Believe in Canada

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This article was published 08/10/2021 (1771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Are you a believer now?

It’s getting harder and harder to deny it. The facts are incontrovertible. At this point it’s not even a matter of faith so much as an inventory of proof. Need some more evidence.

On Thursday night, at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca — site of both the Game of the Century and the Hand of God — Canada’s men’s national team became only the 10th opponent to leave the fabled arena without a loss in World Cup qualifying.

They also scored their first Azteca goal since Gerry Gray’s late equalizer almost 41 years ago. The Canucks were down to 10 men at that point, so the 1-1 draw back in 1980 was particularly impressive. But a loss to Honduras in Tegucigalpa proved their undoing, and they missed out on the 1982 World Cup by a single point.

That is not going to happen this time around. Nope. These Canadians are headed to Qatar, and their performance against El Tri is only the latest reason to believe.

If you’re still doubtful, just ask the Mexico fans. They whistled their own team off the pitch at the interval. Having opened the scoring against the run of play in the 21st minute, they struggled mightily for possession thereafter and concluded the first half with a minority of the ball. By then Canada had pulled level through Jonathan Osorio, and but for close misses from Alphonso Davies and Tajon Buchanan the guests might have walked back down the tunnel with a two-goal lead.

And they would have deserved it.

Canada played Mexico off the park in that first half (When was the last time we could say that, if ever?), spreading more passes, taking more shots, winning more duels, making more tackles and drawing more fouls than their pedigreed hosts, and while they had to sustain a predictable fightback after the restart, they finished the match well and should really have won it.

Manager John Herdman admitted as much in his post-match press conference, remarking that he and his players were disappointed to have not taken all three points.

Disappointed. With a draw against Mexico. At the Azteca.

Herdman, himself, answered some doubters with his game management in Mexico City. His starting line-up was spot on, and, just as importantly, his substitutions were astute and well-timed. They sealed the result.

He has come some way since that quarter-final loss to Haiti in the 2019 Gold Cup. But then, so has the entire men’s program. As recently as six weeks ago its qualifiers were going to be mostly hidden from mainstream sports fans on a soccer-specific website. Now Sportsnet and TSN are broadcasting the lot.

And next up, on Sunday (5 p.m., Sportsnet One and 360), is a match against Jamaica at Kingston’s Independence Park—colloquially known as “The Office” — where Canada hasn’t won since 1988 (John Catliff scored a hat trick that night).

As it happens, Les Rouges have lost three of their last four encounters with The Reggae Boyz, and their most recent win, in 2017, featured only one player (Osorio) likely to be included in Herdman’s XI.

That’s how much things have changed in four years. Really, everything has changed.

At kick-off, Canada will be third in the region’s standings — in an automatic qualification spot despite having played their most difficult away games, against Mexico and the United States. Jamaica, meanwhile, will be dead last, without a win through four matches and with only two goals scored.

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Where Canada might have previously hoped to draw in Kingston, they’ll now expect to win. And then, on Wednesday, they’ll be anticipating all three points against a Panama side that just lost to El Salvador.

Once again, they’ll close the international window in position to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

Get used to it. You can’t deny it. Results don’t lie.

You’d better start believing.

jerradpeters@gmail.comTwitter @JerradPeters