Confidence is an intangible; and possessing it means more than any statistic we track on paper.
It is also measured by results. The ability to exude confidence is not an individual pursuit, but rather something achieved by the sum of its parts. For the Canadian men's national team this is exactly the case; as entering Saturday's must-win qualifier against Honduras those individuals looked upon as providers are brimming with the stuff.
To begin, Julian De Guzman, who plays club soccer with Deportivo La Coruña in Spain, is fresh off a massive opening weekend victory over reigning La Liga champion Real Madrid. Several of the post-match reports listed the Canadian midfielder as the best player on the afternoon, an honour De Guzman hopes to duplicate this weekend when Canada face Honduras in a must-win World Cup Qualifier.
"The two systems that I am involved with in the national team and at Deportivo are different through the midfield, but we know that Honduras does have a great midfield," De Guzman said on Wednesday. "If we can break it down, we will have success."
The work rate of De Guzman will be tested in the assignment he will certainly draw in Montreal: shadowing Honduras' best player and team captain Amado Guevara. But unlike De Guzman, the Toronto FC playmaker has become a stranger to playing with confidence. It can be argued that the last noteworthy 90 minutes played by Guevara came back on April 24 when he opened his TFC account with a pair of goals versus Kansas City.
In preparing for the Guevara assignment, De Guzman has quizzed fellow Canadian NT members Jim Brennan and Greg Sutton, both of whom are teammates of Guevara in Toronto.
"We will use every option possible to us," De Guzman said of his research for the role.
But as mentioned above, the confidence carried by Canada prior to this weekend is not through De Guzman alone. The La Coruña star does his homework, and knows that his teammates have performed well since the 1-1 draw with Jamaica back on August 20.
"It is not just me," De Guzman explained. "Look at the results of the others guys on the team: Rob Friend scored and I believe so did Iain Hume. It is great to feed off that and it is very important to have that confidence going in to a very important match."
Friend and Hume did indeed score for their respective clubs over the weekend. In fact the goal scored by Hume deserves consideration when the end-of-year awards are handed out in England.
Now many will argue that Canada was a confident bunch prior to the first WCQ qualifier played against Jamaica. But in hindsight it can be seen that the confidence was overshadowed by the expectations, and the bravado displayed on the training ground never made it out of the tunnel at BMO Field.
But with one game together and a week's worth of training, the squad is prepared for the task at hand and accept the responsibility which comes with facing Honduras.
"This game from what I believe is pretty much like a final," De Guzman said of the anticipation surrounding the Honduras match. "I am prepared to go all out as this is a do-or-die situation."
NOTES: Sportsnet.ca will stream the Honduras-Canada match on Saturday staring at 8 p.m. ET … Dale Mitchell is scheduled to speak with the media on Friday … Mexico opened its WCQ with a 2-1 win over Honduras on August 20.
