Blog: Canada’s Rise: Between Futures and Hopes for 2026

With Italy failing to qualify for the World Cup for the second time in a row, on the other side of the planisphere comes news that will surprise the soccer world: Canada has reached the finals of the World Cup after 36 years. This is no joke, a goal achieved by a young and multi-ethnic group playing attacking and spectacular football.

The Canucks They are also eyeing the next review in 2026, as they will co-host with the United States and Mexico. But how did one group recreate this seemingly unattainable dream?
One word: daydream.
Canada’s last World Cup appearance was in 1986. To gain access to the groups, he had to play a decisive match against Honduras in the ancient city of St. John’s, located on the Avalon Peninsula in the province of Newfoundland. The move paid off and thanks to a 2-1 win, i Canucks They won the first and only qualification for the World Championship for the first time in history.

Soccer in Canada has seen a lot of progress and in 1997 entered the top 50 of the FIFA rankings. A country established in a secular region with ice hockey. A few years later, Toronto entered the prestigious Major League Soccer, followed by the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2011 and the Montreal Impact in 2012. Another milestone was the unveiling of the federal strategic plan for growth and development after winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year with the women’s national team. Referred to as “Leading a Soccer Nation”, this meaning consists of four key words:

1. Invest
2. Guaranteed
3. to rule
4. to encourage

The manifesto was updated in 2019 by introducing new objectives. Another initiative is “Return to Play”, which has been a huge success considering the five-year period 2022-2026. The statistics speak for themselves: According to a report published by Canadian Youth Sports, more than 800,000 children between the ages of three and 17 played the sport in 2018. Ottawa Fury FC head of press area Graeme Ivory isn’t too surprised:

“Affordability is a determining factor compared to other sports, especially for families immigrating to Canada, and soccer is a tool for integration.”

In 2019, the country is gearing up for a historic turning point in football: The Canadian Premier League was born. The goal is to include more peripheral realities, increase participation and develop local talent. In 1986 there were only three Canadians playing in European leagues. Today there are fifteen of them, among whom we mention Alphonso Davis and Jonathan David.

Davis was born in a refugee camp in Ghana, where his parents were forced to leave at the start of the civil war. The boy, who came to Canada as a refugee at the age of five, made his debut with the Vancouver Whitecaps. Then in 2019, his life changes and the defender moves to Bayern Munich, paying the club 19 million. From now on he becomes a great leader and the parable of the full back climb continues very nicely.

David also has a certain history. Born in New York to Haitian parents, the teenager moved to Canada at the age of six and after playing in the youth teams of some Canadian teams, He moved to Gent where he stayed for two seasons and then to Lille where he would contribute to Ligue 1 success.

The secret lies with the current coach who is capable of pulling a team towards an impossible goal. His name is John Herdman and he has been mentoring his boys since January 2018. Herdman is not from Canada, but was born in Sunderland, England and began training during his college years. Her skills have allowed her to become one of the few coaches capable of making the switch from women’s to men’s soccer: after two Olympic silver medals with the Canadian women (London 2012 and Rio 2016), the confederation handed her the Canucks bench.

A truly unexpected call, as getting along well with men would have served women well:

“We needed more money to develop the system, we needed to create a professional women’s league. The only way to get more funding is to have a competitive men’s national team that can consistently qualify for the World Cup.”

Its most basic word is without a doubt Flexibility: Men and projects. He changed a lot on a tactical level during his adventure with the Canucks, going three, a line four, or five with the defense. The idea was always to use an aggressive and vertical kick, which could insert three players, including Alphonso Davies, Dajon Buchanan an easy dribbling winger, Jonathan David and Cyle Larin.

One of the Canadians’ most popular patterns is to get on the field quickly to take advantage of their immense personal qualities and ability to provide inviting assists. Lauryn and David are a prophylactic goal duo and have scored eleven goals in CONCACAF qualifying.

Canada also has the qualities to implement a very reasonable early construction and development phase. Honorable mention goes to Canadian midfielder Stephen Eustaquio, who was captured by Herdman. Balanced by Osorio and an Atiba Hutchinson, Eustaquio leads a solid and compact midfield hinge.

The coach asks his players to be brave enough to close forward and attack the opponents on the ball’s journey. Systematic interception allows for faster and better changes. In fact, Canada has the lowest average possession of the big three and ranks first in the number of possessions won in opposition trotters and shots on goal per match.

Now they need to respect this jersey in the Middle East, especially in Qatar. This historic qualification bodes well for this national team and if it should surprise everyone, We can plug it into the Cinderella of global football.

Since Italy will not be there, I decided to support this team because there will be some nice surprises in the World Cup.

Good luck Canucks