competitions like the Euros, the Gold Cup and Copa America are all excellent views but the enormity of the World Cup engulfs any atmosphere they can produce. Club competitions admittedly offers a better quality of play especially when one looks at how the Europeans and the South Americans go about it but teams nowadays are bankrolled so heavily any comparison would be a tad bit unjust. The World Cup is about national pride. If you don't think it is a big deal just look at some players faces before kick off when their anthem is being played. Some get tearful while the focus etched on others could rival that of a Swiss clockmaker. To be cliche it really is the world's game. Sure there is a cricket World Cup but only traditional teams in that sport like South Africa and India are welcomed along with a few minor nations who have fledgling programs are allowed to enter. So we are definitely won't be seeing Nicaragua up against Sri Lanka anytime soon on a cricket pitch. In football everyone is welcomed to play unlike my beloved cricket. That being said teams still have to qualify and they are only so many spots up for grabs. That means a raft of countries will not take part and Brazil 2014. This post takes at one of the teams that won't be in sunny Rio de Janeiro come summer of 2014. There is really no easy segue here, well at least for me so, I will just call them by name. Canada! Their failings have not been just recent but it has been a long time since Canadian soccer fans had anything to cheer about.
Soccer has been making the rounds in Canada since the 1800s.The nation hass one of the oldest football associations not just CONCACAF but in the Americas. Founded in 1912 the Canadian Soccer Association takes control of both men and women's teams as well as overseeing all levels of the sport in the country. The earliest soccer bodies in the country were the Dominion Football Association which was formed in 1877 and the Western Football Association which came into being in 1880. According to the record books, the latter played an unofficial friendly with the American Football Association in 1885 in New Jersey with the Canadian outfit coming out on top 1-0. Canada's first officially sanctioned match game against Australia on June 7th, 1924 in Brisbane with the "Canucks," suffering a 3-2 loss.
On the international scene Canada hasn't exactly set the world ablaze, well at least not in men's play. When it comes down to it, the nation has massively underachieved. Canada either chose not to enter, fail to qualify or withdraw from World Cup play. Case and point, the years between 1930 and 1954 the nation didn't take part in the World Cup. In 1958 Canada failed to make it, four years later the territory withdrew from qualifying in 1962 and in 1966 the federation did not even bother to enter. The years between 1970 to 1982 Canadian efforts to make it to the "big dance," fell flat as World Cup births eluded them for about a decade. The country's chance finally came when she qualified for the World Cup in Mexico in 1986. To this date this has been the nation's only World Cup appearance and while in Mexico the Canadians were dismissed without trouble. Placed in Group C along with Hungary, the Soviet Union and France, Canada finished dead last amassing zero points without scoring a goal.
Canada has been waiting along time to redeem themselves on the game's grandest stage and still they continue to wait. From 1990 to 2014 all of Canada's attempts to reach a World Cup has been unsuccessful and now she has to play the waiting game for the next installment and to date that's looking like Russia 2018.
Regionally "Les Rogues," like every other side in CONCACAF has been out muscled by continental giants the United States of America and Mexico but that's not to say Canada hasn't had its success in the federation. The nation to date has two Gold Cups the first of which coming in 1985 against Honduras. Their second CONCACAF title came at the expense of tournament invitee Colombia in 2000. A very impressive feat seeing that the 2000 Gold Cup had teams from other FIFA federations like the aforementioned Colombia. Besides the two continental awards Canada's runs in the tournament has been halted by the usual culprits; Mexico, USA, Costa Rica and Honduras.
In my eyes Canada has been massively disappointing when it comes to men's soccer. Her women's team is stellar just google the name Christine Sinclair to see what I'm talking about. I understand that Canada relative to her size has a minute population, I get that but what really has me stumped is the nation has the infrastructure to really have a go at it's regional rivals the United States and Mexico. Canada is a winter sport haven. No doubt ice hockey will always be king there but soccer has the power to come a close second. The quality of player that the nation is producing on the men's side of the equation has to be better. No knock against Dwayne De Rosario, Atiba Hutchinson and Julian De Guzman who are all wonderful servants to Canada but they were never world beaters or will they ever be. It all falls onto the youngsters coming true like Russell Teibert, Doneil Henry and Kyle Bekker who look good but I don't expect Teibert to turn into Gareth Bale or Bekker to Xabi Alonso. What I am looking for is for them to morph into Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey like figures who the nation can hang her hat on. Canada has to turn solid players into useful game changers if they are ever to become relevant in CONCACAF again. Having the Vancouver Whitecaps, Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact in America's Major League Soccer will allow Canadian soccer to sneak it's players into a competitive league virtually unnoticed something that could only help their cause. I could sit here all day and rattle of a list of things that Canada should do but I won't because all I really want is a competitive and a strong Canadian soccer team going forward. Their fans deserve it, they are among the most dedicated in the region. Plus I don't want to believe that El Salvador and Uganda are better than Canada. I simply reject that world!
Russell Teibert
