Canada’s men’s national soccer team makes the long trip to Honduras on Sunday closer than it has been in more than a decade to qualifying for the World Cup.
With a 3-0 defeat of Cuba at BMO Field on Friday, Canada moves into a tie for top spot in their group with one game to go in the penultimate stage of qualifying for Brazil 2014.
Canada and Panama are both 3-1-1 for 10 points, although the Panamanians have the edge with a plus-4 goal differential, one better than the Canadians.
The top two teams advance to the final stage of qualifying to be played in 2013.
Honduras (2-1-2), which hosts Canada on Tuesday in San Pedro Sula (4 p.m., Sportsnet) is in third place, two points in arrears. Cuba is in last place at 0-5-0.
“It’s in our hands, obviously,” captain Kevin McKenna said after the Cuba match, which saw the Canadians only find the back of the net three times despite holding a 35-7 edge in shots — 14-1 in those on target — as the visitors dressed 11 men and no substitutes after four of their players are believed to have defected after the team arrived in Toronto.
A draw or a win in Honduras will see Canada through to the final round for the first time since the quest for the 1998 World Cup in France. In that edition of the six-team group, or Hex, the Canadians wound up with a 1-6-3 record to finish dead-last.
Canada has only made it to one World Cup — 1986 in Mexico.
Panama is the favourite going into Cuba in the other group match Tuesday.
Canada and Honduras tied 0-0 at BMO Field on June 12, a match that saw the Canadians dominate but squander scoring chances, not unlike Friday against Cuba.
“We have to go out and defend for our lives and if we can get any chances to score goals it would mean a lot to us,” Atiba Hutchinson said after the win, adding the Canadians should have beat Cuba by a score of 7-0 given all their chances. “The ball’s still in our court and we’ll have to be confident that we can go out there and get a good result.”
Canada has kept a clean sheet in four of five matches this round. The only blemishes came in Panama last month when the side seemed unable to overcome the hostile crowd and the loss of veteran Dwayne De Rosario to a knee injury, falling 2-0.
In addition to missing De Rosario, the team’s all-time leading scorer, Canada will be without striker Olivier Occean, who is suspended after a red card against Cuba.
Head coach Stephen Hart said he might bring in another striker to replace Occean.
Hart, who admitted his players were perhaps overwhelmed by disruptive fans camped out through the night outside the hotel in Panama and a huge, loud crowd inside the stadium, said he’s expecting the side to be more composed this time.
“The players know they’re going away from home,” Hart said after Friday’s match. “We always knew that it would probably come down to the Honduras game.
“So, we have some days to do a little practice session, a little bit of discussion on our approach and hopefully we’ll get it right.”
With a 3-0 defeat of Cuba at BMO Field on Friday, Canada moves into a tie for top spot in their group with one game to go in the penultimate stage of qualifying for Brazil 2014.
Canada and Panama are both 3-1-1 for 10 points, although the Panamanians have the edge with a plus-4 goal differential, one better than the Canadians.
The top two teams advance to the final stage of qualifying to be played in 2013.
Honduras (2-1-2), which hosts Canada on Tuesday in San Pedro Sula (4 p.m., Sportsnet) is in third place, two points in arrears. Cuba is in last place at 0-5-0.
“It’s in our hands, obviously,” captain Kevin McKenna said after the Cuba match, which saw the Canadians only find the back of the net three times despite holding a 35-7 edge in shots — 14-1 in those on target — as the visitors dressed 11 men and no substitutes after four of their players are believed to have defected after the team arrived in Toronto.
A draw or a win in Honduras will see Canada through to the final round for the first time since the quest for the 1998 World Cup in France. In that edition of the six-team group, or Hex, the Canadians wound up with a 1-6-3 record to finish dead-last.
Canada has only made it to one World Cup — 1986 in Mexico.
Panama is the favourite going into Cuba in the other group match Tuesday.
Canada and Honduras tied 0-0 at BMO Field on June 12, a match that saw the Canadians dominate but squander scoring chances, not unlike Friday against Cuba.
“We have to go out and defend for our lives and if we can get any chances to score goals it would mean a lot to us,” Atiba Hutchinson said after the win, adding the Canadians should have beat Cuba by a score of 7-0 given all their chances. “The ball’s still in our court and we’ll have to be confident that we can go out there and get a good result.”
Canada has kept a clean sheet in four of five matches this round. The only blemishes came in Panama last month when the side seemed unable to overcome the hostile crowd and the loss of veteran Dwayne De Rosario to a knee injury, falling 2-0.
In addition to missing De Rosario, the team’s all-time leading scorer, Canada will be without striker Olivier Occean, who is suspended after a red card against Cuba.
Head coach Stephen Hart said he might bring in another striker to replace Occean.
Hart, who admitted his players were perhaps overwhelmed by disruptive fans camped out through the night outside the hotel in Panama and a huge, loud crowd inside the stadium, said he’s expecting the side to be more composed this time.
“The players know they’re going away from home,” Hart said after Friday’s match. “We always knew that it would probably come down to the Honduras game.
“So, we have some days to do a little practice session, a little bit of discussion on our approach and hopefully we’ll get it right.”
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