The men鈥檚 national soccer team is hoping Westhills Stadium can help lift it to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Emerging international Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich will lead sa国际传媒 against Trinidad and Tobago at the Langford facility March 27 with crucial qualifying points available. Tickets go on sale Feb. 20.
鈥淎lphonso Davies, if not injured, will be running up and down the wing on that pitch,鈥� said Canadian team head coach John Herdman, pointing to the Westhills turf during a news conference on Friday.
Herdman vividly remembers being in the stands of a jammed Westhills Stadium last year for the first game in Pacific FC club history in the Canadian Premier League. He said the national team plans on plugging into that energy. 鈥淲e want that electricity pulsating through the fans and through the players on the field next month,鈥� the Canadian bench boss said.
Herdman described the qualifying points on offer in the Langford game as being 鈥渃ritical.鈥�
鈥淭rinidad and Tobago is a tough opponent,鈥� Herdman said.
鈥淭he fans will play a massive part in this. We usually go into hostile environments. We can create a packed house and maybe get Trinidad and Tobago thinking: 鈥榃e don鈥檛 want to be here.鈥� 鈥�
Greater Victoria used to be a go-to home site for sa国际传媒 in World Cup and Olympic qualifying because many of the national team players from former eras were from the Island and Lower Mainland. But this will be the first sa国际传媒 game on the Island since 1985 at Royal Athletic Park.
Herdman noted that fact in saying: 鈥淭his is a big game on our journey to the [World Cup]. And you don鈥檛 have to get on a ferry to see it. We have been inspired by what [PFC co-owners and former pros and sa国际传媒 players] Rob Friend and Josh Simpson have done for soccer in the Victoria area.鈥�
sa国际传媒 wants to hook into that.
鈥淲e are proud of this stadium and the CPL,鈥� said Friend, who was capped 32 times for sa国际传媒 and Simpson 43 times.
鈥淯ltimately, it鈥檚 about Canadian soccer. We will do anything we can to support young Canadian players getting to the World Cup. Hopefully, there are a lot more Alphonso Davies coming up behind him. We are looking to get a good result against Trinidad and Tobago and be a venue for more sa国际传媒 games in the future.鈥�
The top six national teams in the CONCACAF region (North and Central America and Caribbean) by the cut-off period in late June will advance to the CONCACAF Hex, out of which the top three will advance to the 2022 World Cup. The 29 CONCACAF teams not making the Hex face a much longer route, and far longer odds, of making the World Cup through an arduous at-large worldwide qualifying process.
sa国际传媒 is No. 73 in the FIFA world rankings and No. 7 in CONCACAF. It must catch FIFA No. 69 and CONCACAF No. 6 El Salvador in order to make the Hex.
sa国际传媒 was 30 points behind El Salvador last summer and has closed the gap to 14 points. Every point from every game matters. There are no longer such things as friendlies in international games involving CONCACAF nations. (Trinidad and Tobago is ranked No. 104 in the world and has only an outside chance of making the CONCACAF Hex round).
sa国际传媒 hopes the Hex doesn鈥檛 become another hex as it looks to qualify for its first World Cup since Islanders Ian Bridge, George Pakos and Jamie Lowery played at the 1986 tournament.
鈥淲e were disappointed not to be qualified for the Hex [by now]. It鈥檚 been one step forward and one step back,鈥� Herdman said.
鈥淏ut that鈥檚 made our Canadian players even more hungry.鈥�
That hunger will be fed next month in Langford.
