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 Former Team Canada soccer coach Frank Yallop stands infront of (left to right) Mark Watson, Jason deVos, and Pat Onstad during a press conference held in Edmonton in 2004. It has been 20 years since Canada last participated in the World Cup. (Edmonton Sun/Sean Kilpatrick) |
FRANKFURT -- They hang from windows of hotel rooms and cars and from the walls of restaurants and bars.
They are draped around shoulders, waved wildly in the stadiums and in the train stations.
There are the tricolours of Mexico, Italy or Portugal, the Stars and Stripes of the U.S. and 28 more.
For two decades now, the Maple Leaf has not flown at the quadrennial celebration that is soccer's World Cup.
Since the country made its lone appearance in Mexico in 1986, the closest our flag has gotten to the action is on luggage tags of Canadian visitors lucky enough to get tickets.
If you are a fan of Canadian soccer (and not just a soccer fan living in Canada, there is a difference), our ongoing failure is a saga of underachievement and incompetence.
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From failed qualification attempts, to coaching changes to the widespread belief that soccer lacks proper infrastructure in our country, there is no sign of it ending.
"If the United States can qualify, I don't see why Canada can't," said Holger Osieck, who is head of technical development for FIFA technical but is better known to Canadians as the former head of our national team.
"I enjoyed living in Canada and am not in touch with the people there any longer. But yes, at times there was a sense of frustration of not moving forward. Everyone knows there are thousands of youngsters who play the game. But they need to be developed to have success internationally."
Even when there is a glimmer of hope, it seems, Canada can't make big enough steps forward.
Calgary's Owen Hargreaves is expected to start for England today against Sweden, a poor example for the youth of this country, but who could blame him for jumping ship?
The story has been told often, of Hargreaves being cut from our under-17 team but deemed talented enough to develop into a regular at midfield for powerful Bayern Munich here in Germany and eventually the England national side.
Taken a step further, Osieck's point about the U.S. now playing in its fifth consecutive World Cup is one thing. But tiny Togo and tinier Trinidad and Tobago are both here as well. Surely Canada can get to the dance once in a generation?
Osieck insists he isn't bitter about parting ways with the Canadian program in 2003, and landing a plum job with FIFA was a nice consolation. He said he loved the country and saw potential in the program. But he became increasingly frustrated at the lack of vision.
"My ideas were not a mystery, you can look it up," Osieck said yesterday during a break from his duties with FIFA. "I had come up with a very detailed blueprint for how to develop the sport in Canada.
"There were recommendations for a national training centre and other technical ideas to help develop players. Unfortunately, there wasn't always support."
Though he was often painted as being hard on his players, Osieck got results. In 2000, he led the Canadian men to what many considered a breakthrough victory.
A 2-0 shutout over Colombia in the CONCACEF Gold Cup was a shocker but a sign that the program was headed in the right direction.
But neither Osieck, who was let go in 2003, or his replacement Frank Yallop, who left earlier this month to take a job with the Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS, were able to take the next, biggest step.
So now the program is without a coach and once again, it seems, direction.
Yallop had opted to go with a younger squad in the failed attempt to qualify for this year's event, a strategy that was hoped to yield big results for 2010.
If it us back to square one, how many more years might Canada struggle, especially a country already generations behind the powers of Europe and South America.
"I think we are still in our infancy," Brian Robinson, a former Canadian international star, said."Yes, we have players who go to Europe to play but we don't have enough of them.
"We don't have our own league here to develop more so I'm not surprised we don't see more talent coming through."
Canada's lone trip to the World Cup in 1986 was hardly a success -- three shutout losses and an early exit.
But few expected a return visit would take 20 years -- and counting.
There is a belief, perpetuated jointly by the Canadian Soccer Association, and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., that the arrival of an MLS team in 2007 will be a big boost.
Feel free to be skeptical, given how many times we've heard this drum pounded, but the hope is young players will somehow be inspired by the presence of a pro team.
"We see it as a great boost for the development of the sport," Kevan Pipe, the Canadian Soccer Association's chief operating officer, said in an earlier interview. "The under-21 World Cup (to be held in Canada in 2007) will do the same.
"We are not in as bad shape as some of the doom-and-gloomers would like to predict."
It's one thing to have role models. It's quite another to take advantage of those already at your disposal.
Alex Bunbury, for years one of Canada's top players and a professional star in Portugal, wonders why he hasn't been asked to give back to the sport in his homeland.
"I never went asking or knocking on doors, but I can tell you this, no one ever approached me and said, 'Alex Bunbury, with your name and what you've done in the game you should come back here and give back to the young people.'
"I have lots of friends in Europe who have done well and their name and activity in the sport is huge. It is an inspiration for the young people.
"It would be an honour and maybe it would inspire some young kids. But the passion and love we see for the game in other countries, we don't see from Canada."
Little wonder then, that players such as Hargreaves and Toronto's Jonathan De Guzman (who is part of the Dutch program), have had trouble pledging allegiance to the flag of the country in which they were raised.
Considering there is a window of opportunity of two, maybe three chances at a World Cup in one's career, players are unwilling to wait for Canadian soccer to get its act together.
"I still think we have a long way to go," Robinson said. "Still, we should be able to handle the United States and Mexico one of these years."
Osieck wishes luck to the next man who tries to make it happen. And warns that it will take more than talent.
"I spent some time there and tried to push things forward," Osieck said. "I thought for whatever reason we made some strides. That's history for me, but it seems there are still more strides that are needed to be made."