by Gian-Luca
In 2003 I drove to the Gold Cup on Foxboro, Massachusetts. Nearly a 9 hour drive, I arrived in time to see Canada open the Gold Cup with a 1-0 win over Costa Rica. So far so good.
A couple of days later it was time for some more sight-seeing in the area during the day before heading to Gillette Stadium for Canada's second and final group game against Cuba. But disaster struck - I got to my car early that morning to find that my muffler clamp had fallen off and I needed a new one. I gingerly drove my car to the nearest auto repair shop I could find in the tiny town of Foxboro (the entire population of which I think could fit into one side of Gillette Stadium three times over). Foxfield Tire it was called. It took some time for them to see me, and then they discovered that they didn't have the right parts. So they had to send someone to get it. Only they made a mistake and someone sent the wrong part. We tried again and failed, and ultimately improvised by finding some metal wire to hold the thing in close, which I prayed would be enough to keep it in place for the 9 hour ride home the next day. In the meantime, some 7 or 8 hours had passed and I almost didn't make the game in time. Instead of spending the day sight seeing I was trapped in the town of Foxboro and spent most of my time reading copies of Readers Digest in the waiting area of this quaint auto repair shop. It was the worst day of a vacation I had ever spent in my life, but I figured Canada would beat Cuba and make the day turn out right after all.
Canada was upset 2-0, a loss that would eventually put them out of the tourney. The person I drove down with had decided to extend his vacation in Boston so I drove home alone and in silence for 9 hours contemplating the ultimate misery of being a Canadian soccer supporter.
Flash forward 6 years. With my drivers license up for renewal soon and only working until noon today, I decided to go get the required clear air emissions test before I can do the renewal with some 8 hours to get this done before the 2009 Gold Cup begins with Canada. Its takes me three attempts to find a place early on a Friday afternoon, and even then I still have to wait 45 minutes before they start the test. But disaster struck. It is discovered that muffler now has a hole in it and needs to be replaced. They have to order in the parts which will take time and then it will take another couple of hours after the parts come in, so it won't be done until 7. Their shuttle car is currently out of service and its raining outside, so I'm stuck once again. A horrible sense of Gold Cup deja vu is happening. Just like the day of a Canada Gold Cup game in 2003,I have the whole afternoon to do anything I like, but instead I spend it hanging around an auto repair place waiting for them to fix my muffler. The only difference is that it is Canadian Tire instead of Foxfield Tire. Even the length of time waiting was the same. How can this happen twice to the same guy the day of a preliminary round Gold Cup game? This is obviously a bad omen that a same result going to happen, a disappointing Canadian loss.
All this is to say, thank you Ali Gerba for tonight's goal. I feel like you've just exorcised some demons that have been haunting me for the past 6 years. You can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned from now on.