What you need to know for Canada's second crack at the World Cup

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It would have been nice to make it officially official last night in Costa Rica, where it turned out the Canadian men needed only a draw. And, man, did they try. Despite playing shorthanded for the bulk of the match after a Costa Rican player induced a red card with an absurd flop, Canada peppered the home team with scoring chances throughout the second half. A cross-bar was hit, a post was dinged, but to no avail. The Canadians' admirable 1-0 loss, which snapped a 17-match undefeated streak in World Cup qualifying, left them without a ticket to Qatar.

But only for now. There's an excellent chance Canada clinches its first men's World Cup berth since 1986 on Sunday, when it hosts Jamaica at 4 p.m. ET in Toronto. Once again, a draw is all Canada needs to ensure it'll finish in the top three of its regional qualifying tournament and get a spot in the World Cup. And it's facing a Jamaican side that has won only one of its 12 games in this final round. Plus, Canada will be playing in front of a boisterous home crowd hungry to witness history.

But, fine, let's entertain the doomsday scenario. Say Canada gets upset by Jamaica and fourth-place Costa Rica wins at El Salvador a few hours later. That would put the Costa Ricans three points behind Canada with one match to play. A win is worth three points, so in order to pull even Costa Rica would have to beat the United States on Wednesday and hope Canada loses to Panama. Then it would come down to goal differential. Canada is currently plus-13. Costa Rica is only plus-2. It ain't happening.

Having said all that, you don't want to