TORONTO \u2014 Canada\u2019s men\u2019s soccer team hopes to lay down a marker in its final home outing of 2025 when it hosts Ecuador on Thursday at BMO Field.<\/p>\n
It won\u2019t be easy against a South American side ranked 23rd in the world and unbeaten in its last 13 matches (5-0-8) since a 1-0 loss to No. 7 Brazil in World Cup qualifying in September 2024. That run features 10 clean sheets including a 1-0 qualifying victory in September over World Cup champion Argentina.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure that we\u2019re doing everything we can to get people excited for next summer.\u201d said Canada coach Jesse Marsch. \u201cThe guys will be ready, I know that. They\u2019ll be focused on the match. It\u2019ll be a huge crowd, the biggest one I\u2019ve had since I\u2019ve been part of the national team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re ready for a big opponent but for our best performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal is to excite the home fans ahead of what Marsch called \u201cthe biggest sporting event in human history.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are eager and hungry every day that we are together to make sure that we\u2019re doing everything we can to prepare ourselves to light the country on fire,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The Ecuador roster includes star midfielder Moises Caicedo, who joined England\u2019s Chelsea from Brighton in August 2023 for a then-British record transfer fee of 115 million pounds ($211.5 million).<\/p>\n
\u201cVery athletic \u2026 A really big challenge,\u201d Marsch said of the South Americans. <\/p>\n
He believes his players are used to facing big names, citing Niko Sigur\u2019s \u201camazing\u201d job last time out against Colombian winger Luis Diaz, who joined Bayern Munich from Liverpool in July for a reported 75-million-Euro ($121.8 million (transfer fee<\/p>\n
\u201cI think now this (Canadian) team believes in themselves and believes in who we are,\u201d said Marsch,<\/p>\n
The forecast for Thursday evening calls for 4 C, feeling like zero, with a 20 per cent chance of precipitation.<\/p>\n
After Ecuador, No. 28 Canada leaves for the warmth of Florida and a date Tuesday with No. 50 Venezuela at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to play the match. Let\u2019s hope everything stays calm enough that it works out Tuesday,\u201d Marsch said when asked whether the rising political tensions between the United States and Venezuela might impact the match<\/p>\n
Marsch has three new dual-national players in camp in Tigres winger Marcelo Flores, Middlesbrough centre back Alfie Jones and Huddersfield Town goalkeeper Owen Goodman.<\/p>\n
But unless Jones can take his citizenship oath in time, he will be a spectator Thursday. Flores, who has already won three caps for Mexico, is in camp as a training player so will not dress.<\/p>\n
Goodman has his citizenship but is not expected to see action in the window, with Dayne St. Clair and Maxime Crepeau looking after goalkeeping duties.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe overwhelming feeling about all three of them is that they\u2019re great guys,\u201d Marsch said of the newcomers. \u201cThey fit in well with what we do here \u2026 We\u2019re hopeful to get Alfie sworn in soon and convince Marcelo that this is the right place for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Players missing through injury include captain Alphonso Davies, Moise Bombito, Alistair Johnston, Sam Adekugbe, Jacob Shaffelburg, Liam Millar and Luc de Fougerolles.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s game marks the second meeting between Canada and Ecuador. The first matchup, also at BMO Field, was a 2-2 draw in June 2011 with substitute Tosaint Ricketts scoring the tying goal for Canada in stoppage time.<\/p>\n
Ecuador has already booked its ticket to the 2026 World Cup, finishing second \u2014 with an 8-2-8 record \u2014 to Argentina in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying. <\/p>\n
Canada, meanwhile, looks to bounce back from a disappointing October international window that produced a 1-0 loss to No. 25 Australia in Montreal and a scoreless draw with No. 13 Colombia in Harrison, N.J.<\/p>\n
The Canadians have not scored in 229 minutes, dating back to Derek Cornelius\u2019 winner in a 1-0 victory over Wales on Sept. 9.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got some guys that can finish up top, including myself,\u201d said Vancouver Whitecaps winger Ali Ahmed. \u201cWe know we\u2019ve got to do a better job putting the ball in the net and finishing our chances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahmed could face former Whitecaps teammate Pedro Vite. Vancouver sold the midfielder to Mexico\u2019s Pumas UNAM in July.<\/p>\n
While Marsch would not reveal who will start in goal Thursday, he did respond when ask about which player was leading the fight for the No. 9 jersey at the other end of the field to play with Jonathan David.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Tani (Oluwaseyi) has established himself right now in the pole position for that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Marsch also said he had no concerns about David\u2019s slow start with Italy\u2019s Juventus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey call him the Iceman. There\u2019s not a lot that fazes Johnny,\u201d Marsch said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohnny is a great player, (has) an incredible mentality and he\u2019ll be ready no matter what,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
After Canada, Ecuador takes on No. 85 New Zealand on Tuesday in Harrison, N.J.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2025.<\/p>\n
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Canada\u2019s men\u2019s soccer team hopes to lay down a marker in its final home outing of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-279181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}