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Luckless Canada miss out
A new boss in respected former international Frank Yallop, a brimming stable of foreign-based talent and a trademark Canadian fighting spirit were simply not enough to see the Canucks through to the final round of North and Central American and Caribbean Zone qualifying. The poor run of results, though partially down to poor luck, saw what some expected to be a resurgent 2004 end in the same heartache as years past – with Germany 2006 dreams strewn in pieces on the snow-covered ground.
With hopes of reliving the glory days of 1986, when they qualified for their only FIFA World Cup™ in Mexico, the Canadians had little trouble surging through to the semi-final round of the region’s qualifiers with two 4-0 wins over Belize. But despite being able to call on such attacking players as Tomasz Radzinski, Iain Hume, Paul Peschisolido and recent Millwall signing Josh Simpson, the 2000 Gold Cup winners fell flat in the hunt for goals in the semi-final round. The disappointment was surely felt most keenly by former player and current boss Yallop, who took over the team’s reins in January of 2004.
“Our play in the final third was not good enough, and that’s not just for the forwards but everybody,” the coach told FIFAworldcup.com in an exclusive post-qualifying interview. “It wasn’t from a lack of effort -- we really put our heart and soul into it, but we couldn’t unlock the door.”
With a fine spirit in the side and hopes pinned on a new generation that came inches from reaching the semi-finals of the FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates in 2003, things could not have gone worse for the expectant Canadians. Finishing with only five points from six matches and scoring only four goals, the anaemic numbers tell only part of the story.
Drawn into an admittedly tough Group 2 alongside Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica, things were never going to be easy for Yallop’s charges. But on several occasions, they could have taken full points in their hunt for a spot in the final group stage. Both meetings with Honduras – oddly enough the side they beat to qualify for Mexico 86 – were packed full of incident, with questionable goals disallowed and a general sense of poor fortune pervading.
A win over Guatemala in their last game went a small way to healing wounded pride and kept the Canucks from suffering the humiliation and ignominy of finishing winless with only two slim points from six matches.
In the end, Yallop was pleased with the effort put in by his lads. But he sees a time for healing injured confidence as the most important thing moving forward.
“We can’t be impatient,” said the boss who picked out up-and-comer Atiba Hutchinson as a player to watch for the future. “And, we need to get our confidence back -- the public, the Association, the players, all of us.”
Founded 1912
Affiliated 1912
WC participations 1 (1986)
WC honours None
Continental Titles NAFC champions (1990), Gold Cup (2000), CONCACAF champions (1985)
Facts
Canada have competed in the FIFA World Cup preliminaries 11 times since 1958, but have only qualified for the finals once.
They put in a creditable performance at Mexico '86, despite finishing the group round with no points and a blank goal sheet. They lost close games to France (1-0), Hungary (2-0) and Russia (2-0).
Canada's 2002 FIFA World Cup™ qualifying campaign came to a premature end with defeats by Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago. Their best win dates back a long way in a venerable rivalry tradition: in 1904, Canada defeated the USA 7-0.
