Canada hoping experience translates to World Cup success

TORONTO:

Canada’s extraordinary improvement in international soccer over the last decade is unmistakable. Whether that will translate into World Cup success is another matter.

With coach Jesse Marsch leading the team this summer, the Canadians are set to embark on their third-ever World Cup — this time as co-hosts with the United States and Mexico. Ranked No. 30 in the world, Canada have scored only one World Cup goal in their history and have never won a match at the tournament.

But Canada’s outlook has steadily improved with a more experienced player pool that includes Alphonso Davies, Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin and Jonathan David, who have all broken into prominent European teams in recent years.

“This is a team that is very fast and powerful and talented,” Marsch said, “and I think it’s a team that has an incredible work ethic and commitment to each other, and they exemplify that every time they’re on the pitch — not like sometimes when they’re on the pitch, not like some games when they’re on the pitch — every moment that this team plays on the pitch they give everything they have, and they give everything they have to each other and to the badge and to the country.”

Canada were blanked in all three of their matches at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The team made it back 36 years later, reaching the tournament in Qatar after proving their mettle by finishing ahead of Mexico and the United States in the Concacaf qualifying standings.

The Canadians, playing under John Herdman four years ago in Qatar, again failed to emerge from the group stage, but Davies scored the nation’s first World Cup goal in a 4-1 loss to Croatia.

Canada are in Group B at the World Cup with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Qatar and Switzerland. The World Cup opened yesterday, and the Canadians will play their first match today in Toronto against Bosnia-Herzegovina, which qualified after beating four-time champions Italy in a shootout.

“We can’t just turn the switch on June 11, right?” Marsch said. “This whole process, this whole last year, has been a process of maximising exactly what we want to be, and as we get closer, we need to continue to tighten the screws a little bit without feeling stress or panic, just focus and concentration to make sure that we are at our absolute best.”