Three small turns and then go away. Of course it’s disappointing. Especially when you see Japan, defeated by Canada in the preseason game just two weeks ago, beat Germany and Spain and then advance to the second round. But it’s no wonder.
Canada is a young and inexperienced team, which has rarely had to face opponents as strong as Belgium, Croatia or Morocco. National teams whose players almost all play at the highest level in Europe.
The match against Belgium, aging, slow and in disarray, was that of the missed opportunity. This is where there was a shot to play, much more than against Croatia, much more solid and balanced. John Herdman wouldn’t have wanted any words beginning with the letter “F” to Croatia, which Canada would still have lost last Sunday.
Admittedly, there were too many individual errors during this tournament: from Hutchinson, from Miller, from Vitoria, from Borjan… Oh! Borjan. Davies overdid it, David was missing, Herdman made tactical mistakes. It wasn’t perfect, but it was far from catastrophic.
Canada collectively plays above its individual means, when it is confident. This team surpasses itself when it believes in it and it has believed in it at times. However, confidence crumbled after Croatia’s second goal, then it evaporated, before reappearing in the second half against Morocco.
The fact remains that realistically, the feat of the Canadian team was to get to this World Cup. On paper, his opponents were far superior. On the grass, this superiority did not manifest itself so clearly.
There were slumps, but also phases of the game in all the matches where Canada, determined, uninhibited, ambitious, had the upper hand. It was unheard of at this level.
the running gag in canadian soccer for decades, it is that the hopes of our national team usually vanish on a poorly maintained field in San Pedro Sula. I have already passed by San Pedro Sula, during a report in Honduras. It is indeed a place where dreams go to die.
It is important to put Canada’s adventure at this World Cup into perspective. This team finished first in CONCACAF, a feat that was virtually unimaginable just two years ago.
To get an idea of the progress of the Canadian selection, it is useful to remember that it lost in 2013 against Martinique (375,000 inhabitants) and drew in 2011 against Saint-Kitts-et-Nevis, a Caribbean island whose population is equivalent to that of Saint-Hyacinthe (53,000 inhabitants)…
In 2014, when they began their qualification campaign for the 2018 World Cup, Canada was ranked the lowest level in its history by FIFA, at 122e rank behind world soccer powerhouses such as Tajikistan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kuwait and Equatorial Guinea. And just ahead of Guinea-Bissau. In its own confederation, Canada was ranked behind Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti, just a few places ahead of Cuba, Aruba and the Dominican Republic.
In 2015, Canada failed to score a single goal and finished last in their group at the Gold Cup, CONCACAF’s continental competition. He failed to qualify for the final round of World Cup qualifying for the fifth straight time.
Between 2012 and 2018, the Reds had five coaches, including Benito Floro, a former Real Madrid manager, who won only 9 of his 31 games for Canada. At the time, selection for the national team was seen by some players as an opportunity to take a few days off in the Caribbean during the winter, between two international matches.
PHOTOGRAPH BY PATRICK T. FALLON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Canada coach John Herdman
It was in this context that John Herdman was named coach of the men’s team in January 2018, with the objective of preparing the national team for the 2026 World Cup, right here in Canada. Skepticism was great, especially among the players, despite his two Olympic bronze medals won with the women’s team. You don’t chase away decades of machismo all at once.
To say there were low expectations would be an understatement. But the executives of the national team were seduced by the exuberant personality of the British technician. And thanks to the emergence of a golden generation (Davies, David, Buchanan, Eustaquio, etc.), Canada qualified for the final CONCACAF qualifying round for the first time since 1997. teams, with three passes for Qatar (as well as another potential place, after a knockout match against a team from Oceania).
Under Herdman’s leadership, Canada went from 70 in 2021e at the 40e place in the – of course questionable – FIFA world rankings.
The success was so dazzling and unexpected that neither the Canadian federation nor the equipment supplier Nike provided a specific World Cup jersey for Canada, the only country not to wear one in Qatar.
We can obviously criticize John Herdman’s decisions and wonder if he is best suited to lead Canada to concrete success in 2026. But we should not forget that he has 32 victories with the men’s national team, 12 more than anyone among its many predecessors, with a winning percentage of 64%.
Under Herdman, Canada can now hope to play international games against teams that had no interest two years ago. This will be of paramount importance to prepare well for the 2026 World Cup, when Canada should be advantaged as the first group in its group, in a format with 48 rather than 32 teams.
So unless Carlo Ancelotti leaves Real Madrid to take charge of the Canada team, where his Vancouver wife is from and where he owns a house – or John Herdman receives an interesting offer from a club European – I don’t think Canada will appoint a new coach in three and a half years. And we will be able to fully measure the path traveled by this “New Canada” team.