Another huge win tonight (and third 2-0 victory in this window) - so close to officially qualifying for 2022, but will have to wait for late March now.
Given the young age of this team, and its star players, the future is looking so bright for Canadian soccer and future development.
Looking forward to seeing where we are going to be ranked in the world after this window.
We are currently 40th, but with the victory over the US on Sunday, we've now beaten two teams in the top 15 rankings (Mexico being the other).
We could be real contenders in 2026, and even do some damage in 2022.
Canada is virtually qualified, being 8 points ahead of Panama. So long as Panama does not win their next match, we're in regardless of Canada's results. If they do win, all we need is not to lose.
As for being contenders, not to disdain of Canada's efforts and outstanding results, we do not have the firepower to face the top teams, like France, Italy or Germany, at this point. Even the top teams in the Conmebol qualifiers, Brazil and Argentina, which are just as good as the top European ones, on paper, lack the depth and quality to be considered real contenders, at this point. FIFAs ranking is very deceitful, as the weighting system usually favours the teams already on top (for political reasons), so Mexico and USA being in the top 15 does not mean much (neither does Brazil being top 2, even with the VERY POOR football they've been presenting). Anyone who knows the sport knows that the US or Denmark teams are not better than Germany, for example.
That said, I will be surprised if Canada doesn't at least reach the Round of 16, maybe even the Quarter-Finals in Qatar, depending on the matchup. On a good day, where everything goes our way, say Alphonso and Larin are both on a superb night, or Borjan has the game of his life (not unlike USA's Tim Howard against Belgium in 2014), we might be able to beat an Italy, or a France, but it is highly unlikely that we could beat 3 or 4 of these in a row to reach the finals and win.
I'd say that being in two World Cups in a row, with such a young, talented team, will do wonders for the future of the sport in Canada, and considering the huge inflow of immigrants from places with a strong football culture, this might create enough momentum for Canada to become a top tier contender outside of Concacaf, but I wouldn't get my hopes up of winning a title anytime in the next 16~20 years.
It is hard to beat countries where this sport is so ingrained in the culture that it is basically the only sport people really care about (think how dominant Canadian players are, on Hockey...). The US has been trying to breach the Europe-South America bubble for decades, and their best result was Quarter-Finals. The best result for someone out of this bubble was South Korea's semifinal appearance in 2002 (and Turkey, the same year, if you consider them Asia, although their clubs play in the European continental championships).
Just as an example, out of 21 tournaments, 3 countries have 13 titles, and only 8 have won and only 13 have been in the finals. The probability of Brazil, Germany or Italy being in the finals is of 80% (they were there in 17 out of 21 times) and there has only been two World Cups in which at least of of them was not in the Semifinals (1930 and 2018) and, in 10 tournaments there were at least two of them in the semifinals, with all three being there in 3 occasions. And that's just 3 countries we're talking about. As much as I'd love Canada to prove me wrong and go on to beat all the odds, I don't think it is realistic.