Twenty-three years ago, midfielder Martin Nash of Victoria was helping lead sa国际传媒 to the CONCACAF Gold Cup in a stunning upset at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
But it proved an isolated achievement, an illusion really, as sa国际传媒 remained in the men’s soccer wilderness for two decades after that.
Nash grew up in Gordon Head inspired by watching Island players Ian Bridge, George Pakos and Jamie Lowery play in the 1986 World Cup. But there hadn’t been a World Cup appearance for sa国际传媒 since then and wouldn’t be for 36 years. There was no Major League Soccer and no Canadian Premier League.
Nash came out of St. Michaels University School as a dual basketball and soccer star and played professionally for the Vancouver Whitecaps but that was in the A-League and USL before the U.S.-based MLS was founded with the Whitecaps, Toronto FC and CF Montreal playing as guest franchises.
sa国际传媒 now also has its own domestic pro soccer league and head coach Nash leads his York United into Starlight Stadium today at 1 p.m. to face Pacific FC in a battle of the CPL’s two top teams on the season.
Also today, sa国际传媒 is back in the regional spotlight in the CONCACAF Nations League final and will play the U.S. at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The quest, and it’s a legitimate one, for sa国际传媒’s first CONCACAF Gold Cup championship since Nash and the 2000 national team begins later this month.
All this after sa国际传媒 ended its 36-year World Cup drought by winning the CONCACAF qualifying tournament to play at Qatar 2022 with an emerging golden generation ahead of being assured a berth as co-host of the 2026 World Cup with the U.S. and Mexico.
The future looks so bright for Canadian soccer that, with apologies to Corey Hart, you may need sunglasses to watch even night games. That’s despite the off-field carping about issues such as payment that has thrown a little shade on the otherwise steep ascent up the FIFA rankings.
“It’s an amazing Canadian group under John Herdman. The expectation before was just hopefully to make these finals, but the expectation now is to win them,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
Just the thought of 11 pro clubs in sa国际传媒, three in MLS and eight in the CPL, would have sounded outrageous a few years ago. Yet, this afternoon, a pro club from the Island will play a pro club from the Greater Toronto Area at Starlight atop the table of a domestic Canadian pro league as part of the ascension of soccer in this country.
“It’s a credit to the CPL to be part of this momentum,” said Merriman. “It’s all part of the growth of Canadian soccer, including the [Olympic champion] women’s team.”
As a sign of the growing stature of the five-year-old CPL, six current players from the league are away with their national teams during this international window — Jonathan Grant of York United and Marcus Simmons of Vancouver FC with Guyana, Garven Metusala of Forge FC with Haiti, Malcolm Shaw of Atletico Ottawa and Andre Rampersad of HFX Wanderers with Trinidad and Tobago, all for the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup, and Pacifique Niyongabire of Valour FC with Burundi for the Africa Cup of Nations.
That’s on top of two CPL alumni with sa国际传媒 today for the CONCACAF Nations League final in Las Vegas — former Cavalry FC player Victor Loturi, now with Ross County in Scotland, and Dominick Zator out of Cavalry FC and York United, now with Korona Kielce in Poland. Six CPL alumni, including former PFC defender Lukas MacNaughton of Nashville SC in MLS, were named to the 53-player sa国际传媒 selection long list.
Nash will be without Grant today but has York United riding a five-game unbeaten streak on four wins and a draw to bring the Nine Stripes to 5-4-1 in wins-losses-draws after a disastrous start to the season. York’s run has brought it to 16 points, two behind leading Pacific FC (5-1-3), which is on 18 points thanks to its mercurial attack that is capable of going off at any point.
PFC, unbeaten in six games, won the first meeting of the season between the clubs 4-1 last month at Starlight Stadium.
“We’ve got to come with energy because [PFC] play with a lot of energy. They have a lot of quality, and they’re really good at home,” Nash said in a statement. “We’re going to be up for it. We already went there this year and they shifted a few goals on us. We’ve seen it, and now let’s see if we can react and respond to what happened last time,” added Nash, younger brother of two-time NBA MVP and former Canadian Olympic hoops team captain Steve Nash.
Martin Nash, capped 38 times, can then watch sa国际传媒 take on the U.S. later today in the CONCACAF Nations League final with a sense of it all having come full circle for him in a way.
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