The Herdman hangover

Reflecting on a crazy ride of a day

Photo by thom masat on Unsplash

Well, that was interesting, wasn’t it?

After waking up to a report out of New Zealand that John Herdman was leaving the CanMNT to lead the All Whites towards the 2026 World Cup, most of us in Canadian soccer circles spent the rest of the day trying to chase down what information we could.

That ended up being mostly refreshing Twitter, to be honest. That’s because there wasn’t much information out there to get. This truly came straight out of left field and no one close to the situation was talking, whether on or off the record.

Finally, several hours later, the situation was resolved when Herdman and the CSA issued a joint press release. In it, Herdman said:

To our Canadian players and our fans, I want to reiterate my commitment to Canada Soccer and the growing of this program. At the World Cup in Qatar, our men showed the world that they belong at that level. I'm not going anywhere. We still have a job to do, and the objective is to take this team to the next level in 2026.

All boilerplate stuff, really. What was interesting, however, was what wasn’t said in the release.

Herdman didn’t deny that he had spoken to New Zealand. In fact, he went out of his way to underline that he had spoken to them. Actually, he doubled down to say that he had received multiple outreaches, suggesting that “success will attract attention.”

Let’s take a step back here for a second. John Herdman is under contract. He declared his intention to take the team through 2026 less than two months ago. Why, then, is he taking calls?

I’m not suggesting he doesn’t have the right to. Of course he does. Like anyone, he’s free to look for another job.

Also, like anyone, he’s going to have to answer some questions if he gets caught with Indeed open on his laptop when the boss walks in.

In talking to a few people last night — people that are not universally supportive of the CSA and, in one case, generally critical of them — there wasn’t a lot of warm feelings about the coach being expressed.

Not that people don’t appreciate the success he has had with both the women and men. They do. But, there’s also a frustration that he gets a free pass from fans, media and, increasingly, the senior management at the CSA. The people I spoke to are confused about the lack of criticism, especially after yesterday’s stunt.

Yes, stunt. The feeling is that Herdman was behind the leak and that it was designed to put pressure on the CSA to improve something about his current contract. Certainly, the amount of time that it took them to deny the report yesterday suggests to me that there were frank conversations happening. It doesn’t take 6 hours to write a press release.

Many of you are going to be cheering Herdman on here. You believe that the CSA is always wrong and, by extension, anyone that is fighting with them is on the side of good. Nothing I’m going to say to you today is going to change that perception.

Maybe, however, I can convince you to at least hold Herdman to a standard. Not a high standard, just any. Right now, there is next to no critical evaluation of his job happening. He got the team through qualifying therefore he walks on water.

Zero points at the World Cup? Why ya gotta bring that up, Duane?

I bring it up because getting there isn’t the goal any longer. I am deeply appreciative of his part in finally accomplishing that — God knows there were many days when I didn’t think I’d live to see it — but as we enter a new cycle, we need to adjust our expectations.

No one should be above criticism. No one should be guaranteed their place for 2026. Herdman needs to earn it with his performance this year. In fact, it’s only because he accomplished so much that he deserves to still have a job after going oh-for in Qatar. I can think of very few countries in the world where he would, actually.

It starts with the Nations League in March. Two wins. No excuses.

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