The best thing you can say about 2016 when it comes to the Canadian men’s national team—and, come to think of it, the world in general—is that it’s over.
Sure, there were high points for Les Rouges, but when a national team loses the majority of its games and gets bounced from World Cup qualifying during a 12-month span, you can’t avoid calling it a bad year.
But in order to wring out every drop of 2016-related misery, with the goal of inviting better times to come, let’s take a mostly-chronological look back at the year that was for the CanMNT:
Say hello to the new guys
The year actually began with some cautious optimism, after a 2015 that brought new players like Junior Hoilett, Tesho Akindele (above) and Fraser Aird and ended with a six-game unbeaten streak.
The reinforcements kept coming in early 2016, with long-time holdout Steven Vitoria declaring his allegiance in January (and earning his first Canada cap on Feb. 5, in a friendly loss to the USA), and Scott Arfield—who’d never even set foot on Canadian soil before—officially joining the ranks in March.
The optimism was tempered, though, by a 0-0 World Cup qualifying result against El Salvador in November 2015 that some thought could come back to bite Canada in 2016 (spoiler alert: it did).
Canada vs. Mexico (the good)
The previous year’s momentum—combined, most likely, with residual excitement from the 2015 Women’s World Cup—led to an astonishing turnout at Vancouver’s BC Place for Canada’s first World Cup qualifier of 2016.
Attendance for the game against Mexico on March 25 was announced at 54,798 (a new men’s national team record), the vast majority of whom were psyched to see what the home side could do.
Canada vs. Mexico (the bad)
The Canadians came out all guns blazing in the early going, and should have taken the lead, if not for a few missed sitters. The wide-open nature of the game eventually (predictably) favored the Mexicans, who would ultimately dance to a 3-0 win with Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (pictured above) getting a goal and an assist.
Four days later at the Estadio Azteca, Canada played a more characteristic defensive game, but El Tri still emerged with a 2-0 victory.
The rise and fall of Floroball
A running theme throughout most of the year was the bitter division among Canadian fans about what to make of head coach Benito Floro’s approach.
To some, he was stubborn and old-fashioned, a taskmaster who clung rigidly to a defensive structure while excluding the likes of Toronto FC midfielder Jonathan Osorio (who didn’t play a game under Floro in 2016).
In the minds of others, he brought the sort of experience, professionalism and tactical acumen that Canada has lacked in recent years, and was doing the best that could be hoped for with the talent pool he had.
Either way, his tenure was always going to be defined by whether or not Canada qualified for the Hexagonal round (spoiler alert No. 2: they didn’t).
Summertime in the void
Canada continued a proud tradition of playing low-profile friendlies in seemingly random neutral sites—in this case, taking on Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan in a pair of June games in Austria.
The results were actually decent, with a 1-1 draw against Azerbaijan and a 2-1 win over Uzbekistan, though fans wondered whether they were the optimal preparation for the crucial World Cup qualifiers ahead (spoiler alert No. 3: they weren’t).
Oh, it’s you again
For the fourth straight World Cup qualifying campaign, Canada made a trip to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. And for the third straight campaign, they lost—though the 2-1 defeat on Sept. 2, 2016 was a significant improvement on the infamous 8-1 debacle in 2012.
Canada’s hopes of advancement remained mathematically alive into the final matchday of the CONCACAF semi-final round on Sept. 6. A lopsided win at home against El Salvador, combined with a Mexico win over Honduras at the Azteca, would have been enough to see Canada through.
In the end, Canada’s 3-1 win (which, by Canadian standards, counts as a blowout) was rendered meaningless by a scoreless draw in Mexico City. The fans at BC Place saluted the boys in red for their valorous effort (Nik Ledgerwood, above right, got one of the three goals), even if the team’s 2018 World Cup dreams officially came to an end.
Adding to the sadness was the fact that this was almost certainly the end of the national-team road for 35-year-old Julian de Guzman and 33-year-old Atiba Hutchinson.
A change of pace
A week later, on Sept. 14, it was announced that Floro’s time with the Canadian program was done and that there was “no rush” to find his replacement.
Michael Findlay, an assistant under Floro, would serve as interim manager until the CSA’s “exhaustive” search for a full-time replacement was done.
Playing out the string
In another low-profile friendly played at a neutral site, Canada began the post-Floro era by thrashing the mighty Mauritania (ranked No. 108 in the world) 4-0 on Oct. 6 in Marrakesh. Then, the universe restored equilibrium on Oct. 11 when the host Moroccans thrashed Canada by the same 4-0 score.
Canada’s final match of the year was a 2-0 loss to South Korea in Cheonan on Nov. 11, a game which (just like the first game of the year) featured a somewhat surprising debut—in this case, goalkeeper Jayson Leutwiler.
What’s next?
Well, at least 2017 can’t be any worse for the Canadian team than 2016 was (as for the world in general, that remains to be seen). There's a friendly against Bermuda penciled in for Jan. 22 and this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup surely won’t see Cyle Larin (pictured above) and Canada go goalless as the teams from the 2015 and 2013 editions did, right? Right?!
Either way, there’ll be a new head coach and endless debates about which players should be added to the team. It's not the Hex, but in 2017 it'll have to do.
