A chance to represent

by Derek Van Diest

Attending a World Cup had always been a dream of mine.

Prior to heading to Brazil for this year’s tournament, the closest I came to attending the event was in 1994 when the United States hosted the World Cup.

Logistically, it would have been an easy tournament to go to, however, we didn’t have a team to root for.

Chile had been banned from the 1994 World Cup qualifying tournament due to an incident five years earlier involving goaltender Roberto ‘Condor’ Rojas.

During a qualifying match against Brazil for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Rojas claimed he had been hit by a flare thrown by a fan at the Maracana Stadium in Rio.

The match was abandoned as the Chilean goalkeeper was carried off the field apparently bleeding from a head injury.

An investigation into the incident revealed Rojas had not been hit by the flare and his wound was self-inflicted with a razor concealed in his glove.

He was given a lifetime ban by FIFA and Chile was barred from the 1990 and 1994 World Cups.

With the Chileans out, our hopes of representation rested on Canada. And those were faint at best.

With the United States hosting the tournament and getting an automatic berth, there was realistically just one spot available for another team from the North and Central American qualifying region.

The tournament in the United States featured just 24 teams. It would expand to its current format of 32 teams four years later in France.

Canada did manage to get to the final round of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the 1994 World Cup, something they have been unable to do since.

But they finished second to Mexico in the final qualifying group, missing out on a direct berth into the tournament. Canada still had an opportunity to qualify through a back-door route, which would involve beating Australia in a home-and-home encounter and then Argentina in another.

I was among the 27,775 fans that attended the first leg of the series against Australia at Commonwealth Stadium, where Canada won 2-1.

At the time, it was a record attendance for a soccer game at Commonwealth. A few months later, 51,936 fans – myself included – would show up to see Canada tie Brazil 1-1 in an exhibition game. The Brazilians were passing through on their way to the tournament in the U.S.

I still remember the shock in the stadium as Eddy Berdusco scored to tie the game in the second half. It was 20 years ago this week.

Canada had long since been eliminated from World Cup qualifying when they went up against Brazil. They fell 2-1 in their return leg with Australia and were knocked out on penalties.

The most upsetting thing about the loss to Australia was that Canada would not get an opportunity to play Argentina in a home-and-home series.

Argentina would have had laid the boots to Canada and we all knew that. But Diego Maradona was on Argentina’s team and we would have had a chance to see him at Commonwealth Stadium had Canada been able to win the penalty shootout against Australia.

So without Chile, Canada or England for that matter in the United States, it didn’t seem worth it for a bunch of struggling university student to make the trip.

I do regret not going, it would have been a fun tournament to attend.

Maradona ended up getting kicked out of the World Cup after Argentina’s second match for using ephedrine, which was a banned substance. And the same Brazilian team that Canada held to a draw in Edmonton went on to win their fourth World Cup title.

Regardless, it was still fun giving our Italian friends in Edmonton the gears after Roberto Baggio missed his shootout penalty in the final.