In the long history of Canada\u2019s men\u2019s national team, 2022 arguably ranks as the best year to date. Qualification for the FIFA World Cup\u2122 was secured, ending a 36-year wait, and the Concacaf standings topped, with some famous wins enjoyed along the way.<\/p>\n
Faced with a tough act to follow, 2023 fell considerably short. Going out in the last eight of the Concacaf Gold Cup was a blow, and worse followed in November when Canada lost at home to Jamaica and missed out on a place in the Concacaf Nations League Finals. Add in the departure of John Herdman, the coach who inspired the team\u2019s run to Qatar 2022, and it all made for a year to forget.<\/p>\n
What, then, will 2024 bring? That was the key question facing Mauro Biello, Herdman\u2019s former assistant, who has been in interim charge since the Englishman\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n
A former Canada international, Biello will lead the team into a crucial Copa America qualifying play-off against Trinidad and Tobago in March, his team having missed out on automatic progression due to that Nations League defeat. He well knows that, without a FIFA World Cup qualifying competition to battle-harden his team ahead of 2026, participation in these continental showpieces has taken on added importance.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the opportunity to play in the Copa America would give us that rehearsal against tier-one teams,\u201d Biello explained. \u201cWhen you\u2019re able to play against those teams at those levels, you really get the sense of what that intensity is and what that level is.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, it\u2019d be a really great preparation for 2026, having our players live those types of moments and then growing from them. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s key: to come out of the Copa America by learning and growing. By doing that, we\u2019ll be better off going into the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit different this time to the pathway of the last qualifying campaign, but for us it\u2019s all about refocusing the group on what we want to achieve – and that’s getting this team to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Canada, having finally qualified for a second World Cup \u2013 and with another guaranteed two years from now \u2013 that next level will mean not just competing, but winning. That was something they didn\u2019t manage in 2022, despite some laudable showings, and the lessons learned are uppermost in Biello\u2019s thoughts.<\/p>\n
He explained: \u201cI think some of the things that we took away from that is that it\u2019s all about the details and, for us, learning that at those levels taking care of every little detail, whether that\u2019s tactically or in our preparation, is super-important for the success of the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there were some good performance in those three games (at Qatar 2022). But we know that we can learn and grow from those, and hopefully we\u2019ll be ready in 2026 to put on a great performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
While results haven\u2019t been entirely positive for Canada since Qatar 2022, hope has come in the shape of big moves for several key figures. Biello\u2019s squad now contains players from the likes of Inter Milan, Porto, Celtic, Real Mallorca and, of course, Bayern Munich, all of whom have been sampling elite-level European football.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d responded the interim coach when asked if Canada should start reaping the rewards. \u201cThe more players we have playing at those levels, it\u2019s only normal that will come. They are competing against top-level players – the likes of Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin – and playing at the highest level.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, when you have a good core of players operating at those levels, playing in the (UEFA) Champions League, it\u2019s preparing them now for that next level. We\u2019re super-excited that we have a strong core of players now, who have gained some experience in the last World Cup and are now continuing to progress in their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the next step in Biello\u2019s career, that could well hinge on whether the World Cup co-hosts prevail or falter in next month\u2019s crucial Copa America qualifier. What\u2019s certain is that, as a proud Canadian \u2013 and with his appetite whetted by Sunday\u2019s schedule reveal \u2013 he is desperate to be involved when the team take to the field in Toronto on 12 June 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think back to when you\u2019re young, and it was every kid\u2019s dream to one day play in a World Cup,\u201d he said. \u201cNow having this opportunity to maybe walk out on the field [on home soil] with this group, it would be extremely special for myself and everybody involved. To be able to play in front of our friends, our family and just feel the energy and passion that will be ignited because of this tournament, is a super-exciting prospect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the long history of Canada\u2019s men\u2019s national team, 2022 arguably ranks as the best year to date. Qualification for the FIFA World Cup\u2122 was secured, ending a 36-year wait, and the Concacaf standings topped, with some famous wins enjoyed along the way. Faced with a tough act to follow, 2023 fell considerably short. Going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":940506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20966],"tags":[9648,27192],"class_list":["post-940505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fifa-news","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=940505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/940506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=940505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=940505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=940505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}