CHAMPAGNE FOOTBALL SUPERNOVA
It’s come home
Canada’s Believer-In-Chief getting his champagne football order in
Shakespeare could not have scripted what happened. Attwood neither. Maybe Nostradamus predicted it.
Allez les Rouges? Allez les Prophéties more like. Now.
Not a coincidence what occurred in Matchday 2 comes as the nation is gripped by Grad Season. After many false starts the beautiful game in Canada has come of age.
Graduating into the hearts, veins and minds of a nation. From the Rock and right across 4 & ½ time zones to the 8th biggest island on the planet which has Victoria as its capital.
A first World Cup Win. Jonathan David’s hat trick; the first from a host nation player since Sir Geoff Hurst’s iconic 1966 Wembley moment, Ismaël Koné’s heartache, that Saliba heartfelt tribute. An iconic margin of victory, the Voyageurs and friends. That Marsch goal celebration meme.
Canada put on the Ritz; Champagne Football. I don’t care the opponent an hour or so into the contest was reduced to 9, nor that they themselves have not ever won a World Cup game.
For good measure to confirm ourselves soccer elite; we witnessed a post-match dust up which would have graced a superclásico, an el classico or an auld firm derby. Even the two head coaches got into some afters.
All done under the watchful gaze, approval and admiration of the greatest and grandest International goal scorer in FIFA’s history and folklore. In Christine Sinclair’s backyard no less.
A stadium brimming all over. Presidents of all shapes and sizes, Prime Ministers Past and Present. A cameo from Barrack. Even the iconic London Times has got into it, devoting its back page image Friday to Saliba’s heartfelt gesture for his teammate.
Think of this. Jonathan David forever sits among the pantheon of World Cup greats. Over the near 100-year history of World Cups a little more than 50 players have stuck 3 goals in the old onion bag in a match during the course of thousands of World Cup matches.
Now add this. David’s name sits in between the youngest player to ever score a World Cup Hattrick Pelé and the name of the World Cup’s eldest hatrick hero, Lionel Messi.
Not bad company at all Jonathan.
He’s One of our Own
As we move forward and the World Cup’s behind us, looking back that quite awful shuddering moment for Ismaël Koné will likely be the defining image. Something the entire nation is rallying behind. Moïse Bombito was all of us with his immediate visit to his dear friend at his hospital bedside. The photo Bombito posted to his Instagram says everything.
As was Koné’s immediate reaction. Smiling, shaking hands with opponents and team mates alike as he was stretchered off the pitch. A perfect illustration of it’s not what happens which counts; only your response does.
#CanMNT Believer-In-Chief,- told the phalanx of cameras and microphones postgame, “There will be 40 million people that said they were here." Stop that Jesse, you’ll be giving Infantino ideas.
Marsch also spoke of a ‘Movement’ and what occurred in Vancouver ‘wasn’t normal.’ Damn right it was not. Football has landed. At home. Once and for all.
Adding, "You can say and do all the right things, but you need moments like today”. Marsch is referring to the second and just as essential part of his remit. Canada’s favourite American is not just our MNT’s head coach he’s also tasked with taking soccer In Canada to the holiest of grails. Into the mainstream and beyond. One condition. Forever.
For way too long the pretense of ordaining Canada a so termed ‘Soccer Nation has sprouted from the lips of those involved in the game, media, pr script sheets. With the always reliable Supporter Groups willing it over the line.
I don’t even know what it means to be defined as a Soccer Nation. What are the parameters? Does Gianni Infantino oversee ticket sales…
For years I have advocated that for MLS to be mentioned in the same breath as the world’s best leagues it needed a proper scandal. Beckham’s Inter Miami circumventing the GAM & TAM rules didn’t quite cut it.
I do know the origins of our Vancouver moment are traced back to 2021 and CONCACF Qualification for Qatar 2022. Oh the irony.
More precisely the offices of CONCACAF Presided over by Vancouver’s latest favourite son, Victor Montagliani. Owing to Covid, and it ripping through the qualification cycle the governing body had to act.
It did so by reducing the number of qualification rounds. Crucially it also increased by two the number of nations that would qualify for the vital and valuable final round. Traditionally six nations forming the HEX.
For Qatar2022 that number was increased to 8 and would be made up of the Top 8 seeds. At the time Canada was ranked 7th in CONCACAF.
No increase in the number of nations from 6 to 8 and we wouldn’t even have witnessed that unprecedented run, let alone even qualified for Qatar2022
Including that globally famous ICETECA in Edmonton where the #CanMNT under arctic like conditions put Mexico to the sword.
Sort of a scandal if you think about it, a very Canadian one. All very quiet.
The legacy of Vancouver, this World Cup will only be realised in the years and decades to come. A substantial part of it must be to finally address our Football Infrastructure deficit.
It is criminal that for a sport that captivates millions of Canadians right across the country and has never sold as many football boots in its history.
Then add in PM Carney jetted into Vancouver from the latest G7 meetings - that our soccer infrastructure is so desperately lacking it has resulted in a significant ‘market drag’.
Commeth the moment; commeth the capital. Canada Inc.
Cheers
@NoelPButler / info@orangesathalftime.net
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