Opinion | It’s time for the Canadian men to take on the soccer world … eventually

VANCOUVER—Out here at one end of the country the World Cup of soccer feels more real, even as it’s months away. Somewhere out there, Qatar beckons. For Canada’s men’s national team, this is the first post-qualification step. Star Alphonso Davies is back, John Herdman’s future as coach is at least a little unsettled, the November opponents are set and the oddsmakers are not optimistic, but that’s for later. Everything is for later, except for now.

And for now, Canada will try to salvage and build. This window is important; the only other building block with the entire team in one place is a nine-day European leg in September, with opponents still to be determined. And the cancellation of the misbegotten Iran match was at least saved by frantically scheduling Panama, and cut-rate tickets more befitting the opponent. It’s not the cash windfall that Iran likely would have delivered, but it’s better than nothing.

And it’s not the end of the world, but Canada is still kicking around in soccer’s version of local politics, far from the centre of things. The men’s team’s last 25 matches have been against CONCACAF opponents, which is how World Cup qualification works around here. The only non-CONCACAF team Canada has played since 2018 was Iceland, in Irvine, Calif. (A 1-0 loss.) The 14 before that? CONCACAF.

Beating CONCACAF teams matters. The qualification run was full of triumphs after years of being a soccer minnow in what they used to call the colonies, all those years of bad turf, flare-bearing crowds, cutthroat or simply dirty-playing opponents, and finding ways to lose. Even now, Mexico is ranked ninth in the world, the United States is 13th, Costa Rica is 31st, and Canada is finally in the top 40, after beating all three in qualification matches. CONCACAF used to be everything for Canada’s men’s team. It had to be, until it wasn’t.

But now it’s on to the world, and that was one reason Canada Soccer scheduled Iran for a friendly, along with the fact that Iran came relatively cheap. The United States has been similarly limited during the past two years, and played Morocco this week in their one flexible friendly, and netted a 3-0 win. And afterward American right back Reggie Cannon said, “CONCACAF is great, but it’s not the rest of the world, and it’s not the talent we’re going to be facing in our group.”

That is a light stomach punch around here, even if Canada is going to see Morocco in Group F, and the U.S. beating them may bode well. The other Group F opponents are not easy. Belgium may be a glittering collection of talent that always saws itself a trap door in its biggest games, but they’re ranked second in the world, and playing Canada’s counterpunching game against a team that controls the run of play like that seems aspirational at best. Croatia may be a team whose core is in its early 30s, but they made the 2018 Euro final in their late 20s, and they can run a game, too. Even Morocco isn’t any kind of sucker, more of a mirror of Canada with a star player (right back Achraf Hakimi of Paris Saint-Germain, their Davies), some good supporting helpers, and weaknesses it will need to try to patch.

But Iran was supposed to be the test of the spring, a battle-hardened World Cup squad ranked 21st in the world, and it would have been a coup if not for the significant geopolitical drawback of the recent murder of so many Canadians. Which is why the match was, rightly, cancelled.

So it’s Panama on Sunday, and then Curacao on June 9 before an away match in Honduras on June 13. The latter two games are part of the CONCACAF Nations League, which qualifies teams for the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, as part of FIFA’s keep-it-churning ethos of international soccer. Canada played Panama at the end of qualification after it had made the grade, and Panama was a minnow itself at the 2018 World Cup.

It’s not like Canada is going to be kicking around Anguilla or Belize or the Cayman Islands or anything. But it’s a familiar old opponent on artificial turf, so whatever Herdman will try to work on here, it’s not exactly an expansion of the field. It won’t even make as much money as it could have. Alas.

But all is not lost. Davies is back after nearly four months of myocarditis after contracting COVID-19 — he was put on hold in mid-January by Bayern Munich, and only returned to active play in early April — and if Canada is reconfiguring, his presence is necessary. And while Herdman may be a beau of some of the lesser but still British teams, he’s here, plotting how to best prepare for the bigger fish. Out here at one end of our country Canada’s men’s team will try to prepare for the rest of the world, finally, after all these years. The rest of the world just won’t be here.

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