Canada needs a win, help to keep World Cup hopes alive

Canada has one game left to end a 30-year FIFA World Cup drought and qualify for the 2018 tournament.

In order to do so, the Canadians will need a big win and plenty of help.

Canada's 2-1 loss in Honduras on Friday left just a faint flicker of hope of advancing to the final round of World Cup qualification, commonly referred to as the Hexagonal or "the Hex."

With the top two teams from Group A advancing into the Hex, third-place Canada (1-1-3) needs a win Tuesday night in Vancouver (10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT) against an already-eliminated El Salvador squad (0-2-3). Canada also needs Mexico to beat Honduras (2-1-2) by a sizeable margin in order to have a chance at advancing on goal differential.

Goal differential scenarios 

While Mexico (5-0-0) has already locked up first place, Canada (four points) trails second-place Honduras (seven points) in Group A.

El Tri, which dominated the group by scoring 13 goals while conceding only one, will want a good performance at home to atone for a 7-0 thrashing by Chile at June's Copa America Centenario.

However, even if Mexico and Canada were to win on Tuesday night, the combined margin of victory between the two matches will likely have to be at least six goals for Canada to qualify for the Hex.

"We just have to go and push for it," captain Atiba Hutchinson said in a press release. "We have to make sure we are composed and come up flying. We have to have a very good start and just be very dominant."

There is a possibility that Canada could advance by making up the five-goal differential but only if it manages to equal or better Honduras in goals scored in the current qualifying round.

Considering Honduras has managed six goals in its five games compared to Canada's two, the Red and White will almost certainly have to overcome a six-goal difference in order to advance. 

Where are the goals? 

Canadian manager Benito Floro's squad will need goal scoring — and plenty of it — against El Salvador if Canada has a shot at advancing to the final round of World Cup qualification for the first time since 1998,. 

Cyle Larin, the MLS No. 1 draft pick in 2015, scored 17 goals in his rookie season with Orlando City SC. The 21-year-old native of Brampton, Ont., has goal-scoring potential; Larin has scored 13 goals in 24 games this season for Orlando.

Canada will be without one of its leaders in Julian de Guzman due to injury but Floro's squad will surely be ready for a fight in hopes of a statistical miracle on Tuesday. 

Floro, whose squad earned a 0-0 draw against the Salvadorans earlier in the qualification round, is confident the raucous home crowd in Vancouver will make all of the difference. 

"The crowd has been a big boost and I believe that the fans will be our rock to reach the "Hex" on Tuesday," Floro said in a press release.

"It's in our hands, if we can push through and reach the Hex, we will be that much closer to Russia 2018."