National Post (National Edition)
Gold Cup a `great opportunity'
Canada opts for veteran side at soccer tourney
Canadian men's national soccer team head coach John Herdman wants to keep the ball rolling.
While some teams are sending younger squads to the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament in the U.S., Herdman has selected the strongest team available for the international event, which kicks off July 10 and runs through Aug. 1.
On Thursday, Canada announced its roster for the 16-team tournament, featuring the usual assortment of national team players, with a couple of notable exceptions in goalkeeper Milan Borjan and striker Jonathan David, who were not available.
“When you bring the roster together, the players are always excited to represent their country at the Gold Cup,” Herdman said Thursday. “That's always a great opportunity for international players. Looking at the preliminary rosters for the other teams, outside of the U.S., you can see the teams are really gearing up to win this tournament or to prepare themselves for World Cup qualification.
“I think that's on our minds, the World Cup qualification coming out of the Gold Cup is a critical period for us. And we've only had six matches in two years as a group and a lot of those games, haven't been against top CONCACAF opposition, so for me to bring a group of players together that can gain those experiences and continue in this mentality and keep building on the foundation of these last six (World Cup qualifying) games, that's really my goal for this tournament; to keep building that momentum for this team with a key group of players.”
Canada recently qualified for the final stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying for the first time since 1997.
The final round of qualifying for Qatar 2022 begins in September with games against Honduras, the U.S. and El Salvador. The top three teams in the eightteam qualifiers earn a place in Qatar, with the fourthplace team moving on to a continental playoff, for a final spot at the World Cup.
All eight teams are taking part in the Gold Cup, the region's equivalent to Euro 2020 and 2021 Copa America, currently being played in Europe and South America respectively.
Canada is grouped with the United States, Martinique and a pre-tournament qualifier being determined this week; either Haiti, Bermuda, Barbados or Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Canada opens the tournament on July 11 against Martinique in Kansas City, then face the qualifier on July 15, and conclude the group stage against the U.S. on July 18. The top two teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals. If Canada wins its group, it could avoid tournament favourites Mexico until the final.
“For some players, the Gold Cup is a challenge, it's the start of their pre-seasons,” Herdman said. “Some of them are in contract talks to go to new clubs, some have new coaches at their clubs to put pressure on them and others have had long seasons with injuries and need that recovery time, so some names are missing for very valid reasons.
“To a man, every player (on roster) wanted to be part of this Gold Cup, which speaks volumes for where this country is at, at the moment.”
Included on the Canada roster is Toronto FC forward Ayo Akinola, who was granted a change of national associations from the U.S.
Akinola, 21, was born in Detroit but grew up in Brampton, Ont. He was eligible to play internationally for the U.S., Canada or Nigeria, due to heritage. After making one senior appearance for the U.S., Akinola decided to play for Canada.
“I look forward to working with him,” Herdman said. “I've built a relationship with him over the last two years off the field. I spent some time with him in camp recently and he's got talent, we've seen that.
“That MLS Is Back tournament and where he was last year, really showed that he was one of the top strikers in the MLS and I think was projecting, potentially, to shift to the European leagues.”
Herdman believes Akinola has the potential to join David and Alphonso Davies at top European clubs. Davies, 20, will be taking part in his third Gold Cup before returning to Bayern Munich
later this summer. David, 21, will skip the Gold Cup to rehab a nagging groin injury before returning to French league champions Lille.
Canada last won the Gold Cup in 2000, when it needed to win a coin toss to get through the group stage and then went on to defeat Mexico in the quarter-final, Trinidad and Tobago in the semifinal and invited guest Colombia 2-0 in the final.
Two years ago, at the 2019 Gold Cup tournament, Canada was upset 3-2 by Haiti in the quarter-final, after taking a 2-0 lead in the contest.
“For all of us, it's a process to go game-by-game, and each game will provide completely
different problems,” Herdman said. “We want to be up there with the United States and Mexico and we want to learn as a team and be one of the first Canadian teams to make a semifinal for the first time in a long time, and then push all the way to the final.
“We can't hide that these players have those aspirations. But they have to take the most out of the moments of playing against Martinique and the United States and it'll be a great learning experience for them. At the same time, there will be an internal drive to continue this winning streak.”