|
|
Yesterday I sat and watched the entirety of the World Cup Qualifying draw and as each country was drawn in each region I had more than a few fistpumps of joy. But nothing compared to the draw for Canada.
Before I get into how lucky Canada truly was for this draw, I’m going to address the feeling of dread that Canadian fans get when these draws come around.
Under no circumstance should Canadian fans feel dread when these draws take place. CONCACAF is a region in which Canada should be able to advance to the pre-hex round with no problems. And much of the dread was around whether drawing Guatemala would be a potential short-circuit for Canadian football.
Sorry, I did not feel the same way. If Canada was unable to beat Guatemala, it would not be able to get past the next round anyway.
That being said, the draw against 3 minnows is quite favourable for Canada and should allow Hart to call up a number of younger players for their first competitive caps once the team has qualified for the next round.
Now when the third round draw was done, I went absolutely bonkers, jumping up and down and hooting. Why? Well, Canada received possibly easiest potential group it could have had. No Mexico and no United States means the group that Canada will be drawn into will likely be a crap shoot. On top of that, Cuba is included in the group (assuming Canada advances). Cuba was one of the worst teams at the 2011 Gold Cup and is almost certainly a weaker side than Canada.
With the draw as it stands, Canada has an extremely good chance at making the Hexagonal. If Canada can make it that far, anything can happen and with a few bounces the right way Canada can qualify.
Making the Hex would go a long way to erasing a lot of painful memories of previous World Cup cycles for Canadian supporters and it would be a big boost to the game in this country.
However, with this draw, failure to qualify for the Hex should be considered a coaching failure. Stephen Hart has the cards favouring him and will be required to get the team through to the Hex. Failure to do so should result in his firing. If we make the Hex, it will still be difficult to qualify for World Cup, and that should be kept in mind. Canada is still the team that flamed out of the 2011 Gold Cup and the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers. But if they can get into the Hexagonal, anything can happen.
And with the draw we received, it should be asked of this team to make it into the Hex. Mission 2014 has been the slogan that people have been using with our hopes for getting to Brazil. A more realistic Mission 2014 is just getting to the final stage of the World Cup Qualification process.
Something Canada has not done since 1997.
|