What is the greatest moment in Soccer for Canada, not Hockey, Soccer. 1. Canada Gold Cup Champions 2000 (Coin Toss Luck) 2. Mexico '86 Those are the only ones I can think of......anybody know of any other ones?
Well, WC86 was our biggest achievement, but having not lived through it and seeing as we went 3-and-out without scoring, I don't know if it was our greatest "moment". Did qualifying for the WC in 1985 elicit the same reactions as winning the GC in 2000? Not sure. The best Canadian moment for me is Hastings's goal against Mexico. I got up and screamed. Tying it with 9 to go and then beating them in OT, no one expected that.
Beating Honduras in St Johns Nfld in 1985 to actually qualify for the World Cup Finals has to be our finest moment, holding European Champions France to just one goal in the 86 World Cup would be second.
Hell hath frozen. I agree with the beast. The Honduras game is first but there are several that would tie for second. Include those listed above and the 1-1 game vs Brazil in Edmonton assuming we are talking CMNT only.
Well, I agree it is first in importance (and he's on my ignore list), but I don't know what the reaction among fans and the general populace was to that (can someone help me out?). I know EVERYONE knew that Canada had won the GC in 2000.
Heh, I remember I was slightly pissed in 2000 when Canada advanced over South Korea in the group on toss of a coin, as I didn't think it was fair obviously (I was neutral for both sides). It was all settled 2 years later though, when Canada beat Korea 2-1 in the same tournament in the 3rd place match.
I was really young when we qualified and I don't remember the game, but I think the impact was huge. I remember the day we qualified being downtown and seeing people watching the highlights on the TV in a store. I remember buying world cup mechandise at stores (and this is back when getting an authentic looking replica NHL jersey wasn't easy). As kids we'd go to the school yard and divide into the teams that were playing that day and then watch the games after. June of 86 soccer was big news. With the years of NASL people were used to seeing soccer on the sporting landscape, so a successful run got a fair bit of attention and didn't seem weird. I think international soccer's profile is bigger now, but a lot of people are dismissive of Canada in the same breath. The reaction in 2000 was more of "maybe we're ready for a breakthrough and don't suck". I remember having to explain to friends exactly what the Gold Cup was ("it's for our region, but we beat Colombia right? So South America is in it? Did we have to beat Brazil and Argentina?"). They realized it was important, but didn't know why. Everyone knew the World Cup was important. I didn't even really understand what the World Cup was, I don't think I really understood the difference between club and national soccer at that age, but I knew it was huge when we qualified in 85. There's been some big club moments too, but I assume we're talking national team stuff. cheers, hobbes
- Qualifying for the 1986 World Cup - Winning the 2000 Gold Cup - Qualifying for the U20 WYC QF's (narrow loss to Spain) - Women making it to the 2003 WC semi-final - U19's making it to the final in 2002 etc...
Etc? What more etc? Let me and the world know............... There are a few club moments as well I would like to see as well. Many people around the world forget that Canada does have a great soccer history and maybe more then some think. NASL Champions 1976 Toronto Metros-Croatia 1979 Vancouver Whitecaps
Having been around for both the WC qualification and the GC win, I can safely say that the WC qualification was huge. The GC win came on a slow news day and our soccer team disappeared from the press, and the collective Cdn consciousness, the next day, as usual. The WC team was in the news big time leading up to the actual appearance. And in fact I think the Whitecaps win in 79 was bigger than the GC win.