Some early thoughts on the CanMNT's squad for November's World Cup qualifiers
As expected, the CanMNT dropped their latest squad for a pair of crucial November World Cup qualifiers on Friday. Here's a look at what stood out from that announcement.
With the big surprise already out of the way, it went pretty much as planned.
As expected, the CanMNT dropped their squad for a pair of crucial November World Cup qualifiers on Friday, finally revealing who will be among the 23 players that will represent the red and white over in Edmonton later this month.
And as they continue their journey through the Octo, the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers, that’s exciting, as they dropped a squad filled with all sorts of talent, one that has onlookers talking.
So while there weren’t many big surprises in the squad reveal itself, having already announced their big move, which was the commitment of 23-year-old Genk forward, Iké Ugbo, earlier in the week, there was still a lot to like with the announcement, one in which Canada looked to send a message to the rest of CONCACAF.
Currently sitting 3rd out of 8 teams in the Octo through 6 out of 14 games, Canada is looking to affirm their spot in the top 3 with a solid November window, one where they’ll play Costa Rica and Mexico in a pair of crucial home games in Edmonton.
Having chosen the city for some very specific reasons, of which include weather, travel and the ability to pack a stadium with 50 000+ Canadian fans, Canada is confident that they can emerge from this window ever closer to their end goal than ever, which is to return to the World Cup for the first time since 1986.
And the squad that they’ve called in for these games only plays a part in all of that. It seems like every time Canada holds a camp these days, their squad looks even stronger than the last one, and this latest roster is no exception to that rule, finding itself littered with Canadian players performing at a high level all over the world at the moment.
So while I’ll have more in-depth reaction on those in the squad itself in a few days time on btsvancity.com, here are some early thoughts following Friday’s squad release and subsequent press conference with Canadian head coach John Herdman, in which I look at what stood out most from this latest roster reveal.
Iké Ugbo’s commitment:
And to start, it’s worth diving into the main item from that squad release - Canada’s newest addition to the roster, Iké Ugbo, who understandably dominated the conversation on Friday after his surprise commitment to the countryon Thursday.
I’ve already profiled Ugbo and what he can bring to Canada, so if you haven’t read that yet, you can find that here, but returning to Friday’s press conference, it was quite interesting to hear Herdman’s comments on what he believes his newest player can bring to the fold, as he fielded questions about Ugbo for the first time.
Understandably, he’s quite excited to have a player of his pedigree in the fold, only adding depth to an already deep Canadian team, one that seems to look scarier by the day.
Having worked so hard to get this move over the line, completing a process that he said started back in 2018 when he first talked to (and was shut down by) Chelsea, Herdman was quite pleased to have finally gotten his man 3 years (and a lot of phone calls) later.
And still only just 23, which is far from a player’s prime, Herdman believes that Ugbo comes to this Canadian team at a perfect moment, as he’s not only ready to help this team now, but is also just at the start of his journey as a professional player.
On a Canadian team where forward depth is something they’ve found themselves a bit short on these days (just a look at what a few injuries did to the position last month), adding a player of Ugbo’s calibre to the mix is a big game-changer, one Herdman is well aware of.
“Yeah, Iké’s an exciting prospect,” Herdman said. “I think that he’s joining us with his best years still ahead of him. He was in wonderful form for Club Brugge last year, and he got a big move to Genk, and I think through the conversations I’ve had with him and his people, they’re expecting him to have a big season towards the end of this year and next year, and build a career similar to Jonathan David’s.
“He’s someone who I think his star is going to keep building, and for Canada, that’s just more depth.”
Herdman later added: “Iké provides us with some real firepower in that department now”
But at the same time, while Ugbo can certainly do a job for Canada if called upon tomorrow, it’s important to remember that he’s just at the beginning of his journey with Canada, something that Herdman made sure to stress.
He will be brought along at just the right pace, as his new team has to now learn about how he plays and where he fits in the team, both on and off the field, something that takes time.
With this team being quite tight, he’ll certainly probably slot fairly quickly, but it won’t be an overnight process, and Herdman is ready to give him time in that aspect.
“We’ve got to learn about him,” Herdman explained. “How he fits into our identity, and who he is as a player. I think when you bring players into this environment, and put them around other players like Davies, David, Larin, Osorio, Eustaquio and Laryea, they tend to bring different parts out of each other, and that’s what I’ve seen.”
At the same time, that didn’t stop Herdman from talking about what he sees in Ugbo, who he believes brings a unique skill set to this team.
A true #9, one who likes to operate in and around the box, he fills a need for Canada, who are short in that kind of player after Lucas Cavallini, who is in a rough run of form at the moment, which is why Herdman is so excited to now have Ugbo in the fold now.
Having needed a player like this for a while now, Canada can’t wait to now let their newest charge get integrated, because when he does, Herdman believes that he’ll have a pretty darn good attacking piece to play around with.
“I think what you’ve seen from him is that he’s a classic #9,” Herdman said. “He’s an out-and-out #9, he likes to play between the two centre backs, he likes to lead the line, he can run behind the line and stretch it, which I like, I think it’s a facet that can help complement other players in the way that we play.”
He added: “He’s an absolute predator in the box, he’s just got that real predatory instinct between the penalty spot and goal, all the goals he scores come off some clever movement, he’s got those positional advantages to create opportunities, and that’s what you want from the #9.”
“And he’s (still) young, he’s going to keep evolving over the next 2/3 years.”
Some key players return:
But while Ugbo was the main standout from this squad, and understandably so, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t the only headliner on the roster, as Canada welcomed back some key faces who missed out on the last camp due to injuries and other related absences.
As expected, Cyle Larin, Atiba Hutchinson, Milan Borjan and Lucas Cavallini are back in the Canadian fold for this camp, and that’s a good thing, as Canada certainly missed having them around the team in October.
From what they can bring on the field, where they’re key contributors to this team, to off the pitch, where they’re all among Canada’s key leaders, having those 4 back will be huge for Herdman, who was left scrambling to replace them last month.
This time, though, they’re all healthy, and should hopefully (knock on wood) stay that way until next week, giving Canada’s squad a big boost.
Yes, Canada has the depth to handle those kinds of injuries, and did well to pick up 5 out of 9 points from 3 tough games the last window, but at the same time, you never want to over-rely on your depth, potentially stretching it thin.
So to see Canada able to name a fully healthy 23-man squad this window is a big plus, and now they know that they’ve got depth if needed, which could come in clutch in the last 2 windows of the Octo, where a gruelling schedule awaits Canada.
Plus, considering that they’re just scraping the surface in terms of players that they can call up, it’s clear that they will be in good hands should another injury crisis arise, as we learned the last camp.
Fatigue could play a role:
And speaking of injuries, it’ll be interesting to see how Herdman manages his squad this window to avoid them, as players really start to reach a crucial point of their season.
Already having dealt with 2 tough seasons because of COVID, players already entered this latest campaign more tired than usual, having dealt with the consequences of what the pandemic did to fixture lists.
So while club schedules are mostly back to normal, that strain can stick around, especially on international players, who are asked to travel great distances when many of their club teammates are resting, only adding to their workloads.
Then, when you factor in how gruelling international soccer has been this year, with the introduction of triple match windows to help get 2022 World Cup qualifiers back on track, it’s only made things harder.
Luckily for Canada, this will be their easiest window in terms of those factors, as it’s the only double matchday of the Octo, and they’ll have no extra travel, but at the same time, that doesn’t mean that their previous workloads won’t catch up to them.
With it being just the start of the busy period of the more traditional club schedule (August-May), and the end of the cold-weather leagues’ schedule (February-November), sets of players in both leagues, which Canada has many of, are starting to feel the strain of that.
We saw it with the injuries the last camp, and will only start to see more of that as the games go along, which makes it something to monitor.
Because of all of that, it’s going to be something for Herdman and his sports science staff to keep a close eye on going forward, starting with this camp.
They track this data quite religiously already, as they don’t want to injure any players, but it’s a tricky balancing act, one where they must weigh between a desire to win at all costs and keeping their players healthy.
So while they’ll most certainly do their best to keep on doing the former, it’s important they do so while considering the latter, something Herdman was quite candid in talking about on Friday.
That should mean more rotation and lots of substitutions, leaning into their depth, something that Canada is looking to tap into more going forward.
“Yeah, look, I think fatigue plays a massive part,” Herdman explained. “I mean if you ask any of the players, it’s been a wild experience (so far), I think the big thing that we underestimated is that it’s an accumulated load, like we look at from when we started in September, up until November, and we’ve tracked out what that load looks like for our key players, and that has huge implications on who’s going to play, and in what games, and when you’re expecting major decay.”
“I think the general public expects a player to get on the field, and just run around, and it’s going to be the top performance that we see every week, but we understand that the layers of some of our players are going to decay, and their performances could drop really quickly.”
Having played a lot of minutes this year, Canada’s Stephen Eustaquio is certainly a player who Herdman will be keeping a close eye on this camp (Keveren Guillou) (IG: @kevereng)
The goalkeeper battle:
Lastly, the one thing that stands out most from this roster is actually in goal, where Canada has all sorts of questions to consider when it comes to their 2 goalkeepers.
Unlike the other positions, where there is a pretty clear understanding of who the starting 11 is, for the most part, things are wide-open in goal, as Maxime Crepeau has done a pretty good job at showing that he can not only compete with the usual Canadian #1, Milan Borjan, but offer up a different skill set to his goalkeeping counterpart, too.
After a solid Gold Cup this summer, one where he only allowed 5 goals in 5 games against solid opposition, putting up some strong performances against Costa Rica and Mexico, Crepeau had only started to make the goalkeeping discussion interesting back then, but it was still Borjan’s job to lose, which is why he got the reigns in the September window.
But then, Borjan was forced to miss out on October after picking up COVID, and once again Crepeau impressed, showing that Canada doesn’t have much of a drop-off between the 2 goalkeepers.
Because of that, it’s going to be interesting to see what Herdman looks to do with his keepers in this camp. Likely, he’ll probably just run with Borjan for both games, much as he did in September, but at the same time, Crepeau also surely deserves a shot to go up against him for that spot.
You could also just rotate them around, but that’s harder to do in international soccer than it is at the club level, especially since familiarity can be much harder to come by when you’re playing with the national team, which is why coaches prefer to stick with 1 goalkeeper over an extended period of time.
The good news out of all of this, though? That no matter who plays, it feels safe to say that Canada has two #1 goalkeepers now, and that’s huge, as that could pay off for them later in this Octo.
Having 2 good goalkeepers is not the worst thing in the world to happen to Canada, and while it’s unfortunate for both goalkeepers, who both deserve to start, there’s no such thing as too much depth, with this just being a prime example of that.
Looking Forward:
And that’s just an overall theme with this Canadian roster. They’ve obviously got some talented players that steal the headlines, but they’re so much more than just those players, something that we learned in the last camp.
So while the Alphonso Davies’s and the Jonathan David’s might earn the plaudits, don’t discount the importance of the Sam Adekugbe’s and Alistair Johnston’s, among others, who have proven to be just as crucial to Canada’s success, albeit in different ways.
Plus, with the integration of more players such as Ugbo, that depth continues to grow by the day, so this isn’t a process that is going to finish anytime soon for Canada, either.
Because of that, they’re hoping that they can ride that already to the World Cup, of which they’re currently on track towards doing, and can take a big step towards making a reality this window.
Of course, they could just as easily slip up, too, putting them right back into the thick of the race, but they control their fate in terms of their journey to Qatar at the moment, and will look to take advantage of that with a strong performance this camp, of which they certainly have the squad to help make that happen.
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Canada celebrates a goal vs Panama last month (Keveren Guillou) (IG: @kevereng)