Canada’s roster set for Qatar
John Herdman has selected his team for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
After using nearly 40 players during CONCACAF World Cup qualifying action, Canada’s head coach released the list of 26 he'll take to Qatar for the 32-team tournament that starts next week.
He'll take three goalkeepers, seven defenders, eight midfielders and eight forwards to the World Cup, where Canada is participating for the first time since 1986.
“They got their standard notification by mail and then just a follow up connect with myself to thank them and wish them all the best,” Herdman said of those selected. “Once they land here (in Qatar) they don’t need any special words in congratulations. I think many of them knew they had done the work to get here.”
Canada was drawn into Group F at the World Cup along with Belgium, Croatia and Morocco.
They open the tournament on Nov. 23 against Belgium at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan. Canada will then face Croatia before concluding group play against Morocco.
The top two teams in the group move on to the Round of 16. Canada will face Japan in a final exhibition tune-up on Thursday in Dubai.
Three notable omissions to the squad are defenders Scott Kennedy, Doneil Henry and goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, who are injured.
Henry was the latest to go down, sustaining an injury in warm-up prior to an exhibition game against host Bahrain on Friday, when Canada used a squad of exclusively MLS players.
Canada and Bahrain played to a 2-2 draw in a contest designed to give the North American-based players game action. Some hadn't played since early October.
Henry’s recovery was expected to require two weeks, so he stepped down, allowing another player to take his place on the squad.
“Doneil put the team first,” Herdman said. “We could have tried to return him to play and had him later on in the tournament. But he knew it was the right decision to make to allow another player, who had earned that right and who was fully fit, to come and take that opportunity.
“It was a big moment. It really shows the courage and what this brotherhood is about when a man can sort of surrender his shirt ... to support the team in a different role.”
LAFC goalie Crepeau broke his leg during the MLS Cup Final on Nov. 5.
The injury to Crepeau elevated Dayne St. Clair to No. 2 status behind Milan Borjan, while Joel Waterman will take Henry’s spot on the roster on defence.
Kennedy was ruled out two weeks ago after injuring his shoulder with his German second division team SSV Jahn Regensburg.
Herdman also had a scare when star winger Alphonso Davies sustained a hamstring injury last Saturday in a game with Bayern Munich against Hertha Berlin. Davies left the game injured in the 68th minute and was held out of Bayern’s two games this past week, but is expected to be healthy for the World Cup.
Veteran Atiba Hutchinson has also been selected, having recovered from a bone bruise in his leg sustained in pre-season action with his Turkish side Besiktas. Hutchinson played in 11 games for Canada during World Cup qualifying, starting eight of them.
“Atiba played in a Cup match (in Turkey), he played for 70 minutes,” Herdman said. “He did well for a guy who hasn’t played since June, I thought his performance for 45 minutes was where it needed to be for this stage.”
Midfielder Jonathan Osorio was named to the squad despite not playing for Toronto FC since August due to concussion issues. Osorio did play in Bahrain.
Fullback Alistair Johnston played in all 19 qualifying games, starting 15 of them, while striker Jonathan David played in 18, also starting 15.
Midfielder Stephen Eustaquio, who is in excellent form with FC Porto in Portugal, will pull the strings for Canada in midfield with Davies and Tajon Buchanan as options on either wing, while David and Cyle Larin will likely provide the targets up front.
Larin led all scorers in CONCACAF with 13 goals in qualifying, while David had nine.