Calgary soccer fans packed the bar to cheer on the Canadian men, to no avail

Soccer fans in Calgary came fully prepared to support the men's national team on Thursday night, but went home disappointed.

“Ship and Anchor” was filled with Canadian soccer fans cheering on the team as they played Costa Rica in a packed stadium in San Jose.

If Canada wins or draws, it would qualify for the World Cup in Qatar this December.

It was the Canadian men's first World Cup appearance since 1986.

However, Canada, reduced to 10 men due to a red card, trailed 1-0.

Canada controlled the game for the remainder of the game but was unable to equalize. One of their shots went off the post and the other off the crossbar and they lost 1-0.

However, they can still qualify for the World Cup with a draw or win against Jamaica in Toronto on Sunday afternoon.

Although the result was disappointing, Canadian fans are optimistic that they will be able to watch important games from Qatar later this year.

“It's hard to go down to Central America and win games,” said super fan Craig McTavish. “It's amazing that they've won in El Salvador and Honduras before. (But winning against) Costa Rica, going down a man? That's tough. So it's a shame they lost that game, but (playing) Jamaica, Toronto) will be late on Sunday.

Canada hit the post and the crossbar in a 1-0 loss to Costa Rica on Thursday in San Jose.

Fan Megan McCormick felt the same way.

“It's been a long time since we've been at the World Cup,” he said, “I'm really hoping and it looks like we can get there – it's really cool, it's really exciting. .”

Fans say it's exciting to see the buzz around Canadian football.

First, last year's women's Olympic gold medal, and now the men's candidate for the World Cup.

With files from Shaun Frenette