Canadian men’s soccer team has captured the public’s imagination

Canada faces Jamaica during the FIFA World Cup CONCACAF qualifier match at BMO Field in Toronto on Sunday March, 27.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail

Early Sunday afternoon outside BMO Field in downtown Toronto, amid hundreds of rowdy fans anticipating a Canadian Heritage Minute come to life, one man’s hand-scrawled sign took the measure of the country: “36 Years in the Making.” The last (and only) time the Canadian men’s national soccer team qualified for the World Cup was Sept. 14, 1985, in St. John’s, when both the country’s game and the country itself looked very different.

Still, for those not paying attention over the intervening decades, the change in the country’s on-field prospects has been stunning.

The team gathers for a pre-game huddle with The Voyageurs, the unofficial fan club of Canada Soccer, before kickoff.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail

If you want a snapshot of how quickly the Canadian men’s soccer team has captured the public’s imagination, look no further than the Voyageurs, the unofficial fan club of Canada Soccer.

Last fall, when the men’s team began its extraordinary run to World Cup qualification, there were perhaps a few hundred members of the club, according to Voyageurs president Jamie MacLeod. Heading into Sunday’s match, the Voyageurs were 3,500 strong, and counting.

Four hours before the 4 p.m. ET kickoff, Mr. MacLeod and a crew of about 20 who had travelled from across the country braved the swirling wind and snow flurries to spangle the seats in the stadium’s south-end stands with 1,000 Canadian flags. Volunteers had assembled the flags during a handful of parties over the week in Regina, Edmonton, Toronto and Hamilton.

Down on the field, a pair of workers armed with leaf blowers began clearing away a layer of ice chips that had settled overnight on the pitch. Around the stadium, the seats were blanketed with snow, left for the patrons themselves to clear away.

As the Canadian team’s bus pulled up to the stadium, hundreds of Voyageurs and others chanted lustily, unleashing a flurry of smoke bombs that turned the air thick and apocalyptic with red and yellow and grey clouds. Later, when the bus of the opposing Jamaican team rolled up, boos rang out. Someone in the crowd lobbed a single snowball that smacked against a bus window.

Canada's team bus gets a warm reception by fans upon arrival to the stadium.CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters

In the production truck of Mediapro, the Spanish company whose Canadian streaming service OneSoccer has covered the team’s entire qualifying run, a tight crew of 10 ran through final rehearsals and preparations. How important would the game be?

“If you would want me to place something higher: Toronto-Montreal, Game 7, Stanley Cup final,” suggested Bruce Whiteford, a 62 year-old technical producer.

Never mind hockey, at least for an afternoon: Soccer is now Canada’s game. When Cyle Larin, the striker from Brampton, Ont., scored Canada’s first goal 13 minutes into the match en route to victory and a World Cup berth, a chant broke out among the Voyageurs: “If you love Brampton, clap your hands.” It’s possible there was an approving adjectival expletive in there somewhere.