Canada will need big performance against Honduras to advance in World Cup qualifying

Jason deVos used to thrive off going into an opposing team's stadium where he and his teammates were vilified by fans.

The 38-year-old is the former captain of the Canadian men's national soccer team. He's played in environments internationally where crowds that reach 80,000-100,000 are so loud that you can't hear your teammate next to you speak; environments where you're dodging projectiles being thrown from the stands as you walk off the pitch.

"I think you kind of try and ignore it," he said. "When the fans are angry that means you're doing your job because their team obviously is not scoring goals. I think that kind of energy in the crowd can certainly have either a positive or a negative impact. If you're a bit of a shrinking violet than perhaps it can have a negative impact. However knowing a lot of the players as I do I think they're going to use this as an example to really show what they're made of."

Facing rowdy crowds isn't something that's new to this version of the Canadian men's national team. Just over a month ago when they traveled to Panama for a World Cup qualifying match, hundreds of Panamanian fans gathered outside of their hotel the night before the match honking horns, setting off fireworks and drums at an attempt to not only disrupt the Canadian players' sleep, but intimidate the visiting team.

They'll have to block out and cope with whatever hostility they're met with in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Tuesday night as it's Canada's last opportunity to advance to the final stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. They'll need a win or draw against Honduras to do so.

It's been 25 years since Canada qualified for their only World Cup appearance in Mexico, and 1998 was the last time they reached the final stage of qualifying.

Heading into Tuesday's match the Canadians (3-1-1) sit two points ahead of Honduras (2-1-2) for second place in Group C — led by Panama — and are coming off a 3-0 victory over Cuba on Friday. The top two teams in the group advance to the final 'hexagonal' stage which will be held between February and October next year.

DeVos believes that Tuesday's match is not only important in terms of advancing to the next stage of qualifying, but is of massive importance for Canadian soccer as a whole.

"I think it's the biggest game we've played since probably the Gold Cup final in 2000," he said. "And that game people would argue wasn't even at the same level of importance because it didn't involve the World Cup and that's probably true. We haven't been to 'the Hex' since the 1998 World Cup so it has been a long, long time… Now we're in a position where we can go one step further and test ourselves against the best teams in CONCACAF.

"I think a lot of the bigger countries in CONCACAF kind of look down on Canada as being not really a rival, [but] but more of a nuisance than anything. This is a chance for Canada to get into the final round and shake things up a bit."

For now though, the focus can't be on the next stage or the potential of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Instead the Canadians need to be solely focused on Honduras, in a game in which they control their own destiny.

"If you had offered Stephen Hart, going into qualifying one game in the second round in which a win or a draw would get you through to the second round I'm pretty sure he would have taken it," deVos said. "It's a good position to be in."