Barrie residents take in Canada’s return to the FIFA World Cup

Residents across Barrie were on the edge of their seats Wednesday to take in the excitement of Canada’s return to the FIFA World Cup, many weren’t even upset when Belgium took the win 1-0.

“The fact that they qualified this year is super exciting,” said fan Graham Welsh. “Hopefully, we get to see some wins and some goals scored and have some fun with it.”

“It’s been 36 years,” said 10-year-old Archie Rainey, talking about the last time Canada made its lone appearance on soccer’s greatest stage.

Simcoe County Rovers FC head coach, Jason Beckford, said the event is bringing the country together, much like when the Toronto Raptors won the NBA title.

“It seemed like the whole country was behind them. It’s a similar thing here,” he noted.

Seeing soccer giants like Argentina and Germany toppled before Canada’s first two matches against two of the world’s best soccer nations gave hope to many Canucks.

“It’s been a year of upsets so far, so fingers crossed,” added Jay Coulson.

Many hope this experience ahead of Canada co-hosting the next World Cup inspires the next generation of Canadian soccer players.

“It’s an opportunity maybe for children and young people to see maybe that’s something I can do and aspire to,” said Coulson.

Belgium’s Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal in Wednesday’s game.

On Sunday, Canada faces off against the team that made it to the final of the 2018 World Cup, Croatia.

Group F standings have Belgium leading with three points, Croatia and Morocco with one, and Canada zero.