It’s not just that we (that is, Canada) suck at soccer: it’s how we suck. We don’t score goals. we run up and down the field, chasing the ball, and we don’t do anything. Which, on the surface, is going to make Canada’s adventure at the latest international tournament, the World Under-17 male championships in Mexico, just another sad exhibition in our inconsequentialness in the world’s most popular sport.
So, here’s the scene. Canada’s in a division of four teams: Rwanda, Uruguay, England and us. The top two – Uruguay and England – will advance, the other two fight it out to qualify in a playoff round. Last night, it was Canada-England at Pachuca. Four minutes to go, Canada down 2-1, and the goaltender Quillan Roberts, the teams’ substitute, a 16-year-old TFC Academy student, boots the ball about 75 meters in a desperate attempt to find Canadian forwards. He fails. But what a glorious failure! (Vancouver Sun)
If Canada beats Rwanda Saturday night, they make the playoffs.
