Ian Bridge speaks about Canada’s only World Cup appearance in 1986, which caused “total elation”

While Canadians bought the 11th-most World Cup tickets, the country's men's national team didn't make it to Brazil this year, as has been the case for every edition of the tournament except 1986. With every successive World Cup that goes by (and every small nation that outperforms Canada), that 1986 appearance at the World Cup in Mexico begins to look more and more special. To find about what it was like for those on the team, I spoke to Ian Bridge, a defender who recorded 34 international appearances for Canada over his career and played in all three of the country's World Cup games in 1986; he's currently an assistant coach with the University of Victoria Vikes. Bridge said last week the feeling he got in September 1985 when the team qualified for the World Cup with a 2-1 win over Honduras in St. John's, Newfoundland was unlike anything else in his career. Despite being hurt in the first half and feeling down personally about that, Bridge said the result was still exhilarating.

"The moment of qualification, the game in St. John's, was maybe the one moment of my career," he said. "I felt total elation that we were going to make a World Cup."

Bridge was only 26 when Canada qualified for the World Cup in 1985, but he had already spent plenty of years playing at high levels by that point. He racked up 100 appearances for the Seattle Sounders of the old North American Soccer League from 1979-83, then 24 for the Vancouver Whitecaps and 39 for the Tacoma Stars of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He went to the Swiss league in 1985, and would play there with FC La Chaux-de-Fonds until 1990, then return to Canada for a couple of years before moving into coaching. However, while his career was far from over at the time Canada qualified, he said it felt like the culmination of everything he'd done to that point.

"To almost crown a career with that was perfect."

Bridge made his debut for the Canadian senior international team in October 1981 and was part of the failed qualification campaign in November 1981 for the 1982 World Cup. However, Canada did decently there, finishing fourth in the final round (with the top two teams qualifying). That result and a string of other solid performances throughout the 80s meant that the 1986 qualification felt like Canada was finally ready to break through.

"We'd been kind of knocking on the door," Bridge said. "It was a great moment of accomplishment, and somewhat relief."

Bridge said the actual World Cup experience in 1986 was somewhat surprising. The game was hugely popular globally even then, but the era meant there was so much less media and fan attention towards players, especially those from lesser-known teams like Canada. He said it felt like just another road trip to a degree.

"Basically, you're just going to a hotel in the middle of nowhere," he said. "We had very little media around us."

Bridge said that's incredibly different today, as there's so much attention on even lesser-known teams and players at modern World Cups.

"Today, everything's under the media microscope," he said.

Canada lost all three of its World Cup games in 1986 and didn't score a goal, falling 1-0 to France in the opener on a late 79th-minute goal, then 2-0 to Hungary and 2-0 to the Soviet Union. Bridge said he felt the team put in great performances given the quality of the opposition, though, especially against the French, who would go on a run to the semifinals before losing to West Germany.

"I'm certainly happy in terms of the overall play," Bridge said. "We had a very respectable one-goal loss against France."

He said that showing against France earned Canada respect around the world.

"I went back to Switzerland, and all my colleagues and the people we knew in Switzerland were very impressed."

Bridge said one coffee bar owner in Switzerland had even said he'd give him his bar if France lost to Canada.

"When I came back, he said, 'You had me nervous!'"

What's disappointing for Bridge looking back is not Canada's play in 1986, but the inability to build on that and qualify for other World Cups.

"We thought this was the start of a run," he said. "The next round should have been even easier."

There was plenty to like about Canada's chances to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, as there were two CONCACAF spots up for grabs instead of just one. (As host in 1986, Mexico automatically qualified, meaning there was only one other spot available for North and Central American and Caribbean countries). Moreover, Mexico wound up being disqualified, taking out one of the region's traditional powers. Bridge said the Canadian team seemed even stronger than they'd been previously, too, but that didn't lead to success.

"We had a good round of young players coming in," he said. "We had a hiccup in a home-and-away qualifier against Guatemala. ... I guarantee if we'd won that series, we'd have qualified."

That seems quite possible. Costa Rica and the U.S. went on to qualify, but neither team was necessarily much stronger than Canada at that point. Guatemala finished fourth, behind Trinidad and Tobago, and Canada should have been able to handle both of those teams. The Canadians only narrowly missed out against Guatemala, too, losing 1-0 on the road but winning 3-2 at home. That meant Guatemala went through on away goals, though, ending Canada's World Cup dreams.

Since then, it's been a long and tough road for Canadian soccer, including the most recent qualifying campaign ending with an 8-1 loss to Honduras (one with plenty of similarities to Brazil's 7-1 World Cup thumping by Germany) and a 1-0 loss to Martinique in the 2013 Gold Cup. New coach Benito Floro, who took over after that Gold Cup, comes with an impressive background, and he's done some things right so far, but progress has been slow. There are other problems out there too, including the lack of elite athletes willing to suit up for Canada, the issues with MLS as a developmental system and the growing strength of CONCACAF.

Bridge, who was involved with the Canadian women's team at the senior and U-20 levels for many years, is quite familiar with the issues in Canadian soccer. He said he thinks the principal challenge in the Canadian quest to get back to the World Cup isn't raw talent, but getting those talented players the high-level development and experience they need to succeed on the international stage.

"I think there are good players, but the question is, what are they going to be doing for the next four to five years?" he said. "Are they doing more than the Mexicans? In more good environments? Because, if not, it's luck, and you can't qualify out of CONCACAF on luck."