Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team inspires fans from coast to coast with strong finish in return to FIFA World Cup

 Canada wrapped up their incredible 23-match journey at Qatar 2022 on Thursday through both FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and their first men’s FIFA World Cup in 36 years. Canada were eliminated after back-to-back losses to European nations Belgium and Croatia and then closed out their competition after a 2:1 loss to Morocco.

“We raised our bar and I can say we can keep our heads up high from this”, said John Herdman, Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team Head Coach. “We were fearless in all three games, we came to show we compete and our players have been seen. Our performance is something to celebrate because we’re a young team and we know people around the world are looking at us now.”

Of the 26 players representing Canada at Qatar 2022, half of them are still 25 years or younger, including back-to-back Players of the Match Kamal Miller (23 November) and historic goalscorer Alphonso Davies (27 November). Along with Miller and Davies, other young players who featured in all three matches were Tajon Buchanan, Jonathan David, Stephen Eustáquio, Alistair Johnston and Ismaël Koné.

Captain Atiba Hutchinson, the oldest outfield player at this year’s FIFA World Cup, made his 100th international appearance in the Sunday match while Head Coach John Herdman, the winningest coach in Men’s National Team history, took charge of his 50th international match on Thursday. Davies scored the Men’s National Team’s first FIFA World Cup goal on Sunday and Samuel Adekugbe’s left-footed shot forced a Morocco own goal for Canada’s next goal four days later in the group finale on Thursday.

Canada Soccer Match Centre & Match Report : https://canadasoccer.com/national-team-match-past/?matchId=3299#newsfeed_section

FIFA Match Centre : https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/match-centre/match/17/255711/285063/400235479

“There have been some big moments and as a football country, we can be proud of our performance. I’d like to thank all the Canadians who have travelled far to follow us.”

The Davies goal was scored just 67 seconds into Canada’s second match at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, a Sunday group stage match that drew an average audience of 4.4 million viewers on TSN, CTV and RDS. As noted by Bellmedia, it was the most-watched FIFA World Cup group stage match on record.

CANADA SOCCER’S MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team are the reigning Kings of Concacaf, having finished first overall in the Concacaf Final Round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers from September 2021 to March 2022. It marked the third time that Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team won a Concacaf title, having previously won the 1985 Concacaf Championship and the 2000 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Across FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Canada posted 14 wins, four draws and just two losses over three rounds as they became the first nation from the region to qualify for Qatar with a 4:0 home win on 27 March 2022 in Toronto. Canada scored a Men’s National Team record 54 goals across the cycle while Cyle Larin set the Canadian record for goals (13), Alphonso Davies set the Canadian record for assists (eight), and Milan Borjan set the Canadian record for clean sheets (nine). Of note, both Larin (13) and Jonathan David (nine) were the top-two goalscorers across all Concacaf nations in 2021-22 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

Throughout the qualifying campaign, Canada set numerous team and individual records, also setting a Concacaf record for the longest undefeated streak in a FIFA World Cup Qualifiers campaign. Canada set their own Men’s National Team records for consecutive wins (eight) and longest home undefeated streak (14 matches). Across 2021, Canada were the “Most Improved Side” on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings.

CAN 1 : 2 MAR
2022-12-01 Al Rayyan, Qatar
TSN ; Al Thumama Stadium att. 43,102
Referee / Arbitre : Raphael Claus (Rodrigo Correa, Danilo SImon, Yoshimi Yamashita)  

Goals / Buts
MAR 4′ Hakim Ziyech (left foot/pied gauche) 0-1 (interception)
MAR 23′ Youssef En-Nesyri (right foot/pied droit) 0-2 (a.Achraf Hakimi)
CAN 40′ MAR own goal / but contre son camp 1-2 (Nayef Aguerd o.g.)

CANADA – 18 GK Milan Borjan capt., 2 Alistair Johnston, 5 Steven Vitória, 4 Kamal Miller, 3 Samuel Adekube (15 Ismaël Koné 60′), 11 Tajon Buchanan,10 Junior Hoilett (24 David Woterspoon 76′), 14 Mark Anthony Kaye (13 Atiba Hitchinson 60′), 21 Jonathan Osorio (22 Richie Laryea 65′) , 19 Alphonso Davies, 17 Cyle Larin (20 Jonathan David 65′). Coach / entraîneur John Herdman. Unused substitutes / substituts non utilisés:1 GK Dayne St.Clair, 16 GK James Pantemis; 6 Samuel Piette, 8 Liam Fraser, 9 Lucas Cavalini, 12 Iké Ugbo, , 23 Liam Millar, 25 Derek Corneilius, 26 Joel Waterman, 27 Doneil Henry.

Gatorade Performance of the Match / Performance du match Gatorade :
Junior Hoilett

Final Group F Standings / Classement final du Groupe F :
7 points (+3) | Belgium
5 points (+3) | Morocco
4 points (-1)  | Croatia
0 points (-5)  | Canada