A cold day in Hamilton

Canada continued its march to the World Cup in Qatar on Sunday, beating the number 11 national team in the world, the USA 2-0 in Hamilton. With four games remaining in the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, the Canadian men are on the verge of booking its ticket to soccer's biggest party for the first time since 1986 and only the second time ever. And I was there to witness it.

Let’s set the stage. First, this game sold out all 24,000 tickets in December. I was lucky enough to snag some in the chaos that had ensued. Then COVID restrictions in Ontario put a slight damper on proceedings, and after some guess work among fans and journalists on what was going to happen, Canada soccer refunded all 24,000 tickets initially sold and had a re-sale for 50 percent capacity, or 12,000. We got our pre-sale code again, and after waiting in the online lobby for an hour prior to tickets going on sale, being stuck in waiting room hell for another 20 minutes, I finally got in to choose my tickets. Except they didn’t have any left.

There wasn’t a single seat to be found and the game had evidently sold out. Desperate, I went to StubHub and paid more than I care to admit for a set of 4 tickets. But we got them for a second time. All was good. Then two of the people I was going to go with caught COVID (I did not as they live in the Toronto area and we were planning to stay with them). So there goes two tickets our place to stay the night before the game. This was all on the Tuesday before the game by the way. My friend and I managed to convince some other friends to come with us and stay in a hotel in Hamilton just a few minutes away from the stadium. Crisis averted, albeit with some more financial damage than we had initially planned, but I digress.

So, after a three and a bit hour drive, we arrive in Hamilton, we check in, grab some food, and watch some hockey before heading to bed Saturday night. We awake Sunday morning, check out, grab more food because we refuse to pay stadium concession prices (seriously I saw beer going for $12 a can), and manage to find parking after trying to navigate our way through the city. We get there in time to see the team Canada bus arrive to confetti and flares outside the stadium, and then go through several security checkpoints before finding our seats.

And let me tell you, this game ruled. Did Canada play great? Objectively, not so much, but the score line at the end read “Canada 2-0 USA” and that’s all that mattered. Was it cold? Yes. I practically ran back to the car and cranked up the heat when all was said and done. Was it loud? We were sat one section over from The Voyageurs, Canada Soccer’s travelling supporters club and they made plenty of noise throughout to make for an awesome atmosphere. 12,000 people at Tim Hortons Field sure sounded like 24,000, and makes me wonder what a full stadium would have sounded like if half the stadium was that loud.

And after a few hours, we left the party and were on our way home. And man, was this awesome. One of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced without question. I remember when this team was losing to teams like Martinique, when they were ranked 124th in the world, when they couldn’t even get out of the group stage at the Gold Cup, and when players would flat out refuse to play and chose to represent other countries in national team play (I’m looking at you Owen Hargreaves). Most people either don’t remember the last time this team played in a World Cup, or weren’t even alive when it happened. And it’s crazy to think that they are within touching distance of playing in Qatar this year.