It was December 1993. I was on winter break, flipping through the channels on the ol’ television set, and came across the star-studded draw for the upcoming FIFA World Cup to be played next summer just south of the border. I eagerly waited to find out who Canada would be playing. I was an eight-year-old kid mostly into hockey and baseball, and clearly didn’t know how world football worked. I did have a sense of the sport’s popularity at the youth level in this country, as well as Canada’s global diversity and material resources. So I was surprised and dismayed to find out that we didn’t even qualify, and had only reached the tournament once in our history.
With World Cup berth, Canada produces its manifesto
