Key takeaways:
- ‘Since they didn’t come to us, we chose to go to them,’ states Ingo Eckoldt.
- Max and Ingo Eckoldt of Portugal Cove-St. Philip fled to Toronto to watch the Canadian men’s national football team succeed in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Canadian men’s national football team won its way into the 2022 FIFA World Cup with a 4-0 win over Jamaica in Toronto on Sunday — and several super-fans from Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, N.L., was there to bring it all in.
The last — and once only — time Canada made the tournament was after succeeding in a qualifying match at King George V Park in St. John’s in September 1985.
“Since they didn’t come to us, we chose to go to them,” Ingo Eckoldt, who brought his kid Max to the match, told CBC News on Monday soon before boarding a flight home to Newfoundland.
“It was pretty bonkers. There was a group of 29,152 people, and it was deafening. There were drums. Everyone was bouncing up and down in the stands.”
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The scene at the match was fierce — literally — as fireworks exploded after each of Canada’s four goals en route to the win.
Ten-year-old Max said the loud bangs frightened him initially. Still, it didn’t take anything away from his sports-filled weekend, which had a Toronto Raptors match Saturday evening and a Toronto Maple Leaf match soon after the football game ended.
Max said the football game was “actually fascinating” to watch the Canadian soccer club. “I just really wanted to see them play,” he said. “They’re good.”
Eckoldt said there was a sense throughout the arena that Canada would succeed — thereby fixing a place in the world tournament — after the first goal, netted by Cyle Larin at the 13-minute mark of the first half.
Source – cbc.ca
