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#CANMNT
Story by Richard Scott
As Canada builds across these four years in the run towards a home FIFA World Cup in 2026, opportunities to play strong opponents in front of big away crowds will provide important building blocks for Canada’s young nucleus of Men’s National Team players. Their Friday night lesson in Niigata, Japan was perhaps a little more cruel than they would have wished, but it was still a lesson well learned ahead of important November matches in Concacaf Nations League and qualification to the CONMEBOL Copa América.
“We need to play more of these matches and we will get better from them,” said Coach Mauro Biello after the match. “Players will start to see some of the spaces, how they close quickly, and how your opponents will capitalize on gaps that you may provide. It’s about reading the game quicker, moving the ball quicker and then you have to be clinical because when you get half a chance, you have to score at this level.”
Canada lost their Friday night away match 4:1 to Japan at the Denka Big Swan Stadium, the first time Canada have been back in that stadium since the FIFA Confederations Cup Korea/Japan 2001. Japan scored early and then stopped a Canada penalty attempt midway through the first half, but it was a pair of goals late in the first half that ultimately sealed Canada’s fate on the day. The Friday the 13th match winner was scored on a freak own goal when the ball ricocheted off Alphonso Davies’ shin and then Milan Borjan’s face for the 2-0 lead.
Japan also scored early in the second half, then Junior Hoilett scored late for Canada. For Hoilett, it was his 16th career goal in 60 international “A” matches. Jonathan David’s cross into the box was initially stopped by the diving Keisuke Osako, but the rebound fell to Hoilett who made no mistake on his chance.
As expected, the crowd was fantastic from start to finish for the home side. With 37,125 fans in attendance, it was the biggest away crowd that Canada have faced in a Men’s International Friendly since May 2010 when they lost to Argentina 5:0 shortly before the FIFA World Cup in South Africa (there were 66,000 fans at the Estadio River Plate).
Since the global pandemic in 2020, Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team have played 43 international matches including FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, two editions of the Concacaf Gold Cup, Concacaf Nations League and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. At times during the pandemic in 2021, those crowds were restricted to less than 100 people or the stadium was officially closed, but there were also big away crowds against Mexico at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City (45,565) and NRG Stadium in Houston (70,304).
With such a tight schedule for FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, nearly all of Canada’s matches in that period came against Concacaf opponents, with in fact 27-straight matches played within their own confederation across three Concacaf competitions from March 2021 to June 2022. In the past year, the three biggest crowds in front of which Canada have played are the three group matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup: 40,432 at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, 44,374 at the Khalifa International Stadium, and 43,102 at the Al Thumama Stadium.
“There’s a massive football culture here and this is a really good match against one of those top oppositions,” said fullback Alistair Johnston ahead of the away friendly. “This is a really good test for us to see where we are as a group because at the end of the day, these are the kind of matches that we want heading towards a home FIFA World Cup.”
Last year, Canada won 2:1 over Japan in front of small crowd of less than 3,000 at the Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai, a neutral-site friendly less than a week before their FIFA World Cup opener against Belgium. This time, the crowd was more than 12 times that size for Japan’s October friendly nicknamed the “Mizuho Blue Dream Match 2023.”
“We learned a lot from this match, so now we have to clear our heads and prepare mentally for the November camp because we will have two very important matches,” said goalkeeper Milan Borjan. “We should have shown our mentality and how strong we are, but today wasn’t that day.”
The November 2023 matches are very important to Canada’s continued progress on the international stage. It will be a two-match, away-and-home series against a yet-to-be determined Concacaf opponent in the Quarterfinals of Concacaf Nations League (tickets to the home match go on sale the week of 17-20 October). The two matches also double as qualification matches to the CONMEBOL Copa América USA 2024, a tournament that could provide Canada with the opportunity to face strong South American opponents in a competitive environment.
Next year’s Copa América will in fact feature six Concacaf nations alongside all 10 CONMEBOL nations from 20 June to 14 July 2024. The four nations that win their Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinals in November will qualify for Copa América, while two of the four losers will also qualify through a Concacaf play-in series next year.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to the Tuesday 21 November match will launch with presale windows starting Tuesday 17 October followed by a public on-sale date of Friday 20 October via Ticketmaster.ca.
Presale Dates are as follows:
Tuesday 17 October: CanadaRED+GOLD and CanadaRED+WHITE members (staggered timing)
Wednesday 18 October: All CanadaRED members
Thursday 19 October: Visa cardholders
As the official payment services sponsor of Canada Soccer, Visa is offering cardholders an opportunity to purchase tickets in advance of the public on-sale date. As Canada Soccer’s preferred payment provider, Visa will be the only payment method accepted during the Visa presale.
VOYAGEURS CANADIAN SUPPORTERS GROUP
The Voyageurs Canadian Supporters Group has been allocated dedicated sections in the stadium. For more information on securing tickets with the Voyageurs Canadian Supporters please visit www.thevoyageurs.org. Please note that persistent standing will be permitted in these sections.
Additional ticket information will be available shortly via migmultidev-canada-soccer.pantheonsite.io.
CanadaRED MEMBERSHIP
Becoming a CanadaRED member is the best way for Canadian supporters to ensure an inside track on fan promotions, advance access to National Team home matches, and the latest information on Canada Soccer activity. Visit migmultidev-canada-soccer.pantheonsite.io for more information on the CanadaRED fan membership program and register to become official member of Canada’s growing soccer movement.
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