{"id":328316,"date":"2025-12-06T03:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/328316\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T03:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:00:11","slug":"canadian-team-confident-as-it-sizes-up-its-world-cup-pool-opponents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/328316\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian team confident as it sizes up its World Cup pool opponents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada’s head coach Jesse Marsch was confident on Friday, after learning two of his team’s three opponents in next summer’s World Cup. That confidence is ringing through with his players as well.Patrick Smith\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of learning their World Cup fate<\/a> next summer, Jesse Marsch and his players were still bullish on their chances of progression.<\/p>\n

Why wouldn\u2019t they be? They will still be at home, after all. And while the draw didn\u2019t come up trumps for the Canadians as it did for their fellow co-hosts (26th-ranked Australia will be the toughest opponent the U.S. faces; 22nd-ranked South Korea \u2013 and possibly 21st-ranked Denmark \u2013 for Mexico \u2013 Marsch\u2019s men will still feel confident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that whoever we were going to draw was going to present challenges, but that we should also be confident,\u201d the head coach told TSN. \u201cI think where we sit right now, I think it\u2019s about a middle-of-the-road draw. It\u2019s not the hardest, it\u2019s not the easiest, but I think we respect our opponents, and we\u2019ll be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Canada should want Italy in the World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

What is Canada\u2019s path to winning the 2026 World Cup? Ask us your FIFA questions<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, the possibility of lining up against Italy for the first men\u2019s World Cup match on Canadian soil on June 12 is, was and will be the main talking point, even if the four-time world champions need to come through playoffs against first Northern Ireland and then the winner of Wales and Bosnia-Herzegovina to claim their first berth since 2014. <\/p>\n

As you might expect, it was for the players, too, with the squad sharing reactions on their group chat as the names were pulled out of proverbial hat.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, [it\u2019s] a home World Cup,\u201d Alistair Johnston told TSN. \u201cIf it\u2019s Italy, in Toronto, it is going to be, man, this might be the biggest sporting event in Canadian history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtic full-back, who has been out injured since August, looked at the three games in order \u2013 against a European playoff winner in Toronto, world No. 51 Qatar in Vancouver on June 18, and then No. 17 Switzerland at the same venue on June 24 \u2013 and plotted a methodical approach to qualification. And like most others who watched the draw, that second game against Qatar looks inviting to Johnston.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not trying to put any bulletin board material out there,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 But it\u2019s a team that I think that we all know and everyone will be looking at in this group, that if you want to get through, if you want to top the group, that\u2019s probably a game that you\u2019re going to need to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Johnston\u2019s mind, if you can pick up three points from that Qatar game \u2013 no matter what happens in the opener on June 12 \u2013 it leaves Canada heading into the third game against Switzerland in firm control of its own World Cup destiny.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Marsch and Prime Minister Mark Carney in Montreal on Oct. 10.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that that\u2019s really all you can ask for in tournament football,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like Johnston, Stephen Eustaquio is one of the holdovers from Canada\u2019s breakthrough World Cup three years ago. The Porto midfielder, like many of his teammates, took a number of lessons home from Qatar, having competed at that level for the first time in their careers.<\/p>\n

Arguably the biggest lesson that Eustaquio took from that tournament was the importance of getting off to a good start. Canada received an unforgiving lesson on that front three years ago, losing all to Belgium after bossing them for the majority of their game.<\/p>\n

Potential Canada-Italy World Cup matchup in Toronto sets off cheers and jitters<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I learned the most in that tournament is that the first game is vital, in my opinion,\u201d Eustaquio told TSN. \u201cBecause if you don\u2019t get any points in that first game, the second game, there\u2019s a lot of pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that opening game does turn out to be Italy \u2013 which won\u2019t be determined until the end of March \u2013 Johnston says Marsch has prepared his players well. One of the tenets of the coach\u2019s game plan is getting Canada to play effectively without the ball, which might just give it a chance against one of soccer\u2019s<\/a> blue bloods.<\/p>\n

After all, Johnston adds, when you play against the best teams in the world, you likely won\u2019t have the ball all that much, so it\u2019s how you keep your composure, formation and discipline that will make all the difference. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe not only feel that we can keep clean sheets against top teams, but that we can also throw a counter punch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Canada’s head coach Jesse Marsch was confident on Friday, after learning two of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-328316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328316","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=328316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}