Canadian men left with questions again as drought continues

VANCOUVER— After another failed bid to qualify for the World Cup, Canada Soccer is once again faced with the task of figuring out how to turn around its men’s program.

Canada was eliminated from the 2018 qualifying phase on Tuesday night despite a 3-1 win over El Salvador at B.C. Place. A Honduras-Mexico tie meant Canada finished third in its group, one point behind secondplace Honduras.

First-place Mexico and Honduras advanced to the final qualifying round while Canada is once again on the outside as the years since its only World Cup appearance in 1986 continue to stack up.

The fate of head coach Benito Floro is uncertain. Hired in the aftermath of a disastrous end to qualifying four years ago — Canada was knocked out in a humiliating 8-1 loss to Honduras — change didn’t come fast enough, with many fans and commentators questioning Floro’s player selection and choice of substitutions.

Many players, however, would like Floro to stick around.

“I honestly hope that he’ll stay because we’ve seen a lot of progress in this program with him,” said midfielder Samuel Piette. “I really hope they’ll stay but we’ll see. It’s tough to see from the outside of the team of the progress but from the inside, there has been a lot and I hope it continues along.”

Floro wasn’t tipping his hand about the future, choosing not to discuss that matter after the match.