A look at the country’s demographics, football history and its squad status prior to the Qatar World Cup 2022.
Number of inhabitants: approx. 37 million.
Continent: North America
Confederation: CONCACAF
National Football Association: Canadian Soccer Association
Number of members: around 1,000,000. (2.7% of total population)
International trophies won: 1x CONCACAF Championship, 1x CONCACAF Gold Cup, 1x NAFC Championship.
Best World Cup result: 2x qualification (group stage) in 1986 and 2022
Key Players
In the past: Julian De Guzman, Craig Forrest, Patrice Bernier, Paul Stalteri.
Key current players: Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, Cyle Larin, Stephen Eustaquio.
Coach, formation and possible lineup
Coach: John Herdman. (since 2018)
Typical formation: 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2
Possible lineup:
- GK: Milan Borjan (Red Star Belgrado)
- LB: Sam Adekugbe (Hatayspor)
- RB: Alistair Johnston (CF Montreal)
- LCB: Kamal Miller (CF Montreal)
- RCB: Steven Vitoria (Chaves)
- CM: Samuel Piette (CF Montreal)
- CM: Stephen Eustaquio (Porto)
- LW: Alphonso Davies (Bayern)
- RW: Cyle Larin (Club Brugge)
- ACM: Junior Hoilett (Reading)
- ST: Jonathan David (Lille)
Age Report
Players aged 25 or under in the current lineup: 5
Players aged 32 or over in the current lineup: 3
There are 3 players in this lineup that will (most likely) be playing their last World Cup this year: Hoilett, Vitoria, and Borjan.
There are 5 players in this lineup that can play at least two more: Davies, David, Johnston, Miller and Eustaquio.
The remaining 3 players could play in one or two more World Cups.
Youngest player: Alphonso Davies, born 2 November 2000 (21)
Oldest player: Steven Vitoria, born 11 January 1987 (35)
Average squad age: 27
World Cup Qatar – Group G
Fixtures:
Wednesday 23 November Belgium vs Canada
Sunday 27 November Croatia vs Canada
Thursday 1 December Canada vs Morocco
Our view:
Canada certainly deserves to be part of the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, having placed first in the CONCACAF qualifying group. Their squad consists of a decent group of players, with two extremely talented youngsters at the forefront – Davies and David. This may only be Canada’s second qualification for the World Cup, but with such youthful talent at their disposal they will certainly not have to wait another 30+ years for the next. I expect them to perform well in the group stage, though probably ending up just short of second place and qualification for the next round.
