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The ball was at his feet, the Soviet Union goalkeeper at his mercy. Standing in the six-yard box, all Bob Lenarduzzi had to do was kick it in the back of the net, and it would be the peak of peaks, the absolute pinnacle of Canadian soccer — a World Cup goal.

“I had a swing at it, and was so anxious that I caught the ground before I hit the ball,” Lenarduzzi said of that 1986 World Cup match in Mexico.

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“It ended up very comfortably rolling into the keeper’s hands. I do recall that I think he dived for it, which, after the fact … I felt pretty good about. At least he made it look like a more difficult shot than it was. All I remember is … seeing him make the save. I was feeling like ‘can the ground just open up now, and me just jump in?’

“After we were back at the hotel, I was taking some real flak from virtually everyone on the team, in a good-natured way.”

Canada finished winless at the tournament, losing 1-0 to European champion France, 2-0 to Hungary and 2-0 to the Soviets. Coming in, the odds of Canada scoring in the tournament were 300-1, though plenty of people bet on them scoring.