[URBAN NOTE] Canada's soccer test

[rfmcdonald]

Walking about Toronto today, you could easily tell that Toronto's a soccer city, at least for now. There are the bars with the widesreen televisions tuned to the games, there are the England shirts, there are the ubiquitous flags that you can buy from convenience stores for $C9.99 or thereabouts, and there are the honking cars which cruise slowly down the streets as the passengers cheer after a win. It's only when you look closely that you notice that it isn't Canadian struggles being celebrated, but instead that of other countries: Ukraine, South Korea, Croatia, Brazil, Portugal, Germany. This isn't because Canada has failed at its own version of Tebbit's infamous cricket test, but rather because, alas, Canadian soccer is not quite up to world minimum standards. Surely though, with so many fans, the sport will gel in Canada sooner rather than later?