Former Canada coach Stephen Hart startled a few friends recently with his assessment of the current Canadian men’s team.
“I had said a few nights before with a group of friends that I thought Canada was the best team in CONCACAF, in terms of depth, in attack, in midfield,” Hart said. “They kind of looked at me with a funny look. But I honestly thought that.”
On Tuesday, before a loud, proud and cold crowd of 44,212 at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium, John Herdman’s team proved Hart right.
Canada’s 2-1 win over Mexico, coupled with the Americans’ 1-1 tie earlier in the day in Jamaica and Canada’s 1-0 victory over Costa Rica four days earlier in Edmonton, moved the unbeaten Canadians (4-0-4) into first place in the final round of World Cup qualifying in CONCACAF with six games remaining.
Come March, the top three countries will represent North and Central America and the Caribbean in Qatar next year. The fourth-place team will take part in an intercontinental playoff to see who joins them.
Canada’s overall record in Qatar 2022 qualifying improved to 10-0-4 with a 44-6 edge in goals. And like the Olympic champion Canadian women, the men — ranked 48th in the world and on the climb — are turning heads and inspiring support.
Tuesday’s triumph was Canada’s first over Mexico since the 2000 Gold Cup quarterfinals. The Canadian men have now taken four of a possible six points against ninth-ranked Mexico in this qualifying round, having held the CONCACAF powerhouse to a 1-1 tie last month in the hostile ground of Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium.
“After the game in Azteca, that’s what made me think this team has such a good balance,” said Hart, how coach of the Canadian Premier League’s HFX Wanderers FC. “Of course I was elated they won the game (Tuesday) but they won the game in a fairly comfortable manner, in my view of it.”
Added former Canadian international Nick Dasovic: “You’re not top of CONCACAF after eight games if you’re not quality. You can get luck at some stages but this team is the real deal. The depth is amazing.
“I mean you’d have to say the ’86 (World Cup) team was the best (Canadian men’s) team up to now. I mean, obviously I didn’t play in that one. I was a kid (18) at the time. But this is by far the best group of players we’ve had assembled without any shadow of a doubt for this national program.
“And they’re all buying in. They’re all playing for the jersey. They’re all playing for the country. It’s pretty amazing.”
Still, there is work to be done, as Herdman told his team Tuesday after it celebrated going atop the standings and (according to www.transfermarkt.com) leading all teams in world football with 55 goals this calendar year. Not to mention captain Atiba Hutchinson’s record-setting 90th cap and Cyle Larin tying Dwayne De Rosario for the most international “A” goals (22) among Canadian men.
“There was a lot of celebration” Herdman told The Canadian Press on Wednesday. “But at the end of it, I had some sobering words — that we’ve got 10 weeks to stay focused, to do the right things. Because we’ve got six more battles. And there will be battles. This isn’t over.
“You’ve seen how tight it is at the top. Only three are going to go through. And it’s going to go right to the wire. So we have to stay ready — and humble. And the lads, you could see their eyes focus back in. They know we’ve got some big steps ahead to take.”
An emotionally drained Herdman — “I was absolutely knackered” — boarded a plane Wednesday morning to return to B.C. But he was still beaming.
“I just saw Milan (Borjan) in the (hotel) lobby and he just said ‘I could wake up in Canada every day,”’ Herdman said of his starting goalkeeper, who is an icon in Serbia where he plays for Red Star Belgrade. “The feeling’s unreal for these guys. Kids are asking for autographs. And he said ‘Never has this happened before.’
“And that’s all I ever wanted. I just wanted to feel the love and get the country believing that we’re a football country.”
One can argue the Canadian men did it in the most Canadian of settings, with defender Sam Adekugbe memorably throwing himself into a snowbank during the celebrations that followed Larin’s opening goal.
Only two points separate Canada (4-0-4, 16 points) and fourth-place Panama (4-2-2, 14 points). The U.S. (4-1-3, 15 points) stands second and Mexico (4-2-2, 14 points) third. But perhaps most importantly, the top four are beginning to get separation on fifth-place Costa Rica (2-3-3, nine points).
Canada has a home game against the 13th-ranked U.S. sandwiched around visits to No. 68 Honduras and No. 65 El Salvador in late January, early February before finishing in March with games at No. 45 Costa Rica and No. 69 Panama with a home match against No. 59 Jamaica in-between.
Whatever happens, the Canadian men — like their female counterparts — are growing the sport.
“I think the country now has seen what football can do, what football is about for this country,” said Pa-Modou Kah, a former Norwegian international who coaches Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League.
With Hutchinson and other players not available for all qualifying matches, the load fell on other players both on and off the field. Herdman credits Borjan, Jonathan Osorio, Maxime Crepeau, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Samuel Piette, Doneil Henry, Richie Laryea and Junior Hoilett as the leadership group that helped change the Canadian men’s outlook.
“You can 100 per cent see that everybody’s bought in,” said Dasovic, a Canada Soccer Hall of Famer who won 63 caps between 1992 and 2004.
Henry sent a clear message that it was going to be a difficult night for the visitors, sending Napoli winger Hirving Lozano flying through the air in a crunching aerial challenge less than a minute into Tuesday’s game.
With Canada Soccer — with the help of Mother Nature — having done what it could to make the Mexicans uncomfortable, Herdman told his players the game would come down to who could bring the intensity for the full 90 minutes.
“I thought Doneil set the tone for what was going to happen. It became a war on the benches (which both received yellow cards). It became a war on the field,” said Herdman. “And the fans came with us.”
The Canadians’ recent performances, coupled with the club success of players like Davies (Bayern Munich), Jonathan David (Lille) and Hutchinson and Larin (Besiktas), have also made wearing the Maple Leaf attractive.
Stephen Eustaquio, Steven Vitoria and Ike Ugbo were among those in Herdman’s matchday squad Tuesday that chose to wear the Maple Leaf over another crest.
“Players want to jump on this ship. They want to get involved with this country,” said Dasovic.
Herdman and Canada Soccer have also revamped the way the national teams are treated.
“When I played — most of my career as a national team player — it was what it was,” said Dasovic, who is coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps under-19 side. “You weren’t getting charter flights, you weren’t getting first-class. It happened once in a blue moon when they got us some passes. Things like that.
“You knew you were going to be sitting in seat 32B or you’re going to be trapped against the washroom or whatever.”
CALGARY – The Calgary Flames have re-signed defenceman Ilya Solovyov and centre Cole Schwindt, the NHL club announced Wednesday.
Solovyov signed a two-year deal which is a two-way contract in year one and a one-way deal in year two and carries an average annual value of US$775,000 at the NHL level.
Schwindt signed a one-year, two-way contract with an average annual value of $800,000 at the NHL level.
The 24-year-old Solovyov, from Mogilev, Belarus, made his NHL debut last season and had three assists in 10 games for the Flames. He also had five goals and 10 assists in 51 games with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers and added one goal in six Calder Cup playoff games.
Schwindt, from Kitchener, Ont., made his Flames debut last season and appeared in four games with the club.
The 23-year-old also had 14 goals and 22 assists in 66 regular-season games with the Wranglers and added a team-leading four goals, including one game-winning goal, in the playoffs.
Schwindt was selected by Florida in the third round, 81st overall, at the 2019 NHL draft. He came to Calgary in July 2022 along with forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar in the trade that sent star forward Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
KING CITY, Ont. – Oman scored 10 runs in the final over to edge Nepal by one wicket with just one ball remaining in ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 play Wednesday.
Kaleemullah, the No. 11 batsman who goes by one name, hit a four with the penultimate ball as Oman finished at 223 for nine. Nepal had scored 220 for nine in its 50 overs.
Kaleemullah and No. 9 batsman Shakeel Ahmed each scored five in the final over off Sompal Kami. They finished with six and 17 runs, respectively.
Opener Latinder Singh led Oman with 41 runs.
Nepal’s Gulsan Jha was named man of the match after scoring 53 runs and recording a career-best five-wicket haul. The 18-year-old slammed five sixes and three-fours in his 35-ball knock, scoring 23 runs in the 46th over alone when he hit six, six, four, two, four and one off Aqib Ilyas.
Captain Rohit Paudel led Nepal with 60 runs.
The 19th-ranked Canadians, who opened the triangular series Monday with a 103-run win over No. 17 Nepal, face No. 16 Oman on Friday, Nepal on Sunday and Oman again on Sept. 26. All the games are at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground.
The eight World League 2 teams each play 36 one-day internationals spread across nine triangular series through December 2026. The top four sides will go through to a World Cup qualifier that will decide the last four berths in the expanded 14-team Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Canada (5-4) stands second in the World League 2 table. The 14th-ranked Dutch top the table at 6-2.
Oman (2-2 with one no-result) stands sixth, ahead of Nepal (1-5).
Canada won all four matches in its opening tri-series in February-March, sweeping No. 11 Scotland and the 20th-ranked host Emirates. But the Canadians lost four in a row to the 18th-ranked U.S. and host Netherlands in August.
Canada which debuted in the T20 World Cup this summer in the U.S. and West Indies, is looking to get back to the showcase 50-over Cricket World Cup for the first time since 2011 after failing to qualify for the last three editions. The Canadian men also played in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 tournaments, exiting after the group stage in all four tournament appearances.
The Canadian men regained their one-day international status for the first time in almost a decade by finishing in the top four of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff in April 2023 in Bermuda.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
PENTICTON, B.C. – Rick Tocchet has already warned his Vancouver Canucks players — the looming NHL season won’t be easy.
The team made strides last year, the head coach said Wednesday ahead of training camp. The bar has been raised for this year’s campaign.
“To get to the next plateau, there are higher expectations and it’s going to be hard. We know that,” Tocchet said in Penticton, B.C., where the team will open its camp on Thursday.
“So that’s the next level. It starts day one (on Thursday). My thing is don’t waste a rep out there.”
The Canucks finished atop the Pacific Division with a 50-23-9 record last season, then ousted the Nashville Predators from the playoffs in a gritty, six-game first-round series. Vancouver then fell to the Edmonton Oilers in a seven-game second-round set.
Last fall, Jim Rutherford, the Canucks president of hockey operations, said everything would have to go right for the team to make a playoff push. That doesn’t change this season, he said, despite last year’s success.
“The challenges will be greater, certainly. But I believe the team that we started with last year, we have just as good a team to start the season this year and probably better,” he said.
“As long as the team builds off what they did last year, stick to what the coaches tell them, stick to the system, stick together in good times and bad times, this team has a chance to do pretty well.”
Some key players will be missing as Vancouver’s training camp begins, however.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced Wednesday that star goalie Thatcher Demko will not be on the ice when the team begins it’s pre-season preparation.
Allvin did not disclose the reason for Demko’s absence, but said the 28-year-old American has been making progress.
“He’s been in working extremely hard and he seems to be in a great mindset,” the GM said.
Demko missed several weeks of the regular season and much of Vancouver’s playoff run last spring with a knee injury.
The six-foot-four, 192-pound goalie has a career 213-116-81 regular-season record with a .912 save percentage, a 2.79 goals-against average and eight shutouts across seven seasons with the Canucks.
Allvin also announced that veteran centre Teddy Blueger and defensive prospect Cole McWard will also miss the start of training camp after each had “minor lower-body surgery.”
Vancouver previously announced winger Dakota Joshua won’t be present for the start of camp as he recovers from surgery for testicular cancer.
Tocchet said he’ll have no problem filling the holes, and plans to switch his lines up a lot in Penticton.
“Nothing’s set in stone,” he said. “I think it’s important that you have different puzzles at different times.”
The coach added that he expects standout centre Elias Pettersson to begin on a line with Canucks newcomer Jake DeBrusk.
Vancouver inked DeBrusk, a former Boston Bruins forward, to a seven-year, US$38.5 million deal when the NHL’s free agent market opened on July 1.
The glare on Pettersson is expected to be bright once again as he enters the first year of a new eight-year, $92.8 million contract. The 25-year-old Swede struggled at times last season and put 89 points (34 goals, 55 assists) in 82 games.
Rutherford said he was impressed with how Pettersson looked when he returned to Vancouver ahead of camp.
“He seems to be a guy that’s more relaxed and more comfortable. And for obvious reasons,” said the president of hockey ops. “This is a guy that I believe has worked really hard this summer. He’s done everything he can to play as a top-line player. … The expectation for him is to be one of the top players on our team.”
A number of Canucks hit milestones last season, including Quinn Hughes, who led all NHL defencemen in scoring with 92 points and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top blue liner.
Several players could once again have career-best years for Vancouver, Tocchet said, but they’ll need to be consistent and not allow frustration to creep in when things go wrong.
“You’ve just got to drive yourself every day when you have a great year,” the coach said. “You’ve got to keep creating that environment where they can achieve those goals, whatever they are. And the main goal is winning. That’s really what it comes down to.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
