of country here]". Tickets end up in the right hands and you can finally send the fans home knowing that they've seen a good team in a red kit play well for 90 minutes.

Lastly, I'd like to give a shout out to my favourite Canadian footballer right now, Milan Borjan. In a day in age when so many "Canadians" do not want to represent Canada, one who emigrated here wanted to. His story is humble and makes the chest swell with pride. I'd also like to say Milan played an excellent game, bailed out more than a few defensive blunders and that he's better than Begovic in every way.

The culture in the Canada supporters section was refreshing. Sure, it was the same 5 songs, but there wasn't a subplot competition of cheerleaders. Groups were unified. We stuck it to the other 90% of supporters in our home ground, out singing them for most of the game.

This is what footballing support was about. Singing not because someone on a wooden perch said so, but singing because you love to do so. Singing because you believed you needed to connect to your side. Singing because of a spiritual desire for the game.

Ask yourself if you truly felt that rush the next time you depart BMO.

If you were there, you can't wait for the next one. And if you weren't, you missed a very good justification to support local soccer.

Thank you. Rant/epiphany over.