Memories of Mexico '86

[Treppy2]

Today's highlights

• The "M" in Canada's "Mexico 86" had to be changed so it didn't resembled the M in Molson's, a team sponsor
• England beats Canada 1-0 in the last friendly for both teams prior to the World Cup, but "Canada shows promise"
•  

[SoccMan]

I was at York University in 1986 joined a bunch of students on a bus trip to Ft. Lauderdale for a week of Spring break in Florida. While down there found out Canada’s World Cup bound team was playing a friendly against a mainly former Fort Lauderdale Striker players of the old NASL that had folded in 1984. The game was at the old Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale Florida present home of MLS’s Inter Miami. It was a strange game from what I recall a Canada team on it’s way to a World Cup basically playing a bunch of guys that hadn’t played in a serious league for about two years as a prep game for the World Cup in a few months . 

[umpiredice]

My best memories of Mexico 86 were of seeing my university friend Jamie Lowery get to play against France. I played a bit with him at UVic and even won a trophy, the Jackman Cup, with him in an intramural tournament. In his room in residence we subsequently determined that the trophy held nine bottles of beer. He was a good bloke, clearly head and shoulders better than any of the rest of us, but never arrogant or condescending, just happy to get out there and have a kick-about with his mates.

[Treppy2]

1 hour ago, umpiredice said:

In his room in residence we subsequently determined that the trophy held nine bottles of beer. H

This is awesome! Thanks so much for sharing. 

Lowery was a favourite of mine, not so much from the World Cup but from a match I saw him at a couple of years later. A friend and I drove from Ottawa to Saint John to watch Canada play the US in a qualifying match for the ‘88 Olympics. Lowery was the only player who came out for the warmup wearing his full Canada kit - everyone else wore their training gear. You could tell how much representing Canada meant to him.

if you’re still in touch with him, let him know his time with Canada was hugely appreciated - at least by me.

[Macksam]

3 hours ago, Treppy2 said:

Today's highlights

• The "M" in Canada's "Mexico 86" had to be changed so it didn't resembled the M in Molson's, a team sponsor
• England beats Canada 1-0 in the last friendly for both teams prior to the World Cup, but "Canada shows promise"
•  

 

 

 

Fascinating and a clever attempt by the advertising execs at Molson to sneak the logo in there. The brewery was not overly famous internationally in 86 so I am surprised the FIFA person in charge of approving these things caught that. I guess the fact the M looked very distinct prompted the individual to scrutinize further and do some investigative research into logos of Canadian companies. Realizing the event they are sponsoring, he would start with the most likely culprits, Canadian companies that sell refreshment products for mass consumption before broadening his search. This is 1986 so I am trying to figure out how the FIFA employee in Switzerland conducts this without the internet. I take it he reaches out to his contact at the Swiss consulate in Ottawa and asks him to mail him a copy of the 1985 Canadian Encyclopedia, where he searches for companies starting with M and finds said logo in the book. Yes, this is how this probably happened in my mind. Anybody else care to fathom a guess? 

Edit: Or the FIFA guy probably just asked Soccer Canada what the M logo represents and they responded appropriately, which then caused the veto accordingly. 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Macksam

[snake]

What I remember the most is Tino Letierri didn’t start or play in the first game against France because his American indoor soccer club didn’t want to release him for the World Cup 

[Treppy2]

From today's clippings:

• "The air traffic is so heavy to Mexico these day, the 16 team members here couldn't fit on one flight."
• For tiebreaking procedures: "FIFA would like to avoid the drawing of lots by having 30-minute playoff games as a last resort."
• "A French journalist came up to me the other day and said three words. 'Canada. Preparations. Bizarre.'"
• Tony Waiters' hotel room was broken into while the team was training in Fort Lauderdale, and he lost his scouting reports on Canada's first-round opponents. "Somebody broke into my room and took money ($1,000), credit cards, and my executive case, which had all the reports of France, Hungary and Russia in it. ... It's a bloody inconvenience and darned annoying that some American robber is fully briefed about France, Hungary and Russia." 😀

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Treppy2

[Treppy2]

Today's clippings are from the first game versus France.

• The headline says it all: "Canada great in defeat" and in the article, "Only the score made Canada a loser."
• A dropped audio signal meant that Geoff Gowan had to call the match off the screen from Mexico rather than use the planned in-person broadcasters in Leon. I don't think I realized this at the time.
• Attendance was only 15,000 in a stadium with a capacity of 30,000.

[Treppy2]

This'll be the penultimate post and features news on Canada's second match against Hungary and a preview of the final match against the Soviet Union. Today's highlights:

• Canadians on the golf links during an off day. Despite the can, I highly doubt the refreshment it contained was "milk" for hot, thirsty golfers.
• A feature on Gerry Gray, one of the very few Canadians (still) who have scored an international goal at Azteca.
• Canada loses 2-0 to Hungary in front of a crowd of 13,000. Hungary was demolished 6-0 by the Soviet Union in their first match! Fun fact: Of the 24 teams that competed in 1986, only Hungary, Iraq, Northern Ireland and Canada have not since appeared in a World Cup — there are countries with longer droughts than ours.

 

[Treppy2]

Here's my last Memories of Mexico '86 post. Today's articles are about Canada's third match against the Soviet Union and the tournament aftermath.

Hope everyone's enjoyed seeing these blast-from-the-past clippings, but now it's time to look forward and make new Canadian World Cup memories. I hope someone is keeping whatever today's equivalent of a scrapbook is and posts their Memories of Qatar '22 on the Voyageurs forum in 36 years' time. 😀

Today's highlights:

• Soviet Union 2, Canada 0 in front of a crowd of 14,200 in Leon.
• Lots of post-tournament recrimination, with several players angry at Waiters.
• Segota was almost kicked off the team before the tournament started.
• George Pakos, on fouling Igor Belanov: "Being a Polish guy, I thought I'd give him one for my countrymen — a right arm smash to the face."
• Canada's World Cup summed up: "We came. We saw. We didn't get humiliated."

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

https://twitter.com/albertocosin/status/1508358080853127172