The best of Canada was on display in a World Cup qualifying triumph over the Americans

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This article was published 30/01/2022 (1670 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON The flags danced and disappeared and then darted back to the surface, which was just a sea of limbs. And Sam Adekugbe? He just sat down to take it all in.

To be fair, he deserved the rest. With the stadium clock at Tim Hortons Field ticking into a fifth minute of added time, Adekugbe had somehow stretched every exhausted sinew, pulled a ball out of the darkening sky and seared clear into a wide-open green expanse. With a swing of his left foot that was part caress and part cannon he sent Hamilton — and the nation — into that frenzied sea of limbs.

Day turned to night and when the final whistle came and went, fireworks lit up the same sky. The flags danced on and then were draped back over shoulders and drifted off into the darkness. And the flags were the right way up.

The world woke up Sunday morning to just about the ugliest vision of Canada you’d dare to dream up. A grotesque, nightmarish vision of swastikas fluttering through the capital, white supremacist symbols and catchphrases peppering what we were supposed to believe was a protest. People danced on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and festooned a statue of Terry Fox with anti-vaccine slogans and upside-down Canadian flags. The prime minister was reportedly spirited away to a secret location.

A convoy that we were told was all about freedom, about defending national honour and pride, was instead a cavalcade of conspiracy and petty (largely white) grievance and rage. Attempts to deflect from the unending flow of reports of rancid acts as merely the work of a bad apples were as shameful as the scenes themselves.

John Herdman and his Canadian men’s soccer team also present a vision of the country on the world stage. Never has it been more vivid than Sunday evening here.

As a result, that vision is now unquestionably on its way to the biggest stage in all of sports.

Canada dismissed the U.S.A., the noisy neighbour from the south, with a soul-stirring 2-0 victory that puts it within a whisper of history — a berth at Qatar 2022 and a first men’s World Cup appearance since 1986.

It was a first qualifying victory over the U.S. since 1980. Canada sits atop the pile as the continent’s only unbeaten team, its most potent attack and its tightest defence.

Historical record and precedent and plain old logic have fallen at the feet of Herdman and his players in recent times. Sunday was so much of that — and more. It was all things at once. It was everything that is remarkable about this group of players, and ultimately it offered its own antidote to every revolting low from the day before.

“We knew we could change a football country forever,” Herdman said afterwards. “That spirit you see, we all want to get to Qatar. I genuinely believe that these men know they have an opportunity to leave a proper football legacy moving forward.”

Two hours before kickoff on a cold but beautifully crisp winter’s afternoon, Melrose Avenue was a hive of humanity. You heard it before you saw it. The low but rising hum of the chanting, sulphur stinging the nostrils as the air turned red with smoke from distress flares. A woman standing a couple of feet back from the chanting masses swayed with her homemade sign: “Qatar here we come!” in emphatic block letters. On the back: “sorry not sorry.”

Canada hadn’t even arrived yet, but you couldn’t help but begin to feel this was another day that would signal their absolute arrival. International soccer’s most-improved team isn’t done. It’s just beginning.

Herdman and his players are not sorry, either. They’re unapologetic in their ambition, in their determination. Relentlessly positive, selfless and united in understated excellence, they make no bones about it: Creating a new history for the country is a mantra.

A squad that is ultra-diverse, swelling with first- and second- and next-generation Canadians, they’ve taken the soccer flame that the country’s women carried on their own for so long and they’ve run with it. And the country is running with them, one of the networks streaming the game reportedly crashing under the clamour of viewers.

They were off and running after just seven minutes here when Cyle Larin lashed in the opening goal. At the other end, goalkeeper Milan Borjan, captain for the day as he returned to his hometown, wheeled away toward the crowd and thumped the maple leaf crest almost through his chest. The Americans never stood a chance.

No team in the continent has been able to live with them. Later, Borjan would come to the post-match press conference with the flag draped around him and be asked: What drives this team?

“I came here when I was 13 years old. Canada gave my family everything,” he said. “This is my way to return it to Canada. Same with all the other guys. We’re one country. We’re one multicultural country. This is the way for us to return it to Canada — bringing them to the World Cup for the first time in 30-something years.”

The Americans had brought their star-studded team north looking to reiterate the pecking order. Canada was without its brightest light, Alphonso Davies. It didn’t matter in the slightest. They all stepped up. Larin and Jonathan David digging in and defending from the front, the tyro Tajon Buchanan breaking up U.S. attacks on the wing and never taking a step back. Barcelona’s Sergiño Dest squared up to Buchanan and tried to stare him down, but was the one who blinked first. That kinda day.

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Adekugbe provided the exclamation point on it all and then provided more emphasis.

“We’re a brotherhood,” the defender said. “The swagger (we have) comes from our brotherhood. We’ve always been humble and confident in our ability.”

And that moment, taking a seat and taking it all in? “It was just a lot of emotions running through me. I was just super grateful for that moment.”

We all should be. After Saturday’s shame, we should be particularly grateful. On to the next moment.

Joe Callaghan is a Toronto-based sports and feature writer and a freelance contributor for the Star. Reach him via email: joecallaghan84@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @JoeCallaghan84