2022 FIFA World Cup Thread

[Robbie]

Congratulations to Canada for qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup for only the second time in history with a 4-0 home win at home over Jamaica. This means that Canada has qualified for the first time since 1986. What do you remember about the first half of 1986?

Vancouver was hosting Expo 86.
Space shuttle Challenger exploded.
USA bombed Libya.
Ferdinand Marcos lost his Presidency from the Phillipines after several decades.
BC Lions were preparing to defend their Grey Cup title after winning it in Nov. 1985.

In that case, Canada actually qualified in Sept. 1985 so that:

September 14, 1985 = March 27, 2022

Back in September 1985:

The BC Lions, after coming just short in the 1983 and 1984, were hungry to win it all and had a great record with only one loss, and eventually won it all after two losses to Winnipeg late in the season gave the Lions a scare.
The Vancouver Canucks were in a rebuilt process by hiring new head coach Tom Watt.
For the first time in a long while, Vancouver only had two pro sports teams as the Whitecaps and the NASL folded after 1984, so rooting for Team Canada was the only way to go when it came to soccer.

Prior to 2022, the last time Canada came even close was in 1993 when trying to qualifying for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. A home win over Mexico would have clinched it for Canada, but unfortunately they dropped a 2-1 decision forcing them to settle for second and play an additional playoff series agains Australia which they lost. But this time, Canada had a solid win over powerhouse Mexico and will finish first in the qualifying division. And along with the Canadian women capturing gold in the Olympics last year, soccer has been great for Canada.

While first things first, as co-host Canada will also automatically qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup as well.

[Robbie]

Canada has been placed in a difficult tough group F with Belgium, Morocco, and Croatia.

In the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Croatia were the runner-ups while Belgium were the third place finishers.

Hopefully they'll do better compared to the 1986 team when they failed to score a single goal in their group C against France, USSR, and Hungary.

With Vancouver having a sizable Croatian community, one would wonder if there will be more Canadian or Crotian fans on the streets of Vancouver.

But one thing that will be certain is that there won't be any fans for this country as it failed to qualify (again), whereas with its large community Vancouver traditionally rooted for this nation - ITALY. That's a huge shock as Italy also failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup as well when they used to be a powerhouse with winning in 1982 and 2006.

[TheLionKing]

What do I remember about their last team ? The squad didn't score a single goal in the tournament. Boring !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Robbie]

Congratulations to Vancouver for being selected as one of the host cities in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

[Hambone]

Now to see how long the Lions road trip will be to accommodate the World Cup. FIFA generally wants total control of World Cup stadiums starting a couple weeks before the first game to be hosted there until they no longer need it.

[SammyGreene]

Now to see how long the Lions road trip will be to accommodate the World Cup. FIFA generally wants total control of World Cup stadiums starting a couple weeks before the first game to be hosted there until they no longer need it.

Will be interesting. Especially since they will be putting down sod as well which very likely will extend the time needed. I could see a minimum 2 months. Vancouver is also getting 5 exhibitions as well leading up to the tournament

[Hambone]

Now to see how long the Lions road trip will be to accommodate the World Cup. FIFA generally wants total control of World Cup stadiums starting a couple weeks before the first game to be hosted there until they no longer need it.

Will be interesting. Especially since they will be putting down sod as well which very likely will extend the time needed. I could see a minimum 2 months. Vancouver is also getting 5 exhibitions as well leading up to the tournament

As long as Ambrosie doesn't keep up with his idiotic push to start the season even earlier it might not be too bad. I looked back at the World Cup timelines back to 1994. Qatar this year as a major exception being played late in the year due to climate. Generally they have started around the same time as the CFL regular season usually starts and last for 1 month. One year it started May 31st but otherwise usually in the June 9th to 14th range.

Playing the preseason game elsewhere is no big deal. I'd welcome the possibility of not having to pay for the preseason game which I never attend. Most likely it would mean both the Lions and Argos would start the season on a 3 or 4 game road trip with a bye mixed in somewhere along the way.

However if the CFL were to push the start of the season up into mid-May (CBA groundwork was done in the new contract) then we'd have a mess.

[Robbie]

The 2022 FIFA World Cup has started. Let's see what happens.

It would be a huge success if Team Canada could even advance from the Group Stage to the Round of 16 knockout stage. To do so, they will have to place ahead of 2018 Runner-Up Croatia and third place finisher Belgium.

And as previously posted, with Vancouver having a sizable Croatian-Canadian community, one would wonder if there will be more Canadian or Croatian fans on the streets of Vancouver.

[Sir Purrcival]

Yeah I think they are in tough but the opposition might make the mistake of overlooking this team. I think the Mexicans did and they took a draw and a win from them and they are ranked what at 10 I think in the world. The Canadians are fast, much faster than they have been in years past and they are capable across all the front. Hey if the Argo's can win the Grey Cup...

[Toppy Vann]

This World Cup is so tainted with over 6500 migrant deaths, playing in hot weather, bribery etc and then Ecuador scoring a beauty of goal vs Qatar in less than 3 minutes only to mysteriously go to VAR and find less than half a leg offside. It looked disgraceful despite that guy heading the ball to the goal scorer. His being in that position did not affect the play as the GK had come bizarrely far out to try to make a play. Twitter blew up on that.

I voted optimistically LOL but realistically it'd be tough to pull off a miracle and get out of the group stage with Belgium and Croatia likely to top Canada and Morroco.

John Herdman is no doubt hoping that his players led by Alphonsos Davies will play confidently and composed versus how Canada was awe-struck for the most part in 1986. If they do that which I think is possible, they'll not be blown out like Qatar and Iran were in their first games.


If Canada came in first or second in the Group stage, they'd likely play either Spain or Germany given that their Group has Japan and Costa Rica.


Statisticians from Oxford U predict:

Belgium (1) vs Germany (2) with Belgium defeating Portugal in the Quarters.
Croatia (2) vs Spain (1) with Spain losing to Brazil in the Quarters.

Then:
Brazil beating Argentina and Belgium beating France in respective semi-finals.

With Brazil the overall winner.

[Robbie]

Canada loses a close game 1-0 to Belgium, while Croatia and Morocco gets a scoreless tie.

While last for now, Canada still has a chance to finish in the top two in group F.

[Toppy Vann]

Canada were full value against Belgium for the sole reason that Canada came to play and not sit back. As Luke Wileman said, they were fun to watch as they pressed and took away time and space up front where so many lesser teams fear to attempt. They lacked that sniffer up front who knows where to move and is there to pounce on loose balls in the box but that's a rare talent even with world-class strikers.

Let's hope that Herdman resists what he said post-game where coaches in his shoes often question their tactics and go defensive in the next game relying on counter attacks something that will in my view get them killed.

Canada robbed on at least one, if not two non-calls for penalties.

On penalty kicks (PKs) there's two philosophies:
1. Let the players in the game decide who takes the penalty shot - Herdman's view which I dislike.
2. Base it on practice and prior game experience (ie Jonathan David who is 9/12 IIRC at his club side, Lille was apparently a better choice. )

Alphonsos Davies's PK will be educational for coaches and PK takers as he erred as Jeannine Becker on the TSN panel said for setting the ball down quickly and then standing over the ball (back of it ) for 65 seconds. It was like a FG kicker in football who let's a TO call by the other team psych him out. His shot was weak and GK guessed right. Granted it's TV where fans like me have a 50/50 of guessing which side I thought Davies was leaning the direction of his shot.

In shootouts with my teams from youth to senior men, the only shots in the back of the net to win in cup play came not from the stars but from the unexpected guy(s) who had no pressure, unlike the stars. Lots of data in pro on that too.

Can Canada come out and put the same pressure on Croatia they were able to keep up on Belgium for 90+ minutes? I hope so.
Other than Modric this is a younger team than Belgium.

Surprised that Canada announcers are even a bit concerned with John Herdman saying to his team "eff Croatia" and admitting immediately after the game on TSN that is what he said. [/img]

A tabloid in Croatia responds something like 'You have the mouth, do you have the balls.'

It's different in soccer where not all players get interviewed post games as the Manager typically picks a player to be interviewed - more during World cup

[Sir Purrcival]

Well that was definitive. 2 games, 2 losses and out. I see Belgium was blanked today as well so they are in a bit of state. I didn't like the Herdman thing. Above all else, you are expected act professional at this level to keep it classy. He didn't. Gave Croatia additional fuel for the fight which you never want to do. He should know better. We were an underdog story and that kind of comment takes us from hero's to zero's even if in the great scheme of things it is a relatively minor thing.

Well, that is that. Maybe next world cup not that I watched much or any of it this time round. Too much negative stuff surrounding this event including the choice of local. etc. etc.

[Robbie]

Good news: After five tries including in 1986, Canada finally scored their very first FIFA World Cup goal.
Bad news: With a 4-1 loss to Croatia, Canada has been officially eliminated.

Better luck in four years.

[Toppy Vann]

I don't know if they didn't have the gas they had vs Belgium ---which may be understandable but...

The moment they stopped taking the game forward doomed them. They're not good enough to play that way against a team like Croatia.

That and losing shape at the back as the game progressed.

Larin was useless up front and I'd have taken him at the 30 min mark as he had no jump and other than the pass on the goal to Buchanan, he was baggage playing a non-pressure game at the front.

Hutchinson was gassed today and should have stayed back.

Key issue that happened early in the first half was that any time you stand there too long on the ball at the back unless you're the top teams/players in the world it never ends well for a team that's not level in ability. You got to play with pace and keep the ball moving.

Even the GK's distribution was questionable early on in the first half.

After that first cross for the goal most of the rest were consistently under-hit or off target.

IF one of those shots Canada had hit the back of the net it might have been a better result.

It'll be tough but ideally they play to win versus Morrocco.