When Will Canada Play at the World Cup?

As the sports world returns to normal after Brazil ’14, Ricky Rothstein wonders: what hope for Canada returning to the World Cup?

CBC has reported record viewing figures for the World Cup. 30.7 million people, 89% of the population of the country, watched at least some part of the World Cup over its month-long duration, either on TV or online. Slightly less than five million watched the final itself, when Mario Götze’s injury-time goal won Germany its fourth World Cup, and its first since reunification in 1990.

But what does this mean for the world’s most popular game in Canada? When will Canada join the biggest sports tournament in the world?

Canada has only qualified for one World Cup, the 1986 World Cup held in Mexico. Team Canada lasted nine days. They lost all three games they played, against France, Hungary and the Soviet Union, and failed to score a single goal.

But at least they got there. When will the next Canadian team get to the World Cup?

Every kid you know is signed up for soccer camps. They love it, and soccer is an easy game to play and to organise. But while it’s easy to play, soccer is not at all easy to play well, and this is where Canada is falling down.

Look at the USA’s experience. The same adjectives were being used to describe Jurgen Klinsmann’s team as were being used to describe Bruce Arena’s team in 2002 – game, competitive, never-say-die. Nobody ever used words like “good”, or “naturally talented.”

In their 2009 book Soccernomics, journalist Simon Kuper and economist Stefan Szymanski emphasise the importance of culture in successful soccer teams. The best teams are those that have soccer almost in the DNA. Italians, Spanish, Germans, Argentinians appear to know what to do in any situation instinctively, but it’s not instinct. It’s a result of being nurtured in a rich soccer tradition.

There is hope for the future. Canadian Soccer has announced a Preferrred Training Model, in the hope that all kids between four and twelve will receive a similar standard of instruction, instead of having a ball rolled to them and being told to chase it. But it will take generations to see the effects of the strategy; in the meantime, the World Cup is likely to remain a TV event only for Canada’s growing population of soccer fans.