“I remember when I was younger and Canada wasn’t in these moments, so you watch the tournament and you see Italy playing, and you imagine yourself in an Italian jersey.”
Now, Anthony Keyes thinks young Canadians will picture themselves in a Canada jersey instead.
Keyes, 22, was one of the people we found watching Thursday’s Canada-Qatar game in a series of Yellowknife bars our intern visited. (Our interns get all the tough gigs.)
“I remember watching in 2014 and 2018, where it seemed like Canada would never be in these tournaments. Now we’ve been in two in a row, this time we’re hosting, and it’s a big moment,” Keyes said.
“Now Canada is a footballing nation. We’ve asserted ourselves on the world stage, so you could hope that going forward we’re going to see more moments like this.”
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Thursday’s 6-0 victory was a historic result, an emphatic first World Cup win for Canada’s men. (The women’s team has a far more storied history.)
Even at 4-0, Ally MacInnis – watching with family at a local bar – was delighted to find the country had “quadrupled our record for most goals.”
“I think it invigorates a lot of young kids into wanting to pick up the sport,” MacInnis said.
“Soccer is by far one of the most accessible sports, probably that and basketball. You don’t need a lot of equipment, you don’t need specialized facilities like ice for hockey. That makes it universal and easy, especially if you’re in cities or even in rural areas.”
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Todd Gassner, from Edmonton, made time to visit Yellowknife’s Boston Pizza for the game while waiting for a flight home after doing some work in Tulita.
Gassner is a minor soccer coach back home. He believes the country’s development of its younger players has a long way to go, and he’s hoping for a “trickle-down effect” from this World Cup.
“I’d like to see us progress to another level,” he said.
“We can’t expect to go there when we’ve never done it before. As we increase our programs and increase our exposure, and the soccer talent gets a little bit better in Canada, it’s opening doors.”
Gassner is enjoying watching friends who usually have no interest in soccer finally relent and watch the games.
“So many questions. A million questions,” he said of Canadians more used to hockey and baseball who are trying to understand soccer’s offside rule or establish what VAR means.
“It’s great timing for it,” said Gassner. “So many people are enjoying the run that’s on right now.”
‘Make the knockouts’
Anup Gautam and colleagues had come out to enjoy the game at a bar. Gautam, originally from Nepal, has a soft spot for South Korea and Japan – Asian teams at the World Cup – but is clear that Canada is “my first priority.”
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“Canada is my work country, my second home country. I would want Canada to be on the top,” he said.
Even so, he acknowledged that with a world ranking of 28th, the chances for Canada are “not very promising in the later stages.”
“But right now they are good,” Gautam added. “I would love to see them advance to at least the quarter-finals.”
The general consensus among Yellowknife-based fans on Thursday is that just getting into a knockout game – a near-certainty at this point – would be sufficient this summer.
“We will make the knockouts,” said Keyes. “I don’t know if my confidence goes further than that, but let’s make the knockouts.”
Emmanuel Sumagaysay, who grew up in Yellowknife, had recognized that a little superstition might not hurt.
Sumagaysay thinks France or Germany will lift the trophy but, calling the Qatar game a “must-win,” had decided to repeat his routine from the first game (even though that was a draw) in case it somehow helped.
“I came here for Canada’s first game,” he said when asked about his venue choice, “so I feel like I need to keep that going.”
When the World Cup reaches the last 32 teams, Cabin Radio will randomly assign each team to a Northwest Territories community. Visit our website on June 28 to check out the NWT bracket and see who’s representing your community in the knockout stages.
