Canada Soccer is
\u200bcoming home. For the first time since the global pandemic, Canada Soccer’s
\u200bMen’s National Team will play at home on their journey to the FIFA World Cup
\u200bQatar 2022™. On the heels of an inspiring Concacaf Gold Cup run to the
\u200bconfederation semifinals, Canada will play both Honduras and El Salvador at BMO
\u200bField in Toronto this September as part of the Concacaf Final Round of FIFA
\u200bWorld Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers.
All matches will be held in Canada subject to Government of Canada authorization with fans permitted pending relevant public health approvals from the City of Toronto and Province of Ontario. Ticket sales information will be shared within the coming week.
Canada’s home FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Qualifiers against Honduras and El Salvador will be broadcast live on OneSoccer.
With 14 matches to be played in the Concacaf Final Round from September 2021 to March 2022, Canada will in fact play three matches in the September window: opening at home on Thursday 2 September against Honduras, away in Nashville against USA on Sunday 5 September, and back home in Toronto on Wednesday 8 September.
“We really want to
\u200bsing that anthem at home in Canada with our fans, there’s no better sound in
\u200bsport,” said John Herdman, Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team Head Coach.
\u200b“We’ve shown in recent times that we are ready to have a real push for the FIFA
\u200bWorld Cup Qatar 2022™. With the fans behind us at home, it will bring us to
\u200banother level.”
Canada has built
\u200bplenty of momentum in a landmark year for the Men’s National Team Program that
\u200bwill feature a record 19 international matches including FIFA World Cup
\u200bQualifiers and the Concacaf Gold Cup. Canada have already played 11 of those 19
\u200bmatches, posting a record of 9-0-2 with six clean sheets and a record 42 goals
\u200bscored. Canada also set a record with eight consecutive wins and reached the
\u200bConcacaf Gold Cup Semifinals for the first time since 2007.
Canada will play
\u200beight of their 14 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in the Concacaf Final Round from
\u200bSeptember through November 2021: three matches in September, three matches in
\u200bOctober, and two matches in November). Locations and/or dates for those matches
\u200bwill be announced in the coming months. In 2022, Canada will play three more
\u200bmatches in January/February and three more matches in March. Along with
\u200bHonduras, USA and El Salvador, Canada’s other opponents in the Concacaf Final
\u200bRound are Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and Panama.
To reach the
\u200bConcacaf Final Round, Canada won their First Round group against Aruba,
\u200bBermuda, Cayman Islands and Suriname, then eliminated Haiti in a head-to-head
\u200bSecond Round series. This marks the first time since 1997 that Canada have
\u200breached the Concacaf Final Round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
“The last
\u200bqualification process in June was really important for this group of men to
\u200bbuild a resilience and camaraderie in games where you knew if you slipped up,
\u200bour FIFA World Cup dream would have been up in smoke,” said Herdman. “That sort
\u200bof pressure, the expectation, scrutiny and consequences has just hardened the
\u200bgroup. With those moments, confidence has grown and in the Concacaf Gold Cup it
\u200bcontinued to build.”
From the first
\u200bseven months of this year, Canada has called up 52 players from which 31 have
\u200bfeatured in Canada’s 11 international “A” matches. Nine of those players have
\u200bmade their Canada debuts in 2021, including Tajon Buchanan who won the Concacaf
\u200bGold Cup Young Player Award and was named to the tournament’s Best XI. Fifteen
\u200bdifferent players have scored for Canada in 2021, including Cyle Larin who has
\u200bset a Men’s National Team record with 10 goals in nine matches.
In all, Canada
\u200bSoccer’s Men’s National Team will play seven home matches from September 2021
\u200bto March 2022 as part of the Concacaf Final Round in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
\u200bQatar 2022.
CANADA SOCCER’S
\u200bMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM:
\u200bCanada Soccer’s Men’s National Team are two-time Concacaf champions, previously
\u200bwinning the 1985 Concacaf Championship and 2000 Concacaf Gold Cup. This year
\u200bmarks Canada’s 15th participation at the Concacaf Gold Cup since 1991. Along
\u200bwith their first-place finish in 2000, Canada reached the Semifinals in 2002, 2007,
\u200band 2021. Across the past five years from 2017 to 2021, Canada are one of only
\u200bfour nations that have finished top-six across all three Concacaf major
\u200btournaments: fifth place in Concacaf Nations League A and sixth place at both
\u200bthe 2017 and 2019 Concacaf Gold Cups.