The Canadian men’s national team are ready to embark on their quest for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The journey begins on Tuesday evening at BC Place in Vancouver. The first order of business is Honduras. They are coming off World Cup qualifier wins over the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. For long-time Canadian soccer fans, Honduras brings bad memories. Back in 2012, Canada was soundly defeated 8-1 by the Hondurans.
But a lot has changed for the men’s national team since then. As many know, this is a golden age for Canadian soccer. The men’s team has a chance to win their first trophy in 25 years.
Favourites or not? Doesn’t matter. Canada focused on Honduras
On Monday afternoon, Canada MNT head coach Jesse Marsch and striker Jonathan David spoke to the media at BC Place.
Marsch was asked about the expectations heading into the Gold Cup and if Canada is the favourites.
“None of that matters right now,” said Marsch. “What matters right now is our focus on this match against Honduras. I think if we were to look back at all our matches since we’ve been together…We’ve had some successes because of our concentration and focus and detail to what each opponent required…all those things have been really good.”
“It’s a preparation for what’s supposed to be next summer,” said David on the Gold Cup being a dress rehearsal for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. “I think we try to get as many of the guys in as possible to have a full squad. We want to win, to use these games as a preparation and to get better and to understand exactly what we need to do.”
Expectations for Honduras: Physicality
Canada has a 4-6-4 record against Honduras since 2004. The two teams last met in the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League at Toronto’s BMO Field. The Canadians won 4-1 with two goals each by David and Cyle Larin.
Teams in CONCACAF are known to be physical and aggressive and Marsch is expecting just that.
“I think that it’s a team that is very aggressive and I expect them to defend really hard,” he said. “What you saw is, in November, that they didn’t give Mexico a lot of space. They made it difficult for them. They were very physical, especially along their back line, and they were very dangerous on the counter. I think it’s possible that they choose to press us a little bit from the beginning. But I think that they will be very stingy defensively and be looking to get us on the counter and then they’ll be dangerous on set pieces.”
David the captain, experience and youth at the Gold Cup
With Alphonso Davies still dealing with his torn ACL, David has been named captain for the Gold Cup.
David was honoured to be named captain and described himself as a captain who leads by example. He told the media about his conversation with Marsch when he was told he was being Canada’s captain.
“At first, it was my maybe humble answer, I told him, I think there’s a couple guys ahead of me,” said David. “But then we kept talking a little bit more and probably I was like, okay, this is also a challenge for me to put myself a bit more out there to help the team in different ways.”
David is one of the most experienced players on the Canadian side with 63 caps and 34 goals. Other experienced players include midfielders Stephen Eustaquio with 50 caps and Jonathan Osorio with 85 caps. Osorio has been a regular for the Canadian MNT for many years and he will be playing in his seventh Gold Cup. That is more than the likes of Atiba Hutchinson and Julian de Guzman.
But there are several youth players on this side. That includes 19-year-old centre-back Luc De Fougerolles, 21-year-old midfielder Nathan Saliba and 22-year-old winger Jayden Nelson.
“I think we’ve talked a lot internally about developing the overall breadth of the squad,” said Marsch on the mix of youth and experience in his squad. “We’re missing some of our back line. Liam Millar’s recovering from an injury. So we have a chance to bring in a few new players, to challenge a few young players, to take on bigger roles. I think that it’s an exciting proposition for us. By the way, guys like Luc De Fougerolles, guys like Jayden Nelson, who are younger and still establishing themselves with the national team, I think we’re excited about the potential of what those guys can bring.”
“So that will be necessary for us to make a deep run in this tournament, that we get good performances from some of the players that maybe don’t have as many caps. It’ll be an invaluable experience, no doubt. I think them integrating themselves into the team, understanding what their roles are, getting a feel for what it is like to play on this team, to play with guys like Jonathan, all those things will only help them become better players and really prepare us more for what next summer we’ll need.”
Canada and Honduras kick off at 7:30 pm Pacific on Tuesday evening. The Canadians will hope to get their Gold Cup campaign off to a good start and they believe they are ready. With a win, they could prove that they are ready to compete on the big stage.
