2022 World Cup: In 1986, when Canada made its one and only appearance at the World Cup, it failed to score; a youthful group desires to change that in Qatar.
Montreal, Canada—To make history in Qatar, all Canada needs is a goal.
After making its first and only appearance at the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, the Canadian national men’s football team is making its second appearance at the sport’s most prestigious competition.
But the team lost all three of its games in the first round of that tournament 36 years ago because it didn’t score a single goal. This set the stage for what could be a historic moment in Qatar in 2022.
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According to Alan McDougall, a history professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario and the author of Contested Fields: Modern Football: A Global History
He stated to Al Jazeera, “But Canada’s soccer has made a lot of progress since then, and I think there are good reasons to be optimistic that the 2022 team will fare better than its predecessor in 1986.”
“There is no doubt that the 2022 team has a chance to right some wrongs from history.”
On Wednesday, when Canada plays Belgium, the world’s second-ranked team, in its first competitive match at Al-Rayyan Stadium, it faces a massive obstacle.
Only once have the two nations met, in 1989, when Belgium defeated the United States 2-0 in an international friendly in Ottawa.
This time, the 41st-ranked Canadian team will bet on a boost from superstar Alphonso Davies, 22, who recently suffered a hamstring injury while playing for Bayern Munich, a Bundesliga team.
On Sunday, Davies told the Canadian channel TSN that getting hurt just a few weeks before the start of the World Cup was “devastating” for the team as well as for himself; however, “thankfully it wasn’t too bad of an injury,” and he anticipates being on the field when the match against Belgium begins.
The winger stated, “I think I can start the first game, and play the first game.”If it was 50/50, they wouldn’t put me on the field.
Canada’s “motto is fear nothing,” according to Les Jones, the former chairman of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, “has proven appropriate in the past because they’ve beaten teams they didn’t expect to beat.”
By qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, Jones claims that Canada has “already exceeded all expectations.”Now, success in the group stage, where Canada faces Belgium, Croatia, and Morocco, is the priority.
Jones stated, “Some people are hoping for a goal, some people are hoping for a point, some people are hoping for a win.”However, I believe that the team and coach John Herdman are aiming to “qualify” for the knockout stage, which is the next stage of the competition.
Given the World Cup’s surprise upsets thus far, Jones sees reason for optimism. The underdogs are doing well based on Tuesday’s results: He stated to Al Jazeera, “Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina, and Tunisia drew with Denmark.”
Jones stated that Canada performed better than anticipated by holding France scoreless until the 78th minute at the 1986 World Cup. In the end, Les Bleus prevailed 1-0.
Jones explained, “Many people expected [France] to score double figures.”Therefore, we have been surprised previously and hope to be surprised again.
Meanwhile, the majority of experts believe that Canada has a good chance of scoring the elusive first World Cup goal.
According to Jeffrey Rosenthal, a professor of statistics at the University of Toronto, who recently spoke with U of T News, “I’m pretty confident,” the team has scored at least once in seven of its last ten games.
According to Rosenthal, “By that measure, the probability of failing to score at least one goal in all three of their upcoming group matches is only 2.7 percent, which means they are 97.3 percent certain to score at least once.” The team has scored at least once in seven of its last ten
This calculation isn’t entirely fair because some of their group opponents might be stronger than their previous opponents. However, I would still give them a chance of at least one goal of more than 80%.
Which player will pass the ball past a goalkeeper now, and when, remains to be seen.
Wednesday’s game against Belgium will be the first chance, followed by games against Croatia on November 27 and Morocco on December 1.