“is this year’s national team with the most progress. Their path to the semi-finals of the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup and their impressive World Cup qualifying results for Qatar in 2022 were the main factors for their promotion,” reads the FIFA website. John Herdman’s team scored 130.32 points this year, more than anyone else. And this is where it owes its 40th place in the world, while the previous year ended in a distant 72nd place – behind Albania, Iraq or El Salvador, and just ahead of Guinea, China and Syria. Today they are just behind Hungary and Scotland, and are ahead of, among others Norway, Slovakia and Egypt. And although for someone the 40th place may not seem too high, for Canada it is the best result in history – their average position in the history of the FIFA ranking (created in 1990) is 79th, and a few years ago, Canadians oscillated around 120th place !
“We’ve never experienced anything like this,” said coach John Herdman on the atmosphere at the Edmonton stadium, where Canada beat Costa Rica 1-0 in November. Almost 40 million Canadians who are hungry for any football success feel that this is their time. Especially that a few days later, after the dramatic end of the game, she defeated Mexico 2: 1 and came very close to the long-awaited promotion to the world championship. After eight queues in the North and Central America zones, John Herdman’s team is the leader of the table with 16 points and is the only one who has yet to suffer a defeat. It is one point ahead of the US and two points ahead of Mexico and Panama. Fifth Costa Rica loses as many as seven points to Canada. The best three teams from the CONCACAF zone will travel to Qatar, and the fourth will play in the play-offs.
No goal at the World Cup and a toss of a coin on the importance of historic success
The football team of Canada played its first official match in 1885. She minimally defeated the team in Newark 1-0. 136 years have passed since then, and during this period, Canadians – today a nation of almost 40 million – only once had the opportunity to participate in the World Cup. They managed to get promoted to the biggest football event in 1986. They finished the competition at the World Cup in Mexico in the group stage, without scoring a single goal. The teams from France (0: 1), Hungary (0: 2) and the USSR (0: 2) turned out to be better than Canada.
The Canadians’ greatest success is considered to be winning the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup, when they first barely left the group after finishing second. It happened as a result of a coin toss. Later, Canada defeated favored Mexico 2-1 in extra-time after extra time, then turned out to be better than Trinidad and Tobago (1-0), to confidently defeat Colombia 2-0 in the final.
“Golden Generation” – a chance for Canada to join the world leaders?
This great success did not lead to any more. Osieck’s championship team did not qualify for the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, and it was not even close to it. He was eliminated in the first stage of elimination. He was clearly weaker than Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico, the teams he defeated on the way to the Gold Cup. Since then, another lean years have lasted, although finally there is hope for better.
The football drought in Canada will end at the latest in 2026, when Canada, as one of the co-hosts of the World Cup (along with the USA and Mexico), will have an assured start in this great event. However, there is a good chance that four years earlier in Qatar, John Herdman’s players will have a solid attack at the World Cup. All because of the “golden generation”.
The most famous footballer from Canada is currently z. He plays in a completely different position in the national team – he is a striker – than in the club, where he is a left-back. An important role in the team under the sign of the maple leaf is played by Jonathan David, the star of Lille on a daily basis. In 24 matches the forward recorded 18 goals and 10 assists. David is only four hits short of becoming Canada’s all-time top scorer! The current record holder is Dwayne De Rosario, who scored 22 times in the national team.
The Canadians’ primary goalkeeper is 34-year-old Milan Borjan, currently playing in which he played on loan at Korona Kielce in 2017. One of the stoppers is Borjan’s peer, Steven Vitoria, who spent three years (2016-19) at Lechia Gdańsk. The other players from Canada’s top eleven, on the other hand, are no more than 26 years old! This means that the average age in the Canadian team for the last game against Costa Rica (won 1-0 after David’s goal) is less than 25.5 years.
The unique story of a Canadian coach. From the women’s team to the men’s team
A very important person in the Canadian national team is its coach John Herdman, who joined the Canadian team from the women’s national team! Until 2018, Herdman only worked with men at the English academy. He later took over the New Zealand women’s national team (2006-11) and then led the Canadian team for seven years. Not without success – in 2011 he won the Pan-American Games with her, and then won two bronze medals at the Olympic Games: in London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016). He also laid the foundations for the team that won the Olympic championship in Tokyo in the summer. Now it’s up to him to do the same with the men’s squad.
Three years of work with male staff confirms that the 46-year-old Englishman knows his job. You can even see it in the FIFA ranking. When Herdman took over for Canada, it was only ranked 94th. After three years of his work, he is in 40th position and is not going to stop at all. His team’s match against Costa Rica (1-0) was watched by 48.8 thousand fans, which is the third best result in the history of the Canadian national team. This result is likely to be even improved on Tuesday, when the Canadians take Mexico at the same stadium in Edmonton, which can seat 60,000 people. Especially since Alphonso Davies, the leader of the team, also comes from Edmonton. The match against Costa Rica was the first for him in his home city.
In 2021, Canada won 13 games, drew four and lost only two (they scored a record 55 and kept nine clean sheets).
What was the key to building a strong team in Canada? – I think we were able to test the game under pressure. We made this team more resistant to external factors and at the same time created a true team spirit in it, which the players call brotherhood. It is so strong that every player believes that he is able to show his full potential in the next matches – explains the national team coach, which is currently valued by transfermarkt.de at over EUR 180 million.
When you have confidence and the people clearly know what to do on the pitch, chemistry is generated in the team. Thanks to this, players are ready to mask their weaknesses and emphasize their good sides. The players cooperate with each other, form a collective that makes it possible to incorporate new links into the team, and it still functions well. This chemistry can only arise when trust is strong and when people are clear about their roles and responsibilities. This is the formula I used on the women’s team and this is the formula I use here. Formula that works, summed up John Herdman.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
