It was hard to imagine how the Canadian men’s national soccer team could top its previous success entering this international window.
From Alphonso Davies’ sensational goal against Panama in October in Toronto, to two wins at the “Iceteca” in Edmonton in November – including a first victory over Mexico in World Cup qualifying since 1976 to go to the top of the Concacaf table — the run exceeded any expectations imaginable.
Yet somehow, Canada has outdone itself again. First by exorcising its demons in Honduras last Thursday and then by defeating the United States in WCQ for the first time in 41 years on Sunday in Hamilton – all without key players Davies and Stephen Eustquio.
Now the Canadian men’s team is so close to a first World Cup berth since 1986, you can almost taste it. But the job’s not quite done, so don’t book your roundtrip to Qatar just yet.
Canada enters Wednesday’s clash in El Salvador undefeated in the octagonal stage and first in the table with 22 points. The United States and Mexico are second and third with 18, while fourth-place Panama has 17 and fifth-place Costa Rica has 13. Here’s a look at the table:
The top three teams in Concacaf earn direct berths to the Qatar World Cup while the fourth-place team will face the winner of the Oceania region in a June playoff for another chance at a World Cup spot.
With four games remaining for each team, the maximum number of points Costa Rica can finish with is 25, while the most Panama can finish with is 29.
Therefore, Canada needs a combination of four points to steer clear of Costa Rica to guarantee at least a fourth-place finish — whether it’s by earning points themselves or from Costa Rica dropping points — or eight points to guarantee a finish ahead of Panama and secure a spot in the World Cup.
So, can Canada clinch a berth with a win versus El Salvador on Wednesday? It’s unlikely, but possible.
Here’s what needs to happen on Wednesday night:
• Canada wins vs. El Salvador • United States loses vs. visiting Honduras (in frigid conditions in Minnesota) • Panama loses vs. host Mexico • Costa Rica draws or loses vs. host Jamaica
If all the stars align, Canada would be guaranteed to finish ahead of Costa Rica, and since Panama and United States play each other in the next window, one would not be able to catch Canada as they’re bound to take points off each other. Thus, Canada would be guaranteed a top-three finish and a place in the world’s biggest tournament for just the second time in history.
Regardless of Wednesday’s result, Canada’s odds of missing out are remarkably slim, so if you’ve already pulled the trigger on plane tickets to Doha, you probably don’t need to sweat it.
Questions ahead of match in El Salvador
Will Eustaquio play?
After testing positive for COVID-19 before the international window, Eustaquio, perhaps the top midfielder in Canada’s squad, missed the games against Honduras and the United States — despite there being some hope he would play Sunday.
Head coach John Herdman said Eustaquio awaits the team in El Salvador, so you can bet you’ll see the recent Porto loanee on the pitch in some manner on Wednesday.
Could we see significant changes to the lineup?
Herdman made four changes from the Honduras game to the United States game, and with Eustaquio back, defender Steven Vitoria suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards and the fact Canada will be playing its third game in seven days, you can expect more Wednesday night.
Canadian captain Atiba Hutchinson will also be an option after serving his one-game suspension versus the United States.
With Cyle Larin and Jonathan David having started both games up front together, watch for new Canadian international Iké Ugbo to potentially get a look this time around. He came on for David in the 84th minute against the Americans. Lucas Cavallini is another option up top.
Veteran Doneil Henry should be the man Herdman selects to replace Vitoria at centre-back.
What will the environment be like?
Games in Central America are notoriously hostile, but if last week’s match in Honduras taught us anything, 50 per cent capacity significantly dampens a crowd’s wrath.
The Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador will also be at 50 per cent capacity, so Canada may not face the type of environment we’d typically come to expect for a Concacaf game in Central America.
The temperature in San Salvador at 8 p.m. local time is projected to be 20 C, ideal conditions for a soccer match. Not that it seems to matter if you’re Canada.
Looking ahead: Does it matter if Canada finishes first, second or third?
The short answer is no, but every point still matters. Where Canada finishes in the Concacaf table, as long as it qualifies, will not directly impact its World Cup group stage draw.
FIFA will select the World Cup groups by splitting the 32 teams into four pots based on standing in the FIFA rankings when the draw takes place in April. Pot 1 consists of the seven highest-ranked teams plus the host country, Pot 2 is made up of the next eight highest-ranked, and so on for Pot 3 and 4. FIFA then draws one team out of each pot to create a group, of which there are eight. The only exceptions are that teams from the same confederation cannot be drawn to the same group, save for UEFA where there can be a maximum of two.
So, indirectly, Canada does itself a favour by winning matches and improving its FIFA ranking in the process, but where the team finishes in the Concacaf table is irrelevant.
The men’s national team has skyrocketed up the rankings due to its meteoric rise in recent months. Still, Canada is 40th — the United States and Mexico, for example, are 11th and 14th. Therefore, Canada needs to keep stringing wins together to have a chance to get out of Pot 4.
Who does Canada face in the final qualifying window?
Canada will return to action March 24 in Costa Rica before hosting Jamaica on March 27 (the venue has not been announced) and playing in Panama on March 30 to wrap up qualifying.
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.
