Well, here’s a novel suggestion for those of us who wind our souls around our adrenaline, and live and die with every move the Canadian men’s national soccer team ever makes.
Chill.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Gold Cup kicks off tonight – Canada v Jamaica at the Big Building Supplies Barn in Los Angeles, California. Yep, same opponent as a year ago, when World Cup Qualifying began.
Yeah. Well. Anyway …
Not that 2009 is the year that doesn’t matter. Sure it does. But it will be three clear calendar years before Canada plays a game of any true importance, relative to its own future as a World Cup soccer nation (and all the cash and adulation that entails).
As always, Our Reds have been slotted in a Group of Death-like set-up, with the Reggae Boyz, a grim, grinding El Salvador and Our Old Pals From Costa Rica. Outside of World Cup matches, it’s a group Canada hasn’t done badly against in recent times. Heck, Costa Rica’s looked plenty darn beatable at times. (Other times, not so much.)
So, for this fan anyway, this is going to be a low-expectation, high-study Gold Cup. Take the scout approach, and pretend – yeah, yeah, I know – that maybe the actual results don’t matter all that much.
(If that bugs you beyond endurance, please just jump down to the paragraph below, beginning with UNLESS!!!)
With big stars like Dwayne DeRosario and Adrian Serioux sitting this one out, it’s a great chance for some newer faces to shine.
- Do Josh Wagenaar or Kenny Stamatopoulos get an extended run in goal, or is this former Toronto FC backstop Greg Sutton’s big chance to re-start his career?
- Young target-man Simeon Jackson has had a great run lately, both for club (Gillingham) and country. And now that striker Ali Gerba is coming home to Toronto, will that put some extra jump in his already impressively heavy shot? Swingman Will Johnson is gradually becoming a star with Seagull City SC in MLS. Is this the time for him to claim serious international playing time as well?
- Is defender Andre Hainault ready for a decade of solid starts? Does speedster Jaime Peters finally make himself indispensible?
That’s should be enough to keep me interested, and out of agony.
UNLESS!!!
… They start winning.
They did that two years ago, didn’t they? Okay, they opened with a win, then got embarrassingly buried by not-even-a-country-drat-it Guadeloupe. But they resumed winning, and looked set to keep right on doing it until they ran into the wrong side of Mexican ref Benito Archundia, the same demolition specialist appallingly responsible for Honduras-gate in Edmonton, WCQ, 2004.
Yeah, that hurts to remember.
I’m not saying anyone should even try to prevent emotional hemorrhage if every little thing starts clicking and Canada starts putting serious boot to CONCACAF butt. And once we’re committed, well, who knows how it ends this time?
So I’m going for wise and impartial – at least off the top.
But ultimately, who are we all kidding? A big win over Jamaica tonight, and we’re all helpless. I’m just going to at least try not to volunteer for it.
Sort of …
Maybe …
GO CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Onward!