Canada hits the long road to 2022 tourney
The conclusion of Russia 2018 means Canada’s men’s team is officially in World Cup contention.
While CONCACAF World Cup qualifying remains at least a year away, Canada is set to play meaningful fixtures this fall.
The newly created Nations League will begin with Canada playing at the U.S. Virgin Islands on Sept. 9 before hosting Dominica on Oct. 16.
Canada travels to St. Kitts and Nevis on Nov. 18 before wrapping Nations League qualifying at home against French Guiana next March.
“It is a completely new landscape, but it gives Canada the chance to be on the starting line as everyone goes through the same process,” coach John Herdman said in a release.
“We can use the program to our advantage because there is something important to becoming experts within CONCACAF and building towards the bigger matches.
“Our two home matches will again provide our men’s national team with a chance to connect with the country. These are not friendly matches, but meaningful matches for which we need to mobilize our fans and create a fortress for Canada at home.”
The teams will be split into divisions (A, B, and C) based on qualifying results before competing in what amounts to a tournament.
Canada is expected to qualify first in its group and land in the 12-team Group A along with CONCACAF’s top teams, including the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Honduras.
Nations League qualifying will serve as Gold Cup qualification for teams that didn’t compete in the previous hexagonal phase of 2018 World Cup qualifying.
The Nations League eventually will play an important role in World Cup qualifying seeding.
CONQUERING HEROES RETURN HOME
France’s victorious national soccer team paraded down Paris’ landmark Champs Elysees avenue Monday on their way to a celebration at the presidential palace, where Emmanuel Macron can only hope their success and popularity rubs off on him.
The French president was present at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium where France defeated Croatia 4-2 on Sunday for its second World Cup.
By mid-afternoon on Monday, hundreds of thousands of fans were already lined up on the Champs Elysees to welcome the team. Jets flew overhead to make French red-white-and-blue flags with their exhaust. with file from Bloomberg