Herdman best coach Canada’s ever had
The native of Consort, England, has succeeded everywhere he’s been, and now goes into the 2022 FIFA World Cup as the only coach in the history of the game to guide both a women’s and men’s team national team to its respective World Cup tournaments.
That’s no small feat for the 47-year-old father of two, who defied all the odds and guided Canada to its first men’s World Cup appearance in 36 years.
Herdman had one more exhibition game to prepare his squad when they took on Japan in Dubai, UAE on Wednesday (a game Canada won 2-1) and then begins his long-awaited men’s World Cup journey when Canada opens Belgium next Wednesday at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium up the road from here in Al Rayyan.
“My World Cup journey started at the 1986 World Cup and watching Gary Lineker score a goal when it looked like we were going to get knocked out and it would have been the same old English story,” Herdman said in an exclusive with Postmedia earlier this year. “The whole passion you could sense from your dad and your family and all the conversation at school; the Panini stickers, and then pretending to be that player on the schoolyard, doing that celebration, that’s how it starts for a lot of kids.
“Then it’s the work, the passion, the passion to work with people that’s what really what coaches are in this for. You don’t ever think when you start the journey, you’re going to be a Premier League coach or a World Cup coach. I think the reality for most of us when we start the journey, we enjoy working with people.”
Herdman’s coaching career had humble beginnings as a student and part-time teacher at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He went on to coach the New Zealand women’s soccer team before being hired by Canada Soccer in 2011 to take over for Italian Carolina Morace.
“I come from a teaching background and I was more interested in helping people reach their goals, and that tended to be my thinking,” Herdman said. “With my passion, a little bit of luck and some hard work; being willing to take risks, has got us here to be in Qatar.
“I started teaching and coaching, and it’s very similar; you start understanding learning styles and try to apply a lot of that into my passion that was football. I’m very much a teacher coach and I set up my own business — I was a franchisee — started some Brazilian soccer schools in England, trying to revolutionize the way English football was played.”
From there, opportunities started to open for Herdman and he took advantage of them. From the Hartlepool United Centre of excellence to the Sunderland youth academy, Herdman started to earn a modest living from his coaching positions.
When New Zealand came calling, looking to build its women’s program, he packed up and travelled halfway around the world into unknown territory.
“It’s never felt like a job, it’s not about the money; my wife will tell you,” Herdman said. “Half the time, I don’t even know what’s come into the bank account, I’m just enjoying what I do, this is my life; coaching, my wife, my two kids and my two dogs and that’s probably all I care about.”
Herdman is passionate about everything in his life and his enthusiasm for the game is infectious. It didn’t take him long to win over the members of the women’s team, who had bottomed out with a disastrous performance at the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany and needed Herdman to rebuild the program.
Canada’s turnaround under Herdman was rapid, taking the team to the London Olympics the following year and coming within a terrible refereeing decision of upsetting the United States in the semifinal where star Christine Sinclair had the game of her life.
Canada was able to recover from the devastating loss and pulled out a 1-0 victory against France in the bronzemedal game with Diana Matheson scoring the winning goal.
Three years later, at the Women’s World Cup hosted in Canada, Herdman guided the team to the second round where they were upset by England.
Undaunted, Canada went on to win bronze at the Olympics again, this time in Brazil.
Following his success with the women’s team, Herdman was asked to take over the men’s program, and he quickly went about developing a foundation and a winning culture.