Soccer in Canada | Canada Hosting the 2026 World Cup

[megadude]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Aside from the pictures being unsourced can we try to keep away from some weird navel gazing-ey discussion re: the ethnicity of youth clubs in GTA? Thanks everyone. Perhaps the Sports in Canadian culture thread would be a better spot to count the ethnicity of athletes, if that's your sort of thing.

At least I provided the soccer club's name for those nine pics. All others credited with the links.

Regarding the two losses, at least in the CR game, Canada did very well given the circumstances and could easily have had two goals with 10 men. Last night could easily have been a draw. If you can't go undefeated, topping the group is still mightly impressive for Canada.

I'm going to feel a little sorry for the guys who contributed in the qualifying campaign but don't make the cut for the WC roster.

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Steven Sandor @stevensandor
Alberta has placed conditions on its $110M funding pledge for #yeg's #WC2026 bid. City MUST host a minimum of five games and "at least two of these five games are at the round of 32 or round of 16 knockout stages" #CanMNT

So that's a no, then.

You never know, Toronto and Edmonton could split the 10 games with 5 each. Who knows what happens through negotiations though?

[AuxTown]

Big day tomorrow! I know there's a lot of talk about what is our ideal group, but I am just happy we are at the party! I always watch the WC group draw with interest but lament all the excitement of the other nations involved. It's our turn!

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

Big day tomorrow! I know there's a lot of talk about what is our ideal group, but I am just happy we are at the party! I always watch the WC group draw with interest but lament all the excitement of the other nations involved. It's our turn!

Agreed. Until we are a little more consistent in our ranking being there is a great step. Especially with only 32 teams in the field. It will be some excellent experience for the team.

[samne]

I don’t get how Canada finishes top of CONCACAF, beat Mexico and US, but lower than those two in FIFA rankings and even dropped ranking since clinching.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by samne

I don’t get how Canada finishes top of CONCACAF, beat Mexico and US, but lower than those two in FIFA rankings and even dropped ranking since clinching.

Originally Posted by samne

I don’t get how Canada finishes top of CONCACAF, beat Mexico and US, but lower than those two in FIFA rankings and even dropped ranking since clinching.

Previous ranking was based on February 10th (33rd), since then we lost two matches against teams ranked below us for the March 30th (38) ranking. I would have expected our ranking to drop. The US and Mexico were miles ahead of us ranking points wise according to FIFA starting the qualifying. We've made up lots of ground, but the sample set is always so small with the rankings. We won at home and tied away against the US and Mexico. I think we are close to them, but results don't often indicate play or circumstance. Canada was definitely better than Costa Rica for most of the game, but a silly loss of a player to cards and some unfortunate crossbar and goalpost issues sealed it. Tell that to the ranking program though. It's still an away loss to a lesser ranked opponent.

All the teams in that area of 20-50 are very close together. We lost a little more than 18 ranking points for the two losses, but the range is so small that it makes a huge difference. Yes, slightly meaningless games, but rankings points don't care about that. These were competitive (non-friendly) matches and even if you carry play you need the result to not lose points.

We needed to win the games to improve our standing. We didn't and our standing fell. If you want to keep or improve your standing, win your games at home, tie against like teams away and beat them when you are better.

I take it with a grain of salt because the rankings are only slightly accurate. There are many teams that don't play enough games and there aren't enough inter-association matches to make meaningful comparisons.

[savevp]

Anyone else watching the draw now? I don't think I've ever seen an event drag on this long... pomp and circumstance is one thing but its been over an hour of nonsense without any sign of drawing teams. Just get on with it!

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by savevp

Anyone else watching the draw now? I don't think I've ever seen an event drag on this long... pomp and circumstance is one thing but its been over an hour of nonsense without any sign of drawing teams. Just get on with it!

It always does. The draw itself ends up being an incredibly hurried five or ten minutes. Total stupidity.

[savevp]

Belgium, Morocco, Croatia;

Not a bad draw for us! I think the second-best outcome for us other than Group A (Qatar). Belgium will be tough to knock off at the top, but we could seriously threaten to advance in the #2 slot.

[JonHiseler]

Originally Posted by savevp

Belgium, Morocco, Croatia;

Not a bad draw for us! I think the second-best outcome for us other than Group A (Qatar). Belgium will be tough to knock off at the top, but we could seriously threaten to advance in the #2 slot.

It could've been worse, but this is no easy task. Belgium's the top ranked European team, Croatia were the runners up of the last World Cup, and Morocco is the 2nd ranked team in Africa. A lot of things have to go Canada's way for a playoff appearance.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by JonHiseler

It could've been worse, but this is no easy task. Belgium's the top ranked European team, Croatia were the runners up of the last World Cup, and Morocco is the 2nd ranked team in Africa. A lot of things have to go Canada's way for a playoff appearance.

You're right, people have a tendency to look at traditional powers rather than reality. It's a tough group, the only thing in our favour is Belgium and Croatia are aging teams, maybe on the decline a little bit, but look at their results and that tempers the declining argument.

The first game against Belgium is critical, if we don't get a result I fear a 1986 like finish. Super important for Laryea, Eustacquio and Buchanan to better establish themselves at club level in the coming months.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Agreed on Croatia being tough, but aging. Really there were only maybe two teams that anyone could call even close to slouches in the tournament. It's 32 teams that all (except one) had to qualify through a lot of decent play.

Even given the competition we face, I am hopeful we can score a goal or two, but these are good teams. It is hard to judge Morocco. They didn't play anyone of note in qualifying (Congo DR at 67 was their highest ranked opponent.) It's all relative though. I know so little of the African Association and how crazy their games and atmospheres may be.

I don't know that we need a result against Belgium, but we need to be competitive. If we don't assert some pressure than I'm with elly63 that it may be 1986 type result overall. I'd still be proud of the team though. I am impressed we qualified through CONCACAF and looked like we belonged doing it. The last two rather unfortunate losses show how slim the margin for error really is. It is a beautiful, but often terrible game at times.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I don't know that we need a result against Belgium, but we need to be competitive. If we don't assert some pressure than I'm with elly63 that it may be 1986 type result overall. I'd still be proud of the team though. I am impressed we qualified through CONCACAF and looked like we belonged doing it. The last two rather unfortunate losses show how slim the margin for error really is. It is a beautiful, but often terrible game at times.

Anyone who has seen any of my posts here knows I'm their biggest cheerleader but I also will temper (there's that word again) my future prognostications.

I was not pleased at all with that final window, IMO even the Jamaica performance was poor and the score flattering. Those were three inferior teams we played (and I don't play my games on paper) and we lost two of them. I'm just hoping the Herdman message hasn't gone beyond the best before date. I think we're ok though because the upcoming WC is a whole new deal for them to get motivated.

One little pet peeve of mine is what seems to be a dismissal (as failure) of the 1986 team. My post above was a comparison of results not teams. Frankly it was a very good performance, leaving out France, people forget what the Soviet Union consisted of back then, it wasn't just Russia but also it's many soccer playing republics.

Canada was the fittest team in the WC (according to the FIFA reports) which kept them from being embarrassed. They acquitted themselves well, it's just unfortunate they didn't score but the games were fairly close.

We're in for a tough road but most of the groups would be tough for us. Two things that would guarantee a loss for me (in this past window) have been listening to Wheeler and Atiba playing in the back. Thankfully one of those has been eliminated.

[qprcanada]

Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld will have a combined age of 69 by the time the World Cup begins.

Hopefully the pacy attacking players Canada have will be able exploit this on the counter.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by qprcanada

Hopefully the pacy attacking players Canada have will be able exploit this on the counter.

That is probably a big part of the plan.

[elly63]

• Video Link • Video Link

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by samne

I don’t get how Canada finishes top of CONCACAF, beat Mexico and US, but lower than those two in FIFA rankings and even dropped ranking since clinching.

Previous appearances at tournaments has a huge implication on FIFA rankings.

Originally Posted by JonHiseler

It could've been worse, but this is no easy task. Belgium's the top ranked European team, Croatia were the runners up of the last World Cup, and Morocco is the 2nd ranked team in Africa. A lot of things have to go Canada's way for a playoff appearance.

If Belgium and Croatia tie their face off, we are fucked. They will both end up with 4 points + and advance. We need to beat Morocco and hope Croatia vs Belgium ends up with one side winning, for us to have a chance.

You’re right, it could have been worse, but it could have been a bit easier as well. Towards the end of the draw, group H would have been the best finish for us.

[qprcanada]

[QUOTE=thenoflyzone;9586805]Previous appearances at tournaments has a huge implication on FIFA rankings.

The last four years of results are reflected in the Fifa rankings.

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by qprcanada

The last four years of results are reflected in the Fifa rankings.

Yes.

However, in 2018, when FIFA introduced the new SUM algorithm (a modified version of the ELO rating) to calculate the rankings, one of the changes brought on was the importance of matches now being factored in. The ELO rating does this as well.

Ex. a friendly match now carries less weight than a tournament match. The FIFA world cup carries the most weight, and influences your ranking the most. The further you progress in the tournament also increases your importance factor for the match. The US and Mexico have been deeper teams than Canada, and have gone further in tournaments, until now. So that's part of the reason as well why they are ranked higher than Canada.

See table below taken from the first page of the FIFA document linked. Some good explanations in there as well.


https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/f99da4...qew35a-pdf.pdf

I: importance of match
 I= 05 Friendly matches played outside of International Match Calendar windows
 I= 10 Friendly matches played during International Match Calendar windows
 I= 15 Group phase matches of Nations League competitions
 I= 25 Play-off and final matches of Nations League competitions
 I= 25 Qualification matches for Confederations final competitions and for FIFA World Cup final
competitions
 I= 35 Confederation final competition matches up until the QF stage
 I= 40 Confederation final competition matches from the QF stage onwards; all FIFA Confederations Cup matches
 I= 50 FIFA World Cup final competition matches up until QF stage
 I= 60 FIFA World Cup final competition matches from QF stage onwards

The mere fact that Canada is now in the World Cup final competition will boost it's rating, especially if it manages to tie or win a match of two.

[PEI highway guy]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Yes.

However, in 2018, when FIFA introduced the new SUM algorithm (a modified version of the ELO rating) to calculate the rankings, one of the changes brought on was the importance of matches now being factored in. The ELO rating does this as well.

Ex. a friendly match now carries less weight than a tournament match. The FIFA world cup carries the most weight, and influences your ranking the most. The further you progress in the tournament also increases your importance factor for the match. The US and Mexico have been deeper teams than Canada, and have gone further in tournaments, until now. So that's part of the reason as well why they are ranked higher than Canada.

See table below taken from the first page of the FIFA document linked. Some good explanations in there as well.


https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/f99da4...qew35a-pdf.pdf



The mere fact that Canada is now in the World Cup final competition will boost it's rating, especially if it manages to tie or win a match of two.

MY question is now what does Soccer Canada do to ensure the best team possible is fielded in November. I say play as many top teams as we can. we may get a shit kicking here/there however, if it makes us a better prepared We should play higher ranked teams EVERY chance we get.