Montreal’s Ismaël Koné earned his first call-up to the Canadian men’s national team when he revealed his roster for Concacaf’s final round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Sunday.
The 19-year-old midfielder has made a name for himself with six starts with CF Montreal this season, amassing two goals and two assists.
In addition to Koné, two other CF Montreal players have been selected by head coach John Herdman: defenders Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller.
A few players will be conspicuous by their absence. This is particularly the case of Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies who is trying to recover from myocarditis. The Repentignois Samuel Piette and David Wotherspoon are also sidelined due to injuries.
Besides Koné, the only other representative of Quebec in the selection of 25 men is the goalkeeper of Los Angeles FC, Maxime Crépeau.
The Maple Leaf will face Costa Rica at Estadio Nacional in San José on March 24, before returning to Toronto on March 27 to face Jamaica, and finally meeting Panama on March 30 at Estadio Olímpico Rommel. Fernandez from Panama City. “There’s a lot at stake for Canada as we started this journey with a mission to qualify for Qatar 2022, and nothing has changed,” Herdman said. There is a possibility to return home and live our moment with our fans as we have always dreamed of. That’s what we’re playing for during this window. Canada sits first with 25 points in 11 games. Canada is the only undefeated team in the group and leads Mexico and the United States by four points, Panama by eight points and Costa Rica by nine points. At the end of these 14 matches, the three best ranked teams will advance to the World Cup played in Qatar. The nation that takes fourth place will go through an intercontinental play-off game, with one last chance to secure their ticket to Qatar 2022.
Canada are just two points from qualifying among Concacaf’s top three teams, but they are already assured of a fourth place.
Canada has only participated in one World Cup; it was in 1986, in Mexico.