Top 5 Canadian goals

1. Lyndon Hooper vs. Mexico, WCQ May 1993 - Lyndon Hooper gives Canada a 2-1 lead in the 2nd half & Canada goes on to qualify for their second World Cup in 1994. Oh no, wait a minute, they don't. The player making the pass to Hooper, Paul Peschisolido is ruled offside as he makes the pass, despite the fact that no less than two Mexicans played him on-side. I was sitting in the stands at the opposite end of the field & only once I returned home to check the game tape did I discover how truly ripped off Canada was that day.

2.Kevin McKenna scores his second of the match against Martinique in the 2002 Gold Cup, with just over a minute left to play, on a brilliant volley from a pin-point Jim Brennan cross. Canada defeats Martinique in the Gold Cup Quarter-finals 2-1 in regulation time. Oh no, wait a minute, they don't. I sense a pattern here. Kevin McKenna is ruled offside even though two defenders play him on-side. Luckily we prevail on penalties anyway, but still.....

3.Davide Xausa scores an easy empty-net goal, from a back-pass provided by McKenna, to make it Canada 3, Haiti 0. You guessed it, he doesn't - despite being behind the ball, Xausa is impossibly ruled to be offside. I stood in the crowd with fellow Canadians, jaws dropped to the floor in astonishment over the call. Incredibly this impossibly disallowed goal ends up forcing Canada to enter a blind draw to see if they advance - which luckily they do, to play Martinique.

4.Okay, time to break the pattern. I'll pick a little known goal from Guido Titotto for Canada's 1987 U17 team. Why? It was the only goal I got to cheer for Canada as they hosted the U17 World Cup in Toronto, Canada losing all three games & finally scoring a goal in the final match, a 2-1 loss to Qatar. Yes, our youth teams have come along way! It was a great goal though.

5.One more little-known goal, but this one I was not in attendance for. Rick Jasken's game-clinching 4th goal for Canada in their 4-1 thrashing of Morrocco in Morrocco to win the 1989 Francophone Games, Canada's sadly forgotten & often ignored international triumph (I've often seen it said the Gold Cup 2000 was Canada's first international trophy, not true of course). A lovely goal. The next time we scored 4 goals against a Northern African team in Northern Africa was two days ago.......

 

it's pretty sad how we can't even compile a Top 10 Best Canadian goals list

 

Nice thread! Of course this is personal opinion — how you felt about the moment when they hit the back of the net:

Oh and Becks I could do 10 easily, but the man asked for five.

1. Richard Hastings - Gold Cup 2000 vs Mexico — No surprise. Besides the obvious reasons I had been in my new city of residence for five months, was dead skint and had no TV. So I badgered some co-workers into watching the matches and hosting a watch party. None were soccer fans, but after the Gold Cup win they were on the bandwagon. It was also the goal that gave me the reputation for being completely insane when it comes to soccer (okay I knocked over a couple of chairs and hit head on the ceiling and kept hugging everyone, c;mon, it was Mexico!).

2. Eddy Burdusco — against Brazil 1994 — I think the shock of it was the greatest. It just came out of NOWEHERE (well okay an Iain Fraser throughball).

3. Alex Bunbury — vs. Mexico in 1993 WCQ — for a few minutes I thought we were going to fulfill the dream.

4. Lyndon Hooper — in Australia 94, WCQ — I had high hopes going into this one, thought we could take the away leg and well I didn't fancy our chances with Argentina, but still... so we're getting destroyed by the Aussies and they can't finish and Craig Forrest is playing out of his skull and finally the Aussies score to tie the aggregate and go up on the away goals rule and then bam suddenly we're level totally against the run of play! And Lyndon Hooper was my boyhood favourite.

5. Dwayne DeRosario — vs. Scotland 02 friendly — actually drawing the penalty that early was almost as great as the goal. I'm bouncing up and down and the chap next to me (some killjoy who would rather talk about our disallowed goals, rather than all those great ones that counted ) reminded me we hadn't actually scored yet. No worry. DeRo slots it nicely, we're up, great atmosphere in the away stand and yeah . . . McKenna and Fenwick fall asleep and seconds later... *sigh*

Honourable mention: Davide Xausa v Ecuador 99 Canada Cup (my first Canadian goal in person), Jeff Clarke v T&T in Toronto 2000 friendly (the winner in the only Cdn victory I've witnessed in person, I keep telling people that I think I'm bad luck, but they won't listen).

I could do a lot more and we haven't even started with the women and I wasn't counting the youth level or anything. I remember Titotto's goal against Qatar. That and a goal by Italy against the USSR in a semi, like a 40-yard volley? That's a long time ago and I was really young.

cheers,
hobbes

 

Actually Italy & the USSR never played against each other in that tourney - Italy lost in the semi-finals (in front of a sell-out crowd of over 20,000 at Varsity) 1-0 to Nigeria - despite scoring 2 goals incorrectly disallowed for being offside (but don't get me started on Italy's disallowed goals), who went on to lose to the USSR on penalties in the final (in front of 16,000 fans at Varsity).

Excuse my twisted philosophy, I just figure its better to talk about the goals that didn't count after a 4-2 victory, while its better to talk about your favourite 5 goals that did count after a 4-0 loss.

And BTW, I left out Gerry Gray's goal in the 1984 Olympics to give us the 2-0 lead on Brazil & into the semi-finals - oh no, that one didn't count either.....

Oh Alright, I'll do my real top 5 goals.

1.Paul James, Canada 1 vs. Costa Rica 1, Varsity Stadium, August 1985. Canada went behind on an own goal in the first match of the final round of qualifying. Instead of Canada following up bad luck with more bad luck, as occasionally happens, Canada outplays Costa Rica & gets the equalizer in the second half, right before my very eyes. Vrablic crosses to the right post and Paul James knocks in a near-post header to tie up the match. They try the same play moments later & James rings off the post. The first Canadian match & goal I ever saw live, and it helped us to get to the World Cup.

2.I'll also say Richard Hastings Golden Goal against Mexico in the 2000 Gold Cup. Right now the only Golden Goal in Canadian history.

3.Gerry Gray's goal which did count - a direct free kick late in the 2nd half in a World Cup qualifier held in Mexico played at Azteca in Nov. 1980.

4.Jim Brennan's game winner against Jamaica in Sept.1999. Text book stuff from the right side of the field to the left & in the back of the net.

5.Because its so hilarious, South Korea's own goal for Canada's benefit in Canada's 2-1 victory in the 2002 Gold Cup bronze medal match. Brennan crosses the ball into the box, the first Korean player heads the ball from 15 yards out against his own cross-bar, the 2nd Korean player heads the rebound into the corner of his net. I've never see a team try so hard to score on themselves. Cheer up SK fans - you made it to the final four of the WC a few months later!

 

So Italy never played the USSR? Hmmm... I still think it was an Italian goal, but who knows. Who played in the really foggy game. I think it was in Halifax. Was that the USSR? How do I remember the 86 World Cup better than the 87 U17s? I guess I hadn't thought about that tourney in years.

cheers,
hobbes

 

Bunbury's my favourite player from Canada too. I fell in love with him whilst playing FIFA99 (I always played at Medium Level). As Canada I was able to beat everybody, execpt England.

Memorable moments from FIFA99

A 7-1 win over Yugoslavia (the 1 was a Corrazzin Own Goal).
Comming back from 2 down at Half Time to beat Brazil 3-2.
Winning a tournament with a 3-1 victory over Mexico.
Comming back from 1 down at Half Time to beat USA 3-1.
A 1-1 draw with Holland.

 

2 goals i remember best were Mobilio's goal b4 WC 1994 against Australia @ Commonwealth, and Bredusco vs. Brazil because I was a kid at both of those games.