Canada prepare for crucial USA series after rise in rankings through Concacaf Nations League

Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team will play an important home-and-away series against rivals USA in Toronto, Ontario and Orlando, Florida as part of 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League. The two League A matches bring together the Concacaf neighbours in competitive home-and-away football series for the first time in more than 20 years, with one spot in the tournament’s final four as well as two spots at the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup both on the line.

After back-to-back wins over Cuba in September, Canada have also drawn closer to a Concacaf top-6 spot on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings, which after June 2020 will determine two distinct pathways for 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar Qualifiers. Canada went from trailing El Salvador by 30 points to trailing them by just five points after Canada’s two victories and El Salvador’s win and a loss.

Canada’s next match in Concacaf Nations League is Tuesday 15 October at BMO Field in Toronto, one day after Thanksgiving 2019. Tickets to the Canada v USA match are available via Ticketmaster.ca with prices starting as low as $25. A special ‘Me+3’ ticket offer is available for this match. By purchasing three tickets in Price Category 2, fans will receive the fourth one free. Fans can visit migmultidev-canada-soccer.pantheonsite.io/tickets for complete ticket information.

“It’s a great opportunity for the fans to unite around this team and a big moment for the team to test themselves against one of the best in Concacaf,” said John Herdman, Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team Head Coach. “We know the quality of the USA and the history of results in the last two decades, but with the fans behind us we believe we can change that narrative in October and November.”

The away match against USA will be played at Exploria Stadium in Orlando on Friday 15 November 2019.

From the three-nation group featuring Canada, Cuba and USA, the winner will qualify for 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League Final Four playoff in June 2020 while both the winner and runner up will qualify for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup.

“The players will be doing everything in their will to achieve a result against USA and our fans play a big role in pushing the team forward in those tough moments and in games like this there’ll be few, so we hope to see a sea of red at BMO Field and feel their passion from whistle to whistle.”

Through Concacaf Nations League, Canada will host USA in a competitive match in Canada for the first time since 1997. The two sides have since faced each other four times in the Concacaf Gold Cup including the 2007 semi-finals. In 2012 and 2013, the two sides played to 0:0 draws in each nation’s respective centennial match.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS
Canada are two-time Concacaf champions, having won the Concacaf Championship in 1985 and the Concacaf Gold Cup in 2000. In winning the 1985 Concacaf Championship, Canada qualified for the 1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico™; in winning the 2000 Concacaf Gold Cup, Canada qualified for the FIFA Confederations Cup Korea/Japan 2001.

MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM

Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Youth Teams, meanwhile, have won two Concacaf titles: both the 1986 and 1996 Concacaf Men’s Youth Championships. Canada have qualified for eight editions of the FIFA U-20 World Cup and seven editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

CONCACAF NATIONS LEAGUE
At stake in 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League is a spot in the Concacaf Hex for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Qualifiers. After the June 2020 rankings, 35 Concacaf nations will be divided onto two pathways to Qatar 2022: the top-six nations in the Concacaf Hex (from which three nations will qualify for Qatar 2022) and the other 29 nations in series of group stage and knockout phase matches (from which one nation will face the fourth-place finisher from the Hex after which that winner will represent Concacaf in a FIFA intercontinental playoff for a spot at Qatar 2022).