Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny199r
This is another world for those of us that have suffered as CMNT fans since the 90s. I remember being on the old network 54 voyageurs forum. Aside from Gold Cup in 2000, it felt hopeless at times. Now, we have our own league, our own superstars and a team that is a privilege to watch. We NEED to make the World Cup to keep up this momentum and exposure for the growth of the game here.
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1986 was crazy. The excitement of making it to the World Cup really galvanized a national interest in soccer for the first time.
They had no chance against any of the powerhouse teams of course, and were nothing more than group play fodder. No worries though, it was going going to be fun, and there was plenty of 'hope' for something miraculous - maybe they could be fortunate enough to get a draw or two, maybe, somehow, find a way to squeeze out a win. Either way, it would be a learning experience to build upon (yeah, right!)
They were in a group with France, Hungary and USSR. And IIRC correctly, the odds makers had them at 500:1 against scoring a goal. I had to put $20 on that!
Their first match was against France, and I don't remember anything about the game other than one play: (relatively early in the match, if I am remembering correctly), a Canadian gets possession just off to the left of the France goal, and takes a shot. It beats the goaltender, and sails towards the corner of the net, where it catches the twine, just behind the left post! The announcer yells 'goal!' (or some equivalent), and I lose my #### in excitement. A moment or two later (though it felt like much, much longer), he corrects himself and says it hit the outside of the net, wide of the mark. No goal.
Well, ####.
That close to hitting the jackpot.
No worries though, still almost 3 full games to go, and clearly they are able to compete with these big Euro teams, so another goal is just a matter of time! (yeah, right)
I don't think they got another reasonable scoring chance in any of the 3 games. Not a sniff. And ever since then, being a fan of Canadian soccer has been a very, very dry and depressing experience.
So what this team is doing now, what they appear to be starting to build, is really something. And is such a long time coming. In some ways, I don't want to get my hopes up, because, well I have seen this movie before. But getting our hopes up is the whole point of being a fan.
So I am absolutely all in on this team!