VANCOUVER, B.C. -- You can usually sum up a year for the Canadian national team in one of two ways:
- It began with optimism and ended in heartbreak, or...
- It began with pessimism and ended with newfound hope.
Itâs safe to say that 2015 fits into the latter category.
Back in January, coming off a horrendous 2013 and mostly empty 2014, many fans of Les Rouges had already written off the teamâs chances of reaching the 2018 World Cup. Yet, as 2015 bids adieu, weâre again smitten with that familiar, intoxicating hey-maybe-this-time-theyâll-actually-do-it feeling.
The âitâ neednât necessarily be qualifying for Russia. Just reaching the Hexagonal round for the first time since 1997 would be seen as an overachievement. With the Canadian team carrying some momentum into 2016's qualifying test, and groupmates Honduras and El Salvador still wallowing in disarrayâĤ hey, maybe this time theyâll actually do it!
Of course, weâve been here before, haven't we? Canada won the 2000 Gold Cup...and didnât reach the Hex. Canada had the âbest midfield in CONCACAFâ in 2008...and didnât reach the Hex. Canada âjust needed a drawâ in San Pedro Sula in 2012...and, well, you get the idea.
But patterns are made to be broken. Perhaps in 12 monthsâ time, we'll be back here with a new narrative for Canada and a new phrase to sum up the year: It began with hope and ended with glory.
For now, letâs look back at 2015 to see how a program that was left for dead following that momentous collapse in the last World Cup qualifying cycle has seemingly clawed its way back to relevance.
Farewell, DeRo; Hello, Cyle
On Jan. 19, in a friendly against Iceland, Dwayne De Rosario scored his 22nd international goal in what would turn out to be the last game of his career for Canada. Several months later, the countryâs all-time leading scorer officially announced his retirement from the sport.
At the same time, De Rosarioâs heir apparent was just beginning his meteoric rise. On Jan. 15, four days before DeRoâs swan song, Cyle Larin went first overall in the MLS SuperDraft to Orlando City SC. He then won AT&T MLS Rookie of the Year with 17 goals for the Lions, and came second in voting for Canadian male player of the year after scoring four goals for his country.
His biggest national-team goal came against Honduras in a World Cup qualifier in November. The goal was originally credited to Will Johnson, who joked afterwards that Larin could have it since he had a better shot at breaking De Rosarioâs goal record.
Weâre still a long, long way from that. Even so, the timing of Larinâs rise couldnât have possibly been better.
Grinding It Out
For years, Canadaâs Achilles heel in World Cup qualifying was its inability to get points on the road in Central America. The arrival of head coach Benito Floroâand his emphasis on a tight, defensive-minded structureâbrought with it the hope that this trend could finally be reversed.
How did that pan out in 2015? Two World Cup qualifiers in Central America, two draws. Those came after a 0-0 draw in Panama in a friendly in late 2014, meaning Canada is now undefeated in three straight games in Central America, following a decade of nothing but losses in the region.
Of course, the big test is going to come in September 2016, when Canada head back to the place thatâs been a graveyard for their World Cup dreams in recent cycles: San Pedro Sula, Honduras. This time, though, if Canada go in needing âjust a draw,â at least theyâll have recent evidence that it can be done.
Thatâs a Familiar Shape
Even those without a keen interest in tactical analysis (such as the author of this article) should have little trouble discerning Floroâs preferred approach. You can bet your house on him running out a 4-1-4-1 formation in any given game, with extra protection for the back line and generally a big target man (like Larin or Marcus Haber) up top.
When questioned, Floro has suggested he simply doesnât have the personnel to play a more wide-open system. And while heâs not necessarily wrong on that point, some fans have said they would rather see the team lose 3-1 in entertaining fashion than grind out a scoreless draw (this, despite the fact that a boring draw is worth more points than an exciting loss in qualifying).
Either way, donât expect Floroâs 2016 tactics to look much different than his 2015 tactics or his 2014 tactics; after all, at the end of the day, itâs points earned on the roadânot entertainment valueâthat make or break a qualifying campaign.
No Shine at the Gold Cup
Speaking of 0-0 scorelines, the outlook on the teamâs chances of reaching Russia in 2018 hit a nadir at last summerâs Gold Cup, the second straight edition of the tournament in which Canada was held goalless.
Each game offered its own unique brand of heartache to Canadian fans, from Larinâs empty-net miss against El Salvador to the stoppage-time goal conceded against Jamaica to Haberâs disallowed-for-offside game-winner against Costa Rica. All in all, it left fans with a bitter taste in their mouthsâand the Canadian team without a shot at the 2016 Copa America Centenario.
Here Comes the Cavalry
But the summer wasnât a total bust for the team. FC Dallas attacker Tesho Akindele committed himself to Canada in a pair of World Cup qualifiers against Dominica in June, and whether he or anyone else knew it at the time, he was at the vanguard of a very promising trend.
Following the Gold Cup, the floodgates really opened. QPR winger Junior Hoilett, after nearly a decade of uncertainty, shockingly committed to his birth nation in September. He joined the Canadian team for an October friendly against Ghana, alongside Lucas Cavallini (who hadnât played for Canada since 2012), Wandrille Lefevre (whoâd just recently gotten citizenship) and Fraser Aird (whoâd previously played for Scotlandâs youth teams).
All of a sudden, the miserable Gold Cup memories were replaced with sparkly dreams about where this new crop of talent could lead Les Rouges.
Location, Location, Location
The Canadians, quite simply, donât play enough home games. That scarcity has led to not only a sense of disconnect between the team and its potential fan base, but plenty of bickering between fans in different cities whenever the venue of a home game is announced.
Hackles were predictably raised when the federation announced that, for the first time since 2004, the team would play its November qualifier against Honduras in British Columbiaâspecifically, at Vancouverâs BC Place. Some fans preferred a frigid outdoor locale, such as Edmonton or Ottawa, to âfreeze outâ the opponents.
But in the end, more than 20,000 fans (the vast majority of whom were in Canadian red) braved the chilly (by west-coast standards) conditions at an open-roofed BC Place and saw the good guys emerge with a massive 1-0 victory.
All of the good feelings engendered by that result meant much less hackle-raising upon the news that Marchâs qualifier against Mexico will also be held at BC Place. Tickets are selling briskly for that match, and now everyone is waiting to learn where Canadaâs final World Cup semifinal-round qualifier, against El Salvador on Sept. 6, will take place.
No matter where that game is held, its outcome will decide whether 2016 follows the classic script of optimism melting into tragedy, or if this is the year this team rewrites Canadian soccer history.
