An improbable numbers game for Canada’s soccer team
Goals, Mexico part of equation
Allez les Rouges. Viva Mexico!
The Canadian men’s soccer team needs goals at BC Place Tuesday. Help, too.
Canada hosts El Salvador (10 p.m. ET, TSN) at the same time that Mexico hosts Honduras in the final games of this fourth round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
It’s going to take a six-goal turnaround to see Canada, and not Honduras, through to the Hex — the final round of qualifying — for the first time since 1998.
Do the math however you want. 2-0 Canada and 4-0 Mexico? 3-0 in both games? Dare to dream the improbable, even: four goals at home?
However you add it up, it’s going to take career-defining Canadian performances, Mexico in the mood, and maybe some luck.
“We have belief in ourselves,” said midfielder Atiba Hutchinson, Canada’s talisman. “We know what we’re capable of doing at home. We’ve had good games in this stadium. The confidence is there.
“Obviously we have to have a good start. If we can get an early goal and get things open, anything can happen from there. But we have to approach the game in the right way. We have to be balanced.”
And there’s the conundrum for Canada, who’ve scored just twice in this qualifying round, including one off Cyle Larin’s backside at BC Place.
They have to score, surely a few, but if they concede one it’s probably lights out.
“You cannot rush into it,” said goalkeeper Milan Borjan, who is the main reason Canada isn’t looking at an even larger goal difference to make up on Honduras.
“You’ve got to take it step by step. Just continue playing. Not looking at the watch. Not looking at the other score. Just put our heads into it and try to score as many goals as possible.”
Canada’s coach, Benito Floro, wouldn’t get drawn into talking tactics ahead of Tuesday’s game. He said the focus had to be on process, on creating chances, not on the number of goals they need.
“It’s not important to talk about how many,” he said.
Floro asked for the early support of the home fans, who’ve turned up in numbers in Vancouver: 20,108 for the Honduras game last November and a record 54,798 for Mexico in March, even if one-third or more were rooting for El Tri.
“It’s very important to get a good feeling from the stands to the players,” he said. A couple of questions linger. Does Canada have the players to put three or more past El Salvador, who are already eliminated?
There’s more attacking talent on this roster than any time in recent memory but they’ve not yet delivered on that promise.
Larin might only be 21 but he has to make a difference Tuesday. He has to be that player Canadian fans see banging in goals for Orlando City in MLS.
Scott Arfield, the Burnley winger, is a creative force and will also be key to any offensive surge by this goal-starved side.