Photo from @CanadaSoccerEN
When you think of sports in Canada, Soccer tends to be kept back by Hockey, Baseball, Basketball, and Football. There are still many people in Canada that love Soccer, but to say it is a nationally loved sport is not entirely true. That is until the Canada national teams started showing up and showing out at competitions. It all started with the Women’s national team when they won the gold medal at the Olympics this past summer.
🥇 GOLD FOR #TEAMCANADA 🥇
Canada🇨🇦 takes home the #Tokyo2020 Women’s Soccer gold medal after defeating Sweden🇸🇪 in penalties! 👏 #CANWNT | #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/cy2x73DtB6
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 6, 2021
That win started a ripple effect that swept the nation. The love for the game began to grow. There started to be more people attending Soccer games. In addition, more children were beginning to learn the game at a young age. As a result, the game’s popularity skyrocketed.
Brodie Schwartzentruber, a technical producer for FC London games, believes this trend always follows team success.
“I believe the popularity of Soccer in Canada is going to grow as Canada continues to have more success in Soccer on a national level. One of the things that you will notice in the past is a lot of sports teams when they do better. So their popularity does improve; look at the raptors, for example.”
The Raptor’s popularity did skyrocket when the chances of a world championship were apparent. But with Soccer just last night, we saw how popular this game has genuinely become to Canada.
In what only be considered the most significant home-field advantage in Soccer history, Canada played Mexico in Edmonton, and the snow made a difference. Just hours before the game was going to start, people were shoveling snow off the field to get it ready.
The groundskeepers at Commonwealth Stadium are hard at work before kickoff. 🤯
Do you think the #CANMNT should be playing there? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/OMiaoXKc7E
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 16, 2021
It looked like a pretty standard field for a November Football game, but Soccer? This was unique. Mexico also must have been in a state of shock when they realized the conditions they would have to play in. But no matter the weather, Canadians showed up to the snowy Edmonton stadium to support their men’s team.
Alistair Johnston with the shot, Cyle Larin with the rebound, goal against Mexico at #Iceteca #CanadianHistoricalMoment #CANMNT #ForCanada LET'S GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!pic.twitter.com/6fWuhE2zfG
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) November 17, 2021
In the end, it was all worth it for Canada as the men won the game and now sit atop their group in the 2022 World Cup Qualifier. Soccer has come a long way in Canada this year, and if our men’s team makes the World Cup, we will be just getting started.
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