A victim of his passport, Atiba Hutchinson is one of Canada Soccer’s greatest tragedies.

Nobody knows him — a consequence of competing internationally for a side that hasn’t come close to securing World Cup qualification in three decades.

Barring a miracle against El Salvador on Tuesday night, Hutchinson’s international career will likely end like so many others — in disappointment, bewilderment and, unfortunately, anonymity.

He should be one this country’s athletic treasures — every bit as big as Christine Sinclair or Andrew Wiggins or Andre De Grasse. The fact Hutchinson hasn’t been considered for the Lou Marsh Award shows you winning is, in fact, everything.

“I’m going to say some crazy things,” Julian de Guzman told the Toronto Sun in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on the weekend. “(Hutchinson) has accomplished everything with a Canadian passport and a Canadian jersey. He was loyal to his country.”

In soccer terms, a Canadian passport is as valuable as the Honduran lempira, a currency barely worth the paper it’s printed on. Most European clubs aren’t interested in looking at Canadian footballers. In a way, they’re like the majority of Canadians.

“For the type of performances he’s produced for club and country at the top level, he should be,” de Guzman paused, “I can’t even say it ...”

Allow me. Perhaps more baffling than Hutchinson’s anonymity on a macro Canadian scale is the fact Canada’s trio of MLS teams haven’t brought him home. As de Guzman told the Sun, Hutchinson “has been interested” for quite some time.

“He should be getting $6 million (from an MLS club),” de Guzman continued. “I don’t understand why he isn’t. He’s gotten offers — disrespectful offers. Why wouldn’t our country, the three MLS teams, back a guy like (Hutchinson)?”

Because, well, he’s Canadian. And until Canada consistently garners results in games that matter — games like Friday night’s 2-1 loss in Honduras — guys like Hutchinson, Dwayne De Rosario and de Guzman won’t receive any respect at home.

It’s one of the less mentioned Canadian Soccer tragedies. A lack of success has limited Canadians’ opportunities at home and abroad. It’s more sexy for a U.S. club to sign Tim Howard than a Canadian who’d instantly be one of the best players in MLS.

“Atiba, for me, today is a top five player in CONCACAF. Hands down. Hands down,” de Guzman added. “He could play next to (Toronto FC’s Michael Bradley). Atiba could back a guy like that up.”

Instead, Hutchinson recently re-signed with Turkish side Besiktas, where he has competed in the UEFA Champions League and been a consistent performer.

“Protect (Atiba). Protect his family. He’s in a war zone now,” de Guzman said. It almost sounded like a plea to Canadian MLS sides.

Hutchinson is soccer’s version of Steven Stamkos, an NHLer that Canadian hockey fans would love to see return home.

Most Canadian sports pundits and analysts simply don’t know.

“He needs to be getting his praises and respect from a Canadian club,” de Guzman said.

It’s not too late for one of Canada’s three MLS sides to bring Hutchinson home.

Only then will most Canadians begin to know.

QUESTIONING COACH FLORO

First things first: The only reason Canada isn’t effectively eliminated from World Cup qualifying is because of goalkeeper Milan Borjan.

Without Borjan, Canada’s negative goal-difference (currently minus-5) heading into Tuesday’s match would be insurmountable — if it already isn’t.

And that certainly means there were issues all over the park during Friday night’s 2-1 loss in San Pedro Sula, and plenty to criticize head coach Benito Floro about.

Here they are, in bullet point form:

n Doneil Henry isn’t a fullback. Though he wasn’t poor Friday night, Henry was late recovering to prevent Honduras’ game-winner. There’s also no way he’s in shape or form. He’s coming off a knee injury and hasn’t played consistently.

n Playing David Edgar in front of Hutchinson is odd. Firstly, did Edgar, a centreback in Vancouver, have the fitness to play box-to-box in Honduras? I would have preferred both Edgar and Scott Arfield behind Hutchinson in a 4-2-3-1.

n Tesho Akindele struggled on the right side of midfield — probably because he has traveled all over the map with FC Dallas lately. Nonetheless, perhaps Floro should have started Tosaint Ricketts ahead of Akindele on the right side.

n Substituting Cyle Larin with 20 minutes remaining was odd, considering this match appeared to be do-or-die for Canada. A draw would have been a fantastic result. Was Floro trying to save Larin to hopefully bag a bunch of goals at home?

THE SCENARIOS

For its part, Canada likely will need to score 3-4 goals against El Salvador for a chance to advance ahead of Honduras and into CONCACAF’s hexagonal round for the first time since 1997.

The Canadians haven’t scored three goals on an opponent since hammering Belize 3-0 last September. The Salvadorans aren’t Belize, but having been eliminated by Mexico Friday night, who knows what shape they’ll be in.

For the Canadians to advance, they need to, at minimum, make up a goal-difference of minus-5 to Honduras while beating El Salvador and having Honduras lose in Mexico. That would see both Canada and Honduras finish on seven points.

A 4-0 win for Canada combined with a 1-0 loss for Honduras in Mexico would see Canada advance on the seventh tie-breaker (away goals between the two teams that are tied). There are many scenarios.

Basically, Canada needs to win by a lot and Honduras needs to lose by a lot.

AND ANOTHER THING

Ex-Canada coach Stephen Hart, the manager at the helm when Canada infamously lost 8-1 in Honduras four years ago, just led Trinidad and Tobago to securing qualification for CONCACAF’s final round.