Canada missed chance at facing Maradona
Meeting with legend in 1994 denied after World Cup qualifying loss to Australia
Diego Maradona once came within a penalty shootout victory of playing a World Cup qualifier in Edmonton.
It was Canada's shootout and had they been better from the penalty spot against Australia in 1993, Maradona would have likely made an appearance at Commonwealth Stadium with the Argentine national team.
The soccer icon died of a heart attack Wednesday at the age of 60, but more than a quarter century ago, the road to the 1994 World Cup would have gone through Edmonton for Maradona and Argentina had Canada been able to get past Australia in the previous round of qualifying.
“We won the first leg 2-1 in Edmonton and we were down 1-0 in Australia in the second, and actually equalized with 20 minutes to go and it looked like we were going to win 3-2 on aggregate,” said Bob Lenarduzzi, head coach of Canada at the time. “I think they scored with about 10 minutes left and then we went to extra time and then to penalty shots, which we lost.
“At that time, only 24 teams qualified for the World Cup. The Americans were the hosts so they qualified automatically and there was only one other spot (for CONCACAF) and a backdoor spot where you had to go through Australia and then the fourthplace finisher in South America, which no one would have had Argentina finishing in fourth spot and they did.”
Prior to facing Australia, Canada had a chance to qualify directly for the 1994 World Cup by beating Mexico in its final CONCACAF group game at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. Canada lost 2-1 in front of 12,000 fans and was forced to try to qualify through a circuitous route, which involved defeating the Oceanic winner in a homeand-home series and then the fourth-place finisher from the South American qualifying group.
Had Canada been able to get past Australia, they would have faced Argentina in a home-andhome series for a place in the World Cup tournament in the United States. Maradona had just returned to the Argentine national team and played in the series against Australia. He would have played against Canada had they not lost 4-1 in the penalty shootout to Australia.
“We were excited at the possibility of playing Argentina as well, because even if we had lost, it would still be something to go down there and play in a meaningful match to get to the World Cup,” Lenarduzzi said. “Australia drew 1-1 with them at home and then lost 1-0 in Argentina, so it was close.
“We would have been able to see him live and that place (Commonwealth Stadium) would have been packed to the rafters if Maradona was coming to play.”
The Canadian Soccer Association decided to play the first leg of the series against Australia at Commonwealth Stadium and the game drew a crowd of over 27,000, which was a record for the national team at that time. A home-andhome series against Argentina would have likely been played in Commonwealth as well, which at the time was the largest venue in the country with natural grass.
“I'll confess to this, when I found out we were playing in Edmonton against Australia, I actually said to the CSA, `why are we going there?' But that game blew me away, because we ended up with 27,000 fans and they were unbelievable,” Lenarduzzi said. “I think I may have been to Edmonton a couple of times prior to that as a player and a coach and we never got more than five, six, seven thousand fans, so the decision to go there, I thought it was weird. But as it turned out, it ended up being our home for most of the time that I was in charge of the national team.”
After getting past Australia, Argentina went on to win its first two games at the World Cup with Maradona scoring a goal in a 4-0 win against Greece and then setting up another in a 2-1 win against Nigeria. However, after the win against Nigeria, Maradona tested positive for ephedrine and was banned from the rest of the tournament.
“There's another link (with Canada),” Lenarduzzi said. “In 1979, my younger brother Danny, along with Mike Sweeney, Branko Segota, Ian Bridge — it was a really good group of players — they went with Canada to the Youth World Cup in Japan and that was Maradona's coming out.
He was part of that Argentina U-20 team and they won the Under-20 World Cup and he was outstanding. That's when people started to recognize that he was something special.”
Maradona led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986 in Mexico, the only time Canada qualified for the event, where Lenarduzzi participated as a player. Maradona scored two goals against England in a quarter-final, which have gone down in infamy. One with his hand, the other in a dribbling masterpiece.
“That game itself, he scores a goal with his hand and then 15 minutes later he walks around half the English team, that to me sums the guy right up.” Lenarduzzi said. “I think about that Hand of God goal, he never admitted that he handled it, he said it was divine intervention. People ask me how you get to be that player and I say, you don't.
“If he thinks there was divine intervention, it was when he was born.”