When Canada becomes the first team in North and Central America and the Caribbean to win a World Cup ticket, many fans will be very surprised: Is this country not a football desert?
Here there is a statistic that must be faced squarely, the most fierce national team in 2021 is not Argentina with Messi, nor Portugal led by Cristiano Ronaldo, but Canada, which has scored 55 goals in 18 games.
An Englishman came here more than 10 years ago and led the Canadian football revolution. Now they will be on the World Cup again after 36 years, and the goal may not be just to score a goal and score a point.
01. A wave of 6 consecutive wins sets the way to progression: Beating Mexico is a milestone
In the latest round of the World Preliminary Round, Canada defeated Jamaica 4-0 at home, locking up the place to qualify for the World Cup in the early round.
As can be seen from the standings, Canada has won 8 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss in 13 matches, and the advantage is very obvious. In particular, the crazy 6-game winning streak in the middle laid the foundation for the team's promotion.
Even more convincing is that in this six-game winning streak, they have won all the teams in the 2nd-6th place (did not win the first place because Canada itself was the first).
One of the most delightful victories for Canadian fans was the home win over Mexico. The team took advantage of the opponent's somewhat uncomfortable experience in the ice and snow to catch tropical Mexico off guard.
Johnston's long-range shot caused the goalkeeper to get out of hand, and the sharp forward Larrin, who played in the Turkish Super League, followed up with a supplementary shot to help the team take the lead.
In the second half, it was still the prolific shooter who scored in a free-kick attack, and the two-time Winner Larrin excitedly plunged into the snowdrift while celebrating.
It can be said that it is a good time and place, so that they won the hegemonic team of Central and North America, Mexico.
Of course, Canada's success is not just about luck, and on the global national team's 2021 goals list, the North American team took only 19 games to score 55 goals to top the top.
England and Germany are close behind, and perhaps Frick will take office early, and the Germans will have a chance to come to the first place, but there is no if, they can only fight to attack this glory in 2022.
02. Rise to the occasion thanks to the Godfather of England: he changed the football desert
Talking about Canada's rise from the "football desert" to the strong rise, the most important thing to thank is that their team manager, Englander Herdman, has been in Canada for more than 10 years, initially as a women's football coach.
The coach, who spent his early years at Sunderland's academy, first won an Olympic bronze medal in charge of the New Zealand women's football team, bringing himself into the mainstream vision, and then succeeding in the Canadian women's football team again.
After taking the Canadian women's football team to the bronze medal in the 2012 Olympic Games, Herdman entered the men's football field and became the head of the Canadian national youth team. Under his command, many good Canadian seedlings have been given room to grow, and they have also laid the foundation for future outbreaks.
After Herdman's departure, the Canadian women's soccer team reached the top podium of the Olympic champion, and he was credited as the founder. Today, the Canadian national team has reached the World Cup for the first time after a gap of 36 years, which is a testament to his success.
As the first manager in the history of football to lead the women's and men's teams of the same country to the World Cup, Herdman has won the love of all Canadian fans.
After he took over as Canadian manager in January 2018, in four years, his coaching win rate exceeded 70%, and it is not an exaggeration to call him the godfather of Canadian football.
In history, Canada has only scored in the World Cup once. In 1986, they came to Mexico, which is not far away, and were grouped with the former Soviet Union, Hungary and France, but unfortunately lost all 3 games and scored 0 goals and conceded 5 goals, and failed to really complete the 0 breakthrough.
However, I believe that this Canadian national team is expected to go further, and their strength should be more than just scoring 1 goal and taking 1 point.
03. The youth training outbreak is the basis for success: the three stars are the team's signature
The success of this Canadian team is the accumulation of generations, coupled with the youth revolution after Herdman's arrival, which has produced more outstanding young people. One of the representatives is Jonathan David, the top scorer of last season's Ligue 1 champion team Lille.
At one point in the half of this season's Ligue 1 season, he was also pushing Mbappe to be the top scorer.
Born in January 2000, the young center has scored 20 goals in 29 appearances so far in his national team career, making him one of the top five scorers in national history.
David, who was once named to the 2020 Golden Boy Awards squad, is likely to join the giants of the five major leagues in his next stop, and even Paris Saint-Germain once saw him as a replacement for Mbappe.
He scored this goal against Costa Rica and showed good goalscoring qualities.
Canada's current most well-known star is naturally Alfonso Davis, who plays for Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich. However, unlike playing left-back at Bayern, his position in the national team is a winger or a forward.
Similar to David, Davis, who is also a post-00s, has only played 30 games for the Canadian national team, and has already scored a double-double of 10 goals and 16 assists, which is already an indispensable key force for the national team.
However, he was recently trapped by heart problems and could not play, but fortunately, he managed to qualify in Canada, which made Davis burst into tears on the spot.
In the World Preliminary Round against Panama, when the team fell into a 0-1 disadvantage, the result was Alfonso Davis a pass and a shot plus a oolong ball from the opponent, and he single-handedly brought back 3 goals to reverse the team's victory.
It can be clearly seen from the GIF that this time Davis broke the ball strongly and used his speed to instantly enter the box. Then a free plus low shot broke the goal, which was impressive.
In addition to them, there is also a "bigger than them" shenfeng Larin, who is the hero mentioned above, who is the hero who is two times better against Mexico.
Born in April 1995, Larin spent his early years playing for Major League Baseball's Orlando City and was a former teammate of Kaka. The 1.88-meter-tall center player has excellent header skills and a sense of grabbing points in front of goal. Besiktas, who currently plays for the Turkish Super League, was the Silver Boot of the Turkish Super League last season.
epilogue:
As hosts of the 2026 World Cup, Canada originally planned to make efforts in 4 years. However, this time, as the young people have successfully provoked the beam, and the age structure of the three generations of old, middle-aged and young players is perfect, it also makes their combat effectiveness in an optimal state.
Pressing over Mexico and the United States, advancing to the first place in Central and North America and the Caribbean, how far can the comeback Davis go with the Maple Leaf Army in the World Cup at the end of the year? This will also be one of the topics that many fans are extremely concerned about.
(Lust)