Extracting points in Latin America in CONCACAF World Cup soccer qualifying is perhaps the toughest thing Canadian national team athletes have to do in any sport. It鈥檚 amazing how many all-night music raves spontaneously spring up outside the Canadian team hotel.
sa国际传媒 opened the fourth round of CONCACAF qualifying for Russia 2018 with a critical 1-0 victory over Honduras before more than 20,000 fans at sa国际传媒 Place on Friday night. But the Canadians immediately faced a daunting travel turnaround to play host El Salvador tonight at 53,000-seat Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador (5:30 p.m. Pacific).
鈥淲e know it鈥檚 going to be a completely different game down there. Playing away in CONCACAF is always a challenge and we鈥檙e expecting a tough atmosphere and game,鈥� said Canadian defender Adam Straith of Victoria, as he prepared to leave for San Salvador on sa国际传媒鈥檚 charter flight.
El Salvador, ranked 94th in the world, lost 3-0 at No. 24 Mexico in its CONCACAF fourth-round opener Friday. But Straith and the 102nd-ranked Canadians are wary, mostly because of the setting. A quick start is always crucial in these situations.
鈥淭hey will be feeding off the atmosphere down there, so an early goal would help us tremendously,鈥� said Straith.
The Bays United and Lower Island Metro product is on 31 caps and has started all five Canadian qualifying games for Russia 2018, including the two each in the second and third rounds against Dominica and Belize and Friday鈥檚 fourth-round opener against No. 95 Honduras. Despite the Straith turnover at 26 minutes that almost proved costly against Honduras, Canadian head coach Benito Floro has shown great faith in the Islander and gave Straith the captain鈥檚 arm-band in the recent 1-1 friendly draw against the Black Stars of Ghana.
鈥淲e have to try to limit El Salvador鈥檚 chances offensively, and keep the crowd out of the game for as long as we can,鈥� said Straith.
鈥淲e are happy with the performance from Friday. That was an important win.鈥�
Especially considering it was Honduras which administered the humiliating 8-1 defeat in Honduras in October of 2012 in the fourth round that ended sa国际传媒鈥檚 chances of advancing to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
鈥淲e are hoping to have that confidence [from Friday] spill over to the big game in El Salvador,鈥� said Straith.
El Salvador has twice been to the World Cup, losing all three games at both Mexico in 1970 and Spain in 1982. sa国际传媒 is 7-3-3 all-time against El Salvador, with the last meeting a scoreless tie during the Gold Cup in July.
sa国际传媒 may have drawn a break with several of the first-team Salvadoran players reportedly currently boycotting the national side in a disagreement with management.
Meanwhile, also dressing for sa国际传媒 alongside Straith will be fellow Bays United and Oak Bay High product Simon Thomas. He will be the third goalkeeper behind veterans Milan Borjan and Kenny Stamatopoulos as Floro positions the Islander Thomas as sa国际传媒鈥檚 potential keeper of the future.
Straith and Thomas are both 25 and play professionally for teams in Norway.
sa国际传媒 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. sa国际传媒 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, sa国际传媒 must finish in the top two of its fourth-round Group A against Honduras, El Salvador and traditional regional power Mexico. The next Canadian games are March 25, against Mexico at a home venue to be decided, followed by a game March 29 at famed 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.
