Andre Hainault’s travel odyssey at least had a happy ending.
After traveling halfway around the world – with some hiccups – to play for the Canadian national team, he ended up on the winning side and on the scoresheet after helping his country to a 1-0 win over Belarus in a friendly match played in Antalya, Turkey. Hainault scored the only goal of the game – his second international goal – in the 58th minute, heading in a corner kick.
“We got a win, which is most important,” Hainault said. “We really needed it, because our rankings are not very high these days. It was good to get the win and to play, and of course to score, so it was a good experience.”
Canada dipped to 84th in the March 2011 FIFA rankings (8th in CONCACAF), while Belarus ranked 37th. In addition to influencing Canada’s ranking, the match may also have raised Hainault’s personal stock, which had dipped in Canadian circles after last May’s 5-1 defeat against Argentina. He hopes the game and the goal will help convince manager Stephen Hart to call him up for this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup.
“It had been almost a year since I had been called in, so that was good,” Hainault said. “I thought I performed well, so hopefully I gave myself a good chance to get selected for it. I don’t know yet if I’ll get called in – we’ll have to wait and see.”
Hainault was also left waiting and seeing about his luggage on the trip. After flying from Seattle to Newark to Istanbul to Antalya last Sunday and Monday, his checked bag did not arrive, leaving him without his own boots or soccer equipment. It did arrive in time for Tuesday’s match.
Interestingly, the match was played with no spectators, creating an unusual environment for the players. Hainault acknowledged the lack of atmosphere but said it did not limit his team’s focus.
“It was kind of weird – it felt like we were in practice,” Hainault said. “It was a funny atmosphere, but the most important thing was for us to win, and we did that.”
The closed doors could have been related to an incident earlier this year, when two matches in Antalya were reputed to have been fixed, and world governing body FIFA announced it was investigating the six match officials.
