How much are Canadians willing to spend to fulfill football ambitions?

As the Canadian men kicked off their Gold Cup campaign against unranked Guadeloupe on a subdued, storm-encircled BMO pitch on Tuesday night, the ecstasy of last year’s World Cup qualifying and the white-hot lights of Qatar seemed less memories than fabrications. of an earlier imagination.

The disjointed, shaky performance that followed – Canada conceded an own goal in the 93rd minute to draw their Caribbean visitors, 2-2 – did nothing to recall recent glories. It instead felt like an on-field recreation of the boardroom chaos that still plagues Canada Soccer.

The National Federation, which has shown all the stability of a three-legged chair at the best of times, is in deep financial crisis. Jason deVos, a former player who now serves as Canada Soccer’s interim general secretary, admitted to TSN this week that bankruptcy is one of the options being considered. (He later explained that he was just trying to educate himself on what bankruptcy would entail and that it’s not a strategy being considered by Canada Soccer.)

John Herdman, the men’s head coach, revealed something of the federation’s imbalanced ledgers after his side lost the Nations League final to the US in Las Vegas earlier this month. He lamented that his team could only afford a four-day camp, while their opponents enjoyed much longer residencies complete with exhibition games.

WATCH l Canada’s men’s soccer team baffled by unranked Guadeloupe:

The admission of DeVos’ bankruptcy made the magnitude of the problem clearer. Canada Soccer hosted the Women’s World Cup in 2015 and will co-host the men’s tournament in 2026 – the crown jewels of a sport notorious for its unabashed generosity – yet nearly broke.

“We are being challenged financially,” Herdman said of his side’s equally sobering crackdown on Guadeloupe, a French department with a population south of 400,000. “I think everyone expected, coming from a World Cup, I think they expected it to be all sunshine and rainbows… And it’s not.”

As if the air wasn’t restless enough, Stephen Eustáquio and Samuel Adekugbe, two of a handful of European-based players on Canada’s Gold Cup roster, retired for the opening game. Herdman’s burnt-out squad was missing all of its biggest names, including Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin, Ismael Koné and Alistair Johnston.

They all opted for summer vacation over the country, meaning five players made their national team debuts on Tuesday, the most in a single Canadian men’s game since 1968.

“I think the fans have seen something of our future,” Herdman said afterwards.

WATCH l Soccer North: Disappointment that Canada Soccer is facing the same old issues:

Analyst Jimmy Brennan on the grim reports that Canada Soccer is in financial trouble | Football North

Host Andi Petrillo speaks to the former CNMT player about his disappointment that Canada Soccer is facing the same financial problems as 30 years ago.

Most immediately, that future now includes must-win games against Guatemala on Canada Day and Cuba on July 4, both in sweltering Houston.

The longer-term outlook for Canadian football is less clear.

While the exhausted men struggle, the seventh-ranked women have left for their World Championships in Australia and New Zealand under the same clouds of financial uncertainty. Despite more than a year of difficult negotiations, neither national team has reached an agreement with Canada Soccer on tournament bonuses and other issues.

“I have to make them understand that we only have so much money and we can only give them so much,” deVos told TSN. “I don’t want to have to take money out of programming resources to provide more compensation.”

He said the men have already missed a chance to play against Saudi Arabia and Korea in Europe during the September international window, despite the Saudis charitably offering $500,000 in match money. CONCACAF rival Mexico swooped in and booked those dates instead.

“The whole game has to come together to find a real solution to make sure our country can deliver,” Herdman said. “These players have earned that right. The staff have earned that right. We cannot go backwards after a World Cup.”

In fact, Herdman said, his men should be thinking about winning the next one, including riveting games at BMO Field, as hard as that was to manifest in Tuesday’s nervous humidity.

“Anything can happen at a home World Cup,” he said.

Only three years out, “everything” is a stretch. Even with huge investments, let alone potential bankruptcy, the men’s program is still decades away from catching up with the giants of the game. We are not Brazil. We are not France. We are not Argentina.

But we shouldn’t sign Guadeloupe either. The time has long come for a national conversation about what kind of football country we want to be, and how much we are willing to spend to turn those ambitions into results.

When investing in dreams, hope is the only guaranteed return.

So now we’re here: what’s hope worth?