When you do think Canada will finally qualify for the world cup again?

[Soccerpro]

I honestly thought Canada had a great chance to qualify for this world cup before they proved me oh so wrong in the hex.

But I'd be lying to myself if I thought our skill level matched the 3rd WC qualifier Honduras or even 4th place Costa Rica. While our squad might perform decently at home, I definitely have no faith in going to Central America and getting results like the way the USA has learned to do.

When I think about it with my head instead of my heart I think 2018 will see us with a good chance. I think (hopefully) having 3 teams in MLS by 2012 will be the greatest development tool for soccer in this country. If the success of Toronto FC is emulated in both Vancouver and Montreal, it will push the game more mainstream from a pro sporting event sense, and perhaps get us some desperately needed corporate sponsorship for the CSA, add to that the ever improving youth academies, a place for Canadians to play, a place for kids to aspire to play etc

I really think for Canada, the next 10 years is the decade in which soccer in Canada finally "takes off" in the main stream sense the way some have been predicting it would since the NASL. And I can't wait.

[Macksam]

2018 for sure. We have a shot at 2014 as well.

[canucklefan]

It's naive to believe we have a chance at 2014. To think we can qualify in 2018 it's too much optimism IMO. Since it looks impossible to have our own professional league, MLS will play an important role for us and for that matter, the best thing that could happen is that MLS put in place the same youth system (club academies to graduate to the club reserves to finally graduate the first team) that exists in every other professional league.

I want to put El Salvador as an example. El Salvador is a country with a professional league and they qualified 2 times to a WC, 1970 and 1982. After their second WC (sorry I don't know what year exactly), to save money, clubs lose interest in develop their young players and decided to eliminate its academies. Subsequently, El Salvador never managed to qualify to another WC.

[yomurphy1]

It's naive to believe we have a chance at 2014. To think we can qualify in 2018 it's too much optimism IMO. Since it looks impossible to have our own professional league, MLS will play an important role for us and for that matter, the best thing that could happen is that MLS put in place the same youth system (club academies to graduate to the club reserves to finally graduate the first team) that exists in every other professional league.

I want to put El Salvador as an example. El Salvador is a country with a professional league and they qualified 2 times to a WC, 1970 and 1982. After their second WC (sorry I don't know what year exactly), to save money, clubs lose interest in develop their young players and decided to eliminate its academies. Subsequently, El Salvador never managed to qualify to another WC.

Not the best comparision... El Salvador is a poor country of 6 million people, Canada on the other hand is wealthy, has 35 million people and soccer is becoming more and more popular.

I'll try not to get ahead of myself but we have a very bright future ahead of us and I see no reason why 2018 isn't possible.

[Sam]

Wow what an uplifting thread...

Realistically I think we have a much better shot at 2018 than we will at 2014. I'm saying that mainly because I don't think we have the talent to do it by 2012 (it is still 2 years away though), but by 2018 we'll hopefully have a fairly domestic based squad and we will have three MLS teams plus hopefully more USL/NASL teams and on top of that if the MLS teams all have Vancouver-esque academies we'd be in good shape

[Grizzly]

We have the talent to do it any year. Other than Mexico and the US there is no other team with a signigicantly better level of talent in CONCACAF than we do. There are a number of teams though with a similar level of talent and equal chances to qualify as we do. In order for us to qualify in 2014 we need to have some factors come together such as good coaching/tactics, motivated players performing to their ability, no injuries to major players, reasonable reffing, no group of death, luck etc. There are 5 or 6 teams in CONCACAF after Mexico and the US that could qualify if the right number of these factors come together for them and we are one of them. Where we need to improve and hopefully will with the continual improvement in our domestic soccer is to develop to the point where we are above this group and qualify regularly even if all of these factors don't magically fall into place. Obviously that will not be the case in 2014 but there is no way we should write off our chances for qualifying.

[TFCRegina]

Think? 2018 or 2022. Would sacrifice to the higher powers for? 2014.

[JoshieScores]

I think the main obstacle that Canada or any of the CONCACAF teams are facing (exception of US and Mexico) is simply number of available qualification spots. Asian group gets full 5 spots (starting 2014) and CONCACAF is still stuck at 3 (plus 0.5 spot via playoff against CONMEBOL) despite having similar number of countries and the stronger parody in our region. Right or wrong, this is the reality and as long as the number stays the same and the refereeing remains at current sub par level, we have a huge mountain to climb. On the bright side, I honestly believe CSA is on the right path and with the talent pool is increasing with more domestic teams competing in the highest professional level, making a run for 2014 should be optimistic.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

It's a long shot at the moment given there are at least seven credible contenders for the third automatic qualification spot (Mexico and the United States can be regarded as close to guaranteed for the first two) and there appears to be too much player power (probably due to the lack of depth to the roster) to bring in a top coach from overseas who would set high standards and ruffle a few feathers by making potentially unpopular but necessary team selection decisions.

There is hope for the odds against qualification to shorten considerably by the 2020s, however. If over the next decade a situation can be created where there are MLS franchises in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, three or four NASL teams along the lines of Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton and Ottawa and maybe another five to ten PDL teams in smaller cities like Victoria, Thunder Bay and London (and ideally also a properly organized elite amateur/semi-pro tier to the game in the major population centres) all with a strong youth system in place there will be no need for the best Canadian players to leave for Europe if they want develop into quality full-time pro players in the 16 to 23 age range. At that point with maybe 30 or 40 full-time pros starting regularly for a team in North America as credible selections for the national team (in addition to the very best players continuing to move to the top five or so European leagues i.e. the Premiership, serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1) good things could start to happen because there would be a player selection situation comparable to that of Honduras and Costa Rica.

[canucklefan]

Another factor that came in mind is, when you see our NMT play very good football the last 2 Gold Cups and and then show a poor level the last 2 WCQ, I ask myself if the players, or some of them, were scared when they were facing the real test, get to play a World Cup.

[canucklefan]

Not the best comparision... El Salvador is a poor country of 6 million people, Canada on the other hand is wealthy, has 35 million people and soccer is becoming more and more popular.

I'll try not to get ahead of myself but we have a very bright future ahead of us and I see no reason why 2018 isn't possible.

I'm not even trying to compare Canada and El Salvador, I just want to show how important is that professional clubs take care of their young players.

[The Ref]

I am an optimist and say that Canada will qualify as soon as the U.S. or Mexico commit some infraction and be suspended from an upcoming W.C., thus allowing us to take the second spot.

[Macksam]

It's naive to believe we have a chance at 2014.

It's naive to think we don't have a chance at 2014. There's always a chance.

We have the talent to do it any year.

Grizzly has it right.

Another factor that came in mind is, when you see our NMT play very good football the last 2 Gold Cups and and then show a poor level the last 2 WCQ, I ask myself if the players, or some of them, were scared when they were facing the real test, get to play a World Cup.

No, it was just Dale Mitchell coming in and fucking things up.

[canucklefan]

Macksam, we'll see who's right and who's wrong in 2012-13. the situation being what it is, I don't see Canada qualifying in a near futur. Costa Rica and Honduras are miles ahead Canada right now. BTW, I find extremely naive to point the finger only at Dale Mitchell and give him all the blame.

[Macksam]

Macksam, we'll see who's right and who's wrong in 2012-13. the situation being what it is, I don't see Canada qualifying in a near futur. Costa Rica and Honduras are miles ahead Canada right now. BTW, I find extremely naive to point the finger only at Dale Mitchell and give him all the blame.

Costa Rica and Honduras are not miles a head of Canada. That's just being pretentious.

[Razcle]

Macksam, we'll see who's right and who's wrong in 2012-13. the situation being what it is, I don't see Canada qualifying in a near futur. Costa Rica and Honduras are miles ahead Canada right now. BTW, I find extremely naive to point the finger only at Dale Mitchell and give him all the blame.

Yah I have to disagree. Costa Rica and Honduras are not miles aheads of us. I believe they are barely steps. And as the soccer culture in Canada continues to improve we will soon be the #3 country where everyone else will be battleing for the 0.5 available in Concacaf. Like the US, Canada has far superior training facilities ( and I believe acadamies) than any of the other nations (excluding the big 2). We just need to starting taking this sport seriously and we will soon be just a step below the US.

I am still waiting and hoping to see this.

[Razcle]

Does this form have the option of making Polls, because this would be a good poll question and see when the V's really believe Canada's next World Cup appearence will be.

Also, whenever the US or Mexico get the world cup next that will open up another slot potentially for Canada. That helped us in 1986didn't it?

[Sam]

I think the difference between the middle CONCACAF teams like Jamaica, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador and us is the fact those teams all have a defined style and players who fit into the system. Canada probably has a similarly talented starting XI (although we have less depth IMO), but we seem to have a mismatch of players who play in a huge variety of leagues across the world and there always seems to be mass confusion. That is why having more and more players in the MLS will help.

[Ivan]

Does this form have the option of making Polls, because this would be a good poll question and see when the V's really believe Canada's next World Cup appearence will be.

Also, whenever the US or Mexico get the world cup next that will open up another slot potentially for Canada. That helped us in 1986didn't it?

Nope, it actually hurt us. It meant that one spot was automatically occupied by the US, leaving the rest to fight for 1.5 spots.

[canucklefan]

Like the US, Canada has far superior training facilities ( and I believe acadamies) than any of the other nations.

On that point, I agree that Canada has perhaps one academy that could be considered as superior than any other CONCACAF nation, and it's Vancouver Whitecaps Residency, but you know one academy it's not enough. We have to be a realistic and see our system as a whole and that's when I think the other CONCACAF nations like Costa Rica and Honduras have a better system than our's IMO. Now, I would love to see TFC and Montreal Impact to get a look at Vancouver Residency program and run their academies like the Whitecaps do. That would help a lot.

[Guest Ed]

Ivan, Mexico was host in 1986 and took one of only 2 spots open to CONCACAF. Canada had to be the best of the rest to get that last spot in the tournament.

[BearcatSA]

It's a long shot at the moment given there are at least seven credible contenders for the third automatic qualification spot (Mexico and the United States can be regarded as close to guaranteed for the first two) and there appears to be too much player power (probably due to the lack of depth to the roster) to bring in a top coach from overseas who would set high standards and ruffle a few feathers by making potentially unpopular but necessary team selection decisions.

I think this team needs a better collective identity. The problems start when guys (coaches and players alike) start thinking they're better than they actually are and don't take enough responsibility for their performances and then too many people here continue to blow sunshine up their asses by finding other fall guys for the failure. Hart will be looking at new prospects in the coming months and that's very important, but whether or not he's got what it takes to forge that collective identity remains to be seen.

I think there's a leadership void here which needs to be addressed if we are going to have any success come 2012.

[Ivan]

^^ Oops. Thanks Ed. I was thinking '94. when USA took one of 2.5 spots, we lost a ballbuster to Mexico (was Bunbury really offside?), then lost to Australia on penalties. Can't remember for sure, but I think Argentina or Uruguay was waiting if we got past Australia.

[masster]

We have the talent to do it any year. Other than Mexico and the US there is no other team with a signigicantly better level of talent in CONCACAF than we do. There are a number of teams though with a similar level of talent and equal chances to qualify as we do. In order for us to qualify in 2014 we need to have some factors come together such as good coaching/tactics, motivated players performing to their ability, no injuries to major players, reasonable reffing, no group of death, luck etc. There are 5 or 6 teams in CONCACAF after Mexico and the US that could qualify if the right number of these factors come together for them and we are one of them. Where we need to improve and hopefully will with the continual improvement in our domestic soccer is to develop to the point where we are above this group and qualify regularly even if all of these factors don't magically fall into place. Obviously that will not be the case in 2014 but there is no way we should write off our chances for qualifying.

I disagree. If you rated all of the teams in Concacaf on talent alone, we are not in the top 4. Throw in all of the other problems we have like no home support, style of play that is not favoured by CONCACAF refs, etc. and we are miles away. I hope people would start realizing this so we don't continue to fool ourselves.

Our best chance of qualifying for a World Cup in the future will be whenever the USA hosts next. I don't think they deserve to host in either 2014 or 2018, but I am cheering for them as it will open up a spot for us. It would be a lot harder for us to be in a group of death if the USA were not involved.

[Alex D]

I fall into the group that thinks we could make 2014, but I'm not holding my breath. Way to many variables have to perfectly align, we don't control our own destiny. The first step is to clearly elevate ourselves above El Salvador, Jamaica, T&T, etc. before we worry about battling Costa Rica and Honduras for that last spot. If we can make the Hex and contend for a spot I'll be happy, but we have to keep building from there.