Soccer in Canada | Canada Hosting the 2026 World Cup

[esquire]

Edmonton is a good sports town and will do it right, I have faith. But Canada Soccer is definitely taking a chance with weather on the prairies in mid-November... I hope it pays off!

[Hawrylyshyn]

Originally Posted by esquire

Edmonton is a good sports town and will do it right, I have faith. But Canada Soccer is definitely taking a chance with weather on the prairies in mid-November... I hope it pays off!

I'm sure they're counting on the weather being bad! While Canadians will be more accustomed to it, these warm-climate countries will have a much harder time playing in cold/snow. Gotta make home field advantage count in every possible way

[esquire]

How thrilled will Team Canada be if it's -20 with a blizzard?

[elly63]

It'll be interesting, because we are playing two games, we will be much more acclimatized to the cold and the artificial turf than the Mexicans who will only have a few days. When people post about it backfiring we have to remember Mexico is still the "better" team but playing in Edmonton at that time does help tip the scales somewhat.

There are no guarantees, playing anywhere but in BC could be dicey at that time of year. It's a good risk to take on many fronts. As I said Mexico is the better team and maybe the strategy won't work but we need every advantage we can get and you can tell Herdman has already planted the seed in his players "Wait'll we get them in Edmonton in November" Herdman will have looked at this from every psychological level. That's how this guy, "the master motivator" rolls.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by esquire

How thrilled will Team Canada be if it's -20 with a blizzard?

I can guarantee they will be more thrilled than Mexico.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by elly63

Beyond the October matches, Canada Soccer announced that their two November home matches will be played at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta. Canada will open the two-match home series against Costa Rica on 12 November before taking on Mexico on 16 November. Ticket details for both matches will be shared this month with all public health guidelines being observed to ensure the safety for all players and fans.

In this case, as it's Mexico, ya I'm good witth this.

[AuxTown]

I'm really surprised they are playing 2 games in Edmonton. I think we are playing with fire in terms of weather. The odds of a snowstorm are significantly higher in Edmonton compared to Toronto, Vancouver, or even Montreal/Ottawa. If I was a player I'd be pissed. I know they are professionals but it's really not fun playing soccer in sub zero weather. Regardless, I hope they pack the place and put on a good show!

Historical November Weather Data

Edmonton
-Daily high temperatures range from 5 °C to -3 °C, rarely falling below -16 °C or exceeding 12 °C.
-Daily low temperatures range from -3 °C to -10 °C, rarely falling below -22 °C or exceeding 3 °C.

Toronto
-Daily high temperatures range from 10 °C to 4 °C, rarely falling below -1 °C or exceeding 16 °C.
-Daily low range from 4 °C to -1 °C, rarely falling below -8 °C or exceeding 9 °C.

Vancouver
-Daily high temperatures range from 11 °C to 7 °C, rarely falling below 4 °C or exceeding 14 °C.
-Daily low temperatures range from 6 °C to 3 °C, rarely falling below -2 °C or exceeding 10 °C.

Montreal
-Daily high temperatures range from 9 °C to 2 °C, rarely falling below -5 °C or exceeding 16 °C.
-Daily low temperatures range from 3 °C to -4 °C, rarely falling below -12 °C or exceeding 8 °C.

Ottawa
-Daily high temperatures range from 9 °C to 2 °C, rarely falling below -5 °C or exceeding 16 °C.
-Daily low temperatures range from 1 °C to -5 °C, rarely falling below -13 °C or exceeding 7 °C.

Oh and by the way I managed to get myself a jersey today! They had about 30 of them at a local soccer specialty store called Disalvo's. The game is October 13th so I could be wearing anything from the jersey to my team Canada hockey jersey, to a snow suit!

[megadude]

Nice to see your enthusiasm. I know a soccer fan that lives in Liberty Village, not even a 10 minute walk from BMO and he's never been to a Canada game. He rarely goes to TFC games and when he does it's because a guy from our work that is higher up has season tix that he gives away from time to time.

Now, the guy I'm talking about came over from the Balkans when he was 10 or so and really only follows Serie A.

[elly63]

Rumours beginning now about Jonathan David (who is currently leading the French League in scoring) transferring to Liverpool or more likely Arsenal.

Arsenal shortlist one of Europe’s hottest prospects ahead of potential 2022 swoop
Jamie Wilkinson Caught Offside October 3 2021

Arsenal have reportedly earmarked Lille sensation Jonathan David as a potential replacement for Alexandre Lacazette.

Arsenal, nicknamed the Gunners, are in pretty dire need of some firepower. Their rather toothless 0-0 draw away to Brighton was testament to that.

As is reported by Transfermarkt, Alexandre Lacazette is also out of contract in the summer of 2022, which would further shorten their ammunition reserves.

Fear not though, Arsenal fans, for the club are thought to be considering who they could bring in to serve as a replacement or even a potential upgrade on the Frenchman.

According to Todo Fichajes, one man who has been shortlisted is Lille and Canada forward Jonathan David, who already threatens to be one of this season’s biggest stories.

David, who is only 21-years-old, has been lighting up French football this campaign to date, netting six times in nine league appearances.

The report by Todo Fichajes claims that Arsenal have sat up and noticed David’s meteoric rise to footballing stardom, with Mikel Arteta’s men plotting a move in 2022.

Arsenal have history purchasing promising players from Lille, having drafted in Nicolas Pepe for what the BBC reported to be a £72m fee back in 2019.

Pepe has fallen short of expectations in the Premier League, so Arsenal will want to make sure that David is not just another flash in the pan talent.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Very much a homecoming. If there isn't 40k+ there I'd be disappointed.

Will keep this benchmark in mind since Toronto apparently doesn't show up for FIFA matches during a pandemic.

Originally Posted by esquire

How thrilled will Team Canada be if it's -20 with a blizzard?

Probably not very.

[esquire]

At what point would they draw the line for international soccer when it comes to weather? I assume that a somewhat average -3 day with a bit of snow is fine, but what if it actually is -20 with fairly heavy snow, is the match still a go?

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

At what point would they draw the line for international soccer when it comes to weather? I assume that a somewhat average -3 day with a bit of snow is fine, but what if it actually is -20 with fairly heavy snow, is the match still a go?

FIFA Laws of the Game are pretty vague:

A referee or other match official is not held liable for:

• that the condition of the field of play or its surrounds or that the weather conditions are such as to allow or not to allow a match to take place

https://www.thefa.com/football-rules...---the-referee

The Dutch FA makes mention of games being abandoned if the referee cannot see both goals from centre field due to fog. Others make mention of 100F+ temperatures for mandatory water breaks, and 110F+ for abandoning. Thunderstorms are a pretty common reason for matches to be delayed or moved (the 2021 Gold Cup had a number of these because they were hosting in Texas in July...).

The US famously hosted Costa Rica in a Colorado snowstorm in 2013 during 2014 WCQ...so that's probably your limit.



In that game, Costa Rica lodged an official complaint with FIFA over the playing conditions under Article 14, Paragraph 4 of the 2014 World Cup regulations, which FIFA duly denied as they deemed the pitch playable.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130329...675/index.html
https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles...1_DOWNLOAD.pdf

A former FIFA ref outlined some details below:

• Weather issues is one of the most common causes of abandoned matches. Bad weather can come in many ways, like heavy rain that the pitch is unplayable or heavy fog that makes it impossible to see a foot ahead of you. Weather conditions seems to affect grassroots games more than the pros, most probably because of stadium setup. Professional leagues and stadiums have more resources and know better how to cope with adverse weather conditions. The best teams have start-of-the-art draining systems and under-soil heating that means neither rain nor snow will be allowed to stop games of football being played on the pitch. Normally it is under the advice of the police or weather authorities who fear for the safety of supporters outside the ground rather than the conditions inside. Sometimes it is the outside environment to the stadium that makes it unsafe due to road block or flood.

https://reflive.com/blog/abandoning-a-match/

I'm not confident on Commonwealth's setup re: drainage but i'm confident it doesn't have undersoil heating. Mile High in Denver has this, IIRC.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Will keep this benchmark in mind since Toronto apparently doesn't show up for FIFA matches during a pandemic.

You can play that game but Toronto has consistently showed an inability to get more than 20k attendance pre pandemic and usually not even that high and made even worse by the opponents country buying tickets. I just checked the CSA website, Jamaica had a 21k attendance, I wonder who bought a significant number of those tickets because the rest of the attendances were nowhere near 20K. Why is there a significant drop off between TFC and CMNT attendances? You also seem to want to ignore what Borjan, Kaye and Herdman said following the El Salvador game.

If Edmonton can get 25K in November with two games back to back that will still beat Toronto. You can try and spin this as an anti Toronto thing all you want but Toronto has under performed to the point where I want to see if someone else can do better.

[elly63]

Coach John Herdman faces Canada roster questions ahead of World Cup qualifying
Canada stands second in the Octagonal round-robin standings
Neil Davidson The Canadian Press October 01, 2021

Canada to freeze Mexico, Costa Rica by scheduling World Cup qualifiers in Edmonton
Rob Williams dailyhive.com October 1 2021

Not only do visiting teams to Canada not have to face that kind of intimidation, they’re often greeted by ex-pats, who cheer loudly for the visiting side.
That was something that drew the ire of some Canadian players after their last match in Toronto against El Salvador, a game that saw many fans wearing blue instead of red in the stands at BMO Field.

“We need Canada to wake up and support this team,” goalkeeper Milan Borjan said. “The World Cup is right there, we can get there. We need the stadium to be all red… We need that from you guys. We have to be red, that’s my message.”

“It kind of felt like an away game,” Canada’s Jonathan Osorio added.

JONES: Alphonso Davies coming to play at Commonwealth Stadium
Canada’s national men’s soccer side was making plans to play World Cup qualifying games against Costa Rica and Mexico in Commonwealth Stadium on those dates
Terry Jones edmontonsun.com October 01, 2021

One of the advantages of playing in Edmonton is, unlike Toronto where Herdman has suggested that many home games feel like away games, is that the crowds come to cheer for Canada.

[JHikka]

Merged and cut down the length of the articles you posted, firstly because it floods the thread, and secondly because it violates SSP's rules on reposting articles:

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=192107

Articles
Articles, such as news articles or blog posts, must be posted in a special way to avoid copyright infringement. Information about the source of the article must be given and only the beginning portion of the article text may be posted.

When posting an article please include the following information:
- the title of the article,
- the author's name,
- the name of the publication,
- the date of publication,
- a URL to the original article,
- only the first few sentences or the first paragraph of the article (not the entire article).

The exact format you use is up to you but it must contain the above information.

Forum rules can be found on the main SSP Forum dashboard.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Merged and cut down the length of the articles you posted, firstly because it floods the thread, and secondly because it violates SSP's rules on reposting articles:

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=192107

Forum rules can be found on the main SSP Forum dashboard.

And it also removes the portions that you don't like.

Floods the thread? Please. Why don't you edit when large articles and photos are quoted unnecessarily when only one line of text needs to be quoted and a photo doesn't.

Fair Use would cover an article if the author, date and publication are quoted and there is no inherent gain and the article posted is for educational purposes. Also I hope you know the difference between a press release and an article, so the next time I post a CSA press release you don't screw with it.

Don't worry, I know why you f'ed with my post, same reason you always do, doesn't fit your agenda. Not a problem. Screenshot taken.

[AuxTown]

I think it's a bit unfair to compare historical team Canada matches being held in Toronto. We have never fielded a team this competitive in our nation's history and the stakes have not been higher in my lifetime. There is a smattering of tickets still available for the October 13th game but they will all be sold before the day of I would imagine. So if selling every available ticket for an event is not a measurement of support I am not sure what is. Either way, I will gladly take my chances with October Toronto weather. I'm dreading a November blizzard in Edmonton that will remove any skill advantage we might have over the opposing team.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

I think it's a bit unfair to compare historical team Canada matches being held in Toronto. We have never fielded a team this competitive in our nation's history and the stakes have not been higher in my lifetime. There is a smattering of tickets still available for the October 13th game but they will all be sold before the day of I would imagine. So if selling every available ticket for an event is not a measurement of support I am not sure what is. Either way, I will gladly take my chances with October Toronto weather. I'm dreading a November blizzard in Edmonton that will remove any skill advantage we might have over the opposing team.

I think you are missing the point, we don't have a skill advantage over Mexico and until recently (a win) we might not have been able to say that over an aging Costa Rica. You really don't think Herdman is going through all this for nothing do you, aside from showing Edmonton to FIFA? You said it yourself you didn't want games in Edmonton so you could drive to Toronto, that's hardly fair to the supporters in the ROC.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by elly63

You can play that game but Toronto has consistently showed an inability to get more than 20k attendance pre pandemic and usually not even that high and made even worse by the opponents country buying tickets. I just checked the CSA website, Jamaica had a 21k attendance, I wonder who bought a significant number of those tickets because the rest of the attendances were nowhere near 20K. Why is there a significant drop off between TFC and CMNT attendances? You also seem to want to ignore what Borjan, Kaye and Herdman said following the El Salvador game.

If Edmonton can get 25K in November with two games back to back that will still beat Toronto. You can try and spin this as an anti Toronto thing all you want but Toronto has under performed to the point where I want to see if someone else can do better.

Vancouver always does it better.
Higher attendance for the men.
Packed BC Place for the WWC.
John Herdman loved living in Vancouver.
The Women's team is already based there.
BC Place has a roof for bad weather.
Vancouver is the only major city in Canada who can grow real grass year round.
Professional soccer team for over 40 years.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Vancouver always does it better.

Your turn is coming