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Men's National Team September 05, 2019

Canada to face Cuba in home match opener of Concacaf Nations League

Canada will kick off 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League A in Toronto with a Saturday night opener against rivals Cuba, the first of a home-and-away series during […]

Canada will kick off 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League A in Toronto with a Saturday night opener against rivals Cuba, the first of a home-and-away series during the September international window. The Toronto match will provide Canadian fans the opportunity to welcome home their favourite players, notably a new generation of young players that has Canada scoring at an impressive rate.
 
The Saturday 7 September international match will kick off at 20.00 local at BMO Field in downtown Toronto, with fans encouraged to cheer on their red and white in a must-win match. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.ca starting as low as $20. 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 great to be back in Toronto because for many of these players it’s their hometown and an opportunity to show their best in the red shirt,” said John Herdman, Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team Head Coach. “This squad of players are hungry for success and want to qualify for the Concacaf Nations League Final Four Tournament in June.  We’ve put down some strong roots over the last 18 months in our cultural and tactical approaches and we will be doing everything in this series of games to take our country to the next level.”

 
Following the 7 September match at BMO Field, Canada will play away on Tuesday 10 September at Truman Bodden Sports Complex in George Town, Cayman Islands. The match will kick off at 18.15 local (19.15 ET / 16.15 PT). Both the Saturday and Tuesday Concacaf Nations League matches will be broadcast live on OneSoccer.ca. In addition to the national broadcast, extended match day coverage will be featured across Canada Soccer’s digital channels including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Fans are encouraged to follow Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team every step of the way by using #CANMNT.
 
The two September matches are part of a four-match series that will include a home match against USA on Tuesday 15 October and an away match against USA on Friday 15 November. From the three-nation group, the winner will qualify for Concacaf Nations League final four playoff in June 2020 while both the winner and runner up will automatically qualify for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup.

 

 
Canada and Cuba most recently faced each other at the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup in their group finale, with Canada advancing to the Quarter-finals in back-to-back tournaments for the first time in 10 years following the 7:0 win on 23 June. The two nations previously met each other in a home-and-away FIFA World Cup Qualifiers™ series in 2012, with Canada defeating the then-Caribbean champions 1:0 in Cuba and 3:0 in Toronto.
 
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. Canada will need to win their group and advance to the final four in Concacaf Nations League in order to narrow the mathematical gap behind Concacaf’s top-six nations in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings. 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).
 
As announced this week, Concacaf Nations League will equally serve as a pathway to the Concacaf Gold Cup and ultimately the FIFA Confederations Cup. The top-two nations from each group in League A will automatically qualify for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup (eight nations) along with the group winners in League B (four nations). From there, a two-round qualifier featuring third-place finishers in League A, second-place finishers in League B and first-place finishers in League C will determine the last four nations to qualify for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup.
 
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.
 
TICKETS
 
Tickets to the Canada-USA match are available via Ticketmaster.ca 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.