Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez, right, was very complimentary toward Toronto as a World Cup co-host.Stephanie Scarbrough/The Associated Press
Now that our part in it is about to end, why did Canada pay all that money for the World Cup? We did it for Roberto Martinez.
After his Portugal team won the last (and best) game held in Toronto, one of the world’s slickest football coaches went into rhapsodies about the city and, by extension, the country.
“The training session yesterday, the quality of the grass was fantastic, and everything around the beautiful facilities here. Even the dressing room, it reminds me a lot of the old-fashioned Premier League rooms, a wonderful feel. Congratulations to everybody.”
Whose grass? Ours? Oh, come on. Stop. Yes, it’s true that we spent a few bucks. I don’t even like to say but … about a billion. More or less. It’s just good of you to say so.
Canada’s highest goal in life isn’t to impress the neighbours. Just being noticed by them is enough.
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If it’s so that they can say we are a rising world power and that everybody they know takes us super seriously, that would be great. And if it’s to notice our cheap dressing rooms, then I guess that’s fine, too.
There are ignominious World Cups (Argentina ‘78), transformative ones (France ’98) and groundbreaking ones (South Africa ’10). Canada just had a perfectly adequate World Cup. They won’t be singing songs about in Burnaby in a generation, but everybody who was there will look back and think, ‘That was nice.’
The first and most important part of a nice World Cup is logistical. Did you build a stadium? Did any part of it collapse? If your answers are yes and no, then you’re half way there.
Did people show up? Did they seem to enjoy themselves? Were the papers full of stories about how everybody felt super ripped off and is now determined to bring down all three levels of government over it? Yes, yes and no.
Bosnia and Herzegovina fans made themselves heard in Toronto and helped make the city feel festive for the World Cup games it hosted.Laura Proctor/The Globe and Mail
My family lives along one of the main corridors funnelling people toward the stadium in Toronto. I would describe the atmosphere as atmosphere. As in, for most of three weeks, a few kilometres from the field, you knew there was a World Cup on. Either that or Bosnia’s invading and their army wears athleisure.
I have been to big cities where they’re holding World Cups and you would not know that. Berlin in 2006 stands out. Unless Germany was playing, or you were in a designated rooting area, zero atmosphere. Almost total indifference. The Frankfurt bar we frequented would not put the non-German games on and, since it was an Eritrean joint, would only pay desultory attention to the German ones. Amazing disco night, though.
The rule here is that the higher on the global pecking order a country believes itself to be, the less likely it is to get worked up over a soccer tournament. Germany, no atmo. South Africa and Canada, lots of atmo.
The other thing you need is for your own team to hold up its end. It’s depressing to be in a country where the national team goes out on the field, lies down and withers. That happened in South Africa. It didn’t spoil the occasion, but you were left wondering how much better it might have been had the home team made the knockout round.
Wisely, Canada avoided that problem. Yes, it would have been better had they won that last group game against Switzerland, putting themselves in line for two home dates in the elimination portion. But they kept hope alive for almost exactly as long as the Canadian portion of the tournament was going. Very considerate.
Canada's World Cup journey ends with a 3-0 loss to Morocco in second knockout match
Canadians like this team, as they tend to like all Canadian teams. Not in the obsessive way they like their hockey outfits, but in the paternal way they like the teams they don’t really know. You could slap a Canada jersey on a chain gang and call it competitive rock breaking and people would fall in love.
This Canada team had an alluring combo of underdog flavour, dramatic tension (the persistently unanswered Alphonso Davies question) and a weird, attention-hogging coach. Jesse Marsch’s brilliance was not tactical. It was in making himself the story, to the point where all of Canada had to either side with him against the football establishment, or give up on him and his team. It wouldn’t work in England or France or anywhere they take their football seriously, but it seemed to here.
His last performance, after the shellacking by Morocco, was the oddest. Marsch went straight up to the cameras and said, “We were the better team.”
Asked about that, Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said, “It takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-0.”
Yeah. Did we mention he isn’t from here?
In fairness to Marsch, he gets it. If you can’t win, lose entertainingly. For good or ill (mostly the latter), the whole world was talking about this country’s soccer team. Wasn’t that what we bought?
By the end, Canada still seemed to be digging Marsch’s “I’d rather be us than them” approach. It certainly captures the current mood. Getting squeezed between super powers and maybe busting up in a year or two? Well, I’d rather be us than them. Ha ha sob.
On the cab ride to the airport in Houston, the driver asked us who we thought was going to win. We asked him the same question back. “I’m going for the home team,” he said.
For Americans, this was an American event, and is ongoing. For Mexicans, a Mexican event, and, as of this writing, could still go stratospheric.
For Canadians, we’re about to throw ourselves on the couch. The dishes will still need to be washed and all the leftovers put away. However, but for a few Swiss and Colombian stragglers, the party’s done.
If we’re being selfish, it wasn’t everything we’d dreamed. A quarter-final appearance would’ve jumped this thing several levels.
But if we’re being reasonable, it was pretty okay. Everything as it should be, including the result. Given how much money and effort it takes to put one of these things together, it’s an accomplishment. Martinez is right – congratulations, everyone.
After this, how tough could an Olympics be?