Canada Soccer chooses Vancouver again for World Cup qualifier

Canada Soccer has officially announced that their next home World Cup qualifying match against El Salvador on September 6 will be played at BC Place.

After going eleven years without a match, Vancouver has become the men’s national team’s home in the last five months. Canada has had strong support at BC Place for their last two home games against Honduras and Mexico.

“The home support and sea of red will be very important in our final home match of our group in September,” said Victor Montagliani, president of Canada Soccer. “We expect that the 12th man will make all the difference for us to continue our journey on the Road to Russia.”

Fans in other cities might not be happy that Vancouver is getting all the love these days, but when it comes to World Cup qualifying, for Canada Soccer, it’s all about winning.

“When it comes to World Cup qualifying, it’s not about sharing the love, it’s about where we’re going to get three points” said Montagliani. “If our technical staff believes that’s where we need to go, that’s where we’ll probably go.”

Apart from the home crowd, head coach Benito Floro pointed to another advantage with BC Place: wind, or a lack thereof.

“I like BMO Stadium in Toronto, but sometimes there is a lot of wind” said the Spanish-born Floro. “Our players have not a good experience when the wind is different. We realized that against Guatemala when we played in Florida.”

Canadians aren’t good in the wind, who knew?

With two matches to go in this round of qualifying, Canada has a realistic chance to advance to the Hex for the first time in 20 years. They’ll need to finish in the top-2 in their group to advance.

Image: CONCACAF

Canada will play in Honduras on September 2, before returning home to play El Salvador on September 6.

“Playing the last match at home has to be one of the most important motivations for our players,” said Floro. “Playing this match at home will be an advantage because we can have big support from our fans. We were really impressed how our supporters helped fill the stadium in March.”

Tickets to the match on September 6 go on sale to the general public on April 26. Tickets will be available through a pre-sale window on April 19, if you are signed up to Canada Soccer’s newsletter.