Cyle Larin Scores Canada a Point and a Nation a Personality Crisis
At BC Place in Vancouver, where the FIFA World Cup kicked off this week, Cyle Larin's late goal earned Canada a 1-1 draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina, described by CBC as a 'historic point.' This is the kind of phrase a country uses when it is still negotiating with itself about whether it cares.
The co-hosting arrangement continues to confuse everyone. Canada is staging matches at BMO Field and BC Place. Mexico is hosting matches. The United States is also hosting matches, although down in the Bay Area, NPR reports that Levi's Stadium has 'empty red seats everywhere,' which is either a metaphor for something or simply what happens when you schedule soccer in a football parking lot.
Meanwhile, Brazil rallied for a 1-1 draw against Morocco behind a Vinicius Junior goal, Qatar grabbed a stoppage-time header to draw Switzerland 1-1, and somewhere in this tournament a team will eventually win a match. Canadians,新 to the men's World Cup on home soil, have been practising the appropriate celebration, which so far consists of saying 'historic point' in the same tone one might say 'reasonable dental plan.'
The culture clash is the real fixture. Half the country is learning the offside rule. The other half is waiting for the UFC card at the White House to start, because nothing says global sporting moment like a birthday pay-per-view. Canada gets a point. The U.S. gets empty seats. Bosnia-Herzegovina gets to go home and explain how a country with a hyphen in its name held the hosts to a draw.
Historic, honestly, is doing a lot of work here.