A B C D
E F G H
Tie leaves Canada out in the cold
Four more minutes. Now the Canadian goose is cooked.
Until four minutes remained, Canada was leading mighty Mexico, the ninth-ranked team in the world, two goals to one. And all the while, our hosers were getting hosed by Guatemalan referee Carlos Mendizabal.
The 59th-ranked country in the world was winning. Nobody, in this entire round, has spent a single second in the lead against Mexico. Canada, a country that had scored just two goals in seven games of final round World Cup qualifying, was ahead for 21 minutes. Canada! Two goals. In one game. In one nine-minute span.
NEVER!
In all the years, Canada has never scored two goals in one game against Mexico. Not once.
But Mexico scored with four minutes to go and the 2-2 tie put them through to France '98 and started the celebration at Independence Monument in Mexico City.
Canada remains with a million-to-one mathematical chance to qualify.
But a final frantic minute testified that Canada knew anything less than a win wouldn't do it.
Canadian 'keeper Craig Forrest, in one last chance to keep Canada's hopes alive, made like Jorge Campos himself and journeyed to the other end of the field for a corner kick to join his teammates for one last go at a goal. Failing, he then had to make like Donovan Bailey to get back to his goal to preserve the tie.
The tie kept Canada undefeated (5-0-1) in World Cup qualifying in Commonwealth Stadium with the rather remarkable record of 6-1-2 overall in Edmonton, including a 1-1 tie with world champion Brazil.
"We love it here. There's just something about this place. We did it against Brazil. Now we've done it against another top 10 team,'' said Alex Bunbury, whose goal in the 65th minute followed Carlo Corazzin's 1-1 equalizer.
"We had two chances and we put them away,'' added Bunbury.
"We had a lead and we couldn't seal it. But I can't blame anybody on the team. We showed character. It's been a while since I've seen us go out with that kind of character. There was a lot of teamwork out there today. I'm proud of this team today.''
Canada hadn't managed a single shot on goal in a horrible first half. In fact, Canada didn't have a single shot until Corazzin pulled the trigger and inspired the magic, memorable 20 minutes of soccer that followed.
"I'm so sorry for your team,'' said Mexican coach Bora Milutinovic. "If they'd played like they did today, it would have been a different story. They'd be going to the World Cup with us. For 20 minutes they played great.
"Only two goals in seven games. And they score two on us in only a few minutes.
``I'm happy they didn't score one more.''
Famed Mexican goalie Jorge Campos, he of the Pepsi commercials, wore a psychedelic orange jersey in the first half. But he was made to remove it by the referee for the second half.
"He said it was too close to Canada's colors.''
Campos returned with a orange and black striped Halloween outfit.
"The first one had no goals against it,'' moaned Campos. "The second one ... I won't wear it again. I gave it to a teammate.''
Campos said there was nothing to discuss about his game in goal.
"Two scores. That was it.''
It made for a strange scene at the end of the game. The Mexicans felt a little like they had lost, but team officials were drinking champagne. The Canadians felt like they'd won. But they're done.
The big winners were the 11,806 frozen fans, almost half of them sombrero-wearing Mexicans enjoying a friendly flag waving contest with the patriotic Canadians.
It wasn't pretty. But it was pretty entertaining.
The noon game began with the temperature an even 0 Celsius and a wind-chill factor of minus 14. And it ended with a Canadian team red hot at the referee.
Senor Mendizabal was Mexico-friendly all day. It wasn't so much the calls he made as the ones he didn't make. That's discretion.
But this guy should be called on the carpet to explain three seconds of injury time in the first half and 20 seconds at full time.
Forrest decided to risk the wrath of FIFA with his comments on the subject after the game.
"The referee allowed no injury time whatsoever. Two guys were carried off on stretchers!
BIG MONEY
"There's probably a fine for this. But FIFA does not want a Canadian team in the World Cup. There's big money guaranteed for teams from Mexico and the United States.
"They parade us onto the field behind a big sign for fair play. And there's no sign of it whatsoever.
"I'm just bitter, that's all. Time and time again we get it. We get it home. We get it away. It's just a little much to take.''
It's tough enough to beat the Mexicans.
NEXT ROUNDS: Round of 16 || Quarter-finals || Semi-finals
GROUP A: Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland
GROUP B: Austria, Cameroon, Chile, Italy
GROUP C: Denmark, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
GROUP D: Bulgaria, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain
GROUP E: Belgium, Holland, Mexico, South Korea
GROUP F: Germany, Iran, United States, Yugoslavia
GROUP G: Colombia, England, Romania, Tunisia
GROUP H: Argentina, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan