flashback: 1986

[GasPed]

Back in the day, this kind of trip was just difficult if you weren't well-organized, had the proper connections and/or were rich.  I actually was in Houston at the time on business, and although travel for a midweek game was not feasible for me, I thought I could maybe take in a weekend game in Monterrey if I was lucky.  So I literally spent hours on the phone over crappy landlines talking to a bunch of Mexican travel agents, most of whom didn't speak English, trying to see about this.  I finally reached a hotel in Monterrey, where the concierge said for sure he could help me, just come to the hotel and pick up the game ticket, but first wire him $300.  After some thought I decided against it.

So instead, I drove to Laredo, crossed the bridge to Nuevo Laredo (back when crossing the Rio Grande was safe and fun), found an outdoor bar, and watched Canada lose to France on a fuzzy 18" black and white screen while drinking Coronas.  And that was my first and only World Cup viewing experience in a host country.  😉

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by GasPed

[An Observer]

On 2/14/2022 at 8:24 AM, red card said:

Soccer News produced by the CSA was the only source of deep regular info on the Cdn national teams at least till they started being shown on tv in the 90s.

Note the adding of "soccer" after the World Cup as not too many Canadians understood the significance of the stand alone term "World Cup".

 

Seems to have the British flag in place of the English one as well.  Although, if you watch highlights of old matches, you will see a lot of Union Jack's in the stadium for English matches.  Indeed, when I lived in London from mid-90s to early 2010's, I initially didn't see many English flags anywhere.  But almost in a response to devolution to Scotland and Wales and the nationalism that provoked, you started to see an English reaction.  It also got wrapped up in the immigrant backlash, etc.  Now when I go to London, I see more of the St. George than the Union Jack but its really a recent phenomena.  And clearly more with the leavers than the remainers.

[SthMelbRed]

1 hour ago, An Observer said:

Seems to have the British flag in place of the English one as well.  Although, if you watch highlights of old matches, you will see a lot of Union Jack's in the stadium for English matches.  Indeed, when I lived in London from mid-90s to early 2010's, I initially didn't see many English flags anywhere.  But almost in a response to devolution to Scotland and Wales and the nationalism that provoked, you started to see an English reaction.  It also got wrapped up in the immigrant backlash, etc.  Now when I go to London, I see more of the St. George than the Union Jack but its really a recent phenomena.  And clearly more with the leavers than the remainers.

I always thought that the resurgence in the display of the George Cross flag, rather than the Union Jack, had a lot to do with the coopting of the Union Jack by the National Front skinheads in the late-'70s and '80s. Now, the reverse is happening, post-Brexit. I could be mistaken, though.

[Free kick]

On 2/4/2022 at 9:10 PM, Gian-Luca said:

Mention of the two weekday afternoon games Canada played at the 86 World Cup reminds me of an irritation about the 1986 World Cup - the games being played in Mexico in the middle of the afternoon in June for the benefit of the European viewers, presumably. Great for them, but crap for everyone else, including the players & the fans in attendance in Mexico. I was still in elementary school (final year) so I wasn't able to watch either the Hungary or USSR games live as I was in school and something went wrong with the VCR recording of the USSR game so I didn't get to see that game in its entirety until, would you believe, 2002 when Matthew Gourlie on this forum brought a copy of the game on a VHS with him to the UK to give to me when we all met up for the Canada-Scotland match that year (someone posted a photo of myself, him, Bill Spiers & a few other posters recently in one of the threads). Crazy to think that Scotland trip was 20 years ago now.....

You can now view the full games at the fifa webpage.  Just came across this:    

for those who are not aware

1) Go to the fifa site and select "Archives" from the left navigation bar launched from the very top left side:

2) From the Archives page:

     a) Select "Video Type": Full Match Replays

     b) Select "Competition":  World Cup

     c) Select "Edition":  1986

     d) Select "Stages"; Group Matches

     e) Select "Teams":  Canada

3) Click on "Apply Filters" button

4) Voila!!!  Watch the full game for any or all of the three games Canada played in 1986

 

The downside of all this is that they took away the database of all matches that they use have 🙄

You used to be able to go to their site and look up results and match reports for any official match or friendly, for any nation over any time period.  Thats all gone., in their infinite wisdom 😏.  Or i maybe its just that I cant find it anymore 

 

PS.:  The reason I typed all that instead of just pasting the link is because, the cut and paste feature is disabled for that site.  

 

 

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Free kick

[Joe MacCarthy]

1 hour ago, Free kick said:

You can now view the full games at the fifa webpage.  Just came across this:    

for those who are not aware

1) Go to the fifa site and select "Archives" from the left navigation bar launched from the very top left side:

 

You are looking for the FIFA Plus webpage.  In case anyone didn't get to the right FIFA page (like me), it is here

The link to the page with the three Canada games is here

Thanks for the headsup, working some voodoo to get them downloaded, going for Canada/France as we speak.

As an aside, from going to the FIFA website this is the first I heard about what happened in Indonesia, terrible tragedy.

[Free kick]

I am now at the 79th minute of Can-USSR.    Dont think I ever saw a game with so few whistles.    Makes me realize how time wasting has become a problem in soccer.    The referee hardly ever blew his whistle for anything.  The game was mostly clean and free of play-acting and cynical play.   I thought that the first half was pretty good for Canada in this game.  There were some chances that with a fraction of a second of intervention (or centimeters) here or there could have really changed things.   While Canada was playing to avoid embarrassment in other games, that wasnt the case with this game, they were going for it

 

PS.:  The game ended at the 90:29. There was only 29 seconds of extra time.  Even though both teams made two subs.  May have heard the ref's whistle 3-5 times the whole game.    I never knew where or when that notion started whereby, there has to be 30 seconds added on for each sub.   I knew that that wasn't always the case.  But if sub ran off the field and subs run into the field (like they're supposed to) why does time need to be add on.  

Edited October 3, 2022 by Free kick

[Gian-Luca]

8 hours ago, Free kick said:

I am now at the 79th minute of Can-USSR.    Dont think I ever saw a game with so few whistles.    Makes me realize how time wasting has become a problem in soccer.    The referee hardly ever blew his whistle for anything.  The game was mostly clean and free of play-acting and cynical play.   I thought that the first half was pretty good for Canada in this game.  There were some chances that with a fraction of a second of intervention (or centimeters) here or there could have really changed things.   While Canada was playing to avoid embarrassment in other games, that wasnt the case with this game, they were going for it

 

One of the few whistles occurs just after the 5 minute mark, I've re-watched the play about 6 times and I still can't figure out what the hell he is whistling a foul against Canada for. The Soviets almost score on the free kick to take an early lead. One reason to be pessmistic about our chances is that the Uruguay game showed (with the call for the free kick that did lead to a goal) that we are still very likely to get these phantom fouls called against us when we play the bigger teams, unless Vic M has more weight in FIFA than I suspect he has.

The interesting thing about these videos is that they appear to be without any commentary, so you can hear the raw sound of the likes of Lenarduzzi swearing or complaining on the field since the crowd is so sparse by modern-day World Cup standards.

[Free kick]

Yes, you can certainly hear the raw sounds of the game and what the players are saying, and it definitely wouldn't pass CRTC standards.  Another thing I noted, FIFA has evidently changed their stadium requirements since that time.  When you look at what they're requiring for 2026 and what's available for 2026, you realize that that stadium would not be far off (or even inferior) to what Varsity stadium had at that time.

Oh, by the way, I haven't even mentioned the pitch.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Free kick

[Free kick]

I also saw something else that you would never see today.   There was a moment in the game when the ball goes out of bounds in an area where between the stands and the advertising signage.   There is a fan who comes down and jumps out of the stands and on to surface area to retrieve the ball.  he picked it up, tosses it to the Cnd player (for the throw in), then goes back to his seat in the stands

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Free kick

[gigi riva]

On 2/14/2022 at 7:13 PM, SthMelbRed said:

I always thought that the resurgence in the display of the George Cross flag, rather than the Union Jack, had a lot to do with the coopting of the Union Jack by the National Front skinheads in the late-'70s and '80s. Now, the reverse is happening, post-Brexit. I could be mistaken, though.

A Englishman told me that he first saw the resurgence of the Cross of St George flag was after Euro 96

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

1 hour ago, gigi riva said:

A Englishman told me that he first saw the resurgence of the Cross of St George flag was after Euro 96

https://www.alamy.com/english-football-clap-and-shout-after-the-england-team-scores-a-goal-image3464546.html

A mix in Euro 88

If you look at the England 86 matches, (from the archive so nicely pointed to) there is a mix of banners on the bottom of the stands. 

There is a Cross of St George in the corner of the '82 game against Germany, can't see many others.

In 1966, the pictures I can remember are of Union flags. 

Overall the last ten years, it has been Cross of St George hanging everywhere for football.  But that makes sense since Scotland and Wales and even Northern Ireland teams exist. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[ECW]

On 2/4/2022 at 12:06 AM, Free kick said:

The video has been blocked.  But, yes after the NASL folded (two years earlier) many of the players professional careers veered towards the the indoor game.  The indoor game, was not even futsal, but was played in hockey arenas with hockey boards.  That's who we sent to the WC.    In 1982,  a Concacaf side (i think it was El Salvador) lost 11-1 to Hungary so everyone got scared and went to Mexico with the objective of avoiding embarrassment.  And the team played that way.  I watched the games on TV and it was not pleasant to watch.     But the goal of the brass was that this was the start of several WC's so this was an opportunity to get our feet wet,  i bought it.  Problem is,  we never went back.  Hence the game never caught on in Canada, in part,  because, we scored no goals, got no points and we didn't play in a way that would attract fans, so all those fans that existed continued to cheer for their ancestral national sides or flocked in greater numbers to their ancestral  national sides.  plus there was no truly establish professional clubs to follow. 

Another problem with 1986,   is that it was basically a BC side. Most of the players came from the west coast.  Part of that made sense because the Whitecaps were a powerhouse in the NASL before it folded.   You can debate whether or not there was favoritism but, you can safely say that if the large population base of central Canada is not a factor in the team composition, your base will probably be poor because your talent pool is very limited and restricted. 

There were one or two decent players in 1986 but they moved to play indoor soccer and their indoor clubs tried to stop them from going to play at the WC.  Imagine that.   In the first game versus France our bunkering style did succeed against a French team who had some big stars.   France scored rather late in the game.    Another problem in 1986 was the group we were in.    Its not that it was a strong group but it had two eastern block countries when the Cold war was still around.  Not sexy. The eastern block was isolated from the west so very little was known about their players and their talent and abilities.   There was no casual fan who would have known anything about the teams from the Soviet Union and Hungary and that would have tuned in to watch.  Plus the games versus Hungary and Soviets were played on a week day in Canada and in early afternoon.  So very few watched because of the time it was played and because the two opponents had no known players or stars.

In 1986 we had no where close to the talent we have today.  In fact, many of the subsequent WC teams may have been better than that 86 team.  Its just that in 1986, Concacaf was poor (even the US was no good) and there was a lot of political instability in central America.  After 1986, and when the political instability in central america subsided,  the rest of Concacaf got really good and were accelerating their improvement at a rate much faster than Canada.     

For these reasons and others, Canada was never able to leverage from their 1986 experince.  thats a few of the reasons we never went back.   We never had another NASL until MLS came around and this is the biggest reasons why we went to the WC in 86 and in 2022. 

On the training front after the league folded, don’t forget Inex. I saw a few matches at Varsity Stadium that summer of 1985. 

This find was posted by Robert in 2019:

Friday, August 23, 1985

JAMES DAVIDSON

By JAMES DAVIDSON Although Inex Canada's first, and perhaps, last season was largely unprofitable, club president Edward Cavalier says his venture into professional soccer didn't cost as much as he had expected.

Inex finished play earlier this month with a 2-3-3 record in a series of exhibition games against international competition.

Though home attendance at Toronto's Varsity Stadium averaged only about 6,000, it was enough to please Cavalier. ''When we started, we calculated we'd have an average of 4,000 per game,'' said Cavalier, who is also chairman of Inex Technologies Inc., a high-tech firm. ''Over all, it was a pleasant surprise and I'm not just saying that.'' Cavalier pumped about $1-million into the team, which rose this spring to provide an employment opportunity for Canada's World Cup players and to fill a professional soccer void left by the demise of the North American Soccer League and the Toronto Blizzard. ''My purpose wasn't to make money. If I expected to make money, I wouldn't have got into soccer,'' Cavalier said. ''There's no way I lost a million dollars on it. I don't think I lost a quarter of that.'' Since the team's bookwork is not completed, an exact loss figure has not been determined.

Cavalier is noncommital about his 1986 plans. ''As far as I'm concerned, we've fulfilled our commitment to the national team. As far as there being an Inex Canada team next year, I really don't know.'' Cavalier said he'd like to see both a revamped North American league and a new Canadian soccer circuit in place with Toronto franchises for 1986. But he doesn't see himself as an owner in that scenario. A sponsor's role appeals more to him. ''If anything, I'd like to be a number-one supporter or number- one fan of whatever comes up.'' The Canadian Soccer Association has talked of forming a new national league, but it is far from a certainty for next year. Another North American League is also unlikely so soon after the NASL's death.

So it is quite possible the same soccer circumstances will prevail in Toronto next season.

The key to Cavalier's further involvement with an Inex team appears to be Canada's performance in the current qualifying round for the World Cup.

Canada plays its second match of a four-game, final-round series Sunday in Honduras. In its first match last week, Canada tied Costa Rica 1-1.

If Canada wins the series and qualifies for the 1986 Cup in Mexico, then Inex could again serve a purpose as a place for national-team players to keep in competitive shape.

Cavalier's only hint of his intentions was to say, ''If I get involved again, it will be something to do with the national-team program.'' The 1985 season would have been more successful financially if Inex hadn't been late in starting up, Cavalier said. ''If we had had another two or three months to prepare and line up more sponsors, we could have broken even.''

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

1 hour ago, ECW said:

...The Canadian Soccer Association has talked of forming a new national league, but it is far from a certainty for next year. Another North American League is also unlikely so soon after the NASL's death....

Inex did not return. There was no coast-to-coast national league until 1987, but the Toronto Blizzard owners had bought the franchise rights of Dinamo Latino of the NSL in 1985 and played in that league as the Blizzard in 1986.

https://thecnsl.com/1985-2/

https://thecnsl.com/1986-2/

Playing in the NSL was probably a bad move for the Blizzard as supporters of NSL clubs now had a reason to view them as a rival rather than as Toronto's team in the other bigger budget league.

Dale Barnes & co in their infinite wisdom rejected applications by Italia, Croatia and Panhellenic leaving large portions of the GTA soccer community from certain key recent immigrant backgrounds feeling alienated from the new CSA masterplan. That demographic subsequently largely ignored the Toronto Blizzard and the North York Rockets.

End result of all the soccerwarz by the mid-90s was a defunct CSL, a defunct NSL and the Lynx subsequently almost completely ignored. Nobody should have been surprised when York 9 were met with the same reception more recently when the new masterplan from Metcalfe Street was peddling the concept of multiple GTA suburban clubs all drawing 5000+. Many clearly were.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[SthMelbRed]

Have watched the first half of the France match from Mexico '86. Three and a half decades on, I'd forgotten how we'd absolutely held our own against arguably the world's best team at the time. My memory had settled it being a backs-to-the-wall, blood-and-guts effort. We actually went toe-to-toe with Platini's boys through 45 minutes.

[Gian-Luca]

I remember seeing commercials for INEX Canada on television, I think they showed clips of John Paskin and Roberto Bettega’s goals for the Blizzard in the final NASL game ever to be played as an example of the sort of soccer people could expect to see at these exhibition matches

[gigi riva]

I still remember watching the World Cup Draw on the CBC and seeing Sepp Blater who I never knew of at the time call out Canada  and thinking to myself wow we actually made it

[Free kick]

I am watching the Can-Hun game now.  This was the one whereby I did manage to watch the first half on TV when it was played.  But, at the time, I was only able to watch the first half.   

The reason I made a point to watch it now (after watching the USSR game but before the France game) was because I couldn't remember anything from that first half.   WELL, I NOW KNOW why I couldn't remember any from that first half.  There was nothing to remember!   The first half whistle just blew and I don't know if I'll bother with the 2nd half.

- Hungary scored in the 2nd minute of the game

- Up until the 43rd minute there were no shots on goal nor towards goal for Canada even though there seemed to be space and time on the ball. Canada was unable construct anything. Passing was poor up until the 44th minute whereby Vrablic, Lowry and Valentine were able to combine to create a shot from the top of the box.   Hungary was not doing any special defensively and seemed happy to concede possession to Canada.  

- I saw players, with time on the ball, hoofing forward to an area whereby the picture would show not a single red shirt anywhere.

Of the three games, this is game that was best emblematic of what I talked about in the first page of this thread.  It was good that it was played at a time when hardly any Canadians could watch because you could never sell soccer in Canada with that kind of show.  It was not at all the players nor the coach's fault, there was talent issue.   With the USSR, you could find some encouraging things in the first half of that game.  With the France game, you can take tons of positives that we were able to fend off the best team in the world until so late.  

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Can remember exactly where I was watching the CMNT games that World Cup but almost nothing from the games itself. Think it's important to remember why CONCACAF qualifiers might have been in damage limitation mode that time around:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungary_v_El_Salvador_(1982_FIFA_World_Cup)