Canada will play their first World Cup in 36 years after an exciting rise through the FIFA ladder since John Herdman took charge of the team four years ago.
It jumped from 72nd to 40th in 2021 alone.
“We’ve just started,” Herdman said. “Canada is a football country. Let’s fight. You have to believe.”
The Canadian had to sweat the shirt to qualify, but he did it with great fanfare. Due to their low ranking, they had to draw two preliminary rounds of CONCACAF qualifying. And they ended up winning the tie, ahead of Mexico and the United States.
Canadians have fallen slightly in the rankings since then. He played four warm-up matches, winning two and losing two. Most recently they lost 2–0 to Uruguay in Slovakia at the end of September.
Canada has Cyl Larin from Bruges, Belgium and has scored 25 goals for the national team, including six in the final stages of the qualifiers. Jonathan David of French Lille scored 22 goals. And Bayern Munich star side Alfonso Davies added 12.
Hardman says Canada cannot be satisfied with a return to the World Cup after a long absence. You have to win the game.
“No one is going to give you anything. You have to earn it,” said Herdman.
captain
The Canadians do not know whether they will be able to trust their captain Atiba Hutchison, who is coming back from injury and was not in a friendly in September.
Hutchison resumed training with Turkey’s Besiktas club in early October. He was three years old when Canada played its last World Cup in 1986, losing to France, Hungary and the Soviet Union by a combined score of 5–0. He is the only player on the team who was born before that final presentation. He has played 97 matches with the national team.
Canada was also without Jonathan Osorio in the last two friendly matches due to concussion.
Nervousness
No agreement has yet been reached between the players and the Canadian Football Federation on players’ compensation. The team refused to play a friendly with Panama this year due to tensions in the talks.
One of the hot topics is FIFA’s $10 million payment from FIFA to the men’s team to qualify for the World Cup. The men’s and women’s teams feel they deserve some of that money.
technician
Hardeman is the first coach for both men’s and women’s teams to qualify for the World Cup. She managed the women’s team from 2011 to 2018.
more exams
Canada has two more friendships ahead of the World Cup, against Bahrain on 11 November and Japan on 17 November.
“We have to keep looking for ways to control the game,” said midfielder Stephen Eustacio. “The more we control this, the closer we are to victory. You have to end plays. Avoid scoring. It’s important against very good teams.”
Canada is part of Group F, in which they will face Belgium on 23 November, Croatia on 27 November and Morocco on 1 December.
