A crowd of more than 50,000 is expected to greet Adam Straith and Simon Thomas, both of Victoria, Friday night when they join sa国际传媒 (1-0-1) on the sa国际传媒 Place Stadium pitch to play Mexico (2-0) in a crucial CONCACAF fourth-round qualifier for a berth in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
More than 46,000 tickets have been sold for the sa国际传媒 Place fixture, one of the biggest men鈥檚 soccer games in sa国际传媒 in years.
Defender/midfielder Straith and goalkeeper Thomas, who grew up together in Oak Bay, have been named to the 23-player Canadian roster. Both 25-year-olds are Norwegian League pros and Lower Island Metro products out of the Bays United youth organization.
The emerging Straith, who has the confidence of head coach Benito Floro, is the only player who has played every minute of 2018 World Cup qualifying for sa国际传媒 through six games. He is expected to earn his 34th cap Friday.
Thomas, the Norwegian Premiership pro with Bodo/Glimt, and Kenny Stamatopoulos, dressed as reserves behind starting goalkeeper Milan Borjan for sa国际传媒鈥檚 last two World Cup qualifying games against Honduras and El Salvador.
sa国际传媒, second in Group D behind Mexico, will need to make optimum use of sa国际传媒 Place because what awaits after is the decidedly less-friendly return leg March 29 in the howling cauldron of mighty Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, which has reduced numerous CONCACAF opponents to rubble.
sa国际传媒 opened fourth-round qualifying play last fall with a 1-0 victory over Honduras at sa国际传媒 Place and a scoreless draw in El Salvador. sa国际传媒 closes the round at Honduras on Sept. 2 and at home against El Salvador on Sept. 6 at a venue to be announced.
The top-two teams among the group that includes Mexico, sa国际传媒, Honduras and El Salvador will advance to the six-team final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. The top-three will then advance to Russia 2018, while the fourth-place finisher will get one last chance to qualify against the fifth-place team from Asia.
sa国际传媒 has not qualified for the World Cup since 1986, when Ian Bridge, Jamie Lowery and George Pakos represented the Island on the world鈥檚 greatest stage.
