Soccer Coach
Well-Known Member
The argument that many people propose is that Canadian players and teams from the 1982 to 1994 era were vastly superior than the current squad.
The evidence to support this claim is the successful qualification to the 1986 World Cup and the near qualification to the 1994 World Cup.
It is further argued that the existence of NASL and CSL bolstered the position of Canada with respect to the other CONCACAF nations. It is argued that once the NASL and CSL disbanded; then Canadian soccer started a steady decline.
The conclusion that some people argue is that once we have our own domestic league; our teams and players will return to prominence in the CONCACAF region and will qualify to the World Cup.
There are four major inconsistencies with this line of reasoning.
1) The 1990 World Cup qualification.
People convenient ignore this qualification process. Canada played poorly and even did not make to the final round. Canada got eliminated by Guatemala. There was 1-0 loss in Guatemala City. Then in Vancouver, the Canadian team was trailing 2-0 for most of the game until it made an unlikely come back in the last 25 minutes which included a dubious penalty and a goalie error. However, Canada had an early exit.
2) The CSL was in operation during the 1990 Qualification process.
Most of the Canadian players were playing in the CSL, but they showed poorly in the 1990 qualifying games Thus, the domestic league did not help them to qualify for the world cup.
3) The 1970 to 1982 World Qualification process and the NASL.
Canada got eliminated in each of them. I do not include 1966 and 1962 because Canada decided not to participate during those events. On all of the four events Canada was not even a contestant, and in fact in many of them; Canada finishes on the last place. This is important because many Canadian players are playing in the NASL during that period.
For example, Bruce Wilson, played for the Vancouver Whitecaps from 1974 to 1977, the Chicago Sting in 1978 and 1979, the New York Cosmos in 1980, and the Toronto Blizzard from 1981 to 1984. He was a six-time all-star selection, including three first-team selections (Vancouver in '77, Chicago in '79, Toronto in '84).
We can not argue that Canadian players were not playing in professional leagues. They were and they were getting eliminated decisively.
4) The exaggerated near qualification to the 1994 World Cup.
Without getting into small details, FIFA reorganized the spots for each confederation. Canada would have been directly eliminated under previous allocations, but this time it was given play-offs with Oceania and Commebol. Chile had been banned. There was no expectation that a Concacaf team would beat Oceania team and then would beat a Commebol team. Argentina finished second in their group and then was sent to the play-offs.
There was simply no way that Canada could beat Australia and then Argentina with Maradona. The CSL once again did not help with this qualification process.
It is clear that these observations put doubt into the story of a consistently strong Canadian team propelled by the existence of domestic leagues.
If the story does not hold; then we need to look at alternative explanations.
Why Canada qualified in the 1986? How Canada qualified? Was anything different in 1986?
The answer to the later question is: yes. There were two significant differences.
The first difference is that Mexico was absent from the 1986 and 1990 qualification process. This helped Canada.
The second difference is Central America had major civil wars that affected their national teams. We might not be able to fully see the grasp of this since it is distant and not well documented here. However, it is well documented in Central America and Mexico. For example, Salvadorean players had to pay for their own uniforms, had to borrow balls from the opposing teams to do warm ups, their trips to games would take longer, games would be played in other neutral countries or simply cancelled; practices would be cut short due to security concerns; Key players would be cut from national teams if they would not ally with the military regimes.
The chaos of the region gave Canada the false sense of advancement. People think that Canada improved, but in reality Canadians were simply playing teams that were experiencing huge constraints.
I quote the goal keeper from El Salvador: "Cuando llegamos, resulta que todos los equipos llevaban regalos para los rivales, que una camisa, que una bandera y hasta un libro con la historia de su fútbol... Nosotros, por supuesto, no llevábamos ni pines, ni nada de nada... Entonces vi un pino y corté un trozo de madera del árbol y con una navaja le puse las letras de El Salvador. Eso les dimos".
"When we arrived to the 1982 World Cup, every team brought gifts, like shirts, flags, books about history of soccer... we came with nothing, not even shirts to give... thus, I saw a little bush. I cut a piece from it, and I put El Salvador and this we gave to them.
In summary, the weakening of Central American teams combined with the absence of Mexico provided better results for Canada.
The next issue to consider is the Qualification of the 1986 World Cup. How did it happen? Was it convincingly? Was Canada dictating the games?
The evidence suggests that this was not the case.
Canada won against Honduras with two corner kicks. Honduras played better and Randy Samuels literally saved a goal on the line.
Canada held Costa Rica to 1-1 draw after a goal with a long cross and a header.
Canada also beat Guatemala with a long ball from the keeper and another corner kick.
Essentially most of the World Cup 1986 campaign consisted of defending and then scoring goals in corner kicks, free kicks or long balls and crosses to the box. Nothing wrong with this in itself, the problem is that you can not keep qualyfing with this approach and principle. If you try this over and over. Eventually it will catch up to you as other teams learn to defend them better.
It is no surprise that Canada did not score a goal in the World Cup in 1986, and then got early elimination in 1990. It is simple a natural and logical consequence.
It is simply a myth that Canadian teams and players were dominating their counterpart players and teams in CONCACAF during the 1986 to 1994 era, or that we have gone backwards, or that the CSL or NSL helped Canada.
The problem is not the lack of a league (although it surely could help). The problem is the mentality about the game. The lack of ball control and technique. The emphasis on physicality over the developing of possession. Once this is fixed; the better results will follow.
I really hope that Canada one day makes it to the World Cup, but it will not happen with the current approach and mentality.
The evidence to support this claim is the successful qualification to the 1986 World Cup and the near qualification to the 1994 World Cup.
It is further argued that the existence of NASL and CSL bolstered the position of Canada with respect to the other CONCACAF nations. It is argued that once the NASL and CSL disbanded; then Canadian soccer started a steady decline.
The conclusion that some people argue is that once we have our own domestic league; our teams and players will return to prominence in the CONCACAF region and will qualify to the World Cup.
There are four major inconsistencies with this line of reasoning.
1) The 1990 World Cup qualification.
People convenient ignore this qualification process. Canada played poorly and even did not make to the final round. Canada got eliminated by Guatemala. There was 1-0 loss in Guatemala City. Then in Vancouver, the Canadian team was trailing 2-0 for most of the game until it made an unlikely come back in the last 25 minutes which included a dubious penalty and a goalie error. However, Canada had an early exit.
2) The CSL was in operation during the 1990 Qualification process.
Most of the Canadian players were playing in the CSL, but they showed poorly in the 1990 qualifying games Thus, the domestic league did not help them to qualify for the world cup.
3) The 1970 to 1982 World Qualification process and the NASL.
Canada got eliminated in each of them. I do not include 1966 and 1962 because Canada decided not to participate during those events. On all of the four events Canada was not even a contestant, and in fact in many of them; Canada finishes on the last place. This is important because many Canadian players are playing in the NASL during that period.
For example, Bruce Wilson, played for the Vancouver Whitecaps from 1974 to 1977, the Chicago Sting in 1978 and 1979, the New York Cosmos in 1980, and the Toronto Blizzard from 1981 to 1984. He was a six-time all-star selection, including three first-team selections (Vancouver in '77, Chicago in '79, Toronto in '84).
We can not argue that Canadian players were not playing in professional leagues. They were and they were getting eliminated decisively.
4) The exaggerated near qualification to the 1994 World Cup.
Without getting into small details, FIFA reorganized the spots for each confederation. Canada would have been directly eliminated under previous allocations, but this time it was given play-offs with Oceania and Commebol. Chile had been banned. There was no expectation that a Concacaf team would beat Oceania team and then would beat a Commebol team. Argentina finished second in their group and then was sent to the play-offs.
There was simply no way that Canada could beat Australia and then Argentina with Maradona. The CSL once again did not help with this qualification process.
It is clear that these observations put doubt into the story of a consistently strong Canadian team propelled by the existence of domestic leagues.
If the story does not hold; then we need to look at alternative explanations.
Why Canada qualified in the 1986? How Canada qualified? Was anything different in 1986?
The answer to the later question is: yes. There were two significant differences.
The first difference is that Mexico was absent from the 1986 and 1990 qualification process. This helped Canada.
The second difference is Central America had major civil wars that affected their national teams. We might not be able to fully see the grasp of this since it is distant and not well documented here. However, it is well documented in Central America and Mexico. For example, Salvadorean players had to pay for their own uniforms, had to borrow balls from the opposing teams to do warm ups, their trips to games would take longer, games would be played in other neutral countries or simply cancelled; practices would be cut short due to security concerns; Key players would be cut from national teams if they would not ally with the military regimes.
The chaos of the region gave Canada the false sense of advancement. People think that Canada improved, but in reality Canadians were simply playing teams that were experiencing huge constraints.
I quote the goal keeper from El Salvador: "Cuando llegamos, resulta que todos los equipos llevaban regalos para los rivales, que una camisa, que una bandera y hasta un libro con la historia de su fútbol... Nosotros, por supuesto, no llevábamos ni pines, ni nada de nada... Entonces vi un pino y corté un trozo de madera del árbol y con una navaja le puse las letras de El Salvador. Eso les dimos".
"When we arrived to the 1982 World Cup, every team brought gifts, like shirts, flags, books about history of soccer... we came with nothing, not even shirts to give... thus, I saw a little bush. I cut a piece from it, and I put El Salvador and this we gave to them.
In summary, the weakening of Central American teams combined with the absence of Mexico provided better results for Canada.
The next issue to consider is the Qualification of the 1986 World Cup. How did it happen? Was it convincingly? Was Canada dictating the games?
The evidence suggests that this was not the case.
Canada won against Honduras with two corner kicks. Honduras played better and Randy Samuels literally saved a goal on the line.
Canada held Costa Rica to 1-1 draw after a goal with a long cross and a header.
Canada also beat Guatemala with a long ball from the keeper and another corner kick.
Essentially most of the World Cup 1986 campaign consisted of defending and then scoring goals in corner kicks, free kicks or long balls and crosses to the box. Nothing wrong with this in itself, the problem is that you can not keep qualyfing with this approach and principle. If you try this over and over. Eventually it will catch up to you as other teams learn to defend them better.
It is no surprise that Canada did not score a goal in the World Cup in 1986, and then got early elimination in 1990. It is simple a natural and logical consequence.
It is simply a myth that Canadian teams and players were dominating their counterpart players and teams in CONCACAF during the 1986 to 1994 era, or that we have gone backwards, or that the CSL or NSL helped Canada.
The problem is not the lack of a league (although it surely could help). The problem is the mentality about the game. The lack of ball control and technique. The emphasis on physicality over the developing of possession. Once this is fixed; the better results will follow.
I really hope that Canada one day makes it to the World Cup, but it will not happen with the current approach and mentality.
