NATIONAL TEAM GEARING UP FOR `MASSIVE' YEAR
Soccer squad gathers for Florida camp with World Cup, Olympic hopes on agenda
It has been a year since the Canadian men's national team last assembled, which is an unprecedented layoff for the program.
Yet, despite the COVID -19 pandemic still wreaking havoc around the globe, head coach John Herdman felt it was imperative to gather his troops in Florida and begin laying the ground work for a busy international calendar on the horizon with huge prizes at stake.
Herdman invited nearly 30 players to the Jan. 9-24 camp in Bradenton, Fla., most of them members of North American clubs who are idle at the moment.
The most notable exception is Alphonso Davies, who is still playing with Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga.
“This is a massive year for football in Canada. It's probably the biggest year in our history in a long time with the Gold Cup, World Cup qualification, and Olympic Games,” Herdman said. “This January camp was about setting the foundation, setting the tone, showing how serious we are, about taking the risk and going into a COVID environment to understand and learn about the realities to get ourselves ready for March.”
Canada hasn't played a game since losing 1-0 to Iceland in an exhibition contest in Irvine, Calif., a year ago.
Their last meaningful contest took place on Nov. 15, 2019, when they lost 4-1 to the United States in Orlando, Fla., in a CONCACAF Nations League game. A month prior, Canada shut out the U.S. 2-0 in Toronto in the same competition. It was their first win over the Americans in 34 years.
“For us as players, we're really happy to be back on the pitch together,” said midfielder Samuel Piette of the Montreal Impact. “There are a lot of guys here who are teammates when we wear the red (Canada) jersey, but throughout the year with my club, I just played against these guys.
“It was weird not to be able to play with them every month, or every two months with the national team. I think 2021 is a massive year for the program and for the country.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, changes were made to the FIFA 2022 World Cup qualifying format in the region, which benefited Canada. Instead of depending on a ranking system for a realistic opportunity to qualify for Qatar, Canada will now get a chance to play its way into the event, scheduled to start in November 2022.
While the qualification road is long and difficult, it still allows Canada's fortunes to be determined on the field as opposed to a complicated ranking algorithm.
The qualifying campaign begins in March against Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, followed by games in June against Aruba and Suriname.
Canada's Under-23 team will also take part in an Olympic qualifying tournament for the upcoming Summer Games in Tokyo, which were pushed back a year due to the pandemic. There's also the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament taking place in July.
“The opportunities that are in front of us are like nothing we've ever seen before,” Herdman said. “Starting with this camp in January, moving into March into Olympic qualifications where our young U-23, which might be on the cusp of the men's national team, those young players can show themselves in a really meaningful competition, but also qualify the country for the Olympics.”
Herdman's mandate when taking over the men's program after leading the women's national team to unprecedented success is to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.
Canada hasn't come close to qualifying out of the region since competing in its only World Cup tournament in 1986 in Mexico.
In order to succeed, Herdman needs talented players, and fortunately for him, he's inherited arguably the most talented and deepest pool of male players Canada has ever produced, led by Davies, who has blossomed into an international superstar.
“I'm fortunate to be coming in at a time when the MLS academy system is starting to come to fruition now,” Herdman said. “It's been up and running five or six years with some of the major clubs in Canada, and you're starting to see the fruits of their labour.
“I do feel that's the benefit of work gone by. Add the CPL to this now and the fact ... there are layers to this now. In this country, there seems to be a non-linear pathway to the national team, and there are so many different ways of coming here.”
Now it's just a matter of finding the right combination capable of competing against the U.S. and Mexico, who traditionally breeze through World Cup qualifying in the region, with the exception of the Americans' humiliating failure in the Russia 2018 campaign.
Mexico and the U.S. have also alternated winning the Gold Cup, claiming 15 of the 16 editions of the tournament.
Canada's greatest international achievement was winning the Gold Cup in 2000. There hasn't been much to cheer about since.
“This camp sets the tone for the year and it set the tone as well for the fans to show how serious we are and how serious our team is taking this year,” Piette said.
“It's been too long since we wore that red jersey, and hopefully, with the year that we will have with many important games in competition, we'll be able to give back to the fans.”