MEXICO CITY — It’s a Canadian soccer fan’s worst fear.

Just when the Canadian Soccer Association thought it had moved on from the Horror in Honduras, a similar scenario is set to return later this year.

It has been four years since Honduras humiliated Canada during CONCACAF’s previous World Cup qualifying cycle. The incomprehensible 8-1 scoreline will forever live in our minds.

Now, following back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Mexico this month, Canada will wrap Group A qualifying in Honduras this September before hosting El Salvador.

The Canadians return to the scene of the aforementioned crime — San Pedro Sula’s Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano — potentially needing a draw to remain in control of their qualifying destiny.

“It’s a good position to be in,” Canadian defender Adam Straith told the Toronto Sun this week.

“We’re in a position where we control what happens. This isn’t a position we’ve always been in. We had a favourable result on the other side of the group last week.”

As Canada was pasted 3-0 by Mexico last Friday, El Salvador’s late equalizer denied visiting Honduras maximum points — a result that left Canada with a bit of wiggle room later this year.

Still, losing in Honduras might not be an option — especially when you consider the first tie-breaker is goal difference.

“You want to get as many points as you can wherever you can,” Straith added. “Those games in September are going to be extremely crucial. Everything will probably come down to those games.

“September was always going to be important. Two teams in this group were never going to run away with it. It’s a position that’s good for us. They’re important games.”

Speaking with Canada bench boss Benito Floro this week, the 63-year-old Spaniard considers CONCACAF’s penultimate qualifying stage more difficult to navigate than the hexagonal round, the confederation’s final qualifying step that includes six teams.

The margin for error next round is far greater considering there are four more games. Heck, the fourth-place finisher even has the potential to qualifying for Russia 2018. That’s two-thirds of the teams.

“That’s a question for someone who has been there before,” Straith replied, smiling as he was confronted with his head coach’s pronouncement.

“I can see where he’s coming from. You have more games in the hex. You’re that much closer to the final goal. The support the team would get if we were to get there would be something we’ve never seen.

“That would push us that much more. If we were to make it, we’d have the entire country behind us.”

It would mean five more home games at, potentially, cities across Canada in 2017. More relevancy for a program that continues to fall short of expectations.

The Canadians haven’t advanced beyond this current World Cup qualifying stage since 1998. They always seem to run into Honduras.

Los Catrachos had a reputation for spoiling Canada’s qualification party long before the Horror in Honduras.

Honduras bounced Canada from qualifying in 2010 and twice drew Canada ahead of Germany 2006, results that saw Canada exit at this same qualifying stage.

“We have some of the hardest challenges world wide,” said Straith, who is currently playing club ball with Norway’s Fredrikstad FK.

“We have some high quality teams and places here in Central America are extremely tough to take points from.

“A lot of people in Europe don’t understand the challenges we face.”

Floro maintains the Canadians are among the favourites to reach CONCACAF’s final stage.

“Honduras has more experience than us,” he told the Toronto Sun this week. “Defensively, they are stronger than our team. Their anticipation is better. But when we played last year our levels were similar.

“We are going to fight a lot in Honduras. Then, against El Salvador, a very good team, it won’t be easy. At the same time, Canada is not an easy team to face.”

If that holds true, Canada would enter the 10-match round robin (“hexagonal”) that will run from this November through October 2017.

From there, the top three finishers automatically advance to Russia 2018.

The fourth-place finisher in CONCACAF plays Asia’s fifth-place finisher in a home-and-home intercontinental playoff for one of the final spots in Russia.

GAMES STAYING OUT WEST?

Victor Montagliani says the Canadian Soccer Association hasn’t ruled out moving Canada’s final Round 4 World Cup qualification match away from Vancouver’s BC Place.

Canada’s top boss sat down with the Toronto Sun ahead of Tuesday night’s qualifier here in Mexico City and said the CSA will look at potential venues in the coming weeks and months.

“Everything is on the table,” the CSA president said. “We aren’t set on any stadium for September.

“I’ll sit down with (head coach Benito Floro) at some point in the not-too-distant future. I’ll sit down with (CSA) general secretary Peter Montopoli as well.”

Prior to Round 4, Canada had staged a majority of its World Cup qualification matches at Toronto’s BMO Field.

But due to ongoing renovations, the CSA was forced to find an alternate venue for recent qualifiers against Honduras and Mexico — fixtures that together attracted more than 70,000 fans.

It’s unclear if the CSA is willing to leave that much revenue on the table if it decides to host elsewhere.

“We’ll get some feedback from the technical side and the event management side and see where we want to go,” Montagliani added.

Potentially reducing Toronto’s chances of hosting what could be a do-or-die qualifier on Sept. 6 is the fact a large Salvadoran community exists in the northeastern United States.

A large percentage of them would undoubtedly make the short trip to see their national team if the game is staged anywhere on Canada’s east coast.