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Canada’s first win at a Men’s World Cup was done in tremendous fashion, and on home soil no less.
The Canadians treated the massive and pumped-up crowd to a show on Thursday afternoon at BC Place, thumping Qatar 6-0 in Canada’s second group stage match.
Part of the reason the game (both score-wise and on the field) got so out of hand was due to the Qataris’ two red cards, one of which was given for a rough tackle on Canadian midfielder Ismaël Koné that resulted in him being taken off on a stretcher.
It was a tough blemish on an otherwise triumphant night. Here were our 10 takeaways from the game and everything around it.
The Last Mile was a Sea of Red
Apologies to Flames fans, but this march of red shirts and jerseys was unlike any other that we’ve seen. You could see the beginnings of it on Main around 5th Avenue, but as you neared closer to Switchmen Street—where the rally started at 1 p.m.—it became a mob. Thousands of fans, accompanied by an inordinate amount of red smoke, blocked off Quebec Street and headed toward the stadium.
Chants of “Let’s Go Canada” drowned out everything else. It was an awesome experience.
The jerseys in the stadium and around it were… interesting
People will say Canada is or isn’t a “soccer nation” and Vancovuer is or isn’t a “soccer city”. I’m not exactly sure where I fall on that debate. Many Vancouverites grew up playing soccer but a majority aren’t actually passionate about watching it until major international events come around. Which is fine.
But I did find the variation in jerseys quite comical. At times it really did give, “Oh shit, OK, I’m going to the game; what can I wear?” as prospective attendees undoubtedly tore apart their closet looking for something red and relevant. Yes, there were a lot of Alphonso Davies Canada jerseys and shirts, as to be expected, as well as a hefty amount of “Never 51” shirts and Hockey Canada jerseys.
There were some more interesting choices, too. Here’s our list of the top 3 Jersey Fouls that we saw:
Matthew Tkachuk Calgary Flames jersey
I mean… come on. If it were any other Calgary Flame, or even a blank Flames jersey, I’m maybe giving this a pass. But the guy who has embodied American hockey lately? Leave it at home and wear a blank red shirt, my dude.
Patrick Mahomes Kansas City Chiefs jersey
Tough one. The woman almost got away with it, too, because the colour is achingly close to the right shade of red. Not great.
AJ Green Cincinnati Bengals jersey
I almost applaud the sheer audacity. It’s not even the right colour; it’s orange! Truly a strange (and kind of hilariously wonderful, if I’m being honest) choice.
The Qataris were out in full force as well
Unlike Australia last game (and Türkiye to some extent), there aren’t a lot of people from Qatar who live in B.C. So it was quite obvious that there were a few planes flown in to supply two sections of the lower bowl with a handful of Qataris (Qatar Airways is a FIFA sponsor, after all), a big chunk of them dressed in religious wear.
And the Qataris (before the game got out of hand) were a rambunctious bunch, waving their flags and making their presence known.
Canada loves its coach. The rest of the world maybe doesn’t
American Jesse Marsch was a somewhat controversial pick for Team Canada head coach, but Canadians are no doubt happy with the decision right about now.
Many of Marsch’s reactions became fodder for social media as his passion was evident throughout the game. It boiled over a bit after the Koné situation as a passionate Marsch made his feelings known to the other side. And while that garnered criticism in some corners, Canadians were happy with the show of emotion and are (rightfully, in my extremely biased opinion) defending their guy.
Marsch walking off the pitch yelling “Let’s go!” to sections of Canadian fans in the stands will be a lasting image of the tournament for Canada, no matter what happens.
You can take the Canadians out of hockey…
The in-game and after-game brawls were one way that hockey showed up in this one, but there were other signs too, including the crowd imploring goalkeeper to shoot on the net, like they would to a defenceman on the power play. The chants of “We want Cup” were a nice homage, too.
Christine Sinclair is still the GOAT
Soccer legend Christine Sinclair was shown on the big screen a couple of times throughout the match and she seemed to not notice while fans screamed about as loud as they did for Canada’s goals.
Jonathan David is in with the stars
It’s possible a really great tournament from David could get Sinclair nervous, though. The Juventus striker scored three goals in Canada’s win (no hats thrown on the field, disappointingly), tying him with Argentinian legend Lionel Messi for most goals in the tournament thus far. Granted, Messi has played one less game.
Still, David is on track to be treated as Canadian royalty if he continues to produce in the tournament.
Why wasn’t there an anthem singer?
No one sang the Canadian anthem; it was played over the speakers. And while I understand maybe doing that out of fairness to Qatar, Alanis Morissette sung the anthem during Toronto’s first game. Why couldn’t we get, like, Michael Bublé, or Bryan Adams, or Sarah McLachlan, or bbno$?
Canada’s goal song is… not great
This is probably nitpicking, because if you asked any Canadian soccer fan if they would get irked in hearing the Canada goal song six times, they’d hit you in the head. So no offence to Jesse Reyez’s “I DARE YOU (TASTY)”, but it does feel like Canada could have done slightly better here.
That win song, though
No complaining here. After Australia rolled out “Down Under” in their win, Canada played Drake’s “Headlines” to great effect. “And they saying I’m back; I agree with that.” Come on.
Canada is in a great spot to play its playoff matches on home soil too, which would be huge. All the team needs now is a win or draw against Switzerland. We’ll be watching.