It’s historic. It’s a major upset.
The Canadian Men’s National Soccer team beat the U.S. on Oct. 15. No one, not even the Canadian players probably, saw this coming. It was the first time we have beat them in 34 years, and it couldn’t come at a more important time than now. The game was part of the CONCACAF 2019-20 Nations League A Division, which Canada shares with the U.S. and Cuba. Each country will play each other twice, which Canada and Cuba have already done with the former winning both (6-0, 1-0). Winning the first game against the U.S. ensured that Canada has already qualified for the 2021 Gold Cup (a different tournament). If they manage to beat the Americans again on (Nov. 15) they qualify for the semi-final of the Nations League.
The Americans still have to play their second game against Cuba. After winning their first game against the islanders 7-0, it’s safe to say our southern neighbours will win. It would probably be naive to think Canada could upset the U.S. again, but Canada’s performance in this competition is a success as it is. If we were to lose, we would still retain the Gold Cup qualification spot. If we get a draw, we could still advance to the Nations League semi-finals depending on how many goals the U.S. scores in their last two games.
But just getting the upset, there may be longer-term effects on soccer in Canada. It will be on highlight reels on sports stations and bigger stories in the sports pages of regional and national papers of record. It also shows that there is potential for Canada to be more than just a “hockey” nation. We’ve made some small but substantial moves to make the country better at soccer, such as creating the nation’s first professional league.
Hiring Jon Herdman was also a great move. His success as the women’s coach was no fluke and has marshalled Canada into one of their best era’s of soccer since 2000, when the Canadians won the Gold Cup. The squad is getting younger, and with a great influx of offensive talent from Alphonso Davies, Jonathon David, and Liam Miller, the youth movement has proven to be the correct course of action. Davies alone has also proven that Canada can develop high-end talents.
It’s still a long go until Canada becomes a real contender, but we are showing strides. Beating the U.S. is the most obvious one, but the 3-1 loss to Mexico on June 19 was another one despite some very basic errors.
The loss wasn’t as ugly as it looks like on paper. Better players were on rest duty and it was a highly experimental side to boot. Herdman was sussing out Mexico in the hopes to crack their code for a future more-important game (that didn’t happen after all) but it, unfortunately, backfired, as most plans do. But as they say, Rome wasn’t built in one day.
