Hume hails new brand of Canadian football

Striker Iain Hume has praised Canada’s decision to break away from the traditional ‘route one’ attack it used to employ against CONCACAF opponents and believes Canada’s new soccer style holds the potential to help Canada qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™.



“When we come into the camps with Stephen, he gets us set out right.” Hume told the Canadian media on a conference call Thursday morning. “We go out and try to play football the right way. It’s not the traditional way of football from 10 or 15 years ago.”



Hume believes that Canada is no longer relying on a physical style to get results in FIFA World Cup™ Qualifiers.



“You look back at how we used to play football when we had Paul Stalteri up front with guys like Paul Peschisolido and Carlo Corazzin, and even Kevin McKenna when we was first coming in. It was more of a route one attack with a little man playing off it,” Hume said.



“We used to rely on bullying the Central American teams and now I think we are competing with them football wise.”



Iain Hume scores the opener against Puerto Rico





Iain Hume was part of the most successful FIFA World Cup™ in the history of Canadian football in men’s competition. Hume, along with fellow Men’s National Team players Josh Simpson and Atiba Hutchinson, led Canada to the quarterfinals of the 2003 FIFA U-20 World Cup™ in United Arab Emirates.



He feels that the lasting football relationships he has enjoyed with players like Simpson and Hutchinson will only benefit Canada moving forward.



“There’s not many countries around the world that can say they have four or five players from the same youth team in the first team,” Hume explained.



“If you look at the squad with me, Atiba and Josh, we all came through the system at the same time. It proves that Canada can produce players that go on to play in the top leagues in Europe while still enjoying a good camaraderie where we all know each other.”



Canada will next take to the pitch for a 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Qualifier away to St. Lucia on 7 October in Basseterre.



The team will then return home to take on Puerto Rico in another qualifier on 11 October at BMO Field in Toronto (local kick-off 19.00).



Tickets to the 11 October match are available via Ticketmaster at ticketmaster.ca or 1-855-985-5000. Special group rates for the match are also available; please contact marketing@soccercan.ca for details.