Can Canada's Mens Soccer Team Save The Nation?
An academic of our acquaintance insists that the only things keeping Canada united are hockey and the equalization system. To that list we might now add soccer. Till at least the FIFA Men’s World Cup in November, Canada is going to be united in its excitement that Canada has finally qualified for soccer’s Big Dance for the first time since 1986.
For those who don’t know, the FIFA World Cup is the greatest single-sport event in the world. Imagine Eurovision without the sequins and the spandex. Staged by people who aren’t shamed to be bribed by Middle Eastern theocracies. The Big One.
Following the path set out by Canada’s superb woman’s team— that won the Olympic gold medal last year— Canada now has an exciting, talented team of men to take on the demigods of world futbol. Two of those demigods are former World No. 1 team Belgium and Croatia, with whom Canada now shares a place in Group F of the tournament being played in November (to avoid the balmy summer temperatures of Qatar, the host nation.)
How much of a leap does this represent? Back in 2018, Canada’s men were ranked 122nd out of 207 teams. That put them in the strata of Niger and Liberia. Now they face the world’s No, 2 (Belgium) , 16 (Croatia) and 24 (Morocco) in the group drawn last week.
In the years since 1986 talented Canadian products have searched their family tree to see if they might qualify to play for another country— one with a chance at making the World Cup or even winning the prize. Now players with dual citizenships— Stephen Estaquio has Portuguese and Canadian citizenship— are choosing to join the young Canadian squad coached by John Herdman.
It’s safe to say that if Canada scores it will not be jumping en masse into a snowbank, as it did on a frosty night in Edmonton when they beat Mexico 2-0. To be honest, just scoring goals at this level will be a feat for a nation that has not been to the top of the soccer world in decades.
Canada has legitimate world-class scorers in Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), Cyle Larin (Beşiktaş JK), Jonathan David (Lille) and Taj Buchanan (Brugge). But none has been to this level before, and avoiding being overwhelmed with excitement and nerves is as much a task as working on set pieces.
The excitement for this World Cup and the 2026 World Cup— which Canada is to co-host with the U.S. and Mexico— is making some people see dollar signs. Specifically, the politicians in the Canadian cities interested in hosting a sliver of the WC 2026 are seeing the huge price tags for two weeks of excitement. Some are blanching (Montreal), some are full speed ahead (Toronto) and some (Vancouver) are flip-flopping on the cost of hosting a potential Canadian men’s team home game.
Just how expensive will it be for a Canadian city to host some of the 10 preliminary-round games assigned by FIFA? Chris Selley of The National Post has a few numbers. “Toronto Mayor John Tory’s Executive Committee adopted a staff proposal to forge ahead with the city’s bid to host a maximum of five preliminary-round games. The projected cost? Ahem: $290 million, with the city picking up around $90 million and other levels of government the rest. For five soccer games.”
Among the costs of doing FIFA business: “– $64 million for upgrades to BMO Field that it would not otherwise need, notably an expansion to 45,000 seats.
– $41 million for training sites of a calibre that the city does not otherwise need.
– $32 million to run the stadium for the five games. FIFA keeps the ticket revenues.
– $40 million for safety and security.
– $17 million to operate the FIFA-mandated “FanFest,” in a city that turns itself into a World Cup FanFest all on its own every four years.
– $42 million booked under “contingency, inflation, tax.”
Hands up everyone in Edmonton and Vancouver who think their cities can afford this kind of chump change for the glory of having the world’s attention for a couple of hours? The sentiment about hosting these mega-projects in Canadian cities was summed up when Calgarians soundly rejected a bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
Toronto’s previous experience with bidding for the Sumer Olympics has likewise met with tepid support from taxpayers unimpressed with paying the GDP of a small African nation to the International Olympic Committee.
Add to that Canada is predicted to be dead last in the OECD for per-capita GDP growth 2020-2030 and have the second highest per-capita debt to GDP ratio, and you can see that throwing a two-week party might not be the best idea for an economy struggling to pay for the Liberals’ vanity projects.
So the recipe might be: Cheer the Canadian men (and women). Pray that this tranche of wonderful young players is nio a fluke but a trend. And finally, tell any mayor who wants to stage the 2026 FIFA tournament in their city that diverting $300 million is a ticket to the unemployment line.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx