Straith, Canada hope for more success at friendly confines of B.C. Place
GAME DAY: HONDURAS AT CANADA, 7 P.M.
Defender Adam Straith and goalkeeper Simon Thomas, who lived 10 minutes apart while growing up in Oak Bay, will be dressed tonight in B.C. Place Stadium for the biggest Canadian men’s soccer game in three years.
Canada plays Honduras (7 p.m. on TSN) in the opening fixture of the fourth round of CONCACAF (North and Cental America and Caribbean) qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Earlier Canadian 2018 qualifying victories were against minnow nations Dominica and Belize. The real work begins tonight.
It isn’t lost on Canadian fans that this is the first rematch since the catastrophic 8-1 defeat in Honduras in October of 2012 that destroyed Canada’s chances of advancing to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
A Canadian loss tonight to Honduras could prove just as disastrous since it is very hard to recover from home defeats in CONCACAF. The corollary is that stealing three points on the road is a massive boon for any team.
“I’ve said before how important it is for us to get off to a strong start, and getting three points [tonight] will be just the first step in hopefully a long qualifying campaign,” said Straith, who has 30 caps for Canada and started every earlier 2018 qualifying game against Dominica and Belize.
Canada usually plays its international fixtures at BMO Field in Toronto. Tonight is the national team’s first qualifying game in B.C. since 2004 at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby.
“We’ve shown many times in Toronto what playing in front of our home fans can do to our performance. So we are looking forward to getting to B.C. Place and hopefully having a loud crowd to play in front of,” said Straith, who donated a set of tickets for the game, hotel accommodation and signed Canada jersey that were raffled off in a draw last week at his old Bays United club.
“Hopefully, we can give the people coming out something to cheer about,” added Straith, who went from Bays to play for Lower Island Metro.
Straith and Thomas are both 25 and both play professionally for teams in Norway. Twice-capped Thomas will dress in goal for Canada alongside veterans Milan Borjan and Kenny Stamatopoulos, with one of the latter two likely to start. This call-up is more about positioning Thomas as the potential Canadian goalkeeper of the future.
“That’s a long-term goal of mine,” said the Islander.
“But I’m focusing only on the present. It’s an honour to be called up for your country . . . the pinnacle of any career. The World Cup is every soccer player’s dream.”
Canada is attempting to get to the fifth and final round of CONCACAF qualifying, also known as the Hexagonal, for the first time since 1998. In order to get there, Canada must finish in the top two of its fourth-round Group A that includes world No. 95 Honduras, No. 94 El Salvador and traditional regional power and world No. 24 Mexico.
It is crucial for world No. 102 Canada to gain points out of all its three home games in the fourth round to stand any chance of advancing to the CONCACAF Hexagonal for Russia 2018. Extracting points on the road is difficult in CONCACAF, especially for Canada in hostile, sweaty and unfamiliar Latin American settings.
It’s a quick turnaround to Canada’s next game, which is Tuesday in El Salvador. The following games are March 25 against Mexico at a home venue to be decided, followed by a game March 29 at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. The closing games are Sept. 2 in Honduras and Sept. 6 at home against El Salvador.
The eventual top three out of the CONCACAF Hexagonal will advance to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, with the fourth-place finisher playing Asia No. 5 for an at-large berth.
Canada has only once qualified for the World Cup. That was in 1986 when Island players Ian Bridge, George Pakos and Jamie Lowry played and current UVic Vikes coach Bruce Wilson captained.