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World Cup qualifiers: Canada celebrates reaching first men's World Cup in 36 years – CNN

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(CNN)After a 36-year absence from the men’s World Cup, Canada can now call itself a “legit football country.”

That’s the view of coach John Herdman, the Englishman who has overseen Canada’s steady rise through the men’s FIFA rankings over the past four years.
Canada’s ascension to football legitimacy culminated in a 4-0 victory against Jamaica on Sunday, guaranteeing Herdman’s team a spot at the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
It will be just the second time that Canada has featured at a men’s World Cup having lost every game in the finals of the 1986 edition, but expectations are high this time around.
“The sky’s the limit. I think we’re going to just continue to get better and better and we’re going to continue to improve,” said midfielder Atiba Hutchinson, a 39-year-old veteran of the Canadian team.
“We’re going to be ready to go there at the World Cup and put ourselves really on the map,” Hutchinson added. “We’ve got a lot of confidence and we believe that we can do well.”
Sunday’s win in Toronto came courtesy of first-half goals from Cyle Larin and Tajon Buchanan, a flicked finish from Junior Hoilett in the second half, and a late own goal from Jamaica’s Adrian Mariappa.
It was enough to seal Canada’s spot at the World Cup with one game of qualifying — against Panama on Thursday — still to play, as well as gain the approval of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who tweeted his congratulations.
Canada leads the CONCACAF qualifying group on 28 points ahead of the United States and Mexico on 25.
The top three teams automatically qualify for the World Cup, while the fourth — currently Costa Rica — must contest an inter-continental playoff in a bid to gain a spot at Qatar.
Canada’s success in this year’s qualifying has been spearheaded by a crop of talented young players including Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, and Buchanan, all of whom play club football in Europe.
The 21-year-old Davies — who has won the Champions League and a number of domestic trophies with Bayern Munich in Germany — has been sidelined since January as he recovers from an inflammatory heart condition having contracted Covid-19, but live-streamed his tearful reaction to Canada’s game against Jamaica.
David has scored 26 league goals in 66 matches for Lille and helped the French side win the Ligue 1 title last year, while Buchanan has recently signed for Belgian team Clue Brugge.
In Larin, Canada also has the country’s top scorer in men’s international football on 24 goals, while Hutchinson holds the record for the most appearances with 94, according to Canada Soccer.
“Look, Canada can,” said Herdman, who took charge of the men’s team in 2018 having previously coached Canada’s women.
“We’ve got Davies playing Champions League finals, we’ve got players playing all over Europe, we’ve got kids coming through the system and we’ve just qualified for a World Cup.”

Canadian players celebrate reaching a first men's World Cup for 36 years.

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Under Herdman, Canada has climbed through the FIFA men’s rankings and is currently 33rd in the world — its highest ever position.
“I told these boys right at the beginning, we’ve got to give this country something to believe in,” said Herdman. “They lost hope, they lost faith, but we’re a football country now and they all know it.”
Recent years have seen Canada boost its credentials as a footballing nation.
The women’s team won a first Olympic gold medal with victory against Sweden in Tokyo last year, and in 2018 Canada was chosen to host the 2026 World Cup alongside USA and Mexico.
Having hosted the women’s tournament in 2015, it will be the first time Canada has hosted a men’s World Cup.
After its last qualifying game against Panama on Thursday, Canada will find out its opponents at Qatar 2022 on Friday when the groups are drawn in Doha; then when the tournament gets underway on November 21, it will finally be able to announce its presence among the footballing elite.

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Raptors reserve Jontay Porter might have thought he was smarter than the system. The NBA says he wasn't – Toronto Star

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Jontay Porter had potential, but then, a lot of people have potential, don’t they? Porter’s particular potential was his ability to play a sport where being halfway competent can easily net you $10 million (U.S.) per year, which is a gift, if you treat it carefully. Porter apparently did not.

Porter was given a lifetime suspension from the NBA on Wednesday, with the league concluding he had bet on basketball, influenced insider bets on basketball, and intentionally underperformed to influence betting.

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‘I wanted it’: Matthews’ great chase for 70 masks Maple Leafs’ concerns – Sportsnet.ca

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Canucks will face the Predators in first round of the playoffs – Vancouver Is Awesome

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The winner of the Western Conference was decided on Wednesday night and, with it, the Vancouver Canucks’ opponent in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Dallas Stars needed just a single point to secure first in the West, preventing the Canucks from potentially tying them in points in their final game of the regular season. A tie would have seen the Canucks move into first as they have the edge in regulation wins, which is the first tie-breaker.

The Stars were facing the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night, who had already been eliminated from playoff contention. The Blues still had pride on the line, however, and put up a stalwart effort. The Blues took a 1-0 lead in the second period on a goal from Robert Thomas, but the Stars responded in the third with a goal from Mason Marchment.

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With no further scoring in regulation, the Stars ensured at least one point by taking the game to overtime. The Stars then added another superfluous point by winning the game in the shootout.

That means the Canucks will finish second in the Western Conference behind the Stars no matter the result of their game on Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets. Accordingly, they’ll face the team in the first Wild Card spot in the first round of the playoffs: the Nashville Predators.

On paper, it seems like the ideal match-up for the Canucks, as they swept their three-game series against the Predators this season, out-scoring them 13-to-6. They certainly seem like a better match-up than the Los Angeles Kings, who won three of their four meetings with the Canucks, or the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, who split their four games with the Canucks and will be getting Mark Stone back for the playoffs.

The Predators won’t be an easy out, however. Since their last meeting with the Canucks in December, the Predators have caught fire. They went on an 18-game point streak from mid-February to late March, going 15-0-3 in that span. They’re a dangerous team with a Norris-candidate defenceman in Roman Josi, great forward depth, strong goaltending, and solid underlying numbers.

Of course, so are the Canucks, only more so.

They don’t just have a Norris-candidate defenceman; they have the likely Norris winner in Quinn Hughes. They don’t just have great forward depth; they have better top-end talent than the Predators as well as the likes of Conor Garland, Elias Lindholm, and Dakota Joshua on the third line. They don’t just have strong goaltending; they have Thatcher Demko. 

As for underlying numbers, well…

Okay, the Canucks and Predators are nearly identical by the underlying numbers. Eerily similar, really. 

The one thing the Canucks have done distinctly better than the Predators is actually score on the chances they create. And prevent the opposing team from scoring on the chances they create. So, two things, really. Pretty important things, as things go.

The schedule for the Canucks’ first round has yet to be released, though it’s expected to begin on Sunday, April 21 as opposed to Tuesday, April 23, as was initially expected

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