The Footie Fool

In just a few hours, Canada will hit the turf against Jamaica to kick off the 2009 Gold Cup. While many are not giving the Canucks a spit of a chance of making it very far, I think we are being woefully underestimated.

Despite the notable absences, we have a few young players who, if they come of age, will spark a decent run for us. And I have no doubt that they can. Will Johnson, Dejan Jakovic and André Hainault have all become instant impact players with their MLS teams. Simeon Jackson is riding high these days after scoring a couple of very memorable goals in the past few months. Marcel De Jong has shown with his few starts for the MNT that he has the quality to make some noise for us. So, the potential for one of those players to breakout is certainly there.

Our midfield is anchored by Atiba Hutchinson, who was close to being the Danish Superliga MVP this year and, of course, the in demand Julian de Guzman. If we get the kind of performance from JDG that we got in the 2007 version of this competition, then we’ll do well.

While a third friendly would have been nice, we have had 2 good results (1-0 vs Cyprus and 3-0 vs Guatemala) under Stephen Hart, who knows how to get the best from our squad. Under Hart, we are 7-1-4.

Against Jamaica, we have more than just a shot of winning, despite the outcome of the 2 WCQ meetings we had with the Reggae Boyz (2-2 and 3-0). In the first game in TO, we played well, much better than Jamaica. We just got a bad break, and that set the tone for the rest of the campaign. By the time the return leg in Jamaica rolled around, the player revolt and WCQ dream was over. It’s not going to be that way this time around.

As a warm up, let’s spend a few moments reliving the glory days of 2000. Enjoy.

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