‪El Salvador‬ ‪2018 FIFA World Cup‬ ‪Canada

Regional soccer officials said Tuesday that they are investigating claims by Salvadoran national team players that they were offered money to help Honduras advance in World Cup qualifying play. It’s only been 30 years since Canada’s first and only World Cup appearance, not that really long ago when you think about it. But that 1986 World Cup in Mexico must seem like eons ago for Canadian soccer fans of a certain age.

The Canadians needed to win Tuesday and needed Honduras to lose in Mexico. They also needed a six-goal combined turnaround to take second place in the group on goal difference. Back then it felt like Canada was in the middle of a golden era—the Reds qualified for the World Cup for the first time, and they gave Brazil all it could handle before losing in a dramatic shootout in the quarterfinals of the 1984 Olympic tournament in Los Angeles.

The Canadians entered their match with El Salvador needing the win, but it also needed to overcome a five-goal differential and for Honduras to lose outright to Mexico. Honduras earned a point in its draw.  With respect to what we just heard, we want to make clear that we're against this anything like this act. We want to be very transparent in front of the public about anything happening with the national team and want to disassociate ourselves from whatever bad impression this event could cause," he said in a statement. It seemed like the start of something special, and that the best was yet to come.