REST IN PEACE... Canadian soccer's World Cup and other hopes, that is.

Canadian soccer has been falling apart for decades because the sport was mismanaged.

Latest disaster unfolded this past week when our national team got bounced from the World Cup qualifying tournament by losing 3-1 at HOME to Costa Rica.

It baffles the brains that a country like Canada is incapable of finding the right people to run soccer.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I'm talking about senior men's soccer. The ladies and juniors are doing quite well.

We also had a good men's coach in German-born Holger Osieck, who led the team to a Gold Cup triumph in 2000 and to a bronze medal two years later only losing in a semi-final penalty kick shootout to the United States, then ranked No. 9 in the world. The Osieck-coached Canadian squad captured bronze by beating Korea, ranked 20th at the time.

But the sport's mavens, or at least people who think they are soccer's know-it-alls, listened to some digruntled players and chased the coach out of Canada, right back into the hands of the Federation of International Football Association, where he works next to president Sepp Blatter.

STUMBLEBUMS

In other words, he's good enough to work for soccer's top body, but not good enough for some Canadian stumblebums.

Osiek is not the first victim of the Canadian soccer hierarchy. Nor will he be the last. Take the case of two respected and recognizable Canadian soccer experts - Dick Howard and Craig Forrest.

To the uninitiated, let me just say that Howard, a former top-flight goaltender for the Canadian national team and now a member of FIFA's technical and development committee, as well as chairman of CONCACAF's coaching committee, has offered his services to the Canadian Soccer Association to help out with the national team program.

"It was not only I, but also Craig (Forrest)," said Howard, "but our offers fell on deaf ears."

Forrest, a former goalkeeper with Ipswich Town and West Ham and the backbone of the Canadian national team for many years, played at the top level in English soccer with great success. Apparently, neither Howard's nor Forrest's credentials were enough to persuade Canada's soccer hierarchy to engage these two fine experts to help the country climb out of the cellar, where it is buried behind Upper Slobovia and Lower Freedonia

Could it be that the highly paid and volunteer executives are worried that these two soccer experts might expose their lack of soccer knowledge?

Or, are they worried that Howard and Forrest may have some solid ideas on how to help the formation of a professional soccer league in Canada, which would keep talented young Canadian players such as Owen Hargreaves, Tomasz Radzinski, Paul Pescosolido and others at home in Canada instead of having them seek fortunes overseas?

One former CSA board member, Stan Adamson, tried to promote a pro league for Canada, but was shot down. As a result, he resigned and another good man was lost.

But, soccer is not unique in this aspect. Other Canadian team sports suffer from the same malaise of chewing up and alienating their best brains and experts.

But that's a story for another day.

GROSSLY ABBREVIATED

In spite of the NHL lockout, some of hockey's biggest names will appear at the Air Canada Centre on Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. as part of the Hockey Legends' game. Among the stars of the "Original Six" team will be Borje Salming, Larry Robinson, Darryl Sittler, and Lanny McDonald. They'll be facing a team of "Expansion Legends" including Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy and Mike Gartner among others.