[Mountain Man]

Too bad word got out about Herdman's talk with the players after the Belgium loss, definitely seemed to be a big motivator for Croatia. Glad the boys scored a goal, but hopefully they can take this experience, get better and do some damage in 4 years.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Let's hope there wasn't an 'eff Morocco' comment lol. I'm happy to see we at least go a goal, but yeah, the comment may have given them extra determination, and they're already a very good team. Canada's best bet might have been to go into the game under the radar.

 

[JonnyCanuck]

Only in soccer can the storyline be 'we got eliminated but hey ...at least we scored our first goal ever in a World Cup'. 😀

Kind of underscores why I can't get excited about this sport.

 

[Mountain Man]

It's interesting to see how Canada is doing in the biggest sport in the world, but soccer can be very hard to watch and get excited about for sure. It's always going to be the diving to me, no matter what happens, guys drop like they are shot, only to get up a minute later and keep playing. It actually takes away from legit injuries quite a bit too.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Seeing both Croatia and Morroco in the semi finals after beating teams such as Spain, Portugal, and Brazil makes me feel a lot better about Canada losing to those two teams.
Canada did really play quite well in the tournament I think, they just didn’t get the stars to lineup very well for them, facing two teams that were playing really well, and losing another game that they probably should’ve won. The fact that Croatia is there again shows that last World Cup was no fluke.
I’m already excited about Canada for the next World Cup.

 

[Col du Edworthy]

Thought this article had some good points about what Canada needs to take away from the tournament

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/worldcup/world-cup-canada-chris-jones-dec3-1.6673487

 

[Surrealplaces]

Thought this article had some good points about what Canada needs to take away from the tournament

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/worldcup/world-cup-canada-chris-jones-dec3-1.6673487

Some good points brought up for sure, particularly about playing against better teams, and to get that experience. And they'll need to get a young goalkeeper. One good thing is many of their star players (Davies, David, Eustaquio and Johnston) is they're all young 22, 22, ,24 and 24 respectively.

 

[Mountain Man]

Canada still has to qualify for the next World Cup, we had a bit of a Cinderella run there I think. 3 (maybe 4) of 35 teams in CONCACAF get to move onto the next round...

 

[CalgaryTiger]

As hosts, they’re automatically in.

 

[Cyric]

Yup, and 2026 will be the first year of 48 teams getting in (instead of 32) so our region will get 6 teams in going forward.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

Cheapens it a bit but we can still say we made it before the expansion. See where we're at in 2030 and what a 30 year-old Davies looks like.

 

[Surrealplaces]

48 is a lot of teams - A quarter of the world's countries, but at least it allows for more European teams to get in. I would think Canada would have a good chance of being in fairly regularly with our region set for 6 teams.

 

[Chinook Arch]

So happy to see France lose in the final. France and their back room dealings is one of the reasons Qatar was able to buy their way to hosting the cup.

 

[UrbanRED]

I found it kinda annoying that the Emir of Qatar was gonna win either way; both Mbappe and Messi play for PSG which is owned by him

 

[Just build it]

Agreed. Hopefully one of those two players leaves PSG.
I would like to see either of them in the English premier league, or at least Mbappe in the Spanish league. They’re both too good to rot away in the French league..