Okay . . . . . . for any even mildly interested . . . .
Canada defeated
French Guiana yesterday
4-1 and this poster missed it
'cause I didn't even know it was on broadcast. I caught the injury-time minutes at the very end by happenstance.
Okay, my point. Yes it was only Fr . . . . Canada! You see, we're not considered an actual power in soccer-world (yet) and yes we're more populous than French Guiana:
and likely richer but in years past it would not have been strange to hear that Canada lost to smaller nations in
CONCACAF.
So, by the victory we qualify for the
Gold Cup this June and the
CONCACAF League of Nations (Group A).
Our new coach, John Herdman, who came directly from coaching the
Canadian Women's National Team has guided the men to a perfect five wins and no losses record with 19 goals scored in those five matches and 1 goal conceded. Qualifying for the League of Nations gets Canada to play against top opponents like Costa Rica, Mexico, USA, Honduras, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique, Cuba, Curacao, and Bermuda.
Here's the squad Herdman had picked:
Canada National Team Roster:
Position Name Club
GK Milan Borjan (Red Star Belgrade/SRB)
GK Maxime Crepeau (Vancouver Whitecaps)*
GK Simon Thomas Kongsvinger (IL/NOR)
D Samuel Adekugbe (Vålerenga Fotball/NOR)
D Zachary Brault-Guillard (Montreal Impact)*
D Derek Cornelius (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)*
D David Edgar (Hartlepool United/ENG)
D Marcus Godinho (Heart of Midlothian FC/SCO)
D Doneil Henry (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)*
M Scott Arfield (Glasgow Rangers FC/SCO)
M Atiba Hutchinson (Beşiktaş JK/TUR)
M Will Johnson (Orlando City SC)*
M Mark-Anthony Kaye (LAFC)*
M Jonathan Osorio (Toronto FC)*
M Samuel Piette (Montreal Impact)*
M Russell Teibert (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)*
F Lucas Cavallini (Puebla FC/MEX)
F Jonathan David (KAA Gent/BEL)
F Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich/GER)
F Junior Hoilett (Cardiff City/WAL)
F Cyle Larin (Besiktas/TUR)
F Liam Millar (Kilmarnock/SCO)
F Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla (Albacete Balompie/ESP)
*MLS
Hilarious to hear a sports announcer on a popular round-up show this morning mispronounce Milan Borjan's last name as if he were Mexican. The "J" as an "h" when it's pronounced like a "y" since it's Slavic (Serbian). I suppose they've never seen him play before. The report of the score came in about halfway through the hour.
https://www.tsn.ca/canadian-men-s-soccer-squad-off-to-gold-cup-with-4-1-win-over-french-guiana-1.1278987A small tribe marches, but maybe one day . . . . .
I'm just about blushing with pride.
para . . . .