(Great!) expectations


It took one phrase from Canadian men's national team coach Dale Mitchell to understand just how far soccer has come in our country.

"We all understand the expectations this year," Mitchell said Wednesday during a conference call. "All players and staff are focused on 2010."

Until now, discussing Canadian soccer in the context of World Cup qualifying attracted words like 'perhaps', 'hopefully' or 'how cute'. But now, arguably for the first time since 1986, there is nothing cute about the fact that expectations surrounding 2010 exist.

But in a cordially Canadian way, Mitchell was quick to ride the brakes for a spell.

"We also understand the process," Mitchell said. "We can't look past the series. Two games; you got to get it right or your done."

Look past a series? Never! Can it be?

The last half-decade of Canadian men's soccer has been filled with conference calls set up to encourage the media that we can beat the upcoming, let alone the team which lay beyond.

But the reality of fielding one of the more talented squads CONCACAF has to offer means that Mitchell must remind the 19 players selected to participate in a two-game set with St. Vincent and the Grenadines that the clichés matter; and looking ahead to the next stage in the fall is a mistake.

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