Canadian Soccer Association - last updated on 10 October 2008
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Association name: Canadian Soccer Association
Foundation: 1912
Confederation Concacaf
Colours: Red and white
Website: www.canadasoccer.com
Honours:
CONCACAF Gold Cup - 1 (2000)
A bit of history:
Canadian fans have been waiting patiently for over 20 years to match their high-water mark in world football. Unfortunately, since qualifying for the FIFA World Cup in Mexico in 1986, the Maple Leafs have failed to come close to recreating that dazzling success save for the surprise 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup title they managed to win.
However, fans of football in the Great White North are cautiously optimistic that South Africa 2010 might signal an end to their long wait. The current side is brimming with overseas-based talent and they started their qualifying campaign in smashing style, beating potential banana skin St. Vincent and the Grenadines 7-1 over two legs to reach the first group stage of the CONCACAF preliminaries.
In the hunt for a spot at Germany 2006, the Canucks showed a decided lack of goal scoring panache and flair and failed to even reach the semi-final group stage in a year that many insiders claimed would be the team's coming-out party on the CONCACAF scene. However, they are sure to have put such disappointments to one side as they look to their new head coach Dale Mitchell - a veteran of the famous 1986 side and a long-serving youth boss in the country - to get things right this time around.
Despite some unrest in the Canadian Soccer Association caused by the resignation of CEO Colin Linford just months into his four-year contract, the country has some dazzling players on which to call and will be taking heart in an outstanding performance that saw them only just lose out to the USA in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-final.
The side, marshalled by Deportivo La Coruna's outstanding Julian de Guzman, stumbled to lose to tiny Guadeloupe in the biannual CONCACAF cup of nations, but got things right with wins over Costa Rica and Haiti to finish top of their group. They then pushed the USA all the way in their semi-final, losing out 2-1 in a tense contest that the Americans were, admittedly, lucky to come out of unscathed.
Midfield sensation Atiba Hutchinson of FC Copenhagen, youth products Josh Simpson and Iain Hume and Tomasz Radzinski combine with the likes of De Guzman - who many pundits are calling the best player in CONCACAF - and foraging captain Paul Stalteri. Dwayne De Rosario adds the creator's spark in a withdrawn striker's role and, if and he and his mates were to get hot, they could just have a second FIFA World Cup qualification to shout about.
"We have the talent in Canada," the one they call 'D-Ro' told FIFA.com. "We just need to get together and play together more often and get a good amount of preparation time for the big tournaments and I am sure we could be a force to reckon with in CONCACAF and beyond."
Canada's opponents in Group Two - Honduras, Mexico and Jamaica - can consider themselves warned.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Canadian Soccer Association
