Canada will play in their first World Cup in 36 years after soaring in the FIFA rankings since John Herdman took charge of the team four years ago.

It was not until 2021 that he fell from 72nd to 40th place.

“We just started,” Herdman said. “Canada is a soccer country. Fight. You must believe.”

The Canadians had to work hard 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, ahead of Mexico and the 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 lost to Uruguay 2-0 in Slovakia at the end of September.

Canada have Cyle Larin, a native of Bruges in Belgium and author of 25 goals for the national team, including six in the final phase of the qualifiers. Jonathan David, from French Lille, follows him with 22 goals. And star winger Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich has 12.

Herdman says Canada can’t just return 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 CAPTAIN

The Canadians do not know if they will be able to count on their captain Atiba Hutchison, who is recovering from an injury and did not take part in friendlies 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. Add 97 meetings to the selection.

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 the $10 million payment that FIFA paid the men’s team to qualify for the World Cup. The men’s and women’s teams feel that some of that money is theirs.

THE TECHNIQUE

Herdman is the first coach to qualify both men’s and women’s teams for a World Cup. She led the women’s team from 2011 to 2018.

MORE REVIEWS

Canada has two more friendlies before the World Cup, against Bahrain on November 11 and against 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 are in Group F, in which they will face Belgium on November 23, Croatia on November 27 and Morocco on December 1.