Road to FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010

Dale Mitchell’s reign as Canada’s men’s senior head coach begins this month with a 22 August friendly against Iceland. It continues next month with an international friendly on home soil, the 12 September match against CONCACAF rival Costa Rica at BMO Field in Toronto.
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​Both matches, however, are just preparatory work for the real job: FIFA World Cup qualifying that takes place next season. Canada hasn’t qualified for a men’s FIFA World Cup since Mexico 1986, so their goal is pretty straight forward: qualify for South Africa 2010.
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​Mitchell is the eleventh coach in charge of Canada’s World Cup qualifying efforts. Of the 10 coaches before him, only Tony Waiters managed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup. Among Waiters’ troops back in 1986 was a young player named Mitchell.
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​Before coming to the senior team, Mitchell coached Canada at the last three FIFA U-20 World Cups: UAE 2003, Nederland 2005 and Canada 2007.
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​Don Petrie (2-0-2)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 1958 (two wins, no draws, two losses)
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​Peter Dinsdale (2-1-1)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 1970 (two wins, one draw, one loss)
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​Frank Pike (1-1-4)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 1974 (one win, one draw and two losses)
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​Eckhard Krautzun (5-6-7)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 1978 (four wins, three draws and three losses)
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​Barrie Clarke (6-6-2)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 1982 (two wins, six draws and one loss)
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​Tony Waiters (11-11-21)
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​Canada qualifies for FIFA World Cup 1986 (five wins, three draws, no losses)
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​Canada loses all three games in FIFA World Cup 1986 (0-0-3)
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​Tony Taylor (6-2-6)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 1990 (one win and one loss against Guatemala)
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​Bob Lenarduzzi (20-15-26)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 1994 (six wins, four draws, four losses)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 1998 (six wins, five draws, five losses)
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​Holger Osieck (20-9-17)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 2002 (two wins, one draw, five losses)
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​Frank Yallop (8-3-9)
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​Canada fails to qualify for FIFA World Cup 2006 (three wins, two draws, three losses)
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​Dale Mitchell
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​Will coach Canada’s FIFA World Cup qualification efforts beginning in 2008
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