When the Canadian men’s national team topped the CONCACAF qualification pool and secured their passage to this autumn’s World Cup, it was the culmination of something special, unique and potentially very transient. As game days passed with the Les Rouges Maple Leafs sustaining their impressive form, doubt turned to hope, and hope to anxious anticipation, before all of these emotions were replaced by the elation of bringing an underdog story to its triumphant conclusion.
The next task for Jon Herdman and his squad may be a trickier one. They need to manage the transition from being a team with a chance of World Cup qualification to being a World Cup team – because after 36 years out of the mix, they’re now inked in to appear at two in a row thanks to their co-hosting role in 2026. While they will retain some of the underdog sheen, the window for Canada to benefit from being underestimated is closing – and with that in mind, it is worth looking at the way the summer has panned out thus far to see what it can tell us about November and December’s activity.
The CSA need to learn lessons quickly
June’s international window brought the national team’s first games since the end of qualifying, and the Canadian Soccer Association blotted its copybook needlessly. First of all, a friendly against Iran had to be cancelled after considerable public and political backlash, and then the hastily-arranged replacement game against Panama fell by the wayside too.
The latter game was scratched due to players going on strike in a dispute over payments. A lot of player potential has been lost in non-elite countries due to administrative amateurism over the years; it would be a huge shame to see this Canadian team fail to reach the heights of which it is capable.
Mixed results on the field
When the team did get down to action, they opened with a positive result, beating Curacao 4-0 in a CONCACAF Nations League game. Five days later, though, the shaky preparation appeared to have caught up with the players as they lost 2-1 in Honduras. The defeat shouldn’t prevent the side from progressing in the Nations League and backing them to progress would still be a smart use of a Sports Interaction promo code. In truth, the biggest story of the window would be the return of Alphonso Davies after recovering from a Covid-related heart issue. He scored twice against Curacao and looked like he’d never been away.
Two more games to go before the big one
The cancelled friendly was a stinger for Canadian fans because now, they have just two scheduled games to go before they head to the World Cup, and those will be on Austrian soil as they take on the tournament hosts Qatar and then Uruguay. That’s two games to give a chance to anyone who hasn’t yet cemented their place in the squad, because although there are likely to be some warm-up matches, they will likely take place after the finals squad is announced. Players such as Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty will be racing against time to play their way into the squad for September’s friendlies, and will then have a maximum of 180 minutes to convince Herdman they’re good to go.
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