The inevitable question about whether he has brought up St. John’s in 1985 was asked of John Herdman, as the Canada head coach addressed the national sports media Saturday via Zoom from BMO Field in Toronto.
“Yes, I have at the right times,” said Herdman.
Canada last qualified for the men’s soccer World Cup with a 2-1 victory over Honduras in the Newfoundland capital with a goal by the ever-opportunistic George Pakos of Victoria helping propel the national team to Mexico 1986. Canada hasn’t been back since Pakos scored two of Canada’s four goals in the final round of qualifying. But the resurgent national side can assure passage today to World Cup 2022 in Qatar with a good outcome against Jamaica (1 p.m. PT on Sportsnet) in its penultimate game of the final round of CONCACAF qualifying.
“We’re not there, yet. It’s going to take hard work. Nothing is going to be given,” said Herdman.
“We can do something amazing and define what Canada is. A group of men are about to put Canada into the World Cup. We have to show intensity and why we are No. 1 in CONCACAF. We have to find a way to put the ball into the back of the net.”
A group of former players, including Pakos and Jamie Lowery who played in the 1986 World Cup, will gather at the Sticky Wicket to watch the game, as they have done for all the qualifying matches. Lowery said it is important that Canada clinch at home, as it did using St. John’s as the coldest place it could find in September of 1985, and not leave it to Tuesday in Panama and the vagaries of another game on the road in CONCACAF.
“People in Europe have no clue what goes on in CONCACAF,” said Lowery, who came out of Port Alberni and the UVic Vikes to mark French great Michel Platini in the opening game of the 1986 World Cup.
“CONCACAF officials are so useless it’s pathetic. It’s such an embarrassment to me, as someone who loves the sport and wants to see it grow here, that the Costa Rican player did not get a yellow card for embellishment [in the 1-0 loss on Thursday in Costa Rica after Mark Anthony-Kaye’s red card]. It’s why we can’t sell the sport in North America.”
Through it all there seems an air of inevitability that after today people won’t have to point to Pakos, Lowery, fellow Island-player Ian Bridge, former Canada captain and recently-retired UVic Vikes coach Bruce Wilson and the stalwart Bob Lenarduzzi as among the only class to play for Canada in a World Cup. It’s a mantle they are only too willing to let go of after 36 years.
“It’s time. I believe we will get a result [today] against Jamaica and not just settle for a draw or results in other games,” said Lowery. “The mindset now on the national team is to go out on the pitch to win.”
It is on the mind of everybody who cares about soccer in this country as Canada leads the final round of CONCACAF qualifying at 7-1-4, three points clear of the traditional regional powers Mexico and the U.S. The top three advance to 2022 World Cup Qatar in November. The fourth-place finisher will meet an Oceania side in a last-chance qualifier.
“I try to visualize it,” said Canadian team midfielder Stephen Eustáquio, about the potential moment of qualification.
“The whole country is playing [today], not just us.”
A draw for Canada against Jamaica will do it, as will a Canada loss with favourable results in other games. But this is a team that wants to go through on the front foot.
“It wasn’t to be [in Costa Rica]. It’s in our stars to do this at home,” said Herdman.
“Destiny is in our hands.”
