Of all the qualifiers happening next week one I will be following closely is Canada-Mexico. Unfortunately it is being played on the other side of the country in Vancouver. It's becoming a bit of an event before it actually happens. Canada have had a decent start to this round of qualifying with a win and a draw and there is a much more positive feeling about the team's chances this time after some pretty embarrassing qualifying campaigns. And the supporters are showing their, well, support in numbers. It is normal for football matches at the 54,000 capacity BC Place in Vancouver that the upper bowl is closed off. But as the number of tickets sold kept rising, the Canadian Soccer Association, has opened it up. More than 40,000 tickets have been sold and this is already a record for a World Cup qualifying match in Canada. The target now is to reach 54,000 with one week to go.
Football has come a long way in Canada. It has had the numbers among young players for a long time. In 2008 I came across participation statistics that showed that more children in Canada played football than hockey. This was always countered by naysayers who said, "yes, but where do they all go after the age of 13 or 14?". Well, a lot of them joined big clubs in Europe, facilitated through the clubs in Canada who were part of an improving Canadian system. These relationships with European clubs also resulted in them sending coaches to Canada. And now the quality is there. And with all the European football on television there is more enthusiasm and excitement about football.
And to think that I remember very clearly in the early 2000s when Malta beat Canada in a friendly. Not only did nobody in Canada really care or know about it, but the win didn't really generate much excitement in Malta. And that said a lot, about Canada.
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