Impact Soccer

The real kicker here is that a second attempt to host the Olympic qualifying tournament, has been turned down by the CSA, which was originally offered the hosting of the tournament by CONCACAF.

"They turned down a gift from us," Lenarduzzi said.

"There was no downside. We as a club decided to offer a lifeline."

It was just over a month ago at the Women's World Cup in China, Canadians were outraged when Angus Barrett of the CSA admitted that the CSA turned the qualifying tournament down because "we couldn't afford the $300,000 to $400,000 it would cost" to play host to the six-team tournament in Canada despite the advantage it would give Canada in attempting to get to next summer's Beijing Olympic Games.

Barrett said the event was therefore expected to be held in Haiti.

"Haiti can afford it but Canada can't?" Canadian team manager Les Meszaros questioned. "How do you explain that to the Canadian public?"

Try explaining this.

The Whitecaps are owned by Greg Kerfoot, the man who has put up sigificant money to pay Canada's players $20,000 a year plus expenses to train them in Vancouver at a residency camp. He was willing to back the entire tournament.

And again the CSA said no!