{"id":399305,"date":"2026-01-09T23:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T23:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/399305\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T23:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T23:27:07","slug":"former-canada-defender-doneil-henry-learning-the-other-side-of-soccer-these-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/399305\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Canada defender Doneil Henry learning the other side of soccer these days"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Canada defender Doneil Henry sticks his tongue out as he dribbles the ball against Cuba defender Yosel Piedra during CONCACAF Nations League play at BMO Field in Toronto in 2019.Cole Burston\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Doneil Henry has been building his soccer portfolio since retiring as a player in 2023. And the 32-year-old former Canadian international takes another step this week, this time as a guest coach at Canada\u2019s camp in California.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s full circle for Henry, who won 44 caps for Canada as a player. And a chance to learn under Canada coach Jesse Marsch.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I\u2019m still in the process of (deciding) if I want to be a coach or a sporting director,\u201d Henry said. \u201cRight now I\u2019m really happy with just being part of the process and figuring it out, as I\u2019m very young.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to coming to the Canada camp, which runs through Jan. 18 in Irvine, Henry had several Zoom calls with Marsch.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really good with the alumni,\u201d said Henry, who flew to California on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Henry joined Milton Magic FC last month as technical director of the amateur club\u2019s male program. The hope is he can help build the club and eventually take its top men and women sides to League1 Ontario.<\/p>\n

The Milton club, which was formed in 1968, is home to some 2,500 members.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a club with a massive ambitions to continue to build the game in Canada,\u201d said Henry, who now makes his home in Milton.<\/p>\n

Previously Henry was sporting director and co-owner of League1 Ontario\u2019s Simcoe County Rovers, a connection that ended in mid-December when the club, whose ownership group also included former Canadian stars Julian de Guzman and Atiba Hutchison and current internationals Janine Sonis and Cyle Larin, was sold to Barrie Soccer Club.<\/p>\n

Henry\u2019s enthusiasm \u2014 and affection for his players \u2014 was easy to spot when Simcoe County faced Toronto FC in Canadian Championship play in April 2024. His Simcoe squad, which lost 5-0 to Toronto, included a range of occupations from chemical plant workers to students and deliverymen.<\/p>\n

Henry, who came through the Toronto academy and made 101 appearances across all competitions in two stints with the MLS team, was part-coach, part-cheerleader.<\/p>\n

Henry had a similar role with Canada at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after suffering an injury on eve of the tournament.<\/p>\n

The defender was scheduled to captain Canada in a pre-tournament friendly against Bahrain in Manama just two days before then-coach John Herdman named his World Cup roster. But Henry was sidelined after feeling a sharp pain in his calf during the pre-game warm-up.<\/p>\n

The initial diagnosis was recovery would take up to 14 days. With Canada\u2019s tournament opener coming 12 days later, Henry opted to take his name out of World Cup contention, saying it was just the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that there were players in this team who deserved it and who are ready to step on the field to make sure that they can give us the best opportunity to win,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

That sacrifice drew a tribute from Herdman.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoneil put the team first \u2026 It was a big moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herdman brought Henry to Qatar where he served in a non-playing role, doing everything from \u201ca little bit of tactical work on the computers\u201d to taking the emotional pulse of his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust literally being a big brother,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

While loyal to Herdman and appreciative of the culture he built and the work he did to get Canada to the World Cup, Henry says he learned from the Qatar experience, saying \u201ca lot of things could have been done better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe foundation of what made that team so great, I felt like we lost a little bit of that getting to the big stage at that tournament,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this time around we know what we need to do and what it\u2019s going to take to beat some of the bigger nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada, then ranked 41st in the world, left Qatar after losing 1-0 to No. 2 Belgium, 4-1 to No. 12 Croatia and 2-1 to No. 22 Morocco.<\/p>\n

Henry says the team made its mark just by getting to Qatar against the odds. \u201cWe proved that we belonged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But it came at a cost, he believes. The tight-knit team that topped CONCACAF qualifying splintered somewhat in Qatar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think going to the World Cup, everybody kind of made it about themselves and the potential moves that could have happened after that trip,\u201d he said. \u201cSo instead of playing for the team and the nucleus of what made us great staying together, it was more [that] everybody had their own agenda \u2014 \u2019Yeah after the World Cup, I\u2019m going here\u2019 so everybody had their own agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everything happens for a reason and those moments definitely serve a purpose,\u201d he added. \u201cWe won\u2019t get it wrong this time around, I can assure you of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Henry, who has a two-year-old son, is still figuring out his soccer future, he has a role model in de Guzman. The former Canada captain is now sporting director of the New York Red Bulls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I do know is that all these experiences are very good,\u201d Henry said. \u201cBut if I\u2019m looking at where an I right now, two years into the other side of this part of the game, I\u2019m still very very new. And I think there\u2019s so much more for me to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Canada defender Doneil Henry sticks his tongue out as he dribbles the ball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,561,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-399305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","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-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-soccer","tag-sports","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\/399305","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=399305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}