Canadian national team technical director John Herdman harangued his players after losing to Belgium 1-0despite the good performance for the first date of Group F of the World Cup in Qatar, with the rudeness to tell them: “now we’re going to go and we’re going c… to Croatia”, their next opponent.

“I just told them (the players) that they belong in this tournament. And now we’re going c…to Croatia. It’s as simple as that,” Herdman said when contacted. with the press after the game. played at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, in the city of Rayyan.

The harangue caused astonishment among the various journalists, not only because of the sexist tone of the message, but it was all the more counterproductive since the coach arrived at this position at the head of the male representative of Canada. after successfully leading New York women’s soccer. teams from Zeeland (2006 to 2011) and Canada (2011 to 2018).

Precisely, with the ladies of the North American country, he managed to win the respective bronze medals of the Olympic Games of London 2012 and Rio 2016, which earned him the Canadian Federation to summon him to lead the men during the CONCACAF qualifiers in which they finished first, to qualify for this ecumenical tournament.

After ‘assessing’ what was done by his coaches, ‘especially in the first half’ when they had to mistreat Belgium, the British coach, among other considerations, spoke about what it is like to lead a female team compared to that of the men, especially since he is the first to find himself in front of teams of different sexes in world competitions.

“It was an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and change the country forever,” said Herdman, who has never been a football player and trained to be a rugby and football coach.

“There may be older gentlemen who see it and think, ‘How is that possible?’ I don’t think there is a big difference between men and women. The training is similar. In addition, I promised not to change anything and to continue to be me”, admitted the one who will prepare the Canadian players “with the necessary confidence”. beat Croatia next Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (Argentina time) for the second Group F date.