The hardest step yet
The hardest step yet
Getting to a first World Cup in 36 years is one thing. Succeeding at one is quite another
Today was truly a day to mourn, if you were a Canadian national team fan. Not just for the end of the 2022 dream, but for an era of men’s national team play and expectations.
If you are a long-time fan there was something familiar and comfortable about cheering for Canada. They were always just successful enough to give you hope, but never good enough to fulfil that hope.
Cheering for the hopeless underdog kept the stakes low and the pressure lower. Sure, every four years Honduras would suck the soul from your body and eliminate Canada from the World Cup, but you were among a small group of friends. You knew that once the hangover cleared those same people would still be with you waiting to repeat the process for another four years.
Well, now that small group of friends has become very large, and the expectations are no longer so underwhelming. There is legitimate pressure on this group. Just getting to a World Cup will not be enough moving forward. This was the good vibes only tournament. You only get one.
As such, we already need to be looking forward to a World Cup cycle that is half a year shorter than usual and will not feature qualifying games.
Although you can point to the fact that Canada gets a host spot for 2026 (we assume) as a positive — and it is — there is also a negative side to it. One needs only to look at how ill-prepared Qatar was this tournament to see how the lack of a qualifying campaign can be a detriment. Now, Qatar might be an extreme example, but there is a lesson to be learned here.
Additionally, Canada’s struggles this week against Croatia show that they also needed to be tested by stronger opposition in the lead-up to Qatar.
You can’t really blame the CSA for that one as it was essentially beyond their control. Canada’s poor FIFA ranking and the whole 36 years without appearing at a World Cup thing didn’t exactly make them a desired friendly opponent (and high-profile friendlies are getting harder to book with most dates taken up by the Uefa Nations League or Uefa qualifying games).
Basically, the only way to get a dance with Europe’s big boys is to draw them in a tournament. And the only tournament to draw them in is the World Cup.
So, where does that leave us now? Well, as stated, with a need to get moving in the planning for 2026 preparation, like, yesterday. Thankfully, it appears that the CSA has been. I confirmed today that the CSA has had preliminary conversations with organizers to get Canada into the 2024 Copa America.
It makes sense. And it’s really not that much of a stretch that CONMEBOL would invite Canada to the tournament. They had Qatar at the last one. Both the US and Mexico are often guest teams at South America’s biggest event. It’s likely that they might also be invited back in 2024, possibly with a fourth Concacaf team to make the event 16 teams.
This needs to happen. In this next stage of Canada’s development, they can’t rely on only playing North American teams. That, as we have seen, will only get you so far. An opportunity to go toe to toe with a Brazil, Uruguay or Argentina in two years’ time will make that next battle with a European side seem a lot less daunting.
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