’86 alumni recall Canada’s last Cup appearance
VANCOUVER — Canadian head coach Tony Waiters knew what he wanted when he prepared his team for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
The players would be fit and well organized. The team would be difficult to play against and create opportunities from set pieces. Waiters also knew what he didn’t want.
“In 1982, El Salvador got beat 10-1 by Hungry,” Waiters said. “I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen to us.”
Carl Valentine, a striker on that 1986 team, remembers standing in the tunnel prior to Canada’s opening Group C match against France. A favourite to win the World Cup that year, the reigning European champions had a lineup featuring such players as Michel Platini, Jean Tigana and Alain Giresse.
“That moment being in the tunnel makes it real,” Valentine said. “Then you are thinking: ‘Oh my God, don’t embarrass ourselves.’
“We didn’t score a goal, but we didn’t get blown out.”
It’s been 32 years since Canada qualified for its only World Cup. Members of that team recently gathered in Vancouver to reminisce about the past and talk about the excitement of Canada being a co-host for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“This is kind of an occasion to probably tell the same stories we tell every time we get together,” said Bob Lenarduzzi, a defender in 1986 who would go on to be a national team coach and president of the MLS Vancouver Whitecaps.
The ’86 team was stocked with several players from the old North American Soccer League, which folded in 1984. Waiters, a former goalkeeper who earned five caps for England, coached the 1979 Whitecaps team that won the NASL championship. Valentine and Lenarduzzi played on that team.
The groundwork for the World Cup was laid at the 1984 Olympics, where Canada lost to Brazil in a shootout in the quarter-finals.
“That gave us a lot of momentum and I think we carried that into qualifying,” said striker Dale Mitchell, who would go on to coach the Canadian national team.
To reach the World Cup, Canada needed to qualify out of CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean). With host Mexico automatically granted a berth, Canada was one of 17 teams battling for the final spot.
The Canadians punched their ticket to Mexico with a 2-1 win over Honduras on Sept. 14, 1985, in St. John’s, N.L.
During the qualifying matches, Waiters had preached taking space away from opponents, especially against teams such as Costa Rica and Honduras.
“If you let them play they would kill you, so we didn’t,” he said. “We made life very difficult for them.”
Goalkeeper Paul Dolan said what the team lacked in skill it compensated for with camaraderie.
“We were a brotherhood,” he said. “We knew we weren’t the most talented team.”
A disciplined Canadian team gave the French all they could handle. Initially nervous, Dolan relaxed and soaked in the moment.
“Where you might have had fear and just wanted to get the game over, I enjoyed it,” he said.
Canada missed several good scoring chances early. As the match progressed it looked like the sides would settle for a 0-0 draw. In the 78th minute a Canadian defensive lapse allowed France’s Jean-Pierre Papin to score.
Canada would lose the next game 2-0 to Hungary. Waiters said some Canadian Soccer Association officials returned home even though Canada still had a mathematical chance of advancing.
The final game was a 2-0 loss to Russia. Lenarduzzi came close to scoring Canada’s only World Cup goal.
“I rushed it and stubbed my toe,” he said.
“It just kind of caught the ball and it bobbled toward the keeper. I was happy because the keeper actually dived for it. It made it look a little better.”