Canada going to Qatar

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/01/2022 (1664 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Look, I’ll be honest.

I’m not even nervous anymore. Canada’s national men’s soccer team is headed to Qatar, and the time I’d have otherwise spent agonizing over the standings or dreading the inevitable collapse I’ve instead been using to fret about things like pandemics and whether or not the snow will be cleared from the sidewalks.

There’s only so much worry a person can handle, and this country’s prospects of 2022 World Cup qualification really aren’t among them.

Because, last time I checked, Canada is top of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football table — still unbeaten — and the heavy defeat that has previously signalled their traditional unravelling just isn’t going to happen.

Not like it did back in 2012 when, needing a win in Honduras, they were drubbed 8-1 in San Pedro Sula.

That thrashing, known simply and ominously as “the 8-1”, was naturally part of the narrative ahead of Canada’s return to the scene of their shame. But no one seriously anticipated anything approaching a repeat embarrassment. Rather, that humiliation of almost a decade ago was sort of held up in contrast to the progress of the team — a team expected to get a result at Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano.

Which is exactly what happened on Thursday night, and without both the best player in CONCACAF and the region’s top midfielder.

Of course, no manager would want to be deprived of Alphonso Davies and Stephen Eustaquio, but John Herdman is the first Canada boss with depth in every position, and Junior Hoilett and Liam Fraser, the latter of whom replaced the injured Samuel Piette in the 39th minute, did masterful jobs in their steads.

Herdman has hailed his side’s “next-man-up mentality,” and he’ll be trusting it extends through Sunday’s crucial match against the United States (2 p.m., SN).

Eustaquio, requiring a negative COVID-19 test to join up with his teammates, will only arrive at Pearson on Saturday afternoon at the absolute earliest, meaning Fraser is likely to start in Hamilton. Davies, meanwhile, remains unavailable after being diagnosed with mild myocarditis following a bout of coronavirus.

Their absences, combined with a half-capacity Tim Hortons Field, were always going to provide some adversity. But Thursday’s 2-0 triumph allows them some much-deserved wiggle room, meaning even a loss wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Losing, however, is not something this group does particularly well.

It was back in July, in a Gold Cup semi-final against Mexico, that Canada were last beaten — and even then they were rather reluctantly vanquished, having mostly outplayed El Tri in Houston. That was nine matches ago, and since then they’ve outscored their opponents 15-5 and risen to 40th in the FIFA rankings.

They’ve also taken four points off Mexico in World Cup qualifying — including a first victory since 1976 — and Thursday’s 2-0 win away to Los Catrachos was their first in 37 years. In other words, they’re finally breaking the right kind of records.

And there’s another one they have their eyes on.

Canada haven’t defeated the U.S. in a qualification campaign since November 1980, when Branko Segota’s penalty proved the winner in Vancouver. But they managed to draw them in Nashville last September and currently sit a point above them in the CONCACAF standings.

The Americans weren’t all that impressive their last time out at home to El Salvador — a 1-0 win — and they failed to score in the reverse fixture at Estadio Cuscatlan. They also dropped a 1-0 decision to Panama in October and generally seem to be hit and miss on the offensive side of the ball.

Manager Gregg Berhalter — under considerably more pressure than Herdman — still doesn’t know his best team and made five changes from the side that faced Jamaica in November. A loss on Sunday would make his position almost untenable, what with his country still not taking Canada seriously.

Herdman has styled the showdown as “a cup final,” which speaks to his natural intensity but doesn’t really reflect the reality of what’s at stake.

Yes, a win would put Canada on the verge of outright qualification, but a loss wouldn’t remove them from the top three. And the fourth-place finishers, don’t forget, will take on likely Oceania representatives New Zealand in an eminently winnable two-legged series.

But it won’t come to that. Not even close.

After Sunday, the schedule for the Canadian men shows El Salvador, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Panama. They’ll take seven points, minimum, from those matches — more likely at least 10. And it’s not wishful thinking.

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As Canada prevailed in Honduras on Thursday, Davies provided lighthearted commentary on Twitch. It was the confident display of someone who knows this team is very, very good.

That’s the way I’m watching these qualifiers as well, albeit without the livestream. Sure, I’ll maybe worry about the other stuff, but not this. No, these games are enjoyable because our national team is better than its opponents.

And because, let’s be honest, we’re going to the World Cup.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

Twitter @JerradPeters