Canada opened its U17 World Cup qualifying campaign with a comprehensive victory on Saturday. Yet, within one week, they will have either booked their ticket for UAE 2013, or their qualifying campaign will be over.
Such is the cruel reality of the tournament, and the pressure-cooker environment in which these teenagers find themselves. But against Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday, at least, the Canadian youngsters showed they just might be up for the test.
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Marco Dominguez-Ramirez, with a first-half blast, and TFC Academy's Jordan Hamilton provided the goals for Canada, while spirited work in the midfield from Whitecaps Academy's Marco Bustos and FC Edmonton's Hanson Boakai provided clumps of other scoring opportunities.
By the end, the 2-0 scoreline was fully earned -- in fact, you could say it flattered the Trinidadian side. Yes, this is one of those rare times where it could have been 3-0, 4-0 or more... but the team that could have earned that lopsided scoreline is actually Canada.
Now, as we've learned this year from the Canadian M20 side -- and last year from the W20 and W17 sides -- it is supremely dangerous and emotionally self-harming to become overly invested in one positive result, or some positive individual performances.
Still, it's encouraging for a Canadian team to barge into a competition such as this with a full head of steam; now it's up to head coach Sean Fleming to ensure his young charges maintain that momentum in their next group-stage match, against Costa Rica on Wednesday.
Then -- presuming no catastrophic combination of results over the next four days -- Canada will find itself in a do-or-die showdown on Saturday, with a win earning them a World Cup berth and a loss sending them packing. The opponent will almost assuredly be either Jamaica or the host Panamanian side.
Given what happened the last time a Canadian team played Panama in Panama, here's hoping the kids have some good earplugs for the night before (and, y'know, that the lights stay on in the stadium).
Canada v. Costa Rica goes this Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. PT / 6:30 p.m. ET, with a live stream almost certainly being provided at sportsnet.ca. (I'll be on a plane at the time, so you'll have to tune in and provide your own profane commentary via social media.)
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