"It will be very difficult. I don't think anyone is going in there thinking we're going to walk away with the trophy again," deVos, who plays for English Second Division team Wigan, said from his England home.

 "It's very much like the World Cup qualifying process. It's going to be very, very difficult for us.

 "The last time we went to the Gold Cup, everyone wrote us off from Day 1 and I'm sure everybody will do the same thing again -- which is fine by us. We'll go out there and we'll work as hard as we always do and we'll play with the same tenacity and the same desire that we always do and hopefully we will look to surprise a few people."

 The tournament, which runs from Jan. 18 to Feb. 2 in California and Florida, promises to be a real gut-check after a year in which reality apparently caught up with Canadian soccer.

 Certainly the odds don't favour the Canadians, who plummeted 29 places to No. 92 in the FIFA world rankings. No country fell further and FIFA currently rates Canada 11th in CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean.

 Holger Osieck, Canada's coach and technical director, faces challenges on and off the field. He inherited a small pool of playing talent, limited domestic club options and a national program in virtual tatters.

 Much of Osieck's work is being done behind the scenes, improving coaching and bringing a professional sensibility to the sport. With no help from the past, Osieck has to build for the future.

 Canada's immediate challenge at the Gold Cup will be magnified by injuries to top goalies Craig Forrest and Pat Onstad, the retirement of veteran defender Mark Watson and striker Garret Kusch and the question mark over $10-million Cdn forward Tomasz Radzinski, who may elect to stay with injury-ravaged Everton in England rather than join Canada.

 The good news for Osieck is that deVos is ready to play again after four months out with a broken foot.

 Canada opens its Gold Cup campaign Jan. 18 against Haiti before taking on Ecuador four days later. Both games are in Miami.

 The tournament will represent welcome activity for a team that only played six times in 2001. Canada was 1-4-1 and suffered a 2-1 defeat to unheralded Malta in November.

 But three of those games were at the Confederations Cup in Japan and South Korea. And although some of the participants treated the summer event as little more than an exhibition tournament, for Osieck it was "our World Cup."

 The Canadians did not score a goal in their three matches and lost to Japan and Cameroon. But they certainly did not embarrass themselves and had reason to celebrate a 0-0 tie with Brazil, even if the South Americans fielded a subpar squad.

 The Confederations Cup showcased Canada's strengths and weaknesses. The Canadians can point to a world-class goalie in Forrest and a blue-collar work ethic that reflects the tenacity and determination of its coach. But the team is toothless in attack and has little vision in midfield.

 Japan also showed a darker side to Osieck, the no-nonsense German who led the Canadians to their upset win at the 2000 Gold Cup. The Canadian coach alienated some veterans with his lack of people skills in Japan. Osieck, perhaps proving them right, didn't seem to care. But his handling of the team prompted popular midfielder Marc Bircham to retire from the national team.

 Veteran defender Watson also retired from the international game, although he did not cite Osieck as a reason. Kusch quit the sport altogether to attend chiropractic school in San Jose.

 Calgary midfielder Owen Hargreaves officially declared his international allegiance for England (thanks to his father's bloodlines), ending Canadian hopes when he came on as a substitute in England's 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Germany on Sept. 1.

 Previously, Hargreaves turned heads in Champions League play for Bayern Munich, with whom he celebrated European and domestic titles.

 Canadian soccer fans may lament his departure but they should applaud his exploits.

 On the women's front, the national team lost more than it won in 2001 (3-8-1) but coach Even Pellerud continues to develop his squad and has unearthed a gem in 18-year-old striker Christine Sinclair, who already has 21 goals in 30 international outings.

 The women face a busy year, which will culminate in World Cup qualifying.

 Canada will also host the inaugural women's under-19 championship in Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria from Aug. 17 to Sept. 1.

 While it was a tough year for much of Canadian soccer, there were some good news stories:

 --Toronto striker Dwayne DeRosario scored the winning goal in overtime and was named MVP in the San Jose Earthquakes' MLS Cup win over the Los Angeles Galaxy.

 --Toronto midfielder Fernando Aguiar, a forgotten man in the Canadian national teams setup, was bought by Portuguese giant Benfica.

 --Calgary defender Kevin McKenna and Vancouver forward Davide Xausa found new homes in the Edinburgh area. McKenna joined Hearts and showed versatility and a scoring flair while Xausa turned some heads with newly promoted Livington.

 --Charmaine Hooper helped the Atlanta Beat to the inaugural Women's United Soccer Association championship game, only to lose to the Bay Area CyberRays. Vancouver defender Sharolta Nonen and Montreal midfielder Amy Walsh also played for the Beat. Hooper was also named to the league's all-star team.

 --Former Canadian captain Randy Samuel was honoured by the Canadian Soccer Association with the 2001 Aubrey Sanford Meritorious Award for his service to the sport. Samuel was capped 82 times for Canada.

 --The Calgary Storm showed themselves to be an organization with great promise as they prepared for life in the A-League by punishing opponents in the Premier Development League before losing the championship game 3-1 to Westchester.

 --The Montreal Impact survived a near death experience in the A-League and promise to come back stronger than ever thanks to support from the Quebec government and local businesses.

 --Vancouver Whitecaps coach Dale Mitchell was voted A-League coach of the year and named to the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame. Vancouver's Rick Titus was selected A-League defender of the year.

 --Halifax winger Ante Jazic moved to Rapid Vienna where he is working under the guidance of former German star Lothar Mathaeus.

 --Hard-working midfielder Jason Bent of Brampton, Ont., finally found a European club, signing with English Third Division team Plymouth Argyle.

 There were more depressing moments, too.

 --Canadian goalie Forrest was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The prognosis, happily, is positive for perhaps Canada's most important player.

 --Paul James resigned as coach of the national under-20 team after it was outscored 9-0 in losses to Brazil, Germany and Iraq at the world youth championships in Argentina. Unable to put together a comprehensive pre-tournament program, the Canadians found themselves unprepared for the level of competition they faced. James, who had little money to work with, deserves credit for getting the team to the world championship, and for a fine showing at the Francophone Games where Canada lost a penalty shootout to France in the quarter-finals.

 --The death knoll was finally sounded for Varsity Stadium, sending the Toronto Lynx looking for a new home.

 --The much-ballyhooed Canadian United Soccer League program seems stuck in neutral.

 --Canada failed to make it to the on-again, off-again Copa America.

 --Talk of a Canadian World Cup bid continued in some circles. FIFA president Sepp Blatter was all sweetness and light when he visited Canada in early December, but he still managed to find one obstacle after another that Canada has to overcome before even thinking of bidding for the world championship.