EAST RUTHERFORD \u2014 After more than five weeks of jaw-dropping athletic feats, stunning upsets and mystifying moments, the largest-ever FIFA World Cup is coming to a close. <\/p>\n
The newly expanded 48-team, 104-game tournament will conclude Sunday afternoon when reigning champions Argentina take on Spain in the final in East Rutherford, N.J.<\/p>\n
Canada was at the centre of the global soccer showcase for the first time, with Vancouver and Toronto among the 16 host cities across North America. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really been an extraordinary journey for all Canadians,\u201d said Adam van Koeverden, Canada\u2019s secretary of state for sport and the country\u2019s self-described \u201cWorld Cup Sherpa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe World Cup itself, in terms of the sport, was remarkable. It was a huge step forward for Canadian soccer or football or whatever we call it. But what is clear is that Canada is a soccer nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Koeverden won\u2019t be in the stands for the championship game, but Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to attend the game. U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum are also set to take in the final. <\/p>\n
Politics have blanketed the tournament from the outset. <\/p>\n
Before the World Cup began, Iran asked FIFA to move its games out of the United States, citing the ongoing war between the two nations. <\/p>\n
The request was denied, and Iran\u2019s players and staff spoke out about tight travel restrictions that prevented them from travelling from their base in Tijuana, Mexico, into Los Angeles until the day before the nation\u2019s group-stage games against New Zealand and Belgium. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t ask for much. We just ask for the same procedure as for all the other 47 teams,\u201d Iran captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh said.<\/p>\n
The team was ultimately allowed to enter the U.S. two days before their final game against Egypt in Seattle on June 26. <\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s border rules also made headlines when Ghana\u2019s Thomas Partey was denied a visa for his nation\u2019s World Cup opener in Toronto. The 32-year-old midfielder is awaiting trial in England for multiple charges of rape and has entered a not guilty plea. <\/p>\n
A federal judge dismissed Partey\u2019s bid for emergency relief that would have allowed him to travel to Canada for the game. <\/p>\n
There were questions over whether Ivory Coast player Elye Wahi would also be denied entry after it emerged the 23-year-old striker was under investigation for alleged betting-related offences. <\/p>\n
The Ivorian soccer federation initially said Wahi would not be able to cross the border into Canada for the nation\u2019s match against Germany in Toronto on July 20, but later issued a statement saying the necessary authorizations had been obtained. <\/p>\n
Allegations of political interference in the sport were lobbed ahead of a round-of-16 bout between the U.S. and Belgium. <\/p>\n
American forward Folarin Balogun picked up a red card in his team\u2019s 2-0 round-of-32 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina and was set to miss the matchup with Belgium due to a one-game suspension. <\/p>\n
Trump then stepped in and called FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and FIFA deferred Balogun\u2019s suspension in favour of one year of probation. <\/p>\n
Belgium went on to beat the U.S. 4-1 and reach the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
Several critics questioned the cost of Canada\u2019s hosting World Cup games both before and during the tournament. <\/p>\n
The parliamentary budget officer pegged the total price tag for staging 13 games at $1.066 billion, with the federal government contributing $473 million and another $593 million coming from other levels of government. <\/p>\n
The PBO said Canada\u2019s costs were roughly in line with what was spent per game on previous World Cup tournaments.<\/p>\n
Staging games in Vancouver and Toronto will have lasting legacies well beyond the economy, van Koeverden said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now more well known as the best sport hosting nation in the world, and we\u2019ll continue to leverage that as we pursue more hosting opportunities,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great for our economy, it\u2019s great for infrastructure. It\u2019s just wonderful for all Canadians to be able to enjoy world class sporting and cultural events on home soil. It creates jobs. It\u2019s great for our place in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
International media hailed Vancouver and Toronto as some of the top host cities before the tournament began, citing transportation, idyllic scenery and downtown stadium.<\/p>\n
Vancouver\u2019s billing was well deserved, said Whitecaps midfielder Thomas Muller.<\/p>\n
The 2014 World Cup winner spent this summer\u2019s tournament working as an analyst for Germany\u2019s Magenta TV, and was impressed by how fans in Canada embraced the showcase. <\/p>\n
Celebrations in Vancouver, including on a pedestrianized portion of Granville Street, looked \u201camazing,\u201d Muller said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe atmosphere was very nice,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I was in Toronto, too, so it\u2019s kind of the same. Not the same same. I would say you could feel it a little bit more (in Vancouver), maybe because the Canadian team played in Vancouver (more). <\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe we all didn\u2019t expect it like that, but it\u2019s so far a great World Cup in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the biggest games staged on Canadian soil came on July 2 when Portugal and Croatia squared off in a round-of-32 matchup in Toronto. <\/p>\n
A sold-out crowd of 43,036 raucous fans packed the stadium \u2014 usually known as BMO Field \u2014 creating an electric atmosphere that didn\u2019t go unnoticed by those on the field. <\/p>\n
\u201cCongratulations to everybody, to the organizers, to everybody who\u2019s involved in football, soccer, in the city. It was incredible,\u201d Portugal manager Roberto Martinez said after his team came all the way back to beat Croatia 2-1. \u201cThe training session yesterday, the quality of the grass, was fantastic. <\/p>\n
\u201cEverything around the beautiful facilities here, it reminds me of the old-fashioned Premier League grounds. Congratulations to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s own games were a source of special memories for players and fans alike. <\/p>\n
The national team played a men\u2019s World Cup game on home soil for the first time on June 12, battling Bosnia to a 1-1 draw. The result marked the country\u2019s first-ever point in the tournament \u2014 and the start of a historic run. <\/p>\n
Hearing the national anthem play before that game was an emotional moment for Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of the culmination of a lot of work for our organization,\u201d he said. \u201dAnd for me personally, since I started, the World Cup has always been a point on the map and not the finish line. But you can\u2019t help at such a moment get a little bit caught up in the fact it has been building to it. So it was an amazing experience, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Les Rouges then shifted to Vancouver where they trounced Qatar 6-0 in an emotional matchup for their first-ever victory. <\/p>\n
The boisterous red-and-white clad crowd grew quiet early in the second half of the game when Canadian midfielder Ismael Kone crumpled to the turf after being tackled from behind. He was stretchered off the field, his leg broken in two places. <\/p>\n
It was the latest blow to a Canadian squad that saw several players hampered by various injuries leading up to and throughout the tournament. <\/p>\n
Captain Alphonso Davies played just 15 minutes throughout the World Cup due to a nagging hamstring strain.<\/p>\n
Van Koeverden was in the locker room after the Qatar game when Carney spoke to the team about how its performance reflected Canada\u2019s values, especially in light of Kone\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n
That moment was \u201ca bit surreal,\u201d said the former Olympic sprint kayaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prime minister\u2019s speech really resonated with the players,\u201d van Koeverden said. \u201dAs a former athlete myself, it was just a really, really Canadian moment and an opportunity to reflect on how far we\u2019ve come and what the opportunities are that lie ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada finished the group stage with a 2-1 loss to Switzerland in Vancouver, but finished second in Group B to earn a spot in the knockout round for the first time. <\/p>\n
More magic followed in Los Angeles, where vice-captain Stephen Eustaquio scored in stoppage time to give the Canadians a 1-0 victory over South Africa in the round of 32. <\/p>\n
The run came to an end in Houston when Les Rouges fell 3-0 to Morocco in the round of 16. <\/p>\n
After the loss, Eustaquio said Canada\u2019s performance throughout the tournament proved the World Cup is precisely where Canada belongs. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that we were able to be one of the 16 best teams of this World Cup, I think, is amazing for the country,\u201d he said. \u201dIt\u2019s amazing for this team, but we have to start from there. We have to start from there, realizing that the gap isn\u2019t that big, that we have to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t only the performance on the field that showed Canada\u2019s place in the soccer world, but the celebrations at fan festivals, community watch parties and in living rooms across the country, said right back Alistair Johnston. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe really proved to everyone what a footballing country Canada is,\u201d he said. \u201dNot just when we were playing there, but when other teams came, you could see the amount of passion that was there for the sport in Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something that I\u2019ve always known was there, but I don\u2019t think the rest of the world truly knew, and I\u2019m not sure all of Canada truly knew the true level of fandom that we have. So that was something I\u2019m really proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2026.<\/p>\n
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAST RUTHERFORD \u2014 After more than five weeks of jaw-dropping athletic feats, stunning upsets and mystifying moments, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,47,44,714,82],"class_list":["post-812318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-national","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812318","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=812318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}