Canada prepares for its 1st World Cup in 36 years
Canada preparing for its 1st World Cup and first in 36 years. For all the latest World Cup news, reports and features, click here. For FIFA.com news, features and match reports, also click on the header of the main page.
The opening goal, of course, had to come against Germany, the nation most likely to win this competition given how few international tournaments it has hosted to date.
It was the first goal in the match, the first time Canada had ever been held to a zero-goals performance. And it was, by way of the man who brought the team to the tournament and who is now its team captain, who got it started.
“First of all, I’m proud of the team because we’ve had a lot of work done in the training room,” said Arnaud “Arn” Desjardins, captain of the team. “We tried to get the best team possible. I just felt a lot of pressure, because it’s my first World Cup. You always dream of playing in a World Cup and winning one of these, but we tried very hard.
“I’m going to be happy with the performance, and I’m happy with the result as well. It’s a good start and it’s now on the next three games.”
The Canadian team was led out of the tunnel at the Estadio Centenario in Seville, Spain, by an unassuming man who, if he had been the captain, would have been the first to raise a fist.
His name was Marc-Andre Pouliot, the first Canadian to wear the captain’s armband. He spent nearly three decades in the CFL before his retirement a decade ago.
By the time the team had played two games in Spain three weeks earlier, Pouliot had been voted the team’s most valuable player in the pre-tournament polls and had received an