This is a critical time to for both the Canadian Men's soccer program and Canadian Men's basketball as World Cup qualifying is right around the corner for soccer and basketball still has the back door tournament to compete for. The Coronavirus has halted momentum for both programs with a qualify or bust approach should be the attitude for 2021.
For me, not making the Octagon would be a huge failure. The team is loaded with talent and the competition in front of Canada is considerably a lot weaker from what Canada has had to go to the Hex
in previous years that I feel like I'm just waiting for this team to screw up some how.
As for Men's basketball, there is a lot to consider. What was going to be a home tournament is not a for sure thing. Dr. Bonnie Henry didn't make an exception for the NHL bubble last summer and I can't see her making an exception for the FIBA OQT that is supposed to take place in late June early July but I'll be surprised if she lets five other teams from five different countries into the provincial capital seems like a long shot.
If Victoria is a no go than San Juan Porto Rico is the next safest bet. If that happens, don't expect the other five teams to bring their top teams. For one, the NBA playoffs might not be finished by June 29th so don't except the Greek Freak to be coming. More importantly, if any of these players have to spend any sort of time in quarantine than I doubt we get any NBA players coming.
For things to get back to normal from a sporting accountability standpoint, restrictions have to be lifted at some point. Qualifying will be bittersweet in a empty arena. More so for Soccer but if one of the teams had a better chance at qualifying it would be the soccer team.
We will see what happens in the build up to both but these two teams are very interesting when you try to compare them. Both face massive chances with competitive rosters. If history repeats itself than both will fall short of their desired goals.
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