Sober Second Thoughts: Good vibes only

Copa America showed us what's possible. Now it's time to make it probable

Photo by Victor on Unsplash

The funny thing about tournament football is that the results can lie. You can leave a tournament early when you played well. And, you can go deep based on results that might be considered a slump at any other time.

The USA in 2010 was 90 seconds from elimination until Landon knocked in a rebound. That goal was the moment US soccer hit the mainstream and is many a current fan’s origin story.

That the US only had one win in four games in South Africa does not matter. They got the win when it mattered. That’s all that anyone remembers.

Similarly, history is not going to remember that Canada only had one win at the 2024 Copa and that it was against a 10-man Peru. That isn’t the story because they created their own narrative — one of determination and fight and of finding a way.

For now, that’s enough. They thrust themselves into a national conversation. There were Canadian car flags flying beside the Old Country this summer. People who think the Voyageurs trap beaver pelts were asking for the sound to be turned up on the TVs at the pub.

There will now be no difficulty getting Canadians excited about the national team in 2026. Expectations will be for the good vibes to just keep on going.

In fact, they will probably be a bit too high. It will be a lot to ask for the team to replicate a deep run in the Copa with a deep run at the World Cup. It’s a harder tournament (Canada will very likely have a European team in their group) and there is luck involved in any deep run by an outsider like Canada.

That’s a problem for another day, however. I’m sure that Jesse Marsh and the rest of the coaching staff are aware of how thin the margins are and will be focused on moving forward and improving.

For the rest of us — especially those of us who have been around a while — there’s little reason to get caught up in the weeds here. For once there are good vibes only around the Canadian men’s national team.

Enjoy them.