Canada will play his first World Cup in 36 years after a meteoric rise through the ranks of the Fifa since John Herdman took over the team four years ago.
In 2021 alone, he fell from 72nd to 40th place.
“We’ve just started,” Herdman said. “Canada is a soccer country. Lets fight. You must believe.”
The Canadians had to sweat the jersey to qualify, but they 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, in front Mexico Yes United States.
Since then, the Canadians have dropped a bit in the standings. They played four warm-up matches, winning two and losing two. In the most recent, they fell to Uruguay 2-0 in Slovakia at the end of September.
Canada has Cyle Larin, from Brugge of Belgium and scorer of 25 goals for the national team, including six in the final stages of the qualifiers. Jonathan David, from French Lille, follows with 22 goals. And star side Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich adds 12.
Herdman says Canada cannot be satisfied simply by returning to the World Cup after a long absence. You have to win matches.
“Nobody is going to give you anything. You have to earn it,” Herdman said.
THE CAPTAINNOT
The Canadians do not know if they will be able to count on their captain Atiba Hutchison, who is coming back from injury and was not in a friendly match in September.
Hutchison returned to training with Turkish club Besiktas in early October. He was three years old when Canada played their 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 to be born before this last presentation. He has 97 matches with the national team.
Canada has also been without Johnathan Osorio in the last two friendlies with a concussion.
HUSTLE
The players and the Canadian Soccer Federation have not yet reached an agreement on player compensation. This year, the team refused to play a friendly match with Panama due to tensions in the negotiations.
One of the hottest topics is FIFA’s $10 million payment to the men’s team for World Cup qualification. The men’s and women’s teams believe they are entitled to some of that money.
THE TECHNIQUE
Herdman is the first coach to qualify for a World Cup for both men’s and women’s teams. She led the women’s team from 2011 to 2018.
MORE REVIEWS
Canada will play two more friendlies before the World Cup, against Bahrain on November 11 and Japan on November 17.
“We have to keep looking for ways to control the game,” said midfielder Stephen Eustáquio. “The more we control it, the closer we will be to victory. You have to finish the games. Avoid being marked. It is important against very good teams”.
Canada is in Group F, where it will face Belgium on November 23, Croatia on November 27 and Morocco on December 1.
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