Defender Adam Straith and goalkeeper Simon Thomas, who lived 10 minutes apart while growing up in Oak Bay, will be dressed tonight in sa国际传媒 Place Stadium for the biggest Canadian men鈥檚 soccer game in three years.
sa国际传媒 plays Honduras (7 p.m. on TSN) in the opening fixture of the fourth round of CONCACAF (North and Cental America and Caribbean) qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Earlier Canadian 2018 qualifying victories were against minnow nations Dominica and Belize. The real work begins tonight.
It isn鈥檛 lost on Canadian fans that this is the first rematch since the catastrophic 8-1 defeat in Honduras in October of 2012 that destroyed sa国际传媒鈥檚 chances of advancing to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
A Canadian loss tonight to Honduras could prove just as disastrous since it is very hard to recover from home defeats in CONCACAF. The corollary is that stealing three points on the road is a massive boon for any team.
鈥淚鈥檝e said before how important it is for us to get off to a strong start, and getting three points [tonight] will be just the first step in hopefully a long qualifying campaign,鈥� said Straith, who has 30 caps for sa国际传媒 and started every earlier 2018 qualifying game against Dominica and Belize.
sa国际传媒 usually plays its international fixtures at BMO Field in Toronto. Tonight is the national team鈥檚 first qualifying game in sa国际传媒 since 2004 at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby.
鈥淲e鈥檝e shown many times in Toronto what playing in front of our home fans can do to our performance. So we are looking forward to getting to sa国际传媒 Place and hopefully having a loud crowd to play in front of,鈥� said Straith, who donated a set of tickets for the game, hotel accommodation and signed sa国际传媒 jersey that were raffled off in a draw last week at his old Bays United club.
鈥淗opefully, we can give the people coming out something to cheer about,鈥� added Straith, who went from Bays to play for Lower Island Metro.
Straith and Thomas are both 25 and both play professionally for teams in Norway. Twice-capped Thomas will dress in goal for sa国际传媒 alongside veterans Milan Borjan and Kenny Stamatopoulos, with one of the latter two likely to start. This call-up is more about positioning Thomas as the potential Canadian goalkeeper of the future.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a long-term goal of mine,鈥� said the Islander.
鈥淏ut I鈥檓 focusing only on the present. It鈥檚 an honour to be called up for your country . . . the pinnacle of any career. The World Cup is every soccer player鈥檚 dream.鈥�
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 that includes world No. 95 Honduras, No. 94 El Salvador and traditional regional power and world No. 24 Mexico.
It is crucial for world No. 102 sa国际传媒 to gain points out of all its three home games in the fourth round to stand any chance of advancing to the CONCACAF Hexagonal for Russia 2018. Extracting points on the road is difficult in CONCACAF, especially for sa国际传媒 in hostile, sweaty and unfamiliar Latin American settings.
It鈥檚 a quick turnaround to sa国际传媒鈥檚 next game, which is Tuesday in El Salvador. The following games are March 25 against Mexico at a home venue to be decided, followed by a game March 29 at 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.
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.
