It was a 0-0 draw.
So, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Canada extended its winless streak against the United States to 3,867 straight games, stretching back 567 years (or something like that) and it failed to put the ball into the net – an old, old problem. There were reasons for concern.
There were also reasons for optimism. The team competed. They were organized. They seemed to care. At times in the 2010 cycle the latter point was not a certain thing. Canada’s talent level (within a CONCACAF context) is not the biggest issue. Its commitment level has been.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
That wasn’t in evidence Sunday. And, that’s a good thing. A very good thing. If they can play against Panama, Honduras and Cuba with the same conviction they will have every chance to qualify to the hex.
I’m not convinced they can. I won’t be until I see it in action against a team that plays a style that they don’t match-up as well with, that is flopping around and is CONCACAFing them. It’s one thing to have a “goal” taken away in a friendly against the United States (when Tim Howard stopped playing because he saw the flag) quite another to have the spine to recover from a phantom hand ball in Tegucigalpa.
Make no mistake that will happen. And, Canada will never qualify to the World Cup until it learns how overcome that sort of adversity. A friendly against the US will not prove that they can.
Win in the blinding, midday Caribbean heat Friday against a better than given credit for (but still beatable) Cuba and a little more faith will be felt.
Beat the old nemesis Honduras next week and you can start to dream.
In many ways that Honduras game will be the most telling of the cycle. Every bit of recent Canadian history suggests that they won’t win that game. The Canadian national team has earned that pessimism.
But if they can beat Honduras…coming off a win over Cuba…
Then maybe we saw the beginning of something special Sunday.