TORONTO \u2014 Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 is restless to get on the pitch Friday, so restless he may have worked himself up into a fever. Tajon Buchanan is as locked in as can be, deadpanned and concise with every answer to the media on Wednesday. Promise David’s first thought after training is about what’s for lunch.<\/p>\n
They are each going about their day the best way they see fit, their methods tried and true in becoming the very best Canada has to offer at its first-ever men’s FIFA World Cup on home soil.<\/p>\n
Over the next couple weeks and possibly more with some group stage success, their stories will be known, every goal or save or full-blooded tackle will become a point of inspiration. They will be history makers the second they walk out on that Toronto Stadium pitch, with no real idea of what’s to come.<\/p>\n
“It’s hard because we’ve never experienced this,” defender Derek Cornelius said. “It’s kinda hard to know and think about what to expect. I just hope it’s a sea of red, it’s loud, it’s something I’ve never felt in football before and it’s obviously the biggest tournament.”<\/p>\n
They say it’s the hope that kills you, but what about the hope that builds you?<\/p>\n
Canada searching for its \u2018moment\u2019 in World Cup history<\/p>\n
Every soccer fan will have their formative World Cup experience. The first World Cup I can remember watching was France ’98. My parents were still four years away from making the life-altering decision to immigrate to Canada and I was in the early stages of becoming a Manchester United fan while being mesmerized by the Brazilian Ronaldo. Forget YouTube and social media for highlights, I was barely coming to terms with dial-up internet.<\/p>\n
What I saw that summer can make me feel things that can still permeate through my body 28 years later. I watched the Netherlands’ Dennis Bergkamp score that goal<\/a> against Argentina, Michael Owen score that goal<\/a> against Argentina, too, and of course, Ronaldo be Ronaldo for all but the final. Even without my own country involved, it was impossible not to fall in love with this game. It was ultimately Zinedine Zidane’s World Cup, scoring two headers against Brazil in the final to lead France to its first-ever World Cup trophy. It was a moment, for them, made all the more special by doing it on home soil and they showed it along the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es and Arc de Triomphe.<\/p>\n Cornelius, now 28, formed his first vivid World Cup memories in 2010, none bigger than when Zidane headbutted Italy’s Marco Materazzi in extra time of the final. Many on the current Canada squad consider the 2010 tournament to be their core World Cup experience.<\/p>\n Beyond Diego Forlan unleashing Jabulani magic or Spain’s Tiki-Taka style having its crowning moment, these Canadian players would have also seen how Ghana rose to the occasion of a World Cup in their own continent and rabbid fan support. Playing in South Africa, they became the people’s team with an awe inspiring run to the quarterfinals. The footballing world was crestfallen for Ghana when they crashed out in a penalty shootout against Uruguay in one of the most dramatic matches in World Cup history.<\/p>\n Canada enters World Cup with reason to believe in success<\/p>\n Even though Canada automatically qualified for this World Cup by virtue of being hosts, they enter the world’s biggest tournament in the world’s most popular sport with reason to believe.<\/p>\n As recently as Oct. 2014, Canada ranked an historically low 122nd. In 2013, they couldn’t win any of the 13 matches they played. In 2012 was the embarrassing low of losing 8-1 to Honduras and missing out on the final round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.<\/p>\n Now, they are ranked 30th by FIFA. They were Copa Am\u00e9rica semifinalists, falling to reigning World Cup champions Argentina and Lionel Messi. They have drawn with France in France and some will tell you they ought to have won. Under head coach Jesse Marsch, they have built a true identity of pace, power, and intensity that has caused real problems for opposing sides.<\/p>\n Qatar was a time to be happy to be there, qualifying for the first time in 36 years and going up against what was then the second-ranked nation in the world in Belgium, the previous edition’s finalist in Croatia, and a Morocco team that wound up reaching the semis. Switzerland will be difficult, Bosnia and Herzegovina will be stubborn, Qatar will be a must-win. Now is the time to make a dent.<\/p>\n “This opportunity at this moment in time, as a team right now, our main focus is we want to capture it,” Marsch said. “We want to capture it by performances, by wins, by success, we want to give our country something to really be proud of. This team is full of incredible men with incredible stories \u2014 backstories \u2014 and incredible talent and impeccable character.<\/p>\n “I know Canada loves a winner and also loves good people and I think we can show that we can be both.”<\/p>\n Four years ago, there would have been many kids who raced outside in their soccer cleats or pleaded with their parents to get them soccer gear after watching Alphonso Davies storm into Croatia’s box and power a header off Tajon Buchanan’s cross into the back of the net for Canada’s first-ever goal at a men’s World Cup.<\/p>\n Now, there’s a good chance this country will get to see Canada’s first-ever World Cup point and a first-ever win. A first-ever knockout stage win? That’s the type of win that can be transformative for the sport in this country especially because this time there are lucky ones who will see these moments in Toronto or Vancouver, in the flesh.<\/p>\n It has to be said that the ticket prices have robbed many of these potentially life-changing moments, but if they do happen, it will capture the imagination of the public from wherever they’re watching in a way this men’s team never has before.<\/p>\n The World Cup has traditionally been a time for Canadians to embrace their roots, backgrounds, culture, or just hop on the bandwagon. We delight in seeing all the different flags propped up on car windows, the banter of our rooting interest topping that of our friend’s, making plans on a patio to soak up the sun with a side of tournament drama.<\/p>\n As Bryan Adams threw it back to the “Summer of ’69” at Toronto’s FIFA World Cup Countdown Concert, it was hard not to think of how different this summer of ’26 and beyond could look.<\/p>\n Canada qualifying for the World Cup is becoming tradition, and there is real hope that winning matches can become tradition, too. Maybe now it will become more commonplace to have the Canada flag flying high on the driver’s side with our ethnic or rooting interest on the passenger side. Maybe we’ll feel the joy and sorrow of each win or loss in the way we’ve watched others from afar break down into tears for before. Maybe, just maybe, a lot more of us will make plans to watch them outside of the biggest tournament of all.<\/p>\n So much could change over the next month, and it’s because Canada’s got a lot more than a hope and a prayer going for it right now.<\/p>\n “We can go as far as we want,” striker Cyle Larin said. “We have players playing in all of Europe at a high level. We know what we have and I think we’ll show it at the World Cup.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 is restless to get on the pitch Friday, so restless he may have worked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16174,14203,17953,3519,32860,17,20290,27749,27297,32871,2105,20291,27750,5046,3544,32872,25764,30208,27286,541,32873,31494,588,6371,27753,32874,3543],"class_list":["post-84466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alphonso-davies","tag-argentina","tag-belgium","tag-brazil","tag-brazilian-ronaldo","tag-canada","tag-croatia","tag-cyle-larin","tag-derek-cornelius","tag-diego-forlan","tag-france","tag-ghana","tag-ismael-kone","tag-italy","tag-lionel-messi","tag-manchester-united","tag-minas-panagiotakis","tag-morocco","tag-promise-david","tag-qatar","tag-ronaldo","tag-south-africa","tag-spain","tag-switzerland","tag-tajon-buchanan","tag-uruguay","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}