Today could have been a day the ferries were packed with Island soccer fans heading to sa国际传媒 Place for the highly-anticipated sa国际传媒-U.S. World Cup qualifying fixture.
The game will instead take place at noon PT (Sportsnet on TV and OneSoccer online and on Telus Optik TV Ch. 980) in frigid Hamilton, Ont., after reports late last year that the game would be in sa国际传媒 proved unfounded.
Canadian soccer fans are on the cusp of finally having more than 1986 as their lone World Cup talking point. So wherever the game is played, there will be intense coast-to-coast interest.
The location was chosen mostly because of the surreal travel situation sa国际传媒 has been put in with its 2-0 victory Thursday in Honduras followed by today’s home game up north against the Americans followed by a trip back south to play in El Salvador on Wednesday.
Southern Ontario is simply better situated than the West Coast for this frenzied travel window to and from Central America.
“The travel schedule is wild,” said Canadian team head coach and English transplant John Herdman, who lives on the Lower Mainland. “We wanted to reduce travel times. We are putting the needs of the players first. Everything we are doing is to optimize our opportunity to qualify for the World Cup.”
In perhaps the most widely disparate region in FIFA.
“Every team in this region has its idiosyncrasies regarding conditions,” Herdman said during a Zoom call Saturday with Canadian reporters. “We’re going from 28 degrees in Honduras on Thursday to minus nine [today] on a frozen pitch. It’s the world of CONCACAF.”
With interest surging in sa国际传媒’s national team, the game against the U.S. would have sold out anywhere from Victoria to St. John’s in minutes.
“We could have put it in Saskatchewan and fans would have come out,” said Herdman, referencing a province usually more attuned to the other kind of football.
The 24,000 tickets sold almost immediately for Tim Hortons Field. But subsequent Ontario pandemic restrictions will limit the Hamilton stadium to half-capacity at 12,000 fans.
The top-three teams in this CONCACAF final round will qualify directly to World Cup 2022 in Qatar while the fourth-place finisher will advance to play against a nation from Oceania for a World Cup berth. sa国际传媒 has not qualified for the World Cup since Island players Ian Bridge, George Pakos and Jamie Lowery played in sa国际传媒’s lone appearance in 1986, a drought that appears as if it will finally end.
sa国际传媒 (5-0-4) is undefeated on 19 points and the U.S. 5-1-3 is on 18 points. Historic CONCACAF power Mexico is third on 17 points and plays fifth-place Costa Rica (12 points) today. Fourth-place Panama (14 points) plays sixth-place Jamaica (seven points) while bottom-dwellers Honduras and El Salvador meet.
“There’s definitely a mindset shift in how we look at the U.S. now,” said Herdman.
“We are both fighting for the top of the table. That’s all I need to say.”
sa国际传媒 and the U.S. drew 1-1 in their first qualifying match-up in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sept. 5.
The U.S. leads the all-time series 16-9-12.
“It took us a while to get there, but sa国际传媒 is coming,” said Herdman.
“What an opportunity this is for our players in World Cup qualifying against our biggest rival. Just wear more layers. We’re Canadians. We love the cold.”
