‘It feels like unfinished business because we came pretty close last time,’ said Canadian captain Sam Piette, right, who hopes to write a new chapter of Olympic qualification on the road to Rio.Mark Humphrey/The Canadian Press
History is not on Canada's side as coach Benito Floro leads his under-23 team into action against the host United States on Thursday at the CONCACAF men's Olympic qualifying tournament.
It's been 31 years since Canada last played men's soccer at the Games. Back then the qualifying road in North and Central America and the Caribbean was made easier by the absence of the United States as Olympic host.
Canada's only other participation in the Olympic men's soccer field was in 1976 when Montreal played host to the Games.
At the other end of the spectrum, Italy's men have played at 15 Olympics, the United States 13 and Brazil 12.
Canadian captain Sam Piette hopes to write a new chapter of Olympic qualification on the road to Rio, however.
"It feels like unfinished business because we came pretty close last time," said the 20-year-old midfielder from Repentigny, Que.
Born 10 years after the L.A. Olympics, Piette came within one win of making it to the 2012 Games in the last round of qualification when Canada was beaten 3-1 by Mexico in the CONCACAF semi-finals.
The Canadians did not help their cause by giving up a stoppage-time goal for a 1-1 tie with Cuba in their last pool match. That dropped Canada out of first place in its group, consigning it to a semi-final with eventual Olympic champion Mexico.
Only the two finalists from CONCACAF made it to the 16-team field at the 2012 Games in London. But this time the third-place team will advance to a playoff against CONMEBOL runner-up Colombia to see who joins them.
Canada is in Group A with the United States, Panama and Cuba. Group B is made up of Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico.
The top two teams from each pool will advance to the semi-finals in Salt Lake.
The Americans lost 2-0 to Canada and failed to get out of the group stage in qualifying last time.
This U.S. squad features rising Fulham star Emerson Hyndman, a 19-year-old midfielder who already has one senior cap and captained the U.S. side that made the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Stanford's Jordan Morris, who has also played for the senior side, will lead the U.S. attack.
The American team also includes some useful MLS talent in midfielders Matt Polster of the Chicago Fire, Dillon Serna of the Colorado Rapids, Fatai Alashe of the San Jose Earthquakes and Wil Trapp of the Columbus Crew.
Montreal Impact defender Eric Miller withdrew from the U.S. squad because of injury.
"We know it's a good team," U.S. coach Andi Herzog said of the Canadians. "They had some decent results in the last couple of games."
Getting players to the Oct. 1-13 tournament wasn't easy because of its duration. Canada, for example, wasn't able to bring in Orlando SC star rookie Cyle Larin. Manjrekar James, who plays his club soccer in Hungary, as well at Vancouver's Kianz Froese and Sam Adekugbe were also unavailable to Canada because of club commitments.
West Ham defender Doneil Henry, like Piette a veteran of the last round of Olympic qualifying, is injured.
But there is experience.
Piette has won 19 caps for the Canadian senior men's team. Others on the roster with senior caps are Vancouver's Caleb Clarke (two) and Jackson Farmer (one), Toronto FC's Chris Mannella (three) and Quillan Roberts (one), and Montreal's Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare (five games).
Eight others have dressed for the senior side but not seen action.
And with Floro guiding both the senior and Olympic teams, the coaching message is the same.
"The players here are the future of Canada. He wants to teach them how we do it on the [senior] men's team so when players go to the men's team, they already know what to do," Piette said. "The same strategy, the same formation."
Piette is on the books of Spain's Deportivo La Coruna but is currently on loan to second-division side Racing Ferrol.
After the U.S. game, Canada faces Panama on Saturday before moving to Denver to face Cuba on Tuesday.
Host Brazil, Argentina, Fiji, Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Sweden have already qualified for the Games. The Olympic men's soccer competition is an under-23 event so players at the CONCACAF tournament have to be under-22.
Teams can augment their squads at the Olympics with three players of any age.
Canada's last men's game at the Olympics was a doozy – a 4-2 penalty shootout loss to Brazil in the quarter-finals of the 1984 Games. The Canadian side featured Bob Lenarduzzi, Dale Mitchell, Bruce Wilson and Paul James that day.